Videos:

1.  The slow creep of ugliness into the language of public debate is impossible to ignore | Neil Oliver (10:35)

2.  Tulsi Gabbard Testifies on the Weaponization of Federal Government (5:00)
3.  Clips from film “My Dinner with Andre” (1:00)
4. why did you shave your head (1:00)
5.  Jordan Peterson on GENDER EQUALITY in Work-Force (1:00)
6.  Ricky Gervais Pushes Back On Woke Culture & Things Being “Offensive” (1:00)
7.  Joe Rogan, with this generation is somthing wrong! (1:00)
8.  My Experience of Riding Along With a White Police Officer (1:00)
   9. 2Pac Court (Shock G) (1:00)

Olive oil protects against breast cancer by launching multiple attacks against tumour

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), February 2, 2023

Research shows that the Mediterranean oil mounts a multi-pronged attack on the tumours, stunting their growth, driving their cells to implode and protecting against potentially-cancerous damage to DNA.

The Spanish scientists, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, set out to find out why previous studies had linked an olive oil-rich diet, to lower odds of various cancers.

Olive oil switches off proteins that cancer cells rely on to stay alive

In experiments on rats, they showed that olive oil thwarts a gene that drives the growth of breast tumours. The oil, a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, also switched off proteins that cancer cells rely on to stay alive.

If that isn’t enough, it also protects DNA from damage that can lead to cancer, the journal Carcinogenesis reports.

Researcher Dr Eduard Escrich recommends we all get 50ml, or 10 teaspoons of high quality, extra virgin olive oil a day. Only long-term use will give results.

A second Spanish study found that olive oil ‘turns down’ genes linked to hardening of the arteries and heart disease.

Researcher Dr Maria Isabel Covas, of the Insitut Municial d’Investigacio Medica in Barcelona, said: ‘Knowing which genes can be modulated by diet in a healthy way can help people select healthy foods.’

Higher dietary fiber intake in young women may reduce breast cancer risk

Harvard School of Public Health, February 1, 2023

Women who eat more high-fiber foods during adolescence and young adulthood–especially lots of fruits and vegetables–may have significantly lower breast cancer risk than those who eat less dietary fiber when young, according to a new large-scale study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Previous studies of fiber intake and breast cancer have almost all been non-significant, and none of them examined diet during adolescence or early adulthood, a period when breast cancer risk factors appear to be particularly important,” said Maryam Farvid, visiting scientist at Harvard Chan School and lead author of the study. “This work on the role of nutrition in early life and breast cancer incidence suggests one of the very few potentially modifiable risk factors for premenopausal breast cancer.”

The researchers looked at a group of 90,534 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study II, a large long-running investigation of factors that influence women’s health.  The researchers analyzed the women’s fiber intake while adjusting for a number of other factors, such as race, family history of breast cancer, body mass index, weight change over time, menstruation history, alcohol use, and other dietary factors.

Breast cancer risk was 12%-19% lower among women who ate more dietary fiber in early adulthood, depending on how much more they ate. High intake of fiber during adolescence was also associated with 16% lower risk of overall breast cancer and 24% lower risk of breast cancer before menopause. Among all the women, there was a strong inverse association between fiber intake and breast cancer incidence. For each additional 10 grams of fiber intake daily–for example, about one apple and two slices of whole wheat bread, or about half a cup each of cooked kidney beans and cooked cauliflower or squash–during early adulthood, breast cancer risk dropped by 13%. The greatest apparent benefit came from fruit and vegetable fiber.

The authors speculated that eating more fiber-rich foods may lessen breast cancer risk partly by helping to reduce high estrogen levels in the blood, which are strongly linked with breast cancer development.

Study finds that salt cuts off the energy supply to immune regulators

Hasselt University (Belgium) & Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, February 10, 2023

Eating too much salt, which is common in many Western societies, is not only bad for our blood pressure and cardiovascular system—it could also adversely impact the immune system.

An international research team, coordinated by scientists at the VIB Center for Inflammation Research and Hasselt University in Belgium as well as the Max Delbrück Center in Germany, is now reporting in Cell Metabolism that salt can disrupt key immune regulators called regulatory T cells by impairing their energy metabolism. The findings may provide new avenues for exploring the development of autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases.

