Want to live longer and be stronger? Choose fat over carbs

An animal study published in Cell Metabolism revealed that following a high-fat diet or ketogenic diet may help promote longevity and improve physical strength.

As part of the study, a team of researchers at the University of California Davis examined mice that were split into three groups. One group received a regular rodent high-carb diet, while another group received a low-carb, high-fat diet. The third group was fed a ketogenic diet, which composed 89 to 90 percent of the animals’ total calorie intake.

The results showed that ketogenic diet helped increase the median life span of the animal models. Likewise, the diet scheme enhanced the animals’ motor function, strength, and coordination. Ketogenic diet also mitigated an increase in age-related markers of inflammation and reduced tumor incidence in mice.

“Our results show that a KD slows cognitive decline and preserves motor function in aging mice. It should be noted that although the LCD did not significantly differ from the ketogenic group in longevity, the two diets differed in their ability to preserve physiological function with age. This suggests that ketones may be necessary to elicit an extension of health span,” the researchers wrote.

“In this case, many of the things we’re looking at aren’t much different from humans. At a fundamental level, humans follow similar changes and experience a decrease in overall function of organs during aging. This study indicates that a ketogenic diet can have a major impact on life and health span without major weight loss or restriction of intake. It also opens a new avenue for possible dietary interventions that have an impact on aging,” nutritionist and senior author Jon Ramsey said in a university release.

However, the scientists said that it remains unclear whether there is a maximum fat intake for ketogenic diet.

Companion study links ketogenic diet to better memory in animal models

A companion study conducted by researchers at the California-based Buck Institute for Research on Aging revealed that following a high-fat diet significantly improved memory in aging mice.

Researchers noted that ketogenic diet is characterized by its high-fat, low-protein, and low-carbohydrate components. The diet scheme is known to bolster the production of a vital ketone called beta-hydroxybutyrate acid (BHB). Small studies have previously shown that BHB helps improve cognitive function.

To carry out the study, the research team observed lab mice that were given three types of diet: a normal high-carb diet, a zero-carb ketogenic diet, and a high-fat, low-carb diet. The mice were given ketogenic diet intermittently to inhibit the onset of obesity at age one and during middle age.

The researchers observed that ketogenic diet-fed mice had a significantly reduced risk of dying as they aged from one to two years old. However, the animals’ maximum lifespan remained unchanged. (Related: How the ketogenic diet can keep unnecessary sugars out of your body, while lowering your risk for cancer.)

The experts also subjected another group of mice under memory testing at both middle age and old age. The results showed that animal models that followed a ketogenic diet performed just as well on memory tests at both middle age and old age. However, mice that were fed a normal diet exhibited age-associated decline as expected.

The study also revealed that mice fed with ketogenic diet explored more. The animal models also exhibited consistent memory improvements during another series of cognitive tests a few months later.

“This opens up a new field in aging research. We think the health benefits of BHB may go beyond memory and could affect tissues and organ systems. We’re looking for drug targets. The ultimate goal is to find a way for humans to benefit from BHBs without having to go on a restrictive diet,” said senior researcher Dr. Eric Verdin.

Read up on more stories such as this one at HealthCoverage.news.

Sources include:

UCDavis.edu

BuckInstitute.org

Cell.com

Breathing nanoparticles from combustion engines causes Alzheimer’s disease… is this why so many city dwellers are losing their minds?

The precise mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease continue to baffle scientists, but a plethora of recent studies have been shedding some light on this mysterious ailment that kills more people each year than prostate cancer and breast cancer combined. Now, a new study has found that the cause of Alzheimer’s disease is “hiding in plain sight,” and the culprit could well be your car.

Researchers in the U.S. and Mexico discovered that inhaling microscopic particles from exhaust fumes caused damage in the brains of children who were as young as three years old. Moreover, the nanoparticles had led to obvious damage in key parts of children’s brains by the time they turned 14.

They reached their conclusions after looking at the brains of 13 children and 21 young adults in Mexico City who died in accidents but were healthy otherwise. The scientists believe this damage could help explain adolescent behavioral problems like violence and could be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

A 14-year-old girl from Mexico City had extremely high levels of PM2.5 in her frontal lobe, the part of the brain that is responsible for important functions like planning, motivation, short-term memory and attention. Other teens and young adults in their 20s showed similar damage. However, children from areas without pollution did not show signs of such damage.

