The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s – by Dr. Dale Bredesen
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We previously reviewed this author’s “The End of Alzheimer’s”, which pertains to the very protocol whose (successful!) results this book examines.
It has generally been considered that Alzheimer’s is a case of “once you have it, it’s downhill until the end”. Of course, such was also true historically of many things that are now easily treatable, and there is no pressing reason to believe that Alzheimer’s should have any special immunity to the onwards march of science.
As such, the first part of the book is given over to 7 personal accounts, in which the titular first survivors of Alzheimer’s tell their own stories, one per chapter. After that, we get to part two, which is more about the science, on the small and large scale—so, practical advice directly applicable by individuals, and epidemiological considerations of more use to healthcare providers.
The style is, of course, varied—due to kicking off with seven (deeply!) personal accounts. To give an idea of tone, the first paragraphs of the first story are about the writer’s erstwhile plan to kill herself. The other six stories are also very human. And then, once we get into the second part of the book, it’s not quite so hard-science has The End of Alzheimer’s, but it’s also written with the sort of detachment that you might expect from a scientist writing about neurology and inflammation and metabolism and gene expression and so forth.
Bottom line: if you just want the clinical aspect, then you want “The End of Alzheimer’s”. If you just want practical advice, then you want the same author’s “The Ageless Brain”. But if you want both of those things plus a strong human element that makes it all very real, then this one’s the book for you.
Click here to check out The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s, and value the richness of life!
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The Surprising Supplement (Not A Vitamin/Mineral!) That Makes The COVID Vaccine Work Better
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Vaccines are great! They’re not a panacea and they absolutely have their limitations, but they also save many millions of lives per year, so that’s a big win.
However, those limitations do mean that whenever we can find a way to make them work better, it’s very positive news.
And that’s what we have for you today:
Spermidine to the rescue!
We’ve written about polyamines before, and their role in healthy longevity, for example: Spermidine For Longevity
And, for that matter: Spermine vs Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s! ← note that spermine is not the same thing as spermidine, but they are related, being both polyamines with overlapping roles
Firstly, we need to understand what polyamines do in healthy cells: polyamines act as “geroprotectors” by stimulating autophagy*, the cellular recycling process, primarily through activation of a specific protein (known to its friends by the snappy name of “eIF5A1”), which supports mitochondrial function and healthy aging.
*We wrote about this here: Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin ← so-called because it works by killing the aging cells that need to die sooner rather than later if aging is not to be exacerbated by copying their mistakes forwards (fisetin is not a polyamine, but the principle is the same, making the afore-linked article a good explainer).
More recently, researchers (Dr. Ghada Alsaleh et al., whence our featured image for this article today) conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial involving 40 healthy adults aged 65 or older to test whether 6mg of daily spermidine for 13 weeks after their latest vaccine dose could improve immune responses.
The results, in few words: spermidine supplementation significantly improved several measures of vaccine-induced immunity, including:
- Greater neutralizing antibody activity against multiple viral variants
- Higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific IgG antibodies
- Stronger memory B-cell recall responses
As for how it achieved this, lab analyses showed that spermidine:
- Increased autophagic activity in B-cells, helping remove damaged cellular components
- Reduced markers of immune cell senescence, including elevated p16, mTOR signaling, and DNA damage (γ-H2AX)
- Increased expression of genes involved in autophagy and the transcription factor TFEB
In other words: aging of the immune system (immunosenescence) reduces the effectiveness of vaccines in some older adults by impairing B-cell and T-cell function, increasing DNA damage, reducing autophagy (the cell’s recycling system), and promoting cellular senescence—and spermidine does the opposites of most of these things!
That said, it’s worth noting that it’s early days, research-wise;
❝This study was designed as a pilot trial and involved a relatively small number of participants. Larger studies will be needed to determine whether spermidine can consistently improve vaccine responses and whether similar effects are seen with other vaccines, such as those used against seasonal influenza.❞
~ Dr. Katja Simon, co-author
You can read the paper itself, here: Spermidine Mitigates Immune Cell Senescence and Boosts Vaccine Responses in Healthy Older Adults—A Pilot Study
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎
Want to learn more?
Check out:
How To Triple Your Chances Of Getting The “Razorblade Throat” COVID Variant Or Long COVID
And if for any reason the above is not actually a goal you have, then you might also consider:
Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them)
Take care!
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It’s Not Fantastic To Be Plastic
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We Are Such Stuff As Bottles Are Made Of
We’ve written before about PFAS, often found in non-stick coatings and the like:
PFAS Exposure & Cancer: The Numbers Are High
Today we’re going to be talking about microplastics & nanoplastics!
What are microplastics and nanoplastics?
Firstly, they’renot just the now-banned plastic microbeads that have seen some use is toiletries (although those are classified as microplastics too).
Many are much smaller than that, and if they get smaller than a thousandth of a millimeter, then they get the additional classification of “nanoplastic”.
