A type of fat that accumulates around the hips and bottom may actually offer some protection against diabetes, US researchers said in a recent study. They said subcutaneous fat, or fat that collects under the skin, helped to improve sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar. Mice that got transplants of this type of fat deep into their abdomens lost weight and their fat cells shrank, even though they made no changes in their diet. “It was a surprising result,” said Dr Ronald Kahn of Harvard Medical School in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism. Researchers have known for some time that fat that collects in the abdomen— known as visceral fat — can raise a person’s risk of diabetes and heart disease, while people with pear-shaped bodies, with fat deposits in the buttocks and hips, are less prone to these disorders. Now it turns out that subcutaneous fat — fat found just under the skin — may be actively protecting people from metabolic disease.

B vitamins may not cut stroke risk
Giving B vitamins and folic acid supplements to reduce high levels of a blood protein that is a marker for heart disease did nothing to protect women from heart trouble, according to a recent study published in the journal of the American Medical Association. It raised further doubts about whether addressing an indicator for heart disease—in this case, the amino acid homocysteine—can prevent heart attacks or strokes. A high level of homocysteine in the bloodstream is believed to damage arteries and has been linked to blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. No harm came from the vitamins and homocysteine levels fell by nearly one-fifth in the trial group but there was no appreciable difference in the incidence of heart problems or heart-related deaths compared to the placebo group in the seven years.

Common drugs may hasten ageing
Elderly people who took commonly prescribed drugs for incontinence, allergy or high blood pressure walked more slowly and were less able to take care of themselves than others not taking the drugs, US researchers said in a study. They said people who took drugs that block acetylcholine—a chemical messenger in the nervous system critical for memory—functioned less well than their peers. “These results were true even in older adults who have normal memory and thinking abilities,” said researchers of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, who led the study. Some of the most common such drugs in the study included the blood pressure drug nifedipine (sold as Adalat or Procardia), the stomach antacid ranitidine or Zantac, both with mild or moderate anticholinergic properties, and Pfizer Inc’s incontinence drug tolterodine or Detrol, which is highly anticholinergic.

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