December 18, 2023
Literature Reviews have been very popular. Thus, 2024 will start with science update.
1) Time restricted eating patterns are known to help physiology and metabolism by initiating a pause in the action of mTOR and muscle synthesis as well as inducing autophagy. Autophagy is critical to the clearance of broken or damaged cells following injury or disease. How does circadian biology play into this reality? From Cell Metabolism: "Circadian disruptions impact nearly all people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), emphasizing both their potential role in pathology and the critical need to investigate the therapeutic potential of circadian-modulating interventions. Here, we show that time-restricted feeding (TRF) without caloric restriction improved key disease components including behavioral timing, disease pathology, hippocampal transcription, and memory in two transgenic (TG) mouse models of AD. We found that TRF had the remarkable capability of simultaneously reducing amyloid deposition, increasing Ab42 clearance, improving sleep and memory, and normalizing daily transcription patterns of multiple genes, including those associated with AD and neuroinflammation. Thus, our study unveils for the first time the pleiotropic nature of timed feeding on AD, which has far-reaching effects beyond metabolism, ameliorating neurodegeneration and the misalignment of circadian rhythmicity. Since TRF can substantially modify disease trajectory, this intervention has immediate translational potential, addressing the urgent demand for accessible approaches to reduce or halt AD progression." (Whitaker et. al. 2023) This continues a long list of research papers telling us that eating often and with large volumes, especially at night, is not good for cellular metabolism and especially for cellular regeneration. Circadian biology is at the root of cellular function as would be expected based on the diurnal rhythms of historical human activity. When we sleep we are expected to repair and regenerate which occurs when the sun goes down. Digesting consumed foods is a sunlight based activity and should remain so. Adults should aim to stop eating by 6 pm and resume eating between 8 am and 12 noon to open pathways that are beneficial for longevity.
2) Allergy to milk, especially, as well as peanut and shrimp is associated with incident cardiovascular disease and mortality over time. (Keet et. al. 2023) Why would this be? Inflammation is at the root of CVD. What drives inflammation? Many things, but especially food allergies and intolerances. I have been beating this drum for a while now. Unchecked inflammation is bad news. Knowing whether you have allergies or intolerances to foods is critical to reducing all cause morbidity risk. Elimination diets and healthy lifestyle choices will be the answer.
3) Long covid may now have some biomarkers according to a preprint article just published. They note proteins of the complement cascade: classical (C1s-C1INH complex), alternative (Ba, iC3b), and terminal pathway (C5a, TCC) were biomarkers significantly elevated in patients with long COVID. (Baillie et. al. 2023) These markers may help concretely diagnose patients with long covid like symptoms which would then help with choosing therapies and treatments.
4) A large functional imaging analysis of screen use in children found some interesting results. From the study: "In summary, this scoping review has achieved three major conclusions. First, digital experience does have positive and negative impacts on children’s brains, structurally and functionally. Second, digital experience could cause structural and functional changes in children’s frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes, brain connectivity, and brain networks. And the most vulnerable area is the prefrontal cortex and its associated executive function. Third, digital experience has positive and negative impacts on children’s brain structure longitudinally." (Wu et. al. 2023) The study results were significantly slanted in the negative direction by a greater than 2:1 ratio. They noted worsening impulse control as well as decreased cognitive and language activity. Verbal intelligence worsened in proportion with screen use especially at younger ages. None of this is surprising. Screens are passive babysitters. No active human interaction with visual and social cues to learn from in many cases. Verbal communication would decrease based on the passive watching instead of talking and being. Offer screens sparingly.
5) CAR-T cells are showing strong promise at halting autoimmune diseases dead in their tracks. CAR-T stands for Chimeric antigen receptors for T cells. They are a set of T cells that are taken from the body and manipulated to allow the T cells to attack specific B cells when they are returned to the body. This reduces the number of B cells making the antibodies causing autoimmune disease. This is some really ingenious medicine. It may bring hope to so many people suffering from autoimmunity. (Ledford H. 2023)
6) The microbiome of the intestine has a profound effect on our desire to eat certain foods. From the small but informative study: 59 obese adults consumed 30 grams of inlulin prebiotic (food for bacteria) daily for 2 weeks. Then they had blood, stool and functional MRI testing performed. There was a placebo arm. The specific tests were: short chain fatty acids, hormones and inflammatory markers in the blood with intestinal microbiota and SCFA in stool. The active inulin participants showed decreased brain activation in specific brain regions towards high-caloric food stimuli. Fasting blood tests showed no specific shifts. They noted that changes in brain activation correlated with changes in Actinobacteria microbial abundance. (Medawar et. al. 2023) This is very cool. We have long known that microbiota are speaking to our brains via chemical signals. Now we see specific neurological activation via fMRI correlated to changes in eating behaviors. I think that consuming diverse fibers are a great route to brain health.
7) Cancer therapy is definitively modulated by the intestinal microbiota. This review article is worth your time if you have a family member with cancer or undergoing cancer therapy. (Blake et. al. 2023) The long and short of it is that modulating the gut microflora will enhance cancer therapy response reducing disease burden and death risk. They find that "faecal microbiota transplantation can overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in patients with melanoma, improve therapeutic outcomes in treatment-naive patients and reduce therapy-induced immunotoxicities."
Lots of interesting science this week.
Dr. M
