Lycopene is a promising nutrient that can prevent gastric diseases associated with H. pylori

Yonsei University (Japan), April 30, 2021

Helicobacter pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium that grows in your digestive tract. An opportunistic pathogen, it is considered to be the most successful colonizer of the human gastrointestinal tract, infecting the stomachs of roughly 60 percent of the world’s adult population.

In a recent study, researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea found that lycopene, a bioactive pigment with powerful antioxidant properties, can help prevent gastric diseases associated with H. pylori infection. Lycopene is a non-provitamin A carotenoid commonly found in bright red and orange produce, such as tomatoes, watermelons, papaya and pink grapefruit. This beneficial compound is extensively studied for its remarkable ability to scavenge free radicals, the unstable byproducts of cellular metabolism responsible for causing oxidative stress.

How lycopene prevents H. pylori-induced gastric cancer

According to studies, H. pylori infection promotes the hyperproliferation of gastric epithelial cells — the very cells that make up the stomach lining — by increasing the production of free radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS then activates two signaling pathways — Wnt/B-catenin and JAK1/Stat3 — that influence cell fate decisions. While Wnt/B-catenin signaling is involved in the regulation of the self-renewal processes of cells, JAK1/Stat3 signaling is said to play a role in conferring malignant properties to cancer cells.

Due to the involvement of ROS, the South Korean researchers hypothesized that lycopene, which has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties, may be able to suppress H. pylori-induced hyperproliferation by inhibiting the activation of Jak1/Stat3 and Wnt/B-catenin signaling, as well as the expression of B-catenin target genes. B-catenin is a protein that accumulates due to the aberrant activation of Wnt/B-catenin signaling. The buildup of this protein promotes the expression of cancer genes (oncogenes) and the progression of tumors.

In an earlier study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, German researchers reported that lycopene is the most effective scavenger of singlet oxygen, a very strong oxidant and one of the major ROS produced by cells. To determine if it can prevent ROS-mediated hyperproliferation, South Korean researchers treated H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells with lycopene.  They measured the cells’ ROS levels and viability before and after treatment.

The researchers found that lycopene effectively reduced ROS levels and inhibited not only the activation of Jak1/Stat3 and Wnt/B-catenin signaling but also the expression of B-catenin target oncogenes and the proliferation of H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells. In addition, lycopene inhibited the increase in Wnt-1 (an oncogenic protein) and lipoprotein-related protein 5 (a protein involved in cancer progression) expression caused by H. pylori infection.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that lycopene can be used to prevent H. pylori-associated gastric cancer, thanks to its inhibitory effects on gastric cell hyperproliferation.

Too much salt suppresses phagocytes

Texas Christian University and University of Arkansas, May 1, 2021

Dietary supplements formulated with highly bioavailable curcumin may allow for faster recovery after competition-level training, and blunt training-related decreases in performance , says new data presented at Experimental Biology.

1. Avocado discovery may point to leukemia treatment

   University of Guelph (Canada), May 1, 2021

   A compound in avocados may ultimately offer a route to better leukemia treatment, says a new University of Guelph study.

   The compound targets an enzyme that scientists have identified for the first time as being critical to cancer cell growth, said Dr. Paul Spagnuolo, Department of Food Science.

   Published recently in the journal Blood, the study focused on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is the most devastating form of leukemia. Most cases occur in people over age 65, and fewer than 10 per cent of patients survive five years after diagnosis.

   Leukemia cells have higher amounts of an enzyme called VLCAD involved in their metabolism, said Spagnuolo.

   “The cell relies on that pathway to survive,” he said, explaining that the compound is a likely candidate for drug therapy. “This is the first time VLCAD has been identified as a target in any cancer.”

   His team screened nutraceutical compounds among numerous compounds, looking for any substance that might inhibit the enzyme. “Lo and behold, the best one was derived from avocado,” said Spagnuolo.

   Earlier, his lab looked at avocatin B, a fat molecule found only in avocados, for potential use in preventing diabetes and managing obesity. Now he’s eager to see it used in leukemia patients.

   “VLCAD can be a good marker to identify patients suitable for this type of therapy. It can also be a marker to measure the activity of the drug,” said Spagnuolo. “That sets the stage for eventual use of this molecule in human clinical trials.”

   Currently, about half of patients over 65 diagnosed with AML enter palliative care. Others undergo chemotherapy, but drug treatments are toxic and can end up killing patients.

   “There’s been a drive to find less toxic drugs that can be used.”

   Referring to earlier work using avocatin B for diabetes, Spagnuolo said, “We completed a human study with this as an oral supplement and have been able to show that appreciable amounts are fairly well tolerated.”

   Supplement betaine treats schizophrenia in mice, restores healthy “dance” and structure of neurons

   University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, April 19, 2021

   A simple dietary supplement reduces behavioral symptoms in mice with a genetic mutation that causes schizophrenia. After additional experiments, including visualizing the fluorescently stained dancing edge of immature brain cells, researchers concluded that the supplement likely protects proteins that build neurons’ cellular skeletons.

   The supplement betaine was first isolated from sugar beets and is often associated with sweetness or umami flavor. Healthy levels of betaine come from both external food sources and internal synthesis in the body. Betaine supplements are already used clinically to treat the metabolic disease homocystinuria. 

   “I don’t encourage anyone to take betaine for no reason, if a doctor has not recommended it. But, we know this drug is already used clinically, so repurposing it to treat schizophrenia should be safe,” said Project Professor Nobutaka Hirokawa, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine who led the recent research project. Hirokawa has been a member of the Japan Academy, a national honorary organization recognizing scientific achievement, since 2004 and received a Person of Cultural Merit award from the Japanese government in 2013.

   Schizophrenia is estimated to affect about 1 in 100 people globally and is one of the top 15 leading causes of disability worldwide. 

   “There are treatments for schizophrenia, but they have side effects and unfortunately there is still no effective drug for patients to take that we can explain biochemically why it works,” explained Hirokawa.

   Genetic studies of people diagnosed with schizophrenia have found possible links between the disease and variations in the kinesin family 3b (kif3b) gene as well as another gene involved in the body’s internal synthesis of betaine.

   Hirokawa and his lab members have categorized all 45 members of the kinesin superfamily of genes in mammals, most of which encode motor proteins that move materials throughout the cell. Normally, the KIF3B protein links together with another kinesin superfamily protein and transports cargo throughout a neuron by traveling up and down the cell’s skeleton. 

   Mice used in the recent research had only one functional copy of the kif3b gene and are often used as an animal model of schizophrenia. These mice avoid social interactions and show the same weak response as human patients with schizophrenia in a test called prepulse inhibition, which measures how startled they are by a sudden, loud sound preceded by a quieter sound.

   Kif3b mutant mice raised on a diet supplemented with three times the normal amount of betaine had normal behavior, indicating that betaine supplements could treat schizophrenia symptoms. 

   To figure out why betaine had this effect on mice, researchers grew nerve cells with the kif3b mutation in the laboratory and added fluorescent labels so they could watch the cellular skeleton take shape.

   The shape of a healthy neuron is reminiscent of a tree: a cell body surrounded by branches, the dendrites, attached to a long trunk, the axon. Kif3b mutant neurons grown in the lab have an unusual, hyperbranched structure with too many dendrites. Similar hyperbranched neurons are also seen in brain samples donated by people with schizophrenia, regardless of what treatments or medications they took while they were alive. 

