Hello Health Rounds readers! We have a trio of interesting studies to report today. One reveals benefits of yoga for recovery from opioid withdrawal, while another moves us closer to accurate diagnosis of diabetes in patients of African ancestry. And further evidence that the future is upon us: researchers are developing a method to monitor whether you're taking your pills as prescribed.

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Last spring, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials were drafting a proposal to cut the recommended limit for alcohol consumption for men in half, from two drinks per day to one drink per day - but the proposal never saw the light of day.

Adding yoga to regular treatment can help speed recovery from opioid withdrawal, a small Indian study suggests.

Combining standard buprenorphine therapy with yoga helped people recover from opioid withdrawal almost twice as fast as the drug alone, researchers found.

During opioid withdrawal, the stress system of the body remains overactive while its calming system is underactive, said study leader Dr. Hemant Bhargav from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in India.

Patients can experience diarrhea, insomnia, pain, anxiety, and depression, as well as pupil dilation, a runny nose, anorexia, and vomiting.

With mindfulness, slowed breathing, and relaxation techniques, “yoga helps the body shift out of constant stress mode and into a state that supports healing - something standard medications don't fully address,” Bhargav said.

The 59 men in the study experiencing mild to moderate opioid withdrawal symptoms all received buprenorphine. Half of them also received 10 45-minute yoga sessions over 14 days, including breathing techniques, postures, and guided relaxation.

Participants in the yoga group had an average recovery time of about 5 days, compared with 9 days in the buprenorphine group, researchers reported in JAMA Psychiatry.

Yoga reduced anxiety levels, a key trigger for cravings and relapse during withdrawal. It also improved sleep quality, eased pain, and improved heart rate, the researchers found.

“The study's all-male sample reflects the patient population at our treatment center during the study period,” Bhargav said.

“Including females could reveal important differences; women may experience withdrawal differently due to hormonal influences on autonomic function and pain perception, and they may respond differently to yoga practices," he said, adding that similar studies that will include women are planned.

“We also want to examine whether the benefits of yoga persist beyond the withdrawal period, particularly in reducing relapse risk,” he said.

Newly identified biomarkers might help doctors more accurately diagnose type 2 diabetes in people with African ancestry, according to a study in Uganda.

Most existing markers for diagnosing type 2 diabetes, such as HbA1c, which measures blood sugar levels over time, were identified in studies of European populations and can be less accurate in African populations due to genetic and biological differences, the researchers noted.

Studying 163 individuals in Uganda with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes and 362 healthy Ugandan volunteers, the researchers found 58 African-ancestry-specific gene variants that have not been previously identified.

Eighteen of the variants are linked with type 2 diabetes, including some that could be targeted by existing drugs, the researchers reported on Thursday in Nature Genetics.

“By focusing on African populations, we are uncovering biological insights that have been missing from global diabetes research,” study leader Opeyemi Soremekun of the University of Exeter said in a statement.

“This work shows that a one-size-fits-all approach to diagnosis and treatment is not enough. We need solutions that reflect the diversity of human biology.”