Monday, September 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Study: Unhealthy diet can interfere with deep sleep

Published 4 July 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Junk food can interfere with sleep quality.
2 minute read

An unhealthy diet can adversely affect deep sleep, according to new Swedish research. However, more research is needed to determine how long the effects last and what in the diet affects sleep.

The food you eat affects most aspects of your health, and it’s not just about nutrition. For example, a recent study showed that fried foods may increase anxiety. It also affects our sleep, although there are not too many studies on this subject. In contrast, one study, for example, has shown that low carbohydrate intake in general may be associated with poor sleep, while another study suggests that a high GI diet may also have a negative impact on sleep.

In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University investigated how unhealthy food affects sleep. The study involved 15 healthy, normal-weight men who usually slept normally, seven to nine hours a night. Some of the participants were randomly assigned to eat a healthier diet and some to eat a less healthy diet, both of which contained the same amount of calories, but the amount of calories was calculated individually. The diets were followed for a week while the participants’ sleep, activity, and adherence to the diet were monitored. At the end of the week, the men were observed in a sleep lab.

In the sleep lab, they first slept normally for one night while brain activity was measured. They were then kept awake before being allowed to catch up on the sleep they had missed.

The results show that both groups slept the same amount of time and spent the same amount of time in the different stages of sleep. However, the participants who ate a more unhealthy diet had more shallow deep sleep.

– We were particularly interested in looking at the quality of deep sleep because it can be a measure of how restorative sleep is. Interestingly, we found that deep sleep was shallower after the participants ate the unhealthy food compared to the healthier food. This effect also persisted on a second night, after the participants had finished their respective diets and instead ate an identical diet, said Jonathan Cedernaes, MD and Associate Professor of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University, in a press release.

However, it is not clear how long the negative effects of an unhealthy diet last, nor is it known whether the change in sleep quality affects functions such as deep sleep. It is also not known what it is about the unhealthy diet that affects deep sleep. Cedernaes believes that more research is needed in this area.

– It would be interesting to investigate further whether any particular factor contributes more. Our dietary intervention was quite short, and both the sugar and fat content could have been higher. It is possible that an even more unhealthy diet would have had more pronounced effects on sleep, says Cedernaes.

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Cancer rates rising rapidly among young adults in Australia

Published today 11:22
– By Editorial Staff
More young people in the Western world are being affected by cancer, and researchers don't know what is causing the rapid increase.
2 minute read

Prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent among young Australian men. This is just the worst example of a very concerning trend – cancer cases among 30-39 year-olds have risen sharply over the past two decades.

Between 2000 and 2024, about ten different types of cancer have increased among the younger adult population. The technical term for this phenomenon is early-onset cancer, and according to data from Cancer Australia, the federal government’s cancer agency, the figures are alarmingly high.

Among other increases, kidney cancer has risen by 85 percent, uterine cancer by 138 percent, liver cancer by 150 percent, pancreatic cancer by 200 percent, and prostate cancer has increased by 500 percent in this age group. Colorectal cancer has also increased by 173 percent, a type of cancer that is often detected late, making it harder to treat.

Cancer has traditionally been a disease of aging, and bowel cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, they all increase with age, says Dorothy Keefe, chief executive of Cancer Australia, to ABC and continues:

But over the last 20 years, there’s been a real – it’s small in absolute numbers – but it is a real increase in the number of younger adults developing these cancers.

The increase is also occurring in the United States, where more and more young adults are being diagnosed with cancer.

Environmental toxins and childhood obesity

The increase puzzles researchers who cannot explain what causes it. While there are hereditary mutations that cause cancer, the younger patients do not carry these genetic changes. Researchers speculate that the increase may partly be due to environmental toxins in our surroundings.

We are exposed to a broad universe of synthetic chemicals … that our biology isn’t familiar with, and that has left a great deal of uncertainty, says Dr Christos Symeonides, who is an Australian pediatrician and also studies exposure to chemicals and microplastics.

The increase in childhood obesity is also seen as a possible explanation, as well as gut health. The proportion of cesarean sections has increased, for example, and this means that children do not receive the same microbiome as those born vaginally. This could potentially affect the development of their immune system, researchers believe.

We have lots of bacteria in our gut … and it’s that balance between good and bad bacteria that creates a healthy state, says Professor Gianluca Severi, senior cancer epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Paris, France.

Memory problems increase among Nordic children

Published 27 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Memory-related medical visits have tripled in a short time among children aged 5-14 in Sweden.
2 minute read

More children and young people are seeking medical care for memory problems in both Sweden and Norway. The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be linked to radiation exposure, which has also increased during the same period.

In Norway, there has been an increase in recent years in the number of people seeking medical care for memory problems, not only among adults but also among children. Between 2019 and 2024, for example, the number of doctor visits related to memory problems more than doubled, from 41,722 doctor visits to 98,910 doctor visits in 2024. Among children aged 5-14, visits had nearly tripled.

