Latest news with #Childrenofthe90s
Daily Record
21-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
New tool can identify children who are likely to become obese in adulthood
The ground-breaking tool can also predict how well obese adults will respond to targeted weight loss programmes Obesity in children continues to be a major topic of discussion in Scotland. Around 33 per cent of kids aged two to 15 in Scotland are at risk of being overweight or obese, according to the Scottish Health Survey 2022. This is the highest number since 2011. Childhood obesity can be influenced by many factors such as lifestyle, environment, and even genetics. But what if there was a way that could measure a child's risk of becoming obese? Well, incredibly, this very tool has just been created by scientists. And it is hoped that one day, those at highest risk will get targeted support to prevent them from becoming obese in the first place. The tool, which assesses a person's genetic risk of obesity, works twice as well as any other obesity risk predictor, academics say. It can also predict how well obese adults will respond to targeted weight loss programmes. Dr Kaitlin Wade, associate professor in epidemiology at the University of Bristol and second author on the paper, said: 'Obesity is a major public health issue, with many factors contributing to its development. "These factors likely vary across a person's life, and we believe that some of these originate in childhood. We were delighted to contribute... data to this exceptional and insightful research into the genetic architecture of obesity. "We hope this work will contribute to detecting individuals at high risk of developing obesity at an earlier age, which could have a vast clinical and public health impact in the future." So, how did the study work? Academics used detail on genetic variations from more than five million people to create a tool called a polygenic risk score, which analyses people's genetics to work out their risk of developing obesity. The tool could explain 17.6 percent of variation in body mass index score (BMI) from people in the UK. Researchers, led by academics at the universities of Copenhagen and Bristol, tested whether the risk score was associated with obesity using datasets of the physical and genetic characteristics of more than 500,000 people. This included checking the tool on people taking part in the "Children of the 90s" study - a long-term study in Bristol tracking families as children age. They found that it could successfully predict weight gain during childhood - from the age of just two and a half - through to adolescence. "What makes the score so powerful is the consistency of associations between the genetic score and body mass index before the age of five and through to adulthood – timing that starts well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood," said assistant professor Roelof Smith, lead author of the research. "Intervening at this point could theoretically make a huge impact." Smith told the PA news agency that BMI is not a good predictor for a child's obesity risk in later life. However, the genetic predictor can offer insight into the risk from early years. "It's fixed at conception already very early in life, you're able to essentially quantify what someone's innate predisposition is for BMI," he said. "So, being able to say something about someone's innate biology for obesity risk." Meanwhile, the research team also looked at people taking part in "intensive lifestyle intervention" programmes. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. People with a higher risk score lost more weight, but were also more likely to regain it. "There is a huge amount of variation in how people respond to these interventions," Prof Smit added. "What we observed was the higher someone's score was, the more they tended to respond to the intervention. "People who had a higher score tended to lose more weight in the first year. And we also saw that people who had the higher scores tended to gain more weight."
Daily Mail
29-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Millions of teenagers may suffer 'ticking time bomb' heart problem due to common diet mistake, experts warn
Millions of seemingly healthy teenagers are at risk of deadly heart failure due to poor diets and lack of exercise, experts have warned. Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found that teens with elevated blood sugar levels were significantly more likely to have an enlarged heart. The condition, called ventricular hypertrophy, weakens the organ's ability to pump blood effectively, dramatically increasing the chances of a fatal cardiac arrest. Professor Andrew Agbaje, from the University of Eastern Finland, said they found even healthy-looking teens and young adults, of a normal weight, may still be at risk. The team analysed 1,595 volunteers, aged 17 to 24, from the University of Bristol's Children of the 90s cohort—a long-running study tracking the health of thousands born in the early 1990s. They measured blood sugar levels to investigate whether raised glucose could trigger metabolic changes linked to harmful alterations in heart structure. Previous research has shown that high blood sugar in youth is a strong predictor of type 2 diabetes—a condition that doubles heart attack risk—in later life. Now, for the first time, evidence suggests that damage to the heart may start earlier, even before diabetes is diagnosed. Worryingly, the study found that youngsters with a persistent fasting blood sugar level of 5.6mmol/L or higher—still below the NHS threshold for diabetes—were at a 46 per cent greater risk of developing left ventricular hypertrophy. Whilst the condition itself does not cause symptoms, it can put strain on the heart resulting in chest pain, shortness of breath and heart palpitations. Left untreated, this can cause abnormal heart rhythms which can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death. Other factors that influence heart health—including family history of cardiovascular disease, smoking, and levels of physical activity—were also taken into account. Prof Agbaje suggested his team's findings 'underscore the critical importance of lifestyle, behaviour and dietary habits, especially after adolescents have become independent from their family. 'The findings further confirm that even healthy-looking adolescents and young adults who are mostly normal weight may be on a path towards cardiovascular diseases, if they have high blood glucose and insulin resistance. 'Surprisingly, we observed that high blood sugar may aggressively damage females' hearts five times faster than males'—therefore, special attention should be paid to girls in terms of prevention,' he added. Once considered a disease of middle and older age, type 2 diabetes is increasingly common in young people. In the UK, about 168,000 people under 40 years old currently live with the condition, which also increases the risk of kidney failure, strokes and blindness. Of this group, a significant portion are children and young adults. The number of young people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has been on the rise, with a 40 per cent increase observed between 2016 and 23. The NHS advises avoiding too much sugary food, findings ways to manage stress and exercising regularly to try to stop blood sugar levels getting too high.
