Omega-3 supplements reduce aggression

Source: Depositphotos

From New Atlas

Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 have long been touted as good for heart health. A new study has found they also reduce aggression. Researchers say the safe, common supplements should be used everywhere from the playground to the prison system.

Overt acts of aggression include verbal and physical violence and bullying. Then, there are covert signs like vandalism and property damage, fire-setting, and theft. Both can negatively affect relationships and have legal consequences. It goes without saying that, on many levels, society would be better off if aggressive behaviors were reduced. A new study may have discovered a way of doing that.

The study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) found that commonplace omega-3 supplements reduced aggression, regardless of age or gender.

“I think the time has come to implement omega-3 supplementation to reduce aggression, irrespective of whether the setting is the community, the clinic, or the criminal justice system,” said Adrian Raine, a Penn neurocriminologist and the lead and corresponding author of the study. “Omega-3 is not a magic bullet that is going to solve the problem of violence in society. But can it help? Based on these findings, we firmly believe it can, and we should start to act on the new knowledge we have.”

Omega-3 has enjoyed a strange association with violent behavior for a while. Back in 2001, Dr Joseph Hibbeln, a senior clinical investigator at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), published a study finding a correlation between the consumption of high amounts of fish (a rich source of omega-3) and lower homicide rates. The following year, the University of Oxford in the UK led a study where British prisoners were given nutritional supplements that included vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. The researchers found that prisoners given supplements were less violent and antisocial.

In addition to examining the effect of omega-3 supplements on aggression, the researchers in the current study particularly wanted to ascertain whether omega-3 was effective for all forms of aggression. In psychology, a distinction