Potential role of vitamin D in older individuals in viral resistance and slowing progression of Parkinson’s disease

University of North Carolina, May 26, 2020

According to news originating from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill research stated, “While we are still learning more about COVID-19, caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, finding alternative and already available methods to reduce the risk and severity of the disease is paramount.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill: “One such option is vitamin D, in the form of vitamin D [ [3] ] (cholecalciferol) supplementation, due to its potential antiviral properties. It has become apparent that older individuals have a greater risk of developing severe COVID-19, and compared to younger adults, the elderly have lower levels of vitamin D due to a variety of biological and behavioral factors. Older adults are also more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD), with advanced age being the single greatest risk factor. In addition to its immune-system-modulating effects, it has been suggested that vitamin D supplementation plays a role in slowing PD progression and improving PD-related quality of life. We completed a review of the literature to determine the relationship between vitamin D, PD, and COVID-19.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We concluded that the daily supplementation of 2000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D [ [3] ] in older adults with PD has the potential to slow the progression of PD while also potentially offering additional protection against COVID-19.”

North American Menopause Society, May 26, 2020

Dairy products provide more bone-beneficial nutrients than any other food group. Yet a new study based on data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) shows that during the menopause transition, when bone loss is accelerated, they offer little benefit in preventing bone mineral density loss or fractures. Study results are published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Growing up, children are often encouraged to drink milk. That’s because dairy products contain more than 12 essential nutrients that promote bone mineralization, including calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, and high-quality protein. Unfortunately, as women enter the menopause transition, bone loss accelerates and may lead to osteoporosis. According to SWAN data, this bone loss is not slowed down by the consumption of dairy products nor is fracture risk mitigated.

The new study specifically looked at the effect of dairy intake on femoral and spine bone mineral density. It is one of the few studies dedicated to examining how dairy consumption affects a woman’s risk of bone loss and fractures across the menopause transition. Because two of the greatest risk factors for osteoporosis–age and sex–are beyond a woman’s control, there is an increased focus on possible modifiable risk factors to slow this irreversible, age-related, progressive, degenerative skeletal disease that makes a woman more susceptible to bone fractures. Women are at greater risk for osteoporosis than men, and the risk increases significantly as women age.

Study results appear in the article “Dairy intake is not associated with improvements in bone mineral density or risk of fractures across the menopause transition: data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation.”

“This study adds to the existing, albeit inconsistent, data suggesting a lack of benefit from dairy intake on bone mineral density and fracture risk. However, there are many other health benefits of a Mediterranean-type diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, as well as lean protein such as fish and low-fat dairy. In addition, regular weight-bearing exercise, such as walking or jogging, can help maintain bone strength, and activities that improve strength and balance, such as yoga and tai chi, may help prevent falls,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director.

University of Helsinki (Finland), May 27, 2020

According to news originating from Helsinki, Finland, research stated, “NAD is a redox-active metabolite, the depletion of which has been proposed to promote aging and degenerative diseases in rodents. However, whether NAD depletion occurs in patients with degenerative disorders and whether NAD repletion improves their symptoms has remained open.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Helsinki, “Here, we report systemic NAD deficiency in adult-onset mitochondrial myopathy patients. We administered an increasing dose of NAD-booster niacin, a vitamin B3 form (to 750-1,000 mg/day; clinicaltrials.govNCT03973203) for patients and their matched controls for 10 or 4 months, respectively. Blood NAD increased in all subjects, up to 8-fold, and muscle NAD of patients reached the level of their controls. Some patients showed anemia tendency, while muscle strength and mitochondrial biogenesis increased in all subjects. In patients, muscle metabolome shifted toward controls and liver fat decreased even 50%.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our evidence indicates that blood analysis is useful in identifying NAD deficiency and points niacin to be an efficient NAD booster for treating mitochondrial myopathy.”

