Can obesity be “contagious”?

More and more often the term epidemic or pandemic is used, referring to obesity, not only for the relevance of this phenomenon, but also to imply a contagious nature of this condition. In this regard, many authors have linked the influence of social relationships and the communities they belong to with the BMI (an index that defines whether an individual is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obesity).

The JAMA Pediatrics study on the correlation between BMI and the surrounding environment

It has recently been published in the prestigious journal JAMA Pediatrics by some Californian researchers, a study that has tried to show how the environment in which a person lives influences not only his habits but also the risk of increase / decrease in body weight.

The study in question analyzed some military families assigned to different residential sites not chosen by the subjects themselves, in order to study the relationship between local obesity rates and the development of overweight / obesity in the parents and children under study.

Anthropometric data and BMI related to 1 year of observation, they were collected on approximately 2500 subjects among adults and teenagers. The analysis of these data showed that families transferred to areas with a higher rate of obesity have an average higher BMI and a higher incidence rate of overweight / obesity.

The correlation between the rate of territorial obesity, the BMI values ​​and the prevalence of overweight / obesity was stronger for longer settlement periods (> 24 months) for teenagers (Table 3 of the article), and for the entire family was greater for those who lived outside the settlement rather than inside (Table 4 of the article).

Table 3 and 4 of the article: Assessing Social Contagion in Body Mass Index, Overweight, and Obesity Using a Natural Experiment. Datar A. and Nicosia N. JAMA Pediatrist. 2018 Mar; 172(3): 239-246.

In conclusion it emerges that living in social contexts and in settlements where obesity is more present increases the risk of weight gain by witnessing a sort of infection. Obesity, despite being a pathology, is very often not perceived as such and, in social contexts where it is more present, tends to spread through transmissible obesogenic lifestyles.

For a pub >> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5885842/

Edited by the Lipinutragen Editorial Board
made up of F. Bonucci (nutritionist biologist), C. Ferreri (CNR Senior Researcher) and R. Rinaldi (Marketing Manager)

The effects on our body of sugary drinks

The number of publications showing an increase in obesity and a negative effect on health related to the consumption of sugary drinks is growing.

Obesity is associated with pathologies such as cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes and cancer, with an estimated 184,000 number of deaths in 2010. This alarming figure has led health organizations to stem the global obesity epidemic by limiting the consumption of high-calorie foods. One of the “incriminated” products – and therefore the subject of numerous studies – is sugar, whose uses in foods and especially in beverages are constantly growing

In this regard, the World Health Organization (O.M.S.) recommends reducing the intake of sugar to less than 5% of calories (corresponding to about 25 g in the adult). At the moment, however, the official limit has remained at 10% of the total daily calories.

Following the awareness of consumers and the application in some countries of taxes on the production of sugary drinks, the producers have tried to modify the types of sugars present in the drinks. The results of these changes were the well-known sugar-free beverages, which generally no longer present classic sugar (sucrose, but also glucose and fructose), but rather synthetic sweeteners with little or no caloric intake.

The emergence of the use of new types of sweeteners has included in the focus of scientific research also on the health effects of the use of these alternative sweeteners in beverages.

The news on the correlation between mortality and intake of sugary drinks published in the Jama magazine

A few days ago, in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), a very interesting study was published, conducted in Europe, on the association between the consumption of sugary drinks and mortality for all causes or specific diseases. In 1992, this study involved more than 400,000 people from all over the old continent and monitored over the next 8 years the quantities of sweetened beverages consumed, the diseases and causes of death from disease that occurred in this period of time.

The sugary drinks taken into consideration in the study are of two types: those with added sugar (mainly sucrose, glucose and fructose) and those with artificial sweeteners.

At the end of the study, the results obtained showed that in general the high consumption of sweetened beverages increases the risk of mortality from all causes, regardless of the type of sweetener used. Furthermore, it appears that the consumption of beverages with simple sugars is correlated to mortality due to diseases of the digestive system, while those artificially sweetened to cardiovascular diseases (table 4 of the pub).

The results of this scientific publication further strengthen public health awareness campaigns implemented in Europe with the aim of limiting the consumption of softened beverages with any type of sugar.

N.d.R.: The consumer should therefore also pay attention to the “sugar-free” writings that appear on the packaging of the products because, almost certainly, the foods in question will contain sweeteners of different nature or without calories, but not for this reason devoid of health effects.

For abstract>> https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2749350

Edited by the Lipinutragen Editorial Board
made up of F. Bonucci (nutritionist biologist), C. Ferreri (CNR Senior Researcher) and R. Rinaldi (Marketing Manager)

Is there a link between health and longevity with the presence of a purpose in life?

The average life span has increased considerably in recent years with medical advances and improved quality of life. Scientific research has focused on evaluating every aspect that may have an influence with this extension.

Health as defined by the WHO goes beyond the absence of disease and includes a dimension of mental and social well-being. In this perspective it is appropriate to include other levers, in addition to nutrition and physical-motor activity, to maintain an optimal state of health.

