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Social Life Protects From Stroke, Infections, Blood Proteins Suggest

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 6, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 6, 2025 -- Palling around with family and friends is more than just fun and relaxing -- it also boosts health.

A new study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior says that blood samples show that an active social life appears to boost the immune system and lower risk of illnesses like heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

“These findings drive home the importance of social contact in keeping us well,” Barbara Sahakian, a professor with the University of Cambridge, said in a news release from the college.

Researchers identified 175 proteins in blood associated with social isolation and 26 associated with loneliness.

Many of these proteins are produced in response to illness -- inflammation, viral infection, immune response, and chronic ailments like heart disease and diabetes, researchers said.

“We know that social isolation and loneliness are linked to poorer health, but we’ve never understood why,” lead researcher Chun Shen, a postdoctoral investigator with the University of Cambridge Department of Clinical Neurosciences, said in a news release from the college.

“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,” Shen continued.

For the study, researchers analyzed proteins found in blood samples from more than 42,000 people 40 to 69 donated as part of the long-term UK Biobank health study.

The proteins found in the samples were then compared to each person’s self-reported levels of social isolation and loneliness, as well as their overall health.

Looking more closely, researchers found five specific proteins that appear in high levels due to loneliness.

One of the five, ADM, plays a role in regulating hormones related to stress, as well as the so-called “love hormone” oxytocin.

Higher levels of ADM were linked with an increased risk of early death, researchers said. The protein also appeared to play a role in people’s risk of heart disease, dementia and stroke.

Elevated ADM is also associated with smaller sizes in key brain regions, researchers said. These regions include the insula, a brain hub for our ability to sense what’s happening in our environment, and the left caudate, which is involved in emotional, reward and social processing.

Another protein, ASGR1, is associated with high cholesterol and increased risk of heart disease.

“We discovered that both ADM and ASGR1 were strongly associated with a range of biochemical, hematological, and metabolic biomarkers, including CRP (a sign of inflammation), cholesterol, and triglycerides,” researchers wrote in their paper.

Other identified proteins play roles in the development of insulin resistance, hardening of the arteries, and cancer progression.

"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,” senior researcher Jianfeng Feng, a professor with the University of Warwick, said in a news release.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted January 2025

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