   During healthy neuron development, the main body of the cell fills with a skeleton component called tubulin. Meanwhile, the front growth cone of the cell builds outwards in a spiky, erratic dance due to the movements of another skeleton component called filamentous actin. In kif3b mutants, this dancing movement, which experts refer to as lamellipodial dynamics, is noticeably reduced and the division between tubulin and actin is blurred. 

   The actin in a neuron’s cellular skeleton is assembled in part by another protein called CRMP2. Chemical analyses of the brains of kif3b mutant mice and human schizophrenia patients reveal significant chemical damage to CRMP2, which causes the proteins to clump together.

   Betaine is known to prevent the type of chemical damage, carbonyl stress, that causes this CRMP2 dysfunction. 

   “In postmortem brains of schizophrenia patients, CRMP2 is the protein in the brain with the most carbonyl stress. Betaine likely eliminates the carbonyl stress portion of the schizophrenia equation,” said Hirokawa. 

   By protecting CRMP2 from damage, betaine treatment allows kif3b mutant neurons to build proper structures. With a structurally sound skeleton to navigate, the remaining functional KIF3B protein can shuttle cargo around the cell. Other test tube experiments revealed that KIF3B and CRMP2 can bind together, but their exact relationship remains unclear. 

   “We know that the amount of betaine decreases in schizophrenia patients’ brains, so this study strongly suggests betaine could be therapeutic for at least some kinds of schizophrenia,” said Hirokawa. 

   The UTokyo research team is planning future collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and clinical studies of betaine supplements as a treatment for schizophrenia.

   Study reveals your neighbourhood may affect your brain health

   University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, April 20, 2021

   Middle-aged and older people living in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods — areas with higher poverty levels and fewer educational and employment opportunities–had more brain shrinkage on brain scans and showed a faster decline on cognitive tests than people living in neighbourhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to a new study.

   The study published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say such brain ageing may be a sign of the earliest stages of dementia.

   “Worldwide, dementia is a major cause of illness and a devastating diagnosis,” said study author Amy J. H. Kind M.D., PhD, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.

   “There are currently no treatments to cure the disease, so identifying possible modifiable risk factors is important. Compelling evidence exists that the social, economic, cultural and physical conditions in which humans live may affect health. We wanted to determine if these neighbourhood conditions increase the risk for the neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”

   For the study, researchers identified 601 people from two larger studies of Wisconsin residents. Participants had an average age of 59 and no thinking or memory problems at the start of the study, although 69% had a family history of dementia. They were followed for 10 years.

   Participants had an initial MRI brain scan and then additional scans every three to five years. With each scan, researchers measured brain volume in areas of the brain linked to the development of Alzheimer’s dementia. Participants also took thinking and memory tests every two years, including tests that measured processing speed, mental flexibility and executive function.

   Researchers used the residential address of each participant and a measure called the Area Deprivation Index to determine if each participant lived in an advantaged or disadvantaged neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods in the index are determined by census areas of 1,500 residents. The index incorporates information on the socio-economic conditions of each neighbourhood and its residents, ranking neighbourhoods based on 17 indicators including income, employment, education and housing quality.

   Of all participants, 19 people lived in the 20% of most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in their state and 582 people lived in 80% of all other neighbourhoods in their state. People in the first group were then matched one to four to people in the second group for race, sex, age and education and compared.

   At the start of the study, there was no difference in brain volume between people living in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and those in other neighbourhoods. But in the end, researchers found brain shrinkage in areas of the brain associated with dementia in people in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, while there was no shrinkage in the other group. Researchers also found a higher rate of decline on tests that measure the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

   “Our findings suggest that increased vigilance by healthcare providers for early signs of dementia may be particularly important in this vulnerable population,” said Kind. “Some possible causes of these brain changes may include air pollution, lack of access to healthy food and healthcare and stressful life events. Further research into possible social and biological pathways may help physicians, researchers and policymakers identify effective avenues for prevention and intervention in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.”

   Limitations of the study included a small number of participants from highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods and a limited geographic setting. Future studies should involve larger and more diverse groups of people over longer periods of time.

   Alpha-lipoic acid increases collagen synthesis and deposition in nondiabetic and diabetic kidneys

   University of Belgrade (Serbia), April 21, 2021

   According to news originating from Belgrade, Serbia, research stated, “Alpha-Lipoic acid (ALA) is widely used as a nutritional supplement and therapeutic agent in diabetes management. Well-established antioxidant and hypoglycemic effects of ALA were considered to be particularly important in combating diabetic complications including renal injury.”

   Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Belgrade, “The present study evaluated the potential of ALA to affect profibrotic events in kidney that could alter its structure and functioning. ALA was administered intraperitoneally (10 mg/kg) to nondiabetic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic male Wistar rats for 4 and 8 weeks. The effects of ALA were assessed starting from structural/morphological alterations through changes that characterize profibrotic processes, to regulation of collagen gene expression in kidney. Here, we demonstrated that ALA improved systemic glucose and urea level, reduced formation of renal advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and maintained renal structural integrity in diabetic rats. However, profibrotic events provoked in diabetes were not alleviated by ALA since collagen synthesis/deposition and expression of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) remained elevated in ALA-treated diabetic rats, especially after 8 weeks of diabetes onset. Moreover, 8 weeks treatment of nondiabetic rats with ALA led to the development of profibrotic features reflected in increased collagen synthesis/deposition. Besides the TGF-beta 1 downstream signaling, the additional mechanism underlying the upregulation of collagen IV in nondiabetic rats treated with ALA involves decreased DNA methylation of its promoter that could arise from increased Tet1 expression.”

   According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings emphasize the therapeutic caution in the use of ALA, especially in patients with renal diabetic complication.”

   Obesity, high-salt diet pose different cardiovascular risks in females, males

   Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, April 30, 2021

   Obesity and a high-salt diet are both bad for our hearts but they are bigger, seemingly synergistic risks for females, scientists report.

   “We see younger and younger women having cardiovascular disease and the question is: What is the cause?” says Dr. Eric Belin de Chantemele, physiologist in the Vascular Biology Center and Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. “We think the fact that females are more salt sensitive and more sensitive to obesity are among the reasons they have lost the natural protection youth and estrogen are thought to provide.” 

   His message to women based on the sex differences they are finding: “First reduce your consumption of salt, a message the American Heart Association has been pushing for years, which should also result in a reduction in your intake of highly processed, high-calorie food and drink.”

   Belin de Chantemele, whose research team has been exploring why so many young women are now getting cardiovascular disease, is presenting their findings during the Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lectureship at the American Physiological Society Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2021 this week. The award, which honors the scientist who created the first physiology lab in the country and was the American Physiological Society’s first president, recognizes original and outstanding accomplishments in the field of physiology by a young investigator. 

   The sex hormone estrogen, which has some protective powers like keeping blood vessels more flexible, is considered a natural protection for premenopausal women yet, along with soaring rates of severe obesity in young women, heart disease is now the third leading cause of death in females between the ages 20-44 — fourth for males in that age group — then moves up to second place for the next 20 years in both sexes, and is the number one killer for both men and women looking at all ages, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports. 

   While he refers to bad nutrition as the “world’s biggest killer” and obesity as a major risk factor for hypertension in both sexes, his lab has mounting evidence that obesity and high salt intake are even bigger risks for females, who have naturally higher levels of two additional hormones, leptin and aldosterone, setting the stage for the potentially deadly cardiovascular disparities. 

   Many of us likely think of leptin as the “satiety hormone” that sends our brain cues to stop eating when our stomach is full, but in obesity, the brain typically stops listening to the full message but the cardiovascular system of women starts getting unhealthy cues. 

