The Gary Null Show

The Gary Null Show - 09.08.22

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Scientist Carl Sagan testifying to the U.S. Senate in 1985 on the greenhouse effect: (2:00)
WEF: The Most Evil Business in the World – Samuel Leeds (10:49)
Israel caught hiding BOMBSHELL Pfizer
 
Frequent nut consumption associated with less inflammation
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, September 1, 2022
In a study of more than 5,000 people, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that greater intake of nuts was associated with lower levels of biomarkers of inflammation, a finding that may help explain the healthbenefits of nuts. The results of the study appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“Population studies have consistently supported a protective role of nuts against cardiometabolic disorders such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and we know that inflammation is a key process in the development of these diseases,” said corresponding author Ying Bao, MD, ScD, an epidemiologist in BWH’s Channing Division of Network Medicine. “Our new work suggests that nuts may exert their beneficial effects in part by reducing systemic inflammation.”
Previously Bao and her colleagues observed an association between increased nut consumption and reduced risk of major chronic diseases and even death, but few prospective cohort studies had examined the link between nut intake and inflammation. In the current study, the research team performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which includes more than 120,000 female registered nurses, and from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which includes more than 50,000 male health professionals. The team assessed diet using questionnaires and looked at the levels of certain telltale proteins known as biomarkers in blood samples collected from the study participants. They measured three well-established biomarkers of inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2).
After adjusting for age, medical history, lifestyle and other variables, they found that participants who had consumed five or more servings of nuts per week had lower levels of CRP and IL6 than those who never or almost never ate nuts. In addition, people who substituted three servings per week of nuts in place of red meat, processed meat, eggs or refined grains had significantly lower levels of CRP and IL6.
Peanuts and tree nuts contain a number of healthful components including magnesium, fiber, L-arginine, antioxidants and unsaturated fatty acids such as α-linolenic acid. Researchers have not yet determined which of these components, or if the combination of all of them, may offer protection against inflammation, but Bao and her colleagues are interested in exploring this further through clinical trials that would regulate and monitor diet.
“Much remains unknown about how our diet influences inflammation and, in turn, our risk of disease,” said Bao. “But our study supports an overall healthful role for nuts in the diet and suggests reducing inflammation as a potential mechanism that may help explain the benefits of nuts on cardiometabolic diseases.”
Blueberry extract could help fight gum disease and reduce antibiotic use
Laval University (Quebec), September 2, 2022
Gum disease is a common condition among adults that occurs when bacteria form biofilms or plaques on teeth, and consequently the gums become inflamed. Some severe cases, called periodontitis, call for antibiotics. But now scientists have discovered that wild blueberry extract could help prevent dental plaque formation. Their report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry could lead to a new therapy for periodontitis and a reduced need for antibiotics.
Many people have had some degree of gum inflammation, or gingivitis, caused by dental plaque. The gums get red and swollen, and they bleed easily. If left unchecked, the condition can progress to periodontitis. The plaque hardens into tartar, and the infection can spread below the gum line and destroy the tissue supporting the teeth. To treat this condition, dentists scrape off the tartar and sometimes have to resort to conventional antibiotics. But recently, researchers have started looking at natural antibacterial compounds to treat gum disease. Daniel Grenier and colleagues wanted to see if blueberry polyphenols, which work against foodborne pathogens, could also help fight Fusobacterium nucleatum, one of the main species of bacteria associated with periodontitis.
In the lab, the researchers tested extracts from the wild lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., against F. nucleatum. The polyphenol-rich extracts successfully inhibited the growth of F. nucleatum, as well as its ability to form biofilms. It also blocked a molecular pathway involved in inflammation, a key part of gum disease. The researchers say they’re developing an oral device that could slowly release the extract after deep cleaning to help treat periodontitis.
Meat consumption contributing to global obesity
University of Adelaide, August 11, 2022
Should we be warning consumers about over-consumption of meat as well as sugar?
That’s the question being raised by a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide, who say meat in the modern diet offers surplus energy, and is contributing to the prevalence of global obesity.
“Our findings are likely to be controversial because they suggest that meat contributes to obesity prevalence worldwide at the same extent as sugar,” says Professor Maciej Henneberg.
“In the analysis of obesity prevalence across 170 countries, we have found that sugar availability in a nation explains 50% of obesity variation while meat availability another 50%. After correcting for differences in nations’ wealth (Gross Domestic Product), calorie consumption, levels of urbanization and of physical inactivity, which are all major contributors to obesity, sugar availability remained an important factor, contributing independently 13%, while meat contributed another 13% to obesity.
“While we believe it’s important that the public should be alert to the over-consumption of sugar and some fats in their diets, based on our findings we believe meat protein in the human diet is also making a significant contribution to obesity,” Professor Henneberg says.
“There is a dogma that fats and carbohydrates, especially fats, are the major factors contributing to obesity,” Mr You says.
“Whether we like it or not, fats and carbohydrates in modern diets are supplying enough energy to meet our daily needs. Because meat protein is digested later than fats and carbohydrates, this makes the energy we receive from protein a surplus, which is then converted and stored as fat in the human body.”
“Nevertheless, it is important that we show the contribution meat protein is making to obesity so that we can better understand what is happening. In the modern world in which we live, in order to curb obesity it may make sense for dietary guidelines to advise eating less meat, as well as eating less sugar,” he says.
Study suggests possible link between artificial sweeteners and heart diseaseFrench National Institute for Health and Medical Research, September 7, 2022
A large study of French adults published by The BMJ today suggests a potential direct association between higher artificial sweetener consumption and increased cardiovascular disease risk, including heart attack and stroke.
The findings indicate that these food additives, consumed daily by millions of people and present in thousands of foods and drinks, should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar, in line with the current position of several health agencies.
Artificial sweeteners are widely used as no- or low-calorie alternatives to sugar. They represent a $7.2 billion (£5900m; €7000m) global market and are found in thousands of products worldwide, particularly ultra-processed foods such as artificially sweetened drinks, some snacks, and low calorie ready meals.
Several studies have linked consumption of artificial sweeteners or artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) to weight gain, high blood pressure, and inflammation.
To investigate this further, a team of researchers at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and colleagues drew on data for 103,388 participants (average age 42 years; 80% female) of the web-based NutriNet-Santé study, launched in France in 2009 to investigate relations between nutrition and health.
Dietary intakes and consumption of artificial sweeteners were assessed by repeated 24-hour dietary records and a range of potentially influential health, lifestyle, and sociodemographic factors were taken into account.
A total of 37% of participants consumed artificial sweeteners, with an average intake of 42.46 mg/day, which corresponds to approximately one individual packet of table top sweetener or 100 mL of diet soda.
The researchers found that total artificial sweetener intake was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (absolute rate 346 per 100,000 person years in higher consumers and 314 per 100,000 person years in non-consumers).
Artificial sweeteners were more particularly associated with cerebrovascular disease risk (absolute rates 195 and 150 per 100,000 person-years in higher and non-consumers, respectively).
Aspartame intake was associated with increased risk of cerebrovascular events (186 and 151 per 100,000 person-years in higher and non-consumers, respectively), while acesulfame potassium and sucralose were associated with increased coronary heart disease risk (acesulfame potassium: 167 and 164 per 100,000 person-years; sucralose: 271 and 161 per 100,000 person-years in higher and non-consumers, respectively).
Your soap and toothpaste could be messing with your microbiome
University of Chicago, September 2, 2022
Antimicrobial chemicals found in common household products could be wreaking havoc with people’s guts, according to a research paper out this week in the journal Science.
Triclosan is an antibacterial compound used in soaps, detergent and toothpaste, as well as toys and plastics. It was originally only used in hospitals, but it found its way into homes as Americans became more germ-phobic. (However, recent studies have found it no more effective at killing bacteria than plain soap. )
Now, there are growing concerns about the possible negative effects of the chemical on human health and the environment. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), animal studies have shown that the chemical can act as a hormone disruptor. A 2008 study found traces of triclosan in the urine of 75% of the participants – some as young as six. The chemical has also been found in more than half of freshwater streams in the US.
Disturbing the human microbiome has been “linked to a wide array of diseases and metabolic disorders, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and behavioral and metabolic disorders,” wrote the paper’s authors, Alyson L Yee and Jack A Gilbert.
Yee and Gilbert also suggested that exposure to triclosan could be even more detrimental to the health of developing fetuses and newborns than to adults. A 2014 New York University study found that gut disruptions in early infancy could have lasting negative effects on immune and brain development.
Triclosan could also be contributing to antibiotic resistance, which scientists believe is caused by the overuse of antimicrobials in humans and animals. There are partial bans of the chemical in the European Union and in Minnesota, and the FDA says it will continue reviewing the chemical for its safety.
Exposure to phthalates could be linked to pregnancy loss
Peking University, September 2, 2022
A new study of more than 300 women suggests that exposure to certain phthalates — substances commonly used in food packaging, personal-care and other everyday products — could be associated with miscarriage, mostly between 5 and 13 weeks of pregnancy. The research, appearing in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, is the first epidemiological study on non-work-related exposure to phthalates to provide evidence for the possible link among a general population.
Out of concern over the potential health effects of phthalates, the U.S. has banned six of these substances from use in certain products made for young children. But many are still included as ingredients in paints, medical tubes, vinyl flooring, soaps, shampoos and other items. Research on phthalates has shown that long-term exposure to low levels of some of these compounds harms lab animals’ health and can increase their risk for pregnancy loss. Additionally, at least one study found that female factory workers exposed to high levels of phthalates through their work were at a higher risk for miscarriage. But there is little epidemiological evidence of phthalates’ effects on pregnancy among women with non-occupational exposure. Jianying Hu, Huan Shen and colleagues wanted to find out if there might be a link.
The researchers tested urine samples from 132 women who had miscarriages and 172 healthy pregnant women in China. They found pregnancy loss was associated with higher levels of urinary phthalate metabolites from diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP). Although this doesn’t prove that phthalates cause pregnancy loss, the study suggests an association exists that the researchers say should be studied further.

The Gary Null Show - 09.07.22

VIDEO:
The U.S. secret in Syria EXPOSED in new hidden camera footage | Redacted with Clayton Morris (12:03)
The Conservatives Made Everything in Britain Worse – Johnatan Pie  (6:40)
Neil Oliver: Persuading generations of children they are a plague upon the earth is unforgivable – 12:27
 
