A drug administered through a nasal spray may be an alternative treatment option for patients with obstructive sleep apnea by improving upper airway collapsibility, according to a study published in CHEST.
This is the first time the drug, a novel, potent, TWIK-related acid sensitive K+ (TASK) 1/3 channel antagonist, was studied in humans.
“Although a small study, our findings represent the first detailed investigation of this new treatment in people with OSA, with promising results,” Amal M. Osman, PhD, of Flinders University’s sleep lab FHMRI: Sleep Health, said in a press release. “The drug we tested is designed to target specific receptors that are expressed on the surface of the upper airways, triggering them more easily to activate the surrounding muscles to keep the airway open during sleep. While there’s still a long way to go in terms of clinical testing and development, our study shows targeting these receptors may be a promising avenue for future treatments.”
In a double-blind, randomized, crossover study, Osman and colleagues studied 12 patients (50% women; median age, 57 years) with obstructive sleep apnea to find out if BAY2586116 (Bayer), a TASK 1/3 K+ channel antagonist, could help airways stay open during sleep.
For two overnight physiology studies, researchers randomly gave patients either 160 µg of BAY2586116 or a placebo nasal spray. After these two nights, the participants could also take part in three more overnight studies in which they all received BAY2586116 but through a different application method each night, including BAY2586116 nasal drops (n = 10), half-dose nasal spray (n = 10) or direct application using an endoscope (n = 8).
Various tools, including polysomnography equipment, an epiglottic pressure catheter, pneumotachograph and a nasal mask, were used to track patients’ sleeping and breathing patterns over the course of receiving the drug.
Measuring for upper airway critical closing pressure during sleep, researchers found a mean value of 2.1 ± 1.8 cmH2O (range, –0.16 to 5 cmH2O) among patients who received the placebo nasal spray. However, the BAY2586116 spray lowered the upper airway critical closing pressure to 0.1 ± 4.4 cmH2O (range, –5.7 to 9.7 cmH2O).
Additionally, researchers found that all applications and doses of BAY2586116 that they tested lowered and improved the critical closing pressure among patients, with nasal drops at 0.9 ± 2.6 cmH2O, the half-dose spray at 0 ± 2.2 cmH2O and endoscope application at 0.4 ± 3.3 cmH2O.
Although approximately 60% of patients had a greater than 2 cmH20 improvement with the nasal spray method compared with only 20% of patients using the nasal drop method, results of a mixed model showed no systemic differences between the different modes of application and dose.
When CPAP had transient reduction to atmospheric pressure, 82% of 11 patients had no flow for breaths 3 to 5 during treatment with placebo, but the average peak inspiratory flow responses increased when BAY2586116 high-dose spray and endoscope were used.
“At the moment, there are no approved drug treatments for OSA,” Danny J. Eckert, PhD, director of the Flinders’ sleep lab FHMRI: Sleep Health, said in the release. “However, with advances in our understanding of the different reasons people get OSA, the potential for effective new medications is growing stronger each year.”
We’re surrounded by electromagnetic waves and other forms of energy that we can’t consciously detect. For example, we only know Wi-Fi is present in our environment because we see our devices connect to it, not because we can physically sense it.
Without realizing it, we may also be sensing a type of energy related to people’s thoughts and emotions, says psychiatrist Dr. Bernard Beitman. Our bodies may have receptors to pick up on this energy, he says. He looks at studies of the brain and of energy emitted by living beings to hypothesize about the physical nature of “vibes.”
Beitman is a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and former chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He attended Yale Medical School and completed his psychiatric residency at Stanford. He has felt at times that he is able to sense his patients’ states of mind with an accuracy beyond what his conscious observations could tell him. He wonders about the nature of these vibes.
It’s an experience many people can relate to. Have you ever sensed a vibe from someone you’ve just met that doesn’t seem to fit with the impression you should have, based on that person’s appearance, demeanor, and actions?
Is it that something in the person’s manner or gestures is perceptible only on a subconscious level? Or is it that the person is emitting an energy you can sense, similar to the way your nose would sense a smell in the air? Can you sniff out a person’s personality?
Single-celled organisms “respond to chemical, light, and electromagnetic radiation in order to maintain optimal states,” writes Dr. Beitman in a paper he sent to The Epoch Times. Similarly, he added, “our skin may contain sensors for subtle forms of energy and information.”
Plants and animals are thought to emit and perceive energy we cannot.
Sharks have sensors in their skin that detect slight electromagnetic changes in the water. Birds may be able to sense the Earth’s electromagnetic field to help them navigate. The electromagnetic explanation of a bird’s navigation has not been definitively verified; another theory holds that migratory birds use a complex sense of smell to catch the faint scent of home.
