Putin Hopes This Biotech Will Let Him Live Forever
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…and other items from this week’s health news:
Time for a replacement?
❝With the developments of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality❞
~ Vladimir Putin, 72, this week, in a “hot mic” moment
This has clearly been on his mind for a while, as he upped the ante last year in 2024, funneling a lot of state money into his pet project, the New Health Preservation Technologies Initiative, after some years of close connection with the idea, starting 2019 at the latest, including per the company that his eldest daughter (an endocrinologist) works at, owned by his friend Kovalchuk. This too stems from earlier projects dating back to at least 2013, so it’s no flash-in-the-pan whim on his part.
He even oversaw increased funding into organ bioprinting and related technologies fivefold in 2022, when one might have expected his attention (and national resources) to be focused elsewhere.
But… will it work? Per current prevailing scientific consensus… Probably not, no.
This is because for now and the foreseeable future, transplantable organs are scarce, lab-grown full-size organs are still far from feasible, aging reduces recovery ability (organ transplant operations are not trivial), and brains cannot be replaced without losing identity.
Read in full: Putin says organ transplants could grant immortality. Not quite.
Related: Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?
Kidney disease deaths are on the rise
Deaths from hypertensive kidney disease in the US increased 48% between 1999–2023, and notably high blood pressure is the second leading cause of end-stage kidney disease and a major contributing factor to cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality.
In fewer words: high blood pressure is driving kidney disease and heart disease, which are killing increasingly many people in the US.
Men had higher mortality than women, with 22% higher mortality in those with renal failure, and the West had the highest regional rate, but the highest state-level rates were in Washington DC, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Black people had the highest mortality rates (more than 3x higher than others), and white people the lowest.
Researchers are urging more attention to be paid to early diagnosis and intervention:
Read in full: Deaths from high blood pressure-related kidney disease up nearly 50%
Related: Are your Kidneys Ok? Detect Early To Protect Kidney Health (Here’s How)
No hovering
Do you have kids (or grandkids) furthering their education this fall?
If so, it may be as well to let them fend for themselves unless they actively ask you for help. Researchers (Dr. Lidia Panier et al.) found that students with overprotective parents showed a stronger link between exposure to stressful events and higher anxiety levels.
One hypothesis is that overprotective parenting may limit their ability to develop coping and emotion regulation skills, leaving them more vulnerable to anxiety when facing stress.
Another hypothesis is that overprotective parents are, themselves, causing unnecessary extra stress—which makes other things harder to deal with rather than easier.
All this is consistent with past research linking overprotective parenting to insecure attachment, poor emotion regulation, and greater anxiety risk:
Read in full: Overprotective parenting linked to higher anxiety in first year university students
Related: If Your Adult Kid Calls In Crisis…
Take care!
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The Well Plated Cookbook – by Erin Clarke
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Clarke’s focus here is on what she calls “stealthy healthy”, with the idea of dishes that feel indulgent while being great for the health.
The recipes, of which there are well over 100, are indeed delicious and easy to make without being oversimplified, and since she encourages the use of in-season ingredients, many recipes come with a “market swaps” substitution guide, to make each recipe seasonal.
The book is largely not vegetarian, let alone vegan, but the required substitutions will be second-nature to any seasoned vegetarian or vegan. Indeed, “skip the meat sometimes” is one of the advices she offers near the beginning of the book, in the category of tips to make things even healthier.
Bottom line: if you want to add dishes to your repertoire that are great for entertaining and still super-healthy, this book will be a fine addition to your collection.
Click here to check out The Well Plated Cookbook, and get cooking!
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15 Evidence-Based Ways To Lower Your HbA1c
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Dr. Alex Wibberley presents the options:
Less glucose, more insulin sensitivity
HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) is a useful measure, because instead of taking a snapshot of your blood sugar levels in the moment (missing the big picture), it reflects your average blood glucose over approximately 3 months, because glucose irreversibly binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells (Why three months? Because that’s how long RBCs usually live).
This makes it a very strong predictor of many maladies including not just diabetes, but also heart disease, kidney failure, neuropathy, stroke, dementia, and even cancer, and it provides this indicator even when you feel completely well.
A quick word on how it’s measured:
- In most of the world (in fact, the entire world except the US), it’s measured in mmol/mol (the international units)
- This can be arrived at by measuring how many mmol of glycated hemoglobin there are per mol of hemoglobin
- In the US, it’s measured as a percentage standardized against the 1999 Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)
- This can be arrived at by measuring how many mmol of glycated hemoglobin there are per mol of hemoglobin, dividing by 10.929, and then adding 2.14
However we measure it though, the actual physiology is the same, so without further ado, here are 15 ways to lower your numbers:
- Reduce refined carbohydrates and added sugar: limiting white bread, white rice, pastries, cereals, sugary drinks, and other rapidly absorbed carbohydrates reduces glucose spikes that quietly push hba1c upward over time.
