Olive oil component alleviates intestinal inflammation

New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that oleuropein aglycone, a polyphenol present in olive oil, reduces inflammation associated with intestinal ischemia and reperfusion injury in mice

Here's another reason why you should include olive oil in your diet: A new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that at least one compound in olive oil significantly reduces intestinal ischemia (restricted blood supply) and the resulting reperfusion injury (tissue damage caused when blood supply returns). The compound, called "oleuropein aglycone," is the most prominent polyphenol found in olive oil and could become a novel therapeutic target aimed at treating intestinal ischemia and reperfusion injury in humans. Ultimately, this research could lead to therapeutic benefits for patients with spinal cord injuries, arthritis and pleurisy, as well as those suffering from intestinal ischemia/reperfusion.

"The phenolic compounds of olive oil can reduce the secondary injury associated with intestinal damage," said Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Ph.D., a senior researcher involved in the work from the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Messina in Messina, Italy. "Oleuropein aglycone may be useful in the therapy of inflammation-associated disease."

To make this discovery, scientists used four groups of mice. The first group was subjected to intestinal ischemia by splanchnic arterial occlusion (SAO) followed by reperfusion. The second group was the same as the first but was also administered oleuropein aglycone. The third group of mice underwent identical surgical procedures except for SAO shock and was kept under anesthesia for the duration of the experiment. The last group was the same as the third, but was also given oleuropein aglycone. The histological structure of the gastrointestinal tract from the third group was typical of a normal architecture, but did not present any early inflammation. The ileum from animals subjected to intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) showed severe histological alteration with edema of the distal portion of the villi and the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, apoptosis and neutrophil infiltration were significantly increased. Oleuropein aglycone treated-mice showed reduced IRI-induced organ injury including a considerable reduction of inflammatory and apoptotic levels.

"Olive oil's healing properties have been known for millennia," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "but until relatively recently, we have had few direct scientific insights into exactly how it works in the body. Not only does this report shed light on the molecular details of how olive oil may provide health benefits, but it may open new doors to enhancing treatments based on this discovery."

Old age offers no protection from obesity's death grip

Getting older increases Americans' risk of death from excessive BMI, finds new study, correcting flaw in earlier 'obesity paradox' research

Obesity kills, giving rise to a host of fatal diseases. This much is well known. But when it comes to seniors, a slew of prominent research has reported an "obesity paradox" that says, at age 65 and older, having an elevated BMI won't shorten your lifespan, and may even extend it. A new study takes another look at the numbers, finding the earlier research flawed. The paradox was a mirage: As obese Americans grow older, in fact, their risk of death climbs.

Ryan Masters, PhD, and Bruce Link, PhD, at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, in collaboration with Daniel Powers, PhD, at the University of Texas published the results online in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers argue that past studies of longevity and obesity were biased due to limitations of the National Health Interview Survey, or NHIS, which provides information on obesity. The survey excludes individuals who are institutionalized, such as in a hospital or nursing home—a group largely made up of seniors. Consequently, the data is overrepresented by older respondents who are healthy, including the relatively healthy obese. What's more, many obese individuals fail to make it to age 65—and thus do not live long enough to participate in studies of older populations.

"Obesity wreaks so much havoc on one's long-term survival capacity that obese adults either don't live long enough to be included in the survey or they are institutionalized and therefore also excluded. In that sense, the survey data doesn't capture the population we're most interested in," says Dr. Masters, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Columbia's Mailman School and the study's first author.

In his analysis Dr. Masters matched NHIS data on obesity with corresponding records in the National Death Index using data from close to 800,000 adults surveyed between 1986 and 2004. Next he performed statistical adjustments to account for the survey selection biases. The result: risk for death from obesity increases with age.

The finding jibes with countless medical studies that document how obesity takes a cumulative, even compounding toll on the human body. (Exponents of the obesity paradox have explained their counterintuitive results by suggesting that obesity's extra padding protects seniors from fall-related injuries and provides energy reserves during illness.)

"This study should put to rest the notion that it's possible to 'age out' of obesity risk, and provides a powerful counterfactual against those who say concern over obesity is overhyped," says Dr. Link, a professor of Epidemiology and Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School.

Going forward, Dr. Masters has set his sites on another possible reason behind the obesity paradox—that some of the older obese captured in NHIS data only put on extra weight later in life.

"The recent obesity epidemic hit all age groups at the same time, meaning many of the elderly obese only gained their excess weight in the last 10 years or so," Dr. Masters says. "To account for this fact, I will take a page from studies of cigarette smokers by looking at 'life years' to measure how long someone has been obese rather than whether or not they happen to be obese at the time of a single snapshot survey."

