Vegan diet improves dietary acid load, a key risk factor for diabetes

 

 Compared with a Mediterranean diet, dietary acid load decreased significantly on a low-fat vegan diet and was associated with weight loss, according to a randomized cross-over trial conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

 

“Eating acid-producing foods like meat, eggs, and dairy can increase the dietary acid load, or the amount of acids consumed, causing inflammation linked to weight gain,” says Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee and lead author of the study. “But replacing animal products with plant-based foods like leafy greens, berries, and legumes can help promote weight loss and create a healthy gut microbiome.”

 

This new research included 62 overweight adults who were randomized to a Mediterranean or a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks, separated by a four-week cleansing period, followed by an additional 16 weeks on the alternate diet.

 

Participants’ dietary records were used to calculate dietary acid load, which is commonly estimated by two scores: Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) and Net Endogenous Acid Production (NEAP). A higher score indicates a higher dietary acid load.

 

Animal products including meat, fish, eggs, and cheese cause the body to produce more acid, increasing dietary acid load, which is linked to chronic inflammation that disrupts metabolism and can lead to increased body weight. Plant-based diets, which are more alkaline, are associated with weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, and lower blood pressure.

 

In the new analysis, both PRAL and NEAP scores decreased significantly on the vegan diet, with no significant change on the Mediterranean diet. The reduction in dietary acid load was associated with weight loss, and this association remained significant even after adjustment for changes in energy intake. Body weight was reduced by 13.2 pounds on the vegan diet, compared with no change on the Mediterranean diet.

 

The authors say that a vegan diet’s alkalizing effect, which increases the body’s pH level to make it less acidic, may also help promote weight loss. Top alkalizing foods include vegetables, particularly leafy greens, broccoli, beets, asparagus, garlic, carrots, and cabbage; fruits, such as berries, apples, cherries, apricots, or cantaloupe; legumes, for example lentils, chickpeas, peas, beans or soy; and grains, such as quinoa or millet.

 

Leafy greens could be good for the heart

A cup and a half of leafy green vegetables could go a long way to addressing atherosclerotic vascular diseases (ASVD’s), new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU), the University of Western Australia and the Danish Cancer Institute has found.  

ASVDs are a subgroup of cardiovascular disease, which are current leading causes of death world-wide, primarily due to heart attacks and strokes. ECU PhD student Ms Montana Dupuy noted that in Australia, cardiovascular diseases claim the life of one person every 12 minutes. 

Research led by Ms Dupuy has found that the higher dietary intake of Vitamin K1 could reduce the risk of ASVD. 

“Leafy green and cruciferous vegetables, like spinach, kale and broccoli, contain Vitamin K1 which may assist in preventing vascular calcification processes that characterise cardiovascular disease. The great news is that these vegetables can be easily incorporated into your daily meals” she said. 

In addition to its’ potential role in vascular calcification inhibition, Vitamin K may also be beneficial for musculoskeletal health, through its impact on bone strength. 

ECU Senior Research Fellow Dr Marc Sim noted that a cup and a half of such vegetables is an easy way to increase our daily vitamin K intake and may lower our risk for cardiovascular disease”.  

“This research found women who consumed approximately 30% higher intakes of Vitamin K1 than currently recommended in the Australian Dietary Guidelines had lower long-term risk of ASVD,” he said. 

“Of importance, when we examined the blood vessels in the neck, those with a higher Vitamin K1 intake also had less thickening of these blood vessels, a marker of atherosclerosis.”  

The work led by Ms Dupuy and Dr Sim on the impact of Vitamin K to vascular health, as well as musculoskeletal health, will now help to inform future research at ECU’s Future Foods and Digital Gastronomy Lab and to deliver specialised meals as part of clinical trials to improve population health. 

“This research has provided key evidence to support our future studies. We are now creating new foods which pack more leafy greens that are rich in Vitamin K1. These novel foods can be used in communities with special nutritional and dietary requirements, such as aged care residents,” said ECU Post Doctoral Research Fellow Dr Liezhou Zhong. 

“We are consolidating all our epidemiological data and converting that into a tangible product that would benefit the community,” he added.  

Staying physically active may slow cognitive decline

 

Physical activity is widely recognized as an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle, but a new study from the University of Georgia has found an additional benefit — staving off cognitive decline.

Researchers at the UGA College of Public Health analyzed data from more than 13,000 survey respondents and found that sustained physical activity can reduce the rate of cognitive decline for older adults. This data shows the importance of maintaining consistent physical activity throughout life, said lead author Suhang Song.

