Tag: Persuasion

Consuming two servings a week of these foods increases the odds of heart disease and death.

A large, long-term study has found that unprocessed red meat and any type of processed meat are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

Twice weekly consumption of processed meat, red meat, or poultry — but not fish — increases the rate of cardiovascular disease by 3 to 7 percent.

What is more, bi-weekly consumption of processed meat or even unprocessed red meat — but not fish or poultry — is linked to a 3 percent increase in the risk of death.

Past studies have also found that a higher intake of red meat can lead to several health issues such as cancer.

A study by Dr Smith and colleagues  suggested that processed meats and red meats are the foods most strongly linked to weight gain.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously suggested that processed foods can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Professor Norrina Allen, the senior author of this study, said:

“It’s a small difference, but it’s worth trying to reduce red meat and processed meat like pepperoni, bologna and deli meats.”

Dr Victor Zhong, study’s first author, said;

“Modifying intake of these animal protein foods may be an important strategy to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death at a population level.”

The research team analysed data from 6 different studies that included 29,682 adult participants with a 30 year follow-up.

It might be better to cut down on these types of foods in our diet and replace them with other protein sources such as seeds, nuts, dairy products, legumes, fish, and seafood.

Professor Linda Van Horn, study co-author, said:

“Fish, seafood and plant-based sources of protein such as nuts and legumes, including beans and peas, are excellent alternatives to meat and are under-consumed in the U.S.”

The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine (Zhong et al., 2020).

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The advice comes from a study of chronic inflammation in the body.

The number one cause of memory loss is simply aging.

A little forgetfulness is normal and does not necessarily indicate a problem.

However, there are ways to fight against this natural process and retain a better memory.

The three best ways to avoid memory loss later in life are:

1. Eating an anti-inflammatory heart-healthy diet,
2. getting enough sleep,
3. and exercising regularly.

The advice comes from a study of chronic inflammation in the body.

Inflammation in middle age is linked to memory and thinking problems later on, research shows.

The main problem is chronic inflammation that continues for months or even years.

Symptoms of chronic inflammation include joint pain and stiffness, digestive problems and fatigue.

Dr  Keenan A. Walker, the study’s first author, said:

“Many of the processes that can lead to a decline in thinking and memory skills are believed to begin in middle age, and it is in middle age that they may also be most responsive to intervention.

Our results show that chronic inflammation may be an important target for intervention.

However, it’s also possible that chronic inflammation is not a cause and instead a marker of, or even a response to, neurodegenerative brain diseases that can lead to cognitive decline.”

The study followed 12,336 people for an average of 20 years.

All were given blood tests for inflammation markers.

The results showed that people with the highest levels of inflammation also had the worst thinking and memory skills.

Those with the highest levels of inflammation had 8 percent worse scores on cognitive tests than those with the lowest levels.

Dr  Walker continued:

“Chronic inflammation is tough on the body, and can damage joints, internal organs, tissue and cells.

It can also lead to heart disease, stroke and cancer.

While other studies have looked at chronic inflammation and its effects on the brain in older people, our large study investigated chronic inflammation beginning in middle age and showed that it may contribute to cognitive decline in the decades leading up to old age.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Walker et al., 2019).

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The beneficial effects of exercise on the hippocampus, an area critical for memory and learning.

Being physically active is essential for maintaining mental health and what is more, improves hippocampal function related to learning and memory, a study shows.

Exercise stimulates the production of chemical signals important for neuronal development in the hippocampus.

Mr Ki Yun Lee, the study’s first author, said:

“The hippocampus is a crucial area for learning and memory, and therefore cognitive health.”

During physical activity our muscle fibres contract and by doing so certain chemical compounds are released into the blood vessels and circulated around the body, including the hippocampus.

Swimming, cycling, bicep curls, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, are examples of sporting activities that involve muscle contraction (tightening, lengthening, or shortening of muscles).

The researchers wanted to find out how muscle signals are converted and used for neuronal activity and development in the hippocampus.

Knowing the beneficial effects of exercise on the hippocampus could lead to specific exercise-based interventions to overcome neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Hippocampal neurons

For this study, samples containing mice muscle cells were obtained and kept in the lab in cell culture plates.

When the muscle cells were grown, they began to contract and release chemical signals in the plates.

Then those cultures containing chemical signals were added to another culture which held hippocampal neurons and astrocytes (supportive cells).

The team also used various techniques to track neurons’ electrical activity and so they were able to examine how the hippocampal cells were influenced by the chemical signals.

They found that hippocampal neurons, when receiving the chemical signals from contracting muscles, started to produce larger and more frequent electrical signals.

These suggest that neurons of the hippocampus were flourishing and healthy while at the same time developing a powerful network.

Furthermore, they looked at the mediating role of astrocytes in order to understand what biological mechanism links exercise to brain health.

Mr Lee said:

“Astrocytes are the first responders in the brain before the compounds from muscles reach the neurons.”