- Increase dietary fiber: aiming for 30–40 grams or more daily from vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, as this slows slows glucose absorption as well as supporting a healthier gut microbiome that, as a bonus, further improves insulin sensitivity.
- Get the right amount of protein: eating adequate protein improves satiety, supports muscle preservation, and (due to the metabolic effect of muscle costing energy to maintain) stabilizes blood sugar the rest of the day too.
- Enjoy a Mediterranean diet: a Mediterranean-style diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil, vegetables, legumes, fish, and nuts, and low in ultra-processed food, improves insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular outcomes.
- Achieve sustained weight management: if (and only if) overweight, losing 5–10% of your body weight can lower HbA1c by reducing visceral fat, which is metabolically active (in a bad way).
- Prioritize resistance training: skeletal muscle (which can be built and maintained with resistance training) is the primary site of glucose disposal, and using your muscles further increases glucose uptake independently of insulin, making 2–4 sessions per week very effective for lowering HbA1c.
- Add consistent aerobic exercise: regular moderate activity such as a daily 30-minute walk improves mitochondrial function and insulin receptor sensitivity, with consistency mattering more than intensity.
- Increase daily steps: reducing sedentary time and adding post-meal walks significantly flattens glucose spikes and improves overall glycemic control; this goes even without it being in the realm of what is normally considered exercise (being rather more in the domain of non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is NEAT).
- Improve sleep: regularly sleeping 7–9 hours improves insulin sensitivity, whereas sleep deprivation can induce insulin resistance comparable to early type 2 diabetes, much more quickly than you might expect (the study linked in the video gives this happening over the course of just 6 nights of 4-hour sleeps).
- Reduce (or ideally eliminate) alcohol intake: alcohol consumption impairs liver glucose regulation, increases liver fat, and worsens insulin signaling, and really is just terrible for everything, including HbA1c levels.
- Reduce visceral fat: visceral fat actively drives inflammation and insulin resistance, but there is some good news, as it also improves itself as overall insulin sensitivity improves through consistent lifestyle change (yes, the kind of lifestyle changes that this list is detailing).
- Manage chronic stress: chronically high cortisol levels increase hepatic (liver) glucose output and receptor-level insulin resistance, meaning psychological stress produces measurable metabolic consequences.
- Consider time-restricted eating: intermittent fasting with an early eating window (i.e. yes breakfast, no bedtime snack) may improve insulin sensitivity and blood pressure by aligning eating with circadian rhythms, though it benefits some people more than others.
- Replace ultra-processed foods with whole foods: ultra-processed diets drive higher calorie intake and weight gain even when compared to a macronutrient-matched whole foods diet, which really highlights the metabolic importance of food quality.
- Consider medication when appropriate: when lifestyle changes are insufficient, medications such as metformin, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and SGLT2 inhibitors lower HbA1c and reduce complications
For more on all of this, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like:
6 Blood Markers That Predict Disease Years Before Symptoms Appear
Take care!
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- In most of the world (in fact, the entire world except the US), it’s measured in mmol/mol (the international units)
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Spinach vs Vine Leaves – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing spinach to vine leaves, we picked the vine leaves.
Why?
Granted, they’re not available in most supermarkets, but if you live not too far from a wine-growing region, then they’ll be available at markets, and certainly stuffed vine leaves are thing found in many restaurants (though those are usually saltier than you’d make them at home—restaurants make most of their money from selling you drinks, after all, not the food). So, it’s worth noting the simple nutritional values if you prepare your own food:
In terms of macros, the most relevant difference is that vine leaves have about 5x the fiber. They’re also higher in carbs, but the overall glycemic index is lower in any case, so that’s not an issue. An easy win for vine leaves here.
Looking at vitamins, spinach has more of vitamins B1, B9, K, and choline, while vine leaves have more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, and C. Another win for vine leaves.
When it comes to minerals, spinach has more iron, potassium, and selenium, while vine leaves have more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus. One more win for vine leaves.
In terms of phytochemicals, spinach has a much higher oxalate content (that’s not a problem for most people, but bad if you have certain kidney issues).
Adding up the sections, it’s a clear overall win for vine leaves; by all means enjoy either or both though, unless you have kidney problems, of course!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?
Enjoy!
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What Do The Different Kinds Of Fiber Do? 30 Foods That Rank Highest
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We’ve talked before about how important fiber is:
Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Fiber (And How To Fix It)
And even how it’s arguably the most important dietary factor when it comes to avoiding heart disease:
What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure ← Spoiler: it’s fiber
And yes, that’s even when considered alongside other (also laudable) dietary interventions such as lowering intake of sodium, various kinds of saturated fat, and red meat.