Mindfulness training shows promise for people with MS

University of Rovira I VIrgili (Italy), May 21, 2020

A study by researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and Harvard Medical School has found that consuming omega 3 primarily through fish, but also in supplements containing these fatty acids, can modulate lipoproteins, that is, the particles that transport lipids through the blood, and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The association between the consumption of omega 3 and the reduction in the risk of suffering cardiovascular events has been demonstrated through the analysis of lipoprotein samples from 26,034 women, the largest and most detailed study ever carried out. The study is particularly important because cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent cause of death, with 1 in 3 people dying from cardiovascular events.

The research has been led by Núria Amigó, CEO of the URV spin off Biosfer Teslab and member of the Metabolomics Interdisciplinary Laboratory (MIL@b) – Metabolomics Platform, which was jointly created by the URV and the CIBERDEM and which is part of the Pere Virgili Health research Institute. Xavier Correig, professor from the Department of Electronic, Electrical and Automatic Engineering and director of the MIL@b – Metabolomics Platform, has participated in the study together with researchers from the Center for Lipid Metabolomics, Division of Preventive Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Harvard Medical School) headed by Samia Mora.

Up to now it had been shown that a high consumption of omega 3 fatty acids was associated with lower levels of triglycerides in the blood. However, it had also been related to an increase in LDL cholesterol, that is, low-density cholesterol transported by lipoproteins, also known as bad cholesterol. LDL cholesterol increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases because it can accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis, that is, the process by which the arteries harden and lose their elasticity.

However, the study has found that increased consumption of LDL cholesterol from fish is associated principally with the cholesterol transported by the largest LDL particles, which are less atherogenic, and not with an increase in the total number of LDL particles. This decrease in the number of triglycerides transported by any type of lipoprotein helps protect the individual from heart disease.

The 3 types of omega 3 fatty acids studied, namely α-linoleic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are present in fish and other foods and are essential to human physiology, and the study has found that they differ in their association with the risk of cardiovascular disease. It found that there was no increase in the smallest LDL lipoproteins that transport cholesterol; instead the increase was among the largest LDL lipoproteins, which are not associated with the risk of heart disease. There was a decrease in all of the triglyceride-transporting particles and, moreover, the average size of the HDL and LDL particles increased, a phenomenon that is associated with increased protection from cardiovascular illness.

These conclusions have been obtained through mathematical modelling of the consumption of fish and omega 3 (both as a whole and of the different types ALA, DHA and EPA) and the profile of lipoproteins. The results were obtained by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, “which can go further than simply analysing triglyceride and cholesterol content and can quantify the number and size of the different subtypes of plasmatic lipoprotein”, explained Núria Amigó. She described how among the LDL particles that transport cholesterol “it is the smallest that are associated with a future cardiovascular event”.

Another important element of the study is that the mathematical models used to evaluate the association between the consumption of fish and the reduction in cardiovascular risk have isolated other nutritional factors that affect the result, such as the consumption of other foods, the concentration of omega 3 according to the origin of the fish (wild or farmed) and traditional risk factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, age, body mass index and smoking.

The study analysed a cohort from the Women’s Health Study by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, affiliated to Harvard Medical School, and involved the use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to characterise the plasma of 26,034 women with an average age of 53 (most were between 48 and 59).

Having confirmed that the risk factor associated with lipids, cholesterol concentration, triglycerides and the different subtypes of particles is modulated by the consumption of omega 3 fatty acids, “we now need to find out if the consumption of fish is associated with lower mortality from both cardiovascular diseases and other causes”, Amigó explained, because “although the risk is lower in terms of lipids, we need to look at other pro-inflammatory factors and questions such as exposure to heavy metals”.

Bar Ilan University (Israel), May 21, 2020

Group work and cooperation are crucial in everyday life. As such, it is important to explore the avenues by which synchrony within a group may enhance cohesion and influence performance.

What role can music play in this effort? In an interdisciplinary study published today in the journal Scientific Reports researchers report their discovery that while drumming together, aspects of group members’ heart function – specifically the time interval between individual beats (IBI) — synchronized.

