Videos:
- Dad STUNS School Board When He Reads Aloud DISGUSTING Book From Library (3:37)
- RFK : The Real Anthony Fauci Clip (1st clip 5:50 – 2nd Clip 4:37)
- Dr. Michael Hudson Interview
- Neil Oliver: We are expected to forget those promising to fix the disaster caused it (10:28)
Almonds can help support the gut microbiome, study claims
Kings College London, October 31, 2022
A new study finds that eating 56 grams of almonds daily — the equivalent of approximately 46 almonds — can improve gut health by promoting levels of butyrate.
The research involved three groups replacing their regular snacks with whole almonds, ground almonds, or an energy-equivalent control muffin.
The authors conclude that incorporating almonds into the diet could be a way of increasing fiber intake without triggering gut symptoms.
An important player in gut health appears to be butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that supports the health of the microbiome itself.
Dr. Alice Creedon explained to Medical News Today: “Butyrate is important to gut health, as it acts as the primary source of fuel for the cells of the colon, allowing them to function correctly and optimally. It is also involved in signaling to the gut to initiate the process of nutrient absorption.”
“In addition,” said Dr. Creedon, “butyrate produced in the gut can enter the bloodstream where it is involved in the regulation of health in other areas of the body, such as the liver, brain, and lungs.”
The study demonstrates that eating a healthy handful of almonds each day promotes the production of butyrate.
Dr. Creedon’s research documents the benefits of eating about 56 grams, or 2 ounces, of almonds daily — that amounts to about 46 almonds.
“Butyrate supports the gut barrier, which keeps bacteria and other microbes from entering your blood. In doing so, butyrate can help to reduce inflammation, manage conditions like IBS [irritable bowel syndrome], and decrease gastrointestinal discomfort like bloating.
“Butyrate is produced through the fermentation of fiber in the colon. Therefore, increasing fiber in the diet, such as in almonds, increases butyrate levels, which has a positive effect on our gut health,” said Tallman.
Additional benefit of omega-3 fatty acids for the clearance of metabolites from the brain
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, October 23, 2022
New research published online in The FASEB Journal suggests that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found in fish oil, could improve the function of the glymphatic system, which facilitates the clearance of waste from the brain, and promote the clearance of metabolites including amyloid-β peptides, a primary culprit in Alzheimer’s disease.
To make this discovery, scientists first used transgenic fat-1 mice, which express high endogenous omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the brain, to investigate the effect of omega-3 PUFAs on the clearance function of the glymphatic system. Compared to the wild-type mice, the fat-1 mice with enriched endogenous omega-3 PUFAs significantly promote the clearance function of the lymphatic system, including the Aβ clearance from the brain. Wild-type mice were supplemented with fish oil, which contains high concentrations of omega-3 PUFAs, and found that fish oil-supplemented mice also improved the clearance function of the glymphatic system compared to the control mice without fish oil supplementation. Omega-3 PUFAs help maintain the brain homeostasis, which may provide benefits in a number of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and sleep impairment, among others.
“These now-famous fatty acids have been the subject of major studies both in academia and industry. Just when we thought we had heard everything, here is something new, and it is provocative indeed,” said Thoru Pederson, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “This study should not turn attention away from the roles of these substances in maintaining vascular health, but neither should they restrict our view. The brain is an extremely vascularized organ, while we might also bear in mind that omega-3 fatty acids may impact neurons, glia, and astrocytes themselves.”
Are our brains physically shaped by life experiences?
University of Ottawa, 23 October 2022
The notion that an experience external to the body – not something we have ingested, that has been affected by disease or damaged through physical injury – can measurably change the physical properties of an organ as intrinsic to our functioning as the brain is revelatory. But can we prove cause and effect?
Tracy Vaillancourt, a psychologist at the University of Ottawa, Canada, who has conducted a range of studies into the emotional and psychological effects of bullying – as well as the neurobiological impact of bullying – finds it frustrating the media, public and policy makers are more inclined to pay attention to research on the subject if researchers can demonstrate biological damage.
“When I show that something is biological, it makes headlines,” she told The Boston Globe. “For some reason I think humans are more compelled to believe biological evidence than someone saying, ‘Oh I’m depressed. I don’t feel good about this.’ I’m hoping that that is a policy changer.”
Vaillancourt found that while bullied boys have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than their non-bullied peers, bullied girls have much lower levels of cortisol compared with their peers.
She also found that bullied teens score less well on tests of verbal memory than their peers, suggesting that the abnormal cortisol levels may be killing neurons in the hippocampus, leading to memory problems.
As part of an ongoing, long-term study, Vaillancourt has been following teenagers – some of whom have a history of being bullied by their peers – and assessing their cognitive functioning every 6 months. Vaillancourt is also using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of the teens for evidence of damage to the hippocampus.
In a previous study, neuroscientist Martin Teicher scanned the brains of 63 young adults, as part of a study into verbal victimization.
