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Revealed: the true extent of America’s food monopolies, and who pays the price
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Democrats are on the verge of repeating a voting rights blunder that led to the rise of Jim Crow
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Moral Injury and the Forever Wars – What Americans Don’t Want to Hear
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America’s Billionaires: Borrowing Their Way to Ever More Fabulous Fortunes
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20,595 DEAD 1.9 Million Injured (50% SERIOUS) Reported in European Union’s Database of Adverse Drug Reactions for COVID-19 Shots
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Our Leaders Are Doing Nothing to Quash Corporate Crime
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Revealed: Israel Secretly Kept Innocent Palestinians in Remote Detention Centers
Today’s Videos:
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Eating a plant-based diet can help protect against COVID-19, researchers find
Harvard University and Kings College London, August 2, 2021
People who eat a plant-based diet are less likely to contract COVID-19 and become severely ill with the disease, according to a recent study by researchers from Harvard Medical School, King’s College London and the health science company ZOE.
The researchers analyzed data from over 590,000 people from the United States and the United Kingdom who answered a survey about the foods they ate last February using the ZOE COVID Symptom Study application. The application allows users to record their symptoms in case of COVID-19 infection and to log when they’ve had a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
By early December 2020, 19 percent of the users who participated contracted COVID-19 based on positive PCR test results and symptoms reported via the application.
“For the first time, we’ve been able to show that a healthier diet can cut the chances of developing [COVID-19],” said co-author Sarah Berry, a senior lecturer in nutritional sciences at King’s College London.
A preprint of the study was released online in medRxiv.
Eat more plant-based foods to avoid COVID-19
Poor metabolic health and certain lifestyle factors are associated with an increased risk and severity of COVID-19, but data for diets are lacking. For their study, the researchers sought to analyze the association of diet quality with the risk and severity of COVID-19 and how that intersects with socioeconomic factors.
To that end, the researchers examined data from 592,571 users of the ZOE COVID Symptom Study application from the U.S. and the U.K. The users completed a survey about the foods they ate in February 2020. The researchers scored users’ diet quality based on a scale that emphasized healthy, plant-based foods.
The users were followed until December 2020 and asked to log if they had contracted COVID-19 or were hospitalized because of it.
Diets with high quality scores were found to contain more plant-based foods, especially fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. On average, people with high-scoring diets ate two pieces of fruit and three different vegetables per day. They also ate 200 grams (g) of fatty fish every week and limited their intake of refined grains and processed foods.
People who eat plant-based foods have healthy microbes in their guts, said Tim Spector, a co-author of the study and a co-founder of ZOE. Having healthy gut microbes has been linked to better health.
On the other hand, low-scoring diets were found to contain more processed foods. On average, users with low-scoring diets ate fewer than two pieces of fruit per week and went some days without eating any vegetable or oily fish.
In addition, the researchers found that there were 72 cases of COVID-19 for every 10,000 person-months among users with high-scoring diets. Meanwhile, there were 95 cases of COVID-19 for every 10,000 person-months among users with low-scoring diets.
Overall, the researchers found that users with high-scoring diets were 10 percent less likely to contract COVID-19 and 40 percent less likely to become severely ill with the disease than users with low-scoring diets. They estimated that nearly a quarter of users who became infected with COVID-19 could have avoided the disease if they ate a healthier diet.
They also noted that users living in areas where plant-based foods were less available may face a greater risk of COVID-19 infection than users with easier access to those foods.
A promising new treatment for COVID-19 infection – Nigella sativa
by University of Technology, Sydney
A flowering plant native to North Africa and Western Asia could be utilized in the future treatment of COVID-19 infection.
The seeds of the plant, Nigella sativa, have been used for centuries as a traditional remedy for multiple medical conditions, including inflammation and infections. Now, an Australian-first research review article has found it could be used to treat COVID-19.
“There is growing evidence from modeling studies that thymoquinone, an active ingredient of Nigella sativa, more commonly known as black cumin, can stick to the COVID- 19 virus spike protein and stop the virus from causing a lung infection.