“We found that longer and more frequent engagement in physical activity, was associated with delayed cognitive decline,” said Song, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

“These protective benefits grew over the length of the study.”

Even exercising just once a week makes a difference

The researchers relied on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study that followed adults 50 years and over for 16 years.

Respondents reported how frequently they were physically active as well as their level of activity according to intensity. Vigorous activities included things like running and jogging. Gardening, dancing or stretching were classified as moderate activities while vacuuming, doing laundry and making home repairs were considered mild.

"If this slower decline continues, it could potentially delay the onset of dementia by many years.” —Suhang Song, College of Public Health

The study did not look at specific exercise time, but rather overall activity habits, and found that individuals who sustained regular physical activity throughout their lives experienced a significantly slower rate of cognitive decline.

For example, increasing vigorous physical activity from one to three times per month to once per week was linked to a measurable slowing of cognitive decline. Even increasing moderate physical activity from once per week to multiple times per week led to a slower rate of cognitive decline over time.

“The improvement of the decline rate may seem modest, but it builds up over time. If this slower decline continues, it could potentially delay the onset of dementia by many years, giving people more time to live independently and maintain quality of life,” Song said.

Regular activity should be encouraged in practice and policy

The findings build on existing research that links physical activity with cognitive health, but what sets this study apart is its focus on the duration and consistency of activity over time.

Promoting consistent physical activity may be a key component of any program aimed at reducing dementia risk in older adults, Song said.

Supporting building and maintaining long-term physical activity habits, through guidance from physicians and care providers, could help individuals adopt more sustainable routines by setting realistic, achievable goals, the researchers said.

Ultimately, Song’s message is simple: Move more and keep up activity.

“Our findings offer support in informing targeted interventions that support timely, consistent and long-term physical activity among older adults,” Song said. “From clinical practice and from the intervention side, continuous physical activity is an important proactive measure.”

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BMI a poor predictor of future health

 

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Florida

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A new University of Florida Health study shows that body mass index, or BMI — commonly used to measure obesity and health risk — fails in predicting the risk of future death, suggesting the calculation is deeply flawed.

The study, published today (June 24) in the Annals of Family Medicine, concludes that a direct measure of body fat using a relatively inexpensive device that notes the resistance of body tissue to a small electrical current is far more accurate.

This method, bioelectrical impedance analysis, is increasingly found in medical practices.

Individuals who have high body fat as measured directly by bioelectric impedance are 78% more likely to die of any cause than those with healthy body fat levels during the 15 years they were tracked, the study found. They are also about three-and-a-half times more likely to die of heart disease.

By contrast, BMI proved entirely unreliable. The study showed no statistically significant association with 15-year mortality risk from any cause, including heart disease, when BMI is used.

BMI and bioelectrical impedance data were analyzed in a way that removes the effects of age, race and income.

Researchers in the UF College of Medicine’s Department of Community Health and Family Medicine who conducted the study urged physicians to move away from BMI as the standard body composition measure.

The study’s authors likened their research to a test between two competing means of measuring body fat, much like a product comparison.

“This study is a game-changer,” said Arch Mainous, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor and vice chair of research in the department. “This is the ultimate Coke versus Pepsi test. And BMI failed.”

The study pulled data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is linked to the national death index. The analysis involved 4,252 people, a representative sample of the U.S. population.

The study’s senior author, Frank Orlando, M.D., medical director of UF Health Family Medicine – Springhill, said BMI’s use as a “vital sign” of health isn’t supported by good evidence.

“I’m a family physician, and on a regular basis, we’re faced with patients who have diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other conditions that are related to obesity,” said Orlando, an associate professor in the department.

“One of the routine measures we take alongside traditional vital signs is BMI. We use BMI to sort of screen for a person having an issue with their body composition, but it’s not accurate for everyone like vital signs are,” he added.

BMI is calculated using an individual’s height and weight — the formula is weight divided by height, squared. But the measure cannot distinguish between muscle and fat mass, only providing an indirect indication.

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Journal

The Annals of Family Medicine

DOI

10.1370/afm.240330 

A good soak in a hot tub might beat a sauna for health benefits

 

A UO study showed hot-water immersion helped lower blood pressure and boost the immune system

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Oregon

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image: 

A study participant soaking in a hot tub in the lab. Photo courtesy of the Minson Lab.

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Credit: Minson Lab, University of Oregon

Hot tubs and saunas can both soothe aching muscles and provide welcome warmth, but hot tubs might offer greater health benefits.

