Mid-Life Weight Loss’s Hidden Cost To The Brain
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For most people in the US, losing weight is generally considered a health-positive thing, unless one is underweight to begin with, of course—but then, “underweight to begin with” is already not “most people in the US”.
However, there can be costs.
When less is not always more
We’ve written before about how a lot of mainstream belief presupposes thinness as desirable, and presumes it to be healthy, which frankly, it’s not for everyone. Indeed, for people over a certain age, having a BMI that’s slightly into the “overweight” category is a protective factor against mortality:
When BMI Doesn’t Quite Measure Up
It now seems that there are also such considerations when it comes to brain health. Generally speaking, have a high body fat percentage will tend to put a strain on the heart, and what’s bad for the heart is bad for the brain, because the latter relies on the former to provide it with a healthy flow of blood bearing oxygen and nutrients, and ultimately take away detritus once the glymphatic system has got it out of the brain itself (having a good glymphatic system and poor circulation is an unlikely combination, but if it somehow occurred, the result would be much like if you empty the trash from your house but there’s no municipal service to come pick it up and take it away).
For more on that, see:
- What’s Your Vascular Dementia Risk? ← for the brain-heart connection in general
- How To Clean Your Brain (Glymphatic Health Primer) ← for what we just talked about
- Take Care Of Your Lymphatic System To Beat Cognitive Decline ← because this too plays a part (an indirect part, but an important one nevertheless)
Fat & neuroinflammation
It is known that metabolic dysfunction (as is strongly associated with fat storage in the liver, visceral fat, and less importantly, subcutaneous fat deposits), is a driver of inflammation in general, which in turn makes the metabolic dysfunction worse.
Poorly regulated or persistent brain inflammation has been linked to memory impairment and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which is why research has been done into how midlife weight loss might interact with long-term brain health.
Most recently, a mouse study found: Weight loss aggravates obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation in mid-aged mice
Now, that’s a mouse study and not too exciting in and of itself, but the underlying science is quite applicable, because as it turns out:
❝Combined overconsumption of fat and sugar, but not the overconsumption of fat per se, leads to excessive CML production in hypothalamic neurons, which, in turn, stimulates hypothalamic inflammatory responses such as microgliosis and eventually leads to neuronal dysfunction in the control of energy metabolism.❞
Read in full: Dietary sugars, not lipids, drive hypothalamic inflammation
Which becomes further relevant when: Diet triggers specific responses of hypothalamic astrocytes in time and region dependent manner
Now, that’s about diet, but what of weight loss itself? What if you don’t change your diet but you lose weight for some other reason (intentionally or otherwise; perhaps you changed your exercise routine, perhaps you got ill, etc)?
The short answer is: stability of weight is generally better than strong fluctuation in either direction
Now, this one’s about men rather than mice, so its applicability to women (most of our readers) is not as strong as if it were about women, but it’s worth bearing in mind in any case. It looked at 1,160 men aged 40–59 years at the start of the experiment, and was then a prospective study, i.e. looking at the next 15 years of follow-up, and found:
❝Results: Overall, 183 deaths were observed among the 505 men. Only weight fluctuations had a clear significant impact on all-cause mortality. Adjusted hazard rate ratio (HRR (95%-CI)) was 1.86 (1.31-2.66) after adjustment for age group, pre-existing cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus, smoking and socio-economic status. The risk rate due to weight loss was borderline significant (HRR = 1.81 (0.99-3.31)). Risk of death due to weight gain (HRR = 1.15 (0.70-1.88)) or stable obesity (HRR = 1.16 (0.69-1.94)), however, were not significantly increased compared to men staying non-obese for the first 15 years after cohort recruitment.
Conclusion: Weight fluctuations are a major risk factor for all-cause mortality in middle-aged men. Moreover, stable obesity does not increase further mortality in men aged 55-74 years in long-term follow-up.❞
Read in full: Weight change, weight cycling and mortality in the ERFORT Male Cohort Study
So, in other words, even beyond brain health, and even for all-cause mortality, stable is best.
Want to learn more?
You might like this book that we reviewed a while back:
“You Just Need to Lose Weight” And 19 Other Myths About Fat People – by Aubrey Gordon
Take care!