In other words: not something that can be filtered even if you were to use a single-micron filter. The microplastics would still get through, for example:
Scientists find about a quarter million invisible nanoplastic particles in a liter of bottled water
And unfortunately, that’s bad:
❝What’s disturbing is that small particles can appear in different organs and may cross membranes that they aren’t meant to cross, such as the blood-brain barrier❞
Note: they’re crossing the same blood-brain barrier that many of our nutrients and neurochemicals are too big to cross.
These microplastics are also being found in arterial plaque
What makes arterial plaque bad for the health is precisely its plasticity (the arterial walls themselves are elastic), so you most certainly do not want actual plastic being used as part of the cement that shouldn’t even be lining your arteries in the first place:
Microplastics found in artery plaque linked with higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death
❝In this study, patients with carotid artery plaque in which MNPs were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected❞
~ Dr. Raffaele Marfella et al.
(MNP = Micro/Nanoplastics)
Source: Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events
We don’t know how bad this is yet
There are various ways this might not be as bad as it looks (the results may not be repeated, the samples could have been compromised, etc), but also, perhaps cynically but nevertheless honestly, it could also be worse than we know yet—only more experiments being done will tell us which.
In the meantime, here’s a rundown of what we do and don’t know:
Study links microplastics with human health problems—but there’s still a lot we don’t know
Take care!
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Benefits of Different Tropical Fruits
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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!
Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!
In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!
As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!
So, no question/request too big or small
❝Would very much like your views of the benefits of different tropical fruits. I do find papaya is excellent for settling the digestion – but keen to know if others have remarkable qualities.❞
Definitely one for a main feature sometime soon! As a bonus while you wait, pineapple has some unique and powerful properties:
❝Its properties include: (1) interference with growth of malignant cells; (2) inhibition of platelet aggregation*; (3) fibrinolytic activity; (4) anti-inflammatory action; (5) skin debridement properties. These biological functions of bromelain, a non-toxic compound, have therapeutic values in modulating: (a) tumor growth; (b) blood coagulation; (c) inflammatory changes; (d) debridement of third degree burns; (e) enhancement of absorption of drugs.❞
*so do be aware of this if you are on blood thinners or otherwise have a bleeding disorder, as you might want to skip the pineapple in those cases!
Source: Bromelain, the enzyme complex of pineapple (Ananas comosus) and its clinical application. An update
Enjoy!
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Eat Your Vitamins – by Mascha Davis, RDN
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This book methodically discusses an assortment of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients; the “other nutrients” category including amino acids (branched chain and essential), prebiotics and probiotics, and triglycerides of various kinds.
It makes the argument that we are better off getting these things from nature than from supplements, and in the category of criticism, it doesn’t make that argument very well. The truth is that yes, bioavailability of many nutrients is higher from food, the author is a little selective in problem recognition—for example, criticizing supplements as sometimes being contaminated with heavy metals, right after recommending fish (famously a rich source of heavy metals, along with actual nutrients).
In a similar vein, she does not pay a lot of attention to downsides of certain foods, so for example we will see her recommending beef as a source of many nutrients—which it is! It’s just also a top risk factor for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. But, the author is a registered dietician-nutritionist and not a cardiologist, oncologist, epidemiologist, etc, and it shows.
On the other hand, a strength of this book is that it does elucidate what the various nutrients are and what they actually do, which conveys a level of understanding that very many people don’t otherwise have (your average person in the street is unlikely to be able to say what vitamin B3 actually does, for example).
The style is straightforward and clear, making this book an easy quick reference source, as well as being readable cover-to-cover if you so desire.
Bottom line: if you’d like to know more about the nutrients we humans need, this is a great book! Just watch out for the downsides of some foods though, as the author can be a bit overly generous in her recommendations.
Click here to check out Eat Your Vitamins, and indeed eat your vitamins!
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Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits?
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A spoonful of pepper makes the… Hang on, no, that’s not right…
We know that spices are the spice of life, and many have great health-giving qualities. But…
- How much is the right amount?
- What’s the minimum to get health benefits?
- What’s the maximum to avoid toxicity?
That last one always seems like a scary question, but please bear in mind: everything is toxic at a certain dose. Oxygen, water, you-name-it.
On the other hand, many things have a toxicity so low that one could not physically consume it sufficiently faster than the body eliminates it, to get a toxic build-up.
Consider, for example, the €50 banknote that was nearly withdrawn from circulation because one of the dyes used in it was found to be toxic. However, the note remained in circulation after scientists patiently explained that a person would have to eat many thousands of them to get a lethal dose.
So, let’s address these questions in reverse order:
What’s the maximum to avoid toxicity?
In the case of the spices we’ll look at today, the human body generally* has high tolerance for them if eaten at levels that we find comfortable eating.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have (or may have) a medical condition that may be triggered by spices, go easier on them (or if appropriate, abstain completely) after you learn about that.
Check with your own physician if unsure, because not only are we not doctors, we’re specifically not your doctors, and cannot offer personalized health advice.
We’re going to be talking in averages and generalizations here. Caveat consumator.
For most people, unless you are taking the spice in such quantities that you are folding space and seeing the future, or eating them as the main constituents of your meal rather than an embellishment, you should be fine. Please don’t enter a chilli-eating contest and sue us.
What is the minimum to get health benefits and how much should we eat?
