These Signs Often Mean These Nutrient Deficiencies (Do You Have Any?)
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These are not a necessary “if this then this” equation, but rather a “if this, then probably this”, and it’s a cue to try upping that thing in your diet, and if that doesn’t quickly fix it, get some tests done:
- White bumps on the skin: vitamin A, omega 3
- Craving sour foods: vitamin C
- Restless leg syndrome: iron, magnesium
- Cracked lips: vitamin B2
- Tingling hands and feet: vitamin B12
- Easy bruising: vitamin K and vitamin C
- Canker sores: vitamin B9 (folate), vitamin B12, iron
- Brittle or misshapen nails: vitamin B7 (biotin)
- Craving salty foods: sodium, potassium
- Prematurely gray hair: copper, vitamin B9 (folate), vitamin B12
- Dandruff: omega 3, zinc, vitamin B6
- Craving ice: iron
Dr. LeGrand Peterson has more to say about these though, as well as a visual guide to symptoms, so do check out the video:
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Want to know more?
You might like this previous main feature about supplements vs nutrients from food
Do We Need Supplements, And Do They Work?
Enjoy!
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Can We Drink To Good Health?
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Can we drink to good health?
We asked you for your thoughts on alcohol and heart health, and we got quite an even spread of results!
If perchance that’s too tiny to read, the figures were:
- 32% voted for “Alcohol is a relaxant, reduces stress, and can contain resveratrol too. It’s good for the heart!”
- 32% voted for: “Moderate alcohol consumption can be at least neutral for the health, if not positive ⚖️”
- 36% voted for: “Alcohol is bad for pretty much everything, including heart health ✋”
One subscriber who voted for “Alcohol is a relaxant, reduces stress, and can contain resveratrol too. It’s good for the heart!” added the following thoughts:
❝While it isn’t necessary to consume alcohol, moderate amounts can be beneficial and contribute to well-being through social activity, celebrations, etc.❞
That’s an interesting point, and definitely many people do see alcohol that way! Of course, that does not mean that one will find no social activities, celebrations, etc, in parts of the world where alcohol consumption is uncommon. Indeed, in India, wedding parties where no alcohol is consumed can go on for days!
But, “we live in a society” and all that, and while we’re a health newsletter not a social issues newsletter, it’d be remiss of us to not acknowledge the importance of socialization for good mental health—and thus the rest of our health too.
So, if indeed all our friends and family drink alcohol, it can certainly make abstaining more of a challenge.
On that note, let’s take a moment to consider “The French Paradox” (an observation of a low prevalence of ischemic heart disease despite high intakes of saturated fat, a phenomenon accredited to the consumption of red wine).
As it happens, a comprehensive review in “Circulation”, a cardiovascular health journal, has suggested the French Paradox may not be so paradoxical after all.
Research suggests it has more to do with other lifestyle factors (and historic under-reporting of cardiovascular disease by French doctors), which would explain why Japan has lower rates of heart disease, despite drinking little wine, and more beer and spirits.
So, our subscriber’s note may not be completely without reason! It’s just about the party, not the alcohol.
One subscriber who voted for “Moderate alcohol consumption can be at least neutral for the health, if not positive ⚖️” wrote:
❝Keeping in mind, moderate means one glass of wine for women a day and two for men. Hard alcohol doesn’t have the same heart benefits as wine❞
That is indeed the guideline according to some health bodies!
In other places with different guiding advisory bodies, that’s been dropped down to one a day for everyone (the science may be universal, but how government institutions interpret that is not).
About that wine… Specifically, red wine, for its resveratrol content:
While there are polyphenols such as resveratrol in red wine that could boost heart health, there’s so little per glass that you may need 100–1000 glasses to get the dosage that provides benefits in mouse studies. If you’re not a mouse, you might even need more.
To this end, many people prefer resveratrol supplementation. ← link is to an example product, but there are plenty more so feel free to shop around
A subscriber who voted for “Alcohol is bad for pretty much everything, including heart health ✋” says:
❝New guidelines suggest 1 to 2 drinks a week are okay but the less the better.❞
If you haven’t heard these new guidelines, we’ll mention again: every government has its own official bodies and guidelines so perhaps your local guidelines differ, but for example here’s what that World Health Organization has to say (as of January this year):
WHO: No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health
So, whom to believe? The governments who hopefully consider the welfare of their citizenry more important than the tax dollars from alcohol sales, or the World Health Organization?
