Gary Null’s Daily Health News - 10.27.22

Peanuts Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Risk

Washington University in St. Louis & Harvard University, October 22, 2022

 

Girls ages 9 to 15 who regularly ate peanut butter or nuts were 39 percent less likely to develop benign breast disease by age 30, according to a new study.

Benign breast disease, although noncancerous, increases risk of breast cancer later in life.

“These findings suggest that peanut butter could help reduce the risk of breast cancer in women,” says senior author Graham Colditz, professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and associate director for cancer prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, the findings are based on the health histories of 9,039 US girls enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study .

When the study participants were 18 to 30 years old, they reported whether they had been diagnosed with benign breast disease that had been confirmed by breast biopsy.

Participants who ate peanut butter or nuts two times each week were 39 percent less likely to have developed benign breast disease than those who never ate them.

The study’s findings suggest that beans, lentils, soybeans, and corn also may help prevent benign breast disease, but consumption of these foods was much lower in these girls so the evidence was weaker.

Past studies have linked peanut butter, nut, and vegetable fat consumption to a lower risk for benign breast disease. However, participants in those studies were asked to recall their high school dietary intakes years later.

 

Perinatal Brain DHA Concentration Has a Lasting Impact on Cognition
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism  October 20, 2022

 A new study on Proteomics is now available. According to news out of Bethesda, Maryland,  research stated, "Premature infants are deprived of prenatal accumulation of brain docosahexaenoic acid [DHA (22: 6n-3)], an omega-3 fatty acid [omega-3 FA (n-3 FA)] important for proper development of cognitive function. The resulting brain DHA deficit can be reversed by omega-3 FA supplementation."

"The objective was to test whether there is a critical period for providing omega-3 FA to correct cognitive deficits caused by developmental omega-3 FA deprivation in mice. Twelve timed-pregnant mice  were fed an omega-3 FA-deficient diet containing 0.04% a-linolenic acid, and their offspring were fed the same deficient diet (Def group) or changed to an omega-3 FA-adequate diet containing 3.1% ALA at 3 wk, 2 mo, or 4 mo of age. In parallel, 3 E14 pregnant mice were fed the adequate diet and their offspring were fed the same diet (Adeq group) throughout the experiment. Brain FA composition, learning and memory, and hippocampal synaptic protein expression were evaluated at 6 mo by gas chromatography, the Morris water maze test, and western blot analysis, respectively. 

Maternal dietary omega-3 FA deprivation decreased DHA by > 50% in the brain of their offspring at 3 wk of age. The Def group showed significantly worse learning and memory at 6 mo than those groups fed the adequate diet. These pups also had decreased hippocampal expression of postsynaptic density protein 95 (43% of Adeq group), Homer protein homolog 1 (21% of Adeq group), and synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa (64% of Adeq group). 

Changing mice to the adequate diet at 3 wk, 2 mo, or 4 mo of age restored brain DHA to the age-matched adequate concentration. However, deficits in hippocampal synaptic protein expression and spatial learning and memory were normalized only when the diet was changed at 3 wk."

The research concluded: "Developmental deprivation of brain DHA by dietary omega-3 FA depletion in mice may have a lasting impact on cognitive function if not corrected at an early age."

 

At risk for diabetes? Cut the carbs, says new study
Tulane University, October 26, 2022

While low-carb diets are often recommended for those being treated for diabetes, little evidence exists on whether eating fewer carbs can impact the blood sugar of those with diabetes or prediabetes who aren't treated by medications.

Now, according to new research from Tulane University, a low-carb diet can help those with unmedicated diabetes—and those at risk for diabetes—lower their blood sugar.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, compared two groups: one assigned to a low-carb diet and another that continued with their usual diet. After six months, the low-carb diet group had greater drops in hemoglobin A1c, a marker for blood sugar levels, when compared with the group who ate their usual diet. The low-carbohydrate diet group also lost weight and had lower fasting glucose levels.

"The key message is that a low-carbohydrate diet, if maintained, might be a useful approach for preventing and treating Type 2 diabetes, though more research is needed," said lead author Kirsten Dorans, assistant professor of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

The study's findings are especially important for those with prediabetes whose A1c levels are higher than normal but below levels that would be classified as diabetes. Approximately 96 million Americans have prediabetes and more than 80% of those with prediabetes are unaware, according to the CDC. Those with prediabetes are at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks or strokes and are usually not taking medications to lower blood sugar levels, making a healthy diet more crucial. 

