Measles, Memory, & Mouths

Three important items from this week’s health news:

It’s not about obesity

This news is based on a rodent study, so we don’t know for sure if it’s applicable to humans yet, but there’s no reason to expect that it won’t be.

The crux of the matter is that while it’s long been assumed that when it comes to diet and cognitive decline, obesity is the main driver of problems, it turns out that rats fed a high fat diet—for three days or three months—did much worse in memory tests.

This was observed in older rats, but not in younger ones—the researchers hypothesized that the younger rats benefited from their ability to activate compensatory anti-inflammatory responses, which the older rats could not.

Notably, the three-day window of high-fat diet wasn’t sufficient to cause any metabolic problems or obesity yet, but markers of neuroinflammation skyrocketed immediately, and memory test scores declined at the same rate:

Read in full: High-fat diet could cause memory problems in older adults after just a few days

Related: Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?

Vax, Lies, & Mortality Rates

Measles is making a comeback in the US.

100 cases were reported in Gaines county, TX, recently, with 1 death there so far (an unvaccinated child). And of course, it’s spreading; in the neighboring Lea county, NM, they now have an outbreak of 30 confirmed cases, and 1 death there so far (an unvaccinated adult).

This comes with the rise of the anti-vax movement which comes with a lot of misleading rhetoric (and some things that are simply factually incorrect), and an increase in “measles parties” whereby children are deliberately exposed to measles in order to “get it out of the way” and confer later immunity. That technically does work if everyone survives, but the downside is your child may die:

Read in full: New Mexico reports 30 measles cases a day after second US death in decade

Related: 4 Ways Vaccine Skeptics Mislead You on Measles and More

What your gums say about your hormones

Times of hormonal change (so, including menopause) can show in one’s gums,

❝Recent research shows that 84% of women over 50 did not know that menopause could affect their oral health; 70% of menopausal women reported at least one new oral health symptom (like dry mouth or sensitive gums), yet only 2% had discussed these issues with their dentist.❞

Because gum disease can progress painlessly for a long while, it’s very important to stay on top of any changes, and look for the cause (enlisting the help of your doctor and/or dentist), lest you find yourself very far into periodontal disease when it could have been stopped and reversed much more easily before getting that bad.

Different life stages’ hormonal changes have different effects; the article we’ll link below also list puberty, menstrual variations, and pregnancy, but for brevity we’ll just quote what they say about menopause:

❝Menopause: the hormonal changes of menopause—primarily the drop in estrogen—can lead to oral health issues. Many menopausal women experience dry mouth, which increases the risk of cavities and gum disease, since saliva helps protect teeth. Gums may also recede or become more sensitive, and some women feel burning sensations in the mouth or changes in taste.❞

As for the rest…

Read in full: Gum health: A key indicator of women’s overall well-being

Related: How To Regrow Receding Gums

Take care!