Gary‘s Daily Health News - Vol. 13

Nutrients Help Protect Against HPV

Louisiana State University, August 30, 2021

 

New research suggests your diet might help prevent serious health problems from the common infection.

Human Papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection.“If you've had three sexual partners in your life, you have gotten an HPV infection. It's that prevalent,” said Dr. Michael Hagensee, an infectious disease expert and microbiologist at LSU Health Sciences Center.

In most people, around 80 to 90 percent, HPV is harmless. Your body clears it in a year or two, but some people can't. And certain types of HPV can lead to genital warts or cancer. Those cancers are of the penis, vagina, vulva, cervix, anus and oral cancers of the throat and tongue.

“Oral cancer is the most concerning, because that's been rising in incidence over the last 10-to-20 years, probably related to our sexual practices,” Dr. Hagensee explained.

There are usually no outward signs or symptoms of HPV infection, nor is there treatment to get rid of the virus. That's why regular pap smears and genital exams are so important. Caught early, precancerous lesions are treatable. But there are no similar oral screenings for infection. 

Both Dr. Michael Hagensee and Dr. Hui-Yi Lin, at LSU Health Sciences Center, study HPV infection.

“Around like 20 percent of U.S. women have been infected with the high risk HPV. That means they are in the high risk group for developing cervical cancers,” said Dr. Hui-Yi Lin, in Biostatistics at LSUHSC.

And Dr. Lin's latest research also uncovered that women with HPV that lingers in their bodies, have lower levels of four antioxidants – vitamins A, B2, E, and folate as well as the blood protein, albumin.

“It is affected by the protein intake, the protein we eat,” Dr. Lin said of albumin levels.

So foods with protein: nuts eggs, dairy, meats, along with and fruits and vegetables, and a multivitamin may help. It might be that those good dietary choices make your immune system better able to get rid of the virus.

“What a great way to maybe help prevent cervical cancer, by just having changes in your diet. And these are changes in your diet you should probably have anyway,” Dr. Hagensee said..

 

1 in 5 parents say kids eat fast food more often since pandemic

University of Michigan, September 21, 2021

For some families, pandemic times have meant increased screen time, attending class from bedrooms and maybe even more dinners from a drive through.

While many parents say their family has eaten healthier since the start of the pandemic, one in five report their children ate fast food more often, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

“The pandemic disrupted many family routines, including where and what they eat,” said Gary L. Freed, M.D., M.P.H., poll co-director and Mott pediatrician.

“We know families’ lifestyles can impact children’s diets, and we looked to see how the pandemic may have changed their eating habits.”

Around one in six parents say their child eats fast food at least twice a week, reports the nationally representative poll, which is based responses from 2,019 parents of children aged 3-18.

Families’ views on fast food consumption varied based on parents’ perceptions of their child’s weight.

Parents who said their kids are overweight were almost twice as likely to say their children have fast food at least twice a week, compared to those who say their kids are at a normal weight.

Parents also identified some barriers to home cooked meals. Around 40% of parents reported being too busy to cook and one in five said they were too stressed. These challenges were also reported more commonly among parents with kids who were overweight.

Views on Fast Food

While almost all parents agree that fast food is unhealthy for their children, more than four in five feel it’s OK in moderation, according to the poll. Three-quarters of parents also agree with the statement that when stressed for time, fast food is a good family option.

A third of parents also say that fast food is good value for the money and 24% feel it is less expensive than making meals at home.

“Parents mostly acknowledge that fast food isn’t an ideal choice but see it as an acceptable ‘sometimes food,’” Freed said.

But parents don’t usually dictate their kids’ food choices at fast food restaurants, with 88% allowing their child to choose what they eat and only 1 in 3 parents reading the nutritional information.

Sixty-seven percent of parents, however, say they encourage their child to choose healthier options and try to limit unhealthy items like fries and milkshakes.

“One fast food meal often exceeds the recommended fat, sodium and calorie intake for the entire day without providing many nutrients,” Freed said. “Parents should consider using nutritional information to help their kids learn how to make healthier choices. Trying to make those meals even a little bit healthier can have an important impact.”

