VIDEOS;

1.Bill Gates getting facts told about himself. (1:40)
2.Barbados PM Mia Mottley Set A Reporter Straight In Just 2 Minutes (2:00)
3.They knew about this massive bra-in washing machine in 1981, and probably way before…(2:55)
4.Dr. Peter McCullough’s Courage to Face Covid | CPAC 2023 (10:45)
5. The Radical Left Need Cancel Culture | Konstantin Kisin (6:27)

Garlic sprouted for five days has improved antioxidant potential

Kyungpook National University (S Korea), March 4, 2023 

“Sprouted” garlic – old garlic bulbs with bright green shoots emerging from the cloves – is considered to be past its prime and usually ends up in the garbage can. But scientists are reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that this type of garlic has even more heart-healthy antioxidant activity than its fresher counterparts.

Jong-Sang Kim and colleagues note that people have used garlic for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Today, people still celebrate its healthful benefits. Eating garlic or taking garlic supplements is touted as a natural way to reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure and heart disease risk. It even may boost the immune system and help fight cancer. But those benefits are for fresh, raw garlic. Sprouted garlic has received much less attention. When seedlings grow into green plants, they make many new compounds, including those that protect the young plant against pathogens. Kim’s group reasoned that the same thing might be happening when green shoots grow from old heads of garlic. Other studies have shown that sprouted beans and grains have increased antioxidant activity, so the team set out to see if the same is true for garlic.

They found that garlic sprouted for five days had higher antioxidant activity than fresher, younger bulbs, and it had different metabolites, suggesting that it also makes different substances. Extracts from this garlic even protected cells in a laboratory dish from certain types of damage. “Therefore, sprouting may be a useful way to improve the antioxidant potential of garlic,” they conclude.

Folic acid and B12 lower in men with erectile dysfunction

First People’s Hospital of Yancheng (China), March 15 2023. 

The new issue of Sexual Medicine reported the finding of lower levels of B vitamins folic acid and B12, greater homocysteine levels and higher indicators of infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) among men with erectile dysfunction (ED) in comparison with healthy men.

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium believed to infect about half of the world’s population and is the major cause of gastrointestinal ulcers. Because H. pylori immunoglobin G (Hp-IgG) titers have recently been found to be significantly higher in ED patients than in those without ED, the researchers involved in the current study hypothesized that infection with the bacterium could lead to malabsorption of folic acid and vitamin B12 which increases homocysteine. Elevated homocysteine promotes atherosclerosis, which is a primary cause of ED not due to psychological issues. 

The study compared 84 men with ED to 42 men who did not have the condition. Blood samples were analyzed for serum levels of folic acid, vitamin B12, homocysteine, H. pylori IgG titers and other factors. 

Men with ED had median Hp-IgG titers of 32.34 arbU/mL compared to a median of 20.88 arbU/mL among men without the condition. Serum folic acid levels in the ED group were less than half of those in the healthy group and vitamin B12 levels were also lower, while homocysteine levels were higher. Folic acid levels were found to be higher among men with moderate ED compared to those with severe ED, and were an independent risk factor for the condition.

“H. pylori infection might lead to decreased folic acid and B12 and then increased homocysteine, which might be a mechanism leading to ED,” the authors concluded. “H. pylori eradication or folic acid and B12 supplementation might have certain clinical value in the treatment of vascular ED.”

What’s on your plate? 60% of foods in America contain unhealthy additives

University of New South Wales & University of North Carolina, March 14, 2023

Troubling new research finds the majority of foods purchased by Americans (60%) contain any number of artificial additives such as preservatives, sweeteners, and coloring or flavoring agents. Even worse, these levels represent a 10-percent increase since 2001. The study makes a strong case that the prevalence of food additives is on the rise in a major way. For instance, the average amount of additives in food and beverage products added by manufacturers has increased significantly between 2001 (3.7) and 2019 (4.5).

Food additives are so ubiquitous in the first place thanks to their ability to extend various foods’ shelf lives and improve palatability. Despite this, the health consequences of consuming these substances are still woefully understudied and not clear. So, analyzing and better grasping the impact of food-additive exposure over time is a vital step in understanding its role in numerous negative health developments linked to their consumption, including increased bodyweight and negative changes to the gut microbiome.

“Our research clearly shows that the proportion of ultra-processed foods with additives in Americans’ shopping carts increased significantly between 2001 and 2019. We observed this trend across all food and additive categories,” notes lead investigator Elizabeth K. Dunford, PhD, from the University of New South Wales, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By 2019, over half of all packaged food and beverage products purchased by U.S. households contained at least three or more additives. Moreover, and perhaps most concerning of all, there was a 22-percent increase in baby food purchases that researchers consider ultra-processed or contained additives.

American consumers buy over 400,000 different packaged food and beverage products annually at grocery stores. New food goods and products are constantly landing on store shelves. More ultra-processed foods means that Americans are eating more sodium, sugar, and saturated fats.

This is the first ever study to assess what U.S. consumers are purchasing, as opposed to relying on reported food and beverage intake, in order to evaluate exposure to food additives in ultra-processed foods. Researchers analyzed the proportion of products purchased by U.S. households containing four common technical food additives: colors, flavors, preservatives, and non-nutritive sweeteners. 