It’s a tough one, but we’ll always err on the side of the science.
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Remember – by Dr. Lisa Genova
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Memory is often viewed as one thing—either you have a good memory, or you don’t. At best, a lot of people have a vague idea of selective memory. But, the reality is much more complex—and much more interesting.
Dr. Genova lays out clearly and simply the various different kinds of memory, how they work, and how they fail. Some of these kinds of memory operate on completely different principles than others, and/or in different parts of the brain. And, it’s not just “a memory for faces” or a “memory for names”, nor even “short term vs long term”. There’s working memory, explicit and implicit memory, semantic memory, episodic memory, muscle memory, and more.
However, this is not just an interesting book—it’s also a useful one. Dr. Genova also looks at how we can guard against failing memory in later years, and how we can expand and grow the kinds of memory that are most important to us.
The style of the book is very conversational, and not at all textbook-like. It’s certainly very accessible, and pleasant to read too.
Bottom line: memory is a weird and wonderful thing, and this book shines a clear light on many aspects of it—including how to improve the various different kinds of memory.
Click here to check out Remember (we recommend to do it now before you forget!
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Strawberries vs Blackberries – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing strawberries to blackberries, we picked the blackberries.
Why?
Shocking nobody, both are very healthy options. However, blackberries do come out on top:
In terms of macros, the main thing that sets them apart is that blackberries have more than 2x the fiber. Other differences in macros are also in blackberries’ favor, but only very marginally, so we’ll not distract with those here. The fiber difference is distinctly significant, though.
In the category of vitamins, blackberries lead with more of vitamins A, B2, B3, B5, B9, E, and K, as well as more choline. Meanwhile, strawberries boast more of vitamins B1, B6, and C. So, a 8:2 advantage for blackberries (and some of the margins are very large, such as 9x more choline, 4x more vitamin E, and nearly 18x more vitamin A).
When it comes to minerals, things are not less clear: blackberries have considerably more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, and zinc. The two fruits are equal in other minerals that they both contain, and strawberries don’t contain any mineral in greater amounts than blackberries do.
A discussion of these berries’ health benefits would be incomplete without at least mentioning polyphenols, but both of them are equally good sources of such, so there’s no distinction to set one above the other in this category.
As ever, enjoy both, though! Diversity is good.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
- Strawberries vs Cherries – Which is Healthier?
- Blackberries vs Blueberries – Which is Healthier?
- Strawberries vs Raspberries – Which is Healthier?
Take care!
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The Emperor’s New Klotho, Or Something More?
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Unzipping The Genes Of Aging?
Klotho is an enzyme encoded in humans’ genes—specifically, in the KL gene.
It’s found throughout all living parts of the human body (and can even circulate about in its hormonal form, or come to rest in its membranaceous form), and its subgroups are especially found:
- α-klotho: in the brain
- β-klotho: in the liver
- γ-klotho: in the kidneys
Great! Why do we care?
Klotho, its varieties and variants, its presence or absence, are very important in aging.
Almost every biological manifestation of aging in humans has some klotho-related indicator; usually the decrease or mutation of some kind of klotho.
Which way around the cause and effect go has been the subject of much debate and research: do we get old because we don’t have enough klotho, or do we make less klotho because we’re getting old?
Of course, everything has to be tested per variant and per system, so that can take a while (punctuated by research scientists begging for more grants to do the next one). Given that it’s about aging, testing in humans would take an incredibly long while, so most studies so far have been rodent studies.
The general gist of the results of rodent studies is “reduced klotho hastens aging; increased klotho slows it”.