It is therefore understandable why the scientific literature is rich in studies that investigate how having goals and objectives in life improves psycho-physical health and the quality of life itself.

A study at JAMA Network focused on possible relationships between health and having a purpose in life

Last month, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study carried out in the U.S. on about 7000 people over the age of 50, evenly distributed between males and females, to verify the association between purpose in life and mortality for any cause.

Some authors have defined life purpose as: self-organization of life that stimulates the generation of goals, promotes healthy behaviors and gives meaning to existence.

People who do not have a purpose can feel hopeless and lack the motivation to live an active and healthy life. Some studies report that people with a strong life goal engage in healthy behaviors and have a better state of health, especially with regard to sleep disorders, stroke incidence, depression and diabetes.

The association between life purpose and overall mortality has already been explored in the past, but no one has focused on correlating the purpose of life with a specific, fatal cause.

All the data concerning the strong purpose of life (on a numerical scale) and the various pathologies of the participants were collected starting from 2006, through the compilation of questionnaires and assessment scales of psycho-social well-being.

What emerged, following the analysis of the data, is a link between mortality and purpose in life; the statistically significant correlation was with cardiovascular and digestive tract diseases.

The results of this study are in addition to what has already been highlighted by the scientific literature namely that the lack of a purpose, an objective, a perspective in life reduces the length of life itself, with a greater onset of the pathologies indicated. The same diseases that are among those highly influenced by nutrition.

For pub >> https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2734064

Edited by the Lipinutragen Editorial Board
made up of F. Bonucci (nutritionist biologist), C. Ferreri (CNR Senior Researcher) and R. Rinaldi (Marketing Manager)

On 3 April 2019 the Lancet published: relationship between diet and incidence of diseases

A group of medical scientists – linked together by the common goal of a study called Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors (GBD) 2017 – recently published in the highly quoted scientific journal of medicine, The Lancet, the results of a huge data collection work covering 195 countries in the period 1990-2017. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The aim of the study was to give a global view – therefore representative of all parts of the world – of the importance of dietary habits in the 195 countries considered for their potential impact on the incidence of disease and mortality. 15 habits have been identified, based on their transversal importance for proper nutrition and necessary in all diets.

In the 15 pages of the publication, which specialists in the field must read carefully entering in to the merits of the data, come up some news that instead all, specialists and not, must know. In fact, we all need to know and reflect on the 15 eating habits that have shown a significant connection for the incidence of death and disability from diseases affecting our society, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers and type 2 diabetes.

These 15 habits in fact establish the “golden rules” to be followed, in all countries of the world, regardless of the type of local food.

What are the 15 daily habits examined as a risk factor for death or disability?

1. DIET LOW IN FRUITS; optimal range of intake: 200-300g per day
2. DIET LOW IN VEGETABLES; optimal range of intake: 290-430 g per day
3. DIET LOW IN LEGUMES; optimal range of intake: 50-70 g per day
4. DIET LOW IN WHOLE GRAINS for any type of preparation (bread, pasta, cakes) and type of food (rice, cereals); optimal range of intake: 100-150 g per day
5. DIET LOW IN NUT AND SEED FOODS; optimal range of intake: 16-25 g per day
6. DIET LOW IN MILK (including all types of milk, excluding all vegetable derivatives); optimal range of intake: 350-520 g per day
7. DIET HIGH IN RED MEAT (including beef, pork, lamb, and goat, but excluding poultry, fish and eggs); optimal range of intake: 18-27 g per day
8. DIET HIGH IN PROCESSED MEAT (preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or addition of chemical preservatives); optimal range of intake: 0-4 g per day
9. DIET HIGH IN SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES (including carbonated beverages, sodas, energy drinks, fruit drinks, but excluding 100% fruit and vegetable juices); optimal range of intake: no more than 50 g per day
10. DIET LOW FIBER (intake of foods containing fiber including fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes and pulses); optimal range of intake: 19-28 g per day
11. DIET LOW IN CALCIUM (intake of foods containing calcium, including milk, yogurt, and cheese); optimal range of intake: 1-1.5 g per day
12. DIET LOW IN OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID (especially EPA and DHA); optimal range of intake: 200-300 mg per day
13. DIET LOW IN POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS (intake of omega-6 from all sources, especially vegetable oils, including soybean oil, corn oil and sunflower oil); optimal range of intake: 9-13 g per day.
14. DIET HIGH IN TRANS FATTY ACIDS (from all sources, mainly partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and ruminant products): no more than 0-1% of the total daily energy coming from food (note that 1 g of fat gives 9 calories and the energy requirement varies with age and state of the person between 1600-2000 calories)
15. DIET HIGH IN SODIUM (based on 24-hour urinary sodium measured in g per day); optimal range of intake: 1-5 g per day

The sad podium among the 15 habits as a cause of death is divided between: 1) diet high in sodium; 2) diet low in whole grains; 3) diet low in fruits, and as a cause of disease we always find the first two with places exchanged between them. The habits of eating dried fruit and seeds, vegetables and omega-3 are also recognized as fundamental. But, of course, all habits are equally important in directing global improvement, for a more favorable state of health (Figure 3 of the article).

Mortality cases and impact on diseases in the World

Italy results with a favorable relationship between the low incidence of death/disease and the habits described above, being in the penultimate band for frequency of death and in the last band for frequency of disease, namely: 105-142 deaths and less than 2339 events of disease per 100 thousand inhabitants that have as a determining cause the errors of these habits. The incidence of dietary habits in the state of health of the population reaches the highest levels in other countries, such as Russia and China, but also Egypt and Libya, surpassing as a cause of death 397 cases and as a cause of disease 8740 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. There are socio-economic reasons that must be taken into account, but in general this situation is considered as the evident failure of public health policies, at a global level, country more country less.

Fat intake and the importance of lipidomics

With our lipidomic vision it is quite relevant to observe that 4 out of 15 causes concern our beloved fats: diets low in omega-3 and in polyunsaturated fatty acids levels, high in trans-fatty acids or low in dried fruit and seeds. Saturated fats are not even mentioned, confirming that our interest must be directed mainly to the fatty acids that we SHOULD take from food, i.e. the sources of essential fatty acids OMEGA-6 and OMEGA-3. Do we take enough of them and reach the tissues in which they have vital functions?

This question is answered by the cell membranes lipidomic analysis, which becomes the analysis most directly related to dietary habits, to detect errors and correct them in time, making a real active prevention. That is the reason why the analysis must be performed with methods free from manual inaccuracies, i.e. with robotic procedures specialized in separating the cell membrane, also identifying the mature red blood cell as the optimal reporter of the personalized condition.

The data of this publication represent a warning from science to society, pushing all countries and their policies to apply scientific progress to really increase global welfare, overcoming the challenge of improving the health of all, no one excluded

For pub >> http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30041-8

Edited by the Lipinutragen Editorial Board
made up of F. Bonucci (nutritionist biologist), C. Ferreri (CNR Senior Researcher) and R. Rinaldi (Marketing Manager)

A neural circuit that connect gut and brain

The theme of the bi-directional connection between brain and gut is increasingly involving the world of research and different medical disciplines even outside of neuroscience: neurology and psychiatry, endocrinology, gastroenterology to name a few.

Gut wall is formed by a layer of epithelial cells that separate the lumen from the underlying tissue. Within this layer there are electrically excitable cells called enteroendocrine cells, which perceive the introduction of ingested nutrients and microbial metabolites and activate an action potential. It is known that enteroendocrine cells act on the CNS indirectly through the paracrine action of hormones, such as cholecystokinin, which generates a satiety signal at the cortical level.

In particular, the circulating concentrations of cholecystokinin peak only a few minutes after food is ingested or after a meal is finished, despite its role in satiety. This discrepancy suggests that the brain perceives signals coming from the gut through an alternative, faster, neuronal signaling.

A new scientific study on Science suggests an additional way of communicating between gut and brain

In September 2018 the study “A gut-brain neural circuit for nutrient sensory transduction” was published on Science. The scientific investigation carried out, through the use of in-vitro and in-vivo models and very advanced methods (such as real-time single-cell PCR), has had satisfactory results on the identification of an intestinal sensory epithelial cell type that creates synapses with the afferent vagal endings. This receptor unit has been traced back to the enteroendocrine cell, but its ability to form a neuroepithelial circuit required a denomination: neuropod cell.

Through synapses with the vagus nerve, the neuropod cell connects the intestinal lumen to the brainstem and carries out its activity by translating sensory stimuli from sugars in milliseconds using glutamate as a neurotransmitter.

The neural circuit that is created gives the gut the rapidity to signal to the brain the “events of the day”, so that the latter can “give meaning” to what we eat.

For abstract >> http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6408/eaat5236

The cell membrane and part of its components

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) are cell membrane components and strongly influence its fluidity and receptor functions; phosphatidylcholine accounts for about 50% of membrane lipids, while phosphatidylethanolamine is usually about half that.

A study that focuses on cellular responses subjected to physical exertion

The recent clinical study “Skeletal muscle phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine respond to exercise and influence insulin sensitivity in men”, published in Nature’s Scientific Report, shows that the ratio between these two phospholipids within skeletal muscle is modulated by physical activity and may affect glucose metabolism and mitochondrial energy. In men who do physical-motor activity of resistance and strength, glucose and insulin levels are improved and the mitochondrial area of skeletal muscle is increased, triggering greater expression of the gene that encodes for PGC-1 (PPAR-gamma coactivator-1), which regulates the creation of mitochondria.

Physical exercise intervenes, increasing, the muscle levels of both phospholipids, but the increase in PE is double that of PC, resulting in a reduced PC:PE ration. The PC:PE ratio was negatively correlated to a measure of body-wide insulin sensitivity.

This research has underlined the importance of physical-motor activity in relation to mitochondria, with a view to improving the way cellular resources are used and/or stored. This mechanism has, in turn, an impact on the state and aging of cells.

For the pub >> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24976-x