The findings from this study could be used to inform policymakers on where American consumers are getting an increasing number of additives and how the packaged food supply is changing. The results can also set the foundation for future work in this area and provide direction for future researchers,” Dr. Dunford continues. “

Teach yourself everyday happiness with human imagery

Smartbrain Norway, February 26, 2023

Flashbacks of scenes from traumatic events often haunt those suffering from psychiatric conditions, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “The close relationship between the human imagery system and our emotions can cause deep emotional perturbations”, says Dr Svetla Velikova of Smartbrain in Norway. “Imagery techniques are often used in cognitive psychotherapy to help patients modify disturbing mental images and overcome negative emotions.” Velikova and her team set out to see if such techniques could become self-guided and developed at home, away from the therapist’s chair.

Healthy people are also emotionally affected by what we see and the images we remember. 

Velikova explains, “if we visually remember an image from an unpleasant interaction with our boss, this can cause an increased level of anxiety about our work and demotivation.” There is great interest in ways to combat such everyday negative emotional responses through imagery training. But she warns, “this is a challenging task and requires a flexible approach. Each day we face different problems and a therapist teaches us how to identify topics and strategies for imagery exercises.”

To find out if we can train ourselves to use imagery techniques and optimize our emotional state, Velikova and co-workers turned to 30 healthy volunteers. During a two-day workshop the volunteers learnt a series of imagery techniques. They learnt how to cope with negative emotions from past events through imagery transformation, how to use positive imagery for future events or goals, and techniques to improve social interactions and enhance their emotional balance in daily life. They then spent the next 12 weeks training themselves at home for 15-20 minutes a day, before attending another similar two-day workshop.

Velikova compared the results of participant psychological assessment and brain activity, or electroencephalographic (EEG), measurement, before and after the experiment. “The psychological testing showed that depressive symptoms were less prominent. The number of those with subthreshold depression, expressing depressive symptoms but not meeting the criteria for depression, was halved. Overall, volunteers were more satisfied with life and perceived themselves as more efficient” she explains.

She concludes, “this combination of EEG findingssuggests a possible increase in the activity of GABA (gamma -aminobutyric acid), well known for its anti-anxiety and antidepressant properties.” Velikova and co-workers’ results indicate that self-guided emotional imagery training has great potential to improve the everyday emotional wellbeing in healthy people. 

Vitamin A may reduce pancreatitis risk during ALL treatment

Stanford University & Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, March 15, 2023

Consuming a diet rich in vitamin A or its analogs may help prevent children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) reduce their risk of developing painful pancreas inflammation during chemotherapy treatment.

Details about this potential dietary solution to prevent a potentially life-threatening adverse event were published in Science Translational Medicine. The research team was led by Sohail Husain, MD, chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Stanford University and Anil Goud Jegga, DVM, MRes, a computational biologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

For people with ALL, treatment with the enzyme asparaginase helps starve cancer cells by reducing the amount of asparagine circulating in the blood, which the cancer cells need but cannot make themselves. The medication, often used in combination with other chemotherapies, is given via injection into a vein, muscle, or under the skin.

Jegga and colleagues developed predictive analytics using over 100 million data points encompassing gene expression data, small-molecule data, and electronic health records to understand more of the mechanisms driving asparaginase-associated pancreatitis (AAP) and identify potential interventions to prevent or mitigate AAP. They analyzed massive amounts of gene expression data to reveal that gene activity associated with asparaginase or pancreatitis might be reversed by retinoids (vitamin A and its analogs). 

Ultimately, the team found that only 1.4% of patients treated with asparaginase developed pancreatitis when they were also taking vitamin A in contrast to 3.4% of patients who did not. Concomitant use of vitamin A correlated with a 60% reduction in the risk of AAP. Lower amounts of dietary vitamin A correlated with increased risk and severity of AAP.

New research establishes how and why diets high in sugar and fat cause liver disease

University of Missouri School of Medicine, March 15, 2023

New research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine has established a link between western diets high in fat and sugar and the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the leading cause of chronic liver disease.

The research has identified the western diet-induced microbial and metabolic contributors to liver disease, advancing our understanding of the gut-liver axis, and in turn the development of dietary and microbial interventions for this global health threat.

“We’re just beginning to understand how food and gut microbiota interact to produce metabolites that contribute to the development of liver disease,” said co-principal investigator, Guangfu Li, Ph.D., DVM, associate professor in the department of surgery and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. “However, the specific bacteria and metabolites, as well as the underlying mechanisms were not well understood until now. This research is unlocking the how and why.”

The gut and liver have a close anatomical and functional connection via the portal vein. Unhealthy diets change the gut microbiota, resulting in the production of pathogenic factors that impact the liver. By feeding mice foods high in fat and sugar, the research team discovered that the mice developed a gut bacteria called Blautia producta and a lipid that caused liver inflammation and fibrosis. That, in turn, caused the mice to develop non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or fatty liver disease, with similar features to the human disease.

The study  was recently published in Nature Communications. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to the study.