How the timing of dinner and genetics affect individuals’ blood sugar control

Eating dinner close to bedtime, when melatonin levels are high, disturbs blood sugar control, especially in individuals with a genetic variant in the melatonin receptor MTNR1B, which has been linked to an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes. The high melatonin levels and food intake associated with late eating impairs blood sugar control in carriers of the MTNR1B genetic risk variant through a defect in insulin secretion

This article is a repost which originally appeared on ScienceDaily
Massachusetts General Hospital - January 25, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels 
Source: DOI: 10.2337/dc21-1314

Our Takeaways:

  • The melatonin receptor-1b gene (MTNR1B) has been linked with an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes.
  • Late dinner timing resulted in lower insulin levels and higher blood sugar levels for the entire group
  • People with the MTNR1B gene had higher blood sugar levels than those without this genetic variant.

Blood sugar control, which is impaired in individuals with diabetes, is affected by various factors — including the timing of meals relative to sleep as well as levels of melatonin, a hormone primarily released at night that helps control sleep-wake cycles. In research published in Diabetes Care, a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the University of Murcia in Spain conducted a clinical trial to look for connections between these two factors.

“We decided to test if late eating that usually occurs with elevated melatonin levels results in disturbed blood sugar control,” says senior author Richa Saxena, PhD, a principal investigator at the Center for Genomic Medicine at MGH.

For the randomized crossover study that included 845 adults from Spain, each participant fasted for eight hours and then for the next two evenings had first an early meal and then a late meal relative to their typical bedtime. The investigators also analyzed each participant’s genetic code within the melatonin receptor-1b gene (MTNR1B) because previous research has linked a variant (called the G-allele) in MTNR1B with an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes.

“In natural late eaters, we simulated early and late dinner timing by administering a glucose drink and compared effects on blood sugar control over two hours,” explains Saxena. “We also examined differences between individuals who were carriers or not carriers of the genetic variant in the melatonin receptor.”

The team found that melatonin levels in participants’ blood were 3.5-fold higher after the late dinner. The late dinner timing also resulted in lower insulin levels and higher blood sugar levels. (This connection makes sense because insulin acts to decrease blood sugar levels.) In the late dinner timing, participants with the MTNR1B G-allele had higher blood sugar levels than those without this genetic variant.

“We found that late eating disturbed blood sugar control in the whole group. Furthermore, this impaired glucose control was predominantly seen in genetic risk variant carriers, representing about half of the cohort,” says lead author Marta Garaulet, PhD, a professor of physiology and nutrition in the Department of Physiology at the University of Murcia.

Experiments revealed that the high melatonin levels and carbohydrate intake associated with late eating impairs blood sugar control through a defect in insulin secretion.

“Our study results may be important in the effort towards prevention of type 2 diabetes,” says co-senior author Frank A.J.L. Scheer, PhD, MSc, director of the Medical Chronobiology Program at BWH. “Our findings are applicable to about a third of the population in the industrialized world who consume food close to bedtime, as well as other populations who eat at night, including shift workers, or those experiencing jetlag or night eating disorders, as well as those who routinely use melatonin supplements close to food intake.”

The authors note that for the general population, it may be advisable to abstain from eating for at least a couple of hours before bedtime. “Genotype information for the melatonin receptor variant may further aid in developing personalized behavioral recommendations,” says Saxena. “Notably, our study does not include patients with diabetes, so additional studies are needed to examine the impact of food timing and its link with melatonin and receptor variation in patients with diabetes.”

How I Use Biohacking to Overcome Burnout at Work

Work stress resulted in depression and led this entrepreneur to seek new solutions.

By Simon Lovell October 28, 2021

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Entrepreneur

Edited for content

When you’ve spent so many days in front of the computer screen anxious, mentally exhausted and unable to focus on the work you love, you start to look for answers. 

My build-up to burnout at work started with low-level stress, which then increased to anxiety. I would stay up late at night, force myself into bed and then get interrupted sleep, causing me to be grumpy the next day.

Over time, this lack of self-control manifested in irritability, anger and a lack of confidence, increasing my use of cigarettes, alcohol and anything else to block me from feeling my emotions because I couldn’t handle them. I was in denial about what was happing in my personal relationships and constantly blamed the people around me without taking responsibility for my own mental health.

Eventually, this disconnection from my body led to self-doubt and social isolation. When people would invite me out, I would use two excuses: “I’m too tired” or “I’m too busy.” These were lies to protect me from being around people because I couldn’t handle the feelings that would come up when trying to connect with others. 

The final stage of this aggressive attack on my true self was pushing those closest to me away. Unable to understand myself, I started to question who I was as a man, confused about my identity and desperate for answers. I was not present; I was preoccupied with my overactive mind and self-judgment.

That’s when I turned to biohacking. 

Biohacking entails hitting a challenge or number of challenges from multiple angles until you come up with an optimum solution. Sometimes, this can be a very costly journey, as it was for me. I have invested over $250,000 to “sort myself out.” But I got the results I wanted, and once I did, I was determined to see if the process could help other people too. 

My clients, who are working in very demanding roles, need to be at their best, and when their burnout is causing pressure at home, that’s normally when I get the message to help. They don’t understand how their brain works and need a plan to get back into the zone.

Here’s what happens when I’m working specifically with someone who is successful and need to get him or her back on track within days.

Biohack No. 1: Supercharging meditation 

If you are going through a serious illness and are told by your doctor to go to the hospital for a five-day treatment that will preserve your ability to walk, you’re going to do it. Often, that’s not the case when meditation is the prescription. 

Many business owners are inconsistent with meditation because they don’t understand the significant impact that daily meditation at a certain time can have on reducing burnout and speeding up recovery. If you meditate for two days, then feel a little better and go back to your normal habits, you did little to rewire yourself or shift your consciousness — just like eating spinach twice will not make you lean (or Popeye). The brain requires strong and frequent action to forge “synaptic strength.” 