DHA better than EPA for the prevention/ treatment of liver disease

Research at Oregon State University has found that one particular omega-3 fatty acid has a powerful effect in preventing liver inflammation and fibrosis – common problems that are steadily rising along with the number of Americans who are overweight.

The American Liver Foundation has estimated that about 25 percent of the nation’s population, and 75 percent of those who are obese, have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. This early-stage health condition can sometimes progress to more serious, even fatal diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, as well as cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The study, published online in the Journal of Nutrition, was one of the first to directly compare the effects of two of the omega-3 fatty acids often cited for their nutritional value, DHA and EPA.

In research with laboratory animals, it found that EPA had comparatively little effect on preventing the fibrosis, or scarring, that’s associated with NASH. However, DHA supplementation reduced the proteins involved in liver fibrosis by more than 65 percent.

“A reduction of that magnitude in the actual scarring and damage to the liver is very important,” said Donald Jump, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at OSU and a professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences.

“Many clinical trials are being done with omega-3 fatty acids related to liver disease,” Jump said. “Our studies may represent the first to specifically compare the capacity of EPA versus DHA to prevent NASH. It appears that DHA, which can also be converted to EPA in the human body, is one of the most valuable for this purpose.”

The issues have taken center stage as the weight of Americans continues to rise, with a related increase in the incidence of fatty liver disease and liver damage.

NASH is a progressive form of liver disease that is associated with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, resulting from excess fat storage in the liver. Chronic inflammation can eventually lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, or even liver cancer. While management of lifestyle, including weight loss and exercise, is one approach to control the onset and progression of fatty liver disease, other approaches are needed to prevent and treat it.

About 30-40 percent of people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease progress to NASH, which in turn can result in cirrhosis, a major risk factor for liver cancer. While this research studied the prevention of fatty liver disease, Jump said, ongoing studies are examining the capacity of DHA to be used in NASH therapy.

The levels of omega-3 oils needed vary with the health concern, officials say.

“Omega-3 fatty acids are typically recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular disease,” Jump said. “Recommended intake levels of omega-3 fatty acids in humans for disease prevention are around 200-500 milligrams of combined DHA and EPA per day.”

Levels used in therapy to lower blood triglycerides, also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, are higher, about 2-4 grams of combined EPA and DHA per day. The OSU studies with mice used DHA at levels comparable to the triglyceride therapies.

“DHA was more effective than EPA at attenuating inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis and hepatic damage,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion. “Based on these results, DHA may be a more attractive dietary supplement than EPA for the prevention and potential treatment of NASH in obese humans.

Vitamin D, omega-3 may help clear amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's

A team of academic researchers has pinpointed how vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids may enhance the immune system's ability to clear the brain of amyloid plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

In a small pilot study published in the Feb. 5 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the scientists identified key genes and signaling networks regulated by vitamin D3 and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that may help control inflammation and improve plaque clearance.

Previous laboratory work by the team helped clarify key mechanisms involved in helping vitamin D3 clear amyloid-beta, the abnormal protein found in the plaque. The new study extends the previous findings with vitamin D3 and highlights the role of omega-3 DHA.

"Our new study sheds further light on a possible role for nutritional substances such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 in boosting immunity to help fight Alzheimer's," said study author Dr. Milan Fiala, a researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

For the study, scientists drew blood samples from both Alzheimer's patients and healthy controls, then isolated critical immune cells called macrophages from the blood. Macrophages are responsible for gobbling up amyloid-beta and other waste products in the brain and body.

The team incubated the immune cells overnight with amyloid-beta. They added either an active form of vitamin D3 called 1alpha,25–dihydroxyvitamin D3 or an active form of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA called resolvin D1 to some of the cells to gauge the effect they had on inflammation and amyloid-beta absorption.

Both 1alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and resolvin D1 improved the ability of the Alzheimer's disease patients' macrophages to gobble-up amyloid-beta, and they inhibited the cell death that is induced by amyloid-beta. Researchers observed that each nutrition molecule utilized different receptors and common signaling pathways to do this.

Previous work by the team, based on the function of Alzheimer's patients' macrophages, showed that there are two groups of patients and macrophages. In the current study, researchers found that the macrophages of the Alzheimer's patients differentially expressed inflammatory genes, compared with the healthy controls, and that two distinct transcription patterns were found that further define the two groups: Group 1 had an increased transcription of inflammatory genes, while Group 2 had decreased transcription. Transcription is the first step leading to gene expression.