   Belin de Chantemele has shown that in females leptin prompts the adrenal glands, which make aldosterone, to make even more of this powerful blood vessel constrictor. Like leptin, females, regardless of their weight, already have naturally higher levels of aldosterone and actually bigger adrenal glands as well. 

   A result: Obesity actually produces larger blood pressure increases in females, and studies indicate that females also are more prone to obesity associated vascular dysfunction — things like more rigid blood vessels that are not as adept as dilating. On the other hand, leptin actually increases production of the vasodilator nitric oxide — which reduces blood pressure — in the male mice, one of many cardiovascular differences they are finding between males and females. 

   Here’s another. “The major role of aldosterone is to regulate your blood volume,” Belin de Chantemele says. Increased salt intake should suppress aldosterone, and it does work that way in males, Belin de Chantemele says. But in females it appears to set them up for more trouble. 

   Aldosterone is the main mineralocorticoid, a class of hormones that helps maintain salt balance, and Belin de Chantemele and his team reported in 2019 in the journal Hypertension that the hormone progesterone, which enables pregnancy, also enables high levels of these mineralocorticoid receptors for aldosterone in the endothelial cells that line blood vessels in both female lab animals and human blood vessels. 

   When they removed the ovaries, which make estrogen and progesterone, from the female lab animals it equalized the mineralocorticoid receptor number, helping confirm that progesterone regulates the expression of the receptor in the females’ blood vessels. When they deleted either the mineralocorticoid or progesterone receptor in the females, it prevented the blood vessel dysfunction that typically follows, and just knocking out the progesterone receptor also suppressed the aldosterone receptor.

   The bottom line is that progesterone is key to the sex difference in aldosterone receptor expression on endothelial cells, which predisposes females to obesity associated, high-leptin driven endothelial dysfunction and likely high blood pressure, Belin de Chantemele says. 

   They reported a few years before in the same journal that higher leptin levels produced by more fat prompts the adrenal glands to make more aldosterone in females. “If you have higher aldosterone levels you will retain sodium and your blood volume will be higher,” he says. 

   They’ve also reported, as have others, that females are more salt sensitive than males. High sodium intake is known to raise blood pressure, by increasing fluid retention, and both pre- and postmenopausal females are more salt sensitive than males, Black females even more so, he says. 

   They’ve shown, for example, that in just seven days on a high-salt diet, the ability of female mice to relax blood vessels decreased as blood pressure increased. Treatment with the aldosterone agonist eplerenone helped correct both. 

   Because females already make more aldosterone, and the normal response of the body when you eat a lot of salt is to make even more aldosterone to help eliminate some of it, his team now proposes that females appear to have an impaired ability to reduce both the levels of the enzyme that makes aldosterone and the hormone itself, which makes them more salt sensitive. 

   One thing that means is that salt raises females’ blood pressure without them actually retaining more salt than the males. It also means that they think that blood vessels are more important in blood pressure regulation in females than males, which means they may need different treatment than males. To further compound the scenario, high salt increases the adrenal leptin receptor in the females, providing more points of action for leptin, which probably helps explain why aldosterone levels don’t decrease in females like they do in males. 

   A new $2.6 million grant (1R01HL155265-01) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is enabling them to further investigate, in both lab animals and human tissue, the female’s unique responses to a high-salt diet, include the specific contributions of the failure of aldosterone levels to drop, along with the increased expression of aldosterone and leptin receptors. 

   While trends in being overweight in about the last 50 years have held pretty steady for men and women, with decreases for men in the last handful of years, rates of severe obesity have been climbing, with women far outpacing men. 

   “We want to continue to put the puzzle together with the goal of helping restore protection from cardiovascular disease to young women, when a healthy diet and increased physical activity do not,” Belin de Chantemele says. 

   His research team includes Galina Antonova, research assistant; Dr. Reem Atawia, postdoctoral fellow; Simone Kennard, research associate; Taylor Kress and Candee Barris, graduate students; Vinay Mehta, undergraduate student at AU, Laszlo Kovacs, assistant research scientist; and Dr. Jessica Faulkner, postdoctoral fellow.

   Just 10 minutes of meditation helps anxious people have better focus

   University of Waterloo (Canada) May 1, 2021 

   Just 10 minutes of daily mindful meditation can help prevent your mind from wandering and is particularly effective if you tend to have repetitive, anxious thoughts, according to a study from the University of Waterloo.

   The study, which assessed the impact of meditation with 82 participants who experience anxiety, found that developing an awareness of the present moment reduced incidents of repetitive, off-task thinking, a hallmark of anxiety.

   “Our results indicate that mindfulness training may have protective effects on mind wandering for anxious individuals,” said Mengran Xu, a researcher and PhD candidate at Waterloo. “We also found that meditation practice appears to help anxious people to shift their attention from their own internal worries to the present-moment external world, which enables better focus on a task at hand.”

   The term mindfulness is commonly defined as paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and without judgement.

   As part of the study, participants were asked to perform a task on a computer while experiencing interruptions to gauge their ability to stay focused on the task. Researchers then put the participants into two groups at random, with the control group given an audio story to listen to and the other group asked to engage in a short meditation exercise prior to being reassessed.

   “Mind wandering accounts for nearly half of any person’s daily stream of consciousness,” said Xu. “For people with anxiety, repetitive off-task thoughts can negatively affect their ability to learn, to complete tasks, or even function safely.

   “It would be interesting to see what the impacts would be if mindful meditation was practiced by anxious populations more widely.”

   The study, co-authored by Waterloo psychology professors Christine Purdon and Daniel Smilek and Harvard University’s Paul Seli, was published in Consciousness and Cognition.

   Researchers find breastfeeding linked to higher neurocognitive testing scores

   University of Rochester Medical Center, April 27, 2021

   New research finds that children who were breastfed scored higher on neurocognitive tests. Researchers in the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) analyzed thousands of cognitive tests taken by nine and ten-year-olds whose mothers reported they were breastfed, and compared those results to scores of children who were not.

   “Our findings suggest that any amount of breastfeeding has a positive cognitive impact, even after just a few months.” Daniel Adan Lopez, Ph.D. candidate in the Epidemiology program who is first author on the study recently published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. “That’s what’s exciting about these results. Hopefully from a policy standpoint, this can help improve the motivation to breastfeed.”

   Hayley Martin, Ph.D., a fourth year medical student in the Medical Scientist Training Program and co-author of the study, focuses her research on breastfeeding. “There’s already established research showing the numerous benefits breastfeeding has for both mother and child. This study’s findings are important for families particularly before and soon after birth when breastfeeding decisions are made. It may encourage breastfeeding goals of one year or more. It also highlights the critical importance of continued work to provide equity focused access to breastfeeding support, prenatal education, and practices to eliminate structural barriers to breastfeeding.”

   Researchers reviewed the test results of more than 9,000 nine and ten-year-old participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Variations were found in the cumulative cognitive test scores of breastfed and non-breastfed children. There was also evidence that the longer a child was breastfed, the higher they scored. 

   “The strongest association was in children who were breastfed more than 12 months,” said Lopez. “The scores of children breastfed until they were seven to 12 months were slightly less, and then the one to six month-old scores dips a little more. But all scores were higher when compared to children who didn’t breastfeed at all.” Previous studies found breastfeeding does not impact executive function or memory, findings in this study made similar findings.

   “This supports the foundation of work already being done around lactation and breastfeeding and its impact on a child’s health,” said Ed Freedman, Ph.D., the principal investigator of the ABCD study in Rochester and lead author of the study. “These are findings that would have not been possible without the ABCD Study and the expansive data set it provides.”