A study on biophoton emissions or “auras” has shown that plants seem to emit and perceive energy from each other—and it is possible that they communicate via this emitted energy.
Dr. Gary Schwartz and Dr. Katherine Creath published a study in the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine in 2006 titled: “Imaging ‘Auras’ Around and Between Plants: A New Application of Biophoton Imaging.” The topic of auras has been a controversial one, especially when auras are said to be physical evidence of the human soul.
Dr. Schwartz received his doctorate from Harvard, taught psychiatry and psychology at Yale, and is now a professor at the University of Arizona. Dr. Creath is an adjunct professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona.
Schwartz and Creath write: “As we studied the thousands of images we recorded over the past two years, we began to observe there were also patterns in the ‘noise’ surrounding the plant parts. It appeared that not only did the biophoton patterns extend beyond the plants but also that patterns were strengthened between plants when they were in close proximity. Could these patterns represent ‘auras’ surrounding plant parts, and were the plants expressing some kind of communication or resonance?”
They later answer in the affirmative: “The complexity of [biophoton] patterns imaged between the plant parts suggests that there is potential ‘resonance’ if not ‘communication’ between the plants, as predicted by contemporary biophoton theory.”
Beitman encourages further investigation into the possibility that humans communicate similarly via energy. He knows there could be some hesitancy in the scientific community to conduct such studies, saying: “In our current world, it must be measurable before it becomes ‘real’ or accepted.” And it may be difficult to measure this energy.
Observing his patients, Beitman has realized that their attitudes toward the medications he prescribes seem to influence how the receptors in their brains receive the molecules of the medication.
“How each of us thinks about the medication seems to influence how our receptors function,” he writes. “Perhaps our intentions and expectations can also mold new receptors or change the sensitivity of existing ones.”
Bee’s sweet contribution to humans has been found in art throughout the ages
One of modern medicine’s most celebrated ‘miracle drugs’ are steroids, but a double-blind, randomized clinical trial found that honey plus coffee outperformed prednisolone in treating symptoms of post-infectious, persistent cough.
A remarkable study looking at natural alternatives to medications found that compared to a systemic steroid, a combination of honey and coffee was superior in reducing symptoms associated with a post-infectious cough (PPC).
PPC is a cough that remains after a common cold or an upper respiratory tract infection for more than three weeks, and in some cases as long as several months. Conventional treatment may involve any number of powerful drugs, many of which have serious side effects, including codeine and dextromethorphan (so-called centrally acting antitussives), antihistamines, narcotics, and bronchodilators.
The study, published in Primary Care Respiratory Journal, was conducted by researchers at Baqiyatallah University Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2008 to 2011. 97 patients who had experienced PPC for more than three weeks were randomized in double-blinded fashion into three groups:
The researchers described the patient treatment protocol as follows:
“The participants were told to dissolve a specified amount of their product in warm water and to drink the solution every eight hours for one week. All the participants were evaluated before treatment and one week after completion of treatment to measure the severity of their cough. The main outcome measure was the mean cough frequency before and after one week’s treatment calculated by a validated visual analogue cough questionnaire score.”
The results of the study are summarized in the following table:
As you can see by the table above, the honey-coffee group saw their degree of cough frequency decrease from 2.9 before treatment to .2 after treatment, whereas the prednisolone group decreased only from 3.0 before treatment to 2.4 after treatment.
They detailed are as follows:
“RESULTS: There were 97 adult patients (55 men) enrolled in this study with the mean of age of 40.1 years. The mean (+/- SD) cough scores pre- and post-treatment were: HC group 2.9 (0.3) pre-treatment and 0.2 (0.5) post-treatment (p < 0.001); steroid (‘S’) group 3.0 (0.0) pre-treatment and 2.4 (0.6) post-treatment (p < 0.05); control (‘C’) group 2.8 (0.4) pre-treatment and 2.7 (0.5) post-treatment (p > 0.05). Analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the mean cough frequency before and after treatment in the HC group versus the S group (p< 0.001). Honey plus coffee was found to be the most effective treatment modality for PPC. “[emphasis added]
The researchers reflected on the implications of their findings:
“Each year, billions of dollars are spent on controlling and trying to cure cough while the real effect of cough medicines is not quite reliable.1,45 Even though PPC is reported to account for only 11–25% of all cases of chronic cough8 and it is not associated with disability and mortality, it can cause morbidity and is responsible for medical costs…13
Honey and coffee are natural edible substances that are safe, agreeable, less expensive than medicines, and easily available. Moreover, they have proved to be effective in a short period of time.”
