MUST READ - Fresh ultra-processed food warning

Eating more meals like ice cream, frozen pizzas and fizzy drinks raises stroke risk by up to 8 per cent

• A greater intake of UPFs was linked to an 8 per cent increased risk of stroke 
• READ MORE: 30-year study warns UPFs marginally raise risk of an early death

By XANTHA LEATHAM, DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 21:00 BST, 22 May 2024 | UPDATED: 21:50 BST, 22 May 2024

Eating lots of crisps, biscuits and fizzy drinks could lead to a higher risk of memory problems and stroke, according to a new study.

Experts have discovered that there may be a link between a diet high in ultra-processed foods and the likelihood of cognitive decline and life-threatening medical conditions.

These foods are usually high in added sugar, fat and salt, and low in protein and fibre.

They also include the likes of ice cream, burgers, ketchup, mayonnaise, packaged bread and flavoured cereal.

The Nova system, developed by scientists in Brazil more than a decade ago, splits food into four groups based on the amount of processing it has gone through. Unprocessed foods include fruit, vegetables, nuts, eggs and meat. Processed culinary ingredients — which are usually not eaten alone — include oils, butter, sugar and salt

Food experts say some UPFs can be 'part of a healthy diet'. Baked beans, fish fingers and wholemeal bread all make the cut, according to the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). Tomato-based pasta sauces, wholegrain breakfast cereals and fruit yoghurts are also 'healthier processed foods', the charity says

Unprocessed — or minimally processed — food, on the other hand, include meats such as simple cuts of beef, pork and chicken, and fruit and vegetables.

A team from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston analysed 30,239 people aged 45 or older who were followed for an average of 11 years.

Participants filled out questionnaires about what they ate and drank, allowing the researchers to determine how much ultra-processed food each person ate on average per day.

WHAT ARE ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS? 

Ultra-processed foods are high in added fat, sugar and salt, low in protein and fibre and contain artificial colourings, sweeteners and preservatives.

The term covers food that contains ingredients that a person wouldn't add when cooking at home — such as chemicals, colourings and preservatives.

Ready meals, ice cream, sausages, deep-fried chicken and ketchup are some of the best-loved examples.

They are different to processed foods, which are processed to make them last longer or enhance their taste, such as cured meat, cheese and fresh bread.

Ultra-processed foods, such as sausages, cereals, biscuits and fizzy drinks, are formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives.

They contain little or no unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, seeds and eggs.

The foods are usually packed with sugars, oils, fats and salt, as well as  additives, such as preservatives, antioxidants and stabilisers.

Ultra-processed foods are often presented as ready-to-consume, taste good and are cheap.

Source: Open Food Facts  

That percentage was then calculated into four groups, ranging from the least processed foods to the most processed foods.

By the end of the study, 768 people were diagnosed with cognitive impairment and 1,108 people had a stroke.

Analysis revealed that a 10 per cent increase in the amount of ultra-processed foods eaten was linked to a 16 per cent higher risk of being diagnosed with cognitive impairment.

However, eating more unprocessed foods was linked with a 12 per cent lower risk of cognitive impairment.

Meanwhile, a greater intake of ultra-processed foods was linked to an 8 per cent increased risk of stroke.

A greater intake of less-processed foods was linked to a 9 per cent decreased risk of stroke.

Study author Dr William Kimberley said: 'While a healthy diet is important in maintaining brain health among older adults, the most important dietary choices for your brain remain unclear.

'We found that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a higher risk of both stroke and cognitive impairment.

'Our findings show that the degree of food processing plays an important role in overall brain health.

'More research is needed to confirm these results and to better understand which food or processing components contribute most to these effects.'

The findings were published in the journal Neurology.

A separate study, published earlier this year, suggested that ultra-processed meat such as chicken nuggets and hot dogs can raise the risk of an early death by 13 per cent.

Researchers at Harvard University who tracked the diets of more than 114,000 middle-aged nurses and health professionals in the United States for three decades found a link between the consumption of mass-produced foods and the risk of dying early.

Diets high in ready-made processed meat and fish products appeared to be the most harmful, increasing the risk of early death by 13 per cent.