This physiological synchronization was recorded during a novel musical drumming task that was especially developed for the study in a collaboration between social-neuroscientists and scholars from the Music Department at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

The drumming involved 51 three-participant groups in which IBI data were continuously collected. Participants were asked to match their drumming — on individual drumming pads within an electronic drum set shared by the group — to a tempo that was presented to the group through speakers. For half of the groups, the tempo was steady and predictable, and thus, the resulting drumming and its output were intended to be synchronous. For the other half, the tempo changed constantly and was practically impossible to follow, so that the resulting drumming and musical output would be asynchronous. The task enabled the researchers to manipulate the level of behavioral synchronization in drumming between group members and assess the dynamics of changes in IBI for each participant throughout the experiment.

Following this structured drumming task, participants were asked to improvise drumming freely together. The groups with high physiological synchrony in the structured task showed more coordination in drumming in the free improvisation session.

Analysis of the data demonstrated that the drumming task elicited an emergence of physiological synchronization in groups beyond what could be expected randomly. Further, behavioral synchronization and enhanced physiological synchronization while drumming each uniquely predicts a heightened experience of group cohesion. Finally, the researchers showed that higher physiological synchrony also predicts enhanced group performance later on in a different group task.

“Our results present a multi-modal behavioral and physiological account of how synchronization contributes to the formation of the group bond and its consequent ability to cooperate,” says Dr. Ilanit Gordon, head of the Social Neuroscience Lab at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Psychology and a senior researcher at the University’s Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, who led the study together with Prof. Avi Gilboa and Dr. Shai Cohen, of the Department of Music. “A manipulation in behavioral synchrony and emerging physiological coordination in IBI between group members predicts an enhanced sense of cohesion among group members.”

“We believe that joint music making constitutes a promising experimental platform for implementing ecological and fully interactive scenarios that capture the richness and complexity of human social interaction,” says Prof. Gilboa, of the Department of Music, who co-authored the study. “These results are particularly significant due to the crucial importance of groups to action, identity and social change in our world.”

Meta-analysis links erectile dysfunction, vitamin D deficiency

University of Catania (Italy), May 20 2020. 

Results from a meta-analysis published on May 14, 2020 in Nutrients indicate a link between deficient serum levels of vitamin D and an increase in erectile dysfunction.

“Erectile dysfunction (ED) is found very frequently in the male population, in particular in its arteriogenic form, which also represents an important predictor of cardiovascular diseases,” noted Andrea Crafa and colleagues. “Some evidence suggests that vitamin D could play a role in cardiovascular risk prevention thanks to its ability to reduce endothelial damage, oxidative stress, the production of inflammatory cytokines, and dyslipidemia.”

The analysis included eight studies that reported serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and data concerning erectile function among a total of 4,055 men. Although there was no significant difference in vitamin D levels between men with and without ED, when men with vitamin D deficiency, categorized as 25(OH)D levels of less than 20 nanograms per deciliter, were evaluated, erectile function scores were significantly worse than those of men whose vitamin D levels were higher.

Erectile dysfunction has been associated with low testosterone levels and studies have shown an association between low testosterone levels and decreased levels of vitamin D. In men with normal testosterone, ED is often due to cardiovascular disease. In consideration of these factors, Dr Crafa and colleagues conducted a further analysis that was limited to men with normal testosterone levels; however, the association between vitamin D deficiency and worse erectile function remained significant.

“This meta-analysis suggests a role for vitamin D in conditioning the severity of ED that also seems to be independent of serum testosterone levels,” they concluded. “Particularly, this study suggests an association between vitamin D deficiency with only the most severe forms of ED.”

They recommended the initiation of clinical trials to test the effects of vitamin D supplementation in men who have ED and normal testosterone levels.