Prednisone is a semi-synthetic hormone with a broad range of side effects, some of which are life threatening. Given the relative safety and superior effectiveness of honey plus coffee versus prednisolone, this study adds to a growing body of biomedical research indicating that natural substances, including spices, vitamins and foods, are often superior in efficacy to synthetic drugs while often maintaining far higher levels of safety relative to them.
Postmenopausal women with 1 to 3 positive nodes and a recurrence score of ≤25 can avoid adjuvant chemotherapy without negative impact on invasive disease-free survival.
The prior TAILORx trial (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Jul 2018 and N Engl J Med 2018; 379:111) showed that 21-gene recurrence score (RS) intermediate results (11–25) could be used to identify patients with estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive, node-negative breast cancer who could avoid adjuvant chemotherapy without any detrimental impact on outcome. Now, to provide similar guidance for patients with ER-positive, node-positive disease, investigators conducted a prospective, multicenter, randomized trial (RxPONDER), sponsored by the National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program.
The trial involved 5018 women (67% postmenopausal) from 632 sites in nine countries with ER-positive and HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer with 1 to 3 involved axillary lymph nodes and an RS of ≤25. Participants were assigned to endocrine therapy with or without chemotherapy. Stratification factors included RS (0–13 or 14–25), menopausal status, and type of axillary surgery (sentinel-node biopsy or axillary lymph-node dissection).
Results at a median follow-up of 5 years were as follows:
The RxPONDER trial showed that postmenopausal women with ER-positive and HER2-negative, early-stage breast cancer with 1 to 3 involved axillary lymph nodes and an RS of ≤25 achieved similar outcomes with adjuvant endocrine therapy with or without chemotherapy. However, premenopausal women can continue to derive clinically meaningful benefit from the addition of chemotherapy to adjuvant endocrine therapy.
Source: NEJM
Summary: A new blood test can detect the GFAP protein at elevated levels in blood samples up to ten years before symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are first noticeable in those with an inherited form of the neurodegenerative disorder.
Source: Karolinska Institute
Alzheimer’s disease begins decades before the onset of any symptoms, such as memory loss. Consequently, early diagnosis increases the chances of slowing the disease down with drugs.
A new study on an inherited form of the disease shows that a protein called GFAP is a possible biomarker for very early stages of the disease.
The study, conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Brain, could one day lead to an earlier detection of this serious and common disease.
“Our results suggest that GFAP, a presumed biomarker for activated immune cells in the brain, reflects changes in the brain due to Alzheimer’s disease that occur before the accumulation of tau protein and measurable neuronal damage,” says the study’s first author Charlotte Johansson, doctoral student at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
“In the future it could be used as a non-invasive biomarker for the early activation of immune cells such as astrocytes in the central nervous system, which can be valuable to the development of new drugs and to the diagnostics of cognitive diseases.”
Alzheimer’s disease causes 60 to 70% of all dementia cases, according to the Swedish Brain Foundation. In Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells in the brain degenerate as a result of the abnormal accumulation of the proteins beta-amyloid and tau. As more brain neurons become damaged, this manifests in dysfunction of cognitive functions such as memory and speech.
The disease progresses insidiously and biological changes in the brain begin already 20 to 25 years before memory loss and other cognitive symptoms become evident. The earlier a patient is correctly diagnosed, the sooner he or she can be offered the right treatment. This is one of many reasons why more research is needed on precise, easy-to-use methods of early diagnosis.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and their colleagues at Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, Gothenburg University and University College London in the UK have been studying biomarkers in blood for very early pathological changes in a rare and inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease that accounts for less than 1% of all cases. Individuals with a parent with Alzheimer’s disease caused by a mutation have a 50% risk of developing the disease themselves.
For their study, the researchers analyzed 164 blood plasma samples from 33 mutation carriers and 42 relatives without the inherited pathogenic predisposition. The data were collected between 1994 and 2018.
Their results reveal clear changes of several blood protein concentrations in the mutation-carriers.
“The first change we observed was an increase in GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) approximately ten years before the first disease symptoms,” says the study’s last author Caroline Graff, professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.
“This was followed by increased concentrations of P-tau181 and, later, NfL (neurofilament light protein), which we already know is directly associated with the extent of neuronal damage in the Alzheimer’s brain. This finding about GFAP improves the chances of early diagnosis.”
Abstract
Plasma biomarker profiles in autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease
Emerging plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease might be non-invasive tools to trace early Alzheimer’s disease-related abnormalities such as the accumulation of amyloid-beta peptides, neurofibrillary tau tangles, glial activation and neurodegeneration. It is, however, unclear which pathological processes in the CNS can be adequately detected by peripheral measurements and whether plasma biomarkers are equally applicable in both clinical and preclinical phases. Here we aimed to explore the timing and performance of plasma biomarkers in mutation carriers compared to non-carriers in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease.
