A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.
POOR WOMEN AT GREATER RISK OF HEART ATTACK
Women from low socioeconomic backgrounds are 25 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack than disadvantaged men, a global study has found.
Researchers from The George Institute for Global Health examined data from 22 million people from North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia.
The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found women from disadvantaged backgrounds were also more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease than similarly affected men.
There was no difference found for stroke.
Dr Sanne Peters, a research fellow at The George Institute, says this difference between the sexes is concerning and needs to be investigated further.
"Men and women have a similar lifetime risk of heart disease. However, women, on average, develop heart disease 5-10 years later in life than men. This advantage is smaller among women with a lower socioeconomic status."
"We need to examine why this is happening and make sure women are able to access lifesaving treatment," said Dr Peters.
Cardiovascular disease is the single leading cause of death in women worldwide, with an estimated 8.6 million women dying every year.
FORGET PRICEY FAD DIETS IN 2017
New research shows many Australians are turning to costly quick-fixes for weight loss, prompting dietitians to warn against wasting money on short-lived weight loss results.
The national survey of more than 1000 Australians aged 18-64 years, commissioned by Australia's peak body for nutrition professionals, the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), found nearly half (46 per cent) of adults had actively tried to lose weight in the past year.
And of those who had tried to lose weight, around half (47 per cent) did so by spending their money on a specific diet or diet program.
DAA spokesperson Professor Clare Collins said many popular 'diets' come with meal plans and programs, priced at up to $200 for eight weeks.
But she said it's not just the sign-up costs that pull at the purse strings, many of the diet plans push costly recipes and ingredients that are similar, or nutritionally inferior to, healthy everyday options.
"Coconut oil pops up in many popular diet plans these days, but it's around four times the price of heart-healthy olive oil, and 'sugar-alternatives' like maple syrup, at $9.00/100ml, will hurt your hip pocket, without saving you kilojoules," Prof Collins said.
She also advises people to be aware of products piggybacking onto health trends, like Paleo and protein bars.
"The greatest success is seen with ongoing counselling and support,"she said Prof Collins.
SWEETNER AND LIVER CANCER PROBED
A Queensland researcher is investigating the relationship between fructose - a common sweetener in soft drinks - and liver cancer.
Dr Lionel Hebbard from James Cook University, who has been awarded a $200,000 Cancer Council Queensland research grant, believes the consumption of common artificial sweeteners may be responsible for an increasing rate of this deadly cancer.
He says liver cancer has had one of the highest increases in incidence rates over the last thirty years, along with a patient survival rate of less than 16 per cent five years after diagnosis.
"Usually liver cancer is linked to alcohol, but non-alcoholic fatty liver disease occurs in some 30-45 percent of cases. This is exacerbated by people being overweight or obese - which is more than 60 per cent of the Australian population."
A major component of the western diet is the carbohydrate fructose, which has been found promote fatty liver disease in humans and liver cancer in mice, said Dr Hebbard.
Most fructose in the body enters in the form of sugar added to carbonated drinks or sweet snacks.
"Despite that, little is known about the key molecular events that fructose modulates during liver cancer growth," said Dr Hebbard.
Liver disease is almost always fatal if untreated and often occurs in people with other conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease that limit surgical options.