Glucose levels linked to maternal mortality even in non-diabetic women

University of California at San Francisco, May 21, 2020

Low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets, which have attracted public interest in recent years for their proposed benefits in lowering inflammation and promoting weight loss and heart health, have a dramatic impact on the microbes residing in the human gut, collectively referred to as the microbiome, according to a new UC San Francisco study of a small cohort of volunteer subjects. Additional research in mice showed that so-called “ketone bodies,” a molecular byproduct that gives the ketogenic diet its name, directly impact the gut microbiome in ways that may ultimately suppress inflammation, suggesting evidence for potential benefits of ketone bodies as a therapy for autoimmune disorders affecting the gut.

In ketogenic diets, carbohydrate consumption is dramatically reduced in order to force the body to alter its metabolism to using fat molecules, rather than carbohydrates, as its primary energy source—producing ketone bodies as a byproduct—a shift that proponents claim has numerous health benefits.

“I got interested in this question because our prior research showed that high-fat diets induce shifts in the gut microbiome that promote metabolic and other diseases in mice, yet ketogenic diets, which are even higher in fat content, have been proposed as a way to prevent or even treat disease,” said Peter Turnbaugh, Ph.D., a UCSF associate professor of microbiology and immunology, member of the UCSF Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. “We decided to explore that puzzling dichotomy.”

In their new study, published May 20, 2020, in Cell, Turnbaugh and colleagues partnered with the nonprofit Nutrition Science Initiative to recruit 17 adult overweight or obese nondiabetic men to spend two months as inpatients in a metabolic ward where their diets and exercise levels were carefully monitored and controlled.

For the first four weeks of the study, the participants were given either a “standard” diet consisting of 50 percent carbs, 15 percent protein and 35 percent fat, or a ketogenic diet comprising 5 percent carbs, 15 percent protein and 80 percent fat. After four weeks, the two groups switched diets, to allow the researchers to study how shifting between the two diets altered participants’ microbiomes.

Analysis of microbial DNA found in participants’ stool samples showed that shifting between standard and ketogenic diets dramatically changed the proportions of common gut microbial phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes in participants’ guts, including significant changes in 19 different bacterial genera. The researchers focused in on a particular bacterial genus—the common probiotic Bifidobacteria—which showed the greatest decrease on the ketogenic diet.

To better understand how microbial shifts on the ketogenic diet might impact health, the researchers exposed the mouse gut to different components of microbiomes of humans adhering to ketogenic diets, and showed that these altered microbial populations specifically reduce the numbers of Th17 immune cells—a type of T cell critical for fighting off infectious disease, but also known to promote inflammation in autoimmune diseases.

Follow-up diet experiments in mice, in which researchers gradually shifted animals’ diets between low-fat, high-fat and low-carb ketogenic diets, confirmed that high-fat and ketogenic diets have opposite effects on the gut microbiome. These findings suggested that the microbiome responds differently as the level of fat in the animals’ diet increases to levels that promote ketone body production in the absence of carbs.

The researchers observed that that as animals’ diets were shifted from a standard diet towards stricter carbohydrate restriction, their microbes also began shifting, correlated with a gradual rise in ketone bodies.

“This was a little surprising to me,” Turnbaugh said. “As someone who is new to the keto field, I had assumed that producing ketone bodies was an all-or-nothing effect once you got to a low enough level of carb intake. But this suggests that you may get some of the effects of ketosis quite quickly.”

The researchers tested whether ketone bodies alone could drive the shifts they had seen in the gut’s microbial ecosystem by directly feeding ketone bodies to mice. They found that even in mice who were eating normal amounts of carbohydrates, the mere presence of added ketones was enough to produce many of the specific microbial changes seen in the ketogenic diet.

“This is a really fascinating finding because it suggests that the effects of ketogenic diets on the microbiome are not just about the diet itself, but how the diet alters the body’s metabolism, which then has downstream effects on the microbiome,” Turnbaugh said. “For many people, maintaining a strict low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet is extremely challenging, but if future studies find that there are health benefits from the microbial shifts caused by ketone bodies themselves, that could make for a much more palatable therapeutic approach.”