Tag Archives: Health

Is the Secret to Longevity in our Genes?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Increasing life expectancies of the world. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Lifestyle and luck aside, the average human in the twenty-first century has a life expectancy of 80 years. For many people this may seem like a long time, but what about people who live to 100 years old or even older? Is there some secret to longevity they are not telling us?

The small fraction of the population who live to the age of 100 or more are called centenarians. An even smaller fraction of people, who live to be significantly older than 100 are supercentenarians. If you ask them what it takes to live a long life, you will get a wide range of answers: “morning walks and chocolate”, “tell the truth”, “raw eggs and no husband.” Although these answers cannot be directly correlated with longevity, scientists are looking for answers in our DNA.

It is true that a supercentenarian will have few than usual DNA variations known to increase the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments, but researchers believe there is more to it than just luck. They suggest that there is a genetic code that actively protects against aging. This could explain why some supercentenarians are actually more healthy overall, than centenarians in the final months of their life.

DNA strands: Possibly hold the answer to longevity. (Source PublicDomainPictures)

Finding this sequence this is understandably hard since this “survival” phenotype is so rare and nonspecific. Of the billions of A’s, T’s, C’s, and G’s that make up our genetic code, it is hard to distinguish where these mutations occur and even more difficult to collect enough genotypes to confirm the theory.

Despite the odds, researchers published an article that identifies new variants in chromosomes 4 and 7 associated with extreme survival and reduced risk for diseases. The study used 2,070 individuals who were the one percentile of survival for the 1900 U.S. year and analyzed their genomes. They found that there are longevity-associated variants (LAV) and survival to extreme age at death (eSAV) variants, LAV being more common in centenarians. Although this far from confirms proof of a healthy aging gene, it a step forward in unlocking the secrets of living a long, healthy life.

-Mya Dodd

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Sugar Craze – Is Artificial Bad?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | 1 comment

Everyone likes a little sweet in their life, whether it’s that extra chocolate chip cookie, or adding a teaspoon of sugar to your morning coffee.

Figure 1. Coffee with a sugar cube being added to it. (Image source)

Because sugar can have many adverse effects on health, artificial sweeteners have been used instead to provide the same sweet taste. These include Sweet n Low, Splenda, and Equal just to name a few. However, even though these alternatives provide a low calorie substitution, there has been a lot of controversy to whether or not they are actually better for your health.

Figure 2. Artificial sweetener packets, including Splenda and Equal. (Image source)

Sugar can cause many different problems when eaten at a high level, including; type 2 diabetes, obesity, inflammation, heart disease and even cancer.

The first artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered in 1879 when a chemist discovered that his food tasted sweeter after work and went on to taste all the chemicals he was using in his lab. After that, more artificial sweeteners have been found and have been targeted towards diabetics, and those wanting to lose weight.

The FDA is the organization that approves foods and drugs with the responsibility of protecting the public health. There are currently eight approved artificial sweeteners in the United States. These eight approved sugars have all been deemed safe by the FDA as long as they are used in moderation.

So why do so many people rebel against the idea of ingesting anything artificially manufactured?

The media plays a big part in this. There were several false animal studies done on rats that linked artificial sweeteners to cancer. While the FDA states that these were poorly executed experiments and that they provided false conclusions, the public still has a hard time getting this information.

Figure 3. Two laboratory rats. (Image source)

In 1980, after a study falsely connected aspartame with brain cancer, there was a wide media outbreak that ended with FDA banning aspartame. However, once more research was done, the FDA quickly lifted their ban in 1981. The FDA continues to state that aspartame is safe to consume at acceptable levels. Yet, even with this research available, many people still believe that aspartame is to blame for many adverse symptoms.

Why?

Research is currently hard to understand at a public level, and the truth can be difficult to find as people can form an accidental bias when reporting.

To help the public truly understand these controversies, there has to be a way in the future to allow the public better access to these scientific discoveries. Making science more accessible will benefit society as a whole as more individuals will be able to form their own opinions.

For now though, it is safe to say that you can fill your sweet tooth craving with an artificial sweetener instead.

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You Snooze, You Lose

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 3 comments

If you are like me, and have a hard time waking up in the morning, then you will definitely want to read this post.