Samples (n = 164) from mutation carriers (n = 33) and non-carriers (n = 42) in a Swedish cohort of autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (APP p.KM670/671NL, APP p.E693G and PSEN1 p.H163Y) were included in explorative longitudinal analyses. Plasma phosphorylated tau (P-tau181), total tau (T-tau), neurofilament light chain (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) concentrations were measured with a single-molecule array method as previously described. Plasma biomarkers were additionally correlated to Alzheimer’s disease core biomarkers in the CSF.
Results from the longitudinal analyses confirmed that plasma P-tau181, NfL and GFAP concentrations were higher in mutation carriers compared to non-carriers. This change was observed in the presymptomatic phase and detectable first as an increase in GFAP approximately 10 years before estimated symptom onset, followed by increased levels of P-tau181 and NfL closer to expected onset. Plasma P-tau181 levels were correlated to levels of P-tau181 and T-tau in the CSF.
Altogether, plasma P-tau181, GFAP and NfL seem to be feasible biomarkers to detect different Alzheimer’s disease-related pathologies already in presymptomatic individuals. Interestingly, changes in plasma GFAP concentrations were detected prior to P-tau181 and NfL. Our results suggest that plasma GFAP might reflect Alzheimer’s disease pathology upstream to accumulation of tangles and neurodegeneration. The implications of these findings need additional validation, in particular because of the limited sample size.
Summary: Astrocytes play a crucial role in spatial learning, researchers discovered.
Source: University of Bonn
There are two fundamentally different cell types in the brain, neurons and glial cells. The latter, for example, insulate the “wiring” of nerve cells or guarantee optimal working conditions for them.
A new study led by the University of Bonn has now discovered another function in rodents: The results suggest that a certain type of glial cell plays an important role in spatial learning. The German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) was involved in the work.
The results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Each place has numerous characteristics that distinguish it and make it unmistakable as a whole. A gnarled tree. A babbling brook at its foot. Fragrant wildflowers in the meadow behind. When we visit a place for the first time, we store this combination of features. When we then encounter the interplay of tree, brook, and wildflower meadow another time, our brain recognizes it: We remember having been there before.
This is made possible by mechanisms such as the so-called dendritic integration of synaptic activity.
“We were able to show that the so-called astroglial cells or astrocytes play an essential role in this integration,” explains Prof. Dr. Christian Henneberger from the Institute of Cellular Neuroscience at the University Hospital Bonn.
“They regulate how sensitive neurons are to a specific combination of features.”
One million place cells in the mouse brain
In their study, the researchers took a close look at neurons in the hippocampus of rodents. The hippocampus is a region in the brain that plays a central role in memory processes.
This is especially true for spatial memory: “In the hippocampus, there are neurons that specialize in just that – place cells,” says Henneberger, who is also a member of the Collaborative Research Center 1089 – where the research project was based – and the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Life & Health” at the University of Bonn.
There are about one million of these place cells in the mouse hippocampus alone. Each responds to a specific combination of environmental characteristics.
Place cells have long extensions, the dendrites. These are branched like the crown of a tree and dotted with numerous contact points. Information that our senses convey to us about a location arrives here. These contacts are called synapses.
“When signals arrive at many neighboring synapses at the same time, a strong voltage pulse occurs in the dendrite – a so-called dendritic spike,” explains Dr. Kirsten Bohmbach, who performed most of the experiments in the study.
“This process is what we call dendritic integration: The spike only occurs when a sufficient number of synapses are active at the same time. Such spikes travel toward the cell body, where they can trigger another voltage pulse – an action potential.”
Place cells in attention mode
Place cells generate action potentials at regular intervals. The speed at which they do this can vary widely. However, when mice orient themselves in a new environment, their place cells always oscillate in a special rhythm – they then generate five to ten voltage pulses per second.
This rhythm causes the nerve cells to release certain messenger substances. And this is where astrocytes come in: They have sensors to which these messenger substances dock, and in turn release a substance called D-serine.
“The D-serine then migrates to the dendrites of the place cells,” Bohmbach explains. “There, it ensures that the dendritic spikes can develop more easily and are also much stronger.”
When mice are in orientation mode, this makes it easier for them to store and recognize new locations. It is similar to a cab driver concentrating on navigating through the city center and memorizing changing locations. The passenger next to the driver is also looking at the road, but his thoughts are elsewhere and he notices less (however, there are also quite different processes involved in such attention phenomena).
“If we inhibit the assistance provided by astrocytes in mice, they are less likely to recognize familiar places,” Henneberger says. However, this does not apply to locations that are particularly relevant – for example, because they pose a potential danger: These continue to be avoided by the animals.
