Medical Bulletin 13/ January/ 2025 - Video

According to a new research, brown fat may help protect against health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The findings are published in the journal Aging. Researchers evaluated the role of brown adipose tissue (BAT), a special type of fat that burns calories to generate heat, in improving exercise endurance and supporting healthy aging.

While most studies have shown that exercise regulates brown adipose tissue activation and increases brown adipose tissue density, relatively few have demonstrated that brown adipose tissue itself can directly increase exercise performance.

One notable example involves RGS14 knockout mice, a genetically modified group known for their longer lifespan. When brown adipose tissue from these mice was transplanted into regular mice, the recipients displayed improved running endurance just three days after the transplant. In contrast, brown fat from non-modified mice took much longer to produce similar improvements.

These findings highlight the unique properties of brown adipose tissue in enhancing physical performance. The researchers emphasized also that brown adipose tissue improves blood circulation and reduces cellular stress, which may help combat age-related muscle loss, fatigue, and metabolic decline.

The authors suggest that treatments designed to mimic the benefits of brown fat could lead to innovative approaches for improving energy levels, maintaining a healthy weight, and supporting heart health.

Reference: Vatner DE, Zhang J, Vatner SF. Brown adipose tissue enhances exercise performance and healthful longevity. Aging (Albany NY). 2024 Dec 18; 16:13442-13451 . https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206179

Elderberry juice may be a potent tool for weight management and enhancing metabolic health, according to a recent Washington State University-led study.

A clinical trial published in the journal Nutrients found that drinking 12 ounces of elderberry juice daily for a week causes positive changes in the gut microbiome and improves glucose tolerance and fat oxidation.

The researchers tested the effects of elderberry on metabolic health in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with 18 overweight adults. Participants consumed either elderberry juice or a placebo with similar coloring and taste, specially designed by North Carolina State University’s Food Innovation Lab, while maintaining a standardized diet.

Clinical testing following the intervention showed that participants who consumed elderberry juice had significantly increased amounts of beneficial gut bacteria, including firmicutes and actinobacteria, and decreased amounts of harmful bacteria, such as bacteroidetes.

Results also showed that the elderberry juice reduced participants’ blood glucose levels by an average of 24%, indicating a significantly improved ability to process sugars following carbohydrate consumption. Results also showed a 9% decrease in insulin levels. Additionally, results suggested that elderberry juice can enhance the body’s ability to burn fat.

The researchers attribute these positive effects to elderberry’s high concentration of anthocyanins, plant-based bioactive compounds that have a variety of health benefits, including anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and antimicrobial effects.

“Food is medicine, and science is catching up to that popular wisdom,” said corresponding author Patrick Solverson, an assistant professor in the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine’s Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. “This study contributes to a growing body of evidence that elderberry, which has been used as a folk remedy for centuries, has numerous benefits for metabolic as well as prebiotic health.”

Reference: Teets, C., Ghanem, N., Ma, G., Minj, J., Perkins-Veazie, P., Johnson, S. A., ... & Solverson, P. M. (2024). A One-Week Elderberry Juice Intervention Augments the Fecal Microbiota and Suggests Improvement in Glucose Tolerance and Fat Oxidation in a Randomized Controlled Trial. Nutrients, 16(20), 3555.

A new study published in Nature Metabolism identified the direct epigenetic effects of two common byproducts of fiber digestion and found that some of the alterations in gene expression had anti-cancer actions.

When we eat fiber, the gut microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids. These compounds are more than just an energy source for us: They have long been suspected to indirectly affect gene function. The researchers traced how the two most common short-chain fatty acids in our gut, propionate and butyrate, altered gene expression in healthy human cells, in treated and untreated human colon cancer cells, and in mouse intestines. They found direct epigenetic changes at specific genes that regulate cell proliferation and differentiation, along with apoptosis, or pre-programmed cell death processes — all of which are important for disrupting or controlling the unchecked cell growth that underlies cancer.

“We found a direct link between eating fiber and modulation of gene function that has anti-cancer effects, and we think this is likely a global mechanism because the short-chain fatty acids that result from fiber digestion can travel all over the body,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics. “It is generally the case that people’s diet is very fiber poor, and that means their microbiome is not being fed properly and cannot make as many short-chain fatty acids as it should. This is not doing our health any favors.”

“By identifying the gene targets of these important molecules we can understand how fiber exerts its beneficial effects and what goes wrong during cancer,” Snyder added.

Reference: Nshanian, M., Gruber, J.J., Geller, B.S. et al. Short-chain fatty acid metabolites propionate and butyrate are unique epigenetic regulatory elements linking diet, metabolism and gene expression. Nat Metab (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01191-9

A new analysis of U.S. mortality data reveals the disproportionate impact of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) on older adults, males and certain racial and ethnic groups. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Injury, provides a comprehensive analysis of TBI-related deaths across different population groups across the U.S. in 2021. The findings indicate that suicides remain the most common cause of TBI-related deaths, followed by unintentional falls, and specific groups are disproportionately affected by these tragedies.

Men, in particular, were found to be most likely to die from a TBI – more than three times the rate of women (30.5 versus 9.4). The reasons observed were multifactorial and could reflect differences in injury severity following a fall or motor vehicle crash, to the interaction of sex and age – with TBI outcomes in men worsening with age, while postmenopausal women fare better than men of similar age.

Using data from the National Vital Statistics System, the new analysis identified 69,473 TBI-related deaths among U.S. residents during 2021 — an average of 190 deaths per day. The age-adjusted TBI-related mortality rate was 19.5 per 100,000, representing an 8.8% increase from 2020.

Key findings include:

Older adults (75+) had the highest rates of TBI-related deaths, with unintentional falls being the most common cause in this age group.

There were 37,635 TBI-related deaths categorized as unintentional injuries (i.e., motor vehicle crashes, unintentional falls, unintentionally struck by or against an object, other).

30,801 were categorized as intentional injuries (i.e., all mechanisms of suicide and homicide).

Children aged from birth to 17 years accounted for around 4% of TBI-related deaths (2,977).

“While anyone is at risk for getting a TBI, some groups have a higher chance than others of dying from one. We identified specific populations who are most affected. In addition to men, older adults are especially at risk, with unintentional falls being a major cause of TBI-related death. American Indian or Alaska Native people also have higher rates of these fatal injuries,” says lead author Alexis Peterson PhD., of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These findings highlight the importance of tailored prevention strategies to reach groups who may be at higher risk and the role healthcare providers can play in reducing TBI-related deaths through early intervention and culturally sensitive care.”

Reference: Peterson, A., Thomas, K., & Kegler, S. (2025). Disparities in traumatic brain injury-related deaths—the United States, 2021. Brain Injury, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2024.2415933