When astrocytes were removed from the cell cultures, the team saw that hippocampal neurons began to generate more electrical signals.

This indicates an absence of astrocytes, Mr Lee said:

“Astrocytes play a critical role in mediating the effects of exercise.

By regulating neuronal activity and preventing hyperexcitability of neurons, astrocytes contribute to the balance necessary for optimal brain function.”

He added:

“Ultimately, our research may contribute to the development of more effective exercise regimens for cognitive disorders such as ‘s disease.”

The study was published in the journal Neuroscience (Lee et al., 2023).

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The findings may result from it being hard to tell whether society is progressing or not and a natural bias in the way memory works.

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Children with the biomarker for this chemical were twice as likely to have ADHD as those without.

A commonly used household pesticide has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and young teens.

Pyrethroids, a type of pesticide, were introduced as a supposedly safer alternative to organophosphates.

Organophosphates were banned for residential use in the US 15 years ago.

But the research may question the safety of their replacement.

Dr Tanya Froehlich, a developmental paediatrician who led the study, said:

“Given the growing use of pyrethroid pesticides and the perception that they may represent a safe alternative, our findings may be of considerable public health importance.”

The results come from 687 children who were followed as part of the 2000-2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

This collected information about hyperactivity and impulsivity as well as biomarkers of pyrethoid exposure.

The results showed that children with the biomarker were twice as likely to have ADHD as those without.

The connection was much stronger in boys than girls.

Dr. Froehlich said:

“Our study assessed pyrethroid exposure using 3-PBA concentrations in a single urine sample.

Given that pyrethroids are non-persistent and rapidly metabolized, measurements over time would provide a more accurate assessment of typical exposure and are recommended in future studies before we can say definitively whether our results have public health ramifications.”

The study was published in the journal Environmental Health (Wagner-Schuman et al., 2015).

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New brain cells in the hippocampus — an area critical for memory — were reduced by 40%.

Even moderate alcohol intake could reduce the brain’s ability to produce new cells by 40 percent, research suggests.

Regularly having as little as 3 to 4 alcoholic drinks could reduce the structural integrity of the adult brain.

Ms Megan Anderson, the study’s first author, said:

“Moderate drinking can become binge drinking without the person realizing it.

In the short term there may not be any noticeable motor skills or overall functioning problems, but in the long term this type of behavior could have an adverse effect on learning and memory.”

The conclusions come from a rodent study in which the animals were given the equivalent amount of alcohol to reach the legal driving limit.

This amount of alcohol did not have much effect on their motor coordination.

However, the results showed that the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus — an area critical for memory — were reduced by 40%.

Ms Anderson said:

“…this substantial decrease in brain cell numbers over time could have profound effects on the structural plasticity of the adult brain because these new cells communicate with other neurons to regulate brain health.

If this area of your brain was affected every day over many months and years, eventually you might not be able to learn how to get somewhere new or to learn something new about your life.

It’s something that you might not even be aware is occurring.”

Drinker who are ‘at risk’ are currently defined as men who have 14 drinks per week or more and women who have 7 or more per week.

Ms Anderson said:

“This research indicates that social or daily drinking may be more harmful to brain health than what is now believed by the general public.”

The study was published in the journal Neuroscience (Anderson et al., 2012).

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A study has found that soybeans cut the risk of early death by 10 percent.

Frequently eating fermented soybeans can lower the risk of heart disease and help you live longer.

A study in Japan has found that a higher intake of natto and miso — both made from fermented soybeans — cuts the risk of early death by 10 percent.

Eating these fermented soy foods more frequently was associated with greater longevity.

However, there was no evidence that other types of soy products, including non-fermented soy foods and tofu (soybean curd), increases people’s life expectancy.

Miso is produced from soybeans fermented with Aspergillus oryzae and natto is made from fermented soybeans with Bacillus subtilis.

In recent years, soy foods have become more popular, especially among vegetarians, because of their health benefits.

Soy products are a source of protein, unsaturated fat, fibre, various vitamins and minerals.

They contain antioxidants like isoflavones, another component which have been shown to reduce hot flashes in postmenopausal women, lower LDL cholesterol levels and decrease obesity-related inflammation.

In Japan, several soy-based foods such as tofu, natto and miso are widely consumed.

Therefore, a Japanese research team tried to find out what specific health effects fermented soy foods can have.

They focused on whether there is any link between different soy products and death from any cause.

About 93,000 Japanese adults participated in the study and the follow-up period was 15 years.

The results showed that men and women who had high amounts of natto and miso in their diets were at 10 percent lower risk of any type of death.

In addition, those who consumed natto had a lower rate of death from cardiovascular disease.

A good reason that fermented soy products have beneficial health effects compared to non-fermented ones is because they are higher in potassium, fibre, and bioactive components such as phytosterols and isoflavones.

The authors concluded:

“In this large prospective study conducted in Japan with a high rate of soy consumption, no significant association was found between intake of total soy products and all cause mortality.

