VIDEOS:
The fight for water | DW Documentary
New study shows Rhodiola rosea root might be beneficial for managing type 2 diabetes
University of California at Irvine, August 15, 2022
A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that treatment with an extract from the roots of the Rhodiola rosea plant might be effective for helping manage type 2 diabetes, showing promise as a safe and effective non-pharmaceutical alternative. The ...
VIDEOS:
The fight for water | DW Documentary
New study shows Rhodiola rosea root might be beneficial for managing type 2 diabetes
University of California at Irvine, August 15, 2022
A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that treatment with an extract from the roots of the Rhodiola rosea plant might be effective for helping manage type 2 diabetes, showing promise as a safe and effective non-pharmaceutical alternative. The study, recently published online in Scientific Reports, found that in a mouse model of human type 2 diabetes, Rhodiola rosea lowered fasting blood sugar levels, improved response to insulin injections, modulated the composition of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and decreased several biomarkers of inflammation. The team utilized a genetically engineered mouse model that develops obesity, insulin resistance and high blood sugar, similar to advanced human type 2 diabetes, to test whether Rhodiola rosea could improve glucose homeostasis. In the study, cohorts of age-matched male and female mice were randomly assigned to one of two groups: control, which received water, or experimental, which received Rhodiola rosea extract.
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Meta-analysis concludes benefits for selenium supplementation in cognitively impaired individuals
Instituto de Pesquisa Pelé Pequeno Príncipe (Brazil), August 15 2022.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in Nutrients found that supplementing with selenium was associated with improved levels of the mineral and the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase, as well as better cognitive function among patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer disease (AD).
“For the first time, our study demonstrated, through a systematic review and meta-analysis, the possible benefits of selenium supplementation on selenium levels in patients with MCI or AD, as well as on markers of oxidative stress and on cognitive test performance,” Meire Ellen Pereira and colleagues wrote. Among studies that evaluated the effects of selenium without other nutrients, selenium measured in plasma, serum, red blood cells or cerebrospinal fluid increased among participants who received the mineral while remaining essentially the same or lower in the control groups. The meta-analysis determined that supplementing with selenium increased selenium levels by an average of 4 times in plasma, 1.88 times in serum, 3.73 times in red blood cells and 2.18 times in cerebrospinal fluid.
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Skip the elevator: A 15-minute walk can help your brain fight off Alzheimer’s
German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease, August 15 2022
Older people can stave off Alzheimer’s disease with a daily 15-minute walk or other physical activities, according to new research. Researchers in Germany say moderate physical activity boosts all areas of the brain, especially those involved in memory. Staying active also benefits people over 70 the most. They see the biggest increase in grey matter, compared to their “couch potato” peers. “Our study results indicate that even small behavioral changes, such as walking 15 minutes a day or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, may have a substantial positive effect on the brain and potentially counteract age-related loss of brain matter and the development of neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, older adults can already profit from modest increases of low intensity physical activity.”
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Antioxidants in fruit boosts immunity and protects thymus gland
Scripps Research Institute, August 8, 2022
Eating fruit and vegetables or taking antioxidant supplements may combat one of the most harmful aspects of aging by protecting a vital immune system organ, research suggests. Scientists demonstrated how ageing sabotaged the thymus gland, weakening the immune system and putting the elderly at greater risk of infection. But the irreversible damage could be reduced by the action of antioxidants such as vitamin C. Experiments showed that antioxidants – which are abundant in many fruits and vegetables – cut down the destruction wrought by a highly reactive by-product of normal metabolism. In studies on mice, animals given vitamin C and another antioxidant used in human medicine experienced significantly less age-related deterioration of the thymus. US lead scientist Dr Howard Petrie, from the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, said: “The thymus ages more rapidly than any other tissue in the body, diminishing the ability of older individuals to respond to new immunologic challenges, including evolving pathogens and vaccines. Its function is to manufacture T-cells, essential immune system cells in the front-line of the body’s defences against harmful foreign invaders and cancer.
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Modern Processed Diets Are Coding DNA and Gut Bacteria To Pass On Poor Immune Functions To Our Children
Yale University and Erlangen-Nuremberg University, August 6, 2022
A team of scientists from Yale University in the U.S and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany, has said that junk food diets could be partly to blame for the sharp increase in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, including alopecia, asthma and eczema. The new stark warnings come in a review published in Nutrition Journal, which analysed the impact that the modern Western diet has on immune function and risk of ill-health related to poor immunity and inflammation."While today's modern diet may provide beneficial protection from micro- and macronutrient deficiencies, our over abundance of calories and the macronutrients that compose our diet may all lead to increased inflammation, reduced control of infection, increased rates of cancer, and increased risk for allergic and auto-inflammatory disease," warned Myles in his review. Each person harbors a unique and varied collection of bacteria that's the result of life history as well as their interactions with the environment, diet and medication use. Western diet and lifestyles consisting of fast and processed foods are leading to a lower diversity of bacteria in the gut, say researchers. Of potentially greatest concern, our poor dietary behaviours are encoded into both our DNA scaffolding and gut microbiome, and thus these harmful immune modifications are passed to our offspring during their most critical developmental window.
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The aging heart accumulates mutations—while losing the ability to repair them
Children's Hospital Boston, August 12, 2022
Why does the risk of heart disease go up as we age? Known risk factors such as hypertension or high cholesterol don't explain all cases. A first-of-its-kind study from Boston Children's Hospital now shows that the cells that make up our heart muscle accumulate new genetic mutations over time—while losing the ability to repair them.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Aging.
The research team, led by Sangita Choudhury, Ph.D., and August Yue Huang, Ph.D., in the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children's, sequenced the entire genomes of 56 individual heart muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes, from 12 people across the age spectrum—from infancy to 82 years—who had died from causes unrelated to heart disease.