A recent survey by Sleep Junkie found that just under 2/3 of people hit the snooze button at least once in the morning.

The majority of people hit their snooze buttons at least once in the morning. Source: Jam Loceng

You may hit the snooze button to get a couple more minutes of sleep, and then repeat several more times, thinking that those minutes will make you feel more rejuvenated.  However, according to researchers, hitting the snooze button can actually make you more tired and less productive throughout the day.

When we go to sleep, our bodies follow the Circadian Rhythm, a 24-hour cycle which controls our sleep cycle and releases chemicals like melatonin, a hormone that makes you drowsy and sleepy.  Melatonin production increases at night by a 4-step chemical mechanism in the brain and then decreases as you begin to wake up.  During the night, your body enters REM stages (light sleeping/dreaming) before going into deeper sleep stages.

This graph shows the REM and deep sleep stages that occur during a normal, uninterrupted Circadian Rhythm. Source: Lucid Dream Explorers

What happens when you wake up, hit the snooze button and go back to sleep? Melatonin releases and your body restarts the sleep cycle, going from REM into deep sleep stages.  When your alarm clock goes off again and you press the snooze button, you interrupt your body in the beginning of its sleep cycle, making you feel more tired and groggy.

This video by AsapSCIENCE shows the chemicals that are released both when you wake up and when you are falling asleep, and shows why you are tired and groggy in the morning.

I found these results really interesting because I hit the snooze button at least 3-5 times in the morning.  So I decided not to hit the snooze button for a couple mornings in a row, and even though I felt tired right when I got up, I definitely felt less tired during the day compared to days when I constantly hit the snooze button.

However, researchers say that not hitting the snooze button won’t prevent you from being tired if you aren’t getting enough sleep.  We mainly press the snooze button because we didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

This article by Business Insider shows the pros and cons of snoozing and that in certain sleep stages, hitting the snooze button will have a stronger negative impact. The worst case for hitting the snooze button is if you are overtired because then you are more likely to enter a deep sleep.

So next time you are about to hit the snooze button, stop yourself and see how you feel if you get up on the first try.

– Jessica Hasker

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MSG – Is it Really a Silent Killer?

Posted on October 30, 2017 by | 1 comment

By now everyone has heard of the controversial debate surrounding MSG – whether or not is it harmful to eat. Without all the information easy to find on the internet, it can be difficult to truly answer this question.

 

Figure 1. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) shown in chemical form. (Image Source)

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the salt version of an amino acid. Amino acids are molecules in your body that bond together to create proteins. They are also known as the building blocks of life.

 

 

Why does MSG taste so good? It uses the fifth taste sense called umani. The amino acid section of MSG is detected by this taste bud, and tricks your mind into thinking the food tastes heartier and more savory. Because of this, MSG is used as a food additive in many restaurants, most commonly in Chinese food.

Figure 2. A Chinese restaurant, typically associated with the use of MSG. (Image Source)

MSG was thought to create short term symptoms when eaten such as heart palpitations, general weakness, and numbness around the face and neck. These symptoms were previously known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”, because the symptoms generally arose after eating in Chinese restaurants, places known to use this additive. Restaurants were told to promote that they did not use MSG, and the public were encouraged by the media to avoid it.

 

However, most studies done have reported no correlation between the symptoms and the use of MSG. Experiments on both humans and monkeys showed that when given MSG or not, the two groups would still experience the same symptoms on average. The only case where some individuals would respond badly, was when they were fed three grams of MSG or more with no food (an average person would only consume 0.55 grams of added MSG in a day in real life). Because of the unlikeliness of this situation, it wasn’t seen to prove any of the negative correlations.

Figure 3. Caption of a Chinese Restaurant stating no MSG is added. (Image Source)

Even the FDA, while approving the need to label food if it contains MSG, state that it is “generally recognized as safe”.  There is no direct evidence yet for a link between MSG and the negative symptoms it has been associated with.

So, why then do so many people believe that it is bad? This is because the media controls a large portion of the general public’s knowledge. We need to find new ways to form a connection between the public and science, to give people unbiased knowledge of new research. With this connection and availability of information, the public would be able to understand both views of the controversy and form their own opinions.

Author: Thryn Irwin

 

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Read This Before Having A Banana Milkshake!