The day the world ended began like any other day. People woke up, had their coffee, checked their social media, kissed their loved ones, went to work.

Nobody knew it was coming. The news reporters and pundits hadn’t been informing them that the US and its allies had been simultaneously ramping up aggressions against two nuclear-armed nations in a way that could easily lead to something going catastrophically wrong, or explained to them what this could mean for them and their loved ones. The mass media had never let the truth interfere with the military agendas of their government before, and, as it turns out, they never would.

Nobody knew it was coming, so nobody opposed the dangerous acts of brinkmanship that led up to it. Nobody resisted as the Democrats manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against Russia. Nobody resisted as the Republicans manufactured consent for escalation after escalation against China. Nobody objected as war ships were moved, as troops were deployed, as Nuclear Posture Reviews became more and more hawkish and aggressive, as new armageddon weapons were manufactured and fielded, as proxy conflicts were backed, as war planes encroached upon sovereign airspace, as missiles were readied for swift deployment.

So it simply did not feature in anyone’s mind that this could be the day they and their loved ones die in a nuclear holocaust.

They just went about their day, like it was any other day. Working, texting, thinking pointless thoughts, arguing about nonsense with strangers on the internet.

Then it happened. A nuclear weapon was deployed by one side, setting off a chain reaction that had been set in place ready to be triggered long ago, from which there was no coming back.

And the funny thing is, it was an accident. Just a stupid, innocent mistake. One of the thousands of people responsible for the operation of those horrific weapons got a little careless with their part in the day-to-day management of the imperfect technology used in an international nuclear standoff that had become increasingly tense and confusing amid rapidly rising cold war chaos.

That’s all it took. Nothing grand or dramatic. Just a bad decision, made at the wrong time.

One minute it seemed fine. The next minute it was the end. The end of everything.

Nothing rearranges your mental priorities like looking outside and seeing a mushroom cloud growing on the horizon. Suddenly your particular political ideology doesn’t feel so significant anymore. Your personal beef with your coworker loses its importance. That heated argument you were having online slips forgotten from your mind. In fact, nearly everything you’d spent your mental mental energy on that day up until that point feels like a ridiculous, pathetic joke.

There was fear of course. Panic of course. People ran. People hid. But the realization spread very quickly that there was no escaping this one. That this was the end.

And, in that brief moment of helpless surrender to the inevitable, humanity was the most awake it’s ever been. The most tuned in. The most compassionate. The most loving. The most united. If there’d been anyone outside of it to witness it, the beauty of our species in that moment would have taken their breath away.

The earth shook. The flames spread. Black carbon was hurled into the stratosphere for decades. All the earth’s creatures perished in the darkness and radiation.

And then it was all still. Still and silent.

It was a mistake. A stupid, silly mistake, just like all the other stupid silly mistakes we’ve made since the moment we first stood upright. It’s just that this mistake was our last one.

The only difference between our final mistake and all the innumerable others which preceded it was that there was nobody left to fix this one. To try and course correct. To say “Ah, I see where you went wrong there, let’s make some adjustments and try a different approach.”

No one left to recognize the mistake, to grow as a result of that recognition, and to rise above it. No one left to realize how staggeringly insane it was to flirt with the end of the world for the sake of power, how arrogant it was to think that we could remain in perfect control of all those weapons for decades on end without something going wrong amid our reckless games of nuclear chicken.

No one left to realize there’s no good reason we need to live in a world where governments brandish such weapons at each other just because a few sociopaths decided that US unipolar domination needs to be preserved at all cost. No one left to realize we could all just lay down our weapons and get along with each other, and begin collaborating with each other toward a peaceful and harmonious world.

It would be so, so wonderful if that had happened. But it didn’t. And now it’s all gone.

And it’s too late to fix our mistake.

The Weaponization of the CDC Against Public Health

Richard Gale and Gary Null

Progressive Radio Network, April 30, 2021

What if you were to know that a cabal of corrupt bureaucrats and scientists at the heart of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have known for almost two decades that vaccines, including the MMR, can lead to autism and other neurological disorders? Most people are unaware that the CDC is a militarized federal agency further influenced by private pharmaceutical interests. Due to the politicization of national immunization, vaccine efficacy and safety has become all but irrelevant.  Its policies drive profits for itself and its partners. Now the agency is committed to have as many Americans mandated to be fully vaccinated as soon as possible, irrespective of how many lives are destroyed.  The very mindset and disregard for human life that created the notorious Tuskegee experiment is alive and thriving in the innards of the CDC. 

It is time to take a hard look at the advocates of compromised pharmaceutical science and the motivations that compel the CDC and it’s vaccine network to systematically mislead the public for personal benefit, power, and greed.  We need to begin to understand that the agency operates as an independent “deep state,” secretive, non-transparent, and conducting itself in covert ways behind the disguise of heralding public health. When the brilliant journalist I.F. Stone wrote, “Every government is run by liars, and nothing they say should be believed,” he may have just as well been speaking about the CDC and its alliance with the pharmaceutical industry, many medical journals, and the mainstream media.

The money-driven institutions of evidence-based medicine and science, which have hijacked America's health agencies--the CDC, FDA, Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the USDA-- have plunged a stake into the heart of authentic scientific inquiry, knowledge and innovative medical progress.  Its efforts to hermetically seal and silence the debate on vaccination safety with propaganda, coercion, erroneous and deceptive research, and blatant criminality have succeeded in transforming modern vaccinology into an egregious pseudo-science that is today destroying the lives of millions of infants, children and their families. 

The deep-seated problems that reside in the CDC are not going unnoticed by a growing number of Americans. A Rand Corporation survey of public trust in the agency during the Covid-19 pandemic found a 10 percent decline. For decades distrust in the CDC has been high among Black Americans; today, levels of trust among non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic respondents are comparable.  One of the fundamental reasons for Americans’ mistrust and skepticism has been the agency’s culture of muddying the lines between scientific facts and compromised opinions that support gross and deep-seated conflicts of interest.  

This problem has also entered the ranks of CDC personnel.  A group of CDC scientists who called themselves SPIDER (Scientists Preserving the Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research) became anonymous whistleblowers after releasing a written complaint criticizing the agency for operating as a tax-funded subsidiary of the drug industry in partnership with the FDA.  And after a Congressional Government Reform Committee brought CDC officials to testify before legislators, the Committee concluded the agency had routinely allowed scientists with conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies to serve on its two advisory committees that make recommendations on vaccine policy

The blurring of the lines between the pharmaceutical industry and our federal health agencies has been a scandal evolving over the course of several decades. The revolving door between private interests and top government employees never ceases to gyrate.  For example, former CDC director Julie Gerberding left government to become president of Merck's vaccine division, a move that has since earned her upwards to $3 million in stock options.  This may seem to be a modest reward for Gerberding heading the agency now irrefutably responsible for the cover-up of the CDC's own studies proving the MMR vaccine increases the risk of autism in African American boys.  The MMR is manufactured by Merck.

Robert Kennedy Jr, one of the nation’s expert watchdogs in the corporatization of our federal medical establishment, has called the CDC "a cesspool of corruption." Unlike the FDA, which has a contract with the American public to assure warnings about health risks and contraindications of registered drugs and medical devices, the CDC has no such contract with the nation's citizenry.  It seemingly holds no ethical standard and abides by no mandated rules of law. For this reason it may be best regarded as an intelligence agency rather than an institution committed to public health.

