Gary‘s Daily Health News - Vol. 10

Rooibos, a supportive role to play during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Cape Peninsula University of Technology (South Africa), September 7, 2021

This article presents the potential health benefits of Rooibos to be considered a support during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has led to severe morbidity and mortality. The highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 is known to prime a cytokine storm in patients and progression to acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome. Based on clinical features, the pathology of acute respiratory disorder induced by SARS-CoV-2 suggests that excessive inflammation, oxidative stress, and dysregulation of the renin angiotensin system are likely contributors to the COVID-19 disease. Rooibos, a well-known herbal tea, consumed for centuries, has displayed potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, redox modulating, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, cardiometabolic support and organoprotective potential. This article describes how Rooibos can potentially play a supportive role by modulating the risk of some of the comorbidities associated with COVID-19 in order to promote general health during infections.

Oxidative stress is causally involved in the development of some chronic diseases (CVD and diabetes) and inflammatory responses, that increase the risk of a severe outcome from COVID-19. Rooibos and its phytochemical constituents are increasingly under scientific inquiry for their potential beneficial effects on health. These beneficial effects are, in part related to the potent antioxidant and redox modulatory potential, underscoring the preventative and protective roles against poor health and disease. Specific effects relating to metabolic diseases include protection against oxidative distress and inflammation as well as maintaining glucose homeostasis.

The bioactivity of Rooibos is multi-faceted with numerous beneficial targets. Several lines of scientific evidence as discussed in this article, suggest Rooibos to be of considerable benefit as a supportive approach in the current pandemic. Rooibos has a low toxicity profile and although the direct evidence for a Rooibos application in COVID-19 is currently unclear, numerous animal models and increasing human studies have documented its efficacy and safety in several relevant chronic non-communicable diseases, such as CVD and diabetes, oxidative distress, and inflammation as a support for general health and well-being. Its use during this pandemic by those with and without co-morbidities, as part of their daily health regime, could be highly beneficial. However, further clinical studies are required to validate this hypothesis.

Considering all the empirical evidence, it is rational to employ Rooibos as a support of general health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies suggest that it has potent antioxidant, antiviral and immunomodulating effects, which enhances the body’s natural defence system. However, it must be noted that Rooibos is not a drug or substitute for clinical treatment of COVID-19. To validate the clinical relevance of Rooibos selection, additional studies are needed to evaluate its use treating not only COVID-19 but also the common cold and other respiratory disorders.

 

Eating peanuts may lower risk of ischemic stroke, cardiovascular disease among Asians

Osaka University (Japan), Sept. 9, 2021

Asian men and women living in Japan who ate peanuts (on average 4-5 peanuts/day) had a lower risk of having an ischemic stroke or a cardiovascular disease event compared to those who did not eat peanuts, according to new research published today in Stroke, a journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

While previous studies have linked peanut consumption with improved cardiovascular health among Americans, researchers in this study specifically examined the link between peanut consumption and the incidence of different types of stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic) and cardiovascular disease events (such as stroke and ischemic heart disease) among Japanese men and women.

“We showed for the first time a reduced risk for ischemic stroke incidence associated with higher peanut consumption in an Asian population,” said lead study author Satoyo Ikehara, Ph.D., specially appointed associate professor of public health in the department of social medicine at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine in Suita, Japan. “Our results suggest that adding peanuts to your diet has a beneficial effect on the prevention of ischemic stroke.”

Peanuts are rich in heart-healthy nutrients, such as “monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber that help lower risk of cardiovascular disease by reducing risk factors, including high blood pressure, high blood levels of ’bad’ cholesterol and chronic inflammation,” Ikehara said.

Researchers examined the frequency of how often people reported eating peanuts in relation to stroke occurrence and cardiovascular disease. The analysis includes people who were recruited in two phases, in 1995 and 1998-1999, for a total of more than 74,000 Asian men and women, ages 45 to 74, from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. Participants completed a comprehensive lifestyle survey, which included a questionnaire about the frequency of peanut consumption. They were followed for approximately 15 years – through 2009 or 2012, depending on when they were originally enrolled.

The incidence of stroke and ischemic heart disease were determined by linking with 78 participating hospitals in the areas included in the study.

Researchers adjusted for other health conditions, smoking, diet, alcohol consumption and physical activity, as detailed by participants in the questionnaires. According to medical records, researchers noted 3,599 strokes (2,223 ischemic and 1,376 hemorrhagic) and 849 cases of ischemic heart disease developed during the follow-up period.