The science of physiology generally involves continuous rather than discrete data, so there’s not so much a hard threshold, as a point at which the benefits become significant. The usefulness of most nutrients we consume, be they macro- or micro-, will tend to have a bell curve.
In other words, a tiny amount won’t do much, the right amount will have a good result, and usefulness will tail off after that point. To that end, we’re going to look at the “sweet spot” of peaking on the graph.
Also note: the clinical dose is the dose of the compound, not the amount of the food that one will need to eat to get that dose. For example, food x containing compound y will not usually contain that compound at 100% rate and nothing else. We mention this so that you’re not surprised when we say “the recommended dose is 5mg of compound, so take a teaspoon of this spice”, for example.
Further note: we only have so much room here, so we’re going to list only the top benefits, and not delve into the science of them. You can see the related main features for more details, though!
The “big 5” health-giving spices, with their relevant active compound:
- Black pepper (piperine)
- Hot pepper* (capsaicin)
- Garlic (allicin)
- Ginger (gingerol)
- Turmeric (curcumin**)
*Cayenne pepper is very high in capsaicin; chilli peppers are also great
**not the same thing as cumin, which is a completely different plant. Cumin does have some health benefits of its own, but not in the same league as the spices above, and there’s only so much we have room to cover today.
Black pepper
- Benefits: antioxidant, anti-cancer, boosts bioavailability of other nutrients, aids digestion
- Dosage: 5–20mg for benefits
- Suggestion: ½ teaspoon of black pepper is sufficient for benefits. However, this writer’s kitchen dictum in this case is “if you can’t see the black pepper in/on the food, add more”—but that’s more about taste!
- Related main feature: Black Pepper’s Anti-Cancer Arsenal (And More)
Hot Pepper
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, metabolism accelerator
- Dosage: 6mg gives benefits, 500mg is a common dose in capsules
- Suggestion: if not making a spicy dish, consider using a teaspoon of cayenne as part of the seasoning for rice or potatoes
- Related main feature: Capsaicin For Weight Loss And Against Inflammation
Garlic
- Benefits: heart health, blood sugar balancing, anti-cancer
- Dosage: 4–8µg for benefits
- Suggestion: 1–2 cloves daily is generally good. However, cooking reduces allicin content (and so does oxidation after cutting/crushing), so you may want to adjust accordingly if doing those things.
- Related main feature: The Many Health Benefits Of Garlic
Ginger
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-nausea
- Dosage: 3–4g for benefits
- Suggestion: 1 teaspoon grated raw ginger or ½ a teaspoon powdered ginger, can be used in baking or as part of the seasoning for a stir-fry
- Related main feature: Ginger Does A Lot More Than You Think
Turmeric
- Benefits: anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer
- Dosage: 500–2000mg for benefits
- Suggestion: ¼ teaspoon per day is sufficient for benefits; ½ teaspoon dropped into the water when cooking rice will infuse the rice with turmeric (which is very water-soluble), turn the rice a pretty golden color, and not affect the flavor. Throw in some black pepper as it increases the bioavailability of curcumin up to 2000%
- Related main feature: Why Curcumin (Turmeric) Is Worth Its Weight In Gold
Closing notes
The above five spices are very healthful for most people. Personal physiology can and will vary, so if in doubt, a) check with your doctor b) start at lowest doses and establish your tolerance (or lack thereof).
Enjoy, and stay well!
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The Worst Cookware Lurking In Your Kitchen (Toxicologist Explains)
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Dr. Yvonne Burkart gives us a rundown of the worst offenders, and what to use instead:
Hot mess
The very worst offender is non-stick cookware, the kind with materials such as Teflon. These are the most toxic, due to PFAS chemicals.
Non-stick pans release toxic gases, leach chemicals into food, and release microplastic particles, which can accumulate in the body.
One that a lot of people don’t think about, in that category, is the humble air-fryer, which often as not has a non-stick cooking “basket”. These she describes as highly toxic, as they combine plastic, non-stick coatings, and high heat, which can release fumes and other potentially dangerous chemicals into the air and food.
You may be wondering: how bad is it? And the answer is, quite bad. PFAS chemicals are linked to infertility, hypertension in pregnancy, developmental issues in children, cancer, weakened immune systems, hormonal disruption, obesity, and intestinal inflammation.
Dr. Burkart’s top picks for doing better:
- Pure ceramic cookware: top choice for safety, particularly brands like Xtrema, which are tested for heavy metal leaching.
- Carbon steel & cast iron: durable and safe; can leach iron in acidic foods (for most people, this is a plus, but some may need to be aware of it)
- Stainless steel: lightweight and affordable but can leach nickel and chromium in acidic foods at high temperatures. Use only if nothing better is available.
And specifically as alternatives to air-fryers: glass convection ovens or stainless steel ovens are safer than conventional air fryers. The old “combination oven” can often be a good choice here.
For more on all of these, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- PFAS Exposure & Cancer: The Numbers Are High
- It’s Not Fantastic To Be Plastic ← for the closely related topic of microplastics and nanoplastics
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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Learn to Age Gracefully
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