I am always looking for the root cause of things, particularly illness. As a scientist, I am fully aware nothing has a single cause, but our experiences in childhood loom large in the genesis of diseases. See the first two studies below.
Hugo Rodier, MD
Childhood abuse may cause physical changes to brain that lead to depression
“Reuters (4/16, Mathias) reports, “Abuse during childhood may cause physical changes to the human brain that in turn may render adults more vulnerable to depression,” researchers concluded in a study involving “magnetic resonance imaging.” The study was published in the April 1 issue of The Lancet Psychiatry.”
Comment: the linchpin is the HPA, the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis. Stress may set it to react more dramatically to future stress. Read Sapolsky’s Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers for more information.
Workplace wellness programs largely ineffective
“The New York Times (4/16, Abelson) reports on a study published in JAMA which found that workplace wellness programs prompted “no significant differences in outcomes like lower blood pressure or sugar levels and other health measures” and “no significant reduction in workers’ health care costs.” The study offered 20 random BJ’s Wholesale Club outlets a wellness program for employees, then compared the results with 140 stores without such programs.”
Comment: the way the programs are taught may have a lot to do with it. I believe the main problem is futile addictive habits that seek to plug up the hole left by traumatic childhoods. This applies to school lunches. They don’t stand a chance when soda and candy vending machines call our names down the hall. Tobacco, alcohol, refined sugars, sex, etc. are stopgap measures. No wellness program will succeed unless our childhoods are revisited with the eyes of an adult. Read Bradshaw’s Homecoming.
Ketamine sparks growth of neural connections diminished by chronic stress
“STAT (4/11, Thielking) researchers “have uncovered a process that might contribute to ketamine’s antidepressant effect.” In a study of mice published online April 11 in the journal Science, investigators “report that ketamine appears to spark the growth of neural connections that had been diminished by chronic stress.” In addition, they “discovered that the survival of those new connections – known as synapses – seem to be critical to maintaining some of ketamine’s effects.” STAT adds that last month, the FDA approved “esketamine, a ketamine-derived nasal spray…for treatment-resistant depression.”
Comment: It’s depressing to find potential treatments priced so high.
FDA’s “added sugars” labeling rules may have significant health, economic benefits
“Reuters (4/15, Carroll) reports that “the Food and Drug Administration’s new mandatory rules requiring labels on all packaged foods and drinks to indicate the presence of so-called added sugars could have substantial health and cost saving benefits in the United States over the next two decades, a new study” published in the American Medical Association journal Circulation suggests. Specifically, “researchers determined that the labeling policy, which is set to go into effect between 2020 and 2021, might prevent nearly 1 million cases of heart disease and diabetes.”
Comment: don’t hold your breath. See comment above. It would be better to implement the “Twinkie Tax.”
Sitting for long periods may make people resistant to metabolic benefits of exercise
“The New York Times (4/10, Reynolds) reports researchers found in a small study that “people who sat for long periods and took fewer than 4,000 steps a day developed metabolic problems, even if they exercised.” The study suggests that “sitting for most of the day could make us resistant to the usual metabolic benefits of exercise.” The findings were published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.”
Comment: being a couch potato negates the effects of exercise. We can compensate by getting up and moving around for 2 minutes for each thirty minutes of sitting.
Four million children get asthma annually due to polluted air
“Newsweek (4/10, Gander) reports that according to new research published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, “around 4 million children develop asthma each year because they breathe in polluted air, with the U.S. ranking third worst in the world when it comes to suffering the burden of minors being exposed to traffic fumes.” These four million cases account “for around 13 percent of all newly diagnosed cases of asthma in children worldwide.” About “64 percent of these children lived in urban areas, the data revealed. U.S. News & World Report (4/10, Lardieri) says that “the five cities in the United States with the highest percentage of pediatric asthma cases attributed to pollution include Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Milwaukee.”
Comment: this is just the tip of the iceberg—with time they will also develop heart, brain and hormonal problems.