The PM2.5 particles are especially problematic in diesel car emissions. The University of Montana’s Dr. Lilian Calderon-Garciduenas said that people breathe in vehicle emissions through their noses, and they immediately enter the brain and cross the blood-brain barrier. The nanoparticles can cross all barriers and have properties that allow them to create oxidative damage. She considers this a “very serious public health issue, with grave social and economic consequences.”

Growing evidence of link between air pollution and dementia

A University of Toronto study that was published earlier this year discovered that those who live close to main roads and are exposed to traffic fumes had as much as a 12 percent higher chance of developing dementia. They estimated that one out of every nine cases of dementia in those who live within 50 meters of major roads could have been caused by traffic exposure.

These findings also back up an earlier study of people who lived in industrial cities such as Mexico City and Manchester. On that occasion, researchers found magnetite nanoparticles in the frontal cortex of people’s brains who had died in fatal accidents, and they discovered it got there thanks to the air pollution in their local areas. Fine particulate matter has also been linked to problems like diabetes, inflammation, and even heart disease.

Once blamed solely on genetics, evidence has been emerging that lifestyle factors play a much bigger role in Alzheimer’s than previously believed, including obesity, smoking, a lack of exercise, and now air pollution.

Alzheimer’s cases on the rise

This could help explain the dramatic rise in Alzheimer’s disease in recent years. According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, deaths from the illness rose nearly 66 percent between 1999 and 2014. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 5.5 million Americans now have the disease, which can progress at various rates depending on the individual.

It’s not just the patients who are affected; the illness can take a tremendous toll on caregivers both financially and emotionally. It is estimated that for each person who has dementia, three unpaid caregivers are also affected.

One thing is for certain: city life can be hard on the human body. Industrial pollution, a hectic and stressful lifestyle, and being so far removed from nature all have an adverse impact on people’s health.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

CBSNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

ALZ.org

Alzheimer’s Patient Reverses Symptoms by Applying Coconut Oil On A Daily Basis

Carolyn, the devoted daughter of an 88-year-old women who has Alzheimer’s recently decided to take charge of her mother’s care. The almost immediate results she saw were drastic and inspiring.

Additionally, the simple change she implemented in her mom’s life is available for any family struggling and suffering from Alzheimer’s to try for themselves.

Her mother spent the last seven years in a nursing home. As the years wore on and her mother’s condition deteriorated, Carolyn started to worry that her mother was being neglected and potentially abused.

Carolyn decided it was time to make a change and take matters into her own hands. She removed her ailing mother and devoted herself to being her mother’s full-time primary caregiver. On February 14, 2016, Carolyn made the hardest and probably the most important decision for her mother and removed her from the toxic nursing home environment and took her home to care for her.

While in the care of the nursing home, Carolyn’s mother was diagnosed with stage 6 Alzheimer’s. Stage 6 is also known as the “severe decline” stage. In stage 6 most patients need help with day-to-day life activities and near constant supervision. For the last two years, Carolyn’s mother struggled to speak and did not remember people, names, faces, and words. Reading had become almost impossible for her mom due to her memory issues. Communication was becoming a real struggle for Carolyn’s mother.

Coconut oil, the wonder drug

Carolyn had read about and was familiar with the benefits of coconut oil. Immediately after her mother’s liberation from the nursing home, Carolyn started liberally applying coconut oil. She would do this twice a day, after bathing in the morning and again at night before bedtime.

Within 5 days she started noticing an immediate and drastic improvement in her mother’s condition. Her mother started remembering people and names she hadn’t in years. She was able to communicate again. Carolyn was amazed when her mother was able to read, out loud, a Bible storybook and only struggled with a couple of words.

Alzheimers and coconut oil, science backs it up

These results may have been shocking, but they are no surprise given the results of a recent Spanish clinical trial. In December 2015, a clinical trial was published on the effects of coconut oil being used to treat patients who have Alzheimer’s.

The study included giving 40 ml, approximately 2.7 tablespoons, of coconut oil a day to one of two control groups. Both control groups were made up of people of varying ages and genders in various stages of Alzheimer’s. One control group received the coconut oil and the other did not.

The study concluded that there was a statistically significant increase in test scores demonstrating improved cognitive status in the control group that received the coconut oil. The study clearly demonstrated the potentially powerful positive effects of coconut oil on patients struggling with Alzheimer’s.