When I’m guiding my leaders through specific meditations (before they start work is key), it’s not just about the type of meditation: It’s about the consistency and actions that are taken afterward that also create a shift away from burnout. But variety is key in biohacking.

In the early stages, guided meditations are better for newcomers to meditation, especially entrepreneurs who have struggled in the past with being consistent. The mind wanders too much when there are simply sounds and music. If they are too “boring” for the ego early on, the impatient entrepreneur’s mind will sabotage the long-term benefits. It’s a trap so many fall into. I once did too. 

Biohack No. 2: Awareness elevation

Neuroscience teaches us that education alone isn’t enough to change us. The best example of this is courage (a key part of bouncing back from burnout). You don’t become a courageous person from reading about courage. However, someone can bring awareness to a part of your personality that you may not be aware of, and then you get the opportunity to take a different action. If you always give your friends advice and get frustrated with nothing changing, it’s likely because of this very principle. People have to want change badly enough to enact it. 

We can start to overcome burnout at work quickly when we get the right education and then act. When this happens over a sequence of days, this backs up the already shifted energy in the morning (via meditation), which acts as a baseline for conscious actions. Without this, the actions are less likely because energies such as fear are still active in the nervous system. The body needs to feel safe to take action, which is a major factor in continued procrastination. 

Biohack No. 3: Breaking the “stuck” cycle

When stress and disconnection build up to a level that robs others of our presence, we get caught in a repetitive cycle doing the same thing over and over again. This creates more frustration. When I’m guiding my clients back into flow, peace and ease in their business, to support the first two biohacks, I’m giving them specific micro-actions every day so that they alter what can become a mundane routine. 

This could be as simple as trying out a different coffee shop, but builds over time until that spark and variety of life is injected, and the mind also starts to shift from its “mind-set-point.” When you hear “change your mindset,” it’s really about changing your actions, which comes from a different energetic system. Then, when we feel good about what we just did or revisit what we once lost, we go back into business with that fire, happiness and love that were temporarily lost because of the disconnection between the mind and the heart.

These elements work on their own and together, much like a truly healthy smoothie; one ingredient can work well, but it’s better to shoot for the ideal blend that works together for optimum results, especially if you want to be back to your best.

If you’re reading this and feel compelled to take action, yet continue not to act, you’re training yourself to repeat the same inaction. Do something now. There is a window of opportunity that was just opened for you.

Written By
Simon Lovell
Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor

Simon Lovell’s clients hire him to develop their emotional superpowers for next-level success and happiness. He is the creator of the Super High-Performance Formula and author of ‘The Black Ball: Does Anybody Else Have A Secret?’

Proteins could be key to long and healthy life

Developing drugs that target these proteins could be one way of slowing the ageing process, according to the largest genetic study of ageing.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on The University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh - January 24, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-021-00159-8

Our Takeaway:

  • 2 proteins are identified to have significant negative effects across ageing measures.
  • Individuals with raised levels these 2 proteins (LPA & VCAM1), are less likely to live longer lives.
  • High levels of LPA can increase the risk of atherosclerosis. Heart disease and stroke is also possible.
  • VCAM1 helps with blood clotting and the immune response and increases when it has detected an infection.
  • Studies are being done to lower these proteins when elevated.

As we age, our bodies begin to decline after we reach adulthood, which results in age-related diseases and death. This latest research investigates which proteins could influence the ageing process.

Many complex and related factors determine the rate at which we age and die, and these include genetics, lifestyle, environment and chance. The study sheds light on the part proteins play in this process.

Inheritance

Some people naturally have higher or lower levels of certain proteins because of the DNA they inherit from their parents. These protein levels can, in turn, affect a person’s health.

University of Edinburgh researchers combined the results of six large genetic studies into human ageing – each containing genetic information on hundreds of thousands of people,

Among 857 proteins studied, researchers identified two that had significant negative effects across various ageing measures.

People who inherited DNA that causes raised levels of these proteins were frailer, had poorer self-rated health and were less likely to live an exceptionally long life than those who did not.

Protein roles

The first protein, called apolipoprotein(a) (LPA), is made in the liver and thought to play a role in clotting. High levels of LPA can increase the risk of atherosclerosis – a condition in which arteries become clogged with fatty substances. Heart disease and stroke is a possible outcome.

The second protein, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1), is primarily found on the surfaces of endothelial cells – a single-cell layer that lines blood vessels. The protein controls vessels’ expansion and retraction – and function in blood clotting and the immune response.

Levels of VCAM1 increase when the body sends signals to indicate it has detected an infection, VCAM1 then allows immune cells to cross the endothelial layer (a thin membrane that lines the inside of the heart and blood vessels), as seen for people who have naturally low levels of these proteins.

Improved ageing

The researchers say that drugs used to treat diseases by reducing levels of LPA and VCAM1 could have the added benefit of improving quality and length of life.  

One such example is a clinical trial that is testing a drug to lower LPA as a way of reducing the risk of heart disease.

There are currently no clinical trials involving VCAM1, but studies in mice have shown how antibodies lowering this protein’s level improved cognition during old age.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Aging.

Biohacking 101: A Novice’s Guide to Molding Your Mind and Boosting Your Body

The fountain of youth (and performance) has never felt closer. Just check out these seven stepping stones.

By Hayley Helms

Updated: Jan 15, 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on GEAR PATROL

Edited for content

We’re in the infancy of 2022, and the air is thick with resolutions. People are eating healthier, growing their savings accounts and shrinking their waistlines.

You’ve probably got your fitness routine mapped out for the first month of the year, and maybe it includes lifting more weights, running more miles or squatting more squats. But does your carefully planned regimen include biohacking?

First off, what is biohacking? To the uninitiated, it sounds like some sort of sci-fi cyborg concept, and for the fringes of the biohacking community that are getting microchips implanted in their brains, bionic eyes and the like, that’s exactly what it is.

