Published in the European Heart Journal, a pioneering new study from the Tulane University Obesity Research Center, has found that those people with a high genetic risk of #heart disease or #stroke could offset that risk with a healthy #sleep pattern. Scientists conducted a large-scale study with 385,292 participants from the UK Biobank, using them to create a genetic risk score to determine whether individuals were at high, intermediate or low risk of #cardiovascular problems. The participants were followed for 8 years, during this time they recorded 7,280 cases of heart attack or stroke. The lead researcher, Dr. Lu Qi, developed a series of health questions in order to develop a “sleep score” for the participants, considering #insomnia and #snoring, as well as hours spent asleep.

Preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019 has shown that women who consume a higher proportion of their daily calorie intake in the evening had a greater risk of developing #cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have suggested that eating meals earlier in the day can aid weight loss, eating later may slow down #metabolism, and that later mealtimes can raise #inflammatory markers usually associated with #diabetes and #heart disease. This new research adds weight to the idea that eating more calories in the evening may negatively affect our health.

There is now considerable scientific evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can improve human health and protect against chronic diseases. However, it is not clear whether different fruits and vegetables have distinct beneficial effects. A paper in Nutrients published in May 2015 helps to tease apart some of the key mechanisms involved related to the consumption of apples.[1]