That’s the takeaway from a new study done by researchers in the Bowerman Sports Science Center at the University of Oregon, which compared the physiological effects of soaking in a hot tub to sitting in a traditional dry heat sauna or a more modern far-infrared sauna.

By raising core body temperatures, soaking in hot water can help lower blood pressure, stimulate the immune system and, over time, improve the body’s response to heat stress. Moreover, those effects can last beyond the minutes spent directly in heat treatment.

“We compared the most commonly utilized modalities of passive heating as they’re used in everyday life and studied in scientific research,” said study lead author Jessica Atencio, a doctoral student in the lab of Christopher Minson. “No studies have compared the acute responses between the three.”

The results were published in June in the American Journal of Physiology.

Under the guidance of Minson, the Kenneth M. and Kenda H. Singer Endowed Professor of Human Physiology and director of the Bowerman Center, researchers monitored body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output (the amount of blood the heart pumps per minute) and immune cell populations and blood biomarkers of inflammation. Data were collected before, during and after subjects soaked in a hot tub and sat in traditional dry heat and far-infrared saunas.

The study looked at 10 men and 10 women who exercised regularly and ranged in age from 20 to 28 years old. The goal was to isolate the physiological responses to each heating method in a young, healthy population.

“We saw that hot water immersion was the most impactful in increasing core body temperature, which is the main stimulus for these subsequent responses,” Atencio said. “Increasing body temperature causes an increase in blood flow, and just the force of blood moving across your vessels is beneficial for your vascular health.”

While the research team took blood samples from subjects after each kind of heat therapy, only hot-water immersion produced an inflammatory response as measured by the levels of inflammatory cytokines, a kind of immune signaling molecule, and immune cell populations.

Atencio and her team were not surprised by those results.

“Hot water immersion gives you the most robust changes in core temperature because you can’t effectively dissipate heat as you can if you have contact with the air and you’re sweating to cool the body,” she said. “When you’re submerged in water, the sweat mechanisms aren’t efficient.”

Minson has studied heat therapies for more than two decades. He has focused on how heat interacts with factors such as age, exercise and illness in men and women.

“There's no doubt in my mind that if people are willing to do some heat therapy, it’s going to align with improved health, as long as it’s done in moderation,” Minson said. “If you repeat these stresses over time, our lab and many others have shown that they are consistent with improved health.”

Regular exercise can provide benefits similar to and even better in some respects than those from heat therapy, he added, but individuals who are unable or unwilling to exercise may find that heat therapy provides an attractive option.

“It can be a very peaceful, sometimes religious, sometimes cultural and sometimes social experience,” Minson said. “And I think those aspects contribute to the health benefits and are critically important.”

“We want people to be smart and safe about it,” he added. “We need to make sure that they are cleared by their physicians or others for heat therapy or for exercise, whether it’s mild to moderate walking or jogging or strength training. Then they’ll be fine to do heat therapy.”

As a runner herself, Atencio knows people who like to combine heat therapy with exercise.

“We always say that exercise is the primary nonpharmacological treatment that people should be doing to promote health, but some people can’t or just won’t exercise,” she said. “Heat therapy is good supplementation.”

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DOI

10.1152/ajpregu.00012.2025 

The latest addition to my supplements: TMG

 Also see 

1. https://healthnewsreport.blogspot.com/2025/01/recent-research-that-has-changed-ny-diet.html

2. https://healthnewsreport.blogspot.com/2024/05/my-supplements-updated.html

Betaine, also known as trimethylglycine (TMG), is a naturally occurring compound that has several important functions in the body. It's a modified amino acid, involved in methylation reactions and detoxification of homocysteine.  

Key Roles and Mechanisms:

• Methyl Donor: Betaine serves as a methyl group donor, which is vital for various metabolic processes, including the conversion of homocysteine to methionine.
• Homocysteine Metabolism: High levels of homocysteine are linked to increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Betaine helps lower these levels by converting homocysteine to methionine.
• Osmoprotectant: Betaine helps regulate osmotic pressure within cells and tissues, crucial for maintaining cellular integrity.
• Anti-inflammatory: Betaine has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting certain inflammatory pathways. 

Uses and Potential Benefits:

• Homocystinuria Treatment: Betaine is used to treat homocystinuria, a genetic condition where the body cannot break down certain proteins, leading to homocysteine buildup.
• Heart Health: By reducing homocysteine levels, betaine may contribute to heart health and potentially lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Liver Function: Studies suggest that betaine may support liver function and protect against liver damage.
• Athletic Performance: Some research indicates that betaine supplementation might improve endurance, reduce fatigue, and enhance muscle power.
• Digestive Health: Betaine hydrochloride (HCl) can be used as a supplement to support digestive function, particularly in individuals with low stomach acid.  