This category includes items such as shop-bought sausages, burgers, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and turkey twizzlers.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13448231/Fresh-ultra-processed-food-warning-Eating-meals-like-ice-cream-frozen-pizzas-fizzy-drinks-raises-stroke-risk-8-cent.html

World's leading cause of blindness could be treated with a new fish oil pill, study claims

 A fish oil supplement may hold the key to treating one of the world's leading cause of blindness, a study suggests.

• Researchers developed a new kind of omega-3 fatty acid able to reach the retina
• The supplement increased DHA in mice subjects’ retinas, reducing vision harms
• Omega-3s, commonly found in fish oils, benefit cognition, vision and stiff joints  

By CASSIDY MORRISON SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

UPDATED: 23:43 BST, 27 March 2023

A fish oil supplement may hold the key to treating one of the world's leading cause of blindness, a study suggests.

Researchers have created a new form of omega-3 fatty acid that is capable of crossing into the eye’s retina to ward off vision loss related to Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other diseases.

In a study on mice, the supplement was able to first be absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream and then cross from the bloodstream into the retina. This prevented age related macular degeneration (AMD).

The mice that were fed the new type of supplement showed nearly 100 percent improvement after six months in the amount of crucial omega-3 known as DHA in their retinas. 

The lab-made version of the omega-3 known as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was able to be absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream and then cross from the bloodstream into the retina, unlike the type that makes up common fish oil supplements currently on the market. 

The omega-3 the team developed could be packaged in a dietary supplement much like the ones that line pharmacy shelves, potentially helping more than 20 million Americans with vision problems liked to aging and diabetes

Scientists have been investigating for years whether dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids can slow vision loss, primarily AMD, a common cause of severe vision loss in older people.

There are currently no treatments for AMD, and doctors will be relegated to provide elderly patients with glasses or other vision aids.

The substance, commonly found in fish and krill oil supplements typically comes in a form called triacylglycerol (TAG) DHA which cannot travel from the bloodstream into the retina.

Professor Sugasini Dhavamani in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the report said: ‘Dietary LPC-DHA is enormously superior to TAG-DHA in enriching retinal DHA and could be potentially beneficial for various retinopathies in patients.’

‘This approach provides a novel therapeutic approach for the prevention or mitigation of retinal dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.’

Studies of the specific omega 3 acid in humans have yet to begin. But the promising early results suggest that more than 23 million people – the total number of Americans with either retinopathy linked to diabetes or age-related macular degeneration – could benefit from a newly formulated dietary supplement.

People with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those with diabetes, a group of rare eye diseases called retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, and peroxisomal disorders that affect the metabolism often have abnormally low levels of retinal DHA, resulting in visual impairments.

While omega-3s come in supplement form, they are also found naturally in many foods including salmon and other fish, leafy vegetables, wholewheat bread and walnuts. 

The researchers tested their LPC-DHA supplement in mice bred to exhibit processes similar to those found in early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. 

After six months, mice that were fed LPC-DHA daily showed a 96 percent improvement in retinal DHA content as well as preserved retinal structure and function. 

Meanwhile, TAG-DHA supplements had no effect on retinal DHA levels or function. 

In healthy eyes, DHA is concentrated in the retina, where it helps maintain photoreceptors, the cells that convert light into signals that are sent to the brain. Healthy levels of DHA in the retinas protect against damage from bright light exposure and oxidative stress.

Recent research has also shown that people with a higher blood DHA level have higher protection against Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Professor Dhavamani said: ‘Increasing the retinal DHA at clinically feasible doses has not been possible until now because of the specificity of the blood–retinal barrier that is incompatible with the specificity of the intestinal barrier.

‘This study uses the novel approach of dietary LPC-DHA that overcomes both intestinal and blood–retinal barriers and improves retinal function.’

The dosage of their LPC-DHA was equivalent to about 250 to 500 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids per day in humans, roughly the same range recommended by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.

The researchers, who will present their findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said that further studies would be needed to confirm that LPC-DHA is safe and effective for use in humans.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11908715/Worlds-leading-cause-blindness-treated-new-fish-oil-pill-study-claims.html

Omega-3s have been shown to boost brain power in children, reduce inflammation of the arteries which can lead to heart attacks, and strengthen the part of the brain responsible for memory and protect against dementia, among other positive claims.  

