Cardiovascular Activity of Ginkgo biloba

Universidade de Lisbon (Portugal), February 11, 2023

Ginkgo biloba is the oldest living tree species in the world. Extracts from its leaves are among the most used herbal preparations in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Most data on the efficacy of Ginkgo biloba on cardiovascular disease is from clinical studies, with few results from healthy subjects. 

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the mechanisms underlying the known beneficial cardiovascular activities of Ginkgo biloba. It displays myocardial suppressant and vasorelaxant activities ex vivo, potentiating endothelial-dependent and -independent pathways. 

It improves perfusion in different vascular beds, namely ocular, cochlear, cutaneous, cerebral, and coronary. 

Evidence suggests that Ginkgo biloba displays a heterogeneous effect on tissue perfusion which is dependent on the individual elimination pathways. It displays an acceptable safety profile, with most reported adverse reactions constituting rare occurrences. 

Collectively, Ginkgo biloba positively impacts cardiovascular physiology, improving hemodynamics and organ perfusion. I

Psychobiotics: Are they the future intervention for managing depression and anxiety? A literature review

Sonoran University of Health Sciences, February 20, 2023

The World Health Organization has identified mental health as an epidemic of the 21st century contributing to the global health burden, which highlights the urgency to develop economical, accessible, minimally invasive interventions to effectively manage depression, anxiety, and stress. 

Nutritional approaches, including the use of probiotics and psychobiotics to manage depression and anxiety, have elicited interest in recent years. This review aimed to summarize evidence from studies including animal models, cell cultures, and human subjects. Overall, the current evidence suggests that 1) Specific strains of probiotics can reduce depressive symptoms and anxiety; 2) Symptoms may be reduced through one or more possible mechanisms of action, including impact on the synthesis of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and GABA, modulation of inflammatory cytokines, or enhancing stress responses through effects on stress hormones and the HPA axis.

More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates stated, “all disease begins in the gut”.  Since this time, the recognition of the Gut-Brain Axis has shifted the thinking of how the microbiome has a synergistic effect on the human body, including the bidirectional signaling that occurs (brain-gut and gut-brain). The connection of altered microbiota is not only associated with digestive disorders but also mental health. For example, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 10-20% of the U.S. population, and 70-90% of those individuals report having mood and anxiety disorders.  It has been reported that 84.1% of individuals with GI disease have anxiety, and 27% have depression.13 Additionally, many gastrointestinal symptoms have been established as comorbidities in several neurological conditions, including, but not limited to, Parkinson’s disease, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia.

Despite early discoveries of mood improvement with Lactobacillus,  research has been lacking until recently to understand the intimate relationship between the gut microbes and their impact on brain function, mental health, and overall mood. This literature review aims to summarize evidence on the relationship between psychobiotics and mental health outcomes, namely depression and anxiety. The potential therapeutic role of psychobiotics in these conditions, through their contribution to the production of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA and the reduction of cortisol via the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, will be discussed.

Probiotics are “live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”  The most commonly known probiotics are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

The increasing economic and societal burden of depression and anxiety highlights the urgency to effectively develop dietary interventions to manage depression, anxiety, and stress. While psychobiotics for clinical use in managing depression and anxiety in humans remain in their infancy, the findings of these studies are promising. In addition to their use for depression and anxiety, extensive research is also being done to explore their use for other neurological and mental health conditions

 

Anxiety About Relationships May Lower Immunity, Increase Vulnerability to Illness

Ohio State University, February 8, 2023 

Concerns and anxieties about one’s close relationships appear to function as a chronic stressor that can compromise immunity, according to new research.
 
In the study, researchers asked married couples to complete questionnaires about their relationships and collected saliva and blood samples to test participants’ levels of a key stress-related hormone and numbers of certain immune cells.

The research focused on attachment anxiety. Those who are on the high end of the attachment anxiety spectrum are excessively concerned about being rejected, have a tendency to constantly seek reassurance that they are loved, and are more likely to interpret ambiguous events in a relationship as negative.

Married partners who were more anxiously attached produced higher levels of cortisol, a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress, and had fewer T cells – important components of the immune system’s defense against infection – than did participants who were less anxiously attached.

Jaremka and colleagues tested the health effects of attachment anxiety on 85 couples who had been married for an average of more than 12 years. Most participants were white, and their average age was 39 years.

The participants reported general anxiety symptoms and their sleep quality. Researchers collected saliva samples over three days and blood samples over two days.

Participants with higher attachment anxiety produced, on average, 11 percent more cortisol than did those with lower attachment anxiety. The more anxiously attached participants also had between 11 percent and 22 percent fewer T cells than did less anxiously attached partners. Four T-cell markers were analyzed in the study.

