Self-Defense – by Dr. Daniel Davis
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The author, a professor of immunology, sets out to bust some immune health myths in a time when those myths are spreading even faster (and sometimes with more mutations along the way) than the latest flu or COVID variants.
Writing from a position of stable academia rather than the latest flashy platform, he covers many topics including the roles of vitamins (especially: what vitamins C and D can and can’t do for you), the gut microbiome, weight and adiposity, exercise (especially: the right kinds, and where the “sweet spot” is when it comes to amount, because yes, exercise is good in general, but too much of certain kinds can harm immune health), stress management, sleep, and aging (i.e. how immune health changes as we age).
You’ll notice that vaccines are conspicuous by their absence in that list; while these are touched on from time to time, the focus here is on immune health overall, which vaccines only meaningfully affect in one way: giving our immune systems advance knowledge of pathogens to come. So the position of this book on that is “yes, obviously get your vaccines, but that doesn’t take much explaining, and doesn’t merit an entire chapter just to say it”.
Dr. Davis does also indulge, at the end of the book, in something that a lot of other research scientists do too, which is: discussion of what’s in the pipeline in terms of research and development (in this case, in the field of immunology).
The style is polished pop-science in long-form prose; written for a lay audience, and/but with the steady tone of academia; no hype and little to nothing in the way of personal touches. So, we get very little jargon (which makes for easy reading), but it’s also a little dry (which makes it very put-downable, in the sense of being the opposite of a “couldn’t put it down” book). There is a respectable bibliography, plus
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Apple vs Cranberries – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing apples to cranberries, we picked the cranberries.
Why?
In terms of macros, apples have slightly more carbs while cranberries have slightly more fiber; the differences are modest, but significant enough to call this a slender first-round win for cranberries.
In the category of vitamins, apples have more of vitamins B1, B2, and B9, while cranberries have more of vitamins B3, B5, C, E, and K, winning this round too.
Looking at minerals, apples have more potassium, while cranberries have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and zinc, winning their third round in a row.
In other considerations, cranberries have a mixture of good and bad additional properties; you can read about those in the “learn more” section below. But that does mean that this section could nudge it one point either way, depending on your circumstances.
Adding up the sections does make for a clear overall win for cranberries (so long as the below contraindications don’t apply to you), but by all means enjoy either or both (so long as the below contraindications don’t apply to you), as diversity is best (so long as the below contraindications don’t apply to you)!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Health Benefits Of Cranberries (But: You’d Better Watch Out) ← cranberries’ bonus properties (including: famously very good at decreasing UTI risk) come with some warnings, including that they may increase the risk of kidney stones if you are prone to such, and also that cranberries have anti-clotting effects, which are great for heart health but can be a risk of you’re on blood thinners or have a bleeding disorder.
Enjoy!
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Broccoli vs Okra – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing broccoli to okra, we picked the broccoli.
Why?
Both have their merits!
In terms of macros, broccoli has slightly more protein for approximately the same fiber and carbs, for a modest first-round win.
In the category of vitamins, broccoli has more of vitamins B2, B5, B7, B9, C, E, and K, while okra has more of vitamins A, B1, B3, and B6, giving broccoli a 7:4 win here.
Looking at minerals, broccoli has more iron, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, while okra has more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, giving a marginal win to okra in this round.
In other considerations, both are great sources of polyphenols, but broccoli also contains sulforaphane, so we say broccoli wins this round.
Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for broccoli, but by all means enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Broccoli Sprouts & Sulforaphane
Enjoy!
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How To Stay A Step Ahead Of Peripheral Artery Disease
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Far less well-known than Coronary Artery Disease, it can still result in loss of life and limb (not in that order). Fortunately, there are ways to be on your guard:
What it is
Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is the same thing as Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), just, in the periphery—which by definition means “outside of the heart and brain”, but in practice, it starts with the extremities. And of the extremities, it tends to start with the feet and legs, for the simple reason that if someone’s circulation is sluggish, then because of gravity, that’s where’s going to get blocked first.
In both CAD and PAD, the usual root cause is atherosclerosis, that is to say, the build-up of fatty material inside the arteries, usually commensurate to LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, especially in men (high LDL is still a predictor of cardiovascular disease in women though, just more modestly so, at least pre-menopause or in cases of treated menopause whereby HRT has returned hormones to pre-menopause levels).