Rectal ozone therapy - Gwyneth Paltrow wellness trend

 Do NOT copy Gwyneth Paltrow and blow gas up your butt: Doctors warn against Goop founder's latest wellness hack — rectal ozone therapy

• Ozone therapy claims to boost immunity, kill off bacteria and improve blood flow
• Doctors warn that the evidence backing up efficacy is 'controversial at best'
• Ms Paltrow favors some odd wellness hacks in addition to rectal ozone therapy

By CASSIDY MORRISON SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

UPDATED: 18:41 BST, 26 March 2023

Doctors have weighed in on Gwyneth Paltrow's ‘pretty weird’ new wellness trend that involves shooting gas up her rectum.

They warn that there is no robust scientific evidence pointing to the treatment's benefits and warned that it could even be toxic to the body. 

Dr Stuart Fischer, an emergency medicine physician in New York told DailyMail.com that the evidence backing up rectal ozone therapy was 'controversial at best' and 'the mode and the route are extremely questionable.'

The unproven and clinically untested therapy consists of chemically generating ozone (O3) with the help of an oxygen tank and a small generator that will set you back about $1,500. 

Ms Paltrow acknowledges that rectal ozone therapy sounds outlandish but added that it has been ‘very helpful’ without saying for what

A series of IV ozone treatments in a flashy Southern California or New York City clinic might set you back about $1,200. While people can go to a clinic for rectal ozone therapy, many choose to do them at home because after the initial costs of procuring a generator, tubing, and an oxygen tank, each treatment is cheap to free. 

The generated ozone collects in a bag that attaches to silicone tubing which, when fixed with a catheter and inserted about three inches into the rectum, shoots ozone into the body.

Even Ms Paltrow, who is no stranger to wacky wellness trends, acknowledges that it sounds outlandish but added that it has been ‘very helpful’ - without saying for what.

Adherents claim the therapy reduces inflammation and bacteria, encourages cell regeneration and promotes anti-aging, improves the immune system, and even wards off heart attacks.

But the evidence to support its efficacy and safety is ‘limited’ and ‘low-quality’, according to the Cleveland Clinic and medical experts are far from convinced.

When approached for comment, doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine were unwilling to comment, as was Ms Paltrow’s own doctor, Dr Will Cole.

Worth it? Benefits of rectal ozone therapy are said to be reduced pain/inflammation, increased energy, improved metabolism/circulation, stimulated immune system, detoxification, anti-aging, and fighting bacterial/viral infections. The science does not conclusively back that up

Ozone is a highly unstable substance that can damage the lungs when inhaled. It’s part of what forms the low-lying smog that blankets some major cities. 

The Food and Drug Administration, the arbiter of safe medical devices, calls ozone a ‘toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy.’

Dr Stuart Fischer, who has studied alternative medicines including ozone therapy, told DailyMail.com that instead of buying into wellness trends like the one Ms Paltrow favors, he takes dietary supplements such as antioxidants to slow down cell aging, something ozone therapy purports to do.

‘That's what I would say works, this is relatively well researched, whereas ozone’s benefit is controversial at best,’ Dr Fischer said.

He added: ‘There may be some unknown side effects or unknown benefits. The efficacy, and the mode or the route are extremely questionable.’

This is one of many wellness 'hacks' celebrated by Ms Paltrow that has dubious scientific backing. 

A self-styled health guru, Ms Paltrow has a huge following with more than two million unique visitors to her site Goop every month.

She has become well-known for peddling odd wellness advice and peculiar products, such as jade eggs to insert in the vagina to allegedly modulate hormone levels. 

She is also a fan of such alternative interventions as coffee enemas, vaginal steaming, and being intentionally stung by bees ‘to get rid of inflammation and scarring.’

Bizarre celeb health 'hacks' like Gwyneth Paltrow being stung by BEES 

Gwyneth Paltrow believes bee stings — dubbed the organic alterative to Botox — actually get rid of inflammation and scaring, leaving skin looking radiant.

Medical professionals are not buying into the fads, though.

Ozone (O3) is a molecule made up of three oxygen atoms. Breathing in medical-grade ozone, even in small doses, is dangerous. 