Focusing on weight loss alone for obesity may do more harm than good

 

Focusing solely on achieving weight loss for people with a high body mass index (BMI) may do more harm than good, argue experts in The BMJ today.

Dr Juan Franco and colleagues say, on average, people with high weight will not be able to sustain a clinically relevant weight loss with lifestyle interventions, while the potential harms of weight loss interventions, including the reinforcement of weight stigma, are still unclear.

They stress that a healthy lifestyle has important benefits, but that weight alone might not give an adequate picture of someone’s health, and say doctors should provide high quality, evidence based care reflecting individual preferences and needs, regardless of weight.

Lifestyle interventions that focus on restricting an individual’s energy intake and increasing their physical activity levels have for many decades been the mainstay recommendation to reduce weight in people with obesity, explain the authors.

However, rigorous evidence has indicated that these lifestyle interventions are largely ineffective in providing sustained long term weight loss and reducing cardiovascular events (eg, heart attacks and strokes) or death.

Even though a healthy lifestyle provides important benefits, acknowledging that weight alone might not give an adequate picture of someone’s health, and recognising the limitations of lifestyle interventions for weight loss, could pave the way for more effective and patient centred care, they say.

Focusing on weight loss might also contribute to societal weight bias - negative attitudes, assumptions, and judgments about people based on their weight - which may not only have adverse effects on mental health but may also be associated with disordered eating, the adoption of unhealthy habits, and weight gain, they add.

They point out that recent clinical guidelines reflect the growing recognition that weight is an inadequate measure of health, and alternative approaches, such as Health at Every Size (HAES), acknowledge that good health can be achieved regardless of weight loss and have shown promising results in improving eating behaviours.

While these approaches should be evaluated in large clinical trials, doctors can learn from them to provide better and more compassionate care for patients with larger bodies, they suggest.

“Doctors should be prepared to inform individuals seeking weight loss about the potential benefits and harms of interventions and minimise the risk of developing eating disorders and long term impacts on metabolism,” they write. “Such a patient centred approach is likely to provide better care by aligning with patient preferences and circumstances while also reducing weight bias.”

They conclude: “Doctors’ advice about healthy eating and physical activity is still relevant as it may result in better health. The main goal is to offer good care irrespective of weight, which means not caring less but rather discussing benefits, harms, and what is important to the patient.”

Even short-term high fructose consumption in beverages increases the risk of inflammation

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Despite medical advances, infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses are still among the most common causes of death worldwide. What role could fructose play in such diseases? A research group led by Ina Bergheim from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna has now been able to prove for the first time that monocytes, important immune cells in the blood, react more strongly to bacterial toxins after fructose consumption - but not in a positive way. Specifically, the concentration of receptors for certain bacterial toxins increases, making the body more susceptible to inflammation. The study was recently published in the journal Redox Biology.

In two independent randomised studies with healthy adults, the researchers investigated how the consumption of fructose-sweetened beverages affects the immune response compared to beverages with glucose. In addition, they conducted experiments with isolated monocytes and cell culture models to investigate the molecular mechanisms.

More receptors for bacterial toxins are produced

The scientists were able to observe that the intake of fructose, in contrast to the intake of glucose, led to an increase in the concentration of Toll-like receptor 2 in monocytes. Toll-like receptor 2 regulates the immune response, among other things. The higher concentration was accompanied by an increased sensitivity of the monocytes to lipoteichoic acid, a bacterial toxin. "The concentration of receptors for such toxins in the body increased, which means that the inflammatory response increased," explains study leader Ina Bergheim from the University of Vienna. Specifically, pro-inflammatory messengers such as interleukin-6, interleukin-1β and tumour necrosis factor-alpha were increasingly released.

"These findings make an important contribution to understanding how individual food components and fructose in particular can influence the immune system," says Bergheim. "They indicate that even short-term, high fructose consumption in healthy people can influence the immune system and increase inflammation."

Influence of fructose on metabolic diseases

Future studies should clarify the long-term effects of chronically increased fructose consumption on the immune system and susceptibility to infection, particularly in risk groups with, for example, type II diabetes mellitus or fatty liver disease, which is associated with metabolic dysfunction. "Sugar, especially the fructose in sugary drinks and sweets, has long been suspected of increasing the risk of developing metabolic diseases - this needs to be investigated," says Bergheim.

