Alzheimer’s Disease & Diet- Is There a Connection?

born2dothis:

Sometimes we need a kick in the pants to make a change for the better. For me, one of those kick-in-the-pants moments could totally be derived from reading the article,  ”An Alzheimer’s Epidemic Could Hit the USA by 2050”. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) runs in my family on BOTH sides & I have watched a loved one suffer (and pass away) with the deteriorating illness. To say it is one of the scariest diseases imaginable is an understatement.

So, the idea that the number of people with Alzheimer’s is expected to TRIPLE by 2050 is frightening. Yes, I understand that people are living longer than ever before, and since the disease’s biggest risk factor is age, this projection is a given; however I have to wonder (as always) if there’s any connection between AD & the despicable Western diet. 

Some of the theories behind the pathology of Alzheimer’s include inflammatory processes. As we well know, the Western diet does not offer much in the way of anti-inflammatory foods. Dietary sources with anti-inflammatory effects include fish/flax/nuts/oils/enriched eggs (omega-3s, please!), veggies (whatta shocker), herbs (such as turmeric or cinnamon), tea/coffee (flavenoids! antioxidants!), and fruits (hellooo, flavenoids in berries!). While it is known that daily intake of highly processed “foods” can cause chronic stress and inflammation in the body, scientific links between the intake of an anti-inflammatory rich diet and decreased development of Alzheimer’s is murky. 

Sooo…I did a little bit of investigating to see if I could find any clearer cut lifestyle modification guidelines, since apparently one in every 13.8 million is projected to develop Alzheimer’s by 2050. Side note: Wow, I just totally freaked myself out thinking about being alive in 2050.

1. Increased “central adiposity” (aka. beer belly, visceral fat) during middle age has been associated with increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s. Similarly, a recent study suggested BMI>25 during middle age was associated with increased risk for developing AD. (1)
2. Thus far, no randomized, controlled trials (the creme de la creme of research) have substantiated vitamin E supplements for prevention of AD. (1)
3. However, vitamin β-carotene may have an impact on decreasing risk. (1)
4. Consumption of three to five cups of coffee per day has been suggested to decrease AD risk. (1)
5.  The combination of vitamin C (120mg), β-carotene (6mg), vitamin E (30mg), selenium (100 μg) and zinc (20mg) supplementation may assist in decreasing the development of AD. (1)
6. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with cognitive decline. (1)
7. Physical activity, especially in later years, has been associated with decreased incidence of AD development. (1)

As mentioned before, the science is murky, and a lot is still to be understood about the mechanisms of AD before preventative measures can be taken. However, since we’re going to eat anyway, a healthy diet can’t hurt. Especially since it is suggested that a diet high in anti-inflammatory rich properties & an abundance of varied vitamins & minerals, some physical activity, and maintaining a healthy body mass index all may contribute to decreasing your likelihood of early senility. And since these are all suggestions which most individuals consuming a Westernized diet do not follow, you have to wonder… 

Has anyone else watched someone they love suffer with Alzheimer’s? Anyone else freakin’ out at the thought of the year 2050?!

REFERENCES

1)  Gillette-Guyonnet S, Secher M, Vellas B, “Nutrition and neurodegeneration: epidemiological evidence and challenges for future research.” Br J Clin Pharmacol 75: 3; 1365-2125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bcp.12058

 

Femmystuff: some Harvard med school history for you

biculturallatina:

texmexqwoc:

floricanto-desnuda:

biculturallatina:

floricanto-desnuda:

biculturallatina:

floricanto-desnuda:

biculturallatina:

floricanto-desnuda:

biculturallatina:

my roommate is reading a book rn about historic medicine and black people

yesterday we were discussing it and i was telling him how many cadavers were donated because poor people didnt have the money to bury their dead

and he had just read about Harvard. Originally Harvard was in Cambridge but a…

yes. history of science is one of the most eye-opening medico-legal fields of investigation, for students of color.

read more about the thefts of bodies of color.

funny enough, i minored in history of science and medicine at uni

it was all about european science and medicine

you could guess why they wouldnt teach you these things huh?

