University of Illinois, May 21, 2020

The microbes that inhabit our bodies are influenced by what we eat, drink, breathe and absorb through our skin, and most of us are chronically exposed to natural and human-made environmental contaminants. In a new paper, scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign review the research linking dozens of environmental chemicals to changes in the gut microbiome and associated health challenges.

The review is published in the journal Toxicological Sciences.

The paper includes sections on compounds used in manufacturing consumer goods, including the bisphenols found in plastic food packaging, and phthalates, which are used in everything from vinyl flooring to plastic films. It also describes the science associated with exposure to persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. POPs include chemicals like PCBs; perfluorochemicals, which are used in nonstick cookware and food packaging; flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers; and pesticides and herbicides.

“More than 300 environmental contaminants or the metabolic byproducts of those contaminants have been measured in human urine, blood or other biological samples,” said Jodi Flaws, a U. of I. professor of comparative biosciences who led the analysis with Ph.D. student Karen Chiu. “Chemicals such as bisphenols, phthalates and some pesticides, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals can alter hormone metabolism and are associated with adverse health outcomes.”

The negative health effects linked to these chemicals include reproductive and developmental defects, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular dysfunction, liver disease, obesity, thyroid disorders and poor immune function, the researchers report.

Dozens of studies have explored how chemical exposures affect health, and scientists are now turning their attention to how these chemicals influence gut microbes. The studies reviewed in the new paper were conducted in rats, mice, fish, dogs, chickens, cows, human adults and infants, honey bees and other organisms.

Studies have found that exposure to bisphenols, which are detectable in the urine of more than 90% of adults in the United States, increases levels of Methanobrevibacter bacteria in the male gut. These microbes have been shown – in humans and in mice – to boost their host’s ability to extract more energy from food.

“This raises a strong possibility that BPA-induced weight gain is caused at least partially by BPA-induced changes in the gut microbiome,” the researchers wrote.

Phthalates are plasticizers and stabilizers that easily leach into foods. Eating phthalate-contaminated foods is the primary route of exposure in humans. Like bisphenols, phthalates are endocrine disruptors, meaning that they interfere with normal hormone-signaling in the body.

High phthalate exposure in human newborns is associated with changes in the gut microbiome and altered immune responses to vaccination. In mice, exposure to phthalates during puberty appears to inhibit the microbial synthesis of butyrate, a metabolite that is essential for intestinal health, immune regulation and neurological function.

Persistent organic pollutants are oily organic chemicals that can persist in the environment for years or decades.

“Recent studies have investigated the impact of POP exposure on the gut microbiota during developmental, juvenile and adult stages in a variety of animals, including mice, fish and humans,” the researchers wrote.

Studies have found that exposure to PCBs is associated with microbial shifts in the gut and increased gut permeability, intestinal inflammation and cognitive problems. Once used as coolants, PCBs were banned in the U.S. in 1978 but persist in the environment.

Perfluorochemicals are used in nonstick cookware, food packaging and stain-resistant carpets. One study linked PFCs to changes in the gut microbiome and impaired lipid metabolism in female – but not male – fish and their offspring. The microbiome shifts persisted in the offspring, and the young fish suffered higher mortality than those whose mothers were not exposed to PFCs.

Studies have found that exposure to glyphosate herbicides alters the bacterial makeup of the gut microbiome in cattle, rodents and honey bees. It increased anxious and depressive symptoms in mice and was associated with an increase in pathogenic bacteria in cattle. The pesticide chlorpyrifos affects microbial populations in male rodents and fish exposed during development and adulthood, and also causes inflammation and oxidative stress in the gut.

“All of these data together suggest that exposure to many of these environmental chemicals during various stages of life can alter the gut microbiome in ways that influence health,” Chiu said. “The pathologies associated with altered microbiomes after exposure to environmental chemicals include immune dysfunction, altered carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and neurological and behavioral impairments. We are also seeing that these effects highly depend on an individual’s sex and age.”

Penn State University, May 21, 2020

Adding an array of spices to your meal is a surefire way to make it more tasty, but new Penn State research suggests it may increase its health benefits, as well.

In a randomized, controlled feeding study, the researchers found that when participants ate a meal high in fat and carbohydrates with six grams of a spice blend added, the participants had lower inflammation markers compared to when they ate a meal with less or no spices.

