Medical Bulletin 29/ October/ 2024 - Video

Researchers at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have found that, when compared to seven other anti-diabetic drugs, semaglutide, a popular diabetes and weight-loss drug, may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

The study, published today in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, suggests type 2 diabetes patients taking semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. These results were consistent across different subgroups, including obesity status, gender and age.

The research team—led by biomedical informatics professor Rong Xu—analyzed three years of electronic records of nearly 1 million U.S. patients with type 2 diabetes. The researchers used a statistical approach that mimics a randomized clinical trial.

They found patients prescribed semaglutide had a significantly lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who had taken any of seven other anti-diabetic medications, including other types of GLP-1R-targeting medications.

Reference: Wang W, Wang QQ, Qi X, et al. Associations of semaglutide with first-time diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: Target trial emulation using nationwide real-world data in the US. Alzheimer's Dement. 2024; 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14313

A UNC Greensboro (UNCG) study following 299 women and their infants from pregnancy to toddlerhood examined multiple psychological, biological, and social factors in the context of infants’ rapid weight gain. They found infant feeding practices associated with obesity, known as obesogenic practices, are strongly correlated with rapid infant weight gain.

Examples of obesogenic practices described in their recent Pediatric Obesity paper include watching television while feeding a baby, formula feeding, and supplementing a bottle with additional foods.

“The key take home point is that what and how parents feed their infants in the first 6 months of life has tremendous implications for obesity risk, and childbearing parents who experience more stress during the prenatal period are particularly likely to engage in these unhealthy pratices,” says Dr. Esther Leerkes, a UNCG professor in human development and family studies, who served as lead author on the paper. Infants who gain weight rapidly before the age of two are at a higher risk for obesity.

Researchers recruited 299 pregnant women and measured their physical and psychological health, known as prenatal psychobiological risk. Strengths of their sample include the diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses of participants: 29.4% identified as Black, 6.7% as multiracial, and 7.7% as Hispanic or Latino.

Once participants gave birth, researchers assessed caregivers’ attunement to infant needs, infant temperament and stress level, and obesogenic feeding practice at set intervals. The researchers discovered obesogenic feeding practices strongly and significantly correlated with infant rapid weight gain, and that mothers’ prenatal psychological risk increased the likelihood they would engage in obesogenic feeding.

Although Leerkes says breastfeeding is recommended to decrease obesity risk, some parents may not have this option due to many constraints, physical limitations, or other systemic level barriers.

Reference: Leerkes EM, Buehler C, Wideman L, Chen Y, Shriver LH. Biopsychosocial predictors of rapid weight gain from birth to 6 months. Pediatric Obesity. 2024;e13170. doi:10.1111/ijpo.13170

Early results from a study of newborn screening methods show that DNA analysis picks up many more preventable or treatable serious health conditions than standard newborn screening and is favored by most parents who are offered the option. The findings were published in JAMA network.

The study—called GUARDIAN—is one of the first large-scale studies in the world to use genome sequencing as a method for newborn screening and is the first to publish preliminary results.

“The results show us that genome sequencing can radically improve children’s medical care,” says Joshua Milner, professor of Pediatrics, director of Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and one of the study’s co-authors.

“Genome sequencing allows us to detect things that cause serious illness and take action to prevent those illnesses in a significant number of children, not just a few rare cases,” says Milner, who is also the chief of the allergy, immunology and rheumatology services at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “It should be instituted as the next standard for newborn screening because it can detect so much more than current methods.”

In genome sequencing, a newborn’s DNA is analyzed to look for hundreds of specific gene variants that are known to cause diseases. The technology has the potential to detect thousands of genetic diseases, far more than the approximately 60 disorders that standard newborn screening now detects.

Among the first 4,000 newborns enrolled in the GUARDIAN study, genome sequencing identified 120 babies (3%) with serious health conditions, only 10 of whom were identified with standard newborn screening. For one child, detecting a rare gene variant that causes a severe immunodeficiency disorder that was missed by conventional screening resulted in a lifesaving bone marrow transplant.

Reference: Ziegler A, Koval-Burt C, Kay DM, et al. Expanded Newborn Screening Using Genome Sequencing for Early Actionable Conditions. JAMA. Published online October 24, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.19662

A new study from researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University has found that consuming pistachios daily may significantly improve eye health by increasing macular pigment optical density (MPOD), due to the plant pigment lutein, a key factor in protecting the eyes from blue light and age-related damage.

The randomized controlled trial showed that compared to eating a usual diet alone, eating 2 ounces (57 grams) of pistachios per day for 12 weeks as part of a usual diet resulted in a significant increase in macular pigment optical density in otherwise healthy middle-aged to older adults. macular pigment optical density is an important indicator of eye health, as it protects the retina and is linked to a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in older adults.

Findings from this research are timely, as according to a national poll by the American Foundation for the Blind, Americans fear vision loss more than they fear other serious health problems.

Key Findings

Increased macular pigment optical density: Participants who consumed pistachios daily saw a significant rise in macular pigment optical density after just 6 weeks, with the effect sustained throughout the 12-week study.

Natural Lutein Source: Pistachios are the only nut that provides a measurable source of lutein, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the eyes.

Age-related macular degeneration Prevention Potential: The study suggests that regular pistachio consumption could offer a natural dietary approach to reducing the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

“Our findings indicate that pistachios are not only a nutritious snack, but they may also provide significant benefits for eye health,” said Dr. Tammy Scott, a research and clinical neuropsychologist and lead author of the study. “This is especially important as people age and face higher risks of vision impairment.”

Lutein, found in pistachios, plays a critical role in maintaining eye health by filtering blue light and acting as an antioxidant in the eye. The study found that pistachio consumption nearly doubled participants’ daily intake of lutein, which is typically very low in most American diets, and significantly raised plasma levels of lutein.

In the study, about 1.6 mg of lutein was provided from pistachios, which would be enough to double the average daily consumption of lutein, which is in a class of plant pigments known as xanthophylls, in U.S. adults.

Reference: Tammy M. Scott, Olaniyi Ogunbodede, Diane McKay, Elizabeth J. Johnson, Pistachio consumption increases Macular Pigment Optical Density in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial, The Journal of Nutrition, 2024, ISSN 0022-3166,.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.022.