SUBJ: One can reverse type II diabetes
SUBtitle: Getting vaccinated reduces risk for dementia
True courage is not taking a life, but knowing when to spare one – Gandalf
[God] must approve more of the homage to reason than to blindfolded fear – Thomas JeffersonFrom Kevin: “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Will and Ariel Durant
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me.” Matthew 25:35-36
“Twinkies, Pop Tarts and Fresca, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
Links for new readers: 1) Instructions for new subscribers to use this newsletter and website 2) One Day in Roc’s Life: 46 resolutions to prolong health span 3) Recent important nutrition news. 4) Please donate to my research presentation: spotfund
SHORT NOTES:
1..One can reverse type II diabetes by switching to a whole-food plant based diet.
2..Neurotropic herpesviruses may be implicated in the development of dementia. Vaccines may have important off-target immunological effects.
3..People exposed to nature face lower risk of developing dementia.
4..Lilly has developed a drug taken only twice a year that reduces heart-attack causing Lipoprotein A levels by 94%.
5..Robert F. Kennedy, Jr continues to espouse the use of two discredited drugs as an effective treatment for COVID.
6..Only 9.3% cohort of over 105,000 health professionals reached the age of 70 years with “healthy aging”.
7..Using horses to treat trauma patients.
8..mRNA technology to activate adult stem cells from human bone marrow.
9..A digital app that combines AI with evidence-based practices to help parents navigate their child’s anorexia treatment.
10..Laura Brennan died of cervical cancer, which is preventable with HPV vaccination.
11..Previous work has found that cellular senescence is a major part of disc degeneration
12..Significant associations between heat and accelerated epigenetic aging that differ across epigenetic clocks.
13..The major thing killing us is infectious disease. It’s life eating life.
14..LL-37 works against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and enveloped viruses, and humans only have this one core peptide for their innate immune system.
LONG NOTES:
One can reverse type II diabetes by switching to a whole-food plant based diet. https://nutritioninvestigator.org/reversing/
A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia. Neurotropic herpesviruses may be implicated in the development of dementia1,2,3,4,5. Moreover, vaccines may have important off-target immunological effects6,7,8,9. Here we aim to determine the effect of live-attenuated herpes zoster vaccination on the occurrence of dementia diagnoses. this study provides evidence of a dementia-preventing or dementia-delaying effect from zoster vaccination that is less vulnerable to confounding and bias than the existing associational evidence.
People exposed to nature face lower risk of developing dementia. And those exposed to more air pollution face a higher risk, according to a large review of existing studies. Living near major roads, often a source of both air pollution and noise, was also tied to a 10% increase in dementia risk.
Lilly has developed a drug taken only twice a year that reduces heart-attack causing Lipoprotein A levels by 94%. Statins lower cholesterol but do not affect LpA.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) continues to espouse the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine – two discredited drugs – as an effective treatment for COVID. Yikes!
In the journal Nature Medicine this week there was an important open-access publication about a large combined cohort of over 105,000 health professionals prospectively followed for 30 years. Only 9.3% reached the age of 70 years with “healthy aging” —without 11 major chronic diseases and no impairment of cognitive or physical function or mental health.
Using horses to treat trauma patients. Israel’s Brothers of Jonathan provides support to soldiers and their families experiencing early to mid-stage post-trauma symptoms to prevent chronic PTSD. It uses horse therapy and trained personnel to help IDF veterans relax, dissolve anxieties, and encourage personal growth and change.
More stem cells for bone-marrow regeneration. An international research team led by scientists from Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center has used mRNA technology to activate adult stem cells from human bone marrow. It boosts bone marrow regeneration and construction of new blood and immune systems.
Helping combat children’s eating disorders. After Onn Manelson’s 13-year-old daughter developed the eating disorder Anorexia, he decided to found Israel’s Thrive Together (see here previously) – a digital app that combines AI with evidence-based practices to help parents navigate their child’s treatment.
Laura Brennan died of cervical cancer, which is preventable with HPV vaccination.
Her brother’s post from today: On Laura’s 6th anniversary, we once again renew her appeal to parents whose teenagers have been offered the HPV vaccine to avail of this life saving opportunity. Combined with cervical screening Ireland can eliminate cervical cancers. Sound advice in these times of medical misinformation and quackery. First approved in the USA in 2006, by June 2007 HPV vaccines were approved in 70 countries. It’s now been available long enough that objective studies have shown it works. A 2021 Danish study showed an 86% decrease in cervical cancer. Serious side effects are basically non-existent compared to placebo.
Cholesterol has previously been linked to Alzheimer’s disease [2]. Importantly, the gene most strongly associated with sporadic Alzheimer’s, APOE, is involved in cholesterol transport. The brain contains about one-fifth of the body’s total cholesterol, mostly within neuronal membranes and the myelin sheaths that cover axons, the long, slender projections of neurons transmitting electrical impulses. Brain cholesterol is primarily produced by glial cells, especially astrocytes, and delivered to neurons through specialized transport mechanisms.
Previous work has found that cellular senescence is a major part of disc degeneration, as the SASP has been linked to the degradation of the nucleus pulposus (NP) cells responsible for maintaining spinal discs [2]. Some recent work has directly contradicted other recent work in the mechanisms behind IDD; one paper concluded that the senescence-related STING pathway is responsible for it [3], while another concluded that it is not [4]. This paper, however, does not focus on STING. Instead, it focuses on BRD4, a compound that regulates transcription and gene expression. Previous work has found that BRD4 is directly related to the degradation of NP cells and thus IDD in diabetic patients [5], and these researchers have previously found that inhibiting BRD4 suppresses IDD in rats [6]. Overall, the researchers concluded that BRD4, MAP2K7, and PGF form a signaling axis that modulates senescence and ECM maintenance in NP cells. They suggest that the components of this axis are potentially druggable targets, and focusing on this area may lead to effective therapies for age-related back pain and disc deterioration.
While warm summer days on the beach are pleasant, extreme heat is not as enjoyable, especially in daily life. It is also not healthy, since extreme heat has been linked to cardiovascular diseases and death [2, 3]. DNA methylation is a biological process that is known to respond to stressors, such as heat. By altering how DNA is methylated, organisms can react to stress by modifying their gene expression. These short-term, stress-related changes might have wider, long-term consequences that can eventually impact lifespan. Based on the available data, the researchers reported “significant associations between heat and accelerated epigenetic aging that differ across epigenetic clocks.”
The major thing killing us is infectious disease. It’s life eating life. And we are creating a synthetic immune system that is much better than your innate immune peptides and makes it impossible for you to be eaten when you get stressed. You still have all those blades out there keeping your E. coli in check, and you also completely get rid of the toxic microbiome. That’s where I think we’re headed – getting rid of infectious disease. I got involved with some of the top minds in what are called defensins, the antimicrobial peptides. I started talking with them, and they told me about this invention where the Department of Energy and DARPA got together to mimic peptides with a small molecule form factor. It’s a positively charged linear peptide that looks like a corkscrew. It’s attracted to negatively charged pathogens, which includes almost all of them. Then, this positively charged corkscrew just drills into the pathogen and rips it apart. The only way a pathogen has a chance is to keep the peptide away or avoid detection.
LL-37 works against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and enveloped viruses, and humans only have this one core peptide for their innate immune system.
The “What” of Systems Transformation: Anchoring Climate Action in Health, Day 1: April 29, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM EDT, Day 2: April 30, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT, Virtual Workshop. Register.