“The mechanism we discovered therefore controls the threshold at which location information is stored or recognized.”
The results provide a new insight into how memory works and is controlled. In the medium term, they may also help to answer the question of how certain forms of memory disorders develop.
The research results are also an expression of fruitful intra-university cooperation: “They would not have been possible without the intensive collaboration with Prof. Dr. Heinz Beck’s laboratory at the Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognitive Sciences and, in particular, his colleagues Dr. Nicola Masala and Dr. Thoralf Opitz,” Henneberger highlights.
Participating institutions and funding:
In addition to the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and University College London were involved in the work. The Study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the returnee program of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Abstract
An astrocytic signaling loop for frequency-dependent control of dendritic integration and spatial learning
Dendrites of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells amplify clustered glutamatergic input by activation of voltage-gated sodium channels and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). NMDAR activity depends on the presence of NMDAR co-agonists such as D-serine, but how co-agonists influence dendritic integration is not well understood.
Using combinations of whole-cell patch clamp, iontophoretic glutamate application, two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy and glutamate uncaging in acute rat and mouse brain slices we found that exogenous D-serine reduced the threshold of dendritic spikes and increased their amplitude.
Triggering an astrocytic mechanism controlling endogenous D-serine supply via endocannabinoid receptors (CBRs) also increased dendritic spiking. Unexpectedly, this pathway was activated by pyramidal cell activity primarily in the theta range, which required HCN channels and astrocytic CB1Rs.
Therefore, astrocytes close a positive and frequency-dependent feedback loop between pyramidal cell activity and their integration of dendritic input. Its disruption in mice led to an impairment of spatial memory, which demonstrated its behavioral relevance.
A traditional Italian Caprese salad belongs to the Mediterranean diet.
What if changing your diet meant that you might be able to live to be 100? Too good to be true? Research says otherwise and to “pass the olive oil.”
What is the Mediterranean diet? It’s been touted for years by doctors, researchers, and registered dietitians as an easy and healthy way of eating to promote well-being.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines the Mediterranean diet as one that is “high in fruits and vegetables, cereals and bread, potatoes, poultry, beans, nuts, olive oil, and fish while low in red meat and dairy and moderate in alcohol consumption.”
This pattern of eating comes with many potential health benefits; it can prevent heart disease and stroke, and reduce risk factors including obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
The term “Mediterranean diet” was first coined by Ancel Keys, an American scientist specializing in biology and physiology. Keys conducted research on nutrition throughout his entire career. In the 1950s he began the Seven Countries Study—a study of middle-aged men living in seven different countries, including the United States. Keys observed that some countries had much lower rates of heart disease than the United States, suggesting that heart disease could perhaps be prevented.
Keys and his colleagues in their research discovered that dietary patterns in the Mediterranean and Japan were linked with low rates of coronary heart disease and lower deaths due to any other cause (all-cause mortality). Their findings led Keys and other scientists to promote an eating model they discovered in Italy and Greece, which we now know as the Mediterranean diet.
The second phase of the Seven Countries Study additionally found that a healthy Mediterranean-type diet and exercise could delay cognitive decline and reduce the risk of depression.
It’s no coincidence that a lifetime of studying health and nutrition reaped benefits for Keys; Keys continued to work into his 90s and died two months short of his 101st birthday.
The Lyon Diet Heart Study assessed the benefits of a French version of the Mediterranean diet on patients who had already suffered from a heart attack. Researchers decided to include rapeseed oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acid, along with olive oil, to simulate a Greek diet. The study yielded a 50 to 70 percent decrease in recurrent heart disease-related events (such as heart attacks, stroke, blood clots, etc.), as well as a reduction in the number of new cancer cases. This study resulted in a heightened awareness among the medical community regarding the potential health benefits associated with a Mediterranean diet.
A Swedish study published in 2015 concluded that following a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of heart attack, heart failure, and ischemic stroke. The researchers went on to say that the Mediterranean diet was considered “beneficial in primary prevention of all major types of atherosclerosis-related CVD (cardiovascular disease).”
Much research has been focused on Italian centenarians. A well-performing immune system along with an elevated expression of anti-inflammatory and immunity genes have been identified as longevity markers in Sicilian centenarians.
Although genes are an important factor in longevity, lifestyle factors such as nutrition and diet also influence health and the possibility of a lengthened lifespan.
Researchers at the University of Palermo studied centenarians living in the villages of the Sicani Mountains in central Sicily. Out of 18,328 residents, they discovered 19 men and women between the age of 100–107. When researchers ran the math, they learned that the percentage of centenarians living in the Sicani Mountain villages was greater than four times the national average.