So, what should we know about fiber, aside from “aim to get nearer 40g/day instead of the US average 16g/day”?
Soluble vs Insoluble
The first main way that dietary fibers can be categorized is soluble vs insoluble. Part of the difference is obvious, but bear with us, because there’s more to know about each:
- Soluble fiber dissolves (what a surprise) in water and, which part is important, forms a gel. This slows down things going through your intestines, which is important for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients (as well as avoiding diarrhea). Yes, you heard right: getting enough of the right kind of fiber helps you avoid diarrhea.
- Insoluble fiber does not dissolve (how shocking) in water and thus mostly passes through undigested by us (some will actually be digested by gut microbes who subsist on this, and in return for us feeding them daily, they make useful chemicals for us). This kind of fiber is also critical for healthy bowel movements, because without it, constipation can ensue.
Both kinds of fiber improve just about every metric related to blood, including improving triglycerides and improving insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels. Thus, they help guard against various kinds of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic disease in general. Do note that because whatever’s good for your heart/blood is good for your brain (which requires a healthy heart and bloodstream to nourish it and take away waste), likely this also has a knock-on effect against cognitive decline, but we don’t have hard science for that claim so we’re going to leave that last item as a “likely”.
However, one thing’s for sure: if you want a healthy gut, heart, and brain, you need a good balance of soluble and insoluble fibers.
10 of the best for soluble fiber
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Kidney beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5–2 Hemicellulose, Cellulose 6 8 Lentils (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5–2 Cellulose 6 7.5 Barley (1 cup cooked) Beta-glucan 3–4 Hemicellulose 2 6 Brussels sprouts (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3.5 Oats (1 cup cooked) Beta-glucan 2–3 Cellulose 1 3 Apples (1 medium) Pectin 1–2 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3 Carrots (1 cup raw) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 3 Citrus fruits (orange, 1 medium) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose 1 2.5 Flaxseeds (2 tbsp) Mucilage, Lignin 1–1.5 Cellulose 1 2.5 Psyllium husk (1 tbsp) Mucilage 3–4 Trace amounts 0 3–4 10 of the best for insoluble fiber
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Wheat bran (1 cup) Trace amounts 0 Cellulose, Lignin 6–8 6–8 Black beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5 Cellulose 6 7.5 Brown rice (1 cup cooked) Trace amounts 0.5 Hemicellulose, Lignin 2–3 2.5–3.5 Popcorn (3 cups popped) Trace amounts 0.5 Hemicellulose 3 3.5 Broccoli (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 4 5 Green beans (1 cup cooked) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 3 3.5 Sweet potatoes (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1–1.5 Cellulose 3 4.5 Whole wheat bread (1 slice) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 1 1.5 Pears (1 medium) Pectin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 4 5 Almonds (1 oz) Trace amounts 0.5 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 2 2.5 10 of the best for a balance of both
Food Soluble Fiber Type(s) Soluble Fiber (g per serving) Insoluble Fiber Type(s) Insoluble Fiber (g per serving) Total Fiber (g per serving) Raspberries (1 cup) Pectin 1 Cellulose 5 6 Edamame (1 cup cooked) Pectin 1 Cellulose 5 6 Chia seeds (2 tbsp) Mucilage, Pectin 2–3 Lignin, Cellulose 3 5.5 Artichokes (1 medium) Inulin 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 5 6 Avocado (1 medium) Pectin ~2 Cellulose 4 6 Black beans (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Resistant Starch 1.5 Cellulose 6 7.5 Quinoa (1 cup cooked) Pectin, Saponins 1 Cellulose, Hemicellulose 3 4 Spinach (1 cup cooked) Pectin 0.5 Cellulose, Lignin 3 3.5 Prunes (1/2 cup) Pectin, Sorbitol 2 Cellulose 4 6 Figs (3 medium) Pectin 1 Cellulose 2 3 You’ll notice that the above “balance” is not equal; that’s ok; we need greater quantities of insoluble than soluble anyway, so it is as well that nature provides such.
This is the same kind of balance when we talk about “balanced hormones” (does not mean all hormones are in equal amounts; means they are in the right proportions) or “balanced microbiome” (does not mean that pathogens and friendly bacteria are in equal numbers), etc.
Some notes on the above:
About those fiber types, some of the most important soluble ones to aim for are:
- Beta-glucan: found in oats and barley, it supports heart health.
- Pectin: found in fruits like apples, citrus, and pears, it helps with cholesterol control.
- Inulin: a type of prebiotic fiber found in artichokes.
- Lignin: found in seeds and wheat bran, it has antioxidant properties.
- Resistant starch: found in beans and lentils, it acts as a prebiotic for gut health.
See also: When Is A Fiber Not A Fiber? The Food Additive You Do Want
One fiber to rule them all
Well, not entirely (we still need the others) but there is a best all-rounder:
The Best Kind Of Fiber For Overall Health?
