Friends, family may protect against heart attack, stroke and type 2 diabetes, study suggests

New research is emphasizing that socializing with friends and family may help protect people against heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes and other conditions and illnesses.

The study suggests that social interactions may keep people healthy because these interactions boost the immune system and reduce the risk of disease.

Cambridge University researchers, along with colleagues in China, came to these conclusions after studying protein in blood samples taken from over 42,000 adults recruited to the U.K. Biobank, news agency SWNS reported. 

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The study team said social relationships play a key role in well-being. 

Professor Barbara Sahakian of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge said, "These findings drive home the importance of social contact in keeping us well. More and more people of all ages are reporting feeling lonely," as SWNS noted.

"That’s why the World Health Organization has described social isolation and loneliness as a global public health concern … We need to find ways to tackle this growing problem and keep people connected to help them stay healthy."

Evidence increasingly shows that both social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health and an early death, the same source reported. But the underlying mechanisms through which social relationships impact health apparently have remained elusive until now, the news agency also said.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy previously warned against the health risks of loneliness, as Fox News Digital reported earlier. 

"Loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience," he said when issuing an advisory nearly two years ago on the topic, per The Associated Press. "It's like hunger or thirst. It's a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing."

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"Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that's not right," he also said at the time. "That's why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing."

The researchers connected to the new study said that one way to explore biological mechanisms is to look at proteins circulating in the blood, SWNS noted. Proteins, which are molecules produced by genes, are essential for helping the human body function properly.

They can also serve as useful drug targets, allowing scientists to develop new treatments to tackle diseases. 

The Cambridge team and scientists at Fudan University, China, examined the "proteomes," or the suite of proteins, in blood samples donated by more than 42,000 British adults aged 40 to 69. 

That allowed them to see which proteins were present at higher levels among people who were socially isolated or lonely — and how these proteins were connected to poorer health, SWNS said.

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The team calculated social isolation and loneliness scores for individuals in the study, which was published in Nature Human Behaviour, a monthly peer-reviewed journal. 

Social isolation is an objective measure based on, for example, whether people live alone, how frequently they have contact with others and whether they take part in social activities, the team said. 

Loneliness, by contrast, is a subjective measure based on whether an individual feels lonely.

When the researchers analyzed the proteomes and adjusted for factors including age, sex and socio-economic background, they found 175 proteins associated with social isolation and 26 proteins associated with loneliness. 

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Many of the proteins are produced in response to inflammation, viral infection and as part of immune responses, the team said — and they also showed links to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and early death.

The researchers then used a statistical technique to explore the causal relationship between social isolation and loneliness, on the one hand, and proteins on the other.

With that approach, they identified five proteins that were found in abundance during periods of loneliness.

"We know that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, but we’ve never understood why," said Dr. Chun Shen of the department of clinical neurosciences at the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University.

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"Our work has highlighted a number of proteins that appear to play a key role in this relationship, with levels of some proteins in particular increasing as a direct consequence of loneliness," he said, as SWNS reported.

Professor Jianfeng Feng of the University of Warwick said, "There are more than 100,000 proteins and many of their variants in the human body … AI and high-throughput proteomics can help us pinpoint some key proteins in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for many human diseases and revolutionize the traditional view of human health."

He also said, "The proteins we’ve identified give us clues to the biology underpinning poor health among people who are socially isolated or lonely, highlighting why social relationships play such an important part in keeping us healthy."

One of the proteins produced at higher levels as a result of loneliness was ADM.

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Previous studies have shown that ADM plays a role in responding to stress and in regulating stress hormones and social hormones, such as oxytocin — known as the "love hormone" — which can reduce stress and improve mood.

The team found a "strong" association between ADM and the volume of the insula, a brain hub for interoception, the ability to sense what's happening inside the body.

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The greater the ADM levels, the smaller the volume of the region. 

Higher ADM levels were also linked to lower volume of the left caudate — a region involved in emotional, reward and social processes. Higher levels of ADM were also linked to an increased risk of dying young.

The researchers said another of the proteins, ASGR1, is associated with higher cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease — while other identified proteins play roles in the development of insulin resistance, "furring" of the arteries and cancer progression.

Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.