The Diet Myth – by Dr. Tim Spector
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Why are we supposed to go low-carb, but get plenty of whole grains? Avoid saturated fat, but olive oil is one of the healthiest fats around? Will cheese kill us or save us? Even amongst the well-informed, there’s a lot of confusion. This book addresses these and many such topics.
A main theme of the book is howa lot of it relates to the state of our gut microbiome, and what is good or bad for that. He also discusses, for example, how microbes predict obesity better than genes, and the good news is: we can change our microbes a lot more easily than we can change our genes!
In the category of criticism, he repeats some decades-old bad science in some areas outside of his field (i.e. unrelated to nutrition), so that’s unfortunate, and/but doesn’t detract from the value of the book if we keep to the main topic.
Bottom line: if you’d like to understand better the physiology and microbiology behind why dieting does work for most people (and how to do it better), then this is a great book for that.
Click here to check out The Diet Myth, and learn the science behind the confusion!
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Make Social Media Work For Your Mental Health
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Social Media, But Healthy
Social media has a bad reputation, and rightly so. It’s calculated to trick you into doomscrolling and rage-posting, and it encourages you to compare your everyday life to other people’s carefully-curated highlight reels.
Rebalancing Dopamine (Without “Dopamine Fasting”)
But it doesn’t have to be so.
Find your community
One of the biggest strengths social media has going for it is that it can, if used well, be a powerful tool for community. As for why that’s important from a health perspective, see:
How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation
Loneliness & isolation do, of course, kill people. By:
- Accidents, e.g. household fall but nobody notices for a week
- Depression and resultant decline (and perhaps even active suicidality)
- Cognitive decline from a lack of social contact
Read more:
- The Mental Health First-Aid That You’ll Hopefully Never Need
- How To Stay Alive (When You Really Don’t Want To)
- The Five Key Traits Of Healthy Aging
So, what’s “community” to you, and to what extent can you find it online? Examples might include:
- A church, or other religious community, if we be religious
- The LGBT+ community, or even just a part of it, if that fits for us
- Any mutual-support oriented, we-have-this-shared-experience community, could be anything from AA to the VA.
Find your people, and surround yourself with them. There are more than 8,000,000,000 people on this planet, you will not find all the most compatible ones with you on your street.
Grow & nurture your community
Chances are, you have a lot to contribute. Your life experiences are valuable.
Being of service to other people is strongly associated “flourishing”, per the science.
Indeed, one of the questions on the subjective wellness scale test is to ask how much one agrees with the statement “I actively contribute to the happiness and wellbeing of others”.
See: Are You Flourishing? (There’s a Scale)
So, help people, share your insights, create whatever is relevant to your community and fits your skills (it could be anything from art to tutorials to call-to-action posts or whatever works for you and your community)
As a bonus: when people notice you are there for them, they’ll probably be there for you, too. Not always, sadly, but there is undeniable strength in numbers.
Remember it’s not the boss of you
Whatever social media platform(s) you use, the companies in question will want you to use it in the way that is most profitable for them.
Usually that means creating a lot of shallow content, clicking on as many things as possible, and never logging off.
Good ways to guard against that include:
- Use the social media from a computer rather than a handheld device
- Disable “infinite scroll” in the settings, if possible
- Set a timer and stick to it
- Try to keep your interactions to only those that are relevant and kind (for the good of your own health, let alone anyone else’s)
On that latter note…
Before posting, ask “what am I trying to achieve here?” and ensure your action is aligned with your actual desires, and not just reactivity. See also:
A Bone To Pick… Up And Then Put Back Where We Found It
Take care!
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Blackberries vs Dates – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing blackberries to dates, we picked the dates.
Why?
Both are great! But…
In terms of macros, dates have nearly 2x the fiber, as well as more carbs and protein, making them the more nutrient-dense option in this category.
In the category of vitamins, blackberries have more of vitamins C, E, and K, while dates have more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, winning here too.
Looking at minerals, blackberries have more manganese and zinc, while dates have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, winning their third round in a row.
In other considerations, both are great for polyphenols, but blackberries do have more, so that’s a point in blackberries’ favor.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for dates, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose Cs: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same? ← for any wondering about the sugariness of dates, and why they’re just fine regardless 😎
Enjoy!