But for the average, about-to-be-above-average person, biohacking covers any clever DIY shortcut that provides an unexpected edge: heat and cold therapy, infrared saunas, intermittent fasting, adding adaptogens and supplements to your routine, and so on. Heck, you may even be biohacking right now, and not even know it.

The cleanest definition comes from self-help guru Tony Robbins and co.: “Biohacking your body means changing your chemistry and your physiology through science and self-experimentation to increase energy and vitality.”

Biohacking is rich with opportunities to maximize your workouts, heal your body and enhance your overall performance. It can be as basic as switching to organic foods and beverages — or as complex as cryotherapy to reboot your cellular system.

Need guidance where to start? I suggest keeping it simple. As noted in our recent Library of Pursuits course, one of the most helpful methods in developing a plan is to identify your goals, then tailor biohacking methods to help you reach them. Try hacks that fit into your existing lifestyle. They’ll be easier to implement and stick to — and give you the confidence to branch out from there.

Here are seven realistic jumping-off points — complete with products to optimize your experience, of course. Happy hacking.

1. Get More Out of Your Morning Joe

The jury is still out on whether coffee, or more specifically, caffeine, is beneficial for health, but if you’ve determined it works for you, try upgrading it. Biohacking works best when it can be integrated into already firmly set habits; as any ca-fiend knows, it’s an integral part of the morning routine.

Four Sigmatic’s coffee is infused with mushrooms and adaptogens, giving you a jolt of energy with caffeine, but also balance, brain power or restoration, depending what you need. The Ground Mushroom Coffee With Lion’s Mane is the “Think” brew, thanks to 250mg of lionsmane and chaga mushrooms, each. Lionsmane has been shown to increase focus and brain function, while chaga has been used for centuries to support immune function. Swapping out your standard brew for this tasty upgrade is an easy and hassle-free hack.

2. Eat Drink Your Greens

You’ve been told to eat your greens since childhood, but I’m willing to bet there are a fair amount of you out there, reading these words, avoiding those leafy greens like the plague.

Avoid health no longer, and enjoy the perks of produce with Athletic Greens, a powder supplement that can be added to water or smoothies and contains a hard-to-believe amount of goodness inside every single scoop serving.

Athletic Greens checks all the modern dietary marks: It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and contains no added sugar. What isn’t it free from? I’m glad you asked. The powerful powder contains the equivalent of 12 servings of fruits and veggies per scoop, as well as probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and immune-supporting mushrooms.

3. Take the Plunge

One of the more popular biohacking methods, plunging yourself into icy cold water, may sound like a recipe for disaster (or catching a cold), but studies as well as anecdotal evidence are showing that immersing yourself in cold water daily has a wealth of health benefits, including immune system support, increased blood flow, boosted metabolism and sleep, increased energy and lowered inflammation, to name a few.

Cold water plunges are a form of whole body cryotherapy, a method of biohacking that exposes you to extremely cold temperatures, which initially constricts blood flow. Upon leaving the plunge tank, there’s a rush of blood back to the tissues. Consistent practice brings benefits including reduced inflammation, faster muscle recovery, reduced risk of dementia and more.

The Plunge uses cooling, filtration and sanitation to deliver clean and cold water — think, 39 degrees Fahrenheit cold — whenever you want it. You can use it inside or outside, depending where you live.

4. Score Some Magic Mushrooms

No, not those magic mushrooms. We’re talking about the non-psychoactive, but still powerful kind — reishi, lion’s mane, chaga, cordyceps and turkey tail. Collectively, these five fungi are loaded with antioxidants, plus the potential to improve mood and immunity, boost energy, fight inflammation and maybe even fight cancer. You can add them to curries, salads, risottos or other dishes, or if you’re looking for a quicker option, you can take them in powder form.

Alchemi makes a mushroom powder that’s tasty on its own thanks to ingredients like cinnamon, cacao and coconut milk, but you can also add it to teas and chai lattes for a flavor — and brain — boost.

5. Pour a Cleaner Glass of Vino

You may not partake in Dry January, and that’s cool. To each their own. If you’re going to keep indulging into the new year, there are a couple ways to still incorporate a bit of body-friendly biohacking. The first option? Simply cut back your consumption. The second option: Upgrade your drink of choice to something cleaner, with fewer chemicals and less sugar than traditional alcohol.

Have your lips ever gotten stained from a glass of red wine? Yeah, that’s not just because of your favorite cab’s hue — that’s dye, added to make reds appear redder and more appealing. Grossed out? Switch to natural wines, which are farmed organically, have no additives or processing and are produced with natural fermentation.

One standout is Dry Farms Wine, which creates non-processed wines that go above and beyond the industry standards, resulting in a drink that’s free of sugar and additives, lower alcohol and produced with organic farming methods. The wines are keto and paleo friendly, vegan and biodynamic.

Sign up for its membership program, and pick your wine color, box size and how often you’d like to enjoy it. Dry Farms curates a box unique to your choices, alongside a 100% Happiness Promise, offering to either replace the bottle or refund you in full if you’re not satisfied.

6. Roll It Out

Foam rolling, a biohack? Why not?

Although it may feel like a commonplace technique, foam rolling is a recovery biohack, offering benefits including relieved muscle tightness and tension, increased range of motion, improved relaxation and sleep, and relief from back pain.

There are a multitude of foam rollers on the market, but I recommend the Trigger Point Grid 1.0 Foam Roller. The multi-density foam on the surface works out sore muscles, and also channels blood and oxygen to all the right places for enhanced muscle recovery. At under $40, it’s affordable, portable and easy to use.

7. Meditate On It

You’ve no doubt heard about the benefits of meditation. Although it’s a practice rooted deeply in history, over the last few years everyone and their brother seems to be touting its benefits, from CEOs to celebrities.

There’s a reason why: Studies show that a consistent meditation practice can yield reduced stress, better sleep, increased focus and improved relationships. But how do you fit it into a busy schedule? And how do you even meditate, anyway?