An assessment showed that these centenarians had followed a Mediterranean diet and consumed foods low on the glycemic index (foods that do not cause insulin levels to spike).
The centenarians were given a physical exam and had fasting blood lab work done. Their height was also measured, and their weight was taken so that a body mass index (BMI) could be calculated. They were also given a nutritional assessment. They were assessed for competency with physical tasks (such as bathing, toileting, dressing), life management capacity (for instance, managing finances), sensory items (visual acuity and vision), and cognitive abilities (comprehension, ability to express self).
Not surprisingly, the centenarians were physically active and had normal BMIs. The assessments showed that the centenarians were “moderately independent” with physical and life management tasks. All the centenarians lived in a family home, usually with relatives, making it possible for loved ones to fill in any gaps in self-care.
The study subjects did not have any cardiac risk factors or significant age-related diseases such as heart disease, severe cognitive or physical impairment, clinically evident cancer, or renal disease. Most lab test results, including cholesterol and triglycerides, were within normal limits.
Of note, the centenarians’ lives revolve around socialization, appropriate physical activity, and small amounts of food containing small amounts of carbohydrates and meat, and copious amounts of seasonal fruit and vegetables divided among three meals.
So what would someone who would like to follow a Mediterranean diet eat in terms of actual meals? Registered dietitian Kelly Bakes advises clients to try to follow a diet comprised of whole foods as much as possible and incorporate more vegetables into all three meals.
Since the Mediterranean diet is big on whole grains, Bakes says oatmeal is a good breakfast option. For those who prefer eggs in the morning, adding some vegetables and some whole-grain toast can also be a healthy choice. Greek yogurt or kefir (unsweetened) and fruit, or even Cheerios, are also foods that could be eaten for the first meal of the day.
For snacks, Bakes suggests eating yogurt with fruit, seeds, and nuts.
At lunch, Bakes says she has “super motivated clients” make bowls comprised of quinoa, farrow, or barley and vegetables, such as spinach, an undressed coleslaw or broccoli slaw mix, arugula, kale, tomatoes, and cucumber.
“If you don’t have to do an animal protein, beans or lentils is going to be healthier,” she explains.
If you’re not feeling super motivated, however, steaming a bag of broccoli with lunch or incorporating some rinsed, low-sodium chickpeas are some foods that can make your meal a little more nutritious. For sandwich lovers, a sandwich made with freshly cooked chicken (or even deli chicken or turkey) on whole grain bread is fine—just add some vegetables on the side to complete the meal.
According to Bakes, a dinner might include a protein (such as fish or seafood), roasted vegetables, and maybe a grain or starch at night—for instance, a small sweet potato or some butternut squash.
Weight loss is an inevitable result of those following the Mediterranean diet, even if that is not the goal, since foods that might otherwise be eaten are replaced by low-calorie, high-fiber foods.
“If you’re eating five cups of vegetables, that is going to displace other foods you would be eating,” says Bakes.
Eating a lot of fiber comes with benefits, says Bakes. Fiber “keeps things moving” in your gastrointestinal system and contains prebiotics which help feed healthy gut bacteria.
Bakes’ clients report their energy level is improved and that they have less bloating, and “feel thinner.”
Down the road, cholesterol and blood sugar levels also improve.
“I have had many clients completely go off cholesterol medications, go off diabetes medications.”
Some with inflammation in their joints and other places also see a decrease in inflammation.
“They just feel better,” says Bakes.
Dan Buettner, the bestselling author of “The Blue Zones Solution,” has studied research on the diets, eating habits, and lifestyles of communities that he calls “blue zones”—places with the oldest and healthiest residents in the world. Blue-zone locations include Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula; and Loma Linda, California.
Through his research, Buettner discovered that blue-zone residents followed a unique Mediterranean eating pattern referred to as the Blue Zones Diet. These people, particularly Ikarians (Greece) and Sardinians (Italy), ate a diet that included lots of vegetables, olive oil, small amounts of dairy and meat products, and moderate amounts of alcohol, explained Buettner in an email to The Epoch Times.
What set these areas apart from places in other regions, according to Buettner, was its emphasis on certain foods. These foods include potatoes, honey, legumes (especially garbanzo beans, black-eyed peas, and lentils), wild greens, some fruit, and relatively small amounts of fish.
“Their diets are predominantly (90–100 percent) plant-based,” explained Buettner.
Blue-zone residents also eat little to no dairy, fish, or eggs, and rely heavily on beans, greens, nuts, and whole grains for nutrition, said Buettner.
“Sourdough bread and red wine are also staples of four of the five blue zones,” he noted.