In addition, a US study currently being conducted in Florida is scheduled for publication in late 2016. The health, wellness, and Alzheimer’s communities are eagerly awaiting those results.

Big Pharma doesn’t welcome the idea

The pharmaceutical industry is the one industry that stands to lose the most if the new studies collaborate Spanish study findings. Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of seniors and is a rapidly increasing disease. Pharmaceutical companies have been working for years to develop a vaccine but to date have come up empty handed. Pharmaceutical companies may be left out in the cold if the connection between coconut oil and cognitive ability increase in Alzheimer patients is proven.

For Carolyn and her mother there is no doubt that coconut oil has made a huge impact in their daily lives. Carolyn and her mother are enjoying this additional time together, their newfound freedom, and their ability to communicate with one another.

Sources:      

http://healthimpactnews.com/2016/88-year-old-woman-recovering-from-alzheimers-and-diabetes-using-coconut-oil/

http://healthimpactnews.com/2015/study-coconut-oil-improves-cognitive-functioning-in-alzheimers-patients/

Can your multivitamin increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease?

Many of us want to improve our odds of getting into old age in the best of shapes by using multivitamins. I do it. You probably do it, too. But can your multivitamin increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease? Recent research focuses on copper, a common ingredient of many multivitamins as a possible suspect in dementia.

“For some time it has been clear that copper toxicity plays a major role in Alzheimer’s disease,” says professor George Brewer, a researcher at University of Michigan.

It all started with Larry Spark’s rabbits. In his West Virginia laboratory Dr. Larry Sparks, a researcher investigating the effect of high cholesterol diet in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), developed an animal model of this disease. He and his team fed rabbits with high-fat diet until they developed AD-like disease (and you thought you had a depressing job!). When he moved his lab to Arizona, to his surprise he found that he no longer was able to induce dementia in his animals. What happened? He maintained the same conditions (same breed of rabbits, identical food etc.). The only change, he realized after some time, was that in West Virginia he used tap water, whereas in Arizona the water was distilled. After experimenting with different substances in water he narrowed it down to a difference in the levels of copper.

But keep in mind: this doesn’t make copper a villain. Copper remains an important trace element; its deficiency can cause as much trouble as its excess. It is a crucial component of many enzymes.

We get 75% of our copper from food such as shellfish, nuts, grains, many fruits and vegetables and chocolate.  It is so-called “organic copper” or copper-1. Over millennia our bodies figured out a safe way of handling it through processing it through liver, which works like a distribution center, sending it to whatever cells may need it.

Then, there is remaining 25%, inorganic copper or copper-2, which we get from water (leached from copper piping) and more recently from supplements.  It slightly differs from copper-1 in that it is unattached to any bigger molecules.  As a result, it shows up in our blood almost immediately after ingestion, as it bypasses the secure channels in liver. What’s more concerning, it can cross through the blood-brain barrier, an important mechanism, which decides which substances can cross safely into the brain.

We have evolved to handle copper-1 safely, but copper-2 is a different matter altogether. Excess of copper-2 in water is a new phenomenon and our organisms don’t have efficient pathways to handle the increased amount of this mineral. But we may be making matters worse by getting even more of copper-2 in our bodies by taking it in form of supplements (almost all copper in supplements and multivitamins is copper-2).

So how does copper affect the brain?  In a nutshell, it increases oxidative stress and beta amyloid plaque formation. Beta amyloid is a protein that forms the plaques, which are hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.  It is possible that forming the beta amyloid clumps may be body’s way to cope with increased oxidative damage from metals like copper.  But after its role has been fulfilled, the body will try to eliminate excess of beta amyloid. If removal is unsuccessful, as a result beta amyloid will aggregate in plaques, gumming up the work of the neurons.

More recently researchers from University of Rochester found that adding small amounts of copper to water fed to mice has affected that cleanup mechanism.  The blood-brain barrier become leaky, admitting even more copper into the brain circulation.

There is another factor, which can make problems with inorganic copper even worse. You saw it in Larry Spark’s rabbits. It turns out that eating a diet high in red meat and trans fatty acids increases absorption of copper, enough to make a difference in cognition. Perhaps this is just how it works in rats, you wonder. Maybe it was one-off result? Fair point. Alas, no.