The levels of peanut consumption were ranked in four quartiles, with 0 peanuts a day as the least intake compared to 4.3 unshelled peanuts a day (median) as the highest. Compared to a peanut-free diet, researchers found eating about 4-5 unshelled peanuts per day was associated with:

• 20% lower risk of ischemic stroke;
• 16% lower risk of total stroke; and
• 13% lower risk of having cardiovascular disease (this included both stroke and ischemic heart disease).
• A significant association was not found between peanut consumption and a lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke or ischemic heart disease.

The link between peanut consumption and lowered risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease was consistent in both men and women.

“The beneficial effect of peanut consumption on risk of stroke, especially ischemic stroke was found, despite the small quantity of peanuts eaten by study participants,” Ikehara said. “The habit of eating peanuts and tree nuts is still not common in Asian countries. However, adding even a small amount to one’s diet could be a simple yet effective approach to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

The American Heart Association recommends eating about five servings of unsalted nuts per week; one serving is ½ ounce (2 tablespoons) of nuts. Besides peanuts, the Association also says other healthy nut options include unsalted cashews, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and hazelnuts.

Several limitations were noted in the study, including the validity and reliability of peanut consumption measurements in the data collection and analysis. Bias caused by these measurements may lead to errors in the association. However, a measurement error correction analysis was performed, and the associations proved to be accurate.

 

Good sleep-time recovery is associated with a healthier diet and lower alcohol consumption

Good sleep-time recovery is associated with a health-promoting diet and health-promoting eating habits, as well as with lower consumption of alcohol, according to a new study investigating psychological and physiological well-being

University of Easterm Finland, September 8, 2021

 

The association of physiological recovery with nutrition has been studied only scarcely. Published in Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, a new study now investigates whether physiological recovery during sleep relates to eating behaviour and diet quality.

The study population consisted of 252 psychologically distressed adults with overweight, who participated in a lifestyle intervention study in three Finnish cities. Their recovery was measured on the basis of sleep-time heart rate variability recorded on three consecutive nights. Heart rate variability was used to measure both parasympathetic and sympathetic activation of the autonomic nervous system, and their relation, i.e., the balance between stress and recovery. The parasympathetic nervous system plays a key role in recovery, during which heart rate is decreased and heart rate variability is high.

The study participants’ eating behaviour was measured using four different questionnaires, and their diet quality and alcohol consumption was quantified using two different questionnaires and a 48-hour dietary recall. The aim was to explore the association between physiological recovery, diet quality, alcohol consumption and different aspects of eating behaviour, such as eating according to hunger and satiety cues. The present results are from the data collected at baseline before the lifestyle intervention.

According to the study, higher sleep-time parasympathetic activity, which is indicative of better physiological recovery, associates with more health-promoting diet quality and lower alcohol consumption, and possibly also with eating habits, especially factors affecting our decision to eat. Especially participants with a good stress balance reported better overall diet quality, higher fibre intake, stronger dietary self-control and lower alcohol consumption than those with a poorer stress balance.

However, the researchers point out that the cross-sectional study design allows no causality conclusions. In other words, it cannot be concluded from the results if better recovery leads to a healthier diet or if a healthy diet supports better recovery.

 

Nutritional supplementation during adolescence associated with lower risk of adult-onset MS 

Tehran University of Medical Sciences, September 8 2021. 

A population-based case-control study published in the November 1, 2021 issue of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders revealed a protective effect for a nutritious diet and supplementation with specific nutrients during adolescence against the development of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) in adulthood.

Primary progressive multiple sclerosis is a type of MS that progresses gradually from the initial appearance of symptoms without relapse or remission. An estimated 10 to 15% of patients with MS have PPMS.

“To the best of our knowledge, so far, no study has specifically investigated the effect of nutritional factors during adolescence on PPMS onset,” Nasim Rezaeimanesh and colleagues at Iran’s University of Medical Sciences announced.

The team compared 143 men and women diagnosed with PPMS to 400 sex-matched control subjects within the same community who did not have the disease. Questionnaire responses provided information concerning demographics and dietary and supplement intake between the ages of 13 and 19 years.

A significantly lower risk of PPMS was observed in association with greater adolescent intake of vegetables, fruit, nuts, dairy products, seafood and red meat. “The need of protein varies according to the degree of physical maturation,” Dr Rezaeimanesh and associates remarked. “Inadequate protein intake and iron deficiency anemia during adolescence could result in immune response impairment and infection susceptibility.”