In contrast, a higher intake of fermented soy products (natto and miso) was associated with a lower risk of mortality.”

The study was published in the British Medical Journal (Katagiri et al., 2020).

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Even James Dean looked cooler when he smiled.

People are rated as looking ‘cooler’ when they smile and show their emotions, research finds.

It rubbishes the popular idea that keeping an inexpressive poker face makes you look ‘cool’.

In fact, an inexpressive face makes people look colder, rather than cool.

Dr Caleb Warren, the study’s first author, said:

“We found over and over again that people are perceived to be cooler when they smile compared to when they are inexpressive in print advertisements.

Being inexpressive makes people seem unfriendly or cold rather than cool.”

For the study people were shown a series of adverts in which celebrities were either smiling or not smiling.

It included well-know people, such as James Dean, Emily Didonato and Michael Jordan, alongside less well-known models.

People rated how cool the model seemed when they were smiling versus not smiling.

James Dean, for example, was rated ‘cooler’ in photographs where he was smiling, which surprised the researchers.

James Dean is an icon of cool and often pictured with a sultry, half-frown.

There was only one exception to the general rule that smiling was cool.

That was when mixed martial arts fighters were facing off at a press conference.

Then, it wasn’t cool to smile — better to look tough and serious.

A serious face is more dominant, and looks cooler when the situation demands dominance.

Dr Warren said:

“This inaccurate belief about how to become cool can influence the way we communicate with others, and being inexpressive can hurt relationships.

It also makes it more difficult to understand one another.

For these reasons, being inexpressive isn’t necessarily cool.”

The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (Warren et al., 2018).

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A simple motivational tip that helps you reach exercise goals.

People focusing on losing a reward rather than gaining it are more motivated to exercise, a study finds.

The research shows that exactly the same financial rewards can produce markedly different levels of motivation when framed in different ways.

Professor Kevin G. Volpp, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Our findings demonstrate that the potential of losing a reward is a more powerful motivator and adds important knowledge to our understanding of how to use financial incentives to encourage employee participation in wellness programs.”

The study compared workplace rewards for physical activity.

Some people in the program were given $42 and then had $1.40 taken away for each day they didn’t exercise.

Others were told they would simply receive $1.40 for each day they exercised.

Both of these were compared with a control group.

Financially, it amounted to exactly the same thing, but the first framing emphasises a loss of money and the second framing emphasises the reward.

Fascinatingly, the reward-framing had no effect over and above offering no reward for exercise.

However, the loss-framed incentive increased by 50% the amount of times people reached their exercising goals compared with the control group and the reward-framed incentive.

→ Try PsyBlog’s motivation ebook: “Spark: 17 Steps That Will Boost Your Motivation For Anything”

The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine (Patel et al., 2016).

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Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet can prevent this serious disorder.

Problems with vision can be a sign of omega-3 deficiency, research suggests.

Age-related macular degeneration disorder is an eye disease which is linked to omega-3 fatty acids deficiency.

Macular degeneration is a common medical condition, affecting a large group of the population at age 40 and older.

Deterioration of the macula, an area of the retina, can result in losing central vision but not complete blindness.

A review of nine studies on 90,000 people found that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a 38 percent reduction in the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats considered to be essential as our body cannot produce them and so they are obtained from the diet.

These type of fats are mostly found in oily fish (fatty fish) and have many health benefits, therefore they known as “good” fats.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) are the main types of omega 3 fatty acids.

Fatty fish such as salmon, trout, herring, sardines, and fish oils, including cod liver oil, are high in EPA and DHA.

ALA is found in fats from plant foods such as nuts and seeds — walnuts and rapeseed are good sources of this nutrient.

Age-related macular degeneration is a leading cause of sight loss which affects about 3 million people in the U.S. and more than 600,000 people in the UK.

Early signs of macular degeneration includes fuzzy, blurry and impaired vision, difficulty reading or seeing details like recognising faces or watching television.

A study found that having one or more servings of fish per week reduced the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 42 percent.

The authors said:

“This lower risk appeared to be due primarily to consumption of canned tuna fish and dark-meat fish.”

Dark-meat fish in this study included salmon, sardines, bluefish, mackerel, and swordfish.

Knowing how dietary essential omega-3 fatty acids work can be useful in treating and prevention of different disorders.

It appears that DHA is the key since it generates signaling molecules called docosanoids where there is a disruption within cells due to a disease or an injury.

Docosanoids can protect neurons by controlling specific genes in the brain and retina and asking the genes how to respond.

Moreover, DHA from the liver is concentrated in photoreceptors, a type of cell in the retina that responds to light.

Retinal degeneration including macular degeneration occurs when photoreceptors cannot get enough DHA.

When a gene that controls the DHA uptake is turned off then photoreceptors die and mutation of an amino acid in these cells leads to a disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision known as retinitis pigmentosa.

Two studies were published in Arch Ophthalmol (Chong et al., 2008); (Christen et al., 2011); the other study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Asatryan et al., 2017).

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