Among the least healthy items on the menu are soft drinks and soda, which often contain the single largest source of calories for many fast food meals and have also been associated with childhood obesity.

Parents who said their children were overweight were almost twice as likely to report their child has a soft drink with their fast food compared to other families.

“Consuming sugary drinks poses a real health risk to both kids and adults,” Freed said. “It increases children’s risk of excess weight gain and tooth decay, and preventable conditions such as obesity.”

Encouraging water or milk with their fast food, he said, can help kids moderate the calories and added sugar they consume.

Silver Linings in Pandemic Health Habits

On the other end of the spectrum, the pandemic-era may have been linked to a healthier lifestyle for many families, with half of parents saying their kids had home-cooked meals more often since the COVID shutdowns began in March 2020.

Freed pointed to several contributing factors, including more parents working from home with potentially increased opportunities to make meals, or families possibly feeling unsafe at restaurants.

Financial concerns may have also prompted some families to have more home-cooked meals, allowing parents to shop for bargains and plan additional meals with the leftovers.

This may not be the case, however, for others who don’t have a car or who live far from a grocery store.

“We were encouraged to see that for many families, pandemic-related lifestyle changes seemed to actually prompt healthier eating habits,” Freed said.

“But for others, there were challenges and demands that may have made it difficult to maintain healthy eating, which can negatively impact children’s health.”

 

 

How rosemary essential oil can improve memory by 75 percent

Northumbria University (UK),  September 17, 2021

In a British study, researchers found that sniffing the essential oil of rosemary improved memory by a remarkable 75 percent – making it a possible treatment for memory problems.

The study, conducted by psychologists at Northumbria University in Newcastle, involved 66 people. Some were exposed to a rosemary-scented room, in which four drops of essential oil had been placed on an aroma stream diffuser and switched on for five minutes before the participants entered the room. Another group worked in an unscented room.

The psychologists found that the participants in the rosemary-scented room performed between 60 and 75 percent better on assorted memory tasks and on performing simple arithmetic when compared to the control group – an impressive result. As part of the study, researchers took blood samples to detect levels of 1,8-cineole – the constituent in rosemary linked with improving memory function. Participants in the rosemary room had higher levels of cineole – demonstrating that the compound can enter the bloodstream by way of inhalation.

In their findings, which were presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychology Society in Harrogate, the team concluded that rosemary could have implications for treating memory impairments, especially in older adults who are experiencing some decline. Rosemary seems to be particularly helpful in promoting “prospective memory” – helping people to remember future events such as appointments or medication schedules.

So powerful was rosemary that lead researcher Dr. Mark Moss, head of psychology at Northumbria University, likened its effect to that of a drug.

In an earlier study, published in 2003 in International Journal of Neuroscience, researchers examined the effects of rosemary and lavender and found that rosemary produced significant enhancements in performance for overall quality of memory.  Interestingly, lavender oil was actually a deterrent to memory – probably because of its mildly sedating effects. While lavender helped people to feel more “content,” when compared to placebo, rosemary helped people feel simultaneously more content and more alert.

In a study of aromatherapy published in Psychogeriatrics, researchers examined the effects of rosemary and lemon administered in the morning – and lavender and orange in the evening – on patients with dementia. The team found that patients experienced significant improvement in personal orientation – with no side effects.

 

Lack of trust exacerbates loneliness spiral

University of Bonn (Germany) & University of Haifa (Israel), September 21, 2021

Loneliness is a painful feeling. If it persists, it can lead to mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn, Haifa (Israel) and Oldenburg have now discovered how loneliness is associated with reduced trust. This is reflected in changes in the activity and interaction of various brain structures, especially the insular cortex. The results therefore provide clues for therapeutic options. They are now published in the journal Advanced Science.

Everyone knows what loneliness feels like. Behind this feeling is the perceived discrepancy of the need for social relationships not being met to the desired degree. As with hunger that wants to be satisfied, feelings of loneliness can also provide the motivation to connect with other people. However, some people are affected by persistent loneliness. Such cases can increase the risk of developing a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety disorders. "One reason for this keenly felt loneliness may be a lack of trust in fellow human beings," says Dr. Dirk Scheele from the Research Section Medical Psychology at Bonn University Hospital, referring to initial study evidence.