yeah, i can. i was lucky, i guess, to have an exceptional undergrad experience at uc san diego. and it was during the time history of science was a very new field. my professor was a white woman, and determined to blow the top off the lies of the medical field. she encouraged me to continue finding original sources, which helped me all through my doctoral work.

also, i’m a high school dropout, so i never quite listen or hear “facts” the way they’re presented.

so offensive, what “education” abjectly occludes from our knowledge of our own histories. doesn’t mean we can’t get there: i consider everything they offer as questionable, and check the library for counter-narratives. so good, when we finally get there, no? 

they can’t keep us from our truths.

you know though, what bothers me the most is that when a historian looks at body snatching its like

“haha yeah but this happened like, a long time ago it doesn’t happen anymore!”

but forget that the legacy was built on the theft of black and brown bodies. 

that the 1997 cornea theft controversy was 16 years ago- not that long ago

that Harvard Med and so many other med schools were built on the bodies of our brothers and sisters 

but haha that was so long ago, science and medicine you started out so crazy but you don’t have problems now!

allopathy (“western medicine,” “conventional medicine,” in the u.s.) was, and continues to be, built on bodies of difference. look at the ways allopaths are so quick to remove themselves from association with homeopathy, naturopathy—though both precede allopathy, and neither incorporates the use of human corpses, for medical “practice.” but curanderisma, shamanism, ought be associated with “witchcraft”? oh, puritanical ethic. sadly misnamed “enlightenment period.”

we could also talk about the history of forced and nonconsensual sterilizations practiced upon women of color. “grey rape.” and a host of other topics. 

what will happen: we’ll have more historians of color, to correct the erroneous, pompous assertions clouding the “facts” in medico-legal history. i’ve been writing on this topic, since the ’90s. i’m just one voice. necesitamos más fuerza, ‘mana. more gente to apprehend the importance of this topic—and not just revile the true facts, but persistently document and publish them.

ALL OF THIS. Allopathy continues to infringe on colored ppl issues as well without understanding community conditions

pero lo fregado es que hasta que los que han hecho las injusticias quieran mirar a los facts como son, el systema que fue built by white and upheld by white supremacy no va cambiar

same as racism. as long as people think that shit doesnt exist anymore, white supremacy will be upheld. same shit in medicine.

medicine and science are on some real shit rn. until recently science articles/trials were focused only on white populations. I work as a researcher right now and thats all I fuckin’ see. No one does anything on brown people- every now and then there’s a black population study- unless its epidemeology and even then, y que? nothing comes out of that other than “community conditions uphold diabetes in this community” but no allopathic doc gives a shit.

pero que valla un latino al cura or something y esta loco porque no va pa’ doctor instead? -_-

wait till i get to med school tho. ya van a ver lo que es ser una latina con consiencia despierta

estoy esperandote. mm. y vamos a ver, cierto. tengo fe en ti, mujer. vayate.

c/s (chican@, significa con safos, como respecto, sagrado, seguridad)

^ALL OF THIS. I send my loving energy to you and your med school journey con safos, if that’s what you pursue. I worked for a mental health hospital and the majority of the social workers were white and from out of town and really have no business analyzing latin@s bc they can’t even relate to the SA culture, let alone those of us diagnosed with social anxieties, mania, and depression. one of the doctors diagnosed someone with “gender identity disorder” at that. 

/hug

love and support for you too ‘mana! 

Doug E. Fresh Uses Hip-Hop to Get Kids Healthy

blaqueerpozitivity:

When hip-hop icon Doug E Fresh first graced the mic, he simply wanted to entertain the masses by doing what he loved. After building his career and subsequent fame, he decided that it was best to use his success to educate and empower others. As a father of five, and vegetarian for nearly 25 years, the 45-year-old believes that good health is essential for a fulfilling life.

“Health has always been an important thing to me. I exercise and try to take care of myself, and drink a lot of water! And I push that to my kids so that they can carry on that same energy,” said Doug E.

