Vitamin D, Fish oil, coconut water supplementation and health improvements
AIDA and a little bit of hiking pictures.
A fantastic song to listen to while reading.
I am finally back from hiking. No injuries this time, and I had a good time with close friends (I am the youngest among us and they are kinda protective of me LOL). Thankfully no storms, no rain, no mud, just the scorching summer heat, there will be a few pictures at the end of this.
I recently read a few interesting and important papers so here we are with another AIDA (Alternate Interval Data Analysis), a round-up of whatever I think is important. While it would make sense to build the article towards one specific article, I will just put it first, because finally some evidence to my argument that No matter how much damn food you stuff in your mouth, you will never achieve therapeutic levels of nutrients.
Results
A total of 337 cases of dementia were confirmed after a mean duration of 7.7 years (123,486 person-years) of follow-up. Habitual use of fish oil supplements showed a 24% lower dementia risk among older diabetic patients [HRs (95% CIs): 0.76 (0.60−0.98) (P = 0.031)] compared with non-users. Such inverse association was not modified by the APOE ε4 genotype. However, the consumption of both oily fish (≥2 times/week) and non-oily fish (≥2 times/week) had no significant association with dementia risk (p-trend = 0.271 and p-trend = 0.065) compared with non-consumers.
Conclusion
In summary, fish oil supplementation may play a protective role in cognitive function across all APOE genotypes, while non-oily fish and oily fish consumption have no protective association among older diabetic patients.
Under normal circumstances and a healthy diet, the consumption of oily fish will be beneficial, but that is not what we are talking about here. Even when taking into account APOE genotypes (specific markers for a gene that can increase your risk of having both Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease…incidentally the second contributes to the first), fish oil supplementation but not consumption of oily fish had a protective role in older diabetic people.
It has been my argument well since I started my defunct Twitter account that supplementation is necessary under specific conditions, regardless of how good your diet is. One may “outgrow” or heal itself out of supplementation, but there is a place for it. And since we are talking about outgrowing something.
Results
Although 5.0% reported regular vitamin D use and 19.8% reported multivitamin use, the majority of participants exhibited either vitamin D deficiency (18.3%) or insufficiency (34.0%). However, vitamin D deficiency was less prevalent among users of vitamin D (6.9%) or multivitamin preparations (9.5%) than among nonusers (21.5%). Adjusted Cox regression models demonstrated 19% to 25% increased risk of all 3 dementia outcomes for those with vitamin D deficiency [hazard ratio (HR) 95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.25 (1.16, 1.34) for all-cause dementia; 1.19 (1.07–1.31) for AD; 1.24 (1.08–1.43) for VD] and 10% to 15% increased risk of those with vitamin D insufficiency [HR (95% CI): 1.11 (1.05, 1.18) for all-cause dementia; 1.10 (1.02–1.19) for AD; 1.15 (1.03–1.29) for VD]. Regular users of vitamin D and multivitamins had 17% and 14% lower risk of AD [HR (95% CI): 0.83 (0.71, 0.98)] and VD [HR (95% CI): 0.86 (0.75, 0.98)] incidence, respectively.
Conclusions
Although our findings indicate the potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation for dementia prevention, randomized controlled trials are essential for definitive evidence.
A similar trend to the above, where one of the cheapest “supplements” you could get, can provide you long-term benefits, Vitamin D is especially significant in this regard because it is less vitamin and more hormone with systemic effects. Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency won’t impact just your risk of developing dementia, but quite literally it affects the outcome of almost every type of infection, and disease, it directly correlates with proper immune function.
Also, it doesn’t matter much where you live. In Brazil, “inadequate vitamin D status has been described in all regions. A metanalysis of 72 studies developed throughout the country found an average of 28.16% deficiency (25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL) and 45.26% insufficiency (< 30 ng/mL).”
A recent and brief review proposes a similar dosage as I do for most healthy people, 2000 IU per day, people with chronic issues, latent viruses, and autoimmune diseases will often need more. I also covered how just supplementing a multivitamin a day improves many outcomes in life.
After my recent bout with… well, something, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the pricey (here in my country) probiotics and just test it out. The algo must have picked it up because shortly after I was fed this paper. For disclosure, my probiotic is Lactobacillus + Saccharomyces Boulardii 1 billion UFC, suggested by my mother too =P.
The purpose of this multicenter study was to explore in real-life conditions changes in IBS symptoms and quality of life in patients receiving a 4-week supplementation with L. gasseri LA806. Altogether 119 patients meeting Rome IV criteria for IBS were included, of whom 118 received the supplement. The majority of patients (71.8% (95% CI 63.6−79.9%)) manifested a ≥30% decrease in abdominal pain at 4 weeks, the mean abdominal pain score diminishing by 54.2% (from 5.3 ± 2.2 to 2.2 ± 2.4, p < 0.0001). A statistically significant decrease in abdominal pain was seen as early as the first week. A decrease of ≥30% in both abdominal pain score and global IBS symptom score was attained in 61.5% of patients (95% CI 51.7−71.2%). The mean IBS-SSS score fell by 152 ± 112 points (p = 0.001), with symptoms being attenuated in 85% of patients (CGI-I). Supplementation led to a 10-fold decrease in the number of patients reporting severe IBS symptoms. The concomitant intake of antidiarrheals, antispasmodics and analgesics decreased and quality of life scores significantly improved. These preliminary results warrant confirmation by a randomized, placebo-controlled study that this study will allow a better design.
