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The connection between probiotics, gut flora and anxiety

Derek Beres
big think
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
gut flora
Our stomach is a fascinating place. With all the advancements being made in neuroscience, the complexities of digestion have not been well understood, the dark matter of our body's galaxy. That is changing, quickly.

Part of the challenge is complexity: there are 100,000 times more microbes in your gut than humans on this planet, writes Emeran Mayer in The Mind-Gut Connection. There are also more immune cells inside of our stomachs than in blood and bone marrow, which makes what we put into our mouths so important. Our diets might affect our brains more than the other way around. As Mayer puts it,
Your gut microbes are in a prime position to influence your emotions, by generating and modulating signals the gut sends back to the brain.
Humans are collectively experiencing increased rates of anxiety, which is now the planet's most pervasive psychological disorder. Increased stress has numerous destructive tendencies in our guts, including the alteration of contractions, transit rates between our stomach and large intestine, and blood flow. When that blood is transporting extra cortisol due to an increase in our corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), the result is increased storage of visceral fat, decreased function of our immune system, and, of course, anxiety.

Comment: The relative health of one's gut has a big impact on a number of different bodily functions...

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Evil Rays

'Wi-Fi allergy' killed her. UK Mum fights for wireless to be removed from all schools and hospitals

Matt DiscombeLucy Clarke-Billings
Mirror
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 18:50 UTC
wifi allergy victim
© INS News
Jenny suffered more at school, her mum claimed
A mum who claims a Wi-Fi allergy drove her teenage daughter to suicide is fighting for wireless internet to be removed from every school and hospital in the UK.

Debbie Fry's daughter Jenny was found dead aged 15 in woodland near her home in the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, in 2015.

Mrs Fry claimed at her daughter's inquest that Jenny's life was made a misery as she had electro-hypersensitivity (EHS).


Comment: Calcium channels, free radicals and the effects of EMF explained

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Pills

FDA chief seeking more regulatory power on kratom; warns about use for treating opioid addiction

Jayne O'Donnell
USA Today
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 16:57 UTC
Kratom
Citing 36 deaths, the Food and Drug Administration chief warned consumers Tuesday not to use the herbal supplement kratom to ease opioid withdrawal and announce plans to step its regulatory oversight to combat the opioid epidemic.

The FDA public health advisory on kratom follows the Drug Enforcement Administration's reversal or at least delay of plans to classify kratom as a controlled substance on the same level as heroin and LSD.

FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the FDA plans to work with the DEA to determine how kratom should be classified.

Kratom, a plant grown naturally in countries including Thailand and Malaysia, is widely sold in smoke shops and other locations as a powder that can be used in tea to slow the effects of opioid withdrawal. But it has addictive properties of its own, says a public health advisory related to the FDA's mounting concerns regarding risks associated with the use of kratom.

Comment: For more on kratom, see: And if you're not buying the crocodile tears from the FDA, here's more on what's really driving the opioid epidemic:

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Family

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increases risk of liver, colorectal, and breast cancers


Science Magazine
Thu, 16 Nov 2017 10:07 UTC
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increases risk of liver, colorectal, and breast cancers

Journal of Hepatology
Amsterdam, November 14, 2017 - Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the more common chronic liver diseases worldwide. It is associated with metabolic syndrome (i.e. insulin resistance and diabetes) and predisposes to cardiovascular disease. In a new study published in the Journal of Hepatology, researchers identified links not only between NAFLD and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which have been well established, but also to cancers outside the liver, including colorectal and breast cancer.


Comment: The association with insulin resistance and diabetes is telling: Fatty Liver and Foie Gras: When humans are forced-fed sugar


"NAFLD is a very important multisystem disease to which much attention should be paid," explained lead author Gi-Ae Kim, of the Health Screening and Promotion Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. "Despite its strong relationship with HCC development, little attention has been paid to the association of NAFLD with the development of other extrahepatic cancers. Our study presents statistical evidence that NAFLD is associated with extrahepatic cancers. We hope this study will raise awareness of the increased cancer potential that NAFLD might have."
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Brain

Exercise increases the size of the hippocampus in humans


NICM
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:40 UTC
cycling
Aerobic exercise can improve memory function and maintain brain health as we age, a new Australian-led study has found.

In a first of its kind international collaboration, researchers from Australia's National Institute of Complementary Medicine at Western Sydney University and the Division of Psychology and Mental Health at the University of Manchester in the UK examined the effects of aerobic exercise on a region of the brain called the hippocampus, which is critical for memory and other brain functions.

Brain health decreases with age, with the average brain shrinking by approximately five per cent per decade after the age of 40.

Studies in mice and rats have consistently shown that physical exercise increases the size of the hippocampus but until now evidence in humans has been inconsistent.

Comment: Daily Physical Activity May Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk at Any Age

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Pills

Drugging the elderly: Almost half of people in UK over 65 are taking at least 5 medications a day


The Telegraph
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 12:05 UTC
drugs
© Joe Raedle
Almost half of over-65s in England are taking at least five different drugs a day, a Cambridge University study has found.

The figure has risen from just 12 per cent 20 years ago, while the proportion taking no pills at all dropped from around 20 per cent in the late 1990s to just seven per cent today.