So when he partnered with Dr. Olajide Williams, a neurologist from New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, to join in the fight against childhood obesity, he merged two very important components of his life: hip-hop and health. The partnership produced Hip Hop Public Health, a program that uses hip hop as a way to educate African-American and Latino children about obesity and the resulting chronic and acute diseases. HHPH engages and informs students through music, videos, comic books and live shows that tour schools. As the program’s Vice President of Entertainment, Doug E. stated that he “felt like  it was necessary to take what people love, which is hip-hop, and use it as tool to get kids motivated.”

The goal is to not only educate and empower students, but to also enable them to teach their parents. “I told my father to stop smoking around the age of two or three years old and he stopped smoking. So the relationship between the kid and the parent is very powerful and if you give the kid the right information, it can be very useful to the family. That was the whole premise of this concept,” said Doug E.

In all aspects of HHPH’s work, the goal is to inspire kids and families to be more active. In fact, they created a song called “Let’s Move.” This blended perfectly with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative and landed them at the White House, where they were able to showcase the song and various aspects of their program on stage.

“Back in the day we used to play games where we ran outside, now (kids) play games siting in front of the TV,” said Doug E. as he discussed the importance of family involvement and responsibility to keeping each another healthy.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE KID AND THE PARENT IS VERY POWERFUL AND IF YOU GIVE THE KID THE RIGHT INFORMATION, IT CAN BE VERY USEFUL TO THE FAMILY.

Doug E’s involvement with HHPH caused him to want to offer a healthier selection in the menu for his restaurant. His goal is to keep all of the selections “1000% healthy.” While the menu offers both soul food and Caribbean food, he now offers wraps and salads, and most importantly: everything is fresh, just like it’s famous owner. 

He says “Everything is a process…some of our eating habits consist of things we can’t change but if we modify it a little and put some exercise in there, we can really make a difference.”

On June 14, he, along with legends Easy A.D. of the Cold Crush Brothers, DMC of Run DMC, Chuck D of Public Enemy and others hosted the 4th Annual Hip Hop Public Health Summit in Harlem. The event showcased HHPH’s acclaimed Hip Hop H.E.A.L.S. (Healthy Eating and Living in Schools) program, celebrated the release of its second music CD, and launched three new additions to its education curriculum. One of the additions, Hip Hop FEET (Finding Exercise and Energy Thresholds), is a “physical activity-based, educational program, taught by master educators and integrating exercise physiology principles with Hip Hop music and dance.”

The summit brought out public officials and garnered co-sponsorship from the New York City Council, Columbia University Medical Center, Harlem Hospital Center, and Hip Hop USA.  Nearly 300 elementary school students attended, eight of whom were honored for their participation on the Hip Hop Public Health advisory board.

 “It’s been an honor to work with Dr. Williams and the whole team. I feel this is a new area that hip-hop has never gone and we’re the pioneers of it. We’re the ones that are opening up the new frontier and I think that the impact will be unbelievable as we go on,” said Doug E, “It’s all about changing lives…kids are sick right now… I remember back in the day we use to go to the parties and dance on the floor and burn damn near 1000 calories! Just form dancing! If you can change kids’ diet, give them a little exercise, get them to dance, and have fun, that’s the key—it doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise.”

Move over BMI: There’s a new way to measure fat

A new way to measure and categorize an individual’s body shape appears to predict more accurately whether he or she is in greater danger of premature death, says a pair of scientists in a new look at alternatives to the body-mass index (or BMI).

The proposed new measure is called “A Body Shape Index,” or ABSI, by the father-and-son team that has  devised and tested it, Dr. Jesse Krakauer, an endocrinologist at Middletown Medical in Middletown N.Y., and his Nir Krakauer, an assistant professor of engineering at City University of New York. Their study was published this week in the open-access journal Public Library of Science One.

The ABSI measure uses just three easily captured metrics — a person’s height, weight and waist circumference — to determine whether an individual has what they grimly characterize as a “hazardous body shape.” Their equation manipulates those three measures in a relatively simple and compact way: Take your waist circumference (in centimeters) and divide that by the product of two variables. The first is the square root of your height (in centimeters); the second is the square of the cube-root of your BMI.

Read More