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The Surprising Sugar Source In Your Toothpaste
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Oftentimes, headlines suggest that experts are either wrong about something or have been hiding something, when the reality is a little different, e.g:
- Scientists won’t tell you this! (…because it’s not true)
- Doctors hate this weight loss trick! (…because it is dangerous and the weight lost is not fat)
- Etc
Our headline today, however, is more a matter of “scientists have been saying one thing, and now it turns out that’s not entirely correct”.
If a chemical ends in -ose, it’s a sugar
Sometimes, that has obvious implications for our metabolism, as with glucose, fructose, or the disaccharide of those, sucrose.
You can read more about those, here: From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose Cs: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?
Sometimes, it’s a “sugar that doesn’t behave like a sugar”, such as sucralose, which is chemically a sugar, and is sweet, and has been considered to not get metabolized as a sugar, and instead pass through as fiber (though that may now be up for review, in light of what we will share today).
Sucralose does have other potential drawbacks, in any case: The Sucralose News: Scaremongering Or Serious?
And indeed, sweeteners in general have their problems just by virtue of being sweet to the taste: The Problem With Sweeteners
That goes for resistant starches, too
“Resistant” here means that they are resistant to digestion, and pass through as fiber.
“Starch”, however, means that indeed this is a chain of sugars. For example, guar gum, a commonly-used natural thickening agent, is in large part (the galactomannan part) chemically a polymer of d-galactose and d-mannose.
We wrote about it here: The Food Additive You Do Want
What, then, of cellulose, being another -ose chemical, and specifically, a polysaccharide of β(1→4) glucan-linked d-glucose units in a big chain?
Researchers (Dr. Deepesh Panwar et al.) found that cellulose-based thickeners (found in toothpaste, and many food products), previously believed to be indigestible, can be broken down by gut bacteria when enzymes are activated by adjacent natural dietary polysaccharides:
- Previous work: bacteria (Bacteroides and Segatella/Prevotella strains) could not grow on cellulose alone.
- New discovery: when “primed” with natural plant polysaccharides (cereal mixed-linkage β-glucan or dicot xyloglucan), certain strains could metabolize the cellulose.
In other words, previous in vitro lab work had carefully recreated gut conditions including a microbiome, but then added the cellulose alone as a testing agent, without adding anything else (because after all, they didn’t want anything to contaminate the results).
But the reality is, there’s never normally nothing else in our gut!
As for what triggers the breakdown of this “unbreakdownable” cellulose, it turns out that many natural fibers in fruits, vegetables and cereals prime the bacterial enzymes that then also act on the cellulose (including: artificial cellulose derivatives).
So, in other words: the cellulose-based thickener in your toothpaste and many food products is, if ingested, getting broken down as sugar after all, if you have a healthy gut, in any case.
You can read their paper in full, here: Artificial cellulose derivatives are metabolized by select human gut Bacteroidota upon priming with common plant β-glucans
What does this mean for my health?
Must you throw out your toothpaste, and start going through the condiment cupboard?
No, these things are fine, and this discovery doesn’t really change that.
And in particular, there is no threat to your teeth from cellulose-thickened toothpaste, nor from cellulose-based “sugar-free” gum, for that matter.
Technically yes, it may mean that something advertised as containing zero calories technically has a small calorie value, but just how much toothpaste/gum are you eating, really?
And even with that in mind, your teeth themselves remain, as we say, unaffected. After all, the oral microbiome is very different from that of your colon (well, it certainly should be, at least!), so those same strains are not there to digest it.
In fact, the β-glucan mentioned in the study? The kind that, if present in your gut, enables the bacteria to digest the cellulose?
We wrote about it here: The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health? ← it’s β-glucan! Oats are a great source.
See also: What Do The Different Kinds Of Fiber Do? 30 Foods That Rank Highest
Enjoy!
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Chard vs Collard Greens – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing chard to collard greens, we picked the collards.
Why?
Both are great, but…
In terms of macros, collards have about 2x the fiber as well as more carbs and protein, winning this round.
In the category of vitamins, chard has more vitamin B5, while collards have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, B7, B9, C, E, and K, winning this round also.
Looking at minerals, chard has more copper, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus, while collards have more calcium, manganese, and selenium, giving a marginal 4:3 win to chard in this round.
In other considerations, both have a generous array of polyphenols and carotenoids, whose numbers will vary too much from one plant to another to compare here, so we’ll call this round a tie.