See also: Demystifying Cholesterol
And for that about sex differences: His & Hers: The Hidden Complexities of Statins and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
Why it is
This one’s straightforward, as it’s the same things as any kind of cardiovascular disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, older age, obesity, smoking, drinking, diabetes, and genetic factors (so, a risk factor is: family history of heart disease).
However, while those are the main causes and/or risk factors, it absolutely can still strike other people, so it’s as well to be watch out for…
What to look out for
Many people first notice signs and symptoms that turn out to be PAD when they experience pain or numbness in the foot or feet, and/or a discoloration of the feet (especially toes), and slow wound healing.
At that stage, chances are you will need to go urgently to a specialist, and surgery is a likely necessity. With a little luck, it’ll be a minimally-invasive surgery to unblock an artery; failing that, an amputation will be in order.
At that stage, under 50% will be alive 5 years from diagnosis:
You probably want to avoid those. Good news is, you can, by catching it earlier!
What to look out for before that
The most common test for PAD is one you can do at home, but enlisting a nurse to do it for you will help ensure accurate readings. It’s called the Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) test, and it involves comparing the blood pressure in your ankle with the blood pressure in your arm, and expressing them as a ratio.
Here’s how to do it (instructions and a video demonstration if you want it):
Do Try This At Home: ABI Test For Clogged Arteries
If you need a blood pressure monitor, by the way, here’s an example product on Amazon.
- A healthy ABI score is between 1.0 and 1.4; anything outside this range may indicate arterial problems.
- Low ABI scores (below 0.8) suggest plaque is likely obstructing blood flow
- High ABI scores (above 1.4) may indicate artery hardening
Do note also that yes, if you have plaque obstructing blood flow and hardened arteries, your scores may cancel out and give you a “healthy” score, despite your arteries being very much not healthy.
For this reason, this test can be used to raise the alarm, but not to give the “all clear”.
There are other tests that clinicians can do for you, but you can’t do at home unless you have an MRI machine, a CT scanner, an x-ray machine, a doppler-and-ultrasound machine, etc. We’ll not go into those in detail here, but ask your doctor about them if you’re concerned.
What to do about it
In the mid-to-late stages of the disease, the options are medication and surgery, respectively, but your doctor will advise about those in that eventuality.
In the early stages of the disease, the first-line recommend treatment is exercise, of which, especially walking:
Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment
Given that this more often happens when someone hasn’t been walking so much, it can be a walk-rest-walk approach at first (a treadmill on a low setting can be very useful for this):
See also: Exercise Comparison Head-to-Head: Treadmill vs Road
Take care!
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Meal Timings vs Osteoporosis Fracture Risk
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…and other items from this week’s health news:
Worse than smoking?
The following factors were found to have the following effects on osteoporotic fracture risk:
- skipping breakfast: 18% higher risk
- slow gait speed: 16% higher risk
- smoking: 11% higher risk
- late dinner: 8% higher risk
- regular exercise: 1% lower risk
- enough sleep: 5% lower risk
- daily alcohol consumption: 9% lower risk
That last one’s not a typo! But it also doesn’t mean that alcohol is protective against osteoporosis itself, or against fractures.
So, what does it mean? It means that binge-drinking is more likely to result in someone falling over and breaking something, than moderate daily drinking.
Note: the term “binge-drinking” is popularly associated with young people getting intentionally drunk at the weekend, but please understand that if you don’t drink for months and then have several drinks on some special occasion (e.g. Christmas, New Year’s Eve, a wedding), etc, then that is binge-drinking.
So, what’s this about skipping breakfast and the late dinner? We are hypothesizing here, but in all likelihood it has to do with being rushed and frazzled and lacking energy in the morning—which again, makes you more likely to fall over and break something.
Similarly, that about regular exercise yielding a meager 1% lower risk… Actually, taking into account the confidence interval, an argument could be made for 0%. However, that 0% change to risk isn’t because exercise doesn’t make a difference—it’s because (and partly depending on what kind of exercise it is), while exercise does typically make people more robust, you’re also more likely to fall over while playing tennis than you are to fall over while watching TV. So, looking at nearly a million people’s data, those two sides of exercise cancel each other out.
In short: it’s not just about how strong your bones are or aren’t; it’s also about how likely you are to do something that can result in a fracture.