A few years ago, research by teams  revealed that too much salt in our diet can negatively affect the metabolism and energy balance in certain types of innate immune cells called monocytes and macrophages and stop them from working properly.

The researchers further showed that salt triggers malfunctions in the mitochondria, the power plants of our cells. Inspired by these findings, the research groups wondered whether excessive salt intake might also create a similar problem in adaptive immune cells like regulatory T cells.

Regulatory T cells, also known as Tregs, are an essential part of the adaptive immune system. They are responsible for maintaining the balance between normal function and unwanted excessive inflammation. Tregs are sometimes referred to as the “immune police” because they keep bad guys like autoreactive immune cells at bay and ensure that immune responses happen in a controlled way without harming the host organism.

Scientists believe that the deregulation of Tregs is linked to the development of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Recent research has identified problems in mitochondrial function of Tregs from patients with autoimmunity, yet the contributing factors remain elusive.

“Considering our previous findings of salt affecting mitochondrial function of monocytes and macrophages as well as the new observations on mitochondria in Tregs from autoimmune patients, we were wondering if sodium might elicit similar issues in Tregs of healthy volunteers,” says Müller, who co-heads the Hypertension-Mediated End-Organ Damage Lab at the Max Delbrück Center and the ECRC.

Salt interferes with mitochondrial function of Tregs 

The new international study  has now discovered that sodium disrupts Treg function by altering cellular metabolism through interference with mitochondrial energy generation. This mitochondrial problem seems to be the initial step in how salt modifies Treg function, leading to changes in gene expression that showed similarities to those of dysfunctional Tregs in autoimmune conditions.

Even a short-term disruption of mitochondrial function had long-lasting consequences for the fitness and immune-regulating capacity of Tregs in various experimental models. The new findings suggest that sodium may be a factor that could contribute to Treg dysfunction, potentially playing a role in different diseases, although this must be confirmed in further studies.

Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

University of Queensland (Australia), February 10, 2023

Researchers from The University of Queensland have discovered the active compound from an edible mushroom that boosts nerve growth and enhances memory.

Professor Frederic Meunier from the Queensland Brain Institute said the team had identified new active compounds from the mushroom, Hericium erinaceus.

“Extracts from these so-called ‘lion’s mane’ mushrooms have been used in traditional medicine in Asian countries for centuries, but we wanted to scientifically determine their potential effect on brain cells,” Professor Meunier said.

“Pre-clinical testing found the lion’s mane mushroom had a significant impact on the growth of brain cells and improving memory.

“Laboratory tests measured the neurotrophic effects of compounds isolated from Hericium erinaceus on cultured brain cells, and surprisingly we found that the active compounds promote neuron projections, extending and connecting to other neurons.

“Using super-resolution microscopy, we found the mushroom extract and its active components largely increase the size of growth cones, which are particularly important for brain cells to sense their environment and establish new connections with other neurons in the brain.”

Co-author, UQ’s Dr. Ramon Martinez-Marmol said the discovery had applications that could treat and protect against neurodegenerative cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Fluoride exposure associated with hypothyroidism in pregnancy, study finds

York University (Canada), February 10, 2023

New research out of York University found that fluoride exposure via drinking water may increase the risk of hypothyroidism in pregnant women. In a smaller subset of participants, the researchers found lower IQ scores between boys whose mothers had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism compared to boys whose mothers had normal thyroid levels.

Earlier research done by the same lab at York found an association between maternal fluoride exposure in pregnancy and lower IQ in boys, and this new research may explain these earlier findings, according to York neuropsychology Ph.D. student Meaghan Hall, lead author of this latest study.

“We know from the literature that there is a link between high levels of fluoride exposure and thyroid disruption and there’s also an established connection between untreated hypothyroidism in pregnancy and adverse outcomes in children,” says Hall. “Our latest study may provide a potential mechanism to explain links to lower IQs in boys born to mothers with higher fluoride exposure and is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests that prenatal fluoride exposure may be linked to worse cognitive outcomes for children.”

The study, published in Science of the Total Environment, followed more than 1,500 women enrolled in the Maternal Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) study, an ongoing, multi-year study led by Health Canada to investigate the impact of environmental chemicals on vulnerable populations, including pregnant people and infants. Women were recruited from 10 cities across Canada, seven of which have fluoridated drinking water.