One recent example of the CDC's covert activities took place in 2016. Across the mainstream media, journalists en masse denounced the documentary film Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe. The film recounted the events of CDC whistle-blower Dr. William Thompson and his agency's intentional cover-up and destruction of documents of scientific evidence proving the MMR vaccine caused autism. Rather than denouncing the nation's vaccine agenda, the film uncovers massive corruption in the CDC's vaccine division.  But a problem with the media-wide demonization of the film arose, which included outlets such as ABC, CNN, MSNBC, the Guardian, the Washington Post and the New York Times, Forbes, Rolling Stone and many others. The media blitzkrieg occurred before the film's actual release. None of the journalists had watched it. None knew the underlying story line aside from what could be gleaned from a 3 minute trailer. Our investigative article, "Why is the CDC petrified of the film Vaxxed" uncovered a template for an editorial script upon which all of these reviews were based.  They originated from a single source, and the tracks led to the halls of the CDC. The CDC's partnership and fellowship programs with the Association of Health Care Journalists is nothing less than an intelligence indoctrination program to train journalists to be the mouthpieces of the CDC's fake science. The curriculum held at the CDC's Atlanta campus includes propaganda in federal health policies, epidemiology (no authentic gold standard biological science), pandemic preparedness, vaccine safety and autism. Journalists are also instructed to access CDC publications and databases to peruse federal resources, public relations kits, and propaganda. 

Vaccine policy and the development and promotion of the childhood vaccine schedule is only one of the CDC's many corporate tasks. It is not exclusively concerned with the physical and mental health of the nation. It is also engaged in the design and development of biological weapons and threats of bioterrorism. Because vaccines are biological drugs that may be weaponized, they fall under the CDC's purview and jurisdiction. Consequently the Centers work closely with the Department of Defense and the intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency with whom there is the exchange of data collection and sharing of classified information.  In its April 21, 2000 MMWR report entitled "Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response" the CDC reported that for "the first time the CDC has joined with law enforcement, intelligence and defense agencies in addition to traditional CDC partners to address a national security threat." 

This may have been the turning point when the Centers morphed into a pseudo-intelligence agency and assumed a “deep state” role by adopting an inquisitional task of population surveillance and information data collection as a matter of intelligence gathering instead of improving healthcare. During the past years, this has further grown into spying and covert operations against the critics of our national health and immunization policies. Immunization, as described on the CDC's website, is now a matter of national and global security.  Therefore, no longer are vaccines simply a public health intervention. In fact, immunization has been removed from science altogether and consequently can only rely upon flawed and unreliable research to support policy templates and recommendations that get enacted at state levels. These policies are left for politicians to debate, which is rarely done, and is no longer open for discussion among expert medical researchers outside of the CDC’s ranks and its network of trolls, shills and medical puppets spewing disinformation into the public sector.  This alone is sufficient incentive for targeting and silencing voices challenging vaccine safety and efficacy and who demand a reevaluation of vaccination and its toxic ingredients. 

Few people realize that the CDC owns 56 vaccine patents; these patents are licensed to drug makers with royalties who later buy and distribute $4.6 billion worth of vaccines through its Vaccines for Children Program, which accounts for 40% of its budget. This has given rise to a 2015 British Medical Journalinvestigative report accusing the CDC of becoming a lapdog for commercial interests. 

The CDC also controls a separate non-profit institution known as the CDC Foundation, which operates like an astro turf organization. Founded in 1992 through an amendment inserted into the George H.W. Bush’s Preventative Health Act, the Foundation operates outside of Congressional oversight. This is clearly stated in its documentation:  

“The Foundation shall not be an agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government, and officers, employees and members of the board of the Foundation shall not be officers of the Federal government…. The purpose of the Foundation shall be to support and carry out activities for the prevention and control of diseases, disorders, injuries and disabilities, and for promotion of public health… the Foundation shall establish a fund for providing endowments for positions that are associated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…”

In other words, the Foundation has been established as a recruiting service, funded by non-Federal sources, which can include private corporations and drug makers, for the sole purpose to serving the tax-funded CDC.  Moreover, endowments to the Foundation are “unrestricted,” which means they can be spent solely based upon the discretion of the donator and to support the giver’s vested interests.  Among the CDC Foundation’s list of partners we find all of the large vaccine makers – Glaxo, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi Pasteur – and of course the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A Freedom of Information Act submission discovered that the CDC had been providing guidance to the companies for influencing authorities on sugar and beverage policies. For example, the CDC Foundation receives large donations from Pepsi and Coca Cola, and thereby exerts its influence to taint national guidelines about diabetes, liver disease and other illnesses. In another example, Roche, the manufacturer of the drug Tamiflu against influenza infection, donated $193,000 to the Foundation in return for the CDC’s advocating the drug’s benefits for relieving flu symptoms.  This completely undermines the FDA’s own ruling that Tamiflu’s clinical trial data does not support the claims that the drug saves lives or lessens hospitalization. 

It has been through the Foundation that Bill Gates’ faux philanthropy has bought off the CDC. Gates has given tens of millions of dollars to the CDC Foundation over the years.  In 2013, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $13.5 million to support the CDC’s efforts to undertake surveillance and increase meningitis and rotavirus vaccination rates in Sub-Sahara Africa. 

Furthermore, the Centers' activities are no longer limited to the US' domestic health; after 911, its mission expanded, far beyond its original mandate, and today the agency is globally engaged.  On the Centers’ website, it defines itself as America's "Global Health Protection Agency" in charge of "implementing global health security" and works in partnership with other nations. Since 2006, the CDC claimed it had trained over 115,000 professional personnel in its interpretation of health issues. It’s Global Rapid Response Team of over 400 experts "can deploy in as little as 48 hours" to respond to local and regional health emergencies. In brief, the Centers are immersed in the technology of surveillance, information gathering and analysis. These are among the defining characteristics of an intelligence agency. 

Other intelligence activities often associated with a “deep state” and now undertaken by the CDC include pressuring peer-reviewed medical journals to retract studies that challenge their ideology or endanger the agency's reputation.  In 2014, Prof Brian Hooker, a biochemist at Simpson University, reevaluated the CDC's own data showing a 350% increase in autism among African American boys receiving the MMR. Initially approved for publication by the journal Translational Neurodegeneration, the study was shortly thereafter suspended after the CDC pressured the journal with fabricated claims against Dr. Hooker. This is a textbook case of intelligence sabotage of a critic by false accusation.  

Similar to the Pentagon and the CIA, the CDC has also infiltrated Hollywood. Hidden within the corridors on the University of Southern California campus is the relatively unknown organization Hollywood Health and Society. Its top funders include the CDC, the National Cancer Institute, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the largest private funder of vaccines, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  The small organization's mission is to provide "briefings and consultations with experts, case examples, panel discussions about timely health issues" for Hollywood script writers and producers. Among the main topics listed on its website are influenza, smallpox and autism, all official propaganda stamped with the CDC's seal of approval. 

Among the trove of classified national security documents released by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, were several regarding the government's intelligence agencies' infiltration of the internet in order to manipulate information, deceive the public and destroy personal reputations of opponents, including independent journalists.  Among the documents was a manual, "The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations." One of its stated missions is to flood the internet with false information and data to destroy the reputation of its opponents.  Furthermore, the manual provides instructions on taking control of online public discourse in order to generate allegiance to the intelligence agency's false point of view. 

