Newsletter #031: How to control blood sugar and body weight in people with type 2 diabetes 🩸
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the latest edition of the humanOS newsletter! Here, as ever, is where we share our work as well as the various cool studies and media that captured our attention this week. 🤓
This Week’s Research Highlights
🩸 Soluble fiber may help control blood sugar and body weight in people with type 2 diabetes.
Researchers recruited 40 patients with type 2 diabetes and randomly assigned them into either a control group, or an intervention group that took 10.5 grams of soluble fiber from psyllium. After eight weeks, the soluble fiber group showed a modest but statistically significant decrease in body weight. The fiber group also exhibited lower fasting blood glucose (from 163 to 119 mg/dl), lower HbA1c (from 8.5 to 7.5%), lower insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; 11.3 to 5.8), and lower insulin levels (from 27.9 to 19.7 μIU/mL).
🏋️ Just one workout can favorably influence activity in neurons that affect metabolism and appetite for as much as 48 hours.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center measured activity of the melanocortin brain circuit in mice that were put on short- and long-term exercise regimens. They found that a single bout of exercise caused appetite suppression that lasted for up to six hours. When they looked at the brain circuit activity, they observed enhanced activity of POMC neurons, which are associated with decreased appetite and lower blood sugar levels when they are activated, as well as inhibited activity of NPY/AgRP neurons, which tend to increase appetite and dampen metabolism. These shifts in melanocortin brain circuit activity, in response to a single workout, could linger for up to two days. More training, over the long term, led to enduring changes in the POMC neurons. Co-author Kevin Williams said in a press release: "It doesn't take much exercise to alter the activity of these neurons. Based on our results, we would predict that getting out and exercising even once in a semi-intense manner can reap benefits that can last for days, in particular with respect to glucose metabolism."
🐈 Exposure to animals in formative years reduces the risk of developing asthma.
Researchers in Sweden analyzed data from more than 650,000 children, for whom registry data on dog and farm registration, asthma diagnosis, and other relevant data was available. They determined that having a dog in the baby's first year was linked to 13% lower odds of going on to develop asthma later on in childhood. Exposure to farm animals was associated with 52% lower odds of developing asthma.
🧍♂️Only 12.2% of American adults are metabolically healthy.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina examined data from 8721 NHANES participants. Specifically, they looked at parameters of metabolic health based on the most recent guidelines: having optimal levels of waist circumference (<102/88 cm for men/women), blood glucose (fasting glucose <100 mg/dL and hemoglobin A1c <5.7%), blood pressure (systolic <120 and diastolic <80 mmHg), triglycerides (<150 mg/dL), and HDL cholesterol (≥40/50 mg/dL), and not taking any related medication. They found that just 12.2% of Americans in this representative sample could be characterized as metabolically healthy, based on this criteria. Body mass, notably, was a key predictor of metabolic health. Only 8% of overweight subjects and 0.5% of obese subjects were metabolically healthy, though less than a third of normal weight individuals met the criteria of metabolic health. The researchers conclude: "The large number of people not achieving optimal levels of risk factors, even in low-risk groups, has serious implications for public health.”
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- Bryan Walsh: Mitochondria: More Than a Powerhouse. Via Nourish Balance Thrive.
- Stephan Guyenet: How To Know Whom To Trust In The Fitness Industry. Via the N1 Fitness Podcast with Marcus Sidhu.
- Katie Haylor: How Do We Remember? Via Naked Neuroscience.
Products We Are Enjoying
Mate Factor Detox Medley Tea with Ginger and Turmeric.
Ginny says: Okay, I know the name might not inspire confidence, especially if you share my view of products that claim to “detox.” But setting aside the marketing, I am actually a big fan of drinking herbal teas as an easy way to get more polyphenols in the diet. The constituents of this particular tea (ginger, fennel, cardamom, turmeric, etc) are rich in a wide array of biologically active compounds that have been associated with improved human health. But best of all, this tea tastes awesome - spicy and peppery and sweet. You can order it on Amazon, but I would recommend looking for it at TJ Maxx or Marshall’s, where you can find it super cheap.
The humanOS Bookshelf
Writing a To-Do List Might Help You Fall Asleep Faster. By Greg Potter.
This week on the blog, Greg addressed an all-too-common challenge: struggling to fall asleep. Do you have this problem? I have a maddening time getting to sleep at least a few days per week, and it’s usually due to the noise in my own head. The details vary, but it largely comes from the same place - fretting about work and looming obligations.
We tend to fixate upon the external factors that are known to influence the timing of sleep - like light exposure, or food timing. But insomnia often has a psychological component, which is very easy to overlook. Check out this article to learn what research says about writing a to-do list, and how this super simple technique can help you achieve a restful night’s sleep, unencumbered by worry. 😃