Researchers tracked more than 15,000 older people who took part in two long-term health studies which began in the 1990s.

Some of those who took part in the long-term investigation said they were on up to 23 tablets every day.

Comment: As can be expected the UK statistics on over medication are mirrored in the US, and extend to any population that is vulnerable and thus unable to protect themselves from the depredations of the medical cartel:

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Pills

FDA approves 'smart' schizophrenia pill that can be tracked when ingested


RT
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 16:03 UTC
pills
© Creativ Studio Heinemann / Global Look Press
An antipsychotic pill that digitally tracks consumption has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Abilify MyCite will be used in the treatment of chronic mental conditions and is an upgrade on Abilify, which was approved for patients suffering from schizophrenia in 2002.

According to the FDA, the drug is the first of its kind to be given the greenlight in the US.

The drug device was developed by Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co and California based firm, Proteus Digital Health, who submitted the smart medicine for approval in the US in May.

In a statement released earlier this year, the companies expressed their belief that the development would help people "better manage their mental illness."


Comment: It sounds like it would help the psychiatric cartel better manage their "non-compliant" patients.


The course of the pill is tracked through an ingestible sensor about the size of a grain of sand, which sends electronic information to a "wearable patch."
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Health

Bye, bye humanity? Pesticides implicated in human infertility?

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 15:43 UTC
infertility
© Zave Smith/Getty
Human fertility is declining, and recent studies suggest conventional food may be a significant contributor to this disturbing trend, seen in both men and women. Pesticides have repeatedly been implicated in worsening fertility, and one of the most recent studies adds further support to this hypothesis.

The study,1,2 published in JAMA Internal Medicine, evaluated the influence of factors known to affect reproduction on the reproductive success of 325 women between the ages of 18 and 45 (mean age 35), who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF). As reported by Time,3"The women in the study filled out detailed questionnaires about their diet, along with other factors that can affect IVF outcomes, like their age, weight and history of pregnancy and live births."

High Pesticide Exposure Associated With Reduced IVF Success

Using a U.S. government database listing average pesticide residues on food, the researchers estimated each participant's pesticide exposure based on their food questionnaires. On average, women with high pesticide exposure ate 2.3 servings per day of fruits, berries or vegetables known to have high amounts of pesticide residue. Those in the lowest quartile ate less than 1 serving of high-pesticide produce per day.

Compared to women with the lowest pesticide exposure, women with the highest amounts of pesticide exposure had an 18 percent lower IVF success rate. They were also 26 percent less likely to have a live birth if they did become pregnant. Using modeling, the researchers estimate that exchanging a single serving of high-pesticide produce per day for one with low pesticide load may increase the odds of pregnancy by 79 percent, and the odds of having a live birth by 88 percent.
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Heart

Oh the irony! American Heart Association president has heart attack


American Heart Association
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:48 UTC
American Heart Association President John Warner

American Heart Association President John Warner, M.D., at his presidential address Sunday at the organization’s Scientific Sessions.
American Heart Association President John Warner was away from the AHA's Scientific Sessions with his family Monday after having a minor heart attack during the organization's flagship scientific conference.

Warner, a practicing cardiologist and the CEO of UT Southwestern University Hospitals in Dallas, had the episode Monday morning. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors inserted a stent to open a clogged artery.

He was recovering and visiting with his wife, son and daughter, all of whom attended the Scientific Sessions meeting in part to see him deliver his Presidential Address on Sunday afternoon. In that speech, the 52-year-old Warner talked about the effects of heart disease on his family. He mentioned how both his father and his father's father had heart bypass surgery in their 60s. He also lost his maternal grandfather and a great grandfather to heart disease.

Comment: Unlikely as it may be, it would be nice if people saw this as a 'signal from the Universe' that the advice and methods expounded by the AHA are the exact opposite of what people should be following. We're not holding our breath.

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Sun

Italian island of Sardinia home to some of the oldest people in the world, what's their secret?

Matthew Vickery
USA Today
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 15:56 UTC
This Italian island is home to the oldest people in the world. Here's their secret
© Matthew Vickery
Zelinda Paglieno, 102, says the secret to long life is a half glass of wine a day.
Zelinda Paglieno, who turned 102 in October, offers sobering advice when asked what's the secret to her long and healthy life: "Two fingers width of red wine, and no more, at lunchtime every day."

"I've never smoked, but a little wine is good for you - and that's something I still do now. We have very good grapes here," she explained.


Comment: Also See:

Paglieno's age is no anomaly here in picturesque Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean that is home to the oldest people in the world, according to researchers on aging.

Sardinia is one of only five "Blue Zones" in the world identified as having residents who often reach age 90 or older. The other four are Okinawa (Japan), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and the Seventh-day Adventist community in Loma Linda, Calif.


Comment: Eat Fat, Live Long - the Real Food of Okinawa 'Okinawan cuisine is centered around meat. The most important meat is pork.[...] Many of the pork parts eaten are composed almost entirely of fat, such as pork skin, pig ears, and pork belly'


Paglieno, in her hometown of Esterzili, population 600, has three neighbors who are 100 or older.

Comment: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Devil's in the Details: Diet Dogma and Fine-Tuning Your Own

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