Depression will soon become the number one disease in the USA, if it has not already. Sure, we all get a little blue from time to time, but a significant number of people become incapacitated by it. Some even take their lives, unable to escape the darkness that mars their lives. What can we do for ourselves and loved ones? I fear the answer is too often a quick prescription and practically nothing else. This may be indicated in some cases. There are many other options, all of which have been covered in past issues of this newsletter. Take a look at the brilliant article below.
Hugo Rodier, MD
Diet and Depression-from confirmation to implementation JAMA 2019;321:842
“An integrative care package incorporating first-line psychological and pharmaceutical, along with evidence-based lifestyle interventions addressing smoking cessation, physical activity and diet quality, may have a more robust effect on this burdensome disorder. These approaches may also be more cost effective than other approaches.”
Comment: the author does not address the overreliance on pharmaceuticals, but his article is a step in the right direction. I hope we get more mainstream articles on non-pharmaceutical treatments impacting our mood, especially nutrition. There are many studies in less prominent journals. They also discuss environmental factors, Tai Chi, Yoga, Biofeedback and supplements like mushrooms.
Mushrooms May Cut Cognitive Impairment Risk
Medscape – Mar 20, 2019.
“Older adults who consume more than two standard portions of mushrooms per week may have as much as a 50% reduced odds of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Investigators analyzed data from over 650 participants (aged ≥ 60 years) from the Diet and Healthy Aging (DaHA) study in Singapore and found that, compared with participants who consumed mushrooms less than once per week, those who consumed more than two portions per week had a reduced odds of MCI.
The association was independent of factors such as age, gender, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities.
“We found that mushroom consumption is associated with reduced odds of having MCI among Chinese older adults living in Singapore,” lead author Lei Feng, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, told Medscape Medical News.
“Our cross-sectional data support a potential role for mushrooms and their bioactive compounds — especially ergothioneine, which is a compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties — in delaying neurodegeneration,” The study was published online March 12 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Comment: hallucinogenic mushrooms like psilocybin help depression, but there is a risk of abuse. Mushrooms also improve our immune system. They have also been found helpful in cancer treatment and prevention.
Drinking over two cups of very hot tea daily increases esophageal cancer risk
“USA Today (3/20, Yancey-Bragg) reports research suggests drinking very hot tea may be linked to an increased risk of esophageal cancer. Researchers “tracked the habits of more than 50,000 tea drinkers in Golestan, a province in northeastern Iran.” Over the course of a decade, “317 new cases of esophageal cancer were developed.” Investigators “found that those who drank more than 700 ml (almost 24 ounces) of tea a day at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) had a 90 percent higher risk for esophageal cancer.” CNN (3/20, Avramova) report the study “was the first to pinpoint a specific temperature, according to the authors.” The findings were published online in the International Journal of Cancer.”
Comment: it’s the temperature, not the tea.
Roundup was “substantial” factor in man’s cancer
“The Washington Post (3/19, Thanawala) reports that “Roundup weed killer was a substantial factor in a California man’s cancer, a jury determined Tuesday.” The jury’s verdict “in federal court in San Francisco came in a lawsuit filed against Roundup’s manufacturer, agribusiness giant Monsanto.” The California man, Edwin Hardeman, “was the second plaintiff to go to trial out of thousands around the country who claim the weed killer causes cancer.” He was “diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015.” The New York Times (3/19, Zaveri) reports that the “verdict concluded the first of two phases in the federal case about the possible health risks of Roundup and whether Monsanto misled the man, Edwin Hardeman, about those risks.” The case’s second phase, “which begins Wednesday, will focus on whether Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer AG last year, should be held liable for partly causing Mr. Hardeman’s cancer, said his lawyer, Jennifer Moore.” Hardeman’s attorney “said lawyers would seek to prove that Monsanto manipulated public opinion and science to play down Roundup’s health risks.”
Comment: I hate Monsanto. It is now hiding under Bayer’s skirts, the company that supplied chemicals to the Nazis. BTW, we got pesticides from leftover Nerve gas from WWI & WWII. Do the math—you will save money by eating organic if you factor in not only your health, your family’s and the planet’s.