“If spices are palatable to you, they might be a way to make a high-fat or high-carb meal more healthful,” said Connie Rogers, associate professor of nutritional sciences. “We can’t say from this study if it was one spice in particular, but this specific blend seemed to be beneficial.”

The researchers used a blend of basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, ginger, oregano, parsley, red pepper, rosemary, thyme and turmeric for the study, which was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition.

According to Rogers, previous research has linked a variety of different spices, like ginger and tumeric, with anti-inflammatory properties. Additionally, chronic inflammation has previously been associated with poor health outcomes like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and overweight and obesity, which affects approximately 72 percent of the U.S. population.

In more recent years, researchers have found that inflammation can spike after a person eats a meal high in fat or sugar. While it is not clear whether these short bursts — called acute inflammation — can cause chronic inflammation, Rogers said it’s suspected they play a factor, especially in people with overweight or obesity.

“Ultimately the gold standard would be to get people eating more healthfully and to lose weight and exercise, but those behavioral changes are difficult and take time,” Rogers said. “So in the interim, we wanted to explore whether a combination of spices that people are already familiar with and could fit in a single meal could have a positive effect.”

For the study, the researchers recruited 12 men between the ages of 40 and 65, with overweight or obesity, and at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Rogers said the sample was chosen because people in these demographics tend to be at a higher risk for developing poorer health outcomes.

In random order, each participant ate three versions of a meal high in saturated fat and carbohydrates on three separate days: one with no spices, one with two grams of the spice blend, and one with six grams of the spice blend. The researchers drew blood samples before and then after each meal hourly for four hours to measure inflammatory markers.

“Additionally, we cultured the white blood cells and stimulated them to get the cells to respond to an inflammatory stimulus, similar to what would happen while your body is fighting an infection,” Rogers said. “We think that’s important because it’s representative of what would happen in the body. Cells would encounter a pathogen and produce inflammatory cytokines.”

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that inflammatory cytokines were reduced following the meal containing six grams of spices compared to the meal containing two grams of spices or no spices. Rogers said six grams roughly translates to between one teaspoon to one tablespoon, depending on how the spices are dehydrated.

While the researchers can’t be sure which spice or spices are contributing to the effect, or the precise mechanism in which the effect is created, Rogers said the results suggest that the spices have anti-inflammatory properties that help offset inflammation caused by the high-carb and high-fat meal.

Additionally, Rogers said that a second study using the same subjects, conducted by Penn State researchers Penny Kris-Etherton and Kristina Petersen, found that six grams of spices resulted in a smaller post-meal reduction of “flow mediated dilation” in the blood vessels — a measure of blood vessel flexibility and marker of blood vessel health.

In the future, Rogers said she, Kris-Etherton and Petersen will be working on further studies to determine the affects of spices in the diet across longer periods of time and within a more diverse population.

Boston University School of Medicine, May 20, 2020

Higher blood pressure during exercise and delayed blood pressure recovery after exercise are associated with a higher risk of hypertension, preclinical and clinical cardiovascular disease and death among middle-aged to older adults. Blood pressure responses to exercise are significant markers of cardiovascular disease and mortality risk in young to middle-aged adults. However, few studies have examined the associations of midlife blood pressure responses to submaximal (less than the maximum of which an individual is capable) exercise with the risk of cardiovascular outcomes and mortality in later life.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) evaluated the association of blood pressure changes and recovery with indicators of preclinical disease among participants from the Framingham Heart Study (average age 58 years, 53 percent women). They then followed these participants to assess whether these blood pressure changes were associated with the risk of developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease or dying.

They observed that both higher exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP) and exercise diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were associated with a greater risk of developing hypertension. Additionally, both delayed SBP and DBP recovery after exercise were associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

“The way our blood pressure changes during and after exercise provides important information on whether we will develop disease in the future; this may help investigators evaluate whether this information can be used to better identify people who are at higher risk of developing hypertension and CVD, or dying later in life,” explained corresponding author Vanessa Xanthakis, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and biostatistics at BUSM and an Investigator for the Framingham Heart Study.

Xanthakis recommends that people know their blood pressure numbers, speak to their physician regarding changes during and after exercise and follow a healthy lifestyle (including a regular physical activity schedule) to help lower risk of disease later in life.