Acetaminophen & Stroke Risk in Older Adults with Diabetes
“Medscape – Apr 09, 2019. Use of acetaminophen is associated with an increased risk for stroke among elderly nursing-home residents with diabetes, the authors of a new study report. In a secondary analysis of data on more than 5000 older adults living in nursing homes in southwestern France, the risks for mortality and cardiovascular outcomes were similar among patients who did and those who did not use acetaminophen, except for those with diabetes. In that subgroup, acetaminophen use was associated with a stroke risk more than three times higher than in nonusers.”
Comment: rule of thumb—don’t take over the counter drugs. Ibuprofen increases risk of heart attacks, like Prilosec does. Ephedrine raises your blood pressure.
Men who eat more meat are more likely to die prematurely
“The New York Times (4/11, Bakalar) reports on a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which found that men who ate “more than a half pound of red, white or organ meat daily were 23 percent more likely to die prematurely than those who ate much less.” Scientists from the University of Eastern Finland “gathered dietary and health data on 2,641 men ages 42 to 60, following them for an average of 22 years,” finding that the men “who ate more than a half pound (251 grams) daily were 23 percent more likely to die” than men who ate “less than 2.6 ounces, or 76 grams.”
Comment: read my blog Macho Paleo Man. If you are going to eat meat, let it be turkey, chicken and especially fish. Make them as organic as possible.
Dietary Fiber in the era of Microbiome Science
J. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2019;49(5):506-515
“The properties of dietary fiber are important for homeostasis within the gut, but the predominant health benefits extend beyond the gut to enhanced metabolic welfare, including protection against obesity and related metabolic diseases. Fiber is a functional food joining a growing list of examples of diet-microbe-host interactions which link microbe-host metabolic and immune cascades.”
Comment: we used to think that fiber’s job was only to regulate pressure in the large intestine so that we would not get diverticulitis. Fiber was pretty much to poop better. Burkitt’s work should have been a clue that fiber is a Prebiotic; it feeds our microbiome’s metabolism and immune system. He noted that the more voluminous the stool was in Africans, the less cancers and infections they had. Whenever Burkitt’s name comes up, I conjure Laura Dern looking for her walkie-talkie in a pile of Dino poop.
More than Benches and Bedsides—on Autism
J. EHP Environmental Health Sciences 8 April 2019 https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4067
“Estimates of autism prevalence have increased dramatically over the past two decades. Evidence suggests environmental factors may contribute to the etiology of the disorder. Objectives: This scoping review aimed to identify and categorize primary research and reviews on the association between prenatal and early postnatal exposure to environmental chemicals and the development of autism in epidemiological studies and rodent models of autism. Methods: PubMed was searched through 8 February 2018. Included studies assessed exposure to environmental chemicals prior to 2 months of age in humans or 14 d in rodents. Rodent studies were considered relevant if they included at least one measurement of reciprocal social communicative behavior or repetitive and stereotyped behavior. Study details are presented in interactive displays using Tableau Public. Results: The search returned 21,603 unique studies, of which 54 epidemiological studies, 46 experimental rodent studies, and 50 reviews were deemed relevant, covering 152 chemical exposures. The most frequently studied exposures in humans were particulate matter (n=14), mercury (n=14), nonspecific air pollution (n=10), and lead (n=10). In rodent studies, the most frequently studied exposures were chlorpyrifos (n=9), mercury (n=6), and lead (n=4). Discussion: Although research is growing rapidly, wide variability exists in study design and conduct, exposures investigated, and outcomes assessed. Conclusions focus on recommendations to guide development of best practices in epidemiology and toxicology, including greater harmonization across these fields of research to more quickly and efficiently identify chemicals of concern. In particular, we recommend chlorpyrifos, lead, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) be systematically reviewed in order to assess their relationship with the development of autism. There is a pressing need to move forward quickly and efficiently to understand environmental influences on autism in order to answer current regulatory questions and inform treatment and prevention efforts.”
Comment: it is easy to blame one single factor for Autism. Unfortunately, there are many factors, most of which are environmental. If there is a common denominator, I vote for poor detoxification in the liver and gut.