"Further study may help us identify if these two distinct transcription patterns of inflammatory genes could possibly distinguish either two stages or two types of Alzheimer's disease," said study author Mathew Mizwicki, an assistant researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

While researchers found that 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and resolvin D1 greatly improved the clearance of amyloid-beta by macrophages in patients in both groups, they discovered subtleties in the effects the two substances had on the expression of inflammatory genes in the two groups. In Group 1, the increased-inflammation group, macrophages showed a decrease of inflammatory activation; in Group 2, macrophages showed an increase of the inflammatory genes IL1 and TLRs when either 1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 or resolvin D1 were added.

More study is needed, Fiala said, but these differences could be associated with the severity of patients' nutritional and/or metabolic deficiencies of vitamin D3 and DHA, as well as the omega-3 fatty acid EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

"We may find that we need to carefully balance the supplementation with vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids, depending on each patient in order to help promote efficient clearing of amyloid-beta," Fiala said. "This is a first step in understanding what form and in which patients these nutrition substances might work best."

According to Fiala, an active (not oxidized) form of omega-3 DHA, which is the precursor of the resolvin D1 used in this study, may work better than more commercially available forms of DHA, which generally are not protected against the oxidation that can render a molecule inactive.

The next step is a larger study to help confirm the findings, as well as a clinical trial with omega-3 DHA, the researchers said.

Silibinin, found in milk thistle, protects against UV-induced skin cancer

A pair of University of Colorado Cancer Center studies published this month show that the milk thistle extract, silibinin, kills skin cells mutated by UVA radiation and protects against damage by UVB radiation – thus protecting against UV-induced skin cancer and photo-aging.

“When you have a cell affected by UV radiation, you either want to repair it or kill it so that it cannot go on to cause cancer. We show that silibinin does both,” says Rajesh Agarwal, PhD, co-program leader of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CU Cancer Center and professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The first study, published in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology worked with human skin cells subjected to UVA radiation, which makes up about 95 percent of the sun’s radiation that reaches Earth. The Agarwal Lab treated these UVA-affected cells with silibinin. With silibinin, the rate at which these damaged cells died increased dramatically.

“When you take human skin cells – keratinocytes – and treat them with silibinin, nothing happens. It’s not toxic. But when you damage these cells with UVA radiation, treatment with silibinin kills the cells,” Agarwal says, thus removing the mutated cells that can cause skin cancer and photo-aging.

Specifically, the study shows that pretreatment with silibinin resulted in higher release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within the UVA-exposed cells, leading to higher rates of cell death.

The second study, published this month by the same authors in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis shows that instead of beneficially killing cells damaged by UVA radiation, treatment with silibinin protects human skill cells from damage by UVB radiation, which makes up about 5 percent of the sun’s radiation reaching Earth.

Again, remember Agarwal’s suggestion that the prevention of UV-induced skin cancer can happen in two ways: by protecting against DNA damage or by killing cells with damaged DNA. With UVA, silibinin kills; with UVB, it protects, in this case by increasing cells’ expression of the protein interleukin-12, which works to quickly repair damaged cells.

“It has been 20 years of work with this compound, silibinin,” Agarwal says. “We first noticed its effectiveness in treating both skin and solid cancers, and we now have a much more complete picture of the mechanisms that allow this compound to work.”

Agarwal and colleagues continue to test the effectiveness of silibinin in cancer prevention and treatment in cell lines and mouse models, and are working toward human trials of silibinin-based therapeutics.

Jon's Health Tips

Here's the latest report on why I avoid eating deep-fried food:

Eating deep-fried food = increased risk of prostate cancer

Regular consumption of deep-fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer..
While previous studies have suggested that eating foods made with high-heat cooking methods, such as grilled meats, may increase the risk of prostate cancer, this is the first study to examine the addition of deep frying to the equation...
Men who reported eating French fries, fried chicken, fried fish and/or doughnuts at least once a week were at an increased risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who said they ate such foods less than once a month. In particular, men who ate one or more of these foods at least weekly had an increased risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent.

and eat a high fiber diet:

High Fiber Diet Prevents Prostate Cancer Progression

I need to move around even more at the office and at home, since I never go to a gym:

An active lifestyle approach, as opposed to structured exercise, may be just as beneficial in improving health outcomes, including preventing metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

I will continue to eat lots of these:

Eating bright-colored fruits and vegetables may prevent or delay ALS

Fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower risk of breast cancer

More fruit and vegetables=calmer, happier, more energetic

Strawberries, blueberries may cut heart attack risk in women

Eating three or more servings of blueberries and strawberries per week may help women reduce their risk of a heart attack by as much as one-third, researchers reported (January, 2013) in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Somethings for me to look forward to?