These findings appear online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

National University of Ireland, May 21, 2020

Research completed in NUI Galway has shown that lowering blood pressure by taking blood pressure medications reduces the risk of developing dementia and cognitive impairment by 7%. The findings are published today in a leading international medical journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Fourteen randomised controlled trials (96,158 participants) were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive medications reduced the risk of developing dementia or cognitive impairment by 7%, and cognitive decline also by 7% over a four-year period.

“When you consider how common dementia is in the population (50 million people worldwide), effective treatment and control of hypertension would have a major impact on preventing dementia. Our findings emphasize the need for more effective screening, prevention, and treatment of hypertension, which remains suboptimal in Ireland”, explains Dr Conor Judge, joint first author and Wellcome Trust Health Research Board Irish Clinical Academic Training (ICAT) fellow.

Dr Judge continued: “We know from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging that two thirds of people aged over 50 in Ireland have hypertension (high blood pressure), of which half are unaware of the diagnosis, and one third are not on treatment. This is a major care gap.”

This study aimed to gather all the evidence from previous trials of blood pressure lowering medications and estimate how much the risk of dementia can be reduced by taking blood pressure lowering medications in people who are diagnosed with high blood pressure. Blood pressure lowering reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease. Prevention of dementia can now be added to the benefits of treating hypertension. Importantly, there are no available therapies that directly prevent dementia, so this study highlights the critical importance of blood pressure in the risk of dementia.

Dr Michelle Canavan, Consultant Geriatrician at Galway University Hospital, and senior author of the paper, commented: “Prevention of dementia is a major health priority. We know from previous research that a major concern of older people is developing dementia. The message from this study is simple: Get your blood pressure checked. If it is high, it can be readily treated with lifestyle changes and medications. We would hope that our study will heighten awareness of the importance of controlling blood pressure to maintain “brain” health, combined with a healthy lifestyle.”

“Two years ago, we reported that people with five healthy habits—eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, keeping a healthy weight, not drinking too much alcohol, and not smoking—live more than a decade longer than those with none of those habits,” says Hu.

That being said having to live those extra years while being burdened by illness is far worse than spending the extra decade in good health. However, it is easier to study lifespan than it is to study healthspan. 

“So in our new study, we re-ran our analysis to look at life expectancy free of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes,” explains Hu. Obviously there are more than these three illnesses that are threats to health and lifespans. “You could argue that a respiratory disease like emphysema or a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s is also very important for quality of life,” says Hu. “But we don’t have sufficient data to estimate life expectancy with or without those conditions.”

Each habit including smoking, weight, alcohol, diet, and exercise can individually affect your life expectancy at the age of 50. This study tracked roughly 111,500 people for 28 to 34 years and examined the impact of several healthy habits together. This study was adjusted for other factors such as age, ethnicity, taking multivitamins, aspirin, hormones, as well as having a family history of diabetes, heart attack, or cancers. 

According to the study a 50 year old woman with at least 4 of the 5 low risk habits could expect to live to the age of 84 before getting cancer, cardiovascular disease, or type 2 diabetes; while a woman with none of the low risk habits could expect to live to the age of 74 without any of those illnesses and a low risk man could expect to live to the age of 81 disease free rather than the age of 74. Graph: Adapted from BMJ 2020. doi:10.1136/bmj.l6669(healthspan).

“Smoking is the single most important risk factor for dying of these illnesses,” says Hu, and only those who never smoked were considered as being low risk. Smoking increases the risk of at least a dozen cancers plus heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and causes 80% of the deaths from emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

Low risk also meant having a healthy weight. “People can be underweight and healthy,” notes Hu. “But chronic smokers tend to be underweight.” And being underweight can be a sign of trouble. “Some underweight people may have undetected cancer or neurodegenerative disease,” says Hu. “For example, we find that people who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease began to lose weight several years before the clinical diagnosis. An illness like that may explain the lower life expectancy for some underweight people.”

For alcohol being low risk meant no more than one third to one serving of beer, wine, or liquor per day for women and no more than one third to two serving per day for men. “Alcohol consumption has some potential cardiovascular benefits,” says Hu. “But it’s also harmful.”“The women averaged roughly one drink every other day, and the men averaged about one drink per day. So we’re talking about pretty light to moderate consumption.”“Alcohol is a carcinogen, and it increases the risk of injury and accidental causes of death,” says Hu. “So we don’t want to encourage non-drinkers to start drinking or drinkers to drink more.”