Adding up the sections makes an overall win for collard greens, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Enjoy!
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Why do some people get a curved back as they age and what can I do to avoid it?
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As we age, it’s common to notice posture changes: shoulders rounding, head leaning forward, back starting to curve. You might associate this with older adults and wonder: will this happen to me? Can I prevent it?
It’s sometimes called “hunchback” or “roundback”, but the medical term for a curved back is kyphosis.
When the curve is beyond what’s considered normal (greater than 40 degrees), we refer to this as hyperkyphosis. In more severe cases, it may lead to pain, reduced mobility and physical function, or lower quality of life.
Here’s how it happens, and how to reduce your risk.
fran_kie/Shutterstock What causes a curved back?
A healthy spine has an elongated s-shape, so a curve in the upper spine is completely normal.
But when that curve becomes exaggerated and fixed (meaning you can’t stand up straight even if you try), it can signal a problem.
One common cause of a curved back is poor posture. This type, called postural kyphosis, usually develops over time due to muscle imbalances, particularly in younger people who spend hours:
- hunched over a desk
- slouched in a chair, or
- looking down at a phone.
Fortunately, this kind of curved back is often reversible with the right exercises, stretches and posture awareness.
When the curve in your back becomes exaggerated and fixed, it can signal a problem. Undrey/Shutterstock Older adults often develop a curved back, known as age-related kyphosis or hyperkyphosis.
This is usually due to wear and tear in the spine, including vertebral compression fractures, which are tiny cracks in the bones of the spine (vertebrae).
These cracks are most often caused by osteoporosis, a condition that makes bones more fragile with age.
In these cases, it’s not just bad posture – it’s a structural change in the spine.
Older adults often develop a curved back, known as age-related kyphosis or hyperkyphosis. nhk_nhk/Shutterstock How can you tell the difference?
Signs of age-related hyperkyphosis include:
- your back curves even when you try to stand up straight
- back pain or stiffness
- a loss of height (anything greater than 3-4 centimetres compared to your peak adult height may be considered outside of “normal” ageing).
Other causes of a curved back include:
- Scheuermann’s kyphosis (which often develops during adolescence when the bones in the spine grow unevenly, leading to a forward curve in the upper back)
- congenital kyphosis (a rare condition present from birth, caused by improper formation of the spinal bones. It can result in a more severe, fixed curve that worsens as a child grows)
- scoliosis (where the spine curves sideways into a c- or s-shape when viewed from behind), and
- lordosis (an excessive inward curve in the lower back, when viewed from the side).
In addition to these structural conditions, arthritis, and in rare cases, spinal injuries or infections, can also play a role.
Should I see a doctor about my curved back?
Yes, especially if you’ve noticed a curve developing, have ongoing back pain, or have lost height over time.
These can be signs of vertebral fractures, which can occur in the absence of an obvious injury, and are often painless.
While one in five older adults have a vertebral fracture, as many as two-thirds of these fractures are not diagnosed and treated.
In Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Healthy Bones Australia recommend a spine x-ray for:
- people with kyphosis
- height loss equal to or more than 3 centimetres, or
- unexplained back pain.
What can I do to reduce my risk?
If you’re young or middle-aged, the habits you build today matter.
The best way to prevent a curved back is to keep your bones strong, muscles active, and posture in check. That means:
- doing regular resistance training, especially targeting upper back muscles
- staying physically active, aiming for at least 150 minutes per week
- getting enough protein, calcium, and vitamin D to support bone and muscle health
- avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol to reduce risk factors that worsen bone density and overall wellbeing
Pay attention to your posture while sitting and standing. Position your head over your shoulders and shoulders over your hips. This reduces strain on your spine.
If you’re young or middle-aged, the habits you build today matter. Doucefleur/Shutterstock What exercises help prevent and manage a curved back?
Focus on exercises that strengthen the muscles that support an upright posture, particularly the upper back and core, while improving mobility in the chest and shoulders.
In general, you want to prioritise extension-based movements. These involve straightening or lifting the spine and pulling the shoulders back.
Repeated forward-bending (or flexion) movements may make things worse, especially in people with osteoporosis or spinal fractures.