Federal government should prioritize beans, peas, lentils in next dietary guidelines

 In  a June 24, 2025, letter, 134 physicians urged the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that the next Dietary Guidelines for Americans include science-backed recommendations to prioritize the consumption of beans, peas, and lentils as a protein source.  

“This key recommendation will help meet our shared goal of preventing and reducing chronic disease,” wrote the doctors, members of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a national health advocacy group which includes 17,000 physicians.  

The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently recommended that the current federal nutrition guidelines be modified to move the “Beans, Peas, and Lentils Subgroup” from the “Vegetables Food Group” to the “Protein Foods Group.” The Advisory Committee also recommended reorganizing the “Protein Foods Subgroups” to list “Beans, Peas, and Lentils” first, then “Nuts, Seeds, and Soy Products,” over “Seafood,” and “Meats, Poultry, and Eggs.” 

“This reorganization would better emphasize the benefits of legumes and would more accurately classify these foods as a major protein source in many Americans’ diets,” the letter says. “Additionally, this recommended reorganization would better educate the public on the nutritional value of these foods and help dispel the myth that plant-based proteins are ‘incomplete’ or inadequate sources of protein.”

The letter likewise points out beans, peas, and lentils provide an abundance of fiber, which Americans are currently deficient in. They are whole foods, often produced and sourced from American farmers. Plant-based sources of protein like legumes have regularly been linked to a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, unlike red and processed meats, which are strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is a group of nationally recognized nutrition and public health experts who were tasked with reviewing the current body of nutrition science on specific topics and questions as well as developing a Scientific Report, released in December 2024, that included its independent, science-based advice for HHS and USDA to consider when updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s report put important and appropriate emphasis on beans and other plant-based foods,” said Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, president of the Physicians Committee. “Overwhelming evidence supports the role of these foods in supporting cardiovascular health, promoting a healthy body weight, and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other serious conditions. It is vital that the next Dietary Guidelines for Americans prioritize these nutritious sources of protein.”

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s Scientific Report recommended emphasizing beans, peas, and lentils while reducing consumption of red and processed meats.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are revised every five years by HHS and the USDA. New guidelines are expected to be released this year. 

Bedtime recall exercise may enhance memory in older adults with and without Alzheimer's

 

A straightforward nightly activity may act as a memory-boosting tool, a new study has revealed.

Writing down just five events from the day significantly improved memory performance in individuals with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and healthy older adults the following day.

This intervention, which involves recalling and documenting daily experiences, offers a cost-free and easily implementable approach to enhancing memory function.

The RESTED-AD Study (Remote Evaluation of Sleep To Enhance Understanding in Early Dementia) investigated the effects of autobiographical recall on memory performance utilising 26 participants in two groups - with and without early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) dementia or mild cognitive impairment.  They engaged in a word recognition task on two separate occasions. In one instance, participants were asked to write down five autobiographical events before bedtime. The following morning, when asked to recognise the previously shown words, the results indicated improved memory performance in both groups when the bedtime recall exercise was included.

Co-Lead Researcher Dr Jonathan Blackman explained: “On the nights when participants wrote down events from the day, both the people with AD and healthy older adults did better in the memory task with the AD group benefitting even more.

“We do not believe that this has been demonstrated before in human studies and it holds promise as a drug-free intervention to enhance memory performance in healthy older adults and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment or dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease.”

While the study did not find a direct link between the bedtime recall exercise and sleep-related brain activity, there are other possible explanations.  For example, the recall exercise may have stimulated areas of the brain involved in memory just before bedtime leading to improved memory performance in other tasks.

This approach stands out due to its simplicity and accessibility. Unlike many existing memory interventions, which can be costly or require specialised equipment, this bedtime exercise can be easily incorporated into daily routines without additional resources.

The study's authors emphasise the need for further research to replicate these findings in larger samples and to explore the underlying mechanisms driving the observed improvements in memory. Nonetheless, the current results hold promise for a low-risk, intervention that could benefit individuals with AD and healthy older adults alike.

Dr Blackman concluded: “There are numerous approaches to improve memory in older people, but most are difficult to access, costly, time consuming or impractical. 

“For patients with early or moderate Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia there are also medications but these have modest benefit and can also potentially cause side effects. 

“If we can show that these study results are repeated and replicated, we think that this could be an easily adopted intervention that could have a meaningful effect on memory.”