Posted on October 30, 2017 by | 4 comments

When you type ‘milk banana’ in the Google search bar, you will probably get millions of recipes of banana milkshakes. Banana milkshakes are made of many healthy ingredients with essential nutrients. Blending with skim milk, it becomes a great snack with low calories. More importantly, it tastes so good, especially in a hot summer. Although banana milkshakes seem quite healthy and beneficial to human body, yet they may cause illness. Yes, you read that right. Mixing banana and milk together may harm our health.

Credit: Shelly Antol

For years, whether the combination of banana and milk benefits human body or not has been in debate. Both banana and milk help strengthen our body, such as gaining weight.  However, combining two kinds of health food may have the opposite effect. According to Harish Kumar, an expert Dietitian and Psychologist from Care For Life, banana milkshakes actually can hinder the digestion process and disturb sleeping patterns.

Ayurveda claims that every single food has its own taste, post digestive effect and a heating or cooling energy. And how well food is digested mainly depends on agni or gastric fire. Banana and milk are on the top of the list of incompatible foods. Even though bananas taste sweet, they have a sour post digestive effect while milk has a sweet one, which confuses our digestive system and leads to some imbalances. In addition, different digestive effects create such a negative reaction in human body that may generate extra water, clog body channel or even contribute to heart diseases.

More and more researches indicate that banana and milk do not go well together. If you really want to consume both of them, try to consume them separately rather than having a banana milkshake. Bananas and milk both have their own properties to strengthen our body but mixing together may cause ailments instead.

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Zika Virus…a Cure for Brain Cancer?

Posted on October 30, 2017 by | 2 comments

 

A summary of ZIKV Photo from: Google Images

ZIKV is a virus that is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes. The infection mostly causes very mild symptoms similar to Dengue Fever. Babies in the womb can have slightly more adverse effects such as brain malformations and birth defects. Researchers studied how ZIKV was causing these problems for babies. One main concern that arose was that ZIKV was causing the death of stem cells which are in high abundance in babies.

Recently experts have been studying how to use ZIKV to treat brain cancer, specifically glioblastoma. Glioblastoma is a type of brain cancer that is very common in adults and can grow and spread quickly. Due to its rapid growth, glioblastoma is tricky to treat and the common treatments, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, are unable to fully remove it.

Taking the knowledge that ZIKV targets stem cells in babies, researchers investigated whether or not ZIKV would target cancer cells in adults as they have relatively few stem cells. An article published in The Journal of Experimental Science reports the findings of this experiment. In living mice and donated human brain tissue samples, ZIKV was seen to kill the cancer cells. This is a huge step forward in the research.

Human trials are still some way away but so far the results look promising. The next step before human trials is to try and modify the virus to make a tamer version with the same effect on the cancer cells. This ensures that patients will be safe from other symptoms when treated.

For a general summary of the research conducted, the following YouTube video is informative:

YouTube Preview Image

Although the research is still in its early stages, I feel that it could have a lot of potential once human trials begin. This could lead to a treatment for cancer that is more effective than what we have today.

~ Sajni Shah

References:

1) Zhe Zhu, Matthew J. Gorman, et al. “Zika virus has oncolytic activity against glioblastoma stem cells.”  Journal of Experimental Medicine Oct 2017, 214 (10) 2843-2857.

2) Roberts, Michelle. “Zika virus used to treat aggressive brain cancer.” BBC News, BBC, 5 Sept. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/health-41146628.

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If you feel stressed by school: drink coffee!

Posted on October 29, 2017 by | 4 comments

Source: Flickr

As a student, getting close to the end of the semester can be quite stressful. Assignment deadlines and exams are building up in all the courses so you get overwhelmed and feel extra tired all the time. Then, this stress evolves into anxiety and feeling so down that the motivation to get good grades is lost. You reach a point just want to get over with the semester alive. Does this sound familiar? I bet you’ve felt like this at least once in your life, I know I have! Well, an easy solution to help you feel better is drinking coffee. I know, we usually think of coffee only as a source to keep us awake. Even some of us might have grown up with the idea that drinking coffee is bad for your health, but turns out it is actually beneficial to our mental health.