Diet may not impact certain health outcomes in older persons

Eating diets high in sugar and fat may not affect the health outcomes of older adults ages 75 and up.

It's True: Medical Cannabis Provides Dramatic Relief for Sufferers of Chronic Ailments

Using marijuana from a farm called Tikkun Olam — a reference to the Jewish concept of healing the world — Klein and his fellow researchers tested the impact of the treatment on 19 residents of the Hadarim nursing home in Israel. The results, Klein says, have been outstanding. Not only did participants experience dramatic physical results, including healthy weight gain and the reduction of pain and tremors, but Hadarim staff saw an immediate improvement in the participants' moods and communication skills. The use of chronic medications was also significantly reduced, he reports.

More things for me to worry about:

Don't ignore the snore: Snoring may be early sign of future health risks

Snoring may put you at a greater risk than those who are overweight, smoke or have high cholesterol.

Regular Aspirin Use Linked to Increased Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

I wasn't happy about the threat of going blind so to reaffirm my resolve to continue taking aspirin I looked again at this summary:
Health Benefits of Aspirin


I avoid all soda and sweetened drinks:

Diet soda, sweetened drinks linked to depression risk

The risk appeared to be greater for people who drank diet than regular soda, diet than regular fruit punches and for diet than regular iced tea.

This is good news indeed - I will continue to drink red wine and white tea:


Red wine and green and white tea could give athletes and players a boost in the sports arena by increasing the amount of performance-enhancing hormone testosterone in their bodies.



More interesting reports:

Harms from breast cancer screening outweigh benefits


Which nutritional factors help preserve muscle mass in the elderly

Eating deep-fried food = increased risk of prostate cancer

Frequent, regular consumption has strongest effect and is linked to more aggressive disease

Regular consumption of deep-fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease, according to a study by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Corresponding author Janet L. Stanford, Ph.D., and colleagues Marni Stott-Miller, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow and Marian Neuhouser, Ph.D., all of the Hutchinson Center’s Public Health Sciences Division, have published their findings online in The Prostate.

While previous studies have suggested that eating foods made with high-heat cooking methods, such as grilled meats, may increase the risk of prostate cancer, this is the first study to examine the addition of deep frying to the equation.

From French fries to doughnuts: Eating more than once a week may raise risk

Specifically, Stanford, co-director of the Hutchinson Center’s Program in Prostate Cancer Research, and colleagues found that men who reported eating French fries, fried chicken, fried fish and/or doughnuts at least once a week were at an increased risk of prostate cancer as compared to men who said they ate such foods less than once a month.

In particular, men who ate one or more of these foods at least weekly had an increased risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent. Weekly consumption of these foods was associated also with a slightly greater risk of more aggressive prostate cancer. The researchers controlled for factors such as age, race, family history of prostate cancer, body-mass index and PSA screening history when calculating the association between eating deep-fried foods and prostate cancer risk.

“The link between prostate cancer and select deep-fried foods appeared to be limited to the highest level of consumption – defined in our study as more than once a week – which suggests that regular consumption of deep-fried foods confers particular risk for developing prostate cancer,” Stanford said.

Deep frying may trigger formation of carcinogens in food

Possible mechanisms behind the increased cancer risk, Stanford hypothesizes, include the fact that when oil is heated to temperatures suitable for deep frying, potentially carcinogenic compounds can form in the fried food. They include acrylamide (found in carbohydrate-rich foods such as French fries), heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures), aldehyde (an organic compound found in perfume) and acrolein (a chemical found in herbicides). These toxic compounds are increased with re-use of oil and increased length of frying time.

Foods cooked with high heat also contain high levels of advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs, which have been associated with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Deep-fried foods are among the highest in AGE content. A chicken breast deep fried for 20 minutes contains more than nine times the amount of AGEs as a chicken breast boiled for an hour, for example.

For the study, Stanford and colleagues analyzed data from two prior population-based case-control studies involving a total of 1,549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1,492 age-matched healthy controls. The men were Caucasian and African-American Seattle-area residents and ranged in age from 35 to 74 years. Participants were asked to fill out a dietary questionnaire about their usual food intake, including specific deep-fried foods.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to look at the association between intake of deep-fried food and risk of prostate cancer,” Stanford said. However, deep-fried foods have previously been linked to cancers of the breast, lung, pancreas, head and neck, and esophagus.

Because deep-fried foods are primarily eaten outside the home, it is possible that the link between these foods and prostate cancer risk may be a sign of high consumption of fast foods in general, the authors wrote, citing the dramatic increase in fast-food restaurants and fast-food consumption in the U.S. in the past several decades.