 

How early fears play a role in future anxiety, depression
University of Texas at Dallas, October 26, 2022

A recent imaging study led by a scientist at The University of Texas at Dallas has identified early risk factors linked to children's temperament and a neural process that could foretell whether an individual might develop depression and anxiety in adolescence and early adulthood.

The study, published Oct. 26 in JAMA Psychiatry, tracked a cohort of 165 individuals from 4 months old, between 1989 and 1993, through age 26.

Dr. Alva Tang, assistant professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and corresponding author of the study, found that people who are more inhibited in early childhood and who also don't respond typically to potential rewards as adolescents are vulnerable to developing depression later in life, more so than anxiety.

When babies are exposed to novel objects, people or situations, some react positively and approach them without fear, whereas others respond with wariness or avoidance. This differentiation defines uninhibited versus inhibited behavior.

"We know that inhibited children are more likely to have anxiety disorders later, particularly social anxiety, that begins in late childhood to adolescence," Tang said. "Less has been known about depression, which generally has a later onset, in young adulthood. But we do know that people who have had an anxiety disorder are 50% to 60% more likely to have depression later in life, so inhibited children should have higher risk for depression as well."

The researchers found that the association between inhibition at 14 to 24 months of age and worsening depressive symptoms from ages 15 to 26 was present only among those who also showed blunted activity in the ventral striatum as adolescents. There was no similar association with anxiety.

"We found that behavioral inhibition was related to worsening depressive symptoms into adulthood. This supports the assertion that this temperament shows a stronger relation to developing anxiety in adolescence, but in adulthood it is tied more strongly to depression. However, not all inhibited children develop anxiety or depression," Tang said. "It was particularly the inhibited children who showed blunted striatal activity who were more likely to become more depressed in young adulthood."

 

Pressure chamber therapy is effective in the functional improvement of autism, study finds
Tel-Aviv University (Israel), October 26, 2022

A new Tel Aviv University study succeeded in significantly improving social skills and the condition of the autistic brain through pressure chamber therapy. The study was conducted on animal models of autism. In it, the researchers identified changes in the brain, including a reduction in neuroinflammation, which is known to be associated with autism.

Moreover, a significant improvement was found in the social functioning of the animal models treated in the pressure chamber. The study's success has many implications regarding the applicability and understanding of treating autism using pressure chamber therapy.

Fischer and Barak explain that hyperbaric medicine is a form of therapy in which patients are treated in special chambers where the atmospheric pressure is higher than the pressure we experience at sea level, and in addition are delivered 100% oxygen to breathe. 

Dr. Barak says that "the medical causes of autism are numerous and varied, and ultimately create the diverse autistic spectrum with which we are familiar. About 20% of autistic cases today are explained by genetic causes, that is, those involving genetic defects, but not necessarily ones that are inherited from the parents." 

"Despite the variety of sources of autism, the entire spectrum of behavioral problems associated with it are still included under the single broad heading of 'autism,' and the treatments and medications offered do not necessarily correspond directly to the reason why the autism developed."

Dr. Barak says that they "discovered that treatment in the oxygen-enriched pressure chamber reduces inflammation in the brain and leads to an increase in the expression of substances responsible for improving blood and oxygen supply to the brain, and therefore brain function. In addition, we saw a decrease in the number of microglial cells, immune system cells that indicate inflammation, which is associated with autism.

"To our surprise, the findings showed a significant improvement in the social behavior of the animal models of autism that underwent treatment in the pressure chamber compared to those in the control group, who were exposed to air at normal pressure, and without oxygen enrichment." 

 

Study reveals connection between microbiome and autoimmune disorders
University of Calgary, October 23, 2022 

Published in Cell, a study by Santamaria and Kathy McCoy, PhD, from the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) reveals a new mechanism in the gut microbiome that regulates pro- and anti-inflammatory cells. "We found that a protein expressed by gut bacteria called Bacteroides works to prevent IBD by rapidly recruiting white blood cells to kill a cell of the immune system that is responsible for orchestrating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)," says McCoy. "We think that this mechanism is likely involved in preventing most people from developing IBD."

However, there is a flipside to the protein's call for help. "In some people, the white blood cells overreact to the presence of the IBD bacteria. This is what causes problems like IBD—it's not the bacteria itself, but the immune system's severe reaction triggered by the protein. These same overstimulated white blood cells are also the cells that cause other autoimmune disorders like diabetes," says Santamaria. 

"This discovery demonstrates the effect the gut microbiome has on the immune system and unearths a novel mechanism via which changes in the gut microbiome can increase the risk of autoimmune disorders. While we looked specifically at IBD, it is likely there are many proteins in the gut that contribute to the development of other autoimmune disorders via similar mechanisms."