Southeastern Integrative Health and Wellness

09/11/2025

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250901104654.htm

Interesting and concerning change in mental well being over time has taken place.

Mental health used to be best in childhood and then decline until mid-life until rebounding toward the end of life. That "U Shaped" curve has disappeared and now mental health is WORSE in the youth then in any other age group.

The researchers speculate on the cause with increased social media use making the most sense.

Once a universal feature of human psychology, the “unhappiness hump” in midlife has disappeared, replaced by a new trend: mental health is worst in youth and improves with age. Data from the U.S., U.K., and dozens of countries suggest today’s young people are driving this shift, facing deeper ...

09/09/2025

This interesting study has found bacteria in the plaques that are responsible for heart attacks. The authors posit that an infection or some other trigger activates the biofilm the bacteria live in, they start to reproduce triggering immune system activation, inflammation, and ultimately plaque rupture.

The bacteria are common oral bacteria strengthening the known link between oral health and cardiovascular health.

Scientists from Finland and the UK have uncovered groundbreaking evidence that heart attacks may be triggered by infectious processes rather than just cholesterol and lifestyle factors. Hidden bacterial biofilms inside arterial plaques can remain dormant for decades, shielded from the immune system,...

04/07/2025

Prenatal exposure to phthalates, chemicals commonly found in plastics and personal care products, can disrupt newborn metabolism and brain development. Researchers found altered energy metabolism and communication patterns in the brains of infants exposed in utero. These early disruptions may increase long-term risks for metabolic and cognitive disorders.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250402122025.htm

04/04/2025

New research reveals a promising breakthrough in food allergy prevention. Scientists discovered that a special gut immune cell, known as RORγt⁺ dendritic cells, normally stops allergic reactions to food. In a mouse study, removing these cells led to gut inflammation and allergy symptoms. Boosting these cells could potentially prevent food allergies from developing, offering hope for innovative treatments for allergies and other gut conditions.

Researchers found that a small population of immune cells in the mouse intestine prevents allergic responses to food, suggesting that targeting such cells therapeutically could potentially lead to a new treatment for allergies.

03/05/2025

This is a good overview of emulsifiers and their effect on human health. Emulsifiers is a big word for a group of compounds, some artificial and some natural, that change the texture of food, usually thickening it. They are added a lot to salad dressings, ice cream, and a lot of ultraprocessed food. One emulsifier in particular that is currently allowed in human food, called carrageenan, is the agent that is used in cause colitis in mice when doing mouse studies! This whole group of compounds has been found to alter the microbiome in a negative way and is associated with both diabetes and heart disease.

Emerging research suggests there might be a link between the texture-tweaking agents and all sorts of health risks.

02/25/2025

Elderberry is commonly used for treating viruses, helping shorted the duration of colds and the like. This small study showed that it may be beneficial for both weight loss and blood sugar control too.

Obesity is a costly and ongoing health complication in the United States and globally. Bioactive-rich foods, especially those providing polyphenols, represent an emerging and attractive strategy to address this issue. Berry-derived anthocyanins and their metabolites are of particular interest for th...

12/04/2024

Small bursts of intense physical activity, like carrying shopping bags to your car or walking up a hill, power walking, or stair climbing can lower risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular disease. Women who averaged just 3.4 minutes of this type of activity per day had a 45% lower risk of cardiovascular events. The effect was less for men - those who averaged 5.6 minutes of this type of activity had a 16% lower risk. Take home: Take the stairs!

An average of four minutes of incidental vigorous physical activity a day could almost halve the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, for middle-aged women who do not engage in structured exercise, according to new research.

09/08/2024

"Permanent" birth control turns out not to be so permanent - a recent study showed that female tubal ligation, often called "tube tying", has a failure rate of 3-5%. That is around 3-5% of women that had the procedure later reported an unplanned pregnancy. A good reminder that surgical birth control isn't a failsafe for an unplanned pregnancy.

Tubal sterilization is thought to be a permanent form of birth control and is the most common method of contraception nationally. But a new study reports that tubal surgery fails often enough that some other forms of birth control are usually more effective.

09/05/2024

This interesting study showed that in-person contact was the only effective way to lower loneliness in older adults. Surprisingly, an in-person conversation with someone they had only loose ties to was better at relieving loneliness then a phone call with a loved one or someone close.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240828114401.htm

09/03/2024

Catching up on sleep can be good for your health. This study looked at people who slept less then 7 hours during the week, but who got extra sleep on the weekends. They were 20% less likely to develop heart disease then those that didn't get that extra weekend sleep.

Modern lifestyles mean many people are sleep deprived on work or school days, and try to 'catch-up' with compensatory sleep on weekends. A new study of more than 90,000 individuals showed that those who had the most catch-up sleep on weekends had a 20% lower risk of developing heart disease than tho...

08/11/2024

Another study that shows the impact the microbiome can have on how we metabolize compounds in our body - a f***l microbiome transplant was shown in this small study to help 50% of recipients respond to a drug given for gastrointestinal cancers that they previously weren't responding to.

Findings from a small, proof-of-concept clinical trial have suggested that f***l microbiota transplants (FMTs) can boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy in a range of gastrointestinal cancers. In the study, six of 13 patients who had previously shown resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors ben...

08/09/2024

Bladder Cancer and the Microbiome - researchers found that when mice were given antibiotics they developed bladder cancer just 10% of time when exposed to a potent carcinogen compared to 90% of the time when not given antibiotics. It turns out that bacteria in the mice microbiome were converting the carcinogen, found in human cigarette smoke, to an even more potent carcinogen.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240731140914.htm