Can cocoa consumption help us age better?
Medical College of Georgia, Sept. 14, 2021 Whether consuming cocoa, known to be packed with powerful antioxidants that protect our cells from damage, helps us age better, is a question scientists want to definitively answer. The COSMOS Trial (COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study), led by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, gathered data from 21,444 men and women looking at the impact of a cocoa extract supplement and/or multivitamins on common health problems, most of which increase with age. Dong and his colleagues will be looking specifically at aging, including so called “inflammaging,” and epigenetic aging, both considered good indicators of our biological age. Rather than just looking at the year you were born, biological age also takes into account key factors that impact your function and health, like genetics and lifestyle. He also has more standard aging measures on these individuals, like blood pressure and cognitive function tests.
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Psychobiotics as a novel strategy for alleviating anxiety and depression
Jiangnan University (China), September 10, 2021 As an important ‘microbial organ’, the gut microbiota directly participates in nutrient metabolism and peripheral immune regulation and even distantly affects brain functions and behaviours. This review provides an overview of recent discoveries regarding how the gut microbiota influences anxiety and depression and aims to establish the key signalling pathways between the gut microbiota and the brain. Finally, the psychobiotic strategy for treating mood disorders is discussed, covering both pre-clinical and clinical studies. Psychobiotic treatment could provide a novel therapeutic approach to treat anxiety and depression. In recent years, the gut microbiota has been viewed as a physiological control centre that is linked to the host’s immune system, hormonal system, nervous system, or other physiological pathways. Until now, many studies have revealed the inextricable relationship between the gut microbiome and the brain, especially its participation in the regulation of memory, mood, and behaviour (Cryan et al., 2019b).
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Further evidence that vitamin D might protect against severe COVID-19 disease and death
Trinity College (Ireland) and University of Edinburgh, September 16, 2021 New research from Trinity College and University of Edinburgh has examined the association between vitamin D and COVID-19, and found that ambient ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation (which is key for vitamin D production in the skin) at an individual’s place of residence in the weeks before COVID-19 infection, was strongly protective against severe disease and death. Researchers, for the first time, looked at both genetically-predicted and UVB-predicted vitamin D level. Almost half a million individuals in the UK took part in the study, and ambient UVB radiation before COVID-19 infection was individually assessed for each participant. When comparing the two variables, researchers found that correlation with measured vitamin D concentration in the circulation was three-fold stronger for UVB-predicted vitamin D level, compared to genetically-predicted.
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Study: Eating yogurt can help older adults with high blood pressure
University of Maine, September 13, 2021 Yogurt consumption can help lower blood pressure in older adults with elevated levels, according to a new study led by an international team, including researchers at the University of Maine. The MSLS team examined the relationship between yogurt consumption and bloodpressure among older adults with and without high blood pressure. Statistical analyses revealed modest but statistically significant reductions in systolic blood pressure among those with high blood pressure who consumed yogurt.
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Comprehensive review of antioxidants and common arterial condition
University of Connecticut, September 13, 2021 Nutritional science graduate student Chelsea Garcia and associate professor Christopher Blesso recently published an article in Free Radical Biology and Medicine outlining the research to date on a type of antioxidant called anthocyanins and its impact on atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis occurs when fats and cholesterol build up along the artery walls. This can restrict blood flow and cause blood clots. This condition is associated with oxidative stress, a process our bodies undergo throughout our lifetime as they encounter free radicals. These oxygen-containing molecules are highly reactive and unstable. They occur when a molecule gains or loses an electron. The unpaired electron on the free radical can react with other molecules and cause age-related harms in the body.
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Blueberry and soluble fiber improve serum antioxidant and adipokine biomarkers and lipid peroxidation in pregnant women with obesity
University of Nevada, September 10, 2021 According to news originating from the University of Nevada research stated, “Pregnancies affected by obesity are at high risk for developing metabolic complications with oxidative stress and adipocyte dysfunction contributing to the underlying pathologies.” We conducted an 18 gestation-week randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of a dietary intervention comprising of whole blueberries and soluble fiber vs. control (standard prenatal care) on biomarkers of oxidative stress/antioxidant status and adipocyte and hormonal functions in pregnant women with obesity (* * n* * = 34). Serum samples were collected at baseline (<20 gestation weeks) and at the end of the study period (32-26 gestation weeks).
