New Delhi: Consuming more caffeine, present in coffee, tea, and cocoa may improve heart health in people with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study on Wednesday. 

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. This is both due to the disease and some treatments for them, particularly cortisone derivatives.

To date, these patients were given conventional recommendations like quitting smoking, reducing cholesterol, and controlling high blood pressure, the new study published in the journal Rheumatology, added drinking caffeine to the list to boost their heart health.

Researchers from Sapienza University of Rome, in Italy, suggested that caffeine, present in coffee, tea, and cocoa, actively helps endothelial progenitor cells, the group of cells that help regenerate the lining of blood vessels and are involved in vascular growth.

“The present study is an attempt to provide patients with information on the possible role of diet in controlling the disease,” said the paper’s lead author, Fulvia Ceccarelli. 

Caffeine not only acts as a stimulant effect on the body but also exerts an anti-inflammatory effect. It is because it binds with the receptors expressed on the surface of immune cells. 

In the study, the team examined 31 lupus patients who did not have traditional cardiovascular risk factors using a seven-day food questionnaire. 

After a week, the patient’s blood was measured to check blood vessels’ health. The result revealed that patients who consumed caffeine had better vascular health, as measured through endothelial cells, which form the important inner layer of blood vessels.

Ceccarelli called for a longitudinal study to confirm the results and assess the real impact of coffee consumption on the disease course.

New Delhi: Facing severe back pain? A new study suggests reducing daily sitting time and walking or doing some brisk exercises to prevent back pain from worsening. 

Back pain is very common and common reasons include muscle strain, disk damage, and some health conditions, such as scoliosis and osteoporosis.

Doctoral Researcher and Physiotherapist Jooa Norha from the University of Turku in Finland said that people concerned about back health, must “reduce sitting at work or during leisure time”

To understand the link between activity and back pain as well as the mechanisms related to back pain, the researchers included 64 adults with overweight or obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The participants reduced their sitting by 40 minute per day, on average, during the six-month study.

People with back pain tend to have excessive fat deposits within the back muscles. They are also likely to have impaired glucose metabolism, or insulin sensitivity, which can predispose them to pain.

The study did not, however, find a link between “the fattiness or glucose metabolism of the back muscles”.

Further, the researchers said that being overweight or obese and having metabolic syndrome not only increases the risk for back pain but also for cardiovascular disease.

Just standing up also may not help, instead “walking or more brisk exercise” may be more beneficial”, Norha said.

The researchers also said that switching between postures is more important than only looking for the perfect posture.

According to recent analysis published in the journal Lancet Rheumatology, more than 800 million people will suffer from lower back pain by 2050, a 36 per cent increase from 2020.

The study showed that since 2017, the number of low back pain cases has ticked over to more than half a billion people. In 2020, there were approximately 619 million cases of back pain.