Weight loss is usually considered a good thing, unexpected and extreme weight loss can be a sign of something in your body going very wrong. There could be some underlying issues that are causing your body to pull weight and nutrition from your muscles and body fat to keep you going. As you grow old, your limbs grow weaker, and same for your muscles, so you do lose some weight as you age, but losing a lot of it too quickly could be a sign of something much worse, Dementia. A recent study published in JAMA Network Open 2025 Cardiometabolic Trajectories Preceding Dementia in Community-Dwelling Older Individuals, has identified potential early indicators of dementia, including significant weight loss and specific digestive changes, appearing years before noticeable cognitive decline.

The study showed that people who later got dementia had their Body Mass Index, or BMI, go down faster than those who stayed healthy. BMI is a way to see if someone's weight is healthy for their height. This drop in BMI started happening many years before they were told they had dementia, sometimes as early as 11 years ago. Also, these people often started with a lower BMI to begin with. So, even though everyone's weight might change a little as they get older, the people who developed dementia had a much bigger and faster weight loss.

What Are Some Other Indicators Of Dementia?

Along with their BMI, the size of their waist also changed. People who ended up with dementia had smaller waist sizes, and this difference was noticeable about 10 years before they were diagnosed. This means that their bodies were changing in ways that showed up long before they or their doctors noticed any problems. So, not only was there weight loss, but also a loss of abdominal fat. This measurement is important because fat around the waist can be related to other health issues.

The study also found changes in their blood. Specifically, the "good" cholesterol, called HDL, went up in people who developed dementia. This increase happened about five years before they were diagnosed. It's tricky because HDL is usually seen as a good thing for your heart. But in this case, it seems like it might be a sign of changes happening in the brain. Scientists are still trying to understand why this happens.

Weight Loss Doesn’t Cause Dementia, Dementia Causes Weight Loss

When we see that people with dementia lose weight, it's easy to think that the weight loss is what caused dementia. But experts think it's the other way around. They call this "reverse causation." This means that the brain changes that cause dementia also cause people to lose weight. The brain changes can affect things like appetite, how the body uses food, and how people go about their daily lives. For example, people might forget to eat, have trouble making meals, or move around less.

While the study revealed a lot about different indicators of dementia and bodily changes, there are many limitations to the study. Everyone loses some weight as they get older. So, it's hard to know when weight loss is just a normal part of aging and when it's a sign of dementia. The study found that people with dementia lost weight faster, but it's still tricky to tell the difference in everyday life. Doctors need to look at other things, like memory tests, to figure out if someone's weight loss is a cause for concern.

If someone is losing weight without trying, and they're also having problems with their memory or thinking, it's important to talk to a doctor. It's not just about the weight loss; it's about the whole picture.

While doctors across the world recommend ensuring that fluoride and other protective minerals make up your toothpaste, your body produces its very own amino acid that protect your entire dental cavity.

Arginine, an amino acid that is already present in saliva, can turn bacteria from damaging to protective in your mouth, a study has found.

When sugars from food are broken down by the many bacteria living in the mouth, acids are produced that gradually damage tooth enamel and lead to cavities. This is known as dental caries. Over time, this acid dissolves tooth enamel and causes cavities.

However, researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark have discovered that regular arginine treatment can significantly reduced the overall acidity levels in the mouth and prevent tooth decay.

Yumi Del Rey, microbiologist at Aarhus, said: ""Our results revealed differences in acidity of the biofilms, with the ones treated with arginine being significantly more protected against acidification caused by sugar metabolism."

How Did The Study Take Place?

Volunteers were then asked to instructed to dip the dentures in a sugar solution for 5 minutes, immediately followed by distilled water (as placebo) or arginine for 30 minutes, one on each side. This was to be repeated three times a day, with arginine treatment done on the same side each time.

Sebastian Schlafer, professor at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, explained: "The aim was to investigate the impact of arginine treatment on the acidity, type of bacteria, and the carbohydrate matrix of biofilms from patients with active caries."

After 4 days of this process, the biofilms were developed and the dentures were removed for detailed analysis. The researchers compared dental plaques grown on customized dentures on both sides of each participant's mouth using a special pH-sensitive dye called C-SNARF-4.

How Does Arginine Work?

Additionally, the team also began to look into how arginine might be reducing acidity, by taking stock of which bacteria and sugars were present in each sample.

Biofilms treated with arginine showed lower levels of a sugar called fucose, while another sugar, galactose, was concentrated towards the outer surface of the biofilm, meaning both sugars were away from the tooth enamel.

After analyzing the DNA of bacteria present, the researchers found that arginine treatment significantly reduced a specific population of Streptococcus bacteria known to produce acid, while slightly increasing other bacterial strains that can metabolize arginine.

The scientists noted that while more research is needed into the arginine's effectiveness, the amino acid could be a promising new addition to oral hygiene products such as toothpaste or mouthwash.