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Being active saves lives whether a gym workout, walking to work or washing the floor
McMaster University (Ontario), September 11, 2021 Physical activity of any kind can prevent heart disease and death, says a large international study involving more than 130,000 people from 17 countries published this week in The Lancet. The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, led by the Population Health Research Institute of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, shows any activity is good for people to meet the current guideline of 30 minutes of activity a day, or 150 minutes a week to raise the heart rate.
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Bromelain: A Review on its Potential as a Therapy for the Management of Covid-19
University of Nebraska & University of Ilorin, June 30, 2021 Bromelain appears to be a potential candidate that may be used to inhibit or prevent the symptoms of the diseases. Its anti-inflammatory and anticoagulatory properties make it a potential agent that may slow the progression of the disease. In this review, we highlighted the beneficial effects of bromelain based on both experimental and clinical evidence that make bromelain a good candidate for the treatment of symptoms of CoVID-19 infection. Since ACE-2 and TMPRSS2 are full of cysteine residues that establish disulfide bonds to support the protein structure, this research group primarily appraised the effect of bromelain (which is a cysteine protease) on ACE-2 and TMPRSS2 expression. Furthermore, this study indicates that the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein has both highly sialylated N- and O-linked glycans, and bromelain managed to cleave it.
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Video – Elon Musk On Wokeness Being the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization
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Coca-Cola ‘paid scientists to downplay how sugary beverages fueled the obesity crisis between 2013-2015,’ medical journal study finds
University of Oxford and University of Bocconi (Italy), December 31, 2021 Coca-Cola’s work with scientists to downplay the role sugar plays in contributing to obesity has been called a ‘low point in this history of public health.’ The beverage company donated millions of dollars to a team of researchers at a non-profit claiming to look into causes of excess weight gain in the US. However, the team ended up being a ‘front group’ for Coca-Cola and promoted the idea that it was a lack of exercise, not a bad diet, that was the primary driver of the US obesity epidemic. What’s more, the group tried to downplay the fact that Coca-Cola was a donor of its research, and how much money the company gifted. They looked at more than 18,000 pages of emails between the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, West Virginia University, and the University of Colorado. Both universities were part of Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), claiming to be a non-profit organization studying obesity, which ran from 2014 to 2015. Coca-Cola directly funded GEBN, contributing at least $1.5 million by 2015, and distributed millions more to GEBN-affiliated academics to conduct research. ‘Coke used public health academics to carry out classic tobacco tactics to protect its profits,’ said Gary Ruskin, the executive director of US Right to Know
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All of a sudden: Climate change tipping points appear with a vengeance
KURT COBB, August 08, 2021 Across the world climate change seems to have arrived earlier than expected. There are world-class athletes with bodies trained for endurance and strength breaking down from the extreme heat visited on the Tokyo Olympics by mother nature. There are the continuing wildfires in the American West that take out entire towns. The drought there is so bad that states are thinking about paying farmers NOT to irrigate their crops as a conservation strategy. One of the other effects of climate change is heavier rains and devastating floods. Recent floods in Germany were caused by rains characterized as once-in-a-millennium, rains which, for example, killed more than 200 people and caused $1.5 billion in damage to the German railway network. But, of course, statements about once-in-a-fill-in-the-blank rains or droughts seem less and less relevant in the age of climate change as what we call extraordinarily destructive weather just morphs into “the weather.” Once-in-a-millennium rains also visited parts of China recently dumping in just three days an entire year’s rainfall on one town of 12 million. But the scariest thing is that all of the incidents I cited above could happen all over again next year and the next year and the next after that in the same places as extreme weather worsens and becomes just “weather.” In California, 2020 marked the worst fire season ever in the state. But 2021 is now on pace to be even worse. We are now reaching tipping points in the direct, destructive and destabilizing effects of climate on humans and their infrastructure. We can no longer simply ignore these effects. We can no longer simply bask obliviously in the sunshine of unseasonably warm winter days without acknowledging their terrible message as many of my fellow Washingtonians did when I first arrived in the city in 2018.