Coffee has been shown to help decrease depression and stress by boosting your mood and sense of well being. Consuming coffee, inhibits the adenosine hormone in the brain, which is the one responsible for making you feel sleepy and down. This inhibition leads to a state of alertness and it is related to increased dopamine, which is a stimulant in the brain that is responsible for making you feel good. Moreover, that feeling of enhanced alertness is what helps to keep us awake and feel more energized. This also has been proven to increase memory, attention spam and cognitive functions. Drinking coffee can improve our mood and feel help us feel more energized, thus, it reduces stress which helps us be more productive to excel in our courses.

However, everything in excess is bad for your health. Taking excessive amounts of coffee can be detrimental to your well-being. Caffeine is considered a drug, meaning that we can create an addiction to it and if not taken in moderation. If this happens, a day without coffee can actually make us feel worse by producing withdrawal symptoms, which ultimately makes us feel more stressed. Essentially your body gets used to the benefits coffee gives you and stops moderating these hormones naturally since caffeine does it for our organism instead. To avoid this, parameters of the amount of caffeine that can be safely consumed daily have been stablished. For healthy adults the recommended amount is no more than 400g of caffeine per day, which is about 240 ml or three 8oz cups of coffee per day.

As we know, student life can be very stressful and so we need to take care of our mental health if we want to be productive, have good grades, and be happy. Drinking coffee can help make us feel better and also keep us energized and focused in school. But, as everything in life, moderation is key to get all the benefits and avoid the disadvantages.

Andrea Olaizola.

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Concussions – Not Just a Knock on the Head

Posted on October 23, 2017 by | 1 comment

One in five Canadians have been concussed from playing a sport according to a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute.

1 in 5 Canadians have had a concussion from playing a sport. Source: Twitter – Healthy Minds Canada

Within the last 4 years, I have had 3 concussions from playing soccer, making me one of five Canadians to get concussed from a sport.  My most recent concussion happened last October and I still have symptoms including: light sensitivity, headaches and trouble focusing.  I saw a neurologist during the summer and he explained how chemical influxes of potassium and calcium are the major causes of these concussive symptoms, especially for the first few weeks or even months after.

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury from a blow to the head, that causes the brain to move around in the skull.  This short video by Smithsonian, describes a concussion in simple terms.

What most of you might not know, is that concussive symptoms are not just from the brain being shaken and bruised.  Secondary symptoms, which increase a concussion’s effect, are from the chemical imbalances released when the brain is hit.  Free-radical overproduction and ion imbalances decrease the energy that nerves use to function.  The ion imbalance prevents the nerve cells from generating energy to recover from the injuries.

A paper by Christoper Giza and David Howa describes how neuronal depolarization and neurotransmitter release delays recovery from concussions and causes secondary symptoms.

Right after the blow to the head, neurotransmitters and ions like potassium and calcium are released in large quantities.  Neuronal depolarization, when positively charged ions enter the cell, occurs when potassium ions flow out and calcium ions flow into the cell disrupting the normal concentrations.

The figure below shows the overall trends of these ions during a concussion.

Potassium and calcium levels in the brain after a concussion. Data source: National Athletic Trainers’ Association

The influx of calcium ions disrupt neuron connections, slowing brain processes, causing confusion and trouble focusing.  Calcium build-up also prevents mitochondria from making energy, causing headaches.

The potassium ions pushed out of the cells cannot be balanced by the cell’s normal processes.  The excess potassium increases depolarization, creating a positive feedback cycle that suppresses the neuron, and significantly slows neuron activity, causing slower thinking and trouble formulating thoughts.

Lastly, neurotransmitter influxes inhibit neuron activity causing temporary memory loss and learning difficulties, for a week up until even 8 weeks after.  This release of neurotransmitters in higher amounts causes the initial potassium and calcium ions influx.

Currently, the scientific knowledge available about concussions is limited, so researchers have been looking at the biochemical changes that occur in the brain after a concussion happens.  By understanding the biochemical processes of concussions and how long these effects last, researchers can make a positive impact on athletes’ health and well-being.

-Jessica Hasker

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Vitamin supplementation can actually be harmful for your health.

