interleukin-6

Giving social support may help to lower inflammation and improve health

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An interesting article titled “Perceived social support-giving moderates the association between social relationships and interleukin-6 levels in blood,” appears in the 2022 edition of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (no. 100: pp. 25-28) written by T. Jiang and et al. The article seeks to explore if perceived social support-giving (i.e. the belief that one can be available to give social support to others) moderates associations between social relationships and inflammation. Thus the article looks at the willingness to give social support to others such as family and friends instead of just receiving help from those same people. In the article, the researchers looked at data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the U.S. (MIDUS II) and in particular 1054 healthy middle-aged adults between 34 and 84 years old. The data contained questionnaires on social integration, support-availability from others, positive relations … Read more

Loneliness can tax the Immune System

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Interesting research has been conducted by investigators from the Ohio State University. The research links loneliness to a number of dysfunctional immune responses which suggests loneliness may adversely affect overall health. The results were based on a series of studies on two different groups: 1) a healthy group of overweight middle-aged adults and 2) a group of breast cancer survivors with an average age of 51. Loneliness was measured using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The researchers measured presence of antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus in the breast cancer survivor group with 200 participants. Lonelier participants were found to have higher levels of antibodies against cytomegalovirus compared to less lonely participants. Further, those higher antibody levels were related to more depression, pain, and fatigue symptoms. No difference was found for Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels. Previous research has shown that stress … Read more