Meditation apps like Headspace answer your burning questions and provide guidance as you embark on your mindfulness mission. Based in research, Headspace offers a 10-day beginner’s course as part of its free trial, and once you subscribe, hundreds of exercises for mindfulness, sleep, focus and more. You can listen on your phone, tablet or computer, or even download sessions to check out when you are, say, seeking a little solace while masked up the middle row on a cross-country flight.

Drinking Coffee: Study Finds Both Beneficial and Harmful Short-Term Health Effects

This article is a repost which originally appeared on SciTechDaily
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION - JANUARY 19, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT03671759

Key Points:

  • A randomized trial to study caffeinated coffee consumption among 100 volunteers for two weeks found both potentially beneficial and harmful short-term health consequences of drinking coffee.
  • When participants were randomly assigned to drink coffee, they were more physically active, yet they also had an increased number of abnormal heartbeats and slept less compared to when they were randomly assigned to avoid all caffeine.

Drinking caffeinated coffee appears to have both beneficial and harmful short-term health effects: increased abnormal heartbeats, increased physical activity, and reduced sleep duration, according to research that was presented at American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2021.

“Coffee is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world, yet its health effects remain uncertain,” said study author Gregory Marcus, M.D., M.A.S., associate chief of cardiology for research and endowed professor of atrial fibrillation research at the University of California, San Francisco. “While the majority of long-term observational studies have suggested multiple potential benefits of drinking coffee, this is the first randomized trial to investigate the real-time, physiologic consequences of coffee consumption.”

Marcus and colleagues enrolled 100 adult volunteers, and they were assigned to wear continuously recording ECG devices (to track heart rhythm), wrist-worn devices to track physical activity and sleep; and continuous glucose monitors to track blood sugar levels for two weeks. The participants were an average age of 38 years, 51% were women and 48% were white. Researchers also obtained DNA saliva samples from the participants to assess genetic variants that may affect caffeine metabolism.

Participants were then randomly assigned to either avoid or consume coffee for no more than two consecutive days each for 14 consecutive days. Coffee and espresso consumption were recorded in real time via a “time stamp button” on the ECG monitor, and researchers tracked trips to coffee shops with geotracking. In addition, participants completed daily questionnaires to detail how much coffee they had consumed every morning.

The analysis found that coffee consumption was associated with a 54% increase in premature ventricular contractions, a type of abnormal heartbeat originating in the lower heart chambers reported to feel like a skipped heartbeat. In contrast, drinking more coffee was associated with fewer episodes of supraventricular tachycardia, an abnormally rapid heart rhythm arising from the upper heart chambers.

Consuming coffee was consistently associated with more physical activity as well as less sleep. Specifically:

  • Participants who consumed coffee logged more than 1,000 additional steps per day compared to days when they did not drink coffee.
  • On the days participants drank coffee, they had 36 fewer minutes of sleep per night according to their Fitbit devices.
  • Drinking more than one coffee drink more than doubled the number of irregular heartbeats arising from the heart’s lower chambers.
  • Each additional cup of coffee consumed was associated with nearly 600 more steps per day and 18 fewer minutes of sleep per night.
  • There were no differences in continuously recorded glucose measured when the study participants consumed versus avoided coffee.

These findings were corroborated by analyses of adherence to their randomization assignment and amplified when more versus less coffee was consumed.

“More physical activity, which appears to be prompted by coffee consumption, has numerous health benefits, such as reduced risks of Type 2 diabetes and several cancers, and is associated with greater longevity,” Marcus said. “On the other hand, reduced sleep is associated with a variety of adverse psychiatric, neurologic and cardiovascular outcomes. More frequent abnormal heartbeats from the upper heart chambers influence risk of atrial fibrillation, and more frequent abnormal beats from the lower chambers, or ventricles, increase the risk of heart failure. These results highlight the complex relationship between coffee and health.”

The study participants with genetic variants associated with faster caffeine metabolism exhibited more abnormal heart beats originating in the ventricles, or PVCs, when more caffeinated coffee was consumed. The slower an individual metabolized caffeine based on their genetics, the more sleep they lost when they drank caffeinated coffee.

The investigators also sought to determine if changes in exercise or sleep influenced coffee’s effects on abnormal heart rhythms, and no such association was identified.

Marcus noted that because coffee was randomly assigned to the study participants, cause-and-effect can be inferred. These observations were made during repeated assessments of days when coffee was consumed versus when it was not for each study participant, eliminating concerns regarding differences in individual-level characteristics as an explanation for these results.

Why Does Exercise Improve Brain Health as You Age? Scientists Just Unlocked a Major Key To Finding Out

It’s a well-known fact that exercise and mental health are intertwined. When you get sweaty, you’re boosting your mood, increasing your self-esteem, and improving your memory and focus. Now, there’s a new reason to sweat: Research hailing from the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, indicates that movement may also play a major role in guarding our brains against dementia as we age.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Well + Good

Kells McPhillips - January 17, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels
Source: https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12530

Our Takeaways:

  • A healthy brain is one that transmits electrical signals effortlessly through the synapses in our brains.
  • The study examined the level of physical activity that the participants had before they passed away.
  • The more someone exercises, the more protective proteins develop in their brain—regardless of whether or not the person breaking a sweat already has markers for Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the study confirmed that exercise has a protective effect on the human brain—especially in later age. Scientists have long observed this benefit of exercise in mice test subjects before, but discovering the same relationship between movement and cognitive longevity in the human brain constitutes a major scientific milestone. The minds at UC-San Francisco uncovered this exercise-brain connection by studying people who donated their brains to scientific research as part of the Memory and Aging Project at Rush University in Chicago. The brains studied belonged to people who were between 70 and 80 years old at the time of their deaths.

Here’s how they figured it out. A healthy brain is one that transmits electrical signals effortlessly through the synapses in our brains. You can think of synapses as little doorways between neurons that let the signals squeeze through, and proteins are essential for the maintenance of these little doorways. “There are many proteins present at the synapse that help facilitate different aspects of the cell-to-cell communication. Those proteins need to be in balance with one another in order for the synapse to function optimally,” writes study author Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD.