Read in full: Late dinners and missed breakfasts tied to higher osteoporosis risk
Related: Fall Special ← this is about how to not fall, and how to make it less likely you’ll be injured by a fall if you do
Do you know the early symptoms of prostate cancer?
No, you don’t. But don’t worry, neither does anyone else, because prostate cancer has no symptoms in its early stages.
What is cause for concern, however, is that most people don’t know that (or at least: 80% of Americans polled didn’t know that), and thus that it needs to be diagnosed with a blood test.
In the US, it’s recommended to get tested at age 50 (assuming you have a prostate to test), though earlier can be good especially if you have a family history of it, and/or otherwise are aware of a genetic risk factor (such from having done a health genomics test which revealed it).
Since prostate cancer typically progresses very slowly, it’s considered very treatable if caught early.
But that doesn’t mean “don’t worry”; it means “do catch it early”!
Read in full: Most Americans unaware that early prostate cancer shows no symptoms
Related: Prostate Health: What You Should Know ← this also covers the Prostate Screening Episwitch (PSE) test, which is 94% accurate, unlike the usual go-to, the Prostate-Specific Androgen (PSA) test, which is so inaccurate that even its original creator has called it “a profit-driven health disaster” that is “no better than a coin toss”.
Depression, according to the brain cells
Sometimes, arguments are made for depression being a purely psychological thing, and not physical. We reviewed such a book a while back ← it wasn’t good
However, researchers (Dr. Anjali Chawla et al.) have identified two specific brain cell types altered in people with depression. Specifically, a subtype of excitatory neurons linked to mood and stress regulation, and a subtype of microglia that manage neuroinflammation.
Most notably (and showing a clear long-term effect), many genes functioned differently in these cells in depressed people, indicating disruptions in mood regulation and inflammatory systems, respectively.
Dr. Chawla and her team now plan to study more comprehensively how these cellular changes affect brain function, and explore treatment options with this new information in mind.
Read in full: Research sheds new light on depression’s biological roots
Related: The Brain As A Work-In-Progress
Take care!
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Black Bean Hummus Panini
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A recipe for a sandwich? Try it once, and you’ll see why. Welcome to your new favorite!
You will need
- 1 cup cooked-and-rinsed black beans (canned is fine)
- ⅓ cup hummus (you can use our Hero Homemade Hummus recipe)
- 4 thin slices of eggplant (or more if you like it meaty)
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 slices of your favorite bread (you can use our Delicious Quinoa Avocado Bread recipe)
- A little olive oil, ideally sprayable
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Grill the eggplant slices until soft.
2) Spread hummus generously on one side of both slices of bread.
2) Add the black beans on top of one slice (the hummus will help them stay in place), followed by the sun-dried tomatoes and then the eggplant. Top with the other slice of bread, hummus-side down.
3) Coat (carefully, please) the inside of the panini press (both interior sides) with olive oil. If you don’t have sprayable oil, using a sheet of kitchen roll to apply the oil is a good way to do it without making a mess.
4) Grill the assembled sandwich, until the bread starts to brown and the insides are warm; this should take about 4 minutes.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Three Daily Servings of Beans?
- Chickpeas vs Black Beans – Which is Healthier?
- Lycopene’s Benefits For The Gut, Heart, Brain, & More
Take care!
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Asparagus vs Carrots – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing asparagus to carrots, we picked the asparagus.
Why?
In terms of macros, they’re fairly comparable: asparagus has more protein (but the numbers are small), while carrots have very slightly more fiber, and somewhat more carbs, but again, it’s not much. The glycemic indices also being comparable, we’re calling this round a tie, but feel free to swing it one way or the other if you have strong subjective feelings about those small macro differences.
When it comes to vitamins, asparagus has more of vitamins B1, B2, B7, B9, E, K, and choline, while carrots have more of vitamins A and B6. While carrots are admittedly one of the best sources of vitamin A in existence, there is only so far that can take a vegetable, and we say asparagus wins on strength of numbers (and by large margins on each of those vitamins, too).
In the category of minerals, asparagus has more copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc, while carrots have more calcium and potassium. Another win for asparagus.
Looking at polyphenols, asparagus has a greater total mass of polyphenols (mostly quercetin), while carrots have more diversity, but mostly tiny numbers. We’d call this a win for asparagus, but an argument could be made for a tie in this category.
Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for asparagus, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Fight Inflammation & Protect Your Brain, With Quercetin
Enjoy!
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