Posted on October 17, 2017 by | 4 comments

Vitamin Supplements Source: Flickr

I bet you have taken vitamin supplementation at some point in your life. Why not? It can only be good for you, since all we hear about is how taking vitamins is good for your health, right? Wrong. Turns out there is a big misconception and that overdosing your body with vitamin intake can actually have detrimental effects for your body, even to the point to even increase the risk of getting cancer.

There is such thing as vitamin overdose which is toxic for your body. You might think that the more the better, right? Turns out excess of certain types of vitamins are not simply excreted by your body as one might think, but they rather build up in your organism and negatively affect your health. Specifically, the vitamins that negatively impact your health in excess are vitamins A, D, E and B. 

Different vitamin excess causes different symptoms. For vitamin A, some symptoms include: headaches, irritability, abdominal pain, nausea, renal stones, anorexia, etc. for vitamin D, they include: anorexia, constipation, depression, hypertension, seizures, etc. For vitamin E: fatigue, weakness, hemorrhage, affected inmune system, etc. Lastly symptoms for vitamin B include: paralysis, convulsions, fatigue, light sensibility, liver damage, insomnia, skin lesions, etc. And this are just a few out of a longer list of the symptoms for each type of vitamin.

This excess is rarely due to overconsumption of vitamins through food, since vitamin content in fruits and vegetables is not as high as in supplements. Vitamin intake through a healthy and balanced diet is usually enough to be good for our health without having the risk exceeding and get to toxic levels. These excess are mainly due to vitamin supplement intake. Furthermore, there are several studies that indicate that taking vitamin supplementation for a long period of time might increase the risk of cancer. For example, long term use of vitamin A and vitamin E supplementation have been linked with incidence of lung cancer.

This is not say vitamin supplementation is always bad for your health. There are many studies about all the positive effects of vitamins. We need vitamins for our body to function optimally. However, dietitians suggest to take vitamin supplementation in specific cases were intake of certain vitamins is crucial, for example vitamin B9 during pregnancy. If not required for a specific medical reason, people should aim to obtain vitamins from food sources rather than by supplements to avoid toxic levels that can affect your health negatively. Sometimes more does not necessarily means better, but rather the oposite.

-Andrea Olaizola.

 

 

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Consider Third Hand Smoke When Choosing a Home

Posted on October 16, 2017 by | 4 comments

Are you planning to move into a new home? Most people have heard about second hand smoke being bad for your health, but have you ever heard about third hand smoke? Third hand smoke is residual tobacco smoke pollutants that can remain in an environment up to months after the last use of tobacco. These pollutants settle on dust and surfaces such as carpets and fabrics. They can be reemitted into the air and inhaled, ingested, and absorbed through the skin. When choosing a home, is third hand smoke important enough of a factor to affect your decision?

Smoke Lingering in an Indoor Environment Credit to Wikipedia Commons

Researchers at the San Diego State University found third hand smoke to be very persistent, with significant levels remaining in homes vacant for 2 months even after they were cleaned and prepared for new occupants.

Third hand smoke levels were measured in 100 homes of smokers and in 50 homes of non smokers before and after the occupants of the homes changed. With the original occupants of the homes still present, the homes of smokers were detected to have levels of third hand smoke around seven times higher on living room surfaces and on living room dust when compared to the homes of non smokers. Levels of third hand smoke were measured again two months after these original occupants moved out and new non-smokers moved in.  The levels of third hand smoke on dust and on surfaces still exceeded health thresholds in more than half of these homes.

Urine samples for the new occupants in former homes of smokers and in former homes of non-smokers were analyzed, and the new occupants in homes of former smokers had an astonishing 3 to 5 times higher levels of tobacco pollutants present in their urine.

They found that third hand smoke levels in the air in homes of former smokers decreased after the change of occupancy, since polluted air can easily be recycled through air circulation and ventilation, but levels of third hand smoke on dust and surfaces remained high. So if you are planning to move into a new home especially with a newborn child, you should take care in choosing a home since infants and young children exhibit behaviours such as crawling and hand to mouth contact which exposes them to the high levels of third hand smoke found on dust and surfaces.

When choosing a new home, definitely try to avoid homes with excess levels of third hand smoke by knowing the history of the recent previous occupants. Knowing about the presence of third hand smoke can protect you and your family from the negative health effects of third hand smoke!

-Gareth Lee

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