Among fish oil users, the adjusted risk of developing PPMS was 52% lower than the risk experienced by those who did not consume fish oil. Multivitamin, calcium, iron, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C supplementation were associated with adjusted risk reductions of 33%, 84%, 17%, 38%, 88% and 92%.  

“Our data proposed that adequate intake of food groups and nutrient supplementation during adolescence may be effective in reducing adult-onset PPMS risk,” the authors concluded.

 

 

Green soy extract could prevent cognitive dysfunction

 

University of Shizuoka (Japan), September 13, 2021

 

Intake of green soybean extract could help reverse cognitive dysfunction and its associated accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain, say researchers.

 

The accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins has long been linked to the development of brain stunting conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. 

 

The new findings come from a Japanese trial in mice with cognitive dysfunction. Writing in the Journal of Functional Foods, the team revealed that brain functions were ‘significantly better-preserved’ in aged mice fed green soybean than age-matched control mice with or without yellow soybean feeding.

 

The molecular mechanisms of these beneficial effects on brain function were examined using transcriptome analysis.

 

An increased expression of lipocalin-type prostaglandin D₂ synthase (Ptgds) and a significant reduction in the amyloid precursor protein Aplp1 was reported by the team, led by Keiko Unno from the University of Shizuoka in Japan.

 

“As Ptgds binds and transports small lipophilic molecules (…) it has been proposed as the endogenous Aβ chaperone,” noted the team, adding that lower levels of the usually abundant protein “may play an important role in the development of dementia and of Alzheimer's disease (AD).”

“Furthermore, the amount of beta-amyloid 40 and 42 was reduced in the insoluble fraction of cerebral cortex,” the team noted.

 

Unno and colleagues noted that previous research has suggested several beneficial effects of soybean components such as so isoflavones, including previous suggestions of benefits for cognitive function and the prevention of oxidative damage.

 

In the current study, the isoflavones found to be present in soybean extracts were mostly the glycosides genstin and daidzin.

 

“The levels of genistein and daizein, aglycones of genstin and daidzin, respectively, were very low or not detected,” reported the team – adding that the content of oligo sugars, especially sucrose, was significantly higher in green soybean than in yellow.

 

Furthermore, the contents of saponin and carotene in green soybean were found to be slightly higher in the green than in yellow, however the contents of other components were not different between green and yellow soybeans.

 

“Soybean feeding did not change the weight of body, liver or cerebrum,” Unno and colleagues said – adding that the average food consumptions of each group were also not different. 

 

 

Study links free radicals to heart damage caused by cancer

Ohio State University, September 10, 2021

A new study in animal models shows that the presence of a cancer tumor alone can lead to cardiac damage, and suggests the culprits are molecules called free radicals interacting with specific cells in the heart.

Tumors in mice and fruit flies led to varying degrees of cardiac dysfunction – particularly a decrease in the heart’s blood-pumping capabilities.

Adding specific types of antioxidants to food consumed by fruit flies with tumors reversed the damage to their hearts – a finding suggesting that harm caused by free radicals was the likely link between cancer and cardiac dysfunction.

“Cancer becomes a systemic disease. It’s not just a tumor doing one thing,” said co-lead author Shubha Gururaja Rao, assistant professor of pharmacology at Ohio Northern University and an adjunct faculty member in physiology and cell biology at The Ohio State University.

Most of what is known about cancer’s link to heart damage relates to chemotherapy’s toxic effects and muscle wasting commonly experienced by cancer patients.

This is the first study to use a genetic model to investigate cancer’s direct effect on cardiac dysfunction. The researchers found that different cancer-associated genes affect the heart in different ways – a sign that genetic information could one day guide heart-protective treatment decisions in cancer patients.

“This suggests treatment could be tailored if you know what genes are causing the cancer or are abnormal in certain cancers,” said Harpreet Singh, co-lead author of the study and associate professor of physiology and cell biology at Ohio State.

“Above all else, we want to make clinicians aware that upon first detecting cancer, long before muscle wasting sets in or chemotherapy begins, other organs are getting the message and are being affected.”

The study is published in the journal Antioxidants.

An estimated 50 to 80% of cancer patients develop the muscle wasting condition called cachexia, which can lead to heart failure, and radiation and chemotherapy treatments are associated with toxicity-related damage to the heart muscle.

However, emerging research has suggested that heart problems can surface before cancer treatment or muscle wasting occur. The Ohio State team noted that a study published recently in the Journal of the America Heart Association reported the detection of abnormalities in heart tissue and cardiac function in human cancer patients before cancer treatment had begun.