As part of their research, Dr. Casaletto’s team looked at the level of physical activity that the study participants had before they passed away—and found that those who exercised more tended to have more of those protective proteins in their brains. “We found that higher levels of everyday physical activity in older adults relate to higher levels of these synaptic proteins in brain tissue at autopsy,” Dr. Casaletto tells Well+Good. “These are correlative so we do not know directionality, but it suggests that physical activity may promote maintenance of these protein levels even into the oldest ages.”

“These findings begin to support the dynamic nature of the brain in response to our activities, and the capacity of the elderly brain to mount healthy responses to activity—again, even into the oldest ages.” — Kaitlin Casaletto, PhD

In short, this means that the more someone exercises, the more protective proteins develop in their brain—regardless of whether or not the person breaking a sweat already has markers for Alzheimer’s or dementia. “These findings begin to support the dynamic nature of the brain in response to our activities, and the capacity of the elderly brain to mount healthy responses to activity—again, even into the oldest ages. We also found fairly linear relationships—meaning the more physical activity, the higher the synaptic protein levels in brain tissue,” says Dr. Casaletto, adding that she recommends aiming for about 150 minutes a week of physical activity.

So next time you’re working out, make sure to dedicate a mile, burpee, or crunch to those little proteins in your brain. They’re doing a whole lot for you.

What’s the difference between sugar, other natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners? A food chemist explains sweet science

A quick walk down the drink aisle of any corner store reveals the incredible ingenuity of food scientists in search of sweet flavors. In some drinks you’ll find sugar. A diet soda might have an artificial or natural low-calorie sweetener. And found in nearly everything else is high fructose corn syrup, the king of U.S. sweetness.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on The Conversation
Kristine Nolin (Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Richmond) - January 5, 2022
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels

Our Takeaways:

  • Glucose is the most basic sugar and is mostly made by plants. Fructose is a sugar from fruit. Galactose is a sugar in milk. Table sugar comes from Sugar Cane.
  • High fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch, then treated with a second enzyme to convert some of it into fructose. Generally, high fructose corn syrup is roughly 42%-55% fructose.
  • Natural Non-sugar Sweeteners – These are food additives such as stevia and monk fruit, as well as natural sugar alcohols. These molecules aren’t sugars, but they can still bind to the sweet receptors and therefore taste sweet.
  • Artificial Sweeteners are produced in labs and factories and are not found in nature.

I am a chemist who studies compounds found in nature, and I am also a lover of food. With confusing food labels claiming foods and beverages to be diet, zero-sugar or with “no artificial sweeteners,” it can be confusing to know exactly what you are consuming.

So what are these sweet molecules? How can cane sugar and artificial sweeteners produce such similar flavors? First, it is helpful to understand how taste buds work.

Taste buds and chemistry

The “taste map” – the idea that you taste different flavors on different parts of your tongue – is far from the truth. People are able to taste all flavors anywhere there are taste buds. So what’s a taste bud?

Taste buds are areas on your tongue that contain dozens of taste receptor cells. These cells can detect the five flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. When you eat, food molecules are dissolved in saliva and then washed across the taste buds, where they bind to the different taste receptor cells. Only molecules with certain shapes can bind to certain receptors, and this produces the perception of different flavors.

Molecules that taste sweet bind to specific proteins on the taste receptor cells called G-proteins. When a molecule binds these G-proteins, it triggers a series of signals that are sent to the brain where it is interpreted as sweet.

Natural sugars

Natural sugars are types of carbohydrates known as saccharides that are made of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. You can imagine sugars as rings of carbon atoms with pairs of oxygen and hydrogen attached to the outside of the rings. The oxygen and hydrogen groups are what make sugar sticky to the touch. They behave like Velcro, sticking to the oxygen and hydrogen pairs on other sugar molecules.

The simplest sugars are single-molecule sugars called monosaccharides. You’ve probably heard of some of these. Glucose is the most basic sugar and is mostly made by plants. Fructose is a sugar from fruit. Galactose is a sugar in milk.

Table sugar – or sucrose, which comes from sugar cane – is an example of a dissacharide, a compound made of two monosaccharides. Sucrose is formed when a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule join together. Other common dissacharides are lactose from milk and maltose, which comes grains.

When these sugars are eaten, the body processes each of them slightly differently. But eventually they are broken down into molecules that your body converts into energy. The amount of energy from sugar – and all food – is measured in calories.

High fructose corn syrup

High fructose corn syrup is a staple of U.S. foods, and this hybrid sugar sweetener needs a category all on its own. High fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch – the main carbohydrate found in corn. Corn starch is made of thousands of glucose molecules bonded together. At an industrial scale, the starch is broken into individual glucose molecules using enzymes. This glucose is then treated with a second enzyme to convert some of it into fructose. Generally, high fructose corn syrup is roughly 42%-55% fructose.

This blend is sweet and cheap to produce but has a high calorie content. As with other natural sugars, too much high fructose corn syrup is bad for your health. And since most processed foods and drinks are packed full of the stuff, it is easy to consume too much.

Natural nonsugar sweeteners

The second category of sweeteners could be defined as natural nonsugar sweeteners. These are food additives such as stevia and monk fruit, as well as natural sugar alcohols. These molecules aren’t sugars, but they can still bind to the sweet receptors and therefore taste sweet.

Stevia is a molecule that comes from the leaves of the Stevia redaudiana plant. It contains “sweet” molecules that are much larger than most sugars and have three glucose molecules attached to them. These molecules are 30 to 150 times sweeter than glucose itself. The sweet molecules from monk fruit are similar to stevia and 250 times sweeter than glucose.

The human body has a really hard time breaking down both stevia and monk fruit. So even though they’re both really sweet, you don’t get any calories from eating them.