Enjoy!
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The Brain-Skin Doctor
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Of Brains And Breakouts
Today’s spotlight is on Dr. Claudia Aguirre. She’s a molecular neuroscientist, and today she’s going to be educating us about skin.
What? Why?
When we say “neuroscience”, we generally think of the brain. And indeed, that’s a very important part of it.
We might think about eyes, which are basically an extension of the brain.
We don’t usually think about skin, which (just like our eyes) is constantly feeding us a lot of information about our surroundings, via a little under three million nerve endings. Guess where the other ends of those nerves lead!
There’s a constant two-way communication going on between our brain and our skin.
What does she want us to know?
Psychodermatology
The brain and the skin talk to each other, and maladies of one can impact the other:
- Directly, e.g. stress prompting skin breakouts (actually this is a several-step process physiologically, but for the sake of brevity we’ll call this direct)
- Indirectly, e.g. nervous disorders that result in people scratching or picking at their skin, which prompts a whole vicious cycle of one thing making the other worse
Read more: Psychodermatology: The Brain-Skin Connection
To address both kinds of problems, clearly something beyond moisturizer is needed!
Mindfulness (meditation and beyond)
Mindfulness is a well-evidenced healthful practice for many reasons, and Dr. Aguirra argues the case for it being good for our skin too.
As she points out,
❝Cultural stress and anxiety can trigger or aggravate many skin conditions—from acne to eczema to herpes, psoriasis, and rosacea.
Conversely, a disfiguring skin condition can trigger stress, anxiety, depression, and even suicide.
Chronic, generalized anxiety can create chronic inflammation and exacerbate inflammatory skin conditions, such as those I mentioned previously.
Chronic stress can result in chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, poor sleep, and a whole cascade of effects resulting in a constant breakdown of tissues and organs, including the skin.❞
So, she recommends mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), for the above reasons, along with others!
Read more: Mind Matters
How to do it: No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness
And as for “and beyond?”
Do you remember in the beginning of the pandemic, when people were briefly much more consciously trying to avoid touching their faces so much? That, too, is mindfulness. It may have been a stressed and anxious mindfulness for many*, but mindfulness nonetheless.
*which is why “mindfulness-based stress reduction” is not a redundant tautology repeated more than once unnecessarily, one time after another 😉
So: do try to keep aware of what you are doing to your skin, and so far as is reasonably practicable, only do the things that are good for it!
The skin as an endocrine organ
Nerves are not the only messengers in the body; hormones do a lot of our body’s internal communication too. And not just the ones everyone remembers are hormones (e.g. estrogen, testosterone, although yes, they do both have a big impact on skin too), but also many more, including some made in the skin itself!
Dr. Aguirra gives us a rundown of common conditions, the hormones behind them, and what we can do if we don’t want them:
Read more: Rethinking The Skin As An Endocrine Organ
Take-away advice:
For healthy skin, we need to do more than just hydrate, get good sleep, have good nutrition, and get a little sun (but not too much).
- We should also practice mindfulness-based stress reduction, and seek help for more serious mental health issues.
- We should also remember the part our hormones play in our skin, and not just the obvious ones.
Did you know that vitamin D is also a hormone, by the way? It’s not the only hormone at play in your skin by a long way, but it is an important one:
Society for Endocrinology | Vitamin D
Want to know more?
You might like this interview with Dr. Aguirre:
The Brain in Our Skin: An Interview with Dr. Claudia Aguirre
Take care!
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Kidney Beans vs White Beans – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing kidney beans to white beans, we picked the white.
Why?
It was close, and each has its strengths! Bear in mind, these are very closely-related beans. But there are distinguishing factors:
In terms of macros, kidney beans have very slightly more fiber and white beans have very slightly more protein. But both are close enough in both of those things to call this a tie in this category.
When it comes to vitamins, we will briefly break slightly from our usual methodology by noting that there are two ways of looking at this one:
- kidney beans have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, C, and K, while white beans have more vitamin B5 and E
- kidney beans have slightly more of some vitamins that don’t usually see a deficiency, while white beans have 31x more vitamin E
For scoring purposes and in the interests of reproducibility, however, we will still stand by our usual method of noting that this is a 7:2 win for kidney beans in this category; we just wanted to note that in practical health terms, an argument can be made for white beans on the vitamin front too.
In the category of minerals, kidney beans have slightly more phosphorus, while white beans have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, and zinc. An easy win for white beans this time.
(In case you’re wondering about the margin on phosphorus, it was 0.2x more, so we’re not seeing a situation like white beans’ 31x more vitamin E)
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for white means, and even more so if you want to use the alternate scoring consideration for vitamins, but either way, do enjoy either or both, as diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
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