Purple potato may pack cancer prevention punch – even after cookingPennsylvania State University, September 1, 2022Anthocyanin compounds found in purple potatoes may help in the prevention of certain types of cancer, even after cooking, say researchers.
The new data, published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, tested the potential for anthocyanin-containing purple potatoes to block the growth of cancer tumours, even when they have been cooked – after previous research suggested that the polyphenols found in purple potatoes (PP) may help to battle cancer.
Led by Venkata Charepalli from Pennsylvania State University, the team used laboratory tests including in vitro cell line investigations and animal modelling to test how PP impacted colon cancer growth, and in particular, colon cancer stem cells (CSCs), which have previously been suggested to be target by dietary bioactives such as curcumin.
The team reported that their data from in vitro and mouse models suggests that baked purple-fleshed potatoes suppressed the growth of colon cancer tumours by targeting the cancer’s stem cells.
They added that there may be several substances in purple potatoes that work simultaneously, and on multiple pathways, to help kill the colon cancer stem cells, including anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid, and resistant starch.
“Our earlier work and other research studies suggest that potatoes, including purple potatoes, contain resistant starch, which serves as a food for the gut bacteria, that the bacteria can covert to beneficial short-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid,” said study senior author Professor Jairam Vanamal – also of Penn State. “The butyric acid regulates immune function in the gut, suppresses chronic inflammation and may also help to cause cancer cells to self-destruct.”
Boosting physical activity and curbing sitting time are highly likely to lower breast cancer riskBreast Cancer Association Consortium (UK), September 6, 2022Boosting physical activity levels and curbing sitting time are highly likely to lower breast cancer risk, finds research designed to strengthen proof of causation and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The findings were generally consistent across all types and stages of the disease, reveals the Mendelian randomization study, prompting the researchers to recommend a stronger focus on exercise as a way of warding off breast cancer.
Mendelian randomization is a technique that uses genetic variants as proxies for a particular risk factor—in this case lifelong physical activity levels/sedentary behavior—to obtain genetic evidence in support of a causal relationship.
Observational studies show that physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are linked to higher breast cancer risk, but proving they cause breast cancer is another matter.
The researchers included data from 130,957 women of European ancestry: 69, 838 of them had tumors that had spread locally (invasive); 6667 had tumors that hadn’t yet done so (in situ); and a comparison group of 54,452 women didn’t have breast cancer.
Researchers estimated overall breast cancer risk, according to whether the women had or hadn’t gone through the menopause; and by cancer type (positive for estrogen or progesterone, or HER-2, or positive/negative for all 3 hormones), stage (size and extent of tumor spread), and grade (degree of tumor cell abnormality).
These case-control groups comprised: 23,999 pre/peri-menopausal women with invasive breast cancer and 17,686 women without; 45,839 postmenopausal women with breast cancer and 36,766 without.
Analysis of the data showed that a higher overall level of genetically predicted physical activity was associated with a 41% lower risk of invasive breast cancer, and this was largely irrespective of menopausal status, tumor type, stage, or grade.
Similarly, genetically predicted vigorous physical activity on 3 or more days of the week was associated with a 38% lower risk of breast cancer, compared with no self-reported vigorous activity. These findings were consistent across most of the case groups.
Finally, a greater level of genetically predicted sitting time was associated with a 104% higher risk of triple negative breast cancer. These findings were consistent across hormone-negative tumor types.
How the mind sharpens the senses
Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), August 27, 2022
A study conducted with experienced scholars of Zen-Meditation shows that mental focussing can induce learning mechanisms, similar to physical training. Researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University München discovered this phenomenon during a scientifically monitored meditation retreat. The journal Scientific Reports, from the makers of Nature, has now published their new findings on the plasticity of the brain.
The participants were all Zen-scholars with many years of meditation practice. The retreat was held in complete silence, with at least eight hours of meditation per day. All participants practiced their familiar meditation, which is characterized by a non-specific monitoring of thoughts and surroundings. Additionally, some participants applied a special finger-meditation for two hours per day, during which they were asked to specifically focus on their right index finger and become aware of spontaneously arising sensory percepts in this finger. Subsequent assessment of the group that practiced finger-meditation showed a significant improvement in the tactile acuity of the right index and middle finger. A control group that had maintained their familiar meditation practice for the whole time, showed no changes in tactile acuity.
In order to assess the sense of touch quantitatively, researchers measured the so-called “two-point discrimination threshold”. This marker indicates how far apart two stimuli need to be, in order to be discriminated as two separate sensations. After the finger meditation, the performance improved on average by 17 percent. By comparison, tactile acuity of the visually impaired is 15 to 25 percent above that of typical sighted individuals, because their sense of touch is used so intensively to make up for the reduced visual information. Hence, the changes induced by meditation are comparable to those achieved by intense long-term training.
It is known for long that extensive training induces neuroplasticity, which denotes the ability of the brain to adapt and restructure itself, thereby improving perception and behavior. Recently, the group of neuroscientists of the Neural Plasticity Lab headed by Hubert Dinse has shown that these processes can be initiated even without training by mere exposure to passive stimulation, which was translated only recently into a stimulating glove, which is used as therapeutical intervention in stroke patients. The fact that merely mental states without any physical stimulation can improve perception has now been shown for the first time. “The results of our study challenge what we know about learning mechanisms in the brain. Our concept of neuroplasticity must be extended, because mental activity seems to induce learning effects similar to active stimulation and physical training,” Dinse suggests.
Elderberry extract may improve obesity inflammationUniversity of Connecticut , September 1, 2022Black elderberry extract may improve obesity-related metabolic disturbances like triglyceride (TAG) levels, inflammation and insulin resistance, research in mice finds.
The researchers from the University of Connecticut in the US said dietary anthocyanins had been shown to reduce inflammation in animal models and to improve obesity-related complications – and black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) was one of the richest sources of these types of flavonoids.
“Overall, black elderberry extract appeared to attenuate systemic inflammation and insulin resistance that occurs with diet-induced obesity in this mouse model, but further research is warranted on black elderberry consumption and effects in humans,” they wrote in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Mice were fed either a low-fat diet, high-fat lard-based diet, a high-fat diet with 0.25% of the extract or a high-fat with 1.25% of the extract for a period of 16 weeks.
The black elderberry extracts amounted to an anthocyanin dose of 20–40 mg per kg of body weight for the 0.25% group and 100–200 mg for the 1.25% group.
After 16 weeks both extract groups had significantly lower liver weights, serum TAG and serum monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 – a serum marker linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes – compared to the group given the high fat diet alone.
Liver weights were about 13% lower in both extract groups compared to the group given the high fat diet alone.
“Obese individuals have shortened life expectancies; however, they do not typically die of obesity itself but rather obesity-related comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancers,” they said.
They said inflammation as a result of adipose fat and excessive accumulation of ectopic lipid in tissues was thought to be a key underlying cause of these obesity-related comorbidities, meaning methods that target and lower inflammation could be effective at preventing obesity-related conditions.
First Ground Breaking Study Shows How Rhodiola Rosea Protects People From Viral Infections
Appalachian State University August 26, 2022
Also known as arctic root or golden root, Rhodiola Rosea has already been clinically shown to stimulate serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine activity, and support healthy neurotransmitter balance, but human trials have now shown the the herb protects against viral infection.
A 2002 review in HerbalGram, the journal of the American Botanical Council, reported that numerous studies of rhodiola in both humans and animals have indicated that it helps prevent fatigue, stress, and the damaging effects of oxygen deprivation. Evidence also suggests that it acts as an antioxidant, enhances immune system function, and can increase sexual energy. Rhodiola’s efficacy was confirmed in a 2011 review of 11 placebo-controlled human studies. The reviewers considered studies that all had study designs rated as moderate to good quality, and the analysis of their combined data concluded that rhodiola might have beneficial effects on physical performance, mental performance, and certain mental health conditions.
Nieman’s study “Rhodiola rosea exerts antiviral activity in athletes following a competitive marathon race,” which was published July 31 in Frontiers in Nutrition, is the first to show anti-viral activity.
In his study, 48 marathon runners participating in the 2012 Thunder Road Marathon in Charlotte were randomly divided into two groups that ingested either 600 milligrams of Rhodiola rosea or a placebo for a month before the race. Blood samples were collected the day before the marathon and 15 minutes and 1.5 hours post-race. Initial studies found no impact on inflammation and oxidative stress. Additional studies used an in vitro assay to measure the ability of the polyphenolic compounds to protect the cells against Vesicular stomatitis virus. The results demonstrated that Rhodiola rosea delayed viral infection for up to 12 hours after the marathon.
Nieman was the first scientist to find that marathon runners are prone to viral illnesses such as upper respiratory tract infections after competing. This discovery motivated him to research plant-based compounds that could prevent infection and enhance recovery and overall athletic performance.
Since Rhodiola rosea administration appears to impact central monoamine levels, it might also provide benefits and be the adaptogen of choice in clinical conditions characterised by an imbalance of central nervous system monoamines. It also suggests that research in areas such as seasonal affective disorder, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, among others, is warranted.
“Basically after heavy exertion, bacteria and viruses can multiply at a higher rate than normal due to factors in the serum like stress hormones and inflammatory cytokines,” Nieman said. “This is why runners are six times more likely to get sick after a marathon. We showed that in those who used Rhodiola rosea the viruses could not multiply, meaning it was acting as a countermeasure.”
Rhodiola both stimulates and protects the immune system by reinstating homeostasis (metabolic balance) in the body. It also increases the natural killer cells (NK) in the stomach and spleen. This action may be due to its ability to normalise hormones by modulating the release of glucocorticoid into the body.
How does nature nurture the brain?Max Planck Society, September 6, 2022
After a 60-minute walk in nature, activity in brain regions involved in stress processing decreases. This is the finding of a recent study by the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Living in a city is a well-known risk factor for developing a mental disorder, while living close to nature is largely beneficial for mental health and the brain. A central brain region involved in stress processing, the amygdala, has been shown to be less activated during stress in people who live in rural areas, compared to those who live in cities, hinting at the potential benefits of nature. “But so far the hen-and-egg problem could not be disentangled, namely whether nature actually caused the effects in the brain or whether the particular individuals chose to live in rural or urban regions,” says Sonja Sudimac, predoctoral fellow in the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience and lead author of the study.
To achieve causal evidence, the researchers from the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience examined brain activity in regions involved in stress processing in 63 healthy volunteers before and after a one-hour walk in Grunewald forest or a shopping street with traffic in Berlin using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results of the study revealed that activity in the amygdala decreased after the walk in nature, suggesting that nature elicits beneficial effects on brain regions related to stress.
“The results support the previously assumed positive relationship between nature and brain health, but this is the first study to prove the causal link. Interestingly, the brain activity after the urban walk in these regions remained stable and did not show increases, which argues against a commonly held view that urban exposure causes additional stress,” explains Simone Kühn, head of the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience.
The authors show that nature has a positive impact on brain regions involved in stress processing and that it can already be observed after a one-hour walk. This contributes to the understanding of how our physical living environment affects brain and mental health. Even a short exposure to nature decreases amygdala activity, suggesting that a walk in nature could serve as a preventive measure against developing mental health problems and buffering the potentially disadvantageous impact of the city on the brain.

The Gary Null Show - 09.06.22

Videos: 
How One Company Destroyed An Entire Country - Moon 
Green tea EGCG backed to prevent life-threatening ‘artery explosion’
Kyoto University, August 25, 2022
 
Drinking polyphenol-packed green tea could help to prevent a deadly condition in the body's main artery, according to new research in rats.
 
Writing in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, the Japanese research team reported that polyphenols from the nation's favourite drink, green tea, could offer benefits in preventing abdominal aneurysm expansion (AAA) – a serious condition characterised by destruction of the body’s main artery. 
 
The new study from the Kyoto University team found that rats fed a green tea extract containing epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) developed AAA less frequently than rats that were not given the polyphenol.
 
"The type of polyphenol found in green tea [EGCG] has recently been shown to regenerate elastin, an essential protein that gives the artery its stretchy, yet sturdy, texture," explains Setozaki. "Considering that abdominal arterial aneurysms are caused by inflammation and the degradation of elastin components in the arterial wall, we thought drinking green tea may show promise for treatment." 
 
The results confirmed that EGCG blocked AAA progression in the rat model by preserving the aortic thickness and elastin content through regeneration of elastin.
 
“Regular green tea consumption might be advantageous for patients with a small AAA or as a prophylactic strategy for AAA,” the team suggested.
 
 
 
 
Lower potassium intake linked to premature mortality risk
University of California at Irvine, September 2 2022. 
A study reported on August 26, 2022, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found a higher risk of dying during a median 5.8 to 7.8-year follow-up period in association with a lower intake of potassium. The risk was similar between individuals with normal or impaired kidney function. 
“In healthy adults, higher dietary potassium intake is recommended given that potassium-rich foods are major sources of micronutrients, antioxidants, and fiber,” Yoko Narasaki of the University of California, Irvine and colleagues explained. “Yet among patients with advanced kidney dysfunction, guidelines recommend dietary potassium restriction given concerns about hyperkalemia [elevated blood potassium—ed.] leading to malignant arrhythmias and mortality.”
The investigation included 37,893 continuous participants in the National Health and Nutrition Education Survey (NHANES, 1999–2014) whose potassium intake was calculated from 24-hour dietary recall interviews. Mortality data was collected through the end of 2014. 
Among subjects with impaired kidney function, those whose potassium intake was among the lowest one-third had a risk of dying during a median 5.8-year follow-up period that was 18% greater than those among the top third. For participants with normal kidney function, mortality risk for those among the lowest third was 17% higher during a median 7.8 years of follow-up. 
High intake of potassium primarily from plant sources was associated with lower mortality during follow-up in comparison with a low intake of the mineral from animal-dominant sources. In the group with impaired kidney function, a 24% greater risk of mortality during follow-up occurred among those who consumed a low amount of potassium paired with a high amount of protein compared to high potassium/high protein. 
“Lower dietary potassium scaled to energy intake was associated with higher mortality, irrespective of kidney function,” the authors concluded. “Further studies are needed to elucidate pathways linking potassium intake and co-existing dietary factors with survival in populations with and without chronic kidney disease.”
 