The researchers only studied women who reported drinking tap water in pregnancy. The women were followed throughout pregnancy and their children were also followed after birth into early childhood.

In the study, a half-milligram-per liter increase in drinking-water fluoride levels, which may not sound like much, but is roughly the difference in exposure level between a fluoridated and non-fluoridated community, was associated with a 1.65 increase in odds of having a diagnosis or meeting criteria for hypothyroidism in pregnancy.

“This translates into a 65 percent increase in risk,” says Christine Till, Hall’s supervising professor, senior author on the study and a clinical neuropsychologist who heads up the Faculty of Health’s Till Lab, which studies how various environmental exposures affect children’s health. “The findings are concerning because hypothyroidism is a known cause of brain-based disorders in children,” says Till.

Fluoride’s ability to suppress the thyroid has been known since the 1930s when it was used to treat overactive thyroid, also known as hyperthyroidism.

The researchers measured exposure to fluoride from tap water and other dietary sources such as black tea, which is naturally high in fluoride. The researchers also measured urinary fluoride levels and found no link with hypothyroidism. The researchers say fluoride levels in tap water may be a more reliable indicator of long-term fluoride exposure than urinary levels, which might better correlate with short-term exposure, they say.

Fasting ramps up human metabolism, study shows

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, January 31, 2023

Fasting may help people lose weight, but new research suggests going without food may also boost human metabolic activity, generate antioxidants, and help reverse some effects of aging. Scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and Kyoto University identified 30 previously unreported substances whose quantity increases during fasting and indicate a variety of health benefits.

“We have been researching aging and metabolism for many years and decided to search for unknown health effects in human fasting,” said Dr. Takayuki Teruya, first author of the paper and a technician in the OIST G0 Cell Unit, led by Prof. Mitsuhiro Yanagida. “Contrary to the original expectation, it turned out that fasting induced metabolic activation rather actively.”

The study, published in Scientific Reports, presents an analysis of whole human blood, plasma, and red blood cells drawn from four fasting individuals. The researchers monitored changing levels of metabolites—substances formed during the chemical processes that grant organisms energy and allow them to grow. The results revealed 44 metabolites, including 30 that were previously unrecognized, that increased universally among subjects between 1.5- to 60-fold within just 58 hours of fasting.

In previous research, the G0 Cell Unit identified various metabolites whose quantities decline with age, including three known as leucine, isoleucine, and ophthalmic acid. In fasting individuals, these metabolites increase in level, suggesting a mechanism by which fasting could help increase longevity.

“These are very important metabolites for maintenance of muscle and antioxidant activity, respectively,” said Teruya. “This result suggests the possibility of a rejuvenating effect by fasting, which was not known until now.”

Fasting appears to elicit effects far beyond energy substitution. In their comprehensive analysis of human blood, the researchers noted both established fasting markers and many more. For example, they found a global increase in substances produced by the citric acid cycle, a process by which organisms release energy stored in the chemical bonds of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The marked increase suggests that, during fasting, the tiny powerhouses running every cell are thrown into overdrive.

Fasting also appeared to enhance the metabolism of purine and pyrimidine, chemical substances which play key roles in gene expression and protein synthesis. The finding suggests fasting may reprogram which proteins cells build at what time, thus altering their function. The change may promote homeostasis in cells, or serve to edit their gene expression in response to environmental influences.

When metabolized, purine and pyrimidine also boost the body’s production of antioxidants. Several antioxidants, such as ergothioneine and carnosine, were found to increase significantly over the 58-hour study period. Antioxidants serve to protect cells from free radicals produced during metabolism. Products of a metabolic pathway called the “pentose phosphate pathway” also stay the harmful effects of oxidation, and were similarly seen to increase during fasting, but only in plasma.

The authors suggest that these antioxidative effects may stand as the body’s principal response to fasting, as starvation can foster a dangerously oxidative internal environment. Their exploratory study provides the first evidence of antioxidants as a fasting marker. In addition, the study introduces the novel notion that fasting might boost production of several age-related metabolites, abundant in young people, but depleted in old.