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Brains need love, too: Maternal care makes the baby's brain less vulnerable to stress


Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:44 UTC
Image
© Cédric Lavenant
Maternal care makes the baby's brain less vulnerable to stress.
Mom's touch and diet - Claire-Dominique Walker, PhD, director, Neuroscience Research Division, Douglas Institute.

The quality and quantity of maternal milk and maternal-infant contact impact the stress response of the adult offspring, according to recent research published in Developmental Psychobiology. "This manuscript reviews and highlights how critical factors early in life can shape the physiology and behaviour of adult offspring," says Claire-Dominique Walker, Douglas research scientist and study senior author. "For example, we have shown that, in rodent models, maternal high-fat feeding during the prenatal and lactational period blunts stress responsiveness in neonatal pups. In addition, we demonstrated that maternal licking of pups also blunted adult sensitivity to stress." To put it in other words, they were less vulnerable to stressful situations.

Walker, also director of the Neuroscience Research Division at the Douglas and her team, including PhD candidate Lindsay Naef, suggest that these studies have important implications for human infants. Non-invasive interventions targeted at maternal nutrition and care, are relatively easy to implement and might have a significant effect on the health outcome of the infant. PMID: 20862707
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Eye 1

The perfect Frankengrain

Dr. William Davis
The Heart Scan Blog
Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:12 UTC
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Pretend I'm a mad food scientist. I'd like to create a food that:

1) Wreaks gastrointestinal havoc and cause intractable diarrhea, cramps, and anemia.
2) Kills some people who consume it after a long, painful course of illness.
3) Damages the brain and nervous system such that some people wet their pants, lose balance, and lose the ability to feel their feet and legs.
4) Brings out the mania of bipolar illness.
5) Amplifies auditory hallucinations in people with paranoid schizophrenia.
6) Makes people diabetic by increasing blood sugars.
7) Worsens arthritis, such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
8) Triggers addictive eating behavior.
9) Punishes you with a withdrawal process if you try to remove it from your diet.

I will develop a strain that is exceptionally hardy and tolerates diverse conditions so that it can grow in just about any climate. It should also be an exceptionally high yield crop, so that I can sell it cheaply to the masses.

Now, if my evil scheme goes as planned, I will then persuade the USDA that not only is my food harmless, but it is good for health. If they really take the bait, they might even endorse it, create a diet program around it.

Dag nabit! Such a plan has already been implemented. Another evil food scientist already beat me to the punch. The food is called wheat.

Comment: For more information see:

Origins of Agriculture - Did Civilization Arise to Deliver a Fix?
Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease
Don't Eat Toxins

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Sun

Article reveals the truth about sunscreens and skin cancer

Dr. John Briffa
drbriffa.com
Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:56 UTC
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Too much sunlight can cause sunburn, and sunburn is a risk factor for skin cancer. So, if sunscreens help prevent sunburn, they should reduce the risk of skin cancer too, right? It turns out, according to a piece appearing last month in the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, that the evidence that sunscreens protect against skin cancer turns out to be a bit thin on the ground [1].

Skin cancers come in three main forms: the quite-often deadly malignant melanoma, as well as squamus cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma that are not nearly as life-threatening. The author of the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics piece cites a randomised study in which individuals used daily sunscreen or no daily sunscreen for 4.5 years. The study looked only at squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas. The result was that the development of new cancers was essentially the same in both groups. In other words, the application of sunscreen did not appear to protect against the development of new skin cancers.

Comment: For more information on this topic, see:

Study: Many Sunscreens May Be Accelerating Cancer
4 out of 5 sunscreens inadequate, study finds
Why Sunscreens May Give a False Sense of Security
More Bad News About Sunscreens: Nanoparticles

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Camera

Mind Reading: Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran on 'Unlearning' Pain

Maia Szalavitz
Time
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:48 UTC
Dr. V.S. Ramachandran
© Courtesy Beatrice Ring

Even before the discovery of "mirror neurons" - brain cells activated when we observe the actions of others that enable empathy - Dr. V.S. Ramachandran was using real mirrors to change the brain and relieve pain.

In the 1990s, Dr. Ramachandran devised mirror therapy to help amputees suffering from phantom limb pain - an agonizing experience in which patients feel pain "in" their missing limbs. By placing a mirror to reflect the existing limb in a position that makes it look like the missing one, the brain's distorted image of the phantom can be changed. When the amputee moves the existing limb into a comfortable position, the reflection in the mirror - the phantom limb - "moves" with it, and pain in that missing limb often disappears, sometimes forever.

The treatment is now widely accepted - not just for phantom limb pain, but for chronic pain of other types - and works in 70% to 80% of appropriate cases.
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Butterfly

New Findings On The Healing Benefits Of Meditation

Aleko Konstantine
Coup Media
Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:18 UTC
woman meditating
Nowadays, even scientists begin to explore areas of the brain and states of our mind and body (observed in mediation) that activate parts of our brain, which cannot be attained by any other conditioning of our mind and body, but by reaching a mental, spiritual and physical state under meditative control.

Researchers say that people who meditate may be benefiting from changes in their brains. A scientific report shows that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. Brain scans taken before and after the participants' meditation routine found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area responsible for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdale region connected to anxiety and stress.

Comment: To learn more about stress control, rejuvenation and healing please visit the Éiriú Eolas website

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Info

Best and Worst Vegetables to Eat

Dr. Mercola
Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:52 UTC
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© Huffington Post
If the phrase "eat your vegetables" echoes from your childhood memories of suppers gone by, then rest assured your mother was right. One of the best ways to improve your health is to eat plenty of high quality vegetables - ideally raw, locally grown and organic.

