why diabetics have more backaches

According to a recent study, people with diabetes are more likely to suffer from low backache and neck pain as compared to those without diabetes. The researchers from the University of Sydney found that people with diabetes have a 35 per cent higher risk of experiencing low back pain and 24 per cent higher risk of having neck pain. Their findings, based on meta-analyses of studies that assess the links between diabetes and back or neck pain outcomes, were published in the journal PLOS ONE. Most adults experience low back pain during their lives and almost half suffer neck pain at some stage. Diabetes is an increasingly prevalent chronic condition. An estimated 382 million people live with type 2 diabetes, the most common form of this metabolic disease. “Diabetes and low back pain and neck pain seem to be somehow connected. We can’t say how but these findings suggest further research into the link is warranted,” said senior study author Manuela Ferreira.

THIS therapy helps kick egg allergy

A new research presented by Edwin Kim, at the annual American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology conference in San Francisco, found that after completing up to four years of egg oral immunotherapy treatment, certain participants were able to safely incorporate egg into their diet for five years. Kim said, “Egg allergy is one of the most common food allergies and usually appears in early childhood. It has risk for severe allergic reactions and affects quality of life for children with the allergy. While the allergy does seem to go away with age, it can last into the second decade of life for most. Any treatment that can allow the introduction of egg into the diet of someone with egg allergy provides nutritional benefits and peace of mind for the patient and their family.”

your hair can reveal vitamin d levels

Researchers have found that vitamin D can now be measured by human hair, paving the way for improved diagnosis of deficiency of the sunshine vitamin. With over a billion people estimated to be affected, vitamin D deficiency — a risk factor for depression, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, diabetes and cancer — has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. While traditional blood analysis captures the levels at a single time point, in contrast, hair, which grow at approximately one centimetre per month, could reflect vitamin D status over several months, capturing the large seasonal differences in the levels. “The study presents the idea that vitamin D is being deposited continuously in the hair as it grows, more might be deposited at times when vitamin D concentration in the blood is high, and less when it’s low,” said lead author Lina Zgaga, Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin. “A test based on the hair sample might be able to give doctors a measure of vitamin D status over time.”