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‘The Steele Dossier Was a Case Study in How Reporters Get Manipulated’
By T.A. FrankNEW YORK MAGAZINE, July 15, 2021 To pick the worst press failure of the past half-decade would be a daunting assignment, but the coverage of the Steele dossier would have to be high on any list. The document, penned by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, was commissioned in 2016 by the private research firm Fusion GPS, in turn working for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. The aim was to dig up dirt on Donald Trump, especially regarding any ties he might have to Russia. Steele delivered, alleging a long-standing conspiracy between Trump and the Kremlin and offering details that proved to be as unfounded as they were spectacular: a meeting in Prague between Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Russian officials in 2016, a collaboration between Trump and Moscow to hack the emails of the Democratic National Committee, and, most infamously, a surveillance video of Trump cavorting with prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow (a.k.a. “the pee tape”). Although they were almost certainly specious, these claims spawned countless news stories — including at New York — and prompted government investigations into possible ties between Moscow and Trump.
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COVID vaccination and age-stratified all-cause mortality risk
Columbia University, October 2021
Abstract: Accurate estimates of COVID vaccine-induced severe adverse event and death rates are critical for risk-benefit ratio analyses of vaccination and boosters against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in different age groups. However, existing surveillance studies are not designed to reliably estimate life-threatening event or vaccine-induced fatality rates (VFR). Here, regional variation in vaccination rates was used to predict all-cause mortality and non-COVID deaths in subsequent time periods using two independent, publicly available datasets from the US and Europe (month-and week-level resolutions, respectively). Vaccination correlated negatively with mortality 6-20 weeks post-injection, while vaccination predicted all-cause mortality 0-5 weeks post-injection in almost all age groups and with an age-related temporal pattern consistent with the US vaccine rollout. Results from fitted regression slopes (p<0.05 FDR corrected) suggest a US national average VFR of 0.04% and higher VFR with age (VFR=0.004% in ages 0-17 increasing to 0.06% in ages >75 years), and 146K to 187K vaccine-associated US deaths between February and August, 2021. Notably, adult vaccination increased ulterior mortality of unvaccinated young (<18, US; <15, Europe). Comparing our estimate with the CDC-reported VFR (0.002%) suggests VAERS deaths are underreported by a factor of 20, consistent with known VAERS under-ascertainment bias. Comparing our age-stratified VFRs with published age-stratified coronavirus infection fatality rates (IFR) suggests the risks of COVID vaccines and boosters outweigh the benefits in children, young adults and older adults with low occupational risk or previous coronavirus exposure. We discuss implications for public health policies related to boosters, school and workplace mandates, and the urgent need to identify, develop and disseminate diagnostics and treatments for life-altering vaccine injuries.
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With 38 Million Facing Food Insecurity, Hunger in US Soared by Nearly 9% in 2020
“The nation avoided mass starvation mostly because the federal government stepped in to dramatically increase food and cash aid.” COMMON DREAMS September 8, 2021 More than 38.2 million Americans struggled with food insecurity at some point last year, a roughly 9% surge in hunger compared with the 2019 level of 35.2 million, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA’s new report (pdf)—the federal government’s first comprehensive attempt to document how the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding spike in unemployment exacerbated food insecurity—found that the number of children in the U.S. suffering from hunger increased from 10.7 million in 2019 to 11.7 million last year, also an uptick of approximately 9%. Another USDA report (pdf) released last month showed that federal spending on domestic food and nutrition assistance programs in Fiscal Year 2020 reached a historic high of $122.1 billion, which was 32% greater than the previous year.
