Medical Bulletin 22/December/2023

Here are the top health stories for the day:

Slimming significantly alters your microbiome and brain activity

Worldwide, more than one billion people are obese. Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. But permanently losing weight isn’t easy: complex interactions between body systems such as gut physiology, hormones, and the brain are known to work against it. One method for weight loss is intermittent energy restriction (IER), where days of relative fasting alternate with days of eating normally.

“Here we show that an IER diet changes the human brain-gut-microbiome axis. The observed changes in the gut microbiome and in the activity in addition-related brain regions during and after weight loss are highly dynamic and coupled over time,” said last author Dr Qiang Zeng, a researcher at the Health Management Institute of the PLA General Hospital in Beijing.

Reference: Slimming significantly alters your microbiome and brain activity; Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology; DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1269548

Finding that statins could slow dementia stimulates further research

Blood fat-lowering statins could slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, at least for some patients. This is the result of a new study led by Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer Research and Therapy. But the researchers are cautious in their interpretations and see the results as a first step in a research journey that may eventually provide the answer.

A new study shows that people with Alzheimer's dementia deteriorated more slowly in their cognitive functions if they were also treated with a lipid-lowering statin, compared to those who were not treated. However, the study is an observational study where the researchers have compared data on the patients from a registry and therefore cannot answer whether there really is a causal relationship. Thus, the researchers are cautious in their interpretations.

Reference: Finding that statins could slow dementia stimulates further research; Alzheimer s Research & Therapy; DOI:10.1186/s13195-023-01360-0

Beetroot juice supplement lowers blood pressure and improves exercise capacity in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

A 12-week course of daily beetroot juice supplement for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) lowered blood pressure and improved how far patients could walk in six minutes in research published today (Wednesday) in the European Respiratory Journal [1].

COPD is a serious lung condition affecting around 400 million people worldwide [2]. COPD which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, causes breathing difficulties and severely limits people’s capacity for physical activity. It also increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The new research tested a concentrated beetroot juice supplement that is high in nitrate against a beetroot juice placebo that looked and tasted the same but had the nitrate removed.

Reference: Beetroot juice supplement lowers blood pressure and improves exercise capacity in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; European Respiratory Journal, DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02353-2022