Broccoli Reduces Your Risk of Four Major Diseases
University of Illinois, June 23, 2022
It's one of the most advantageous veggies you can eat, and love it or hate it, broccoli offers an array of health benefits. University of Illinois researchers have identified candidate genes controlling the accumulation of phenolic compounds in broccoli. Consumption of phenolic compounds, including certain flavonoids, is ass...
Broccoli Reduces Your Risk of Four Major Diseases
University of Illinois, June 23, 2022
It's one of the most advantageous veggies you can eat, and love it or hate it, broccoli offers an array of health benefits. University of Illinois researchers have identified candidate genes controlling the accumulation of phenolic compounds in broccoli. Consumption of phenolic compounds, including certain flavonoids, is associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, asthma, and cancer.
Sulforaphane in broccoli can also help to prevent or slow the progress of one of the most common forms of arthritis. Scientists have also discovered that broccoli protects the skin against the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. Many studies have shown that a diet rich in vegetables -- particularly brassica vegetables such as broccoli -- is linked to decreased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The researchers crossed two broccoli lines and tested their progeny in terms of total phenolic content and their ability to neutralize oxygen radicals in cellular assays. They then used a genetic technique called quantitative trait locus analysis to search for the genes involved in generating phenolics in the most promising progeny.
By identifying the genes involved in accumulating these compounds, the researchers are one step closer to breeding broccoli and related Brassica vegetables like kale and cabbage with mega-doses of phenolic compounds.
The good news is that phenolic compounds are flavorless and stable, meaning the vegetables can be cooked without losing health-promoting qualities.
Once these vegetables are consumed, the phenolic compounds are absorbed and targeted to certain areas of the body or concentrated in the liver. Flavonoids spread through the bloodstream, reducing inflammation through their antioxidant activity.
"These are things we can't make ourselves, so we have to get them from our diets," Juvik says. "The compounds don't stick around forever, so we need to eat broccoli or some other Brassica vegetable every three or four days to lower the risk of cancers and other degenerative diseases."
Can Chronic Cellphone Use Hinder your Infant’s Development?
Environmental Health Trust, June 23, 2022
The two most important communicative mechanisms a newborn innately has to navigate his world are eye gaze and crying. From birth, newborns are constantly developing speech, language and communication skills with every response they command from their caregiver. As early as 5 days old, an infant can tailor his cries to reflect hunger, wetness, or discomfort as well as differentiate between mother and caregiver. Additionally, very early on newborns and infants develop prelinguistic skills: eye gaze (signaling a cue for communication) and joint attention – the ability of an infant to rest his or her gaze on a object at the same time the caregiver is looking at the same object. It is speculated that eye gaze between baby and mother is one of the most important prelinguistic skills to occur before verbal communication develops.
However, excessive cell phone usage can work to hinder the communicative rhythm and bonding experience that new mothers and infants work to establish, especially within the first six months. Communicative cues can be easily missed and trying to decode differences in newborn cries (hunger vs wet diaper) can become very difficult. As it is so important for new mothers to pay attention to different cries, constant distraction from a cell phone can alter the way the other perceives the cry, thus making it more difficult to decode.
Infants are so intuitive early on, that even the slightest delay in response to a coo or a cry can alter the way they perceive their world. Additionally, if a mother is perusing high-emotion content that is so pertinent in Facebook and social media, the overflow of emotion may inadequately color her response to the infant.
Breastfeeding can also be affected by a constant need to search the web or pursue Facebook, taking away from a significant bonding period for mother and baby, according to Erin Odom.
Physically, the mother may be present but mentally they are “somewhere else”. Many mothers use the cellphone to pass the time during the long nursing/feeding sessions of early infancy. However, infants are highly communicative during feeding, and texting and social media, when so engrossing, can distract a mother from the needs of the infant.
Chronic cell phone usage such as texting and social media usage could absolutely hinder infant development as a result of missed cues on the part of the mother.
The early months of a newborn who continuously has to wait for mother while looking at the cellphone before responding, to cry initiation for communication or other cues, the brain’s connections will actually reorganize around this delay, later dampening the development of instinctual communication between mother and infant.
Yoga And Meditation Could Potentially Reverse The Genetic Effects Of Stress
Coventry University (UK), Antwerp University (Belgium), Radboud University (Netherlands), June 21, 2022
A review of multiple studies focusing on the effects of mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation has found that these efforts may have the potential to reverse genetic expressions of stress.
As the analysis, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, explains:
While some MBIs, such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong, have a strong physical component, others like meditation and mindfulness, breath regulation techniques, and the relaxation response (RR) are mainly sedentary. Despite the variability in these techniques, they all seem to produce various psychological benefits on healthy and clinical populations, such as the reduction of perceived stress , the alleviation of depression, decreases in anxiety, or to help in coping with a chronic medical disease. However, it is less clear what are the mechanisms underpinning the self-reported benefits of MBIs.