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Number of states with high obesity rate nearly doubles since 2018: CDC
BY JUSTINE COLEMAN – THE HILL 09/15/21 The number of states with an obesity rate of at least 35 percent has nearly doubled in two years, with continuing racial and ethnic disparities, according to research released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sixteen states reported last year that at least 35 percent of their adult residents are obese, an increase from the 12 considered to have high obesity prevalence in 2019 and nine in 2018, CDC analysis released on Wednesday said. Delaware, Iowa, Ohio and Texas were the four new additions to the list of states with the higher obesity rate this year. They joined Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
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The Corruption of Science through the Suppression of Dissent
Alliance for Natural Health, July 15, 2021 There’s something very wrong with ‘the system’ when any information or viewpoints from leading scientists or doctors that don’t mesh with the mainstream narrative are ridiculed, marginalised or censored. But it’s even worse than that. Careers and reputations are being decimated too, breeding a culture of fear that’s presumably aimed at making the vast majority of influential voices toe the line – or be silent. The suppression of dissent is well known to work counter to the very notion of scientific progress. It’s the breeding ground of dogma – and while it might benefit a few, it neither benefits science nor the majority. Censored: The man who invented mRNA vaccines Robert W Malone MD is the inventor of mRNA vaccines. This hasn’t always been appreciated, a fact that Dr Malone’s wife of 42 years and co-worker, Dr Jill Glasspool Malone, attempted to put right in an article a month ago. Dr Robert Malone’s 3-hour interview with evolutionary biologist Brett Weinstein, about which we reported has now been removed from YouTube. Now LinkedIn has deleted Dr Malone’s entire profile, so sabotaging one of the most important platforms of connectivity used by any consultant. Worse, Wikipedia is attempting to rewrite history by scrubbing out Robert Malone as the inventor altogether. Ridiculed: UK sociologist advising vaccination policy British medical sociologist, Professor Robert Dingwall, who sits on the UK’s key advisory committee on vaccines for the UK government, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), found the need to express his critical views on policies that include the roll-out of covid vaccines to children on his Twitter feed. This from a sociologist who has been clearly pro-vax and critical of the anti-vax movement. His views were regularly reported in newspapers, but now that he’s questioning the mainstream narrative, he’s now being ridiculed and marginalised. Victim of smear campaign: Canadian pro-vaccine viral immunologist Viral immunologist Dr Byran Bridle from the University of Guelph has been crystal clear over his general support for vaccination. Yet the unearthing of previously confidential data about the Pfizer covid vaccine caused him to share his concerns on YouTube. YouTube saw fit to label this as medical misinformation and removed the video. Now, Dr Bridle has been the victim of a concerted smear campaign designed to damage or destroy his reputation. A scientifically misleading website has also been set up in his name and is designed to discredit him. . Misrepresented and demeaned: David Martin PhD Dr David Martin, chairman of M-CAM, has garnered significant notoriety after appearing in the documentary, Plandemic Indoctrination. Since then, the fact checkers have had a field day. Labelled a “financial analyst and self-help entrepreneur” who peddles conspiracy theories on YouTube misrepresents the seriousness of his day job and demeans a man passionately committed to ethical engagement. In fact, Dr Martin is somewhat of a polymath. Amongst his many credits in service to humanity is the development of the world’s top-three performing global equity indexes powered by his company M-CAM. He has a history of bringing white collar criminals to justice and never turning a blind eye, which is why he’s been waving a red flag ever since the anthrax attacks of 2002.