Prescribing healthy food could save the lives of millions of Medicare, Medicaid patients
“Reuters (3/19, Carroll) reports, “Healthy food prescriptions written for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries might lower the risk of costly chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and at the same time lower the costs of care,” according to a study published in PLoS Medicine. The article says researchers used computer models to determine that “healthy food prescriptions could prevent as many as 3.28 million cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and save as much as $100.2 billion in health care costs.” They found that if fruits and vegetables were prescribed, about “1.93 million cardiovascular events would be prevented and $39.7 billion would be saved.”
Comment: I do not support financing our broken health care system—it only covers pharmaceuticals, surgeries and excessive defensive testing. We need to get rid of a significant amount of those treatments and use the money for health education, nutrition and counseling. See next article.
Lifestyle Changes Do a Number on PSA Values
Medscape – March 18, 2019
“BARCELONA, Spain — Simple, temporary lifestyle changes may be able to spare men with mildly increased prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels from having to endure a prostate biopsy, results of a controlled study suggest.
Men who avoided eating spicy foods, drinking alcohol or coffee, and riding a bicycle had a repeat PSA reading approximately 1.5 ng/mL lower than their first reading a median of 8 weeks earlier. Nearly half of men who adopted the lifestyle changes had a drop in PSA below the minimum threshold for biopsy, reported Alexandre Zlotta, MD, director of Uro-Oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital and professor of surgery (urology) at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In an interview with Medscape Medical News here at the European Association of Urology (EAU) 2019 Congress, Zlotta said that spicy food has something in common with alcohol, caffeine, and biking.
“Spicy food induces inflammation, and inflammation directly translates into increase in PSA,” he said. “This is just food for thought,” he added. “It’s by no means definitive, and we’re going to embark on a randomized study to test this further, but I think the noise of the signal is strong enough and robust enough to signal that we should at least pay attention.”
Zlotta explained that repeat biopsy decisions are not based on a single PSA but that the new intervention might be a good idea before a repeat PSA test.
Although PSA is a fairly sensitive marker for prostatic enlargement, it has poor specificity for prostate cancer. Nonmalignant conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and inflammation can cause PSA elevations that are large enough raise suspicion of prostate cancer and trigger a biopsy, the investigators noted. Two Thirds of Men in Study Spared Biopsy.” European Association of Urology (EAU) 2019 Congress. Presented March 16, 2019. Abstract PT109.”
Comment: a discussion on PSA testing must include nutritional counseling. For starters, we know that more veggies and less sugar help. We also know that prostate, as well as breast cancer, are associated with environmental XENOESTROGENS like pesticides, plastics and heavy metals. Ultimately, a healthy microbiome detoxifies them.
Urban air pollution linked to increased risk for psychotic experiences in teenagers
“The New York Times (3/27, Bakalar) reports, “Urban air pollution is associated with an increased risk for psychotic experiences in teenagers,” researchers concluded in a study involving “2,063 British teenagers whose health had been followed from birth through age 18.” The findings were published online March 27 in JAMA Psychiatry. CNN (3/27, Scutti) reports the author of an accompanying editorial wrote that “‘air pollution exposures are ubiquitous in urban environments,’ yet they are ‘modifiable and can be reduced through rigorous regulatory action.’” The editorialist concluded, “It is especially important to identify other factors that may potentially ameliorate the consequences of air pollution to protect human health.”
Comment: air pollution not only affects the lungs, but every organ of the body, including the heart. Become political and community-active and get an air filter for your bedroom. Thirty years ago, I sounded the alarm about air pollution in SLC. I was treated as a burnt-out hippie. It is not easy being green. Ask Kermit the Frog, the Hulk and Shrek.
Air pollution may kill more people than smoking each year
“Reuters (3/12, Milne) reports researchers concluded that “air pollution is killing more people every year than smoking.” The researchers “estimated that air pollution caused 8.8 million extra deaths in 2015,” while “the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates smoking kills about 7 million people a year globally.” The findings were published in the European Heart Journal.