Short-term inhalation of just a small amount of ozone can cause severe and sometimes permanent damage to the lungs and respiratory system and worsened asthma symptoms.

Rectal ozone therapy circumvents the risks that come with inhalation, at least in the best-case scenario, by going directly via silicone tubing and catheter into the body.

Oxygen (O2) is fed into an ozone generator which uses a chemical reaction to break down O2 molecules and reform them into ozone (O3). Silicone tubing carries that new ozone gas into the rectum via a catheter.

The treatment takes about 10 minutes and can be done a few times per week.

Users and alternative medicine specialists say that opting for the rectal delivery route helps combat issues like chronic hepatitis and chronic colitis among a wide range of other conditions.

But the rectal route can cause cramping, bloating, and fatigue.   

A 2005 report on the subject from the Ministry of Health Malaysia considered ozone therapy’s use for HIV and other infectious diseases, a cardiac disease marked by reduced blood flow to the heart, infertility and obstetrical issues, orthopedic disorders, skin disorders, and cancers.

Health experts there concluded: ‘Current data on the usage of ozone therapy as therapeutic options for various health conditions lacks sufficient safety and therapeutic advantage over available conventional therapeutic modalities.’

And the Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Cancer pointed out that there is ‘very limited’ or ‘no rigorous evidence’ supporting ozone therapy’s anti-cancer claims, such as improving survival or quality of life for cancer patients.

Dr. Kaveh Hoda, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist based in San Francisco, California chimed in online: ‘Gastroenterologist here: Not that you would but please don’t get “rectal ozone therapy.” Also, don’t put coffee in your butts either.’

Dr Hoda added: ‘Gweneth Paltrow might be one of the leading causes of people putting inappropriate things in their butts.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11896333/Gwyneth-Paltrow-truth-rectal-ozone-therapy.html

Virus outbreak in Wuhan TWO WEEKS before Beijing warn ...

 Top US scientist reveals he first heard about virus outbreak in Wuhan TWO WEEKS before Beijing warned the world about Covid

• Scientist Ian Lipkin undermined the official Beijing narrative on origins of Covid
• He said he heard about Covid before it was disclosed to the global health bodies
• Prof Lipkin told a documentary he learned of 'the new outbreak' on December 15
• The WHO was not tipped off for another 16 days after Taiwan raised the alarm

By IAN BIRRELL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:02 BST, 4 September 2021 | UPDATED: 22:46 BST, 4 September 2021

Ian Lipkin (pictured), a professor at Columbia University, admits he first heard about the Covid outbreak in Wuhan more than two weeks before it was disclosed to global health bodies

One of the world's top epidemiologists admits he first heard about the pandemic outbreak in Wuhan more than two weeks before it was disclosed to global health bodies.

The revelation by Ian Lipkin, a professor at Columbia University honoured by China for work on the first Sars epidemic earlier this century, undermines the official Beijing narrative on the origins.

Prof Lipkin told a documentary by the director Spike Lee that he learned of 'the new outbreak' on December 15, even repeating the date for clarification.

Yet China claims there were only five known patients before that time in Wuhan – a city of 11 million people – with the earliest confirmed case of a patient with the novel coronavirus supposedly cropping up just one week earlier.

The World Health Organisation was not tipped off for another 16 days after Taiwan raised the alarm. 

This delay – along with China's cover-up of human transmission –allowed the virus to spread rapidly, with disastrous consequences.

'The background of the virus in Wuhan still raises many questions that desperately need answers to ensure we avoid a repeat of the pandemic that has hurt us all so badly,' said Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

'China needs to stop putting up barriers to ensure the world can understand what happened and learn all the necessary lessons to prevent future pandemics.'

Prof Lipkin's intervention erodes China's efforts to mask the truth about the pandemic's emergence. 

Beijing has hidden data, silenced doctors, jailed journalists, blamed other nations and resisted unfettered inquiries by global health bodies.

The US scientist, who has worked in China for almost two decades, also told a Columbia University medical centre video recording that he first heard about the outbreak 'in the middle of December 2019'.

Prof Lipkin said he had been 'tracking' the disease with 'my friends there' at the Centre for Disease Control 'and in the national government', before visiting the country to investigate the following month.

