Newsletter #117: Cinnamon, Whole Grains, and Competitive Eating 🌾
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the latest edition of the humanOS newsletter! Below, as usual, is a roundup of the various studies and other media that we came across. 🤓
This week, we learned that obesity may make people more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to chronically elevated leptin levels, resulting in an immunocompromised state. We also learned that whole grains are linked to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes in large cohorts, and that cinnamon seems to improve blood sugar levels and glucose tolerance in vulnerable people (but be careful taking a lot of cinnamon). Finally, we discovered that people are better at consuming horrifying amounts of hot dogs in a ten-minute period than ever before in recorded history, demonstrating the surprising plasticity of the human digestive machine, and our indefatigable will as a species to excel at any imaginable pursuit.
Scroll down to learn more, and stay safe everyone. 👇
This Week’s Research Highlights
🦠 Obesity has been linked to greater morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. Leptin may be one reason why.
Obesity has emerged as a major independent risk factor for severe symptoms and mortality due to COVID-19. How exactly the metabolic alterations associated with obesity influence the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 has not been fully elucidated. A recent review has suggested that the hormone leptin may be playing a role. Leptin is a hormone released by fat cells, and it is generally released in proportion to fat mass, functioning as a signal to the brain of how much fat you are carrying. But leptin also regulates innate and adaptive immune responses in ways that are relevant to infectious disease. Early studies showed that starvation (meaning super low leptin) results in decreased immune reactivity, probably as a means to conserve energy. Interestingly, persistently high leptin levels (as is usually the case in obesity) also have detrimental effects on the immune system. Elevated leptin levels have been shown to promote a state of chronic systemic inflammation, and compromised host antiviral defenses. Animal models have shown that hyperleptinemia, induced by obesity, leads to greater viral spread, higher lung levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and higher mortality after infection with influenza.
🌽 A higher intake of whole grains is associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.
Researchers analyzed data on incident type 2 diabetes and dietary intake from three large prospective cohort studies (Nurses’ Health Study I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) comprising a total of 158259 women and 36525 men. After adjusting for lifestyle and dietary risk factors for diabetes, they found that participants in the highest category for total whole grain consumption had a 29% lower rate of type 2 diabetes compared with those in the lowest category. One notable exception was popcorn, for which there was a J-shaped association between intake and risk for diabetes. This is likely due to unhealthful ingredients, such as trans fatty acids and perfluoroalkyl substances, which are frequently added during processing or preparation.
💊 Supplementation with cinnamon improves blood sugar and glucose tolerance in vulnerable individuals.
Researchers randomly assigned participants with prediabetes to receive either 500 mg of cinnamon or placebo thrice daily. After twelve weeks, they found that fasting glucose rose after 12 weeks in the placebo group, but remained stable in the treatment group, resulting in a mean between-group difference of 5 mg/dL. In response to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), they found that subjects consuming cinnamon showed a significant decrease in the plasma glucose area under the curve and glucose at the two-hour mark. No significant adverse effects were observed, however, it is worth noting that certain varieties of cinnamon contain relatively high concentrations of coumarin, so it is probably not a good idea to consume this much cinnamon unsupervised. Coumarin appears to be fat-soluble, so one way (in theory) to bypass this might be to consume infusions of cinnamon in the form of tea.
🌭 Human performance in hot dog-eating competitions has ramped up remarkably over the past four decades.
Exercise scientist James Smoliga analyzed 39 years of data from Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, an eating competition held annually in Coney Island. Through non-linear modeling and generalized extreme value analysis, he determined that humans are theoretically capable of achieving a maximal active consumption rate of approximately 832 g min−1 fresh matter over 10 min duration. This would translate to a total of 83 hot dogs (for perspective, reigning champion Joey Chestnut consumed 75 hot dogs in the most recent contest).
When he examined performance over time, he found that performance has dramatically increased - despite little to no changes to the size and composition of the hot dogs and buns. In fact, the winning active consumption rate has increased by approximately 700% over the past forty years. No other sport has observed such a meteoric rise. That having been said, competitive eating is not without serious risks, and we here at humanOS would generally encourage readers to stick to more conventional sports for long-term health.
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- Rebecca Leech: Impact of Meal Patterning on Diet Quality and Health. Via Sigma Nutrition Podcast.
- Navindra Seeram: The Rejuvenating Power of Plants. Via the LLAMA Podcast.
- Mafuzur Rahman & Margaret Wheeler: Preparing For Long-Term Health Effects Of COVID-19. Via Science Friday.
Products We Are Enjoying
Garlic peeler
If you find peeling garlic to be a messy and annoying chore, try this (super cheap) silicone peeler. It makes it ridiculously easy: you just put the cloves into the tube, roll it around for a few seconds, and voila! Perfectly peeled cloves like magic.