Sugar alcohols, like sorbital, for example, are not as sweet as sucrose. They can be found in a variety of foods, including pineapples, mushrooms, carrots and seaweed, and are often added to diet drinks, sugar-free chewing gum and many other foods and drinks. Sugar alcohols are made of chains of carbon atoms instead of circles like normal sugars. While they are composed of the same atoms as the sugars, sugar alcohols are not absorbed well by the body so they are considered low-calorie sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners

The third way to make something sweet is to add artificial sweeteners. These chemicals are produced in labs and factories and are not found in nature. Like all things that taste sweet, they do so because they can bind to certain receptors in taste buds.

So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved six artificial sweeteners. The most well known are probably saccharin, aspartame and sucralose – better known as Splenda. Artificial sweeteners all have different chemical formulas. Some resemble natural sugars while others are radically different. They are usually many times sweeter than sugar – saccharin is an incredible 200 to 700 times sweeter than table sugar – and some of them are hard for the body to break down.

While a sweet dessert may be a simple pleasure for many, the chemistry of how your taste buds perceive sweetness is not so simple. Only molecules with the perfect combination of atoms taste sweet, but bodies deal with each of these molecules differently when it comes to calories.

How to reverse your bio age — like Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos — in 8 weeks

By Lucy Dunn

This article is a repost which originally appeared on NEW YORK POST

Edited for content

A slew of celebrities are said to practice bio-hacking. Now, a new book claims it can help reverse your “bio age.”

Jeff Bezos’ makeover from scrawny to strapping was highlighted again over Christmas, as the Amazon founder flaunted his shirtless muscles while in St. Barts with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. The world’s second-richest man has long claimed that healthy eating — including, he has said, ditching his habit of eating an entire can of Pillsbury biscuits for breakfast — and sleep habits led to his transformation. But experts suggest Bezos is, like many other A-listers and tech titans, probably a fan of biohacking.

“Access to biohacking tools such as stem cells and hormones is allowing men to look, perform and think better,” cosmetic dermatologist Jessie Cheung told Town & Country. “I’m pretty sure he’s gotten a taste of some good stuff.”

Bezos has also invested millions of dollars in Unity Biotechnology, a startup that reportedly aims to make the “debilitating consequences of aging as uncommon as polio.”

And who wouldn’t want to look a little younger, have fewer wrinkles and feel more energetic — and a little less creaky? The book “Younger You: Reverse Your Bio Age and Live Longer, Better” (Hachette Go) by Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, out Jan. 18, aims to show what you can do to look and feel younger longer, in as little as eight weeks.

It’s not quite “Back To The Future.” But Fitzgerald, a doctor in naturopathic medicine from National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Ore., says it is possible to reverse your biological age — or “bio age” — a term scientists use for determining how old someone’s tissues, systems and genetic material are.
“Younger You” by Dr. Kara FitzgeraldYounger You shares DIY biohacking tips.

As Bezos learned, poor diet, lifestyle and even factors such as stress can damage your body. But, Fitzgerald claims, getting those factors under control can help wind back your bio age for better cognition, higher energy and a more youthful appearance — and also lower your risk of every major disease.

The doctor recognizes that not everyone has the money, time or desire to pursue the form of biohacking that tech gurus like former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are said to enjoy: “Somewhere in Silicon Valley right now (so many biohackers seem to be male, tech-friendly, and wealthy), someone is injecting themself with human growth hormone, receiving an IV of a young person’s blood plasma, taking an immunosuppressive drug, or even downing a cocktail of gene-editing enzymes and proteins in an effort to achieve maximum performance and longevity,” Fitzgerald writes. “While … I am paying attention to (and excited about) the latest anti-aging science, for most of us, [it’s] not available, affordable, doable, or even desirable.”

Instead, her plan focuses on DIY hacks.

The eating plan is “plant leaning” and similar to the popular keto diet in that the goal is to move your body into “ketosis” — the state where it makes ketones for fuel from fat instead of burning glucose.

“Younger You” concentrates on lowering inflammation (as Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen do), which has been linked to many major diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression and Alzheimer’s. It avoids excess sugar and simple carbs found in processed, refined foods like sugar, pasta and white bread — but also grains, beans and legumes, and dairy, which can raise blood sugar and cause inflammation.

Fitzgerald’s plan is based on research that was the first of its kind to show biological age reversal in humans, by an average of three years. Patients in her study showed an improvement in digestion, a drop in blood sugar and insulin production, and higher “good” cholesterol and lower “bad” cholesterol numbers. Lower levels of the antibodies that are hallmarks of autoimmune conditions were also reported.

The program is centered around genetics. Consider DNA as your body’s hardware: It never changes. The software — which determines which genes are turned on or off — is a process called “DNA methylation.”

“You want your DNA methylation to be working in such a way that your good genes [those that suppress tumor growth, for example] are on and your bad genes [for, say, inflammation] are off,” says Fitzgerald. The lifestyle choices you make every day — what you eat, when you go to bed, how much you exercise — can all negatively or positively influence it.

To discover your current bio age, go to biological-age.com, one of the many online links that deduce how “old” your body is based on factors such as education, relationships, and food, exercise and sleep habits.

Six tips for reducing your bio age

  1. Readjust your eating ratios

The ideal is 45–50 percent of daily calories from a blend of healthy monounsaturated, saturated, omega-3, and omega-6 fats; 15–20 percent of daily calories from clean protein: organic and pasture-raised meat, as well as eggs, nuts and seeds; and 30–35 percent of daily calories from unexpected carbs: green, cruciferous (broccoli, cauliflower) and colorful vegetables and low-sugar fruits.

  1. Get moving

A good workout session promotes cellular repair, burns fat and builds heart muscle. Fitzgerald recommends a minimum five sessions per week of at least thirty minutes at a moderate exertion level — and notes that even cleaning the house can help with anti-aging DNA changes.

  1. Manage your stress

Stress can increase inflammation, raise blood sugar and reduce immunity, so two daily meditation sessions of 10 to 20 minutes each are recommended. Try downloading a meditation app such as Headspace or Calm.

