Month: July 2017

Could pre-gestational weight status affect children’s cognition?

Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno, Celia Álvarez-Bueno and Iván Cavero-Redondo

Our study, recently published in the IJE, looks at the relationship between pre-gestational weight status and children’s neurodevelopment. It shows that children born to mothers who were normal weight before pregnancy scored better on cognition tests than children born to obese women. An original aspect of our study is that it summarises the evidence provided by 15 previous follow-up studies, including samples from seven different countries, and provides information for both cognition tests and general intelligence scores.

Continue reading “Could pre-gestational weight status affect children’s cognition?” →

It only takes a minute, girl: women who run for just 1 minute per day have better bone health

Vicky Stiles, Brad Metcalf, Karen Knapp and Alex Rowlands

Victoria_StilesBrad_MetcalfKaren_KnappAlex_Rowlands

We don’t yet know whether it’s best to do it all at once, or little and often, but what we do know is that if a woman’s day-to-day activity contains 1–2 minutes of weight-bearing, high-intensity activity, similar to a medium-paced run for pre-menopausal women or a slow jog for post-menopausal women, she will have better bone health than women who do less. The benefits of high-impact activity on bone health are nothing new. What is novel about our findings is that better bone health is linked to such a short amount of daily activity, albeit at an intensity of the running variety.

Continue reading “It only takes a minute, girl: women who run for just 1 minute per day have better bone health” →

Varenicline produces enduring smoking cessation when prescribed in primary care regardless of patients’ socioeconomic position

Gemma MJ Taylor, Amy E Taylor, Kyla H Thomas, Tim Jones, Richard M Martin, Marcus R Munafò and Neil M Davies

cigarette-2383191_1280

Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of premature disease and death. One in two smokers will die from their addiction unless they quit. Smoking is also a major contributor to health inequalities between the richest and poorest in society. Evidence from the Health Improvement Network in the United Kingdom indicates that smokers from more deprived groups are just as likely as those from less deprived groups to receive advice to quit from their GP. However, evidence from observational studies suggests that smokers from disadvantaged backgrounds are much less likely to quit, even after accessing treatment from specialist stop-smoking services.

Continue reading “Varenicline produces enduring smoking cessation when prescribed in primary care regardless of patients’ socioeconomic position” →