Noting that there is some speculation that “MBIs increase gray matter in the brain regions related to emotion regulation, learning, memory, self-referential processes, and perspective taking,” they acknowledged the evidence is not conclusive and set out to delve deeper into the genetic expressions of stress and how MBIs may affect them.
The review analyzed 18 studies “that used gene expression analysis in research on meditation and related MBIs [mind-body interventions].” Ultimately, they found that “meditation and related MBIs [were associated with] downregulation of NF-κB-targeted genes, which can be understood as the reversal of the molecular signature of the effects of chronic stress.”h useful information unless the relationship between gene expression and psychological variables is directly explored.”
Curcumin-piperine combo may support heart health for diabetics: Study
Baqiyatallah University of Medical Science (Iran), June 25, 2022
A combination supplement containing curcuminoids plus piperine from black pepper may support heart health for diabetics by improving the levels and functionality of cholesterol, says a new study.
The combination reduced total cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol levels, and improved levels of Lp(a) [Lipoprotein(a)], a structural component of LDL.
“Although elevated Lp(a) has been considered as an important risk factor for premature atherosclerotic CVD for quite a long time independently of LDL-C and non-HDL-C levels, until very recently, the possibilities of influencing Lp(a) were extremely limited,” wrote scientists from Iran, Croatia and the USA in Complementary Therapies in Medicine .
“Hence, this finding that curcuminoids as naturally occurring dietary supplements can decrease elevated Lp(a) in patients with [type 2 diabetes] is very important since such supplements are becoming more and more popular and attractive to the patients.”
On the other hand, the curcumin-piperine combination significantly increased HDL levels by 1.56 mg/dL, compared to only 0.2 mg/dL in the placebo group.
Parkinson's is partly an autoimmune disease, study finds
Columbia University, June 21, 2022
Researchers have found direct evidence that autoimmunity—in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissues—plays a role in Parkinson's disease, the neurodegenerative movement disorder. The findings raise the possibility that the death of neurons in Parkinson's could be prevented by therapies that dampen the immune response.
The study, led by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, was published in Nature.
"The idea that a malfunctioning immune system contributes to Parkinson's dates back almost 100 years," said study co-leader David Sulzer, PhD, professor of neurobiology (in psychiatry, neurology and pharmacology) at CUMC. "But until now, no one has been able to connect the dots. Our findings show that two fragments of alpha-synuclein, a protein that accumulates in the brain cells of people with Parkinson's, can activate the T cells involved in autoimmune attacks.
"These findings, however, could provide a much-needed diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease, and could help us to identify individuals at risk or in the early stages of the disease."
Scientists once thought that neurons were protected from autoimmune attacks. However, in a 2014 study, Dr. Sulzer's lab demonstrated that dopamine neurons (those affected by Parkinson's disease) are vulnerable because they have proteins on the cell surface that help the immune system recognize foreign substances. As a result, they concluded, T cells had the potential to mistake neurons damaged by Parkinson's disease for foreign invaders.
The new study found that T cells can be tricked into thinking dopamine neurons are foreign by the buildup of damaged alpha-synuclein proteins, a key feature of Parkinson's disease. "In most cases of Parkinson's, dopamine neurons become filled with structures called Lewy bodies, which are primarily composed of a misfolded form of alpha-synuclein," said Dr. Sulzer.
Vegetarian diets produce fewer greenhouse gases and increase longevity, say new studies
Loma Linda Health University, June 25, 2022
Consuming a plant-based diet results in a more sustainable environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, while improving longevity, according to new research from Loma Linda University Health.
Based on findings that identified food systems as a significant contributor to global warming, the study focuses on the dietary patterns of vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and non-vegetarians to quantify and compare greenhouse gas emissions, as well as assess total mortality.
The mortality rate for non-vegetarians was almost 20 percent higher than that for vegetarians and semi-vegetarians. On top of lower mortality rates, switching from non-vegetarian diets to vegetarian diets or even semi-vegetarian diets also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The vegetarian diets resulted in almost a third less emissions compared to the non-vegetarian diets. Modifying the consumption of animal-based foods can therefore be a feasible and effective tool for climate change mitigation and public health improvements, the study concluded.
"The takeaway message is that relatively small reductions in the consumption of animal products result in non-trivial environmental benefits and health benefits," said Sam Soret, Ph.D., MPH, associate dean at Loma Linda University School of Public Health and co-author of the studies.
"The study analyzed more than 73,000 participants. The level of detail we have on food consumption and health outcomes at the individual level makes these findings unprecedented,” Soret said.