  1. Sleep it off

Getting enough sleep is a fundamental component of health overall — and healthy DNA methylation in particular. Try to get at least seven hours a night.

  1. Avoid toxins

Eat organic wherever possible. When it’s not, peel or soak vegetables in white vinegar to reduce toxin exposure. Avoid using plastic food and drink containers, as well as lotions and sunscreens that contain chemicals like phthalates, parabens, formaldehydes, and methylene glycol.

  1. Hug it out

Known as the love hormone, oxytocin is released when you enjoy physical contact with someone else. It also has a number of benefits — including helping cope with stress and recover from trauma. Oxytocin has even been found to lower blood pressure and can help you stop eating when you’re full.

What to Eat — and What Not to Eat

Good vegetables

Antioxidant-rich colorful vegetables such as artichokes, bell peppers, eggplant, green peas, radishes, summer squash, tomatoes and zucchini

Cruciferous vegetables such as arugula, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, turnips and watercress

Dark leafy greens such as collard greens, escarole, lettuce (endive, green, mesclun, radicchio, romaine — but not iceberg), spinach and Swiss chard

Bad vegetables

Corn, processed vegetable snacks, white potatoes

Good fats

Nuts and seeds including almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, hazelnuts, hemp seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, poppy seeds, sesame seeds (and tahini) and walnuts

Oils including almond oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, MCT oil, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, red palm oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil and walnut oil

Bad fats

Peanuts

Oils such as cottonseed oil, Crisco, hydrogenated fats, margarine, shortening, soybean oil, trans fats, vegetable oil

Good proteins

Beef (grass-fed), bison, buffalo, chicken (organic), duck, eggs, fish (wildcaught or responsibly farmed and with low mercury), lamb, pork, rabbit, shellfish and turkey

Bad proteins

Any meat from animals raised with antibiotics or hormones, fried meats and fish, high-mercury fish, and processed meats including sausage, hot dogs, cold cuts and canned meats

Also avoid dairy — including milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir and butter; and all soy, including soy sauce, soybean oil, soy milk, soy yogurt and textured vegetable protein

Good fruits

Avocado, blood oranges, blueberries, grapefruit, green apples, lemon, lime, pomegranate seeds, raspberries, strawberries

Bad fruit

Bananas, mangos, oranges, pineapples, red and yellow apples, and stone fruits such as peaches and apricots

Good condiments

Avocado-oil mayonnaise, Baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast, mustard, nutritional yeast, salsa (no sugar added), tamari (low sodium), vinegars

Bad condiments

Prepared sauces with sugar and additives, including BBQ sauce, honey mustard, ketchup and teriyaki sauce, as well as store-bought salad dressing

Good sweeteners

Minimal amounts of natural no-calorie sweeteners that don’t impact blood sugar, including erythritol, monkfruit and stevia

Bad sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners, coconut sugar, evaporated cane juice, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, molasses and refined sugar

Good drinks

Coconut water, coffee, green tea, herbal tea, oolong tea, seltzer, water (filtered, mineral, or spring)

Bad drinks

Alcohol, fruit juice and soft drinks — including diet soda.

Try this recipe for Golden Turmeric Milk (1 serving)

This tasty beverage gets its color from turmeric — the “clean-up crew” for life’s inevitable biochemical messes. Tip: You can triple or quadruple the amounts of spices and store the blend in a glass jar for future cups — just add a rounded 1 1/2 teaspoons to your nondairy milk and sweetener of choice.

1 1/2 cups coconut or almond milk, unsweetened

1 teaspoon turmeric
 1/4 teaspoon ginger
 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
¹⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
 A few drops of liquid stevia, to taste
  1. 1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

2. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes for the spices to mellow and blend together. Enjoy while still warm.

Grow and Eat Your Own Vaccines? Using Plants As mRNA Factories

The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.

This article is a repost which originally appeared on ScienceTechDaily
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - RIVERSIDE JANUARY 2, 2022 
Edited for content and readability - Images sourced from Pexels  
Source: https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2021/09/16/grow-and-eat-your-own-vaccines

Our Key Takeaways:

  • A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will allow UC Riverside scientists to study whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce or spinach into mRNA vaccine factories
  • The goal: To demonstrate that plants can produce enough mRNA to rival a traditional shot
  • Key to making this work are chloroplasts — small organs in plant cells that convert sunlight into energy the plant can use

The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.

Messenger RNA or mRNA technology, used in COVID-19 vaccines, works by teaching our cells to recognize and protect us against infectious diseases.

One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage. If this new project is successful, plant-based mRNA vaccines — which can be eaten — could overcome this challenge with the ability to be stored at room temperature.

The project’s goals, made possible by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, are threefold: showing that DNA containing the mRNA vaccines can be successfully delivered into the part of plant cells where it will replicate, demonstrating the plants can produce enough mRNA to rival a traditional shot, and finally, determining the right dosage.

“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person,” said Juan Pablo Giraldo, an associate professor in UCR’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences who is leading the research, done in collaboration with scientists from UC San Diego and Carnegie Mellon University.

“We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens,” Giraldo said. “Farmers could also eventually grow entire fields of it.”

Key to making this work are chloroplasts — small organs in plant cells that convert sunlight into energy the plant can use. “They’re tiny, solar-powered factories that produce sugar and other molecules which allow the plant to grow,” Giraldo said. “They’re also an untapped source for making desirable molecules.”

In the past, Giraldo has shown that it is possible for chloroplasts to express genes that aren’t naturally part of the plant. He and his colleagues did this by sending foreign genetic material into plant cells inside a protective casing. Determining the optimal properties of these casings for delivery into plant cells is a specialty of Giraldo’s laboratory.

For this project Giraldo teamed up with Nicole Steinmetz, a UC San Diego professor of nanoengineering, to utilize nanotechnologies engineered by her team that will deliver genetic material to the chloroplasts.