People who lack compassion for the environment are also less emotional in generalUniversity of Michigan, September 2, 2022
People who respond less emotionally to images of damage to the environment are also less emotional and empathic in general, according to a new University of Michigan study.
Differences in political ideology can limit policy adjustments that address climate change. Researchers and practitioners often raise concern by appealing to people's empathy.
However, some people appear less emotionally impacted by environmental destruction—particularly those who are more ideologically conservative and less pro-environmental, the study showed.
In a series of online experiments in the U.S., psychology professor Stephanie Preston examined the emotional responses of more than 600 people in a variety of contexts.
People not concerned when viewing pictures of damage to the environment—such as oil spills on fire in a gulf—also did not feel bad about other images including crying babies, officers in distress, injured athletes, wounded soldiers and even moldy food.
Consistent with this lack of contagious distress, more "impassive" people said that they felt less empathy for those in daily life and were less pro-environmental and less awed by nature. This group also responded less to positive images such as happy babies, ice cream and stacks of money, the research showed.
The study's results suggest that some people's lack of concern for the environment may not be particularly political or reflect a specific disinterest in the environment. It is instead a characteristic of their broader emotional palette, Preston said.
"Given that our sense of risk and decisions are strongly guided by emotions, more impassive people are less inclined to dedicate resources to this slowly building crisis," she said.
 
Amino acid supplements may boost vascular endothelial function in older adults: StudyUniversity of Alabama, August 28, 2022A combination of HMB (a metabolite of leucine), glutamine and arginine may improve vascular function and blood flow in older people, says a new study.
Scientists from the University of Alabama report that a supplement containing HMB (beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate), glutamine and arginine (Juven by Abbott Nutrition) increased flow-mediated dilation (FMD - a measure of blood flow and vascular health) by 27%, whereas no changes were observed in the placebo group.
However, the researchers did not observe any changes to markers of inflammation, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)
“Our results indicate that 6 months of dietary supplementation with HMB, glutamine and arginine had a positive impact on vascular endothelial function in older adults,” wrote the researchers, led by Dr Amy Ellis in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition . “These results are clinically relevant because reduced endothelial-dependent vasodilation is a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases
 
Break A Sweat For Your Brain: Exercise Protects Aging SynapsesUniversity of California at San Francisco, September 2, 2022
Scientists at UC San Francisco have found that the brains of physically active elderly adults contain more of a specific type of protein known to enhance the connections between neurons and help maintain healthy cognition. Importantly, autopsies show this held up even among people whose brains contained high levels of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
“Our work is the first that uses human data to show that synaptic protein regulation is related to physical activity and may drive the beneficial cognitive outcomes we see,” says lead study author Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology, in a university release.
“Maintaining the integrity of these connections between neurons may be vital to fending off dementia, since the synapse is really the site where cognition happens,” Dr. Casaletto adds. “Physical activity—a readily available tool—may help boost this synaptic functioning.”
The analysis revealed older adults who had remained active displayed higher levels of proteins that make the exchange of information between neurons possible. Moreover, researchers admit it was surprising to see the beneficial effects extend beyond just the hippocampus — the mind’s memory center — to additional brain regions associated with cognitive function.“It may be that physical activity exerts a global sustaining effect, supporting and stimulating healthy function of proteins that facilitate synaptic transmission throughout the brain,” Dr. Honer explains.
 
Fermented soymilk isoflavones could cut UV damage
Yakult Central Institute (Japan), August 30, 2022
 
Consuming fermented soymilk products may help protect against ultraviolet radiation damage by increasing the number of isoflavone compounds in the body, according to a study on mice.
 
Researchers from the Yakult Central Institute in Japan tested female hairless mice, feeding groups of six soymilk (SM) or fermented soymilk (FSM), with additional untreated and control groups. They found mice fed on FSM showed less skin reddening and skin thickening compared to those fed on regular soymilk.
 
The researchers found that isoflavone concentrations in the blood and UV-exposed skin were significantly higher in the FSM group compared to the SM mice. They had previously found isoflavone absorption is higher for subjects fed aglycone-enriched FSM compared to glucoside-enriched SM.
 
We believe that the higher delivery of genistein and daidzein to the serum and dorsal skin is due to differences in effectiveness between FSM and SM,” they added.
 
“Because of their similar structures, isoflavones exert oestrogen-like activity and can protect against hormone-dependent diseases. We believe that the oestrogen-like activity of isoflavones from FSM partly compensates for the oestrogen depletion in [ovariectomised] hairless mice, preventing the photodamage induced by UVB irradiation,” they added.

The Gary Null Show - 09.02.22

Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation could help with cognitive depression
Duke University, August 27 2022. 
 
An article appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure reported the outcome of a pilot study that found an association between supplementation with the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA and reduced cognitive depression in heart failure patients. Cognitive depression is characterized by subjective symptoms such as pessimism and sadness, while somatic depression includes physical manifestations that include fatigue and sleep disturbances.
The study included 108 patients with a major depressive disorder, chronic heart failure and low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Participants received fish oil containing EPA and DHA, a high EPA supplement or a placebo daily for 12 weeks. Blood samples collected before and after treatment were evaluated for red blood cell EPA and DHA, the Omega-3 Index and other factors.
Omega-3 values increased in both the EPA/DHA and EPA only groups, while the placebo group showed little change. Higher omega-3 Index values were associated with lower cognitive depression scores. Social functioning as evaluated by a general health survey significantly improved with EPA/DHA supplementation and showed a tendency toward improvement in the high EPA group.
"This was a study in already depressed individuals, which meant the researchers are looking to high-dose (although it could have been higher) omega-3 supplements to improve depressive symptoms, like a drug," noted coauthor William S. Harris, PhD. "Generally, we think of the function of omega-3s as preventative rather than as treatment. If used as treatment, the dose must be fairly high (4 grams is a typical 'drug' dose) and blood levels must be measured.”
 
Groundbreaking Study Shows Fasting Can Slow Aging, Rebuild Immune System
University of Southern California, August 28, 2022
Cutting-edge research reveals that occasionally adopting a diet that mimics the effects of fasting may provide dramatic health benefits.
“Fasting flips a regenerative switch essentially regenerating the entire immune system. It gives the OK for stem cells to go begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system,” said Prof Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of California.
A study, led by USC’s Dr. Valter, revealed that a “cycles of a four-day low-calorie diet that mimics fasting (FMD) cut visceral belly fat and elevated the number of progenitor and stem cells in several organs of old mice — including the brain, where it boosted neural regeneration and improved learning and memory,” according to USC News.
Dr. Longo notes that strict fasting can be difficult for people to adhere to, and also has the potential to be dangerous, while pointing out that a fasting mimicking diet is much safer and easier.
“Strict fasting is hard for people to stick to, and it can also be dangerous, so we developed a complex diet that triggers the same effects in the body,” said Longo, Edna M. Jones Professor of Biogerontology at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute. “I’ve personally tried both, and the fasting mimicking diet is a lot easier and also a lot safer.”
The fasting mimicking diet cuts a person’s daily caloric intake over the fasting period down to 34 to 54 percent of their daily average, with a specific balance of micronutrients, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.
In previous groundbreaking research, Longo has shown how fasting can protect immune and other cells from chemotherapy toxicity, while simultaneously starving out cancer cells. Fasting for seventy-two hours protected cancer patients against the toxic impact of chemotherapy:
“The good news is the body got rid of the parts in the system which might be damaged or old and inefficient parts, during the fasting. If you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system,” he said.
“It’s about reprogramming the body so it enters a slower aging mode, but also rejuvenating it through stem cell-based regeneration,” Longo said. “It’s not a typical diet because it isn’t something you need to stay on.”
“If the results remain as positive as the current ones, I believe this FMD will represent the first safe and effective intervention to promote positive changes associated with longevity and health span, which can be recommended by a physician,” Longo told USC News. “We will soon meet with FDA officers to pursue several FDA claims for disease prevention and treatment.”
 
 
“Micro-breaks” from tasks show promise in boosting wellbeing
 
West University of Timioara (Romania), August 31, 2022
A review of 22 previously published studies suggests that taking micro-breaks—discontinuing a task for periods of 10 minutes or less—is generally associated with reduced fatigue and increased vigor. Patricia Albulescu of the West University of Timioara, Romania, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE .
Concerns are rising over the heavy workloads and long shifts faced by many employees currently in the work force. An increasing number of studies explore various aspects of employee energy management and recovery, often focused on recovery after the workday is over. However, the potential effects of recovery processes during the workday remain unclear.
To improve understanding, Albulescu and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 22 studies from 19 manuscripts published within the last 30 years, all of which examined the potential benefits of taking micro-breaks from assigned tasks. Tasks varied between experiments and included work simulations, real work-related tasks, and non-work-related cognitive tests. Types of breaks varied as well, including physical breaks, relaxing activities, and more engaging activities, such as watching videos.
Statistical analysis of the combined study results revealed an overall association between micro-breaks, higher levels of vigor, and lower fatigue in participants, suggesting that micro-breaks may contribute to wellbeing.
These findings support micro-breaks as a potential strategy for boosting wellbeing in the workplace. However, when it comes to job performance, longer breaks may be needed for recovery from more cognitively demanding tasks. Future research could investigate longer breaks as well as address other remaining questions, such as optimal activities to engage in during a micro-break.
 
 
Mindfulness training improves diabetes symptoms and blood sugar levels
VA Healthcare System in Pittsburg, August 24, 2022
It's easy to let current circumstances in our lives dictate our thoughts and feelings. When a problem arises, if we get sick, we are quick to blame it on anything but ourselves. In this way, we are undermining the power of our own thoughts and intentions at work, in us and around us, guiding our present reality.Instead of letting negative circumstances and illness just happen to us, we should embrace the power of mindfulness, allowing ourselves to instead happen to the universe around us. The awareness of our bodily functions, our breathing, our thinking, our motives and the way we treat others helps us be mindful and aware, putting us in the driver seat of determining our paths through life.Research recently presented at the American Association of Diabetes Educators Annual Meeting & Exhibition showed that positive mindfulness training can help improve diabetes symptoms and blood sugar levels. The research was carried out on 28 veterans with type 1 and type 2 diabetes at the VA Healthcare System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as part of the Mindful Stress Reduction in Diabetes Education program (Mind-STRIDE).
Diabetes-related stress falls significantly in veterans during mindfulness training and deep breathing meditation
 
Veterans' glucose levels drop dramatically as diabetes-related distress falls 41 percent
The changes over the course of the training were significant. Three months after mindfulness training, diabetes-related distress for all 28 veterans fell 41 percent!A1C levels dropped significantly, almost measuring under the ideal 7.0 range. They went from 8.3 before the mindfulness training to 7.3 after the classes. On top of that, veterans completed diabetes self-management goals with more efficiency after the training. They were better problem solvers, began to eat healthier, were more active and coped better with stress.
 
