Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2019

Long-term exercise is an important lifestyle factor that can substantially improve the health of older individuals. A new meta-analysis and systematic review builds on previous studies and provides further evidence that exercise interventions can prevent fall-related injuries and fractures in people aged >60 years.

A recent study shows that a history of rotating night-shift work and an unhealthy lifestyle are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), both independently and synergistically. This is the first large-scale, prospective study to quantify how a healthy lifestyle might partially offset T2DM risk in shift workers.

Exercise is used to prevent and treat metabolic diseases. Finding the optimum time for exercise is important as skeletal muscle has many clock-controlled genes. This Review summarizes the current literature regarding the consequence of exercise at different times of the day.

This Review examines the signalling between cells resident in adipose tissue and local sensory and sympathetic nerve fibres. The potential of targeting these processes in new therapeutics for metabolic diseases is also discussed.

The gut secretes approximately 20 active hormones with overlapping targets and actions. This Review focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the modulation of gut hormone release by food ingestion, obesity and the gut microbiota.

Interest in motilin is growing, as several studies have shown its relevance in the control of hunger and regulation of food intake in both health and disease. The current state of knowledge and implications for therapy are summarized in this Review.