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How Polluted Air Wipes Out The Benefits Of Exercise
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…and other items from this week’s health science news:
This may take the wind out of things
It is not shocking news that air pollution is not good for the health. In terms of PM2.5 levels (that is to say, the density of particulate matter than 2.5 micrometers), once annual PM2.5 reaches 25 μg/m³, the risk-reduction effect of exercise falls dramatically; 46% of the world lives at or above this level, and in the US, it’s nearer 50%.
As for how dramatic that dramatic fall is, let’s put it in numbers: people achieving at least two and a half hours of moderate or vigorous exercise each week normally see a 30% lower mortality risk, but this shrinks substantially in polluted regions, down to 12–15%.
Worse, and beyond just the effects of exercise, once yearly PM2.5 exceeds 35 μg/m³, the benefits weaken further, and cancer-related deaths rise further too—the mechanism of action here being that exercise’s anticancer effects are significantly reduced. That’s not a guess, by the way—statistical modelling was used to establish it.
Dr. Paola Zaninotto, of the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, when asked for comment, advised that people should keep exercising outdoors but can maximize benefits by checking air quality, choosing cleaner routes, or reducing intensity at more polluted times.
Read in full: Polluted air quietly erases the benefits of exercise
Related: Half of the US has dangerously polluted air
Watch out for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome
Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome is the official name for what has long been known in ER wards by the more colorful unofficial name “scromiting“—a portmanteau of screaming and vomiting.
It’s not fun.
It now has a new ICD-10 code, R11.16, which lets clinicians document cannabis hyperemesis syndrome consistently, which is important for the kind of stats that ultimately fuel the onwards march of science.
Still, there’s an element of reporting bias (i.e. a lot goes unreported), and intermittent symptoms can cause people to misinterpret flare-ups as unrelated events. Plus, even when the diagnosis is accepted, addiction can make stopping cannabis use—and therefore preventing future episodes—difficult too.
Some patients doubt the diagnosis because cannabis is widely considered to relieve nausea, and for some people in some circumstances, it may.
So far, it’s also been tricky to treat: standard anti-nausea drugs often fail; clinicians sometimes rely on medications like Haldol, or supportive measures such as hot showers and topical capsaicin cream, which some patients apply to their abdomen during episodes.
There’s a lot that’s not known about the mechanism of action, and the reasons some long-term cannabis users develop the syndrome remain unclear, with possibilities including changing THC potency or increasing availability, or even that there is some cumulative damage that is contributing to an eventual vulnerability.
Read in full: Why more cannabis users are landing in the ER with severe vomiting
Related: Cannabis Myths vs Reality
When acne is hard to spot
Researchers (Dr. Anni Telkkälä et al.) recently found that around 31% of 35-year-old Finnish women have acne on the face or back, but many do not realize they have it. In the study, dermatologists identified acne in far more participants than those who self-reported symptoms.
In terms of where the acne was showing up, facial acne affected 26% of women, particularly the chin and cheeks. Meanwhile, back acne was found in 12%, and 6% had both facial and back acne. Notably, this underdiagnosis meant that both over-the-counter and prescription treatments were used sparingly.
Which is unfortunate, as to quote Dr. Suvi-Päivikki Sinikumpu, another researcher on the team,
❝Even mild acne can significantly affect well-being and mood, and adult acne has been shown to have an even greater impact on quality of life than teenage acne.
The results show that acne is not confined to the face, as back acne is surprisingly common. Skin changes on the back may be mistaken for harmless heat spots, even though they are often acne.
Both facial and back acne can lead to permanent scarring if left untreated.❞
Read in full: Study reveals widespread unrecognized acne among 35-year-old Finnish women
Related: Dealing With Back Acne
Take care!
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The Vaccine vs Joint Pain (And More)
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…and other items from this week’s health news:
Vaccine may put an end to chikungunya-related inflammatory joint pain!
Researchers (Dr. Nivethika Sivakumaran et al.) have developed experimental adjuvant-free biopolymer particles designed to prevent chikungunya infection and the months-or-years of joint pain that often follow it.
How the vaccine works: Dr. Sivakumaran and her team engineered E. coli to assemble synthetic particles displaying chikungunya surface antigens that closely mimic the virus without causing disease.
This is important, because chikungunya commonly causes severe joint and muscle pain, and up to 60% of patients develop chronic joint symptoms that can persist for months or years and resemble rheumatoid arthritis.
Next, she plans to move things into clinical development, starting with safety trials of course, before progressing to studies that test how well the vaccine prevents infection and long-term joint damage on a larger scale.