Attachment anxiety is considered a phenomenon related to childhood development, Jaremka explained. At a very young age, children learn whether or not their primary caregivers will respond when the children are in distress. If caregivers are responsive, children learn they can rely on other people. If care is inconsistent or neglectful, children can develop feelings of insecurity that might manifest as attachment anxiety later in life.

Garlic supplementation improves intestinal transit time, lipid accumulation product and cardiometabolic indices in subjects with metabolic syndrome: A randomized controlled trial

Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences (Iran), February 1, 2023

Subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS) are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). 

Altered gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of MetS. 

It has been hypothesized that garlic can improve intestinal transit time and cardiovascular risks. 

We investigated the effect of garlic powder supplementation on intestinal transit time, lipid accumulation product (LAP), and cardiometabolic indices in subjects with MetS. 

A double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted for 3 months among subjects with MetS. Ninety subjects were randomly assigned to the treatment group (intake of 1,600 mg/d garlic powder) or control group (placebo) using a computer-generated random number table. All participants were asked to follow the common healthy dietary recommendations during follow-up. The primary outcomes included intestinal transit time, LAP, cardiometabolic index (CMI), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), Castelli risk index I (CRI-I) and Castelli risk index II (CRI-II).

 Garlic powder compared to the placebo improved intestinal transit time, CMI, AIP, CRI-I  and CRI-II. Garlic supplementation can improve intestinal transit time, LAP, and cardiometabolic indices

Over 40? Just 20 minutes of daily exercise can keep you out of the hospital

National Cancer Institute, February 20, 2023 

If you’re over 40, regular exercise may not only keep you fit—it might keep you out of the hospital, too, a large new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 82,000 British adults, those who regularly exercised were less likely to be hospitalized for various health conditions in the coming years. The list included such common ills as pneumonia, stroke, diabetes complications and severe urinary tract infections.

The findings suggest that if middle-aged and older people added just 20 minutes of exercise to their daily routine, they could cut the risk of those hospitalizations by anywhere from 4% to 23% over seven years.

It aligns with what’s generally recommended to Americans to improve their health: Get at least 150 minutes of moderate “cardio” exercise, or 75 minutes at a vigorous intensity, each week. That means exercise that gets the heart pumping and works up a sweat: Moderate-intensity includes things like brisk walking, biking on level ground or yard work. Running, biking on hills or swimming laps count as vigorous intensity.

Researchers focused on nearly 82,000 participants between the ages of 42 and 78 who spent a week wearing wrist monitors that recorded their physical activity. They looked at the relationship between those activity levels and participants’ odds of being hospitalized in the coming years.

After roughly seven years, more than 48,000 study participants did end up in the hospital, for a host of reasons. When it came to nine of those health issues, though, people who were more physically active had lower risks.

The big nine were gallbladder disease, UTIs, blood clots, stroke, diabetes complications, pneumonia, iron-deficiency anemia, colon polyps and diverticular disease (where small “pouches” form in the wall of the colon).

The researchers estimate that it takes only an extra 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous cardio each day to curb the odds of being hospitalized for the nine conditions the study identified. That ranged from a 4% dip in the risk of hospitalization for colon polyps to a 23% drop in the chances of landing in the hospital due to diabetes.

The Effect of Watermelon Juice Supplementation on Heart Rate Variability and Metabolic Response during an Oral Glucose Challenge

Louisiana State University, February 17, 2023

Heart rate variability (HRV) provides a simple method to evaluate autonomic function in health and disease. A reduction in HRV may indicate autonomic dysfunction and is strongly associated with aspects of cardiometabolic disease, including hyperglycemia. 

Reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability is also implicated in the development of cardiometabolic disease and autonomic dysfunction. 

Watermelons are natural sources of L-arginine and L-citrulline, substrates used for NO synthesis. Watermelon consumption can improve NO bioavailability. 

We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial to test the effects of 2 weeks of daily watermelon juice (WMJ) supplementation on HRV in response to an oral glucose challenge (OGC) in healthy young adults. We also performed indirect calorimetry to assess if our intervention altered the metabolic response to the OGC. 

WMJ supplementation preserved high-frequency power (HF) and the percentage of successive differences that differ by more than 50 ms (pNN50) when compared to the placebo treatment. There was no difference in resting energy expenditure or substate oxidation according to treatment. 

We report that WMJ supplementation attenuates OGC-induced reductions in HRV. Future work should emphasize the importance of NO bioavailability in autonomic dysfunction in cardiometabolic disease.

In conclusion, we show that the autonomic system is susceptible to a hyperglycemic episode. Furthermore, using a rigorous study design, we show the efficacy of a naturally rich source of amino acids, L-citrulline, and L-arginine, to preserve HRV during a hyperglycemic episode. 

These findings build on our previous work that shows WMJ supplementation protects vascular function during hyperglycemia. NO bioavailability is potentially a link between these two integrated physiological systems, but more work is required to develop a mechanistic understanding of this relationship.