Together with Prof. Dr. Simone G. Shamay-Tsoory from the University of Haifa (Israel) and Prof. Dr. Dr. René Hurlemann from the University of Oldenburg, Dr. Scheele's team therefore investigated the relationship between trust and loneliness in more detail. Using an online questionnaire, the researchers selected 42 people from 3678 adults who were affected by severe loneliness but did not suffer from a mental illness or were receiving psychotherapy. The control group consisted of 40 people who did not suffer from persistent loneliness. "It was important to us that our findings could be attributed to the loneliness experienced and that any influence of mental illness could be ruled out as far as possible," explains lead author Jana Lieberz from Scheele's team.

In the brain scanner: How great is the willingness to share?

Participants first completed tasks in the brain scanner. Among other things, they played a trust game. Here they were given ten euros in start-up capital. Based on portrait photos displayed on a screen, they were asked to decide how much of the money they were willing to share with each of the people shown. They knew that making a profit beyond their start-up capital was only possible if they shared their start-up capital with others. At the same time, however, they had to trust that their gambling partners would not keep the money they had staked for themselves. "Participants with pronounced feelings of loneliness shared less with others than the control group," Scheele explains. "We interpret that as a lower level of trust."

The researchers also found processing deviations in brain areas involved in trust formation compared to the control group. This was particularly evident in the anterior insular cortex, which was less active in lonely individuals and did not connect as prominently with other brain areas. "An important function of the insular cortex is to perceive and interpret one's own body signals, such as the heartbeat," Lieberz says. "It also helps to correctly interpret other people's reactions, such as facial expressions or mood - or trustworthiness."

After the trust game, the experimenters also simulated a standardized conversation situation with the respective participant, which dealt with emotionally positive content: What would you do with a lottery win? What are your hobbies? Afterwards, the team asked the participants about their mood. The researchers also collected blood and saliva samples to examine, among other things, an increase in the bonding hormone oxytocin in response to the conversation and measured the distance in centimeters that the subjects maintained from the experimenter.

It was found that those affected by severe loneliness were in a less positive mood after small talk than the control group. Levels of the bonding hormone oxytocin also changed less. Furthermore, lonely people maintained a spatial distance from the experimenter that was about ten centimeters greater than that of those hardly affected by loneliness. "Overall, the results show across tasks that chronic loneliness is associated with reduced trust in fellow human beings," says Scheele, summarizing the most important finding. "This can mean that interactions with others are experienced as less positive, which makes it harder to connect with others and exacerbates the loneliness spiral."

Starting points for therapies

The research team also sees these findings as starting points for interventions. "The reduced trust of lonely people could be given greater focus in therapies by making it a topic of discussion and thus making those affected aware of it," Lieberz adds. It would then also be possible to look at strategies on how affected individuals can strengthen their trust in other people. In a study currently underway at Bonn University Hospital, the researchers, together with colleagues from Haifa and Oldenburg, are investigating whether psychotherapeutic group interventions can reduce these negative mental biases.

 

 

Socializing Gives Older Adults a Cognitive Boost

Penn State University, September 21, 2021

When adults age 70 to 90 report more frequent, pleasant social interactions, they also have better cognitive performance on that day and the following two, research finds

The findings, published in PLOS ONE, may have special relevance now due to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, says study leader Ruixue Zhaoyang, assistant research professor at Penn State’s Center for Healthy Aging.

“Our study is one of the first to show that whether you have social interactions on one day can immediately affect your cognitive performance that same day and also on the following days,” Zhaoyang says. “The fact that we found that the cognitive benefits of having pleasant social interactions could manifest over such a short time period was a happy surprise and could be a promising area for future intervention studies.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than six million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is expected to rise to almost 13 million by 2050. Additionally, deaths from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have risen by 16% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhaoyang says that without reliable drug therapies, it’s critical to find ways to help prevent these conditions before they reach the clinical stage.

“Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias impose substantial burdens on patients as well as their family and caregivers,” Zhaoyang says. “It’s important to find modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline before they progress to the clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Social isolation later in life is one risk factor for dementia, and also one we have some control over.”