 
 
An Oral Combination of Vitamins A, C, E, and Mg++ Improves hearing
University of Castilla (Spain), August 28, 2022
According to news reporting originating in Albacete, Spain,research stated, "The increasing rate of age-related hearing loss (ARHL), with its subsequent reduction in quality of life and increase in health care costs, requires new therapeutic strategies to reduce and delay its impact. The goal of this study was to determine if ARHL could be reduced in a rat model by administering a combination of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E acting as free radical scavengers along with Mg, a known powerful cochlear vasodilator (ACEMg)."
The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Castilla, "Toward this goal, young adult, 3 month-old Wistar rats were divided into two groups: one was fed with a diet composed of regular chow ('normal diet,' ND); the other received a diet based on chow enriched in ACEMg ('enhanced diet,' ED). Auditory brainstem recordings (ABR) were performed at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 kHz at 3, 6-8, and 12-14 months of age. No differences were observed at 3 months of age, in both ND and ED animals. At 6-8 and 12-14 months of age there were significant increases in auditory thresholds and a reduction in the wave amplitudes at all frequencies tested, compatible with progressive development of ARHL. However, at 6-8 months threshold shifts in ED rats were significantly lower in low and medium frequencies, and wave amplitudes were significantly larger at all frequencies when compared to ND rats. In the oldest animals, differences in the threshold shift persisted, as well as in the amplitude of the wave II, suggesting a protective effect of ACEMg on auditory function during aging."
 
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "These findings indicate that oral ACEMg may provide an effective adjuvant therapeutic intervention for the treatment of ARHL, delaying the progression of hearing impairment associated with age."
 
 
 
Scientists use 'sleep age' to infer long-term health
Stanford University, September 1, 2022
 
Sleep age is a projected age that correlates to one's health based on their quality of sleep. So for instance, if you analyze the sleep characteristics of dozens of 55-year-olds and average them out, you'll have an idea of what sleep looks like at that age. For instance, someone who's 55 and sleeps soundly through the night with good quality REM cycles could, theoretically, might have a sleep age of 45.
Sleep expert Emmanuel Mignot, MD, Ph.D., and his colleagues analyzed some 12,000 studies, each of which focused on an individual, that reported characteristics of their sleep—such as chin and leg movement, breathing and heartbeat. Their goal was to develop a system that assigns one's sleep age and, using machine learning, identifies the variations in sleep most closely linked to mortality.
I spoke with Mignot, who has studied sleep for 30 years, about why sleep age is important, how it's calculated and what the study's findings imply about our health.
Why study sleep age?
When you sleep, you're disconnected from sensory inputs—you're, ideally, not being bothered by the noisy external world or bright lights.
During sleep, it's not just the brain that's going through an automatic program, but heart rate and breathing also change, and variations in these can be early predictors of a health disturbance. We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, so it's a substantial component of our general well-being.
It's well known that, in pretty much any disorder, sleep is one of the first things that is disturbed. For example, about five or 10 years before other symptoms appear in Parkinson's disease patients, a specific sleep disturbance occurs during which the patient violently acts out dreams, shouts or punches into a wall.
What was the most important finding from the study?
Our main finding was that sleep fragmentation—when people wake up multiple times throughout the night for less than a minute without remembering it—was the strongest predictor of mortality. Though we see a link in the data, how it contributes to mortality is unknown. This is different from a person realizing they were waking up, which happens during sleep disorders such as insomnia.
Determining why sleep fragmentation is so detrimental to health is something we plan to study in the future.
Can we measure our own sleep age? Can it be improved?
The code is available for physicians and researchers, but the average person would likely have trouble running it through a computer. Regardless, it's not deterministic. There is enormous variation. Even if you have an older sleep age than your chronological age, it doesn't mean that your mortality risk is going to be higher. You see people chain smoking and drinking alcohol at 90 years old and you wonder, "How is this person surviving so long?" There is always huge natural variation.
Going to bed and waking up at regular hours is a key to improving your sleep. This means not oversleeping but ensuring you're fully rested. It's a different amount for everyone and often the window varies slightly—for example, being a night owl versus an early bird.
Getting solid light exposure—preferably with outside light—during the day, keeping the sleep environment dark at night, exercising regularly but not too close to bedtime, not drinking alcohol and caffeine around bedtime, and avoiding heavy nighttime meals all contribute to healthy sleep. And, of course, make sure any sleep disorder is treated.
We found that people with older sleep ages compared to their actual age are at an increased risk of mortality, based on the sleep of patients who later died. From other studies, we know that poor sleep is found in a variety of conditions such as sleep apnea, neurodegeneration, obesity and chronic pain. How poor sleep causes, exacerbates or results from these conditions is unknown.

The Gary Null Show - 09.01.22

Vax Whistleblower – Mary Hollen
Anna Maria Mihalcea – D-Dimer elevation in the Unvaccinated. A Marker of Shedding?
Why You Should Have Faith 
Plandemic – Indoctrination 
 
Green tea compound shows promise for treating rheumatoid arthritis
Washington State University August 25, 2022
A compound found in green tea could be an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, according to the results of a new study.
Green tea being poured into a cup] EGCG – a compound found in green tea – could help treat rheumatoid arthritis, new research suggests. In the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) in Spokane reveal how the compound – called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) – reduced ankle swelling in a mouse model of the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease that affects the joints of the body, most commonly the joints of the hands, feet, wrists, elbows knees and ankles. In RA, the immune system mistakingly attacks the synovial tissues surrounding the joints, causing inflammation, swelling and pain. This can cause damage to the cartilage and bone.
Current treatments for RA include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), corticosteroids and JAK inhibitors. But study leader Salah-uddin Ahmed, of the WSU College of Pharmacy, notes that some of these treatments are expensive, reduce immune system activity and can be unsuitable for long-term use. In their study, Ahmed and colleagues suggest that the compound EGCG may be a promising alternative to current treatments for RA. EGCG targets key signaling protein to reduce RA inflammation EGCG is a chemical compound that belongs to a class of flavanols known as catechins.
After giving EGCG to mouse models of RA for 10 days, the team noticed that treatment with the compound led to a significant reduction in ankle swelling. The researchers found that EGCG reduces the activity of TAK1 – a key signaling protein through which pro-inflammatory cytokines transmit their signals to trigger the inflammation and tissue damage found in RA. What is more, the team says that EGCG reduced inflammation in RA without interfering with other cellular functions – unlike some current medications for the disease. According to Ahmed, their study suggests the green tea compound may be highly effective against RA.
Antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice may aid blood sugar management for diabetics: Human data
Jordan University of Science and Technology, August 20, 2022
Daily consumption of pomegranate juice may help control blood sugar levels in type-2 diabetics, as well as improving the function of beta cells in the pancreas, say data from a human trial.
Scientists from the Jordan University of Science and Technology report that pomegranate juice at a dose of 1.5 mL per kg of body weight (or 105 mL for a 70 kg human) was associated with reductions in fasting glucose levels in type-2 diabetics.
“Studying the effects of pomegranate consumption (in a juice form) on the reduction of blood glucose levels in type-2 diabetes patients could lead to a dietary approach to control this disease,” they added. “Since there are many herbs and fruits that are easily available and of value in controlling this disease, this study may contribute to a better understanding and improved management of type 2 diabetes by the individual.”
To investigate this, they recruited 85 people with type-2 diabetes and assigned them to receive 1.5 mL of the juice per kg of body weight. Blood sugar and insulin levels, and beta cell function were assessed three hours after ingestion. (Beta-cells are found in the pancreas and their primary function is to store and release insulin.)
Results showed that pomegranate juice was associated with significantly lower fasting glucose levels (8.5 mmol/L) compared with the control participants (9.44 mmol/L). However, this result was an average for the whole cohort and about 20% of the participants did not experience this benefit.
Going with the flow: Study shows canals and rivers help boost your moodKing’s College London, August 31, 2022
Researchers report that the combination of blue and green space with wildlife, has a greater impact on well-being than spending time in an environment that is characterized by only green space.
The researchers used Urban Mind, a smartphone-based app, to collect thousands of real time audits about participants’ location and mental well-being.
Results from this first of its kind study showed positive associations between visits to canals and rivers and mental well-being, as well as a positive experience for feelings of safety and social inclusion relative to all other types of environments (such as indoors, or outside in an urban environment, or near green spaces).
Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health, King’s College London, said, “Canals and rivers contain not only water but also an abundance of trees and plants, which means their capacity to improve mental well-being is likely to be due to the multiple benefits associated with both green and blue spaces. Canals and rivers also provide homes to a range of wildlife, and we know from other research that there is a positive association between encountering wildlife and mental well-being. Taken collectively, these findings provide an evidence base for what we thought about water and well-being and support the proposal that visits to canals and rivers could become part of social prescribing schemes, playing a role in supporting mental health.”
The study found that visiting canals and rivers was associated with a greater improvement in mental well-being, and this relationship was still present when accounting for individual variation due to age, gender, education, ethnicity, and a diagnosis of a mental health condition. People also reported continued improvements in their mental well-being for up to 24 hours after the visit had taken place.”The powerful mix of blue, green and wildlife-rich space shows that although built for industry, repurposed canals are actually amongst our most important places of health and well-being in our towns and cities.
Men, people over 65 sleep better when they have access to natureUniversity of Illinois College of Agricultural, August 24, 2022
Men and persons age 65 and older who have access to natural surroundings, whether it’s the green space of a nearby park or a sandy beach and an ocean view, report sleeping better, according to a new University of Illinois study published in Preventive Medicine.
In the study, Grigsby-Toussaint worked with both U of I researchers and scientists from the New York University School of Medicine. The team used data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which surveyed 255,171 representative U.S. adults, to learn whether there was an association between self-reported days of insufficient sleep and access to green space. The team also used a USDA index that scores the country’s geographical areas for their natural amenities, using hours of sunlight, which is important in regulating a person’s circadian rhythm, and temperature.
In response to the survey question about sleep quality in the last month, the researchers found that the most common answer was that respondents had slept poorly for less than one week.
“Interestingly, though, across the entire sample, individuals reporting 21 to 29 days of insufficient sleep consistently had lower odds of access to green space and natural amenities compared to those reporting less than one week,” she said.
For men, the relationship between sleep and exposure to green space was much stronger than for women. And males and females 65 and over found nature to be a potent sleep aid, she added.
Grigsby-Toussaint noted that living near green landscapes is associated with higher levels of physical activity and that exercise in turn predicts beneficial sleep patterns.
But men appeared to benefit much more from their natural surroundings. The researcher speculated that women may take less advantage of nearby natural settings out of concern for their safety, but she added that more research is needed.
New study links ultra-processed foods and colorectal cancer in menTufts University and Harvard University, August 31 ,2022
For many Americans, the convenience of pre-cooked and instant meals may make it easy to overlook the less-than-ideal nutritional information, but a team led by researchers at Tufts University and Harvard University hope that will change after recently discovering a link between the high consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increased risk of colorectal cancer.
In a study published in the BMJ, researchers found that men who consumed high rates of ultra-processed foods were at 29% higher risk for developing colorectal cancer—the third most diagnosed cancer in the United States—than men who consumed much smaller amounts. They did not find the same association in women.
“We started out thinking that colorectal cancer could be the cancer most impacted by diet compared to other cancer types,” said Lu Wang, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. “Processed meats, most of which fall into the category of ultra-processed foods, are a strong risk factor for colorectal cancer. Ultra-processed foods are also high in added sugars and low in fiber, which contribute to weight gain and obesity, and obesity is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer.”
The study analyzed responses from over 200,000 participants—159,907 women and 46,341 men—across three large prospective studies which assessed dietary intakeand were conducted over more than 25 years.
The analyses revealed differences in the ways that men and women consume ultra-processed foods and the prospective associated cancer risk. Out of the 206,000 participants followed for more than 25 years, the research team documented 1,294 cases of colorectal cancer among men, and 1,922 cases among women.
The team found the strongest association between colorectal cancer and ultra-processed foods among men come from the meat, poultry, or fish-based, ready-to-eat products. “These products include some processed meats like sausages, bacon, ham, and fish cakes. This is consistent with our hypothesis,” Wang said.
The team also found higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, fruit-based beverages, and sugary milk-based beverages, is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in men.
However, not all ultra-processed foods are equally harmful with regard to colorectal cancer risk. “We found an inverse association between ultra-processed dairy foods like yogurt and colorectal cancer risk among women,” said co-senior author Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist and interim chair of the Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and Data Science at the Friedman School.
Overall, there was not a link between ultra-processed food consumption and colorectal cancer risk among women. It’s possible that the composition of the ultra-processed foods consumed by women could be different than that from men.
“Foods like yogurt can potentially counteract the harmful impacts of other types of ultra-processed foods in women,” Zhang said.
8 Benefits of Pine Bark Extract for Your BrainGreenMedInfo, August 31, 2022
Our brains can be harmed by many factors such as disease, stress from the environment, physical injuries or natural aging but pine bark extract may be one key to a healthier brain
Pine bark extract (PE), trade name Pycnogenol (pronounced “pig-nah-gen-all”), has many beneficial properties such as being anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective. It can help with memory, cognition, inattention, hyperactivity, mood, thinking and various symptoms of brain injuries, aging and neurological diseases.
Fights Inflammation and Protects the Brain
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of Pycnogenol supplementation on C-reactive protein (CRP) — a marker of oxidative stress — researchers examined five trials including 324 participants. Pycnogenol supplementation had a significant effect in reducing CRP and demonstrated a strong anti-inflammatory effect.[i]
In a study of gerbils, pine bark extract was administered at 100 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg) once a day for seven days before the brain was submitted to a brain ischemic injury.
The PE treatment markedly inhibited the death of neurons in the brain, significantly decreased the pro-inflammatory cytokines — interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α — and showed a strong activation effect on anti-inflammatory cytokines of interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 13 (IL-13). Pine bark protected the brain and decreased inflammation.[ii]
Improves Attention, Memory, Executive Functions and Mood in Healthy People
In a study over eight weeks, Pycnogenol supplementation improved sustained attention, memory, executive functions and mood ratings in 53 healthy students compared to an equivalent control group.[iii]
In a trial of 60 healthy professionals from 35 to 55 years old, half of the participants supplemented with Pycnogenol of 50 mg three times a day for 12 weeks in combination with a controlled health plan — regular sleep, balanced meals and daily exercise — and the other half followed only the health plan as the control group.
PE significantly improved mood by 16%, mental performance by 9%, attention by 13% and memory by 4%, and reduced oxidative stress by 30%, outperforming all results of the control group.[iv]
Prevents Brain Aging and Cognitive Decline
Brain aging is a complex process involving changes in the brain’s structure, neuron activity and biochemical profile that has been linked to age-associated variations in cognitive function. Increased oxidative stress may also be an important factor related to reduced cognition in older people.
In a systematic review of over 100 research trials and animal studies, the antioxidant Pycnogenol significantly improved cognitive function after chronic administration.[v]
Improves Cognition and Stress in the Mildly Impaired or Highly Oxidative Stressed
Eighty-seven healthy subjects with mild cognitive impairment scores were included in a trial with one group given standard management (SM) and the other half given Pycnogenol supplements for two months. The median increase in mild impairment scores was 18% with Pycnogenol compared to 2.48% in the SM group, largely due to its effects on oxidative stress levels.[vi]
In a study of 88 healthy patients ages 55 to 70 who had high oxidative stress, half were supplemented with 100 mg per day of Pycnogenol for 12 months and the other half were the control group followed as a reference point for a year. Those in the pine bark group had significantly improved cognitive function scores, attention and mental performance and lowered oxidative stress levels compared to those in the reference group.[vii]
Increases Cognitive Function and Helps Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease
Researchers studied 43 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who had been diagnosed at least one year before the trial. The condition was considered “mild,” with minimal progression.
The standard management (SM) for PD — carbidopa/levodopa — was used in a similar-sized reference group of PD subjects for comparison purposes. The trial subjects were supplemented with Pycnogenol of 150 mg per day along with SM for a period of four weeks.
Cognitive function was significantly higher with the Pycnogenol group. Target symptoms including tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia — slow or impaired movements in limbs — and speech were improved in the PE group compared to the control group. Oxidative stress was also significantly lower in the pine bark group at four weeks.[viii]
Enhances Memory and Prevents Harmful Plaque and Tau Buildup in Alzheimer’s Disease
In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the release of amyloid-beta (Aβ) is a marker. Aβ aggregates into oligomers, then plaques, which induce inflammatory responses, synapse loss and misfolding of tau, a second hallmark of AD. Accumulation of tau misfolding leads to tangles in the brain and neuron cell death impacting brain synapses in a pattern of progression closely related to cognitive decline, which can happen years before memory loss symptoms even appear.[ix]
Pycnogenol significantly decreased the number of plaques in both pre-onset and post-onset treatment paradigms and improved spatial memory in the pre-onset treatment only in an AD-induced mouse model.[x]
In an in vitro study of AD-induced animals, pine bark — Oligopin — prevented and halted the progression of AD preclinically by inhibiting oligomer formation of not only Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42, but also tau in vitro.[xi]
Reduces Inflammation and Improves Outcomes for Traumatic Brain Injuries
In a scientific trial of 67 traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), the intervention group received 150 mg of the PE supplement Oligopin with enteral nutrition — tube feeding through stomach or intestine — for 10 days while the control group received a placebo.[xii]
Pine bark supplementation significantly decreased inflammatory biomarkers of IL-6, IL-1β and CRP compared to the control group after 10 days. In addition, pine bark reduced clinical scores for acute physiology and chronic health evaluation as well as sequential organ failure. The Nutric score — a way to measure if a patient is under-nourished and at critical risk of dying[xiii] — was reduced compared to the control group as well.
Overall, the survival rate was 15% higher in the pine bark group compared to the placebo group. PE supplementation for TBI patients in ICUs reduced inflammation, improved their clinical status and malnutrition score and, thereby, reduced their mortality rate.
Improves Attention, Focus, Thinking, Behavior and Antioxidant Levels in ADHD
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impulsivity, distractibility and hyperactivity. One of the factors associated with ADHD is oxidative stress. Pycnogenol consists of bioflavonoids, catechins, procyanidins and phenolic acids.[xiv]
Pycnogenol acts as a powerful antioxidant stimulating certain enzymes, like superoxide dismutase (SOD) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which can defend against oxidative stress. In the pathophysiology of ADHD, damage to adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine metabolism occurs in the brain. These changes can modify attention, thinking and acting.[xv]
In a trial of 43 children ages 6 to 14 with ADHD, patients were administered Pycnogenol — 1 mg per kg of body weight every day — or a placebo of look-alike pills daily for a month. The PE group had a significant decrease in GSSG and a highly significant increase in GSH levels as well as improvement of GSH/GSSG ratio in comparison to the placebo group. The total antioxidant status (TAS) decreased in children with ADHD who took pine bark, showing a normalization of TAS in ADHD children.[xvii]
In a crossover study of 20 children with ADHD, participants experienced two experimental units — four weeks of pine bark supplementation with 25 or 50 mg PE and four weeks with placebo supplementation — separated by two weeks of a washout period. PE supplementation caused a significant reduction in inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity measures.