(this can be known by artificially increasing or decreasing the level of klotho expression, again something easier in mice as it is harder to arrange transgenic humans for the studies)
Here’s one example of many, of that vast set of rodent studies:
Suppression of Aging in Mice by the Hormone Klotho
Relevance for Alzheimer’s, and a science-based advice
A few years ago (2020), an Alzheimer’s study was undertaken; they noted that the famous apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s, and that klotho may be another. FGF21 (secreted by the liver, mostly during fasting) binds to its own receptor (FGFR1) and its co-receptor β-klotho. Since this is a known neuroprotective factor, they wondered whether klotho itself may interact with β-amyloid (Aβ), and found:
❝Aβ can enhance the ability of klotho to draw FGF21 to regions of incipient neurodegeneration in AD❞
In other words: β-amyloid, the substance whose accumulation is associated with neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, is a mediator in klotho bringing a known neuroprotective factor, FGF21, to the areas of neurodegeneration
In fewer words: klotho calls the firefighters to the scene of the fire
Read more: Alignment of Alzheimer’s disease amyloid β-peptide and klotho
The advice based on this? Consider practicing intermittent fasting, if that is viable for you, as it will give your liver more FGF21-secreting time, and the more FGF21, the more firefighters arrive when klotho sounds the alarm.
See also: Intermittent Fasting: What’s the truth?
…and while you’re at it:
Does intermittent fasting have benefits for our brain?
A more recent (2023) study with a slightly different (but connected) purpose, found results consistent with this:
Longevity factor klotho enhances cognition in aged nonhuman primates
…and, for that matter this (2023) study that found:
Associations between klotho and telomere biology in high stress caregivers
…which looks promising, but we’d like to see it repeated with a sounder method (they sorted caregiving into “high-stress” and “low-stress” depending on whether a child was diagnosed with ASD or not, which is by no means a reliable way of sorting this). They did ask for reported subjective stress levels, but to be more objective, we’d like to see clinical markers of stress (e.g. cortisol levels, blood pressure, heart rate changes, etc).
A very recent (April 2024) study found that it has implications for more aspects of aging—and this time, in humans (but using a population-based cohort study, rather than lab conditions):
Can I get it as a supplement?
Not with today’s technology and today’s paucity of clinical trials, you can’t. Maybe in the future!
However… The presence of senescent (old, badly copied, stumbling and staggering onwards when they should have been killed and eaten and recycled already) cells actively reduces klotho levels, which means that taking supplements that are senolytic (i.e., that kill those senescent cells) can increase serum klotho levels:
Orally-active, clinically-translatable senolytics restore α-Klotho in mice and humans
Ok, what can I take for that?
We wrote about a senolytic supplement that you might enjoy, recently:
Fisetin: The Anti-Aging Assassin
Want to know more?
If you have the time, Dr. Peter Attia interviews Dr. Dena Dubal (researcher in several of the above studies) here:
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Enjoy!
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To-Do List Formula – by Damon Zahariades
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The first part of this book is given to reviewing popular to-do list methods that are already widely “out there”. This treatment is practical and exploratory, looking at the pros and cons of each.
The second part of the book is more Zahariades’ own method, taking what he sees as the best of each, plus some tricks and practices of his own. With these, he builds (and shares!) his optimized system.
You may be wondering what you, dear reader, can expect to get out of this book. Well, that depends on where you’re coming from:
Are you new to approaching your general to-dos with a system more organized than post-it notes on your fridge? If so, this will be a great initial introduction to many systems.
Or are you, perhaps, a veteran of GTD, ToDoist, assorted Pomodoro-based systems, and more? Do you do/delegate/defer/ditch tasks more deftly and dextrously than Serena Williams despatches tennis balls?
If so, what you’re more likely to gain here is a fresh perspective on old ideas, and maybe a trick or two you didn’t know before. At the very least, a boost to your motivation, getting you fired up for doing what you know best again.
All in all, a very respectable book for anyone’s to-read list!
Pick Up Your Copy of Zahariades’ To-Do List Formula on Amazon Today!
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Should Men Over 50 Get PSA?
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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
❝Loved the information on prostate cancer. Do recommend your readers get a PSA or equivalent test annually for over 50 yr old men.❞
(This is about: Prostate Health: What You Should Know)
Yep, or best yet, the much more accurate PSE test! But if PSA test is what’s available, it’s a lot better than nothing. And, much as it’s rarely the highlight of anyone’s day, a prostate exam by a suitably qualified professional is also a good idea.
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