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Bristol University smartwatch accurately tracks drinking habits
A smartwatch app which records people's alcohol consumption could provide a more accurate picture of drinking habits for University of Bristol trialled the AlcoWatch on 32 participants from the city's Children of the 90s health study over 12 were prompted five times a day to record any alcoholic drinks they had, where they were consumed and whether it was in a social Andy Skinner said: "Smartwatch-based methods for data capture could help researchers explore a much wider range of health-related behaviours, and develop new interventions to help with important issues like problematic drinking." Traditional methods of recording alcohol consumption involve adding notes to a diary, which relies on individuals remembering to write it down. The university's trial found that the app resulted in higher engagement from participants, leading to more accurate data. It follows on from a previous app created by the university which aimed to help people stop Stone, a lead researcher on the AlcoWatch study, said: "We've produced an app which asks quick, simple questions about people's drinking behaviour. "Capturing the data as people are drinking is a better way to do it," he added. It is hoped that the app could be rolled out to the public and the NHS in the future to help people monitor their drinking habits.
BBC News
08-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Children of the 90s: City's 'world-beating' study awarded £5.2m grant
Scientists working on a world-leading study have received £5.2m to continue their unique research for another five Bristol-based Children of the 90s project began by tracking 14,500 children born in between 1991 and is the most detailed project of its kind in the world and has led to discoveries in all aspects of health and wellbeing from eczema, bodyweight and Nic Timpson, the study's principal investigator, said: "Routinely we have researchers coming from all over the world using the resource and building on it to do their own research." The grant, from the University of Bristol, the Medical Research Council and the global charitable foundation, Wellcome, will allow researchers to continue collecting and analysing health data from their participants, which has risen to more than 25,000 Jean Golding OBE, now 85, began the study "with a few pennies and a prayer".Staff worked on month-to-month contracts, and it took years before large research bodies appreciated the importance of what the team was previously told the BBC: "The amount of information we've got now is world-beating, nobody's got anything like it. And as a result all sorts of different scientists can answer questions that can't be answered any other way." Information collected by the Children of the 90s study has contributed to more than 3,000 medical papers and informed policy and childcare advice able to track the health of the children, and now grandchildren of the original 14,500 mothers who signed up has given researchers unprecedented insight into a range of have also been made in child development, autism, mental health and pregnancy. Prof Timpson added: "Strangely enough, the funding for the next five years sounds like a lot of money, but it's a drop in the ocean in terms of the resources that are generated because of Children of the 90s."Looking forward, we will continue studying the factors that shape our health across diverse areas such as genetics, fertility, obesity, child development and the effect of climate on health and wellbeing," he added. One of the largest areas of research has been into lung disease - the third leading cause of death in the than 6,500 participants took part and there have been some significant lead, Prof James Dodd, said: "We can see that lung function problems start much earlier in life than we thought. "We've been measuring lung function in Children of the 90s since the age of eight."There are certain things that we hadn't expected; so early-life factors like poorly-controlled asthma, premature birth and exposure to air pollution, all affect your risk of developing lung problems." Melissa Davis has been involved in numerous studies since her mother enrolled in the study more than 30 years ago - and now her own children are signed up."I had Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a type of cancer, when I was 12 years old and and again when I was 27."As a result, some of the treatments have left some underlying lung and heart defects," she data that Ms Davis volunteered to share has enabled further understanding of the condition."I think you can really relate to it when you know that some of the information you provided has gone into making those breakthroughs and the outcomes for other people," she said.