The Gary Null Show - 08.30.22

HEALTH NEWS
Low magnesium linked to diabetic retinopathyExercise Outweighs Genetics When It Comes To Longer LifeGuarana found to have higher antioxidant potential than green teaStudy links caesareans and cardiovascular riskBlack tea drinkers live longerUnhealthy diet during pregnancy could be linked to ADHD
Low magnesium linked to diabetic retinopathySoochow University (China), August 26 2022. 
A study reported August 22, 2022, in Biological Trace Element Research found an association between low magnesium and a higher risk of diabetic retinopathy, a major visual complication of long-term diabetes.
“Low magnesium consumption has been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetic mellitus,” authors Yuan Chen of Soochow University in China and colleagues noted.
The body’s tight regulation of serum magnesium makes it a poor measure of total body magnesium status. Plasma magnesium also poorly reflects the body’s true magnesium status because of the kidneys’ reabsorption of the mineral. “The magnesium depletion score (MDS) index was recently proposed as a method of measuring magnesium shortage that took into consideration the pathophysiological factors influencing the kidneys’ reabsorption capability and was proven to be more sensitive and reliable than other clinical predictors of magnesium,” Chen and associates wrote.
The study utilized data obtained from 4,308 men and women enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005–2018. Diabetes was present in 10.7% of the participants. Dietary questionnaire responses were used to estimate the amount of magnesium consumed each day. 
Greater magnesium intake and lower magnesium depletion scores were associated with a decreased risk of diabetic retinopathy. A high amount of magnesium intake was associated with a reduced risk of diabetic retinopathy when the magnesium depletion score was at a middle level or lower.
“Our research indicates that magnesium deficiency predicts a higher risk of diabetic retinopathy in diabetic individuals and that magnesium supplementation may reduce the risk of diabetic retinopathy,” they concluded.
 
 
Exercise Outweighs Genetics When It Comes To Longer LifeUniversity of California at San Diego, August 26, 2022
If living into your 90s seems to run in the family, don’t just assume that means you will too. Our genetics make us who we are, but new research from the University of California, San Diego finds exercise trumps genes when it comes to promoting a longer life.
You don’t need a medical degree to know that forgoing physical activity in favor of stagnation isn’t the wisest choice for your health and longevity. But, certain people are genetically predisposed to live longer than others. The research team at UCSD set out to determine if such individuals don’t have to move quite as much as the rest of us to live just as long.
This research project began a decade ago. In 2012, as part of the Women’s Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study (OPACH), study authors began keeping track of the physical activity habits among 5,446 older U.S. women (ages 63 or older). Subjects were tracked up until 2020, and wore a research-grade accelerometer for up to seven days. That device measured how much time they spent moving, the intensity of that physical activity, and their usual amount of sedentary time.
Sure enough, higher levels of light physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with a lower risk of dying during the tracking period. Additionally, more time spent sedentary was associated with a higher risk of mortality. Importantly, this observed connection between exercise and a longer life remained consistent even among women determined to have different levels of genetic predisposition for longevity.
“Our study showed that, even if you aren’t likely to live long based on your genes, you can still extend your lifespan by engaging in positive lifestyle behaviors such as regular exercise and sitting less,” explains senior study author Aladdin H. Shadyab, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego. “Conversely, even if your genes predispose you to a long life, remaining physically active is still important to achieve longevity.”
 
Guarana found to have higher antioxidant potential than green tea
University of São Paulo's Public Health School (Brazil), August 25, 2022
 
The millions of people who consume green tea all over the world benefit from the catechins it contains. Catechins are a class of chemical compounds with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, among other healthy ingredients. 
Researchers at the University of São Paulo's Public Health School (FSP-USP) have discovered that guarana (Paullinia cupana) is a worthy competitor, at least as far as catechins are concerned: the seeds of the tropical shrub, used in fizzy drinks that are among the most popular in Brazil, as well as in over-the-counter supplements, contain more than ten times the amount of catechins found in green tea.
 
A clinical trial with healthy human volunteers has demonstrated that guarana is a rich source of catechins, which, when properly absorbed, reduce the oxidative stress associated with the development of neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disorders, as well as diabetes, cancer, inflammation and premature aging due to cell death, among other conditions harmful to health and wellbeing.
 
The month-long study was conducted in two stages. After selecting volunteers who were healthy but slightly overweight and with a moderately elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, the researchers measured baseline parameters on the first day and evaluated the same items again on day 15 after a the implementation of a controlled diet. The participants were then asked to take guarana at home every morning before breakfast for the next fortnight. They were given bottles containing guarana seed powder and instructed to prepare a daily drink with the contents of one bottle (3 g of guarana powder) in 300 mL of water.
 
The oxidative stress markers included oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), popularly known as bad cholesterol. LDL is essential to an organism's proper functioning because it is the main particle that carries cholesterol to cells. Cholesterol is a structural component of all cell membranes and is used to manufacture steroid hormones (estrogen and testosterone). When oxidized, however, LDL causes atherosclerosis and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The tests performed by Yonekura's team showed an increase in oxidation resistance of the LDL in the blood samples taken from the volunteers after they drank guarana.
 
They also performed a comet assay, also called single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE), a technique for quantifying and analyzing DNA damage in individual cells due to various factors, including oxidative stress. In this case, lymphocyte DNA in blood samples taken one hour after guarana intake was less damaged than expected when submitted to an oxidizing environment, indicating the presence of anti-oxidant substances or enhanced performance of the lymphocytes' enzymatic anti-oxidant system.
 
"All these markers depend on the presence of catechins in the bloodstream," Yonekura said. "The improvement in the parameters we assessed was associated with a rise in the concentration of plasma catechins after guarana intake, showing that guarana was indeed responsible for this effect."
 
Moreover, she went on, the guarana catechins strengthened the cells' native anti-oxidant enzymes, especially glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase, which combine to convert superoxide into peroxide and finally into water, protecting cells from the oxidative damage caused by their own metabolism of outside factors.
 
The tests showed increased glutathione peroxidase and catalase activity both shortly after guarana ingestion and on the following day.
 
 
Study links caesareans and cardiovascular riskJames Cook University (New Zealand), August 25, 2022
A new Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health study has found Australian children who were born via cesarean section (C-section) have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity, and it's sparked a call to limit the increasingly popular practice
"C-section births have risen across the world with a disproportionately higher rate in developed countries. In Australia, the C-section birth rate has increased from 18.5% in 1990 to 36% in 2019 and nearly half of Australian babies are projected to be cesarean born by 2045," said Dr. Begum.
She said the study found a relationship between C-section births and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in children.
"Four out of six individual CVD risk components and the composite index of the five CVD risk components showed a positive association with C-section birth. Our study also provided a direct relationship between C-section and increased overweight and obesity among children at 10–12 years of age," said Dr. Fatima.
"There's an altered microbial load from C-section birth as compared to vaginal birth. This altered microbial ecosystem hampers the 'gut-brain axis' and releases some pathogenic toxins that cause metabolic damage," said Dr. Begum.
She said it was also possible the fetal stress from physiological or pharmacological induction of labor during a C-section could also have an effect.
 
Black tea drinkers live longerNational Institutes of Health, August 29 2022. 
The Annals of Internal Medicine reported a lower risk of dying from any cause during a median follow-up period of 11.2 years among men and women who regularly drank black tea in comparison with those who did not consume the beverage. 
The study included 498,03 participants in the UK Biobank, a prospective study of people residing in the United Kingdom. Questionnaires completed upon enrollment provided information concerning tea and coffee intake. Eighty-five percent of the participants reported drinking tea, among whom 89% drank black tea.
During up to 14 years of follow-up, 29,783 deaths occurred. Compared to participants who did not drink tea, those who consumed 1 cup or fewer per day had a 5% lower risk of mortality and 2 to 3 cups was associated with a 13% lower risk. Tea intake was associated with decreased risks of death from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke.
“In this study of nearly 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank where black tea drinking was common, higher tea intake was associated with modestly lower risk for all-cause mortality and mortality from all cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke, with lower risks seen for drinking 2 or more cups per day,” Maki Inoue-Choi, PhD, and colleagues at the NIH concluded. “These findings provide reassurance to tea drinkers and suggest that black tea can be part of a healthy diet.”
 
 
Unhealthy diet during pregnancy could be linked to ADHD
King's College London and the University of Bristol , August 26, 2022
 
New research led by scientists from King's College London and the University of Bristol has found that a high-fat, high-sugar diet during pregnancy may be linked to symptoms of ADHD in children who show conduct problems early in life.
 
Published today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, this study is the first to indicate that epigenetic changes evident at birth may explain the link between unhealthy diet, conduct problems and ADHD.
 
In this new study of participants from the Bristol-based 'Children of the 90s' cohort, 83 children with early-onset conduct problems were compared with 81 children who had low levels of conduct problems. The researchers assessed how the mothers' nutrition affected epigenetic changes (or DNA methylation) of IGF2, a gene involved in fetal development and the brain development of areas implicated in ADHD - the cerebellum and hippocampus. Notably, DNA methylation of IGF2 had previously been found in children of mothers who were exposed to famine in the Netherlands during World War II.
 
The researchers from King's and Bristol found that poor prenatal nutrition, comprising high fat and sugar diets of processed food and confectionary, was associated with higher IGF2 methylation in children with early onset conduct problems and those with low conduct problems.
 
Higher IGF2 methylation was also associated with higher ADHD symptoms between the ages of 7 and 13, but only for children who showed an early onset of conduct problems.
 
Dr Edward Barker from King's College London said: 'Our finding that poor prenatal nutrition was associated with higher IGF2 methylation highlights the critical importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy.
 
'These results suggest that promoting a healthy prenatal diet may ultimately lower ADHD symptoms and conduct problems in children. This is encouraging given that nutritional and epigenetic risk factors can be altered.'

The Gary Null Show - 08.29.22

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One Acupuncture Treatment Drops Blood Pressure For Over a Month Without Medication
Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine and University of California, Irvine , August 21, 2022
Emerging evidence from a research study shows acupuncture may be an effective treatment for hypertension. Acupuncture regulates blood pressure, blood flow and body temperature. Patients with hypertension treated with acupuncture experienced drops in their blood pressure that lasted up to a month and a half, researchers with the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine have found.
Their work is the first to scientifically confirm that this ancient Chinese practice is beneficial in treating mild to moderate hypertension, and it indicates that regular use could help people control their blood pressure and lessen their risk of stroke and heart disease.
“This clinical study is the culmination of more than a decade of bench research in this area,” said Dr. John Longhurst, a University of California, Irvine cardiologist and former director of the Samueli Center. “By using Western scientific rigor to validate an ancient Eastern therapy, we feel we have integrated Chinese and Western medicine and provided a beneficial guideline for treating a disease that affects millions in the U.S.”
Longhurst and his UCI colleagues Dr. Peng Li and Stephanie Tjen-A-Looi conducted tests on 65 hypertensive patients who were not receiving any hypertension medication. Separated randomly into two groups, the subjects were treated with electroacupuncture – a form of the practice that employs low-intensity electrical stimulation – at different acupoints on the body.
In one group of 33 receiving electroacupuncture on both sides of the inner wrists and slightly below each knee, the researchers found a noticeable drop in blood pressure rates in 70 percent of participants – an average of 6 to 8 mmHg for systolic blood pressure (the high number) and 4 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure (the low number). These improvements persisted for a month and a half.
Also in this group, the team identified significant declines in blood concentration levels of norepinephrine (41 percent), which constricts blood vessels and increases blood pressure and glucose levels; and renin (67 percent), an enzyme produced in the kidneys that helps control blood pressure. In addition, the electroacupuncture decreased aldosterone (22 percent), a hormone that regulates electrolytes.
No consequential blood pressure changes were found in the group of 32 who received electroacupuncture at other acupoints along the forearm and lower leg.
Although the blood pressure reductions in the first cohort were relatively small – mostly in the 4-to-13-mmHg range – the researchers noted that they were clinically meaningful and that the technique could be especially useful in treating systolic hypertension in patients over 60.
“Because electroacupuncture decreases both peak and average systolic blood pressure over 24 hours, this therapy may decrease the risk for stroke, peripheral artery disease, heart failure and myocardial infarction in hypertensive patients,” Longhurst said.
Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to dieNew York University Langone Health. August 17, 2022Vitamin C may “tell” faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published online in the journal Cell.
Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. The new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.
“We’re excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies,” says corresponding study author Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.
Changes in the genetic code (mutations) that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 percent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 30 percent of those with a form of pre-leukemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 percent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Such cancers cause anemia, infection risk, and bleeding as abnormal stem cells multiply in the bone marrow until they interfere with blood cell production, with the number of cases increasing as the population ages.
The study results revolve around the relationship between TET2 and cytosine, one of the four nucleic acid “letters” that comprise the DNA code in genes. Every cell type has the same genes, but each gets different instructions to turn on only those needed in a given cellular context.
These “epigenetic” regulatory mechanisms include DNA methylation, the attachment of a small molecule termed a methyl group to cytosine bases that shuts down the action of a gene containing them.
The back- and-forth attachment and removal of methyl groups also fine-tunes gene expression in stem cells, which can mature, specialize and multiply to become muscle, bone, nerve, or other cell types. This happens as the body first forms, but the bone marrow also keeps pools of stem cells on hand into adulthood, ready to become replacement cells as needed. In leukemia, signals that normally tell a blood stem cell to mature malfunction, leaving it to endlessly multiply and “self-renew” instead of producing normal white blood cells needed to fight infection.
The enzyme studied in this report, Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2), enables a change in the molecular structure (oxidation) of methyl groups that is needed for them to be removed from cytosines. This “demethylation” turns on genes that direct stem cells to mature, and to start a count-down toward self-destruction as part of normal turnover. This serves as an anti-cancer safety mechanism, one that is disrupted in blood cancer patients with TET2 mutations, says Neel.
To determine the effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the research team genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2 gene on or off.
Similar to the naturally occurring effects of TET2 mutations in mice or humans, using molecular biology techniques to turn off TET2 in mice caused abnormal stem cell behavior. Remarkably, these changes were reversed when TET2 expression was restored by a genetic trick. Previous work had shown that vitamin C could stimulate the activity of TET2 and its relatives TET1 and TET3. Because only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene in each stem cell is usually affected in TET2-mutant blood diseases, the authors hypothesized that high doses of vitamin C, which can only be given intravenously, might reverse the effects of TET2 deficiency by turning up the action of the remaining functional gene.
Indeed, they found that vitamin C did the same thing as restoring TET2 function genetically. By promoting DNA demethylation, high-dose vitamin C treatment induced stem cells to mature, and also suppressed the growth of leukemia cancer stem cells from human patients implanted in mice.
“Interestingly, we also found that vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA,” says first study author Luisa Cimmino, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. “For this reason, we decided to combine vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer.”
Researchers found that the combination had an enhanced effect on leukemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death. The results also suggest that vitamin C might drive leukemic stem cells without TET2 mutations toward death, says Cimmino, given that it turns up any TET2 activity normally in place.
“Our team is working to systematically identify genetic changes that contribute to risk for leukemia in significant groups of patients,” says corresponding author Iannis Aifantis, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. “This study adds the targeting of abnormal TET2-driven DNA demethylation to our list of potential new treatment approaches.”
Burnt out? Rhodiola rosea supplements may help, says new studyWein University Medical School (Austria), 18-Aug-2022Daily supplements containing Rhodiola rosea extract may improve the symptoms of burnout, suggests data from the first trial to examine the effects of the botanical extract on this modern day condition.
Results of the open-label, multicenter, single-arm trial provide “an encouraging basis” for future clinical trials to study if R. rosea extract can indeed help people suffering from burnout, which is reported to be an increasing burden to people and economies in the Western world.
“Most of the outcome variables assessed in this trial demonstrated relevant improvement over time with considerable changes already being detectable after the first week of R. rosea administration,” wrote Siegfried Kasper from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria and Angelika Dienel from Dr Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. in Germany in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment .
Despite being the first to specifically examine the effects of R. rosea in burnout, the results are in-line with previously reported benefits of the root extract, which is primary used for stress, mental and physical fatigue, depression, and to boost energy.
Study detailsFor the new study, Kasper and Dienel recruited 118 men and women aged between 30 and 60 suffering from symptoms of burnout. The participants were asked to consume 400 mg per day of a R. rosea extract (WS 1375, Rosalin, which is the active ingredient in Dr Willmar Schwabe’s Vitango product) for 12 weeks.
The majority of symptoms improved during the course of the study, with some improvements measurable as early as the first week, said the researchers.
Specifically, improvements in symptoms such as “emotional exhaustion”, “fatigue”, “exhaustion”, “lack of joy”, “loss of zest for life”, and “depersonalization” were all recorded during the study.
In addition, the participants reported increased sexual interest and functioning, which supports the potential activity of R. rosea to ameliorate burnout’s impairment on sexual function.
Resveratrol supplementation improves arterial stiffness in type 2 diabeticsToho University (Japan), August 18 2022.
A randomized, double-blind study reported in the International Heart journal found improvements in arterial stiffness and oxidative stress among type 2 diabetics who were supplemented with resveratrol.
The trial included 50 diabetic men and women who received 100 milligrams resveratrol or a placebo daily for 12 weeks. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI, a novel diagnostic measure of arterial stiffness that is a marker of atherosclerosis) and blood pressure were assessed at the beginning and end of the study, in addition to blood assessments of oxidative stress and other factors.
At the end of the study, subjects who received resveratrol had significantly lower blood pressure, less oxidative stress and decreased arterial stiffness in comparison with values obtained at the beginning of the study. Participants who received a placebo experienced no significant changes in these areas.
“The primary finding in the present study was that oral supplementation of resveratrol for 12 weeks decreased CAVI in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” authors Haruki Imamura, MD, and colleagues at Toho University Sakura Medical Center in Japan write. “Many previous studies have demonstrated increased CAVI in atherosclerotic diseases such as acute coronary syndrome and stroke, and these reports indicate that CAVI reflects organic atherosclerosis.”
They suggest that a reduction in oxidative stress may be one mechanism involved in the improvement in arterial stiffness observed in this study among participants who received resveratrol. Improved endothelial function via increased nitric oxide production may be another mechanism.
“Resveratrol may be beneficial in preventing the development of atherosclerosis induced by diabetes,” the authors conclude. “However, a large-scale cohort study is required to validate the present findings.”
Research reveals how physical exercise protects the heartThrough experiments with rats and cells, a study shows that aerobic training reactivates system that helps rid heart cells of dysfunctional mitochondria.
University of São Paulo (Brazil), August 18, 2022
Regular exercise is considered an important form of treatment for heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
The benefits of exercise range from prevention of cachexia -severe loss of weight and muscle mass- and control of arterial blood pressure to improved cardiac function, postponing a degenerative process that causes progressive heart cell death. About 70% of heart failure patients die from the condition within five years.
A study by the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, published recently in the journal Autophagy, helps to elucidate part of the mechanism whereby aerobic exercise protects the sick heart.
“Basically, we discovered that aerobic training facilitates the removal of dysfunctional mitochondria from heart cells,” said Julio Cesar Batista Ferreira, a professor at the Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP) and principal investigator for the project which was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
Mitochondria are the organelles in charge of providing energy to cells. “The removal of dysfunctional mitochondria increases the supply of ATP [adenosine triphosphate, the molecule that stores energy for the cell] and reduces the production of toxic molecules, such as oxygen free radicals and reactive aldehydes, an excess of which damages the cell structure,” he added.
In a previous study, published in PLOS ONE, the group showed through experiments with rats that aerobic training reactivates the proteasome, an intracellular complex responsible for cleansing cells of damaged proteins.
The results also showed that proteasome activity in the heart of a patient with heart failure decreases by more than 50% and that, as a result, highly reactive proteins build up in the cytoplasm, where they interact with other structures and cause heart cell death.
Dietary management of OCD: Study links metabolism and vitamin D status to disease severityOrdu University (Turkey), August 20, 2022One carbon metabolism that includes vitamin B12 and homocysteine, plus vitamin D deficiency could all play a role in the onset of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), research suggests.
The study, published in Psychiatry Research, investigated whether vitamin B12, homocysteine folic acid and vitamin D play a role in the cause (aetiology) of childhood OCD.
Led by Erman Esnafoğlu from Ordu University, Turkey, the team noted that one carbon metabolism – which includes vitamin B12 and homocysteine – has been investigated in many psychiatric disorders, while vitamin D has also been considered to contribute in a variety of psychiatric disorders in recent years.
“To the best of our knowledge the role of one carbon mechanism and vitamin D deficiency in children and adolescents with OCD has not yet been investigated,” wrote the Turkish team. “For this reason we aimed to investigate serum vitamin B12, folic acid homocysteine and vitamin D levels in children and adolescents in this study.”
Esnafoğlu and colleagues reported that lower levels of vitamin B12 and higher levels of homocysteine in were found in OCD patients – suggesting that one carbon metabolism plays a role in the onset of the condition.
Furthermore, the team found that low vitamin D levels were linked to OCD, and that vitamin D status in patients had a negative correlation with disease severity.
“This study has demonstrated that there is a significant decrease in vitamin B12 and vitamin D and a significant increase in homocysteine in children and adolescents with OCD,” said the team – noting that vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for development of OCD.
“The findings of this study demonstrated that vitamin B12 and vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients compared to healthy controls, whereas homocysteine was higher in the patient group,” noted Esnafoğlu and colleagues.

The Gary Null Show - 08.26.22

Strawberries could help reduce harmful inflammation in the colonUniversity of Massachusetts, August 20, 202
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a set of painful conditions that can cause severe diarrhea and fatigue. Treatments can include medications and surgery. But now researchers report that a simple dietary intervention could mitigate colonic inflammation and improve gut health. In this case, a strawberry—or rather, less than a cupful of strawberries—a day could help keep the doctor away.
The dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables has been associated with a lowered risk of IBD. To establish an effective and practical approach to decrease colonic inflammation in both IBD patients and the general population, Xiao and his team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst focused on strawberries due to their wide consumption. 
The researchers found that dietary consumption of whole strawberries at a dose equivalent to as low as three-quarters of a cup of strawberries per day in humans significantly suppressed symptoms like body weight loss and bloody diarrhea in mice with IBD. Strawberry treatments also diminished inflammatory responses in the mice's colonic tissue.
But decreased inflammation wasn't the strawberry's only conferred benefit during this study.  Following the dietary treatments of whole strawberries, the researchers observed a reversal of that unhealthy microbiota composition in the IBD mice. Xiao's team also obtained experimental data that indicated strawberries might impact abnormal metabolic pathways in the IBD mice, which in turn could lead to the decreased colonic inflammation they observed.
Higher diet quality relates to decelerated epigenetic aging Tufts University, August 1, 2022DNA methylation–based epigenetic age measures have been used as biological aging markers and are associated with a healthy lifespan. Few population-based studies have examined the relation between diet and epigenetic age acceleration. We aimed to investigate the relation between diet quality and epigenetic age acceleration.
We analyzed data from 1995 participants (mean age, 67 years; 55% women) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort. Cross-sectional associations between the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) score and 3 whole-blood DNA methylation–derived epigenetic age acceleration measures—Dunedin Pace of Aging Methylation (DunedinPoAm), GrimAge acceleration (GrimAA), and PhenoAge acceleration (PhenoAA)—were examined.Conclusions:  Higher diet quality is associated with slower epigenetic age acceleration, which partially explains the beneficial effect of diet quality on the lifespan. Our findings emphasize that adopting a healthy diet is crucial for maintaining healthy aging.
Feeling anxious or blue? Ultra-processed foods may be to blameFlorida Atlantic University, August 25, 2022
Do you love those sugary-sweet beverages, reconstituted meat products and packaged snacks? You may want to reconsider based on a new study that explored whether individuals who consume higher amounts of ultra-processed food have more adverse mental health symptoms.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators explored a nationally representative sample of the United States population to determine if individuals who consume high amounts of ultra-processed foods report significantly more adverse mental health symptoms including depression, anxiety and mentally unhealthy days.  They measured mild depression, number of mental unhealthy days and number of anxious days in 10,359 adults 18 and older from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Results of the study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, showed that individuals who consumed the most ultra-processed foods as compared with those who consumed the least amount had statistically significant increases in the adverse mental health symptoms of mild depression, "mentally unhealthy days" and "anxious days." They also had significantly lower rates of reporting zero "mentally unhealthy days" and zero "anxious days." Findings from this study are generalizable to the entire U.S. as well as other Western countries with similar ultra-processed food intakes.
 
Many types of leisure time activities may lower risk of death for older adultsNational Cancer Institute, August 25, 2022
Older adults who participate weekly in many different types of leisure time activities, such as walking for exercise, jogging, swimming laps, or playing tennis, may have a lower risk of death from any cause, as well as death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to a new study led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The findings suggest that it's important for older adults to engage in leisure time activities that they enjoy and can sustain, because many types of these activities may lower the risk of death, the authors wrote.
Using data from 272,550 adults between the ages of 59 and 82 who had completed questionnaires about their leisure-time activities as part of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the researchers looked at whether participating in equivalent amounts of seven different exercise and recreational activities—including running, cycling, swimming, other aerobic exercise, racquet sports, golf, and walking for exercise—was associated with lowered risk of death.
The researchers found that achieving the recommended amount of physical activity per week through any combination of these activities was associated with a 13% lower risk of death from any cause compared with no participation in these activities. When they looked at the role of each activity individually, playing racquet sports was associated with a 16% reduction in risk and running with a 15% reduction. However, all the activities investigated were similarly associated with lower risks of death.
The levels of activity by the most active individuals (those who exceeded the recommended levels of physical activity) were associated with even greater reductions in the risk of death, but there were diminishing returns as activity levels increased. Even people who did some recreational activity, though less than the recommended amount, had a 5% reduction in risk of death than those who did not participate in any of the activities studied.
These activities were also associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Playing racquet sports was associated with the greatest reduction in risk of cardiovascular deaths (27% reduction), while running was associated with the greatest reduction in risk of cancer deaths (19% reduction).
 
Avocado may resist the effects of leukemiaUniversity of Waterloo (Canada), August 19, 2022
One of the many health benefits avocados offer is their ability to ward off cancer. Avocados contain avocatin B, which is a compound found to fight against a type of leukemia called acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study carried out by a researcher from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
AML is known by many names, like acute myelocytic leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, acute granulocytic leukemia, and acute non-lymphocytic leukemia. AML is a type of blood cancer that is most common in older people. Approximately 90 percent of people with this type of cancer die within five years of diagnosis.
In the in vitro study, Canadian researcher Paul Spagnuolo found that avocatin B fights AML by targeting leukemia stem cells – which are the root of the disease – without harming healthy, non-cancerous cells. This indicated that the compound is both effective against AML and not toxic to the body.
Avocados can also fight against prostate and oral cancer cells. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a review of studies on the potential health benefits of avocados and looked at evidence that specific avocado extracts can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells and oral cancer cells. They found that the active compounds in avocados make them potentially beneficial for preventing cancer.
 
News addiction is linked to not only poor mental well-being but physical health too, new studyTexas Tech University, August 25, 2022People with an obsessive urge to constantly check the news are more likely to suffer from stress, anxiety, and physical ill health, finds a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Health Communication.
For many people, reading bad news can make us feel temporarily powerless and distressed. For others, being exposed to a 24-hour news cycle of continually evolving events can have serious impacts on mental and physical well-being—as these new findings, out today, show, with those who have a high-levels of news addiction reporting "significantly greater physical ill-being."
"Witnessing these events unfold in the news can bring about a constant state of high alert in some people, kicking their surveillance motives into overdrive and making the world seem like a dark and dangerous place," says Bryan McLaughlin, associate professor of advertising at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University.
"For these individuals, a vicious cycle can develop, in which rather than tuning out, they become drawn further in, obsessing over the news and checking for updates around the clock to alleviate their emotional distress. But it doesn't help, and the more they check the news, the more it begins to interfere with other aspects of their lives."
To study this phenomenon, McLaughlin and his colleagues,  analyzed data from an online survey of 1,100 US adults.
The results revealed that 16.5% of people surveyed showed signs of "severely problematic" news consumption. Such individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in news stories that the stories dominated the individual's waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep.
73.6% of those recognized to have severe levels of problematic news consumption reported experiencing mental ill-being "quite a bit" or "very much"—while frequent symptoms were only reported by 8% of all other study participants.61% of those with severe levels of problematic news reported experiencing physical ill-being "quite a bit" or "very much" compared to only 6.1% for all other study participants.According to McLaughlin, the findings show that there is a need for focused media literacy campaigns to help people develop a healthier relationship with the news.