A low risk diet meant having a score on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index within the top 40% of all study participants. You can get a rough idea of how your diet stacks up by clicking here, but keep in mind this is a simplified version. 

Low risk exercise meant doing at least a half hour a day of moderate intensity aerobic exercise, but even those who reported just a half hour a week live longer than those who do none, and the more you do the better. “Even a moderate increase in physical activity can be beneficial,” says Hu. “Being sedentary is terrible for your health.”“People in the highest categories—basically one hour of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day—live five or six years longer than the most sedentary group,” notes Hu.

“That’s really good news,” says Hu. “It means that people who practice these healthy lifestyle habits don’t just live longer, but better.” “Other behavioral factors—like better sleep habits—tend to accompany healthy lifestyles,” says Hu. “But only a very strong risk factor could explain the impact of these five lifestyle factors.”

“We know that 80 percent of cardiovascular disease and 90 percent of type 2 diabetes are attributable to major lifestyle factors,” says Hu. “Overall, smoking has the strongest effect,” says Hu. Lung cancer is only one of a dozen cancers that it causes. “And obesity is linked to a higher risk of several major cancers,” he adds. “But the effects of diet and physical activity on cancer are more subtle than they are on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

Among the study participants who had cancer roughly 40% of those with 4 or 5 healthy habits, but only 15% of those with none were alive after 32 years; those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease also loved longer if they had healthy habits. 

“These lifestyle habits may not only delay the onset of those diseases but also improve the survival of people who already have them,” says Hu.

A new study suggests that protein derived from potatoes can be of high quality and help a person develop and maintain muscle mass.

The research, which appears in the journal Nutrients, could be important now that an increasing number of people are transitioning toward plant-based diets. These diets have an impact on a range of factors, including physical health, environmental sustainability, and exercise performance capacity.

When considering the quality of protein, people often draw a distinction between animal-based and plant-based proteins.

According to a 2019 review in the journal Nutrients, while plant-based diets offer health and environmental benefits, few single sources of plant protein provide all the beneficial amino acids associated with a protein source.

Plant-based protein can also be more difficult to digest, so some of the potential nutritional value may be lost.

By contrast, animal-based proteins contain all the amino acids that a person needs, and they are generally easier to digest.

More people are moving toward a plant-based diet as it is environmentally sustainable and generally more healthful than a diet heavy in meat and dairy.

According to the authors of a 2019 article in the journal Advances in Nutrition, “[w]orldwide, the burden of morbidity and mortality from diet-related chronic diseases is increasing, driven by poor diet quality and overconsumption of calories.”

“At the same time, the global food production system is draining our planet’s resources, jeopardizing the environment and future food security. Personal, population, and planetary health are closely intertwined and will all continue to be vulnerable to these threats unless action is taken.”

The authors of the present study wanted to explore the effects of protein derived from potatoes. While potatoes are predominantly a starchy food, they also contain protein, and extracting this can generate enough protein to be significant in human consumption.

As lead author Sara Oikawa, a former graduate student in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, notes, “[w]hile the amount of protein found in a potato is small, we grow lots of potatoes and the protein, when isolated, it can provide some measurable benefits.”

In general, animal-based protein requires far more land and other resources than plant-based proteins. According to a 2018 study, “plant-based replacement diets can produce 20-fold and twofold more nutritionally similar food per cropland than beef and eggs, the most and least resource-intensive animal categories, respectively.”

As a consequence, understanding the role of plant protein, such as that derived from potatoes, in human health is important.

Every heart dances to a different tune

Fatty oils from Chinese medicine demonstrate anti-cancer properties

Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, May 19, 2020

It is now an established fact that the active compounds present in medicinal herbs are responsible for their biological activities. These compounds belong to different classes, such as alkaloids, glycosides, polyphenols and terpenes. But according to researchers at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, other, less extensively studied plant components may also contribute to the therapeutic benefits medicinal herbs offer.

In an article published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, the researchers reviewed the anti-cancer effects of fatty oils from TCM herbs based on the theories of fu zheng and qu xie. They reported that these fatty oils work against cancer mainly by enhancing the activity of immune cells (fu zheng) or by triggering cell death (qu xie).

Fatty oils derived from TCM herbs exhibit anti-cancer activities

Cancer management is a global challenge that, at present, relies mostly on chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. However, these harsh methods don’t always deliver satisfactory results. In addition, they come with plenty of side effects that can negatively impact the quality of life of cancer patients. Hence many are now seeking alternative and/or complementary treatments to avoid the adverse effects of conventional cancer therapies.