Look at the results of this study done on seniors in Chicago. In 2006, Morris and his colleagues published the results of 6 years follow up on over 3700 residents of Chicago, 65 and older. The researchers looked at dietary content of copper and fat and following patients’ memory with four different tests. There was a strong association of memory problems with high copper intake (mostly from vitamin supplements) and fatty diet. In fact, the risk of dementia in people whose copper intake was in the top 20%, was increased six fold (yes, you read that right – six fold!). Interestingly, there was no such correlation in people who avoided saturated and trans fats.

Could this be the key to the increased rate of dementia we have observed in the last 60 years? George Brewer, professor at University of Michigan, and one of the main researchers on copper and brain, thinks that it may be the case. He proposed that the high prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (20% of those 70 and older and 30% of 80 and above) arose in context of increased affluence in US after WWII, which brought with it diet rich in meat and processed food and widespread use of copper plumbing.

Consider this: the rates of Alzheimer’s disease in undeveloped countries are only a fraction of what we see in US. For instance, in rural India its prevalence in people over 65 is only about 1%. In Nigeria it is even lower, at about 0.5%. Their diet contains much less saturated and trans fats. And there is much less infrastructure in terms of plumbing, copper or otherwise. Now, look at Japan, admittedly a developed country, but with low prevalence of dementia (8%). They have rejected copper plumbing because of concern about its toxicity. But, when Japanese migrate to Hawaii (where use of copper plumbing is as common as in continental US), their rates of Alzheimer’s disease increase to match the rest of the population.

Did you know that over 80% of US households use copper plumbing? Environmental Protection Agency set its “action level” for copper content in water at 1.3 mg/L. But the amount of copper in water that jumpstarted the dementia in Larry Sparks’ rats was less that tenth of that, at 0.12 mg/L. Should we be concerned?

Concerned – yes. Ripping out your copper plumbing? Probably overkill. As this is all rather new, the researchers don’t have enough data to make definite recommendations yet. Here is what I do, as we are all awaiting more conclusive figures:

• I use copper-free multivitamin. Almost all copper in multivitamins is copper-2, potentially toxic to the brain.
• I stopped using unlined copper cooking pots, as they may leach some inorganic copper into food, particularly in higher acidity. But here should be no problem with copper cookware lined with ceramic or stainless steel.
• It seems that dietary copper (copper-1) is safe. I don’t go out of my way to avoid copper-rich foods. However, if concerned, cooking beans and grains will reduce the amount of copper by 50%.
• I never use hot water tap for cooking. Heat increases corrosive properties of water and with that – copper leaching from the plumbing.
• For drinking water – I let the faucet run for at least 30 sec. I haven’t been able to find and studies on that and to my knowledge and there is no consensus on how long is enough – I’ve seen numbers anywhere from 15 sec to 5 min. You could use the flush water for watering the plants, washing the dishes etc. to minimize the waste.
• I use water filter for all drinking and cooking water. Reverse osmosis filter will eliminate 97-98% of copper-2. Activated carbon and ion exchange resins filters, like Brita will work, too.
• If you have copper pipes, like I do, it may be worthwhile to test the water copper content. A single test (copper only) from local water testing company costs about $30.
• Finally, if you worry about your memory, you may run it by your doctor, and ask to have your serum copper and zinc level tested. Calculate your copper/zinc ratio (divide copper over zinc; make sure they are reported in the same unit, usually μg/dL). Desirable copper/zinc ratio is 0.7-1, but it may increase with age and inflammatory diseases. Should your ratio be above 2, talk to your doctor about zinc supplementation. Don’t do it on your own – there may be some real, irreversible downsides to over supplementing zinc. Stay tuned – I will be writing about copper/zinc ratio as a biomarker of aging, cognition and inflammation soon.

Resources:

Brewer GJ. Copper-2 ingestion plus increased meat eating leading to increased copper absorption are major factors behind the current epidemic of Alzheimer’s Disease. Nutrients 2015;7:10053-64

Brewer GJ, Kaur S. Zinc deficiency and zinc therapy efficacy with reduction of serum free copper in Alzheimer’s Disease. Int J Alzeimers Dis. 2013; 2013:586365

Squitti et al. Low copper diet as a preventive strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2014 Sep;35 Suppl 2:S40-50

Morris MC et al. Dietary copper and high saturated and trans fats intakes associated with cognitive decline. Arch Neurol 2006 Aug;63(8):1085-8

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/disease/copper.html