I have never seen such a dramatic increase in these figures before, says Richard Aubrey White, researcher and statistician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI), to Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

In Sweden too, the number of doctor visits regarding memory problems has increased, both among children and adults. Memory problems, which can be classified as mild cognitive impairment, is a diagnosis found under diagnostic code R41. In 2011, 577 children were registered with diagnosis R41 as the primary diagnosis; by 2024, the number had increased to 5,975.

Microwave radiation

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation believes the increase may be due to increased exposure to microwave radiation among people, pointing out that repeated research has shown, for example, that radiation has a harmful effect on memory.

Repeated scientific studies have also shown that people exposed to elevated levels of this radiation have an increased occurrence of various symptoms, called microwave syndrome, where impaired memory is one of the most common symptoms“, writes the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation.

Cell towers associated with worse memory

Even in case studies examining the health effects of 5G, impaired memory tends to be one of the most commonly reported effects. Reports of impaired memory, concentration difficulties, and headaches are also common when living near cell towers.

The Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation notes that radiation has increased dramatically during the same period as the increase in doctor visits for memory problems has occurred. At the same time, mobile phones have begun to be used more extensively by both children and adults during the same period.

The increased memory problems, both among children and adults, are thus an expected effect resulting from the increase in people’s exposure to microwave radiation”.

Colorectal cancer affects more young Swedes

Published 23 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients for up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.
2 minute read

Colorectal cancer is increasing among young people in Sweden, according to research from the Karolinska Institute. Researchers suggest that lifestyle factors, such as sedentary behavior and obesity, may be the cause.

In the study, which was published in Annals of Oncology, researchers examined over 135,000 Swedish patients who had colorectal cancer between 1993 and 2019.

The results show that the number of younger people under 50 who develop this form of cancer has increased over the past three decades. For rectal cancer, the number of new cases among younger people has increased by 2.04 percent per year, and for left-sided and right-sided colon cancer, the increase is 2.41 and 2.64 percent per year respectively. Overall, the disease has become two to three times more common among younger people.

Detected later in younger patients

Younger patients also more often had metastatic cancer compared to older patients, suggesting they had lived with symptoms longer before the cancer was discovered. Researchers emphasize that it’s important for both the public and healthcare professionals to know that this type of cancer can also affect younger people. This is particularly important since the chance of curing cancer increases with early detection.

The study also shows that mortality has increased among both younger and older patients up to ten years after cancer diagnosis.

This is remarkable, since patients are often considered cured after such a long time. Our results challenge that view and underscore the need for more research into why this is happening, as well as long-term follow-up and support for both young and older patients, says Cecilia Radkiewicz, researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Lifestyle may be the cause

It’s unclear what actually lies behind the increase in colorectal cancer among young people, but researchers believe it doesn’t appear to be driven by traditional risk factors such as inflammatory bowel disease or heredity. Instead, the results suggest that lifestyle factors may be decisive.

Childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and antibiotic use have been highlighted as contributing factors, although the underlying biological mechanisms remain unclear, says Radkiewicz.

Just a few puffs are enough – how quickly vaping damages the lungs

Published 21 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Researchers have for the first time been able to demonstrate a direct link between inhaled nicotine from e-cigarettes and inflammatory markers in the blood.
2 minute read

Just a few puffs of an e-cigarette, or vape, containing nicotine can trigger inflammation in the lungs, according to research from Uppsala University in Sweden.

The researchers, who received funding from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, tested 22 healthy individuals on two different occasions. The participants then smoked e-cigarettes both with and without nicotine for half an hour each.

When the researchers analyzed the blood samples, they found that participants exposed to nicotine-containing e-cigarettes showed elevated levels of inflammatory markers in their blood. According to the researchers, this could mean that just a few inhalations are enough to trigger an inflammatory reaction in lung tissue.

The results are alarming, as they clearly show that e-cigarettes with nicotine are not a harmless alternative to cigarettes. We have long worked to spread scientifically-based knowledge about nicotine’s health effects, and this research strengthens our conviction that tobacco and new nicotine products should be treated equally under the law, says Kristina Sparreljung, Secretary General of the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, in a press release.

For the first time, researchers have been able to demonstrate a direct link between inhaled nicotine and specific inflammation markers in the blood that are connected to the lungs. The researchers believe the absorption rate is particularly concerning, as the body absorbs nicotine faster than with nicotine patches, for example.

Our results are in line with previous studies where nicotine from e-cigarettes has been shown to affect blood vessels by increasing levels of vascular damage markers in the blood. It’s remarkable that even single occasions can produce biological effects. In the long term, this could contribute to the development of both lung diseases and cardiovascular disease, says Fariborz Mobarrez, lecturer and researcher at the Department of Medical Sciences at Uppsala University.

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