Natural treatments based on TCM or that involve a combination of TCM and modern medicine have gained attention recently, particularly in Asian countries. One potential TCM approach is the use of plant-derived fatty oils, which contain fatty acids that serve as active ingredients. These fatty acids exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities that are useful for cancer treatment.

In TCM, cancer treatment strategies are classified into either fu zheng (immunity-boosting) or qu xie (apoptosis-inducing). Examples of each are coix seed oil, which is derived from the seeds of the grain-bearing tropical plant called adlay or Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and kosam oil from the medicinal shrub called Java brucea (Brucea javanica), respectively.

Coix seed oil is the most commonly used natural cancer treatment in China. Besides preventing the growth of cancer cells, coix seed oil also inhibits the expression of genes involved in cancer invasion and metastasis. Additionally, coix seed oil is an effective remedy against pain caused by cancer. In a study published in Supportive Care in Cancer, researchers found that coix seed oil injection provides pain relief to cancer patients, thus improving their quality of life.

Kosam oil, on the other hand, is often used as an adjunct to chemotherapy, especially for the treatment of lung carcinoma, brain metastasis of lung carcinoma and gastrointestinal tumors. Besides enhancing the performance of anti-cancer drugs, kosam oil also relieves adverse drug reactions, such as myelosuppression (decreased bone marrow activity), neutropenia (low levels of neutrophils), thrombopenia (abnormally low platelet count) and liver damage.

The researchers hope that their review can attract more interest in the anti-cancer potential of fatty oils and serve as a reference for future studies.

Culinary herbs and spices and their fatty acid content

In a study published in The Scientific World Journal, Saudi Arabian researchers looked at the chemical composition and fatty acid content of some common spices and herbs, such as cress, mustard, black cumin, black pepper, fenugreek and clove. Besides having an abundance or fiber, the researchers found that these herbs and spices also contain high amounts of minerals, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron.

In terms of fatty acid content, the researchers found that cress and mustard contain mostly linolenic acid and erucic acid, respectively. Meanwhile, linoleic acid was the major fatty acid present in black cumin, fenugreek, black pepper and clove oils. Mustard contained the highest amount of unsaturated fatty acids, followed by fenugreek, clove, black cumin, cress and black pepper. (Related: Essential Fatty Acids are Essential for Good Health.)

According to studies, plant-derived linolenic acid has cardioprotective and cholesterol-lowering properties while erucic acid, in contrast, has heart-damaging effects when consumed in large quantities. Linolenic acid, on the other hand, is an essential fatty acid that helps prevent and treat diseases that affect heart and blood vessels. There is substantial evidence suggesting that linolenic acid also has blood pressure-lowering and anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it effective against allergic and inflammatory conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

Increased carotenoid intake associated with lower incidence of hypertension in large study of men and women

University of Shandong (China) May 19, 2020

According to news originating from Shandong, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Few epidemiological studies concentrated on dietary carotenoids and hypertension since new hypertension guideline released in 2017. Thus, this study was aimed to evaluate their association.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, “Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2014 were used in this cross-sectional study. Dietary carotenoids data were obtained from 24-h dietary recall interviews. Hypertension was defined as SBP at least 130 mmHg or DBP at least 80 mmHg, taking antihypertensive medicine or self-report. Logistic regression models and restricted cubic spline models were applied to explore the associations between a-carotene, b-carotene, b-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein with zeaxanthin, and total carotenoids from diet and supplements and hypertension. Total carotenoids showed significant reductive risk of hypertension at 100 mg/kg per day and over. A total of 17 398 adults aged 20 years and over were identified. High dose of b-carotene, lycopene, lutein with zeaxanthin, and total carotenoids were significantly associated with decreased risk of hypertension in crude results. After multivariate-adjustment in model 2, the odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of b-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein with zeaxanthin and total carotenoids for hypertension were 0.79 (0.67-0.93), 0.85 (0.73-0.98), 0.69 (0.58-0.83), 0.73 (0.62-0.86) for the highest versus lowest quartile intakes, respectively. Dose-response analyses showed that all of the carotenoids were inversely associated with hypertension in a linear manner. Total carotenoids showed significant effect of lower risk of hypertension at 100 mg/kg per day. Intakes of a-carotene, b-carotene, b-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein with zeaxanthin, and total carotenoids were inversely associated with hypertension in US adults.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The intake of total carotenoids was suggested at least 100 mg/kg per day for general adult population.”

