The power of pomegranates

Everyone is getting pomegranate syrup for Christmas this year, this settles it. I guess I better find some recipes that use pomegranate syrup to wrap with it.

Pomegranates have been hailed as a “superfood” that could help protect against inflammation and cancer. New research shows this Middle Eastern fruit also contains powerful substances called ellagitannins that may slow the aging process, reports Science​Daily​.com. Throughout our lives, cells recycle worn-out mitochondria—the tiny powerhouses that provide them with energy. This process, known as mitophagy, slows down and malfunctions over time, resulting in weaker muscles and age-related frailty. In a study on worms and mice, scientists found that when consumed and broken down by gut bacteria, ellagitannins produce a compound called urolithin A that helps restore this mitochondrial clean-up process in cells where it has become inactive, significantly improving muscle strength and endurance. The worms’ life span also increased, by 45 percent. “It’s a completely natural substance, and its effect is powerful and measurable,” says the study’s co-author, Patrick Aebischer. Researchers caution that it’s not been determined that ellagitannins affect people in the same way. Human trials are currently underway.

Taken from the July 29th edition of the Week Magazine.

Healthy heart, sharp mind

Also taken from the April 8th Week Magazine.

We are toast...

Americans are constantly advised to lead “heart healthy” lives, and for good reason: Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. But cardiovascular health is also a boon to the brain, new research reveals. The study examined the habits and lifestyles of more than 1,000 people who were an average age of 72. Specifically, they assessed how many of the American Heart Association’s goals the participants achieved—keeping physically active; maintaining a healthy weight and eating regimen; not smoking; and keeping blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels under control. The participants also completed cognitive tests when the study began and again six years later. As it turned out, people who more closely adhered to a heart-healthy lifestyle showed fewer signs of age-related mental decline, reports TechTimes.com. University of Miami neurologist Hannah Gardener, who led the study, suggests more research is needed to pinpoint the age ranges during which cardiovascular-friendly behaviors “may influence cognitive performance and mitigate decline.”

History Lessons - thoughts on the history of the Uighurs

I've been reading Peter Frankopan's new book entitled 'The Silk Roads: a new history of the world' and it had gotten me thinking a lot.  (I had written a previous post, but am still struggling with this Blogspot App, and I deleted it!)

Anyway, the current chapter is called 'The Road to Hell' and in it the reader is introduced to Genghis Khan. Mr. Frankopan's talks about the importance of the Uighurs. That their culture was so highly developed that Genghis Khan married one of his daughters to the Uighur ruler so that he might gain access to the Uighur scribes and bureaucrats. 

The only reason I bring this up is because the Uighurs have been in the news recently because they are being crushed by the Chinese. 

Do you think that the world would be a better place if we Americans (Westerners in general) understood the glorious history of other cultures? This 'tribe', or ethnic group, was highly organized and efficient, such that they were sought after, not crushed in the 12th century. Now we know nothing of them, other than being oppressed Muslims in China. (Wait, or is it just me who knows nothing about them?)

It's humbling to think about all the knowledge that is out there but is unavailable to me because I don't speak the language. Clearly our scholars are getting better at realizing and correcting for this deficiency...

I guess I am horribly naive. Glad somebody is doing the research and understanding the ebbs and flows of nations and empires. 

Americans’ unhealthy habits

Taken from the Week Magazine, April 8th edition.

Noce of these lifestyles take their toll until most people have had children, so all this does is make unhealthy babies... At least that is what is coming to mind for me. I wonder what this means for future generations and genealogy.

Pretty scary that we know what we should do, but so hard to do it.

To remain healthy, doctors say, you have to eat well, exercise regularly, avoid smoking, and keep body fat in check. But new research shows that only 2.7 percent of Americans are actually adhering to all four healthy habits. Researchers came to that surprisingly glum conclusion after examining national survey data on more than 5,000 people, compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 47 percent got 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise, only 38 percent had healthy diets, and only 10 percent had proper body-fat levels. Only 16 percent met three of the four criteria. “This is sort of mind boggling, to have so few people maintaining what we would consider a healthy lifestyle,” study author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University tells ScienceDaily.com. “There’s clearly a lot of room for improvement.”

The surprising benefits of thumb sucking

Just another example of what we have done to ourselves by being too clean. When I was a child, it was never a discussion about germs - it was a discussion about giving yourself buck teeth. Is that an old wives' tale?

Kids are often urged to stop biting their nails or sucking their thumbs because their fingers are teeming with germs. But new research suggests these “bad” habits could actually reduce children’s risk of developing allergies, reports The Washington Post. The findings support the “hygiene hypothesis” of allergies, which contends that exposure to microbes early in life educates and strengthens the immune system; when kids aren’t exposed to enough germs, that “priming” process doesn’t occur and their immune systems overreact to new substances. Researchers in New Zealand put this theory to the test by monitoring the oral habits of more than 1,000 ­children from birth to adulthood and conducting skin-prick tests to identify those who suffered from allergies. They found that 49 percent of those who weren’t thumb-suckers or nail-biters as kids eventually developed allergies to things like pets, grass, and dust mites. But allergies were found in only 31 percent of those who both bit their fingernails and sucked their thumbs when they were younger, and in 38 percent of those who did one or the other. The study’s author, Malcolm Sears, says that doesn’t mean parents should encourage kids to bite

Taken from the July 29th edition of the Week Magazine.

Averting a post-antibiotic apocalypse

An antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria

700,000 people a year! Shocking!

I wish we would stop using antibiotics in farm animals as a way to fatten the animals and as a prophylactic.

I also wish I could connect to the video put out by Harvard where you can see bacteria create a mutant that can overcome the antibiotics almost immediately. It's amazing to watch. You can see it here.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria could become a bigger killer than cancer by 2050, unless drastic action is taken to curb the excessive use of existing drugs and spur the development of new ones. That’s the stark conclusion of a major two-year review of antimicrobial resistance. The dwindling arsenal of effective antibiotics could make minor infections and routine surgeries like C-sections life-threatening. The report estimates that drug-resistant superbugs, which already kill 700,000 people a year, could claim as many as 10 million lives each year by the middle of the century. Just this week, researchers reported finding a “superbug” resistant to antibiotics of last resort in a Pennsylvania woman, suggesting that such untreatable bacteria may become prevalent in the U.S. The study’s authors, who were commissioned by the British government, make several proposals. They advise governments to set strict limits on the use of antibiotics in agriculture and to provide significant financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics. They also recommend launching a global awareness campaign to increase understanding of antimicrobial resistance. “We need to inform in different ways, all over the world, why it’s crucial we stop treating our antibiotics like sweets,” study author Jim O’Neill tells BBC.com. “If we don’t solve the problem, we are heading to the dark ages, [and] we will have a lot of people dying.”

THE WEEK
June 10, 2016