The Danish Twin Study established that roughly 20 percent of longevity is based on your genes.
“That leaves 80 percent for you to impact through your eating, moving, environmental, and social habits,” said Buettner.
Buettner notes in his book that it’s not just what blue-zone residents are eating, but how a Mediterranean-type diet is lived.
He said that there are nine commonalities practiced in all the blue zones that may be behind their inhabitants’ longevity. These are known as the “Power 9”:
Living a lifestyle that naturally encourages movement is a major component of the blue-zone lifestyle.
“The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms,” explained Buettner. “Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it.”
Having a sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.
Stress leads to chronic inflammation, which associated with every major age-related disease. “Even people in blue zones areas experience stress, but they have daily routines to shed that stress,” explained Buettner.
In other words, by creating a strategy for relieving stress, disease processes could be reversed.
It is important to eat mindfully and stop when 80 percent full.
“The 20 percent gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing or gaining weight,” said Buettner.
People living in blue zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then don’t eat any more the rest of the day.
Adding more fruits and veggies to your plate can add years to your life. Beans, including fava, black, soy, and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets.
For people who have a healthy relationship with alcohol, enjoying a glass of red wine with good friends each day during dinner is part of a blue-zone lifestyle.
“Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add four to 14 years of life expectancy,” said Buettner.
Centenarians in blue zones put their families first.
“The world’s longest-lived people also choose—or are born into—social circles that support healthy behaviors. Research shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. The social networks of long-lived people favorably shape their health behaviors,” said Buettner.
It has been suggested that by 2050, the number of centenarians will approach 3.2 million worldwide, representing an 18-fold increase from the last century.
For the average person who may not be willing or for some reason is unable to fully change their eating habits, what small daily actions can one take to increase his or her chance of living to 100 years?
Buettner says just making a small effort to eat more plant-based meals during the week can have a huge impact.
“Maybe having a few meals a week where there is no meat or it’s simply a side would be a great start,” said Buettner.
Bakes agrees with Buettner.
“For every client, I always say, if you hear nothing else I say, eat more vegetables,” she explained.
A meta-analysis that followed hundreds of thousands of people for decades found that switching to a blue-zones-type diet (from a standard American diet) can add an average of a little over 10 years of life for women, or 13 years for men.
For those people who are not ready to change their diet quite yet, implementing aspects of the Power 9 can help promote the chance of longevity.
Get more natural movement each day, volunteer, eat less, and enjoy time together with friends and family.
“Adding small nudges each day adds up over time,” said Buettner.
Compared with patients in European countries and Japan, patients using in-center hemodialysis in the United States showed a significant increase in serum phosphorous levels , according to data published in Kidney Medicine.
“Mineral bone disorders … [are] a frequent consequence of chronic kidney disease, more so in patients with kidney failure treated by kidney replacement therapy,” Murilo Guedes, MD, from Pontificia Universidade Católica do Parana in Brazil, and colleagues wrote. “Despite the wide availability of interventions to control serum phosphate and [parathyroid hormone] PTH levels, unmet gaps remain on optimal targets and best practices, leading to international practice pattern variations over time.”
Using data from the international prospective study of in-center hemodialysis, the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS), researchers aimed to assess international trends of mineral bone disorder biomarkers and treatments between 2002 and 2021. Countries in the study included Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Japan and the U.S.
From 2002 to 2021, the mean phosphate level changed in the U.S. from 5.7 mg/dL (2002) to 5 mg/dL (2012) to 5.6 mg/dL (2021). The ratio of patients on in-center hemodialysis with phosphate greater than 5.5 mg/dL in the U.S. rose from 28% in 2013 to 42% in 2021, whereas the ratio of such patients in Europe and Japan was 18% and 28%, respectively.
Despite the increase in phosphate levels in the U.S., researchers did not observe significant changes in phosphate binders type that could explain the growth. In 2021, data revealed sevelamer and calcium-based phosphate binders made up 23% and 44% of all phosphate binder prescriptions, respectively.
Researchers suggested that levels could have risen due to limited randomized controlled trials that led to unstandardized phosphate control, counseling toward a less stringent dietary phosphorous control, lower effective daily dosing of phosphate binders, increasing target limits, a decline in patient adherence, distinct practice patterns for vitamin D analogs prescriptions and a potential misinterpretation of the 2009 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes Guidelines.
Further, the researchers wrote that Europe and Japan may have achieved lower serum phosphate levels due to greater uptake of hemodiafiltration.
Due to stable phosphate levels of patients in Europe and Japan, researchers believe it is feasible for patients in the U.S. to achieve and maintain lower phosphate levels. A possible solution may be the use of novel phosphate-lowering agents in CKD, such as tenapanor.