University of Texas Southwestern, May 20, 2020 

Scientists have collected plenty of evidence linking exercise to brain health, with some research suggesting fitness may even improve memory. But what happens during exercise to trigger these benefits? New UT Southwestern research that mapped brain changes after one year of aerobic workouts has uncovered a potentially critical process: Exercise boosts blood flow into two key regions of the brain associated with memory. Notably, the study showed this blood flow can help even older people with memory issues improve cognition, a finding that scientists say could guide future Alzheimer’s disease research.

“Perhaps we can one day develop a drug or procedure that safely targets blood flow into these brain regions,” says Binu Thomas, Ph.D., a UT Southwestern senior research scientist in neuroimaging. “But we’re just getting started with exploring the right combination of strategies to help prevent or delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. There’s much more to understand about the brain and aging.”

Blood flow and memory

The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, documented changes in long-term memory and cerebral blood flow in 30 participants, each of them 60 or older with memory problems. Half of them underwent 12 months of aerobic exercise training; the rest did only stretching.

The exercise group showed 47 percent improvement in memory scores after one year compared with minimal change in the stretch participants. Brain imaging of the exercise group, taken while they were at rest at the beginning and end of the study, showed increased blood flow into the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus – neural regions that play important roles in memory function.

Other studies have documented benefits for cognitively normal adults on an exercise program, including previous research from Thomas that showed aging athletes have better blood flow into the cortex than sedentary older adults. But the new research is significant because it plots improvement over a longer period in adults at high risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

“We’ve shown that even when your memory starts to fade, you can still do something about it by adding aerobic exercise to your lifestyle,” Thomas says.

Mounting evidence

The search for dementia interventions is becoming increasingly pressing: More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and the number is expected to triple by 2050.

Recent research has helped scientists gain a greater understanding of the molecular genesis of the disease, including a 2018 discovery from UT Southwestern’s Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute that is guiding efforts to detect the condition before symptoms arise. Yet the billions of dollars spent on researching how to prevent or slow dementia have yielded no proven treatments that would make an early diagnosis actionable for patients.

UT Southwestern scientists are among many teams across the world trying to determine if exercise may be the first such intervention. Evidence is mounting that it could at least play a small role in delaying or reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

For example, a 2018 study showed that people with lower fitness levels experienced faster deterioration of vital nerve fibers in the brain called white matter. A study published last year showed exercise correlated with slower deterioration of the hippocampus.

Regarding the importance of blood flow, Thomas says it may someday be used in combination with other strategies to preserve brain function in people with mild cognitive impairment.

“Cerebral blood flow is a part of the puzzle, and we need to continue piecing it together,” Thomas says. “But we’ve seen enough data to know that starting a fitness program can have lifelong benefits for our brains as well as our hearts.”

Fatty liver disease, or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, involves the liver being made up of more than 5% fat. There is currently no cure for the condition, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Although the exact cause of fatty liver disease is still unclear, risk factors include obesity and high sugar consumption.

The condition is becoming increasingly common in children, in which case doctors refer to it as pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Investigators from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, in California, have led a new study in mice to see whether replacing sugar with sweeteners could help combat the disease. They found that stevia extract, a noncaloric sweetener 200 times sweeter than sugar, can reduce markers of fatty liver disease.

The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports.

Excessive consumption of sugar is known to damage the liver, so reducing sugar consumption — or replacing sugar with sweeteners — is likely to reduce the risk of developing liver disease.

This is the first study, however, to investigate whether calorie-free sweeteners could improve signs of the condition.

The researchers looked at two types of sweetener: sucralose, an artificial sweetener commonly marketed as Splenda, and stevia, which is naturally occurring and extracted from the stevia plant. Both are widely used in a range of foods and drinks.

“We were interested in those two compounds because they are the newest and least studied in the context of liver disease and obesity,” explains Dr. Rohit Kohli, senior author of the study and chief of the hospital’s Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition.

The team substituted either of the sweeteners for sugar in the diets of mice who had a preclinical model of fatty liver disease. The researchers then compared the effects.