“Our idea is to repurpose naturally occurring nanoparticles, namely plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants,” Steinmetz said. “Some engineering goes into this to make the nanoparticles go to the chloroplasts and also to render them non-infectious toward the plants.”

For Giraldo, the chance to develop this idea with mRNA is the culmination of a dream. “One of the reasons I started working in nanotechnology was so I could apply it to plants and create new technology solutions. Not just for food, but for high-value products as well, like pharmaceuticals,” Giraldo said.

Giraldo is also co-leading a related project using nanomaterials to deliver nitrogen, a fertilizer, directly to chloroplasts, where plants need it most.

Nitrogen is limited in the environment, but plants need it to grow. Most farmers apply nitrogen to the soil. As a result, roughly half of it ends up in groundwater, contaminating waterways, causing algae blooms, and interacting with other organisms. It also produces nitrous oxide, another pollutant.

This alternative approach would get nitrogen into the chloroplasts through the leaves and control its release, a much more efficient mode of application that could help farmers and improve the environment.

The National Science Foundation has granted Giraldo and his colleagues $1.6 million to develop this targeted nitrogen delivery technology.

“I’m very excited about all of this research,” Giraldo said. “I think it could have a huge impact on peoples’ lives.”

Should you be exercising your penis?

Should you be exercising your penis?

Rumours relating to hacking your sex life with the likes of ‘penis gyms’ and ‘penis training programs’ have been doing the rounds in recent weeks. So far so curious. But are these practices really a thing and if so, who is doing them and do they actually work?

Are penis workouts going to be incorporated into your normal gym routine? / Jesper Aggergaard

21 January 2020

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Evening Standard

You are by now probably familiar with the concept of biohacking, namely the self-improvement trend started by a handful of individuals who, venturing into the unknown, made it their mission to find whatever means, from microdosing to eccentric exercise trends and extraordinary diets to enhance their physical, cerebral and even spiritual function.

Five or so years later Silicon Valley caught on with the likes of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and former Facebook president Sean Parker joining the brigade and forking out tens of thousands of dollars to improve everything from their productivity to muscle condition. Often they turned to the world’s biohacking ‘gurus’, self-experimenting guinea pigs and lifestyle enhancers such as Ben Greenfield, Tim Ferriss and Gwern, as their guides, eschewing traditional medical professionals, presumably preferring the more macho and unconventional approach. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that approximately 90% of biohackers are men…

Washington State based Greenfield is an elite biohacker who says he has a biological age of nine and makes a successful living documenting his quest for the world’s most effective means of physical and cerebral enhancement. While his practice is vast and varied, covering everything from microdosing LSD to supplementation and a process described as a ‘full-body stem-cell local’ whereby every joint in the body is injected with stem cells, it is arguably his reporting on sexual performance technologies and comments on penis gyms (he wrote a blog post entitled ‘how to make your penis stronger with a Private Gym’), which have garnered most attention. On day one of the 30-day Private Gym program Greenfield wrote, ‘I start round one of my training: contract, relax, contract, relax, five rounds done. 20 rapid flexes, done. 20 second hold, done. My penis quivers (oh geez, did I just write that?) under the weight towards the end.’ It’s undeniably attention-grabbing stuff.

And before those of you with a better-than-average anatomical knowledge flag – correctly – that contrary to popular belief the so-called love muscle contains no muscle and therefore can’t be trained, we know. And so does Greenfield. What he colloquially refers to in this way is in fact – less thrillingly – known as pelvic floor training.

Long considered a woman’s work, pelvic floor exercises tone the muscles that support the uterus. Done daily they can ease childbirth, prevent incontinence and even improve your sex life. Now however, experts are keen to flag that men have the same network of muscles as women. Extending like a hammock from the tailbone to the pubic bone they support the back, abdomen, bladder and bowel helping to maintain faecal and urinary continence. In male bodies these muscles also surround the base of the penis and are activated during erection, orgasm and ejaculation, as well as being responsible for the surge of blood flow to the penis.

Medical evidence suggests that done correctly male pelvic floor exercises taught by the likes of Professor Grace Dorey a professor emeritus of physiotherapy and urology at The University of West England can improve pelvic floor control, urinary function (particularly after radical prostatectomy surgery to treat prostate cancer) and sometimes even sexual function. Doctors explain that like all muscles, pelvic ones weaken with age, but can be strengthened by tightening the muscles used to cut off a flow of urine midstream. Held for a few seconds this contraction is then released and the motion repeated 10 to 15 times.

There is unsurprisingly, a budding market of systems to aid men with such ‘exercises’. Greenfield’s preferred Private Gym for example, includes an instructional DVD and small, ultralight weights on a silicone band that fits around the penis and is intended for men who want to add a little resistance training to their routines. The KegelPad meanwhile is another tool designed to aid good practice. Of the former Professor Dorey, has gone as far as to say ‘ It’s as good as Viagra, without the costs and the side effects…the pelvic floor muscles provide the base for the erection — for the penis to sit on, if you will.”

That said Karl Monahan of London’s The Pelvic Pain Clinic recommends that patients practice due diligence when purchasing such items, taking the time to identify companies that are legitimate and well intentioned. ‘Choose those which offer sound, medically supported programs and clinical trials,’ he says. Moreover, many of the symptoms associated with poor pelvic health actually have separate root causes that should be professionally diagnosed and treated. ‘Working with an experienced specialist is the best way for men suffering with pelvic floor related symptoms,’ he explains. ‘Unguided programs can also lead to patients overdoing their pelvic floor exercises, which can in turn, have dramatic effects on their pelvic health.’

Greenfield too warns against seeing biohacking and hacking technologies as quick fix. ‘A negative implication of the proliferation of these self-improvement methods is that people are inherently lazy and so in many cases [think] these biohacks can be used as a shortcut,’ he tells us. ‘But biohacking is not a shortcut. It’s the use of science or technology to enhance human biology, but always needs to be paired with actual hard work and dedication.’