Vaccine opponents often complain about the blogosphere being riddled with anonymous trolls, most who would be unable to debate their way out of cardboard box on scientific issues regarding vaccines, but who nevertheless follow the intelligence manual's strategies to disparage vaccine critics.  Bill Gates, who is on record condemning parents who refuse vaccines and who is no stranger to the higher echelon of executives in the vaccine industry and department heads at the CDC, funded a professor at the University of Connecticut to develop a monitoring system to track all anti-vaccine internet traffic. Given Gate's utter disdain towards voices speaking out against vaccines, we can be certain this was not for humanitarian, research purposes but as part of intelligence gathering in the CDC's war against the health of the nation.  Others who have been CDC mouthpieces yet are viewed as respectable and medically credentialed kingpins, such as Paul Offit, Peter Hotez, Senator Richard Pan, and others are welcomed by the media as the foremost authorities and final voices on vaccine topics. 

To our peril, federal agencies take full advantage of the average American's scientific illiteracy.  An important survey conducted by Michigan State University found that only 4% of American adults had an understanding about stem cells. Seventy percent could "not read or understand" the science section in the New York Times.  An earlier study funded by the US National Science Foundation noted that about half of Americans understood that the earth rotates once around the sun annually, 45% of people had an "acceptable" understanding of DNA, and only 22% knew what a molecule was.  Although scientific illiteracy is an enormous threat to a functioning democracy and an informed public, nevertheless it is a boon for the CDC and the vaccine industry. Manipulating this ignorance with heavy doses of fear tactics, such as revealed through the CDC's press model to guide the mainstream media's role in increasing vaccine compliance, health officials have managed to successfully thwart many efforts to educate the public to evaluate the pros and cons of vaccination. 

Along with the corporatization of Washington's three branches of government, and the emergence of a surveillance state watching over the shoulders of every citizen, the politicization of medicine, particularly vaccines, is another sign of the further decay of the nation towards totalitarianism. For almost two decades, fake news and bureaucratic deception, anger, hatred and disproportional distrust has taken the spotlight as the nation's health further erodes. Annually, the quality of Americans' health is declining and this is most evident in the younger generations who have received the bulk of vaccines. While the CDC and its allies conjure distorted statistics with no sound scientific basis from thin air in order to convince us that vaccines have saved countless lives, in fact these screeds are no more scientifically reliable than visiting the local gypsy soothsayer to have your palm read. A doctorate in science or a medical degree from Harvard does not excuse a person from duplicitous chicanery. 

The good news is that the tide is slowly turning. The populace is steadily losing its faith in government. Autism rates continue to rise and parents are able to access extensive independent medical research to understand the real dangers of vaccines. A fundamental reason why parents increasingly refuse to vaccinate themselves and their children is quite simple; the cartel of pharmaceutical-friendly bureaucrats writing the nation's healthcare policies has been losing the public's trust. There is no secret why federal health officials and their absolutist claims to mandate vaccine compliance are untrustworthy. In 2016 over 1500 medical researchers surveyed by the prestigious journal Nature failed to reproduce another scientist's experimental results. Over half were unable to reproduce their own experiments. The article concludes that the potential reasons for this lack of scientific confirmation are numerous. However, most important is that no single scientific study or paper can claim to be the final word on any medical issue, and this is especially true with vaccine research. The complexities of the human immune system, its biomolecular mechanisms and epigenetic relationships with external environmental factors are not fully understood.  And there remains much more to discover and digest.  Modern immunology still has a long ways to go and needs frequent revision as new discoveries emerge. In contrast, vaccine science continues to rely partially upon an antiquated understanding of the body's immune system focused almost exclusively on antibody generation.

One example of medical negligence has been the rising epidemic of citizens who are immune-compromised and therefore most susceptible to adverse vaccine reactions. When a severe condition of immunosuppression is clearly diagnosed, it is not uncommon for physicians to withhold vaccinations.  But how many Americans are immune-compromised?  When this question was posed to a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in 2015, to his surprise Theo Schall discovered there were no population accurate statistics and none of our federal health agencies nor medical institutions were tracking it.  Not only are these people at higher risk for vaccine injury, they are also at a higher risk for infection from wild viruses. Federal vaccine policies do not differentiate the population with weakened immune systems from healthier individuals. The CDC' immunization schedule is a one-size-fits-all paradigm/ Its bottom line demands that everyone should and must be vaccinated. 

After reviewing the different immune-compromised populations (eg, immunosenescence or weakened immunity due to age in the senior population, malnourishment, cancer patients, people with AIDS and HIV, transplant recipients, patients under immunosuppressive drugs with autoimmune conditions, and primary genetic immunodeficiency disorders, Schall estimated there were approximately 122.6 million Americans with a weakened immune system and stand at higher risk for infections. Our revaluation of the available figures places this figure now at 130.4 million, over one-third of the US population.

The question whether 130 million people, including hundreds of thousands of children, should be subject to injections with infectious viruses-- live, attenuated or killed – or now the new generation of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines that have no prior precedence for observing long-term adverse effects, is never discussed. Volumes of medical and biochemical research confirming the severe vaccine ingredients are also ignored. Nor is any consideration given to the number of vaccines administered and the risks due to the accumulative levels of toxic ingredients when multiple vaccines are given simultaneously or within short time intervals. Nor do pediatricians routinely evaluate the state of children's immunological health before determining whether or not to administer vaccines. There is no profit from delaying or postponing vaccination.  No perks are received from insurance companies for increasing vaccination compliance.  And finally, physicians and pediatricians are largely as ignorant as the general public about the scientific evidence supporting and debunking vaccine safety and efficacy myths.  Their primary source of information is channeled through the CDC and its disinformation campaign. 

The CDC has yet to conduct or fund definitive and legitimate studies to determine once and for all individual vaccine safety and whether or not vaccines as exogenous factors are contributing to the onslaught of illnesses ravishing the country. Yes, such gold standard studies, which remain absent from the pro-vaccine arsenal, would be very costly.  But that would be the price to pay to bring sanity to the irrational conclusions of the CDC’s decision makers on our nation’s national advisory vaccine committee. Nevertheless, the cumulative financial cost of all previous government sponsored fake science would be a small price to pay for the future well-being of children.  

During Congressional proceedings in 2002 into the causes for the unaccountable rise in autism in the United States, CDC officials confirmed no studies have been undertaken to compare the quality of health between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Yet the subcommittee was assured by the CDC that such studies would be conducted. A decade later, when the CDC was again yanked back into a subcommittee, still no studies had been conducted, and again, Congress was assured such studies were forthcoming. 

We should not hold our breath. Officials at the CDC and Department of Health and Human Services know perfectly well that vaccinated children are susceptible to far more allergies and illnesses than their unvaccinated peers.  Their greatest fear is a thorough long-term study to see whether unvaccinated children are indeed healthier. Otherwise, the necessary research to prove the health advantages of vaccines would have been conducted long ago. 

Yet there are reasons why such studies are not mandated nor funded. Health agencies are fully aware that vaccines are a scourge. Instead they pump out ecological and epidemiological cohort studies, notorious for subjective manipulation, confounders and biases to support their dogma. Such studies, which are little more than algorithmic equations for sifting, shifting and fudging data, are scientifically invalid for determining any medical truth.  Nevertheless, epidemiological studies remain the most cited articles by the most vocal proponents of vaccination and vaccine mandates. 

However, corruption at the CDC is not limited to national vaccine policies and the deceptive manipulation of scientific data to further advance a national vaccination regime. The agency has also been discovered to mislead the nation on other health issues that in turn shape government policies. Earlier it was accused of inflating numbers of rapes in the US. The CDC estimated 2 million rapes occurred within a single year (2011); however, the Justice Department's crime statistics recorded only 238,000. Later Time magazine reported that the manner the CDC gathered its information was extremely flawed and biased.