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A Letter to the Unvaccinated
Dr. Angela Durante, Prof Denis Rancourt, and et al. Ontario Civil Liberties Association 2 August 2021 OCLA researcher Dr. Denis Rancourt and several fellow Canadian academics penned an open letter to support those who have decided not to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. The group emphasizes the voluntary nature of this medical treatment as well as the need for informed consent and individual risk-benefit assessment. They reject the pressure exerted by public health officials, the news and social media, and fellow citizens. Control over our bodily integrity may well be the ultimate frontier of the fight to protect civil liberties. Read the letter below or as a PDF here. Open Letter to the Unvaccinated You are not alone! As of 28 July 2021, 29% of Canadians have not received a COVID-19 vaccine, and an additional 14% have received one shot. In the US and in the European Union, less than half the population is fully vaccinated, and even in Israel, the “world’s lab” according to Pfizer, one third of people remain completely unvaccinated. Politicians and the media have taken a uniform view, scapegoating the unvaccinated for the troubles that have ensued after eighteen months of fearmongering and lockdowns. It’s time to set the record straight. It is entirely reasonable and legitimate to say ‘no’ to insufficiently tested vaccines for which there is no reliable science. You have a right to assert guardianship of your body and to refuse medical treatments if you see fit. You are right to say ‘no’ to a violation of your dignity, your integrity and your bodily autonomy. It is your body, and you have the right to choose. You are right to fight for your children against their mass vaccination in school. You are right to question whether free and informed consent is at all possible under present circumstances. Long-term effects are unknown. Transgenerational effects are unknown. Vaccine-induced deregulation of natural immunity is unknown. Potential harm is unknown as the adverse event reporting is delayed, incomplete and inconsistent between jurisdictions. You are being targeted by mainstream media, government social engineering campaigns, unjust rules and policies, collaborating employers, and the social-media mob. You are being told that you are now the problem and that the world cannot get back to normal unless you get vaccinated. You are being viciously scapegoated by propaganda and pressured by others around you. Remember; there is nothing wrong with you. You are inaccurately accused of being a factory for new SARS-CoV-2 variants, when in fact, according to leading scientists, your natural immune system generates immunity to multiple components of the virus. This will promote your protection against a vast range of viral variants and abrogates further spread to anyone else. You are justified in demanding independent peer-reviewed studies, not funded by multinational pharmaceutical companies. All the peer-reviewed studies of short-term safety and short-term efficacy have been funded, organized, coordinated, and supported by these for-profit corporations; and none of the study data have been made public or available to researchers who don’t work for these companies. You are right to question the preliminary vaccine trial results. The claimed high values of relative efficacy rely on small numbers of tenuously determined “infections.” The studies were also not blind, where people giving the injections admittedly knew or could deduce whether they were injecting the experimental vaccine or the placebo. This is not acceptable scientific methodology for vaccine trials. You are correct in your calls for a diversity of scientific opinions. Like in nature, we need a polyculture of information and its interpretations. And we don’t have that right now. Choosing not to take the vaccine is holding space for reason, transparency and accountability to emerge. You are right to ask, ‘What comes next when we give away authority over our own bodies?’ Do not be intimidated. You are showing resilience, integrity and grit. You are coming together in your communities, making plans to help one another and standing for scientific accountability and free speech, which are required for society to thrive. We are among many who stand with you. Angela Durante, PhD Denis Rancourt, PhD Claus Rinner, PhD Laurent Leduc, PhD Donald Welsh, PhD John Zwaagstra, PhD Jan Vrbik, PhD Valentina Capurri, PhD
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Early samples collected from Wuhan covid patients show GMO viruses were sent from Canadian lab
September 6, 2021 Dr. Steven Quay, a Seattle-based physician-scientist and former faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has uncovered new evidence of two genetically modified viruses in patient samples collected from Wuhan, China, during the early days of the plandemic. The patients from whom the samples were collected had “unidentified pneumonia disease,” according to December 2019 reports. Their samples were uploaded into GenBank, a genetic sequence database on the website of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), where researchers were able to examine them for evidence of SARS-CoV-2. Quay, however, went a different route by looking into what else might be present in the samples. He found that they contained evidence of Henipah virus, a GMO virus that is one of two types sent to China by Chinese-born scientists who at the time were working at a Canadian laboratory. Based on what we knew at the time and have since learned about the plandemic, Chinese military researchers infiltrated Canadian research labs and engineered synthetic viruses that they then shipped off to China back in Spring of 2019. Not even a year later, the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) appeared out of nowhere and became the global freak show we are still dealing with today.