Covid is returning, as the National Health Service, NHS UK warned that there has been a "bounce back" in respiratory viruses this winter, along with COVID too on the rise. While UK was already struggling with flu and norovirus on the rise, cases of COVID have also risen. The latest data from the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) show that the number of patients in hospital beds with COVID per day has risen from 0.87 per 100,000, as compared with 0.77 per 100,000 the previous week.

NHS national medical director Professor Meghana Pandit said: “It’s clear that the worst is far from over for the NHS this winter, with hospitals again experiencing a rise in patients admitted with flu and other respiratory virus cases last week.”

What New COVID Variants Are We Dealing With In 2026?

Since the pandemic, there have been many variants of COVID. The virus has continued to evolve. Two new variants that caused the spike in cases in autumn were XFG, known as Stratus, and NB.1.1, known as Nimbus.

Stratus: It is a subvariant of Omicron variant and made of previous variants LF.7 and LP.8.1.2. It was first detected in a sample on January 27, 2025. Whereas, Nimbus was first detected on January 22, 2025. It also originated from the same omicron variant, which was the reason for spike in 2023.

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes stratus as a "variant under monitoring" after several countries in South East Asia reported a rise in new cases and hospitalizations with this variant being detected.

COVID Symptoms 2026: Fatigue Emerges As The Most Common Symptom

Among studies that focused on how symptoms appear together, fatigue stood out as the most consistently reported issue. It often occurred alone or alongside problems such as muscle and joint pain, brain fog, or breathlessness. Other symptom pairings that appeared frequently included loss of smell and taste, anxiety with depression, and various forms of musculoskeletal pain.

When researchers classified patients based on affected organ systems, respiratory problems were the most widespread, seen in about 47% of long COVID patients. Neurological symptoms followed at 31%, while gastrointestinal issues were reported by 28%. The authors stressed that these percentages reflect how often these clusters appeared within long COVID cases studied, not how common they are in the general population.

A smaller number of studies sorted patients by how severe their symptoms were, dividing them into mild, moderate, or severe categories using symptom scores, symptom counts, or quality-of-life measures. Three studies used clinical indicators for classification, including abnormal triglyceride levels and signs of restricted lung function on imaging.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), here are the common COVID symptoms:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

How To Know If You Have COVID?

CDC says, look out for these signs:

• Trouble breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion
• Inability to wake or stay awake
• Lips and nail beds may appear pale, grey or blue

Have you ever dread waking up in the morning and felt like you just need the five extra minutes of sleep? Study now shows that it can actually be helpful for your health. A study published in the Lancet journal eClinical Medicine suggests that seven to eight hours of sleep per day, more than 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity and a healthy diet is associated with over nine years of additional lifespan and years spent in good health.

“The combined relationship of sleep, physical activity, and diet is larger than the sum of the individual behaviors. For example, for people with the unhealthiest sleep, physical activity and dietary habits to achieve one additional year of lifespan through sleep alone would require five times the amount of additional sleep per day (25 minutes) than if physical activity and diet also improved a small amount,” said the international group of researchers from the UK, Australia, Chile, and Brazil.

In a separate study published in The Lancet, researchers from Norway, Spain, and Australia found that adding just five extra minutes of walking to a daily routine can reduce the risk of death by 10 percent for most adults. The study reported that it will also help the least active adults to reduce their risk of death by around 6 per cent.

How Was The Study Conducted?

The study, which analyzed data from over 135,000 adults, found that cutting sedentary time by just 30 minutes a day was linked to a 7 percent reduction in overall deaths if adopted by most adults who sit for around 10 hours daily. Among the most sedentary people, who sit for about 12 hours a day, deaths could fall by nearly 3 percent.

“These estimates show the broad public health impact of even small, positive changes in physical activity and reduced inactivity,” said corresponding author Prof Ulf Ekelund of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo.

Researchers stressed that the findings are not meant as personalized advice, but as evidence of potential benefits at a population level.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Nicholas Koemel from the Mackenzie Wearables Hub at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, leading researcher of another study that seconds that extra five minutes of sleep can in fact help people live longer, said, "While major lifestyle overhauls are often recommended, they may not always be achievable or sustainable. Our results suggest that modest, combined changes may offer meaningful health benefits, be more likely to be maintained over time and provide an important starting point for individuals who may otherwise find it difficult to initiate lifestyle change. Starting by reviewing our daily routines to identify where small, realistic tweaks can be made is an important first step towards improving long term health and longevity."

Research over the years has consistently shown that moderate to vigorous physical activity helps improve key markers of health, including blood pressure, blood sugar, body weight, and body fat. Building on this, a large multi-country analysis of cohort data explains that even small increases in daily physical activity can significantly reduce the risk of death from any cause. The biggest gains are seen among people who are least active, as regular movement leads to a sharp drop in mortality risk for them. If such habits are adopted widely across the population, the data suggest that nearly 10 percent of deaths in people in their 70s and 80s could potentially be prevented.