Posted on Cardiovascular disease, Diet, Vitamins

Caffeine is a heart-healthy habit

Coffee doesn't raise your risk for heart rhythm problems

A new paper “In Rheumatology, published by Oxford University Press,” finds that consuming more caffeine may improve heart health.

Vascular disease, which involves damage to blood vessels and can lead to serious consequences like heart attacks and strokes, is one of the main causes of death in the general population. For individuals with inflammatory rheumatic diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, the risks are even greater. This is partly because of the diseases themselves and also due to certain treatments, especially cortisone derivatives.

Until now, doctors’ recommendations to reduce these vascular risks focused on avoiding risk factors, such as addressing inflammation, discontinuing cortisone medications, quitting smoking, lowering cholesterol, and managing high blood pressure.

The researchers from Sapienza University of Rome in Italy believe that patients may be able to improve their vascular health by doing something enjoyable. According to their study, caffeine, which is found in coffee, tea, and cocoa, may actively help endothelial progenitor cells. These cells play a role in regenerating the lining of blood vessels and are involved in vascular growth.

It is widely known that a diet rich in vitamin D (found in oily fish and eggs) and vitamin A (found in many fruits), as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids and low in sodium, seems to play a role in decreasing the inflammatory burden. Scientists have also been interested in the potential impact of caffeine. In addition to its well-known stimulant effect, caffeine also has an anti-inflammatory effect because it binds to receptors expressed on the surface of immune cells. The impact of caffeine consumption on cardiovascular health has been extensively studied, but the results have been conflicting.

Researchers conducted a study on 31 lupus patients who did not have traditional cardiovascular risk factors. They used a seven-day food questionnaire to assess the patient’s diet. After a week, the investigators took the patients’ blood to measure the health of their blood vessels. The study found that patients who consumed caffeine had better vascular health, as measured by the health of their endothelial cells, which are an important component of the inner layer of blood vessels.

“The present study aims to provide patients with information about the potential role of diet in managing the disease,” stated Fulvia Ceccarelli, the paper’s lead author. “It will be important to validate these findings through a longitudinal study to assess the actual impact of coffee consumption on the progression of the disease.”

Posted on Cognitive dysfunction, Exercise

‘Brain endurance training’ promotes healthy aging

Exercise for older women

Brain endurance training (BET), a combined cognitive and exercise training method developed for athletes, boosts mental and physical abilities in older adults. 

According to a new study by researchers at the Universities of Birmingham, UK, and Extremadura, Spain, brain endurance training (BET) can improve attention, executive function (cognition), physical endurance, and resistance exercise performance. BET is a combined exercise and cognitive training method that was initially developed to increase endurance among elite athletes. 

The research has significant implications for healthy aging. Previous studies have shown that mental fatigue can impair both cognitive and physical performance, leading to issues such as poorer balance control, and increased risk of falls and accidents. This study, published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, is the first to examine the benefits of BET for both cognitive and physical performance in older adults.

Corresponding author Professor Chris Ring said: “We have shown that BET could be an effective intervention to improve cognitive and physical performance in older adults, even when tired. This could have significant implications for improving this population’s health, including reducing the risk of falls and accidents.” 

In the experiment, 24 healthy sedentary women aged between 65-78 were allocated to one of three training groups: brain endurance training (BET), exercise training, and no training (control group). The first two groups each completed three 45-minute exercise sessions per week over eight weeks. Each session included 20 minutes of resistance and 25 minutes of endurance training. While the exercise sessions were the same for each of these groups, the BET group also completed a 20-minute cognitive task before exercising. 

All three groups completed a series of cognitive (reaction time and colour-matching tests) and physical tests (walk, chair-stand and arm-curl tests) to assess performance at the start and end of the study. Participants in the BET group outperformed the exercise-only group in the cognitive tasks, with a 7.8% increase in cognitive performance after exercise, compared to a 4.5% increase in the exercise-only group. Regarding physical performance, the BET group achieved a 29.9% improvement, compared to 22.4% for the exercise-only group. 

“BET is an effective countermeasure against mental fatigue and its detrimental effects on performance in older adults,” added Professor Ring. “While we still need to extend our research to include larger sample sizes including both men and women, these promising initial findings show we should do more to encourage older people to engage in BET to improve brain and body activities.”  

Posted on Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Diet

Having a sweet tooth is linked to higher risk of depression, diabetes, and stroke, study finds

People with a preference for sweets are at a higher risk of developing depression, diabetes, and suffering a stroke, according to new research from the University of Surrey.
People with a preference for sweets are at a higher risk of developing depression, diabetes, and suffering a stroke, according to new research from the University of Surrey.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, utilized anonymized data on the food preferences of 180,000 volunteers from the UK Biobank. Artificial intelligence was employed to categorize them into three general profiles:

  • Health-conscious: prefer fruits and vegetables over animal-based and sweet foods. 
  • Omnivore: Likes most foods, including meats, fish, and some vegetables, as well as sweets and desserts. 
  • Sweet tooth: Prefer sweet foods and sugary drinks and is less interested in healthier options like fruit and vegetables.  

The Surrey team analyzed UK Biobank data on blood samples, measuring 2,923 proteins and 168 metabolites to observe how these levels varied in each group.

Proteins are essential for various functions in the body, such as fighting infections, muscle contractions, and cognitive processes. Metabolites, on the other hand, are small molecules produced during digestion and other chemical processes in the body, providing valuable insights into our body’s functioning. By comparing these blood-based proteins and metabolites, researchers can gain a better understanding of the biological variances between different groups.

Professor Nophar Geifman, said: 

“The foods that you like or dislike appear to be directly linked to your health. If your favorite foods are cakes, sweets, and sugary drinks, our study’s results suggest that this may have negative effects on your health. We found that the group with a sweet tooth is 31% more likely to have depression. Additionally, this group had higher rates of diabetes and vascular heart conditions compared to the other two groups.”

“Importantly, by utilizing data-driven artificial intelligence methods, we managed to categorize individuals based on their food preferences. These categories have significant associations with health outcomes and biological markers.”

“Processed sugar is a significant part of many people’s diets. These results provide further evidence that, as a society, we should be mindful of what we eat. It’s important to stress that we’re not trying to tell people what to do; our job is simply to inform.”

The researchers also looked at differences between the three groups in standard blood biochemistry tests.  

Professor Geifman continues: 

“In the sweet tooth group, they had higher levels of C reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation. Their blood results also show higher levels of glucose and poor lipid profiles, which is a strong warning sign for diabetes and heart disease.” 

Conversely, the health-conscious group, which also had higher dietary fibre intake, had lower risks for heart failure, chronic kidney diseases and stroke, while the omnivore group had moderate health risks. 

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, on average, in the UK, between 9% to 12.5% of an individual’s calories come from free sugar – this is defined as sugar that is added to food or drink.  Biscuits, buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies are the biggest single contributors for adults, but together, sugary soft drinks and alcoholic drinks contribute the most to free sugar intake. 

Posted on Autism

7 Most DANGEROUS Foods for Arthritis – Don’t Eat!

In this video, Dr. Diana Girnita, a board-certified rheumatologist, reveals the seven most dangerous foods that could make your arthritis symptoms worse without you realizing it. These foods can trigger inflammation, increasing joint pain and stiffness from dairy to sugar. She will count them from the least to the most harmful, offering practical tips for healthier alternatives. Watch until the end to discover the number one food to avoid. Simple dietary changes could lead to significant pain relief and an improved quality of life!