Antibiotic exposure in infants associated with higher risks of childhood obesity

Very young children exposed to antibiotics at an early age (from birth to 12 months) are associated with higher risks of childhood obesity and increased adiposity in early to mid-childhood.

University of Lethbridge (Canada), May 18, 2020

Researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada have concluded a study they say shows cannabis may provide resistance to SARS-CoV-2. Their preliminary findings came up during broader research into the use of cannabis to treat cancer.

It is important to point out that this study has not yet been peer reviewed. However, if their findings are correct, researchers say that cannabis works in a similar way to nicotine.

In a study out of the Institut Pasteur in France, researchers led by Jean-Pierre Changeux, a neurobiologist at the university, found the potential of nicotine patches in preventing infections from SARS-CoV-2.

The French study assumes that nicotine can protect against the new coronavirus based on the hypothesis “that nicotine attaches to cell receptors (ACE2) used by the coronavirus, thereby preventing the virus from attaching,” explains Changeux.

And, now, preliminary research is emerging out of Canada that certain strains of cannabis may also increase resistance to the coronavirus.

“The results on COVID-19 came from our studies on arthritis, Crohn’s disease, cancer and others,” says Dr. Igor Kovalchuck, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge, in an email to DW.

As DW reports:

As with the research into nicotine’s effect on the coronavirus, it is thought that some strains of cannabis reduce the virus’ ability to enter the lungs, where it takes hold, reproduces and spreads.

In a paper on preprints.org,  where scientists can publish non-peer-reviewed results, Kovalchuck and colleagues write that their specially developed strains of cannabis effectively stop the virus from entering the human body.

The study is one of many papers globally that have been shared on preprint websites, including preprints.org, in a bid to disseminate preliminary findings into potential COVID-19 treatments that have yet to undergo rigorous peer review.

The coronavirus needs a “receptor” to enter a human host. That receptor is known as an “angiotensin-converting enzyme II,”  or ACE2.

ACE2 is found in lung tissue, in oral and nasal mucus, in the kidneys, testes, and gastrointestinal tracts, they write.

And the theory is that by modulating ACE2 levels in those “gateways” to the human host, it may be possible to lower our susceptibility, or vulnerability, to the virus. It could basically reduce our risk of infection.

“If there’s no ACE2 on tissues, the virus will not enter,” says Kovalchuck.

Researchers warn that not all cannabis is created equal and that they only found 13 out of 800 new Cannabis sativa variants researchers developed they say modulate ACE2 levels in those humans gateways.

“Researchers have to be particularly careful when disseminating their results given the socio-political volatility of medicinal cannabis use,” says Chris Albertyn,  a Research Portfolio Lead at King’s College London, and an expert on cannabinoids and dementia.

“In this instance, the current research from Canada has just unveiled a potential therapeutic ‘mechanism of action’ but that would need to be validated and tested in well-designed, robust clinical trials before any meaningful clinical conclusions can be drawn,” he says.

Sadly, in the land of the free, this research is limited by the cannabis plant’s Schedule 1 classification by the federal government. As cops continue to kidnap and cage people for cannabis, this plant’s life-saving potential is hindered. This seems especially egregious knowing the plant’s promise for alleviating the horrific opioid epidemic we are currently facing.

As TFTP previously reported, in a study published in a peer-reviewed journal, Melvin D. Livingston, Tracey E. Barnett, Chris Delcher, and Alexander C. Wagenaar, set out to see if any association existed between Colorado’s legalization of marijuana and opioid-related deaths in the state.

The researchers looked at all of the available data from the year 2000 to the year 2015. What they discovered may come as a shock to many. While the rest of the nation struggles with a burgeoning fatal opioid and heroin overdose crisis, the State of Colorado saw opioid deaths reduced while its population exploded.

It has long been stated that cannabis is a “gateway” drug, which leads users to experiment with other drugs, leading up to the most deadly, such as heroin. But the researchers in the study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that the availability of safe and legal cannabis actually reduced opiate deaths:

Colorado’s legalization of recreational cannabis sales and use resulted in a 0.7 deaths per month…reduction in opioid-related deaths. This reduction represents a reversal of the upward trend in opioid-related deaths in Colorado.

The researchers concluded, “Legalization of cannabis in Colorado was associated with short-term reductions in opioid-related deaths.”

Vitamin D Deficiency in Pregnancy Linked to Higher ADHD Risk in Children