“Within several years, the landscape regarding approaches to optimal phosphate management may be clearer, as data from large clinical trials and the availability of novel pharmacological interventions may clarify remaining uncertainties that have exacerbated wide practice variation across the globe,” Guedes and colleagues wrote. They added, “From the patients’ perspective, we can hope that better evidence will lead to gains in quality of life, including reduced pill burden and more palatable nutritional guidance, and plausibly help to extend survival and limit medical complications.”
People have long sought the secret to living a longer and healthier life, and researchers believe they’ve discovered part of that equation. It could be as simple as drinking enough water.
A new study published in The Lancet journal eBioMedicine, finds people who stay properly hydrated are less likely to show signs of premature aging and chronic illnesses.
Researchers looked at health data accumulated for over 25 years from nearly 16,000 adults between 45 and 66 years old from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study to analyze their serum sodium levels—the amount of sodium in their blood—as a proxy for how much water they regularly drink.
Data collection began in 1987, and the average age of participants at the final assessment during the study period was 76.
The findings indicate that adults with serum sodium levels at the higher end of the normal range (135 to 146 milliequivalents per liter, or mEq/L) experienced worse health outcomes than those at the lower end of that range.
Participants with levels above 142 mEq/L experienced up to a 64 percent higher risk for chronic diseases that include stroke, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, atrial fibrillation, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and dementia.
They also had a 10 to 15 percent increased risk of being biologically older than their actual age, compared with adults whose levels were within 137 to 142 mEq/L.
Those with levels between 144.5 and 146 mEq/L showed a 21 percent increased risk of premature death. However, adults who maintained their serum sodium levels between 138 and 140 mEq/L showed the lowest risk of developing chronic diseases.
While these findings can’t prove that staying hydrated can reduce disease risk, the researchers did establish an association between water intake and long-term health.
“Decreased body water content is the most common factor that increases serum sodium, which is why the results suggest that staying well hydrated may slow down the aging process and prevent or delay chronic disease,” study author Natalia Dmitrieva, a researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, said in a statement.
The authors also cited research that finds about half of all people worldwide don’t meet recommendations for daily total water intake, which typically starts at six cups or 1.5 liters.
“I think it [sodium] is one piece of the puzzle,” Dr. Jessica Zwerling, a neurologist affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center, told The Epoch Times. She thought the study did a nice job using sodium as a proxy for aging.
She pointed out that it’s necessary to look at many other factors, like hormones, inflammation, and cytokines (signaling cells), that may also influence aging.
The findings suggest it’s important to keep serum sodium in an optimal range. Researchers found health risks were also higher among people with low serum sodium. This is consistent with previous research that found increased mortality in healthy people with low serum sodium levels.
The findings of that study indicate that regardless of blood pressure status, lower-than-normal sodium levels are associated with more heart attacks, strokes, and deaths compared to average intake.
According to research published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), adult women should drink about 2.2 liters of water per day, and adult men should aim for roughly three liters.
However, this doesn’t mean you need to drink those exact amounts.
“There have been good studies looking for ranges in women and men, around the two to two and a half liters per day range,” said Zwerling. “But [only] 80 percent of that [water intake] comes from drink.”
There’s water content in the food we eat that counts toward our daily intake. The recommendation can also be different according to the health conditions we have, or certain medications we’re taking.
“Or if you have an acute infection, which can require drinking more water than the recommended amount,” said Zwerling.
Electrolytes, like sodium, are vital minerals that act as charged particles to carry electrical current across cells. This electrical current is essential for nerve stimulation, muscle contraction, and fluid regularity.
A deficiency can lead to a variety of undesirable symptoms like lack of energy, extreme fatigue, muscle soreness, blood pressure irregularity, and confusion. So maintaining a balance is essential to maintain overall health.
“Sodium plays one of the most important roles in the body,” said Beata Rydyger, a registered nutritionist based in Los Angeles and clinical nutritional advisor to Zen Nutrients. “However, other electrolytes like potassium, magnesium, and calcium also play vital roles and thus require daily maintenance.”
While proper daily hydration is essential for optimal health, drinking too much can pose a health risk and even become life-threatening.
“The kidneys release approximately a quart of fluid per hour,” explained Rydyger. “Excess amounts of water intake can lead to a condition known as hyponatremia (low blood sodium).”
Drinking more than the kidneys can eliminate causes the dilution of sodium, which is an essential electrolyte, and cause cells to swell and inflame.
Symptoms of hyponatremia include headache, nausea, vomiting, and confusion—and in serious cases, seizures or death.
Certain lifestyle factors, like exercise, can exacerbate this risk [by causing excessive thirst], cautioned Rydyger.
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