Read in full: Chikungunya vaccine update: Experimental adjuvant-free particles aim to prevent months of joint pain
Related: Why Rheumatoid Arthritis Often Defies Drugs (& What Else you Can Try)
Nestlé doing another recall, this time Danone is too
Commercial giants Nestlé and Danone have recalled infant formula across more than 60 countries since December, due to possible toxin contamination.
The toxin in question, cereulide, isn’t destroyed by cooking or preparation and can cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps if consumed.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the issue is linked to arachidonic acid (ARA) being used in the manufacturing process. The FSA also says that investigations are ongoing, and that the manufacturers must explain what went wrong and show how they’ll prevent a repeat.
Read in full: More baby formula products recalled over toxin fears
Related: Breast Milk’s Benefits That Are (So Far) Not Replicable
Body composition changed by changing hormones
It turns out that if you change the hormones that are responsible for changing body composition, body composition changes!
When you put it like that, it may not seem like breaking news, and in a way it shouldn’t be, but a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analyzed 52 studies, with 43 included in a meta-analysis covering 6,485 participants aged 14–41 years. In total this pooled sample included 2,943 transgender women, 2,309 transgender men, 5,68 cisgender women, and 6,65 cisgender men.
In this current age, the US has recently adopted the stance first imposed on the Olympics by Nazi Germany in 1936, that is to say, that trans women must not be allowed to compete.
So, where does the science stand on this? Head to head…
Transgender women vs cisgender women: no statistically significant differences were found in relative fat mass, relative lean mass, upper-body strength, lower-body strength, or aerobic capacity, and after 1–3 years of hormone therapy, transgender women generally showed increased fat mass and decreased lean mass and upper-body strength.
Could we have known this before? Well, maybe. Most Americans have seen pictures of the famous Nazi book burnings. Most don’t know what those books were; it was the library of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, containing most of the world’s scientific research so far assembled on what Dr. Magnus Hirschfield called “sexual intermediacy”, which covered a lot of matters of primary and secondary sexual characteristics, the influence of various factors on various outcomes, and also the sciences of diverse traits such as homosexuality, intersexuality, and transsexuality. But, to the Nazis, this research was all “Jewish sexual degeneracy”, so they burned it all.
A great loss for science, and here we are, nearly 100 years later!
Read in full: New meta-analysis challenges claims of athletic advantage for transgender women
Related: ROAR – by Dr. Stacy Sims ← an excellent book on female athleticism, hormones, body composition, hormone-modulated physical performance, and more
Enjoy!
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The Alcohol Experiment – by Annie Grace
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We previously reviewed this author’s “This Naked Mind”, which explored the psychological and sociological aspects of alcohol addiction, or rather, how such factors funnel us to drinking in the first place.
This time, it’s more about the practical side of things, though there’s plenty of science here too; it just not the emphasis. Instead, the focus is on understanding what has been going wrong, and fixing it, with tools that are presented one at a time and added to the reader’s toolbox as we go.
You may be wondering: does this mean you need to be committed to stopping drinking? And the answer is no, except for these 30 days. It’s written for people who are of two minds about alcohol; who want to drink less but also feel deprived or upset if you abstain, or people who drink mostly out of habit or boredom, or to self-medicate against stress, for example.
For those who like to be guided through things step-by-step, that’s what the author offers here, with a chapter and journal prompt for each day of the 30-day challenge.
Bottom line: if the above describes you or a loved one, then this book can help.
Click here to check out The Alcohol Experiment, and find your way forwards!
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Unwell Women – by Dr. Elinor Cleghorn
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For a demographic that makes up a little over half of the world’s population, women are paradoxically marginalized in healthcare. And in other ways too, but this book is about health.
Dr. Cleghorn had to fight for seven (!) years to get her own lupus condition recognized as such, and continues to have to fight for it to be taken seriously on an ongoing basis. And yet, 95% of the book is not about her and her experiences, but rather, the bigger picture.
The book is divided into sections, by period in history. From Hippocrates to the modern day, Dr. Cleghorn gives us a well-researched, incredibly well-referenced overview of the marginalization of women’s health. Far from being a dry history book in the early parts though, it’s fascinating and engaging throughout.
The modern day sections are part shining a light into dark areas, part practical information-and-advice “did you know this happens, and you can do this about it”, and part emphatic call-to-action to demand better.
Bottom line: this book is in this reviewer’s “top 5 books read this year”, and we highly recommend it to you.
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