Good exercises include:
- back extensions (gently lift your chest off the floor while lying face down)
- resistance exercises targeting the muscles between your shoulder blades
- weight-bearing activities (such as brisk walking, jogging, stair climbing, or dancing) to keep bones strong and support overall fitness
- stretching your chest and hip flexors to open your posture and relieve tightness.
Flexibility and balance training (such as yoga and pilates) can be beneficial, particularly for posture awareness, balance, and mobility. But research increasingly supports muscle strengthening as the cornerstone of prevention and management.
Muscle strengthening exercises, such as weight lifting or resistance training, reduces spinal curvature while enhancing muscle and bone mass.
If you suspect you have kyphosis or already have osteoporosis or a vertebral fracture, consult a health professional before starting an exercise program. There may be some activities to avoid.
Resistance training is crucial. Yakobchuk Yiacheslav/Shutterstock Can a curved back be reversed?
If it’s caused by poor posture and muscle weakness, then yes, it’s possible.
But if it’s caused by bone changes, especially vertebral fractures, then full reversal is unlikely. However, treatment can reduce pain, improve function, and slow further progression.
Protecting your posture isn’t just about appearance. It’s about staying strong, mobile and independent as you age.
Jakub Mesinovic, Research Fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University and David Scott, Associate Professor (Research) and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Does masturbating really help menopause symptoms? New research says yes
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About one in ten perimenopausal or menopausal women masturbate to relieve their symptoms, according to a study that has generated media interest around the world.
The attention is likely because masturbation is a novel (and possibly somewhat salacious) strategy to ease these symptoms, and older women are often seen as asexual.
So does masturbating really relieve symptoms, as the study published in the journal Menopause suggests? Let’s see if the evidence stacks up.
Deon Black/Pexels The health benefits of masturbation
The study was conducted in the United States and was led by researchers at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, one of the world’s best known research institutes that specialises in sex and relationships. The study was funded by sex toy company Womanizer.
Researchers surveyed a representative sample of 1,178 perimenopausal and menopausal women aged 40–65.
Women who reported changes in their periods but still had at least one period in the previous year were categorised as perimenopausal. Women who said they had not had a period in a year or longer were categorised as menopausal.
About four in five of the women said they had ever masturbated. Of those, about 20% said masturbating relieved their symptoms to some degree.
For perimenopausal women, the most improved symptoms were sleep difficulties and irritability. For a small number of menopausal women, it helped most with vaginal pain, bloating and painful urination.
The findings are consistent with previous research showing masturbating to orgasm may help reduce anxiety and psychological distress, improve sleep and reduce vaginal pain.
However, research on the health, social or relationship benefits of masturbation, including for menopause relief, is sparse.
In particular, we cannot be sure exactly how masturbating might improve symptoms. But researchers propose the relaxation effects of orgasm, and the release of endorphins, can improve mood, help sleep and reduce pain. Sexual stimulation may also induce vaginal lubrication and blood flow to the genital area, which can help maintain vaginal function.
A small number of women in the study said masturbating worsened their symptoms, although it was unclear why.
There’s still stigma around masturbation
Masturbation is mostly no longer regarded as sinful or dangerous. But it still carries a level of stigma.
Women, in particular, often associate masturbation with sexual shame and tend not to talk openly about their masturbation habits.
So the stigma and invisibility of masturbation means it is rarely the subject of clinical research investigating its benefits.
As a result, we have very little evidence on its effectiveness to relieve menopause symptoms, especially compared to other non-medical interventions such as physical activity or stress relief.
The US study showed women were substantially more likely to manage menopause symptoms through evidence-based strategies of physical activity, diet or stress reduction, than with masturbation.
However, many women in the study might have never considered masturbation to relieve their symptoms.
Masturbation isn’t for everyone
Masturbation is free, relatively easy and, for most women, enjoyable. There is no reason why it should not be promoted as an accessible menopause relief strategy that may benefit some women. However, it is not always so simple. There may be barriers for some women.
Not all women masturbate or enjoy masturbation. The US study showed nearly one in five women surveyed had never masturbated. This number was higher among older, menopausal women, perhaps reflecting generational change in attitudes about masturbation. Some women in the study indicated a moral or religious resistance to masturbation.
Other studies have similarly shown that a number of women do not masturbate. There may be many reasons for this, from lack of desire through to limited privacy or “alone time”. Older women may experience complex physical barriers, including loss of libido or limited dexterity and flexibility.