“It may also block the ‘cytokine’ storm that affects seriously ill patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19,” said Professor Kaneez Fatima Shad, lead author of a recently published comprehensive review article in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology.
Thymoquinone has been extensively studied in laboratories, including animal studies. These studies have shown that thymoquinone can moderate our immune system in a good way, by preventing pro-inflammation chemicals such as interleukins from been released.
This gives thymoquinone a potential role as a treatment for allergic conditions such as asthma, eczema, arthritis conditions including rheumatoid and osteoarthritis and even possibly multiple sclerosis.
The review paper details the mechanisms of action of Nigella sativa and thymoquinone and how they are a promising future treatment of COVID-19 infection. There have been many barriers to the development of Nigella sativa as a therapeutic agent in large part due to its poor natural gastrointestinal absorption.
“Advances in pharmacological development such as nanotechnology have seen the chance to overcome this barrier to enable for its use as an effective oral medication.
“Furthermore, the drug has recently been successfully given to patients as a nasal spray and topical paste,” said Dr. Wissam Soubra, co-author.
Nigella sativa has been shown to be helpful in treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes mellitus. As an anti-inflammatory treatment, Nigella sativa has also been found to help patients with allergic rhinitis and sinusitis, eczema, osteoarthritis and childhood epilepsy.
Nigella sativa has also been proven to be effective in a laboratory environment in killing bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus that can cause a range of mild to severe infections if they enter the skin, and viruses including influenza.
“The review paper provides insight into a natural product that has been used as a traditional remedy for over thousand years and may be finally receiving the recognition it deserves,” said Associate Professor Dennis Cordato, co-author.
The study, “The role of thymoquinone, a major constituent of Nigella sativa, in the treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases,” was recently published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology.
Research reveals promise for ginseng compound as liver cancer treatment
Northwest University (China), July 28, 2021
According to news originating from Xi’an, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a kind of malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) is crucial for HCC progression and prognosis.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Northwest University, “Characteristics of the tumor microenvironment, such as hypoxia, and excessive activation of the NF-kappa B signaling pathway have been identified as the key inducers of EMT in HCC. In our study, we verified the crosstalk between HIF-1 alpha signaling and NF-kappa B pathway and their effects on EMT in HCC cells. The results show that CoCl2-induced hypoxia could promote I kappa B phosphorylation to activate NF-kappa B signaling and vice versa. Moreover, we found that ginsenoside CK, a metabolite of protopanaxadiol saponins, could inhibit the proliferation and colony formation of different HCC cell lines. Furthermore, ginsenoside CK could impair the metastatic potential of HCC cell lines under hypoxic conditions. Mechanistically, ginsenoside CK suppressed HIF-1 alpha/NF-kappa B signaling and expression level of EMT-related proteins and cytokines in hypoxia-induced or TNF alpha-stimulated HCC cell lines. An in vivo study revealed that the oral delivery of ginsenoside CK could inhibit the growth of xenograft tumors and block HIF-1 alpha and NF-kappa B signaling as well as EMT marker expression.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our study suggests that ginsenoside CK is a potential therapy for HCC patients that functions by targeting the HIF-1 alpha/NF-kappa B crosstalk.”
Centenarians have a distinct microbiome that may help support longevity
MIT and Harvard University, August 2, 2021
Centenarians are less susceptible to age-related chronic diseases and more likely to survive infectious diseases. Now, a new study reveals that people who live to be 100 or older have a unique microbiome that may protect them from certain bacterial infections including those caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. The findings, published in Nature, could help researchers develop new ways to treat chronic inflammation and bacterial disease.
A team of researchers including Yuko Sato, Koji Atarashi, Nobuoshi Hirose, and Kenya Honda at Keio University School of Medicine in Japan, and Damian Plichta and Ramnik Xavier at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, studied microbes found in fecal samples from 160 Japanese centenarians who had an average age of 107. They found that centenarians, compared to people aged 85 to 89 and those between 21 and 55, had higher levels of several bacterial species that produce molecules called secondary bile acids. Secondary bile acids are generated by microbes in the colon and are thought to help protect the intestines from pathogens and regulate the body’s immune responses.