The Gary Null Show - 08.25.22

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2. Mark Steyn questions why young healthy people are dying across the UK
 
Tea, flavonoid intake associated with lower fracture riskUniversity of Western Australia, August 14 2022
An article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition adds more evidence to a protective effect for tea drinking against the development of osteoporotic fractures in women.
The study included 1,188 women over the age of 75 years enrolled in the Calcium Intake Fracture Outcome Study, which evaluated the effect of calcium supplementation in the prevention of osteoporosis. Tea intake was assessed at the beginning of the study and at two and five years. The subjects were followed for ten years, during which 288 women developed an osteoporotic fracture, including 212 major fractures and 129 hip fractures.
Among women whose intake of tea was three cups or higher per day, there was a 30% decrease in the risk of any osteoporotic fracture in comparison with those whose intake was a cup or less per week. Subjects whose flavonoid intake from tea and foods was among the highest one-third of subjects had risks of osteoporotic fracture, major osteoporotic fracture and hip fracture that were 35%, 34% and 42% lower than those whose intake was among the lowest third. When individual flavonoids were analyzed, higher consumption of flavonols, flavan-3-ols and flavones was significantly associated with a protective effect against osteoporotic fracture risk.
“The current study found that flavonoid intake was associated with a reduced risk of hip, major, and all osteoporotic fractures in elderly women,” write authors Gael Myers and colleagues. “The major flavonoids found in tea, flavan-3-ols, and flavonols were also associated with a reduced fracture risk, providing evidence for the role of tea flavonoids in promoting bone health.”
Skipping breakfast may increase chance of kids and teens developing psychosocial health problemsUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), August 23, 2022
Young people who eat healthy breakfasts at home have better psychosocial health, shows a recent study in Frontiers in Nutrition. While previous research has reported the important role of a nutritious breakfast, this is the first study to look at the reported effects of whether kids eat breakfast, as well as where and what they eat. These results provide valuable insights and recommendations for parents and their children.
“Our results suggest that it is not only important to eat breakfast, but it’s also important where young people eat breakfast and what they eat,” said first author Dr. José Francisco López-Gil of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca, Spain. “Skipping breakfast or eating breakfast away from home is associated with increased likelihood of psychosocial behavioral problems in children and adolescents. Similarly, consumption of certain foods/drinks are associated with higher (eg, processed meat) or lower (eg, dairies, cereals) odds of psychosocial behavioral problems.”
Among the most important results, López-Gil and the team found that eating breakfast away from home was nearly as detrimental as skipping the meal entirely. The authors suggest that this may be because meals away from home are frequently less nutritious than those prepared at home.
The results also showed that coffee, milk, tea, chocolate, cocoa, yogurt, bread, toast, cereals, and pastries were all associated with lower chances of behavioral problems. Surprisingly, eggs, cheese, and ham were linked with higher risks of such issues.
Amla Tea in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (Iran), August 14, 2022Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate whether the addition of Phyllanthus emblica (amla) tea to standard protocols affects lung function, symptomology, and length of hospital stay in a population of hospitalized patients with Covid-19While amla tea did not reduce the severity of lung involvement nor significantly affect the reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results, it did lessen severity of symptomology and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Duration of hospital stay was significantly shorterin those taking amla versus placebo.First-line therapy for all patients consisted of hydroxychloroquine tablets (200 mg) and lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) every 12 hours after meals for 7 to 14 days. Phyllanthus emblica (Linn), Euphorbiaceae, known as Indian gooseberry or amla or Emblica officinalis, 2 grams of powder in a sachet for 10 days was the intervention, and the placebo was starch, 2 grams of powder daily for 10 days. Both treatments were taken as 100 mL tea every 12 hours. Hospital nurses administered the treatments every 12 hours for 10 days, and the study team tracked the patients with daily phone calls.Key Findings
Lymphocytes decreased significantly in the intervention group but increased significantly in the control group (P=0.001).There was no significant difference in hemoglobin, polymorphonuclear (PMN) count, platelets, or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) between the intervention versus placebo groups.CRP was significantly less in the intervention group versus the control (P=0.004).Fever decreased in both groups, with a significantly greater reduction in the intervention group (P

The Gary Null Show - 08.24.22

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Vitamin D May Protect Against Autoimmune DiseasesBrigham and Women’s Hospital, August 3, 2022To investigate the effect of vitamin D and fish oil supplementation, alone and in combination, on the 5-year incidence of new-onset autoimmune disease in an older populationDesign; Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with a 2-by-2 factorial designParticipants: This study included 25,871 participants, of whom 12,786 were men aged ≥50 years (51%) and 13,085 were women aged ≥55 years. The mean age was 67.1 years.Intervention: Participants were randomized to 1 of 4 groups:Omega-3 fatty acid (1,000 mg/day; 460 mg eicosapentaenoic acid and 380 mg docosahexaenoic acid) and vitamin D supplementation (2,000 IU/day)Omega-3 fatty acid (1,000 mg/day) and placeboVitamin D supplementation (2,000 IU/day) and placeboPlaceboKey Findings
In older adults, supplementing with daily vitamin D (2,000 IU) for 5 years decreased the incidence of autoimmune disease by 22%. Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation alone decreased incidence of autoimmune disease by 15% but was not statistically significant. The combination of vitamin D and omega-3 did not appear to have significant added benefit. Omega-3 supplementation alone did appear to be more beneficial for prevention of autoimmune disease onset in those with a positive family history and also appeared to have more impact in the later years of the study.
It does appear that vitamin D supplementation, with or without omega-3 supplementation, decreases the incidence of new-onset autoimmune disease in people aged more than 55 years. The study did an excellent job ensuring regimen adherence with the use of biomarkers.
Bitter Orange: Another Tool to Improve SleepAhvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (Iran), August 13, 2022To determine whether inhalation of Citrus aurantium (bitter orange) daily over 4 weeks would improve the sleep of postmenopausal women. The bitter orange essential oil used in this study, made from the flowers, is also called neroli oil. The main constituent (35%) is linalool, which has several properties, including anxiolytic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and antidiabetic.8 Linalool is present in lavender essential oil also.Inhalation of Citrus aurantium for 5 minutes, twice daily, 4 days a week for 4 weeks resulted in a significant improvement in sleep for postmenopausal women. Sleep complaints affect a significant portion of this subpopulation.Participants: Eighty postmenopausal women, aged 45 to 60 years, participated in this study. Inclusion criteria were the ability to read and write, cessation of menses for 12 months or more, 5 or more on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire, no medical or mental disorder, available medical records, no alcohol, and no stressful events in the 6 months prior.Intervention: Participants placed 2 drops of oil on their forearm and inhaled the aroma from a distance of 30 cm away with normal breathing for 5 minutes twice daily (10 am and 10 pm). The treatment group received 10% Citrus aurantium oil (mixed in odorless almond oil diluted with propylene glycol), while the control group received odorless almond oil, which was also diluted with propylene glycol. They inhaled the aroma 4 consecutive days each week for 4 weeks.Key Findings: The postmenopausal women who used the Citrus aurantium oil had a statistically significant improvement in their subjective sleep, with the PSQI dropping from 12.08 to 5.75Inhalation aromatherapy for sleep has a historical precedent, and research in this area is accumulating. Reviews have found evidence for use of bergamot, cedar, lemon, rose, sweet orange, valerian, and other essential oils. When the essential oil is smelled, molecules stimulate the olfactory system, which in turn signals the limbic system and autonomic nervous system. Essential oil molecules in the respiratory tract can directly stimulate the central nervous system.
What older adults do while they sit affects dementia risk, study indicatesUniversity of Southern California and University of Arizona, August 22, 2022
Adults aged 60 and older who sit for long periods watching TV or other such passive, sedentary behaviors may be at increased risk of developing dementia, according to a new study by USC and University of Arizona researchers.
Their study also showed that the risk is lower for those who are active while sitting, such as when they read or use computers.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It also revealed that the link between sedentary behavior and dementia risk persisted even among participants who were physically active.
“It isn’t the time spent sitting, per se, but the type of sedentary activity performed during leisure time that impacts dementia risk,” said study author David Raichlen, professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
“Our findings suggest that the brain impacts of sitting during our leisure activities are really separate from how physically active we are,” said Alexander, “and that being more mentally active, like when using computers, may be a key way to help counter the increased risk of dementia related to more passive sedentary behaviors, like watching TV.”
Three Unusual Green Tea Benefits – From Three Unique FormsGreenMedInfo Research Group, August 23, 2022
Green Tea Extract for Diabetic Peripheral NeuropathyDiabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is among the most disabling and common complications of diabetes.
Green tea’s catechins, amino acids, polyphenols and other diverse compounds offer a range of properties that may benefit DPN, including hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and even anti-neuroinflammatory effects. In a 16-week study, 194 patients with DPN received either green tea extract or placebo.
Significant improvements were noted in the green tea extract group, including:
Positive impact on insulin resistance and glucose homeostasisReduced fasting insulin levelsAnti-adiposity effectsBeneficial effects on lipid and insulin levels (green tea has been found to outperform the diabetes drug metformin for this purpose)Anti-inflammatory effects
Matcha Improves Cognitive Function — Even While You’re Stressed
Catechin, l-theanine and caffeine are among the compounds in matcha known to affect cognitive function, and researchers from Japan have found that daily matcha consumption improves attention and executive function in middle-aged and older adults.
They were curious whether these benefits extended to younger adults as well, so they gave two grams of matcha (in capsule form) to 42 25- to 34-year-olds daily for two weeks while subjecting them to mild psychological stress, which is known to cause a decline in cognitive function.
Matcha intake led to maintained attentional function during the stressful period, which suggests it may be useful for helping young adults stay productive and focused while going through their daily grind.
L-Theanine Boosts Brain Function
L-theanine is an amino acid found primarily in tea leaves and mushrooms. It’s particularly prevalent in matcha tea, where it
One Japanese study compared the cognitive effects of a single dose of l-theanine, 12 weeks of regular l-theanine consumption and placebo among adults aged 50 to 69 years. Benefits were found after 12 weeks and even after a single dose, with the researchers stating: A single dose of l-theanine reduced reaction time in the attention task and increased correct answers and decreased the number of omission errors in the working memory task. This suggests that l-theanine may improve working memory and executive function based on the improvement in attention.
Misguided justice: People hurt others to signal their own virtue, study saysUniversity of California-San Diego, August 22, 2022People often proclaim that “violence is never the answer,” but researchers from the University of California-San Diego find many can’t help but turn to violence when facing a situation that they consider unjust. The study finds people hurt others because, from their perspective, violence is actually the morally right thing to do.
With these findings in mind, the team at UCSD add that such individuals will not respond rationally to material benefits or punishments. In other words, throwing someone in jail for a violent offense probably won’t reform the offender if he or she still believes they did the right thing. Similarly, threats involving fines or jail time may not be as effective of a deterrent as lawmakers hope.
These findings are based on numerous experiments involving close to 1,500 study participants. The group received a monetary reward for punishing others. Interestingly, though, when participants actually received money for punishing others, it made them less likely to do so.
“Monetary gains may conflict with their perceived moral justifications,” Prof. Rai adds. “People punish others to signal their own goodness and receiving compensation might make it seem as though they’re driven by greed rather than justice. However, I also find that if your peers tell you you’re still a good person even if you take the money, then you no longer have moral qualms about harming others for profit.”
“When people are aware that they’re being judged negatively by their peers, they may find themselves more likely to question their claims of moral righteousness,” Rai explains.
“The findings suggest people may be more hesitant to do harm when they stand to profit from it if they anticipate condemnation from their peers,” Prof. Rai notes.
Pineapple juice is 500% more effective than cough syrup, study shows
Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology (India), August 16, 2022
Researchers in India – which has a strong history of natural healing due to its Ayurvedic traditions – compared the effects of over-the-counter syrups to a natural mixture of pineapple juice, salt, pepper and honey on the coughs of tuberculosis patients. It was found that the natural mixture was far more effective at soothing down coughs and throat irritation than the commercial preparation.
This sparked other studies on the subject, and scientists came to the conclusion that the reason that pineapple juice is so effective for taming a cough is the presence of bromelain, an enzyme that has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties which allow it to reduce irritation of the throat and thus relieve even persistent coughing.
Also helpful is the fact that pineapple contains high amounts of vitamin C (another power antioxidant) as well as a wealth of vitamin A and minerals like magnesium, manganese and potassium, all of which help boost the immune system and make it easier for the body to fight off infections that cause coughs in the first place