In 2016 The Hill reported that the CDC misled Congress with its WISEWOMAN project --  a national screening and evaluation project to help reduce heart disease risks in women between 40-64 and to promote healthier lifestyles.  The CDC's data of the project was all "cooked" to make the results look better than it was and that the project was larger and more inclusive than it actually was

The writings of Hannah Arendt over fifty years ago about the origins of totalitarian ideologies and states have never been more poignant and prophetic than today.  She worried deeply about the language of absolutism, and particularly in the realm of science, which is now the underlying mission of the CDC to politicize immunization. The attempt to reduce all of human life to well-defined processes, to predictable patterns and primitive linear reductionism, was in Arendt's view both self-defeating and extremely dangerous for a healthy society. In a totalitarian state, objectivity is tyrannical. Scientific objectivity that threatens the official policy even more so. In the case of vaccines, the entire industry is a creed that has institutionalized a denial of the most fundamental principles of science and fact finding. And worse, the CDC's ongoing war of terror against the unvaccinated has become lawful.  And this is what gives rise to a totalitarian culture of science. 

Arendt was certain that a fascist worldview does not necessarily have to be framed in nationalism, religious doctrine nor based upon race and ethnicity. She worried that science, and its technologies, once they become politicized, would give rise to new forms of totalitarianism and persecution in the future. And today this totalitarian stench breathes through many scientific institutions and universities, throughout the private vaccine industry, and its most pungent odor of rot and decay fills the halls of the CDC. 

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To Lower Cancer Risks, Eat More Mushrooms

Eating more mushrooms is associated with lower risk of cancer, according to a new study

Penn State University, April 23, 2021

The systematic review and meta-analysis published in Advances in Nutrition examines 17 cancer studies from 1966 to 2020. Analyzing data from more than 19,500 cancer patients, researchers explore the relationship between mushroom consumption and cancer risk.

Mushrooms are rich in vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. The team’s findings show that mushrooms may also help guard against cancer. Even though shiitake, oyster, maitake, and king oyster mushrooms have higher amounts of the amino acid ergothioneine than white button, cremini, and portobello mushrooms, the researchers found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer.

According to the findings, individuals who ate 18 grams of mushrooms daily had a 45% lower risk of cancer compared to those who did not eat mushrooms.

“Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothioneine, which is a unique and potent antioxidant and cellular protector,” says Djibril M. Ba, a graduate student in epidemiology at Penn State College of Medicine. “Replenishing antioxidants in the body may help protect against oxidative stress and lower the risk of cancer.”

When specific cancers were examined, the researchers noted the strongest associations for breast cancer as individuals who regularly ate mushrooms had a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. Ba explains that this could be because most of the studies did not include other forms of cancer. Moving forward, this research could be helpful in further exploring the protective effects that mushrooms have and helping to establish healthier diets that prevent cancer.

“Overall, these findings provide important evidence for the protective effects of mushrooms against cancer,” says coauthor John Richie, a Penn State Cancer Institute researcher and professor of public health sciences and pharmacology. “Future studies are needed to better pinpoint the mechanisms involved and specific cancers that may be impacted.”

Probiotic strain helps pregnant women maintain healthy iron levels

Probi AB (Sweden), April 21, 2021

A new study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica found that taking a particular probiotic strain improves iron levels in healthy pregnant women and may therefore help to prevent iron deficiency.

A total of 326 healthy women were randomized to receive a placebo or the probiotic strain Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v (Lp299v) administered with a low dose of iron, folic acid, and ascorbic acid. They took the placebo or the combination product twice daily during pregnancy. 

Compared with taking placebo, taking the probiotic product reduced the prevalence of iron deficiency (78% versus 59%) and iron deficiency anemia (21% versus 7.4%) towards the end of pregnancy. (When a person develops iron deficiency anemia, the body cannot get the amount of oxygen it needs.) 

Iron deficiency is common in women of childbearing age and is a global health problem. In a pregnant woman, this can lead to a number of complications for the mother and her child.

"We have previously shown that the Lp299v strain together with a low dose of iron increase iron absorption. With this study, we proved that this translates into an improved iron status in pregnant women," said lead author Ulrika Axling, PhD, of Probi AB, in Sweden. "Iron deficiency is especially common during pregnancy and high-dose iron supplements are often recommended. Since these typically come with side effects such as stomach pain and constipation, there is a need for new solutions. This probiotic product could offer a novel and safe approach for improving iron status during pregnancy."

Music improves older adults' sleep quality

National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Taiwan), April 21, 2021

Listening to music before going to be can improve sleep quality among older adults, according to an analysis of all relevant published clinical trials.

In the analysis, which is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, five randomized trials met the investigators' criteria. Older adults who listened to music experienced significantly better sleep quality than those who did not listen to music. Also, older adults who listened to sedative music experienced a greater improvement in sleep quality than those who listened to more rhythmic music. Furthermore, listening to music for longer than four weeks was especially effective at improving sleep quality. 

"Music intervention is an effective strategy and is easy to administer by a caregiver or healthcare worker," the authors wrote. "Music therapy might be the first line of therapy to recommend in older adults with sleep disturbances, which would reduce the need for dependence on sedatives and sleeping medication."

Association low magnesium intake with greater risk of prefrailty in community-dwelling older women

Osaka Prefecture University (Japan), April 14, 2021

According to news reporting originating in Osaka, Japan, research stated, “We examined the association between nutrient intake and prefrailty. Data from 815 older people (63% women) who participated in a community-based health check survey (Tarumizu Study) were analyzed.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Osaka Prefecture University, “Prefrailty were defined using five parameters (exhaustion, slowness, weakness, low physical activity, and weight loss). Participants with one or more components were considered to belong to the prefrailty group. Nutrition intake was estimated from a validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire. Among the participants, 154 men (52%) and 278 women (54%) were found to be in a status of prefrailty. In men, there were no significant associations between nutrient intake and prefrailty. In women, carbohydrate intake was slightly higher in prefrailty group. Vitamins K, B1, B2, folic acid, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper intake was significantly lower in the prefrailty group. Among the nutrients, magnesium was identified as a significant covariate of prefrailty using a stepwise regression method. In women adjusted ORs (95%CI, p value) for prefrailty in the first, second, third, and fourth quartiles of magnesium intake were 1.00 (reference), 0.52 (0.29-0.92, 0.024), 0.51 (0.28-0.95, 0.033), and 0.38 (0.19-0.74, 0.005), respectively, by multivariate logistic regression analysis (variates: age, body mass index, energy intake, supplement use, osteoporosis, magnesium, and protein intake). Protein intake did not related to prefrailty. Protein intake might be sufficient to prevent prefrailty in the present study.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “We propose magnesium to be an important micronutrient that prevents prefrailty in community-dwelling older Japanese women.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

Gardens and green space linked to better mental health during pandemic, study shows

Cardiff University (UK), April 19, 2021

People with green space on their doorstep or access to a private garden reported better health and wellbeing during and after the first lockdown in the UK, according to a new study.

Researchers from Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University have shown that people with a garden and a park nearby were more likely to say they were feeling calm, peaceful and had a lot of energy as compared to those with no access to a garden or living further away from a green space.

Official figures show that around one in eight households in Great Britain had no access to a private or shared garden during the coronavirus pandemic, and that just a quarter of people in Great Britain live within a five-minute walk of a public park.

The researchers say the study is the first to assess the impact of green space during the pandemic, and that it highlights the huge benefits for both physical and mental health and making our communities more resilient.

In the study, published in the journal Landscape & Urban Planning, the researchers surveyed 5,556 people about their home and neighborhood, as well as their perceived mental health and wellbeing, at two intervals—the first in March/April 2020 during the first peak of the pandemic and again in June/July 2020 after the first peak had subsided.