In this new study, the Ohio State researchers injected breast cancer cells into mouse mammary glands and measured the animals’ cardiac function four weeks later. They found that two measures of heart pumping output, left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening, had decreased by about 20% and 22%, respectively.

In fruit flies, the team overexpressed cancer-causing genes to trigger development of tumors in the flies’ eyes. The scientists observed significantly lower ejection fraction and fractional shortening – similar to what was seen in mice with tumors – as well as an increase in heart rate in flies with tumors.

The researchers found a total-body increase in the rate of production as well as a higher total number of free radicals – also known as reactive oxygen species – in fruit flies with tumors compared to controls. The rate of reactive oxygen species production was also significantly higher in mice with tumors compared to controls.

To test whether supplements could reverse the tumor-related heart damage, four antioxidants were added to the fruit flies’ food for seven days: Glutathione (GSH), vitamin E, CoQ10 or vitamin C.

Results showed that all but vitamin C restored the flies’ cardiac function to normal levels.

“We don’t know yet why one antioxidant works versus another,” said Rao, adding that because the flies ate the antioxidants in their food, researchers also don’t have definitive information on the antioxidant doses at this point.

She and Singh also emphasized that reactive oxygen species are just one identified mechanism of tumor-related heart damage, and that there is still a lot to learn about how antioxidants might fit into a treatment regimen.

Though this research zeroed in on one cancer-causing gene to study the mechanism of heart damage in fruit flies, the researchers initially tested the effects of several cancer-causing genes in the flies. The heart function affected and the intensity of the effects on the heart varied, depending on the gene. Rao plans to continue genetic studies in fruit flies and to test antioxidants’ restorative effects on the hearts in mice with tumors.

Singh is collaborating with clinicians at Ohio State and other institutions to collect blood samples from cancer patients who have heart failure.

“The signal is traveling from the tumor to the heart, and the tissue connecting these sites is blood – so the question is, are reactive oxygen species traveling through the blood?” he said. “On the clinical end, our priority is to look for the correlation between different oncogenic pathways and heart failure. Second, we want to see what the message is and whether we can prescribe antioxidants.”

Additional co-authors include Priyanka Karekar, Haley Jensen, Kathryn Russart, Devasena Ponnalagu, Shridhar Sanghvi, Sakima Smith and Leah Pyter from Ohio State and Sarah Seeley from Ohio Northern University (ONU).

The work was supported by Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program grants, the W.W. Smith Charitable Trust, the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, Ohio State’s Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, and ONU startup funds.

 

 

What vitamins, nutrients will help prevent glaucoma from worsening?

 

Glaucoma Research Foundation, September 14, 2016

 

 

In general, I recommend that my patients include nutrient-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet. A healthy lifestyle, consisting of balanced nutrition, moderate exercise, and appropriate rest is an important part of your overall health and well-being and can help prevent illness too.

 

The best way to ensure that you're getting all of your essential vitamins and minerals is to eat a balanced diet that includes fruits and vegetables -- they are a primary source of carotenoids, which can have overall benefits for vision health. Certain fruits and vegetables with higher vitamin A and C content have been shown to reduce glaucoma risk as well. Some of the most helpful fruits and vegetables for healthy vision are: collard greens, cabbage, kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, celery, carrots, peaches, radishes, green beans, and beets.

 

Because oxidative stress is associated with damage to the optic nerve in glaucoma, antioxidants may help to prevent further injury. Dietary sources of antioxidants include pomegranate, acai berries, cranberries, dark chocolate, black and green tea, bilberry, lycopene (from tomato products), dark green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, and flax seeds.

 

Any specific nutritional deficiencies in your diet can be addressed with supplements that include Vitamins A, B-complex, C, and E as well as the minerals Magnesium, Calcium and Zinc. However, there is no convincing data that vitamin supplements help to prevent glaucoma. I recommend that patients take a general multivitamin if they are uncertain whether their daily nutritional needs are met.

 

While good nutrition plays a role in disease prevention and overall health, it is not a treatment for glaucoma. Certain herbs such as ginkgo and bilberry may even increase the risk of bleeding with glaucoma surgery. Given the breadth of nutritional supplements available over-the-counter, it is important to discuss with your eye doctor all prescription, herbal, vitamin, mineral, and over-the-counter remedies you currently take. Talk to your doctor about any other questions related to glaucoma and your diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices.