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Metabolic Psychiatry
Metabolic psychiatry is an emerging field of research revealing robust connections between metabolic dysfunction and psychiatric conditions, with mitochondria suggested to be at the core of these connections. Metabolism impacts every cell, tissue, and organ of the body, with its role in brain health being particularly significant. As the body’s most metabolically active organ, the…
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Circadian Rhythm, Mood & Metabolic Health
A growing body of research suggests a bidirectional effect of circadian rhythm on metabolic and mental health. A cross-sectional 2023 analysis published in Nature of over 80,000 adults in the UK Biobank, revealed that increased exposure to artificial light at night— known to disrupt circadian rhythm– was associated with increased rates of MDD, bipolar disorder,…
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Cardiometabolic Effects of a Vegan Diet
Recently published in JAMA Network Open were the results of a randomized clinical trial comparing the effects of a vegan or an omnivorous diet on LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) as the primary outcome, with multiple secondary outcomes related to metabolic health. This trial may be the first to recruit adult identical twins, 22 pairs in total,…
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Butyric Acid & Metabolic Health
Results of a randomized clinical trial were published in JAMA Network Open in December 2022, the first trial to examine supplementation with butyric acid as a treatment for obesity in children. Butyrate is among the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) known to have a role in energy metabolism and which are produced by bacterial fermentation (mostly…
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Intestinal Health & Metabolic Syndrome
Recently published in Current Developments in Nutrition, a double-blinded randomized cross-over trial compared the effects of a catechin-rich green tea extract (GTE) to placebo on several markers of metabolic health and intestinal inflammation among healthy participants, as well as those with metabolic syndrome. Forty participants (roughly half with metabolic syndrome) received 1g GTE per day…
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Unearthing Metabolomics’ Potential
A recently published paper discusses precision nutrition and the use of metabolomics in this branch of nutritional science. Precision nutrition is an area of nutrition science that uses genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to assess an individual’s response to specific foods or dietary patterns.
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Metabolomic Changes of an Organic Diet
A randomized cross-over study was published in Environment International, evaluating the metabolomic changes that occurred during the implementation of an organic diet over a 40-day period, in nearly 200 children between the ages of 10-12. As an untargeted metabolomic approach, not only did this provide a snapshot of differences in the metabolome between a conventional…
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The Carb-Insulin Model
According to data from the 2017–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), more than 30% of US adults are overweight, and over 42% are living with obesity, including 9% with “severe obesity” (classified as a body mass index ≥ 40). If losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight come down to nothing more than…
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Bacteria Help Influence Blood Sugar Metabolism
A recent study into the effects of specific bacterial strains on type 2 diabetes has identified four key bacteria that could be very significant for people who suffer from this chronic condition.
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New Study Explores How Gut Immune System Functions
New research published in Nature by Rockefeller University on October 29, 2020, is changing the way we perceive the gut microbiota and immune system. Previously, scientists thought that the gut’s immune system was crude in its approach to population control, simply cleansing out foreign invaders with non-specific antibodies in a blanket approach to flush out…