The researchers next treated common infection-causing bacteria in the lab with the secondary bile acids that were elevated in the centenarians. One molecule, called isoalloLCA, strongly inhibited the growth of Clostridioides difficile, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that causes severe diarrhea and gut inflammation. Feeding mice infected with C. difficile diets supplemented with isoalloLCA similarly suppressed levels of the pathogen. The team also found that isoalloLCA potently inhibited the growth of or killed many other gram positive pathogens, suggesting that isoalloLCA may help the body maintain the delicate equilibrium of microbial communities in a healthy gut.
“The ecological interaction between the host and different processes in bacteria really suggests the potential of these gut bugs for health maintenance,” said Plichta, a computational scientist at the Broad and co-first author of the study.
Larger and longer-term studies from different regions around the world may help uncover a causal link between longevity and bile acids. In the meantime, the bacteria identified in this study could help researchers study how to manipulate bile acids to treat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
“A unique cohort, international collaboration, computational analysis, and experimental microbiology all enabled this discovery that the gut microbiome holds the keys to healthy aging,” said Xavier, core institute member at the Broad and co-corresponding author of the study. “Our collaborative work shows that future studies focusing on microbial enzymes and metabolites can potentially help us identify starting points for therapeutics.”
Lifestyle adjustments can boost vascular health in seniors with obesity
Wake Forest School of Medicine, August 2, 2021
Small lifestyle changes really can make a big difference in improving vascular health in older adults with obesity, according to a study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Eliminating just 200 calories a day combined with 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise four days a week was associated with significant improvement in aortic stiffness, a measure of vascular health. The study was published in the current issue of the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
“We were surprised to find that moderate caloric reduction and aerobic activity had a better effect on arteries than exercise with a more restrictive diet,” said lead study author Tina E. Brinkley, Ph.D., associate professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
“These relatively small changes should be manageable for people and more sustainable over the long term.”
The randomized controlled trial included 160 sedentary adults, aged 65 to 79 years with obesity defined as a body mass index of 30 to 45 kg/m2. The average age of the participants was 69 years with 74% female and 73% white.
Study participants were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups for 20 weeks: exercise only, exercise plus moderate calorie restriction or exercise plus more intensive calorie restriction. Everyone in the study received supervised aerobic exercise training four days a week at the Geriatric Research Center at Wake Forest School of Medicine. To determine the participants’ vascular health, the structure and function of the aorta were measured and assessed using cardiac MRI.
The aorta, the largest artery in the body, delivers oxygen and vital nutrients from the heart to key organs. As the aorta stiffens in the typical healthy aging process, the heart must work harder to contract and pump blood throughout the body.
Higher body mass index, body weight, total body fat and abdominal fat, as well as a larger waist circumference are all associated with higher aortic stiffness, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke, and even death, Brinkley said.
The research team found that weight loss of approximately 10% of total body weight or about 20 pounds over the five-month study period was associated with significant improvements in aortic stiffness only in the participants assigned to the exercise plus moderate calorie restriction group. None of the aortic stiffness measures changed significantly in either the exercise-only group or the exercise plus more intensive calorie restriction group.
In addition, changes in body mass index, total fat mass, percent body fat, abdominal fat and waist circumference were greater in both of the calorie-restricted groups compared to the exercise-only group. Weight loss was similar between the calorie-restricted groups despite nearly two times fewer calories in the more intensive group. However, the group with the more restrictive diet did not show any improvements in aortic stiffness even though it had similar decreases in weight and blood pressure as the moderately restrictive group.
“Our findings indicate that these moderate lifestyle changes may help reduce aortic stiffness and improve overall vascular health in older adults,” Brinkley said.