Silence and stigma around masturbation may also make it difficult for health professionals to discuss masturbation with women. This was evident in the US study, with almost all reporting they had never spoken to a doctor about masturbation for any reason.
Many women were open to these conversations, however, with about 56% of perimenopausal women indicating they would masturbate more often to treat menopause symptoms if their doctor recommended it.
Masturbation as a novel strategy
Although there can be no guarantee masturbation will relieve menopause symptoms for all women, suggesting women give it a go is unlikely to cause harm. It is the safest sex available.
We don’t talk much about masturbation, especially among older women. But by demonstrating that most older women do masturbate and this may offer health benefits, this latest study is novel and valuable.
Jennifer Power, Principal Research Fellow, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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What Happened to You? – by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey
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The very title “What Happened To You?” starts with an assumption that the reader has suffered trauma. This is not just a sample bias of “a person who picks up a book about healing from trauma has probably suffered trauma”, but is also a statistically safe assumption. Around 60% of adults report having suffered some kind of serious trauma.
The authors examine, as the subtitle suggests, these matters in three parts:
- Trauma
- Resilience
- Healing
Trauma can take many forms; sometimes it is a very obvious dramatic traumatic event; sometimes less so. Sometimes it can be a mountain of small things that eroded our strength leaving us broken. But what then, of resilience?
Resilience (in psychology, anyway) is not imperviousness; it is the ability to suffer and recover from things.
Healing is the tail-end part of that. When we have undergone trauma, displayed whatever amount of resilience we could at the time, and now have outgrown our coping strategies and looking to genuinely heal.
The authors present many personal stories and case studies to illustrate different kinds of trauma and resilience, and then go on to outline what we can do to grow from there.
Bottom line: if you or a loved one has suffered trauma, this book may help a lot in understanding and processing that, and finding a way forwards from it.
Click here to check out “What Happened To You?” and give yourself what you deserve.
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Building & Maintaining Mobility
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Building & Maintaining Mobility!
This is Juliet Starrett. She’s a CrossFit co-founder, and two-time white-water rafting world champion. Oh, and she won those after battling thyroid cancer. She’s now 50 years old, and still going strong, having put aside her career as a lawyer to focus on fitness. Specifically, mobility training.
The Ready State
Together with her husband Kelly, Starrett co-founded The Ready State, of which she’s CEO.
It used to be called “Mobility WOD” (the “WOD” stands for “workout of the day”) but they changed their name as other companies took up the use of the word “mobility”, something the fitness world hadn’t previously focussed on much, and “WOD”, which was also hardly copyrightable.
True to its origins, The Ready State continues to offer many resources for building and maintaining mobility.
Why the focus on mobility?
When was the last time you had to bench-press anything larger than a small child? Or squat more than your partner’s bodyweight? Or do a “farmer’s walk” with anything heavier than your groceries?
For most of us, unless our lifestyles are quite extreme, we don’t need ridiculous strength (fun as that may be).
You know what makes a huge difference to our quality of life though? Mobility.
Have you ever felt that moment of panic when you reach for something on a high shelf and your shoulder or back twinges (been there!)? Or worse, you actually hurt yourself and the next thing you know, you need help putting your socks on (been there, too!)?
And we say to ourselves “I’m not going to let that happen to me again”
But how? How do we keep our mobility strong?
First, know your weaknesses
Starrett is a big fan of mobility tests to pinpoint areas that need more work.
Most of her resources for this aren’t free, and we’re drawing heavily from her book here, so for your convenience, we’ll link to some third party sources for this:
- Timed Up and Go—start with this, before progressing to the next!
- Sit To Rise Test—not to be underestimated (this page also has excerpts from Starrett’s mobility book, by the way)
- Shoulders/Spine/Hips—7 quick tests; note any that you can’t do, or struggle with
Next, eliminate those weaknesses
Do mobility exercises in any weak areas, until they’re not weak:
Want to train the full body in one session?
Try out The Ready State’s 10-Minute Morning Mobility Routine
Want to learn more?
You might enjoy her book that we reviewed previously:
Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully
You might also enjoy The Ready State App, available for iOS and for Android:
The Ready State Virtual Mobility Coach
Enjoy!
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