This multicenter (meaning multiple locations, often different people) study used the specific Lactobacillus strain LA806 for 4 weeks, and in these 4 weeks of treatment, the majority of the patients experienced improvement in both pain and symptoms. Specific strains of specific microbes have been researched because of the potential to treat or ameliorate hard-to-treat conditions such as IBS.
LA806 itself has been shown to decrease Candida colonization alone or together with Lactobacillus Helveticus LA401. It is too soon to talk about any improvements or benefits from my probiotic, but clearly, there is a significant benefit on this one for IBS. Everything begins in the gut as the father of modern medicine once said. And we are talking about IBS becauuuuuuse…
Inflammatory bowel disease induces pathological α-synuclein aggregation in the human gut and brain
For a good few years, there has been a discussion between experts in the field about the causes of Parkinson’s disease, well, any nervous system or neurological disease. Among these, Braak’s hypothesis has both evidence and controversy behind it, where the team proposed Parkison’s originates in the gut and spreads to the brain via the gut-brain axis.
The authors analyzed samples from human subjects, and in the gut, they found an accumulation of pathogenic α-syn (P-α-syn) in the inflamed colon of the patients with ulcerative colitis compared to those who didn’t have it. P-α-syn was found in various regions of the colon, but specifically in the enteric nervous system, which controls many functions of the colon.
Next, they analyzed if there was a presence or transition α-syn to its pathogenic state in the brains of IBD subjects, and indeed, the changes observed in some of the neurons, such as depigmentation of neuromelanin, a specific form of α-syn (phosphorylated S129), presence of insoluble aggregates and the presence of cluster of healthy to damaged neurons in IBD showed they had the pathogenic α-syn present in their brains.
To analyze if inflammation in the gut triggered α-syn pathology, they used an animal rat. By injecting a substance that induces colitis in mice (DSS), a common animal model and method for this. They observed very similar changes, similar accumulation, increase in inflammatory markers (TNF and IL-1 Beta), both markers for Blood Brain Barrier permeability, which they also observed.
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases are often accompanied by intestinal permeability (leaky gut), and if your BBB is permeable, this means microbes that leak from the gut can end up in the brain, inducing even more inflammation, dysfunction, activation of the immune system, and this can lead to infiltration of lymphocytes to the region, something that exacerbates all of this.
A question that just came to mind. I wonder if, besides the body producing certain types of proteins that can induce disease (α-syn, amyloid) these proteins could be a poor attempt of the body to fix a leaky gut. Just thinking my usual insanity but voicing it this time.
If you suffer from any sort of inflammation in the bowels, I hope you like coconut water.
Coconut water is anti-inflammatory, can manipulate the gut microbiome and is a rich source of potassium. Gut microbiome modulation improves outcomes in UC, and potassium possesses in vitro anti-inflammatory property. We evaluated the effect of coconut water as an adjunct therapy for patients with mild-moderate UC.
Results
Of 121 patients screened, 95 were included for modified intention to treat analysis(49-CW, 46-placebo)[mean age-37.2±±11.2years; males-54.1%; disease duration-48(IQR:24–90)months; pancolitis-26.1%; SCCAI-5(IQR:4 – 6); UCEIS-4(IQR:3 – 5)]. Clinical response[57.1% vs 28.3%, p=0.01, OR-3.4(95%CI:1.4 – 7.9)], remission[53.1% vs 28.3%, p=0.02, OR-2.9(95%CI:1.2 – 6.7)] and proportion of patients with fecal calprotectin(FCP)<150μg/g[30.6% vs 6.5%, p=0.003, OR-6.3(95%CI:1.7 – 23.6)] were significantly higher in CW. The relative abundance of bacterial taxa which had a significant or trend towards negative correlation with SCCAI, UCEIS, or FCP, increased at 8weeks in CW, and this effect was independent of disease activity and dietary fiber. Adverse events were comparable and no patient developed hyperkalemia.
Conclusion
Coconut water was more effective than placebo for induction of clinical remission in patients with mild to moderate UC.
The trial was prospectively registered on clinical trials registry India (No: CTRI/2019/03/01827)
I knew coconut water was good for you, wouldn’t expect to be able to put mild ulcerative colitis in remission, types of bacteria that are usually less abundant when disease severity is high became more abundant after 8 weeks of treatments, meaning most likely coconut water has microbiome modulating effects, positive ones.
You can close the article now if you are not interested in nature pictures. Thank you for reading. I took most of these pictures in “Ultra High Resolution” and this already enables HDR, compression may kill a lot of the details though =P.
Descriptions below each picture, in small letters. This place holds special meaning not only to me but to my friends too.
Let us wait and see how many botflies I collect this time… T_T.
Become like the capivaras. I deeply appreciate the support. See you soon, with not-so-good news.
If you want a fantastic anime, that will positively make you reflect on life and relationships and time, go watch Sousou no Freiren or Frieren: Beyond Journey's End in the West. The Japanese title is more complex and is a play with the word Sousou and its multitude of meanings which you will inevitably discovery both watching it.
After these days hiking, I am centered, clear headed, hyped.
So for laughs, time to fuck with billion dollar companies language models. Because I can.
Lovely that you got to hike. And the weather looks like it was great!