Newsletter #293: Christmas Spice Health Benefits 🎄
Hey guys, in light of the holiday, we're doing a slightly shorter newsletter today.
So, this week, I happened to observe a gingerbread house competition (at my gym, of all places, go figure).
That inspired me, somewhat randomly, to take a look at some research investigating beneficial effects of spices that are commonly featured in holiday recipes, including gingerbread.
We have known for some time that culinary herbs and spices tend to contain high concentrations of bioactive compounds, so it’s not too surprising that they modulate pathways in the body that influence long-term health.
This Week’s Research Highlights
Ginger may improve knee pain in chronic osteoarthritis.
Hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins play a key role in the initiation and perpetuation of inflammation in osteoarthritis. To examine how compounds in ginger, known as gingerols, might influence the activity of these lipids, researchers recruited 60 adults who had been diagnosed with varying degrees of knee osteoarthritis.
Subjects were randomly assigned to take either Naproxen (better known by brand name Aleve) or an herbal formulation containing 7.5 mg of gingerols, 300 mg of curcumin, and 3.75 mg of piperine (black pepper extract). Both interventions were taken twice daily for four weeks.
At the end of the trial, both groups observed a statistically equivalent reduction in serum levels of the inflammatory marker prostaglandin E2. In other words, the ginger + turmeric extract was just as good at attenuating inflammatory processing as Aleve. Other trials, comparing ginger to ibuprofen, have found similar results.
How exactly does ginger do this? Well, lab studies suggest that compounds found in ginger suppress an enzyme called cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2). This enzyme helps form prostaglandins. So blocking COX-2 means less prostaglandins, and in turn less pro-inflammatory activity. This is how NSAIDS, including both Naproxen and ibuprofen, combat pain and inflammation.
The problem is that NSAIDS also suppress cyclooxygenase 1. COX-1 helps synthesize prostaglandins that are involved in the protection of the lining of the stomach and intestines. That is why NSAIDS are associated with an array of gastric side effects, and may even escalate the disease process of osteoarthritis over time.
Ginger, on the other hand, seems to have positive effects on GI integrity, perhaps because compounds in ginger selectively inhibit COX-2, while largely leaving COX-1 alone. So, you're getting some of the benefits afforded by NSAIDS, with less of the downsides.
This property of ginger makes it advantageous not just for osteoarthritis, but potentially for other painful conditions such as menstrual cramps.
Cinnamon may improve blood sugar in vulnerable individuals.
To examine the effects of cinnamon on blood glucose regulation, as well as lipid metabolism, researchers recruited 60 adults with type 2 diabetes.
They divided the subjects into six groups, and assigned them to the following regimens for 40 days:
- Group 1: 1g of cinnamon daily
- Group 2: 3g of cinnamon daily
- Group 3: 6g of cinnamon daily
- Group 4: 1g of placebo daily
- Group 5: 3g of placebo daily
- Group 6: 6g of placebo daily
Blood work after the supplementation period revealed significant and similar reductions in fasting blood sugar levels for all of the cinnamon groups, ranging from 18-29%.
Cinnamon also led to improvements in blood lipids, even at a relatively small dose. The group receiving one gram of cinnamon daily saw decreases in triglycerides of 18% and decreases in LDL of 7%.
Higher doses produced even better results. After 40 days, the 3-gram and 6-gram groups achieved reductions in LDL of 10% and 24% respectively, and reductions in triglycerides ranged from 23-30%.
Remarkably, subsequent bloodwork revealed that some of these changes in lipid parameters lingered even 20 days after the subjects stopped taking the cinnamon. This is encouraging, since it implies that a strict daily regimen might not be needed to see benefits.
How does cinnamon have this impact? Bioactive compounds in cinnamon appear to be able to either mimic insulin or amplify its effects, thus helping tissues take up glucose from the blood. This would be particularly beneficial in the context of type 2 diabetes, but it may also be effective as a preventative measure in those with prediabetes, or even improve blood sugar regulation in healthy insulin sensitive individuals.
Important caveat: The most commonly used variety of cinnamon contains coumarin, so it is probably not a good idea to consume large doses unsupervised. Coumarin is fat-soluble, so one way (in theory) to bypass this might be to consume infusions of cinnamon, in the form of tea — rather than gingerbread.
Random Trivia & Weird News
🎄 A real Christmas tree is actually more environmentally friendly in most cases.
This is somewhat counterintuitive, since a lot of us think of cutting down trees as being an unmitigated negative, from an ecological standpoint.
But believe it or not, artificial Christmas trees usually result in greater carbon emissions, due to transportation as well as the materials from which they are made. They also cannot be recycled, meaning that they eventually wind up in a landfill.
In contrast, real trees are generally not shipped as far and are biodegradable, meaning that they can give back to the natural world once the holidays are over.
One study estimated that the annual carbon emissions associated with using a real tree every year were just one-third of those created by an artificial tree over a typical six-year lifespan.
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- Anurag Singh: Boosting strength, stamina, and skin health. Via the LLAMA Podcast.
- Tommy Wood & Josh Turknett: Can you walk too much? Via Better Brain Fitness Podcast.
Products We Like
Gourmet Garden Ginger Paste
This tubed paste is super convenient if you don’t have the time or patience to grate and mince fresh ginger. The flavor is excellent, it keeps well in the fridge, and it’s easy to find in the refrigerated sections at groceries all over the US.
humanOS Catalog Feature of the Week
The How-to Guide to Polarized Training
Analysis of the training diaries of elite marathoners, including Eliud Kipchoge, has revealed a somewhat counterintuitive finding: Rather than run at a pace that mirrors their racing speed, they spend the vast majority (80% or more) of their training time running at a very easy intensity.
There are good physiological reasons for this. For one thing, we know that training volume is the key driver of mitochondrial biogenesis. Accordingly, it makes sense to accumulate lots of hours running, but also to keep it at a low intensity so that you can recover efficiently (research shows that impaired recovery blunts fitness gains from a given training program).
In this reference sheet, we explain how intelligently manipulating volume and intensity can influence adaptations to endurance training, and help you apply this cutting-edge strategy to your own training.