He also told a podcast he was tipped off by his Chinese research partner Lu Jiahai, a public health professor at a Guangzhou university who has said the epidemic could have been prevented if warning systems had functioned properly.

Prof Lipkin told a documentary by the director Spike Lee that he learned of 'the new outbreak' on December 15. Pictured: Researchers work in a lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017

Prof Lipkin's claim flies in the face of Beijing's narrative that a heroic doctor in Wuhan was first to report the new virus on December 27 after seeing a case in her hospital the previous day.

In reality, the virus was so rampant by that date that journalists reported that a private lab in Guangzhou had 'assembled a nearly complete viral genome sequence' and, seeing the pathogen's similarity to Sars, passed the data to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

The Caixin report was later wiped from the internet.

During his trip, Prof Lipkin – a famed virus-hunter who acted as consultant on the film Contagion, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon – met Chinese premier Li Keqiang and prominent scientists to discuss the disease.

He predicted the new virus would cause fewer deaths than Sars, which killed 774 people after emerging in 2002 – although warned of the potential for a pandemic. 

Prof Lipkin, who caught Covid-19 soon after his return to the United States, was a key figure in the fierce debate over origins of the virus and attempts to stifle the lab-leak hypothesis by the scientific establishment.

The eminent expert condemned blaming of China, praised its efforts to control the outbreak and co-authored a hugely influential commentary in Nature Medicine journal that ruled out plausibility of 'any type of laboratory-based scenario'.

He is head of a unit at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, which won grants worth $1.34 million (£970,000) between 2018 and 2020 from EcoHealth Alliance, a charity that also funded controversial research into bat viruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology.

British scientist Peter Daszak, the charity's $460,368- a-year (£332,118) president, played a central role in labelling concerns over the possibility of a laboratory incident sparking the pandemic as 'conspiracy theory'. 

Yet Prof Lipkin admitted his view changed after learning that high-risk experiments on bat coronaviruses were carried out by Wuhan scientists in low-biosafety labs.

'If they've got hundreds of bat samples that are coming in, and some of them aren't characterised, how would they know whether this virus was or wasn't in this lab? They wouldn't,' he said in June.

Prof Lipkin told this paper he had no 'new substantive comments' to make. 'Outbreaks of infectious disease occur continuously worldwide,' he said. 'The majority never come to the attention of larger organisations because they don't evolve into pandemics.'

The WHO study team that included Daszak and delivered a widely criticised report six months ago was told the 'earliest onset case' was December 8, 2019 – yet even a landmark study by Chinese scientists in The Lancet discussed previous patients. 

Prof Lipkin's claim flies in the face of Beijing's narrative that a doctor in Wuhan was first to report the virus on December 27. Pictured: Researchers in Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2017

The Mail on Sunday has revealed that the academic in charge of collating official data told a Chinese health journal of a suspected fatality of a patient who fell ill in late September that year, followed by two more cases on November 14 and 21. 

Other early cases include Connor Reed, a 25-year-old Briton teaching in Wuhan, who told Mail Online he fell ill on November 25 and that his debilitating sickness was confirmed as the new coronavirus by a hospital two months later.

US intelligence was reported to have issued alerts about the contagion that month after seeing communication intercepts and satellite images.

The warnings came from a medical branch of the defence agency that felt strongest about a possible lab leak in last month's Biden review of intelligence.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law in Washington, also said he learned of the disease in mid-December, telling the Los Angeles Times he heard 'from a friend in Wuhan that there is a novel coronavirus and it looks very serious'.

Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier –who has carried out gain of function experiments on avian flu to make it more infectious – told a documentary he discussed the outbreak in the first week of December with his colleague Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO inquiry team.

He also told Netherlands newspaper Algemeen Dagblad of a 'commotion' around that time among infectious-disease experts.

'There were rumours that people had got sick and that it had to do with an animal market,' he said.

'In the course of December it became clear that it was a coronavirus that could be transmitted via the airways. Then all the alarm bells ring with a virologist.'

Prof Fouchier told this newspaper he had been muddled over his dates since their discussions were in late December. 'I am sorry about this confusion,' he said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9958207/Scientist-reveals-heard-Covid-Wuhan-TWO-WEEKS-Beijing-warned-world.html