The researchers used data collected by smartphones over 16 days on 312 older adults for the study. The participants were prompted five times throughout the day to report how many social interactions they’d had, with whom they interacted, and whether it was a positive or negative experience. Digital interactions like talking by phone or texting counted, as did in-person ones.

In addition, participants completed three mobile cognitive tests after each check-in. One was designed to measure processing speed and attention, one measured spatial working memory, and the last measured intra-item feature memory binding.

The researchers found that when older adults interacted more frequently with people they were close to—especially their friends—they performed better on these cognitive tests than those who interacted less frequently with close partners.

They also found that when older adults weren’t typically experiencing certain types of social contact, they performed better cognitively on days when they had the type of contact they’d been lacking. For example, if a person usually didn’t have much contact with family, they experienced a boost in cognition on days they had more than usual contact with their family.

Zhaoyang says that while the study suggests that a lack of socializing can have negative effects on cognition, it also shows an opportunity for future interventions.

“Our findings suggest that the lack of positive social interactions in daily life could be a critical risk factor for declining cognitive function later in life,” Zhaoyang says. “Older adults who are relatively more deprived in certain social interaction experiences could potentially benefit the most from interventions that help to ‘boost’ their usual levels of social interactions in daily life.”

 

Study shows chilli & ginger cancer-battling properties

American Chemical Society, September 16, 2021

 

Consuming gingerol and capsaicin together could combat cancer, with gingerol counteracting capsaicin’s carcinogenic effects, according to a new study on mice.

 

Researchers hypothesised that the long-term effects of gingerol and capsaicin, the main pungent and spicy compounds in ginger and chilli peppers respectively, on the TRPV1 receptor were the cause of their pro-carcinogenic or anti-carcinogenic properties.

 

Over 20 weeks they injected mice with urethane, known to cause adenocarcinoma, a lung cancer – then fed rats capsaicin in olive oil, gingerol in olive oil, capsaicin and gingerol in olive oil, or just olive oil on its own as a control. Mice received 50mg/kg body weight of capsaicin or gingerol. While the control group saw a 70% incidence of carcinoma, the capsaicin-only group had a 100% incident rate, and the gingerol-only group had a 50% carcinoma rate.

 

Combination cuts cancer rate

 

However the group receiving gingerol and capsaicin together had only a 20% incident rate of carcinoma.

 

“Our results suggested that the combination of gingerol and capsaicin not only reduced the risk of capsaicin carcinogenesis but also synergistically prevented urethane-induced lung carcinogenesis,” wrote the authors of the study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. “This finding opens a new avenue for to counteract the capsaicin-related adverse health factors due to consumption of chili and represents a novel strategy in cancer chemoprevention.”

 

Both capsaicin and gingerol act on the TRPV1 receptor, and capsaicin has been linked to higher incidence of cancers, particularly stomach cancer.

 

“6-Gingerol […] is the predominant pungent constituent of fresh ginger and is also an agonist of TRPV1, and 6-gingerol has received much attention regarding cancer prevention but has never been reported to be carcinogenic,” noted the authors.

 

“Those [explanations] of how both capsaicin and 6-gingerol are agonists of TRPV1 but have opposite effects on cancer activities remains unclear,” they added.

 

Gingerol corrects signalling, cuts inflammation

 

Following their study, the researchers came to three main conclusions: first, and unexpectedly, the capsaicin-gingerol combination can reverse the cancer-promoting effects of capsaicin, “suggesting a corrective role of gingerol in malfunctioning molecules along the disrupted signal transduction pathway during carcinogenesis”.

 

They also showed gingerol reversed the pro-inflammatory and oxidative stress-promoting effect of capsaicin during lung carcinogenesis.

 

“Finally, we showed that gingerol reversed the efficacy of capsaicin in the lung protein levels of TRPV1, EGFR, NF-κB and cyclin D1, and also reversed the pro-proliferation and EMT-promoting effects of capsaicin during lung carcinogenesis, indicating the major carcinogenic effect of capsaicin and anti-carcinogenic effect of gingerol,” the authors wrote.