Yoga effective at reducing symptoms of depression
San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, August 3, 2021
People who suffer from depression may want to look to yoga as a complement to traditional therapies as the practice appears to lessen symptoms of the disorder, according to studies presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.
“Yoga has become increasingly popular in the West, and many new yoga practitioners cite stress-reduction and other mental health concerns as their primary reason for practicing,” said Lindsey Hopkins, PhD, of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who chaired a session highlighting research on yoga and depression. “But the empirical research on yoga lags behind its popularity as a first-line approach to mental health.”
Hopkins’ research focused on the acceptability and antidepressant effects of hatha yoga, the branch of yoga that emphasizes physical exercises, along with meditative and breathing exercises, to enhance well-being. In the study, 23 male veterans participated in twice-weekly yoga classes for eight weeks. On a 1-10 scale, the average enjoyment rating for the yoga classes for these veterans was 9.4. All participants said they would recommend the program to other veterans. More importantly, participants with elevated depression scores before the yoga program had a significant reduction in depression symptoms after the eight weeks.
Another, more specific, version of hatha yoga commonly practiced in the West is Bikram yoga, also known as heated yoga. Sarah Shallit, MA, of Alliant University in San Francisco investigated Bikram yoga in 52 women, age 25-45. Just more than half were assigned to participate in twice-weekly classes for eight weeks. The rest were told they were wait-listed and used as a control condition. All participants were tested for depression levels at the beginning of the study, as well as at weeks three, six and nine. Shallit and her co-author Hopkins found that eight weeks of Bikram yoga significantly reduced symptoms of depression compared with the control group.
In the same session, Maren Nyer, PhD, and Maya Nauphal, BA, of Massachusetts General Hospital, presented data from a pilot study of 29 adults that also showed eight weeks of at least twice-weekly Bikram yoga significantly reduced symptoms of depression and improved other secondary measures including quality of life, optimism, and cognitive and physical functioning.
“The more the participants attended yoga classes, the lower their depressive symptoms at the end of the study,” said Nyer, who currently has funding from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to conduct a randomized controlled trial of Bikram yoga for individuals with depression.
Elsewhere at the meeting, Nina Vollbehr, MS, of the Center for Integrative Psychiatry in the Netherlands presented data from two studies on the potential for yoga to address chronic and/or treatment-resistant depression. In the first study, 12 patients who had experienced depression for an average of 11 years participated in nine weekly yoga sessions of approximately 2.5 hours each. The researchers measured participants’ levels of depression, anxiety, stress, rumination and worry before the yoga sessions, directly after the nine weeks and four months later. Scores for depression, anxiety and stress decreased throughout the program, a benefit that persisted four months after the training. Rumination and worry did not change immediately after the treatment, but at follow up rumination and worry were decreased for the participants.
In another study, involving 74 mildly depressed university students, Vollbehr and her colleagues compared yoga to a relaxation technique. Individuals received 30 minutes of live instruction on either yoga or relaxation and were asked to perform the same exercise at home for eight days using a 15-minute instructional video. While results taken immediately after the treatment showed yoga and relaxation were equally effective at reducing symptoms, two months later, the participants in the yoga group had significantly lower scores for depression, anxiety and stress than the relaxation group.
“These studies suggest that yoga-based interventions have promise for depressed mood and that they are feasible for patients with chronic, treatment-resistant depression,” said Vollbehr.
The concept of yoga as complementary or alternative mental health treatment is so promising that the U.S. military is investigating the creation of its own treatment programs. Jacob Hyde, PsyD, of the University of Denver, gave a presentation outlining a standardized, six-week yoga treatment for U.S. military veterans enrolled in behavioral health services at the university-run clinic and could be expanded for use by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Hopkins noted that the research on yoga as a treatment for depression is still preliminary. “At this time, we can only recommend yoga as a complementary approach, likely most effective in conjunction with standard approaches delivered by a licensed therapist,” she said. “Clearly, yoga is not a cure-all. However, based on empirical evidence, there seems to be a lot of potential.”