It sounds like a tall order. It takes time to get a bounty of fresh vegetables together and eat them every day.

The good news is, it's easier than you think. For example, one way to maximize your intake of veggies is to juice them - something I highly recommend to patients in our health clinic who are working to restore or improve their health. I'll discuss juicing a little later in this article, but first, let's explore what makes vegetables "high quality," so you will be prepared to make the best choices possible in any situation.
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Bug

A national summit addresses the bedbug epidemic

Kitty Bean Yancey
USA Today
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:54 UTC
Image
© Alex Brandon Associated Press
Bedbugs in a container from the lab at the National Pest Management Association, at the National Bed Bug Summit in Washington Tuesday.
The "National Bed Bug Summit" is due to wrap up today in Washington, D.C. Since DDT was outlawed years ago because of its health risks, there has been no miracle eradicator of infestations, which have made headlines as the pesky biters hitchhike on travelers and office workers.

Tuesday in Washington, pest experts urged a coordinated national effort against beg bugs, according to The Christian Science Monitor, and said the key is preventive steps, early detection, treatment plans and public education.

So what's the latest thinking on what a traveler can do to avoid being bitten in a hotel room and avoid bringing bedbugs home?

I asked entymologist Jeffrey White of BedBugCentral.com, a clearinghouse of bedbug information and products what's the latest thinking.

"Any hotel can have them," says White, who has encountered the bugs at "3- and 4-star hotels," though hotels are far more aware these days and more knowledgeable in treating an infestation.
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Health

Science Finally Confirms Gluten Sensitivity

Dr. Peter Osborne
Gluten Free Society
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:25 UTC
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A new double blind, randomized, placebo controlled study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology confirms the presence of gluten sensitivity in the absence of celiac disease. This is the first study of its kind confirming the existence of gluten intolerance in the absence of celiac disease.

Source: Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Jan 11.

Gluten Free Society's Stance

Gluten Sensitivity Vs. Celiac Disease - Science Finally Ends the Battle...(or at leasts proves that one exists).

"Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity", otherwise known as Gluten Syndrome, is not a new term in the medical research. This is simply the first double blind, placebo controlled trial confirming its existence. Pioneers in gluten research like Dr. Ken Fine and Dr. Rodney Ford have been talking about this phenomenon for many years.

People who have tested negative for celiac disease via biopsy and blood tests have been going gluten free and restoring their health in spite of their doctors advice.

The entire gluten free explosion over the past few years has been fueled by those who suffer with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. My point is, don't wait for the medical community to catch up to reality. Just because doctors say that non celiac gluten sensitivity doesn't exist, doesn't make them right. The study above proves this point. If going gluten free leads to an improvement in your health, what more proof do you need? If you are a black and white, need to know on paper kind of person, the best way to test for gluten is through genetic analysis. Learn more about this here.

Over the next several years we will continue to see a greater focus on diet and health, gluten is just the tip of the iceberg. Bottom line: You are what you eat!

Comment: For more information see Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease

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Info

Vegans' elevated heart risk requires omega-3s and B12

Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society
Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:52 UTC
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People who follow a vegan lifestyle - strict vegetarians who try to eat no meat or animal products of any kind - may increase their risk of developing blood clots and atherosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries," which are conditions that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. That's the conclusion of a review of dozens of articles published on the biochemistry of vegetarianism during the past 30 years. The article appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Duo Li notes in the review that meat eaters are known for having a significantly higher combination of cardiovascular risk factors than vegetarians. Lower-risk vegans, however, may not be immune. Their diets tend to be lacking several key nutrients - including iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids. While a balanced vegetarian diet can provide enough protein, this isn't always the case when it comes to fat and fatty acids. As a result, vegans tend to have elevated blood levels of homocysteine and decreased levels of HDL, the "good" form of cholesterol. Both are risk factors for heart disease.

It concludes that there is a strong scientific basis for vegetarians and vegans to increase their dietary omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12 to help contend with those risks. Good sources of omega-3s include salmon and other oily fish, walnuts and certain other nuts. Good sources of vitamin B12 include seafood, eggs, and fortified milk. Dietary supplements also can supply these nutrients.

Comment: Yes, animal fat is essential for your health! For more information on this topic, see:

The Naive Vegetarian
Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian
Burying The Vegetarian Hypothesis
Dispel the Myths: Why You Should Eat Cholesterol
Majority of Heart Attack Patients Have Normal Cholesterol Levels
Saturated Fat is Good for You

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Health

Mice Study: Gut Microbes Influence Behavior

Katherine Bagley
The Scientist
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:00 UTC
Mice
© Wikimedia commons, Polarqueen
Mice lacking normal gut bacteria show differences in brain development and behavior

Gut microbes acquired early in life can impact brain development in mice and subsequent behavior, such as decreasing physical activity and increasing anxiety, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This paper opens the door to new studies in at least two directions," Yale University microbiologist Andrew Goodman, who was not involved in the research, told The Scientist in an email. "First, determining how differences between complete host-associated microbial communities lead to differences in behavior, and second, exploring the contributions of microbes during specific developmental periods in the host."

Gut microbiota often colonize their hosts early in life, either during pregnancy or following birth, and play an integral role in the health of developing organisms. Previous research has shown that the bacteria affect the development of liver function, the protection epithelial cells afford underlying digestive tissue, gut regulation and the growth of new capillary blood vessels. But this is the first time gut flora have been linked to brain development and behavior.
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