Teicher found that, among the subjects who reported being the victims of verbal bullying, there were abnormalities in the corpus callosum. This region of the brain consists of a bundle of fibers connecting the brain’s left and right hemispheres and is known to be important in visual processing and memory.
The neurons in the corpus callosums of the bullied subjects were found to have less of the myelin coating that boosts communication between brain cells.
It has been suggested that these brain abnormalities might make it difficult for victims to process what is happening around them and respond appropriately. It might also explain some of the cognitive impairments associated with being bullied – poor memory, attention and concentration – and could even contribute to the anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts experienced by many victims.
The impact of childhood maltreatment, more generally, on neurobiology has been explored in several studies. Previously, the results of neuroimaging studies in abused children have been considered to be inconsistent.
The researchers found that the participants who had been exposed to maltreatment exhibited significantly smaller volumes of grey matter in several brain regions.
“Childhood maltreatment acts as a severe stressor that produces a cascade of physiological and neurobiological changes that lead to enduring alterations in the brain structure,” says author Joaquim Radua.
The researchers found that the participants who had been exposed to maltreatment exhibited significantly smaller volumes of grey matter in several brain regions.
‘Processed meats have same cancer risk as cigarettes’
World Health Organization, October 23, 2022
Bacon, ham and sausages have the same cancer risk as cigarettes, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a media report said.
WHO listed processed meat as a carcinogenic substance, while fresh red meat is also expected to join the encyclopaedia of carcinogens’ and is likely to be regarded as bad for health.
The classifications, by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, are believed to regard processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans”, the highest of five possible rankings, shared with alcohol, asbestos, arsenic and cigarettes, the daily added.
Studies have shown that people who eat a lot of red meat tend to eat fewer plant-based foods that protect against cancer.
The WHO report follows a meeting of scientists from 10 countries who reviewed all available evidence.
Processed meat is made by smoking, curing, salting, or adding chemicals. Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami and salami, as well as hot dogs and some sausages. Burgers are also expected to be included in the WHO list of carcinogens.
Early supplementation may help offset early-life stress on the adult brain
University of Amsterdam, October 25, 20229
Early-life stress has been shown to impair learning and memory in later life, but new research, published online in The FASEB Journal, suggests that improved nutrition may help offset the negative effects of this stress. Specifically, using mice, scientists focused on essential micronutrients, including methionine, vitamins B6 and B12, and folic acid, none of which are made by the body and need to be ingested through diet. They found that early-life stress reduces the levels of these nutrients in mouse pups, but supplementation prevented the reduction of methionine levels and even prevented some of the lasting negative effects of early-life stress on later learning and memory in adult offspring.
To make their discovery, Korosi and colleagues mimicked a stressful early-life environment during the first week after birth (postnatal days 2-9) for newborn mice and their mothers. Control mice and their mothers were housed in a normal environment. During the stress period, half of the mouse mothers (control and early-life stress) received a standard rodent diet, the other half received a diet that was supplemented with essential micronutrients. The lactating mouse mothers ate the diet and thereby developed elevated micronutrient levels in maternal milk and subsequently in the blood and the brains of their pups. After the initial stress period, all mice received a standard diet and environment. Once the mice became 4 months old, their learning and memory skills were tested in various cognitive/behavioral tasks. Mice that were previously exposed to early-life stress performed worse than control animals and demonstrated poor learning and memory skills. However, stress-exposed mice from mothers that received the supplemented diet performed equally well as the control mice did.
“The field of postnatal nutrition has sometimes taken a back seat to research on the maternal-fetal axis, but of course we cannot ever ignore either,” said Thoru Pederson, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “Here we see strikingly beneficial cognitive effects of a sound postnatal diet. The nutrients tested were familiar ones, but the results speak for themselves.”
Cold Homes Increase The Risk Of Severe Mental Health Problems – New Study
University of Adelaide (Australia), October 31, 2022
Concerns about fuel poverty and people not being able to heat their homes adequately are not new in the UK, but these worries have been heightened by significant increases in energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis. And as winter approaches, things are about to get a lot worse.
Colder temperatures suppress the immune system. But we know relatively little about the effects on mental health. Our new research shows that living in a cold home is a significant mental health risk.
Living in a cold home can affect your mental health in several ways. For many, heating costs are a source of stress and financial strain. Not being able to keep your home and family comfortably warm reduces feelings of control and autonomy over your environment. People who are unable to heat their home often adopt coping mechanisms that limit socialising – for example, not inviting friends over and going to bed early to keep warm. And many people are just worn down by the drudgery of a whole winter of being uncomfortably cold.
Using data from a large representative sample of adults in the UK, we followed people over many years and tracked the effect of being unable to keep your home warm on mental health.
When people’s homes became cold, their risk of severe mental distress significantly increased. For people who previously had no mental health problems, the odds of severe mental distress doubled when they had a cold home, while for those who had some (but not severe) mental health symptoms, the risk tripled . We found these effects even after taking into account many other factors associated with mental health, including income.