For the first 2-3 months of the lockdown, individuals were only permitted to leave their home for essential travel, such as food shopping, and for outdoor exercise once a day.

The survey formed part of the COVID-19 Public Experiences (COPE) study, with most participants recruited through Health Wise Wales (HWW), an existing national longitudinal study funded by the Welsh Government.

Among a wide-range of topics, participants were specifically asked if they felt calm and peaceful and had a lot of energy, or if they felt downhearted and blue, with answers provided on a scale of zero to five. Similarly, the participants were asked how they would rate their health in general from one to five.

The participants were also asked about their access to a private garden and how far they lived from the nearest green space, such as a park, woodland or playing field.

Subjective wellbeing was shown to be significantly higher in the post-peak period when lockdown restrictions were being eased than in the first peak of the pandemic when lockdown restrictions came into force in the UK.

People living a five-to-10-minute walk or more than a 10-minute walk away from public green space had lower levels of subjective wellbeing than those living less than a five-minute walk away, whilst those with access to a private garden had higher levels of subjective wellbeing than those without a private garden.

The results further show that, during the first peak of the pandemic, access to green space was particularly important for households without private gardens. Being close to a public green space or private garden had a greater health protective effect for those who did not have access to a private garden.

Though a statistically significant link was found between access to a private gardenand the wellbeing of men, no evidence was found for specific groups benefitting more than others.

"What this shows is that both gardens and parks have been essential for people's health and wellbeing during the pandemic, especially when the toughest restrictions were in place," said lead author of the study Professor Wouter Poortinga, from Cardiff University's Welsh School of Architecture and School of Psychology.

"Public parks and other green spaces have been a lifeline for many in these difficult times."

"We have to make sure that everybody has access to such spaces, not only now but also in the future. This can be done by planting more trees and creating new parks, but also by protecting the few green spaces we have left."

Co-author of the study Dr. Rhiannon Phillips, from Cardiff Metropolitan University, said: "During the pandemic, green spaces have offered us a place to connect with nature, be physically active, and socialize when regulations allow. This has made spending time in private gardens and public green spaces vital to reducing the impact of the pandemic on people's health and wellbeing.

"Taking care of our green spaces is vitally important in enabling us to take care of ourselves. We need to value our green spaces and use them respectfully, making sure we don't damage these environments and take our litter home, so that they are there for all of us to enjoy."

Ashwagandha root extract may improve memory and cognitive functions

Institute of Pharmacological Technology (India), April 25, 2021

Compared to a placebo, adults supplemented with ashwagandha root extract had improved memory test scores, researchers in India found.

Dietary supplements that address cognitive function are increasingly in the limelight thanks to a growing aging population, as well as the gaming, tech, and fitness culture that’s making nootropics in vogue .

Ashwagandha root has been a part of the medicinal traditions of Ayurveda as a memory aid, wrote researchers of a new study published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements. In this current study, the researchers conducted what they claimed to be the first trial that looked at “the clinical impact of ashwagandha on the cognitive deficits seen in mild cognitive impairment.”

Participants: Selecting patients of mild cognitive impairment

The study was conducted over eight weeks using a random-assignment, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Clinical visits all took place at one center, with participants being selected from different outpatient clinics in the city of Pune, India, who sought treatment for mild cognitive impairment.

To be included in the study, participants had to be aged 35 or older, have subjective sumptoms of memory impairment, a previous diagnosis of early dementia or a score a certain amount in a mini-mental state examination, and the ability and willingness to provide informed consent.

Excluded from the study are participants with severe memory impairment, known neuropsychiatric conditions, persistent endocrine disorders, and chronic medical conditions such as uncontrolled hypertension or diabetes mellitus.

Throughout the study period, other than ashwagandha root extract for the supplement group, the use of nootropic agents or anticholinesterase drugs were prohibited.

Measuring protocols and outcomes

Participants were assessed using standardized tests for several memory types: Immediate memory (the ability to remember a small amount of information over a few seconds), general memory (delayed recall of word lists, geometric designs, text, faces), working memory (capacity to store information received from eyes, ears, and other sense organs in the immediate term).

They were also assessed for visuospatial processing and response, executive function, attention, and speed of information processing.

Study outcomes revealed that the ashwagandha group fared significantly better than baseline and the placebo group participants in terms of immediate and general memory test scores. There was also a great uptick in executive function, sustained attention, and information-processing speed.

According to the researchers, this may be from ashwagandha’s sedative properties, which “may be indirectly involved in improving memory and cognition in human subjects, as stress, anxiety, and sleep disorders can affect normal cognitive function,” they wrote.

The small sample size was one drawback of the study, and the researchers recommend a follow-up that is longer and with a larger sample to “confirm the promising results of this study.”

Foods associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death in middle-age

Oxford University, April 23, 2021

Two common dietary patterns identified in British adults, which include high intakes of chocolate and confectionary, may be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death in middle-age, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.

Carmen Piernas, the corresponding author said: "Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death and disability in the UK and poor diet is a major contributor to this. The most common dietary guidelines are based on the nutrients found in foods rather than foods themselves and this can be confusing for the public. Our findings help identify specific foods and beverages that are commonly eaten in Britain and that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality."

Researchers from the University of Oxford, UK identified two diets that were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death in middle-age in Britain. The first was high in chocolate, confectionary, butter and white bread and low in fresh fruit and vegetables. The second was high in sugar-sweetened beverages, fruit juice, chocolate, confectionary, table sugar and preserves and low in butter and higher-fat cheese.

The researchers found that those whose diet included higher amounts of chocolate, confectionary, butter and white bread, were more likely to be male, younger, experiencing economic deprivation, current smokers, less physically active, living with obesity or have hypertension compared to those whose diet did not include high amounts of these foods. In this group, individuals who were younger than 60 years old or living with overweight or obesity had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than individuals who were older than 60 years or not living with overweight or obesity.

Those whose diet was high in sugar-sweetened beverages, fruit juice and preserves were found to have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality, even though they also tended to be physically active and less likely to be current smokers or living with obesity, hypertension, diabetes or high cholesterol, than those who did not eat this diet. Women, individuals who were younger than 60 years old or who lived with obesity in particular had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, if they consumed a diet high in these foods.

To examine the effects of diet on the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, the authors analysed data collected from 116,806 adults from England, Scotland and Wales who were recruited to the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010. Participants were aged between 37 and 73 years old, with an average age of 56 years old. Participants reported the food they ate during the previous 24 hours on between two and five occasions. The researchers then identified the nutrients and food groups eaten by participants. The incidence of cardiovascular disease and mortality was calculated using hospital admission and death registry records until 2017 and 2020, respectively.

The authors caution that the observational nature of the study does not allow for conclusions about a causal relationship between diet, cardiovascular disease and mortality. Additionally, as dietary data was taken from individual 24 hour assessments rather than a continuous period of time, it may not be representative of participants' lifetime diets. Future research could investigate the potential reasons for the associations between the two diets investigated in this study and cardiovascular disease and mortality.

Carmen Piernas said: "Our research suggests that eating less chocolate, confectionery, butter, low-fibre bread, sugar-sweetened beverages, fruit juice, table sugar and preserves could be associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease or death during middle-age. This is consistent with previous research which has suggested that eating foods that contain less sugar and fewer calories may be associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. The findings of this study could be used to create food-based dietary advice that could help people eat more healthily and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease."

How the Big Food Industry threatens public health and its influence over public policies