Health and Fitness News and Notes

The faster a person eats, the more likely he or she is to be overweight, a new study concludes.

Japanese researchers studied 59,717 people who had been given diagnoses of Type 2 diabetes. At periodic checkups over six years, they collected data on obesity and waist circumference, eating and sleep habits, alcohol consumption, the medications they took and whether they smoked.

The researchers categorized the subjects as fast, normal or slow eaters based on self-reports.

After controlling for other factors, they found that compared with the slow eaters, normal speed eaters were 29 percent more likely, and fast eaters 42 percent more likely, to be obese. Going to sleep within two hours of dinner and snacking after dinner were also associated with obesity; skipping breakfast was not.

The study, in BMJ Open, found an association, not a causal relationship. But the researchers suggest that a possible reason for the association is that fast eaters may continue eating without waiting to realize they have eaten enough, whereas slow eaters may have time to start to feel full and then stop.

The researchers had no data on physical exercise and energy intake, which could have altered the results. Only Japanese men and women were included in the study, so the findings may not be applicable to other populations.

Opioids may be linked to an increased risk of life-threatening infections.

Animal studies have shown that opioids suppress the immune system, but their clinical effect in human infections has not been widely studied.

In a new report published in The Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers looked at 1,233 patients with invasive pneumococcal disease, an infection that is fatal in about 10 percent of cases, with higher death rates in the elderly. They compared them with 24,399 controls.

People with invasive pneumococcal disease were 62 percent more likely than those in the control group to be using prescription opioids. The association was strongest for high-potency drugs like oxycodone and for long-acting drugs like methadone and transdermal fentanyl. The study controlled for many variables, such as sex, race, alcohol use and cardiovascular disease.

“We can’t say that there’s proof of a causal link here,” said the lead author, Andrew D. Wiese, a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University. “But providers should consider these findings when deciding whether to prescribe opioids, and in choosing what formulation to use.”

Two of the co-authors have received payments from drug companies.

Night-shift work is linked to an increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, a new study has found. British and U.S. researchers used a large health database to compare diabetes prevalence in 47,286 night-shift workers with that of 224,928 day workers.

The database included information on age, sex, race, family history of diabetes, alcohol use, sleep duration, body mass index and other health and behavioral characteristics, as well as diagnoses of diabetes.

After controlling for other factors associated with diabetes, they found that the more often people worked nights, the more likely they were to have diabetes. Compared with day workers, people who occasionally worked night shifts were 15 percent more likely to have diabetes; those who rotated shifts with some night work were 18 percent more likely; and those who worked irregular shifts with frequent night shifts were 44 percent more likely to have Type 2 diabetes. The study is in Diabetes Care.

The lead author, Céline Vetter, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, said night work can misalign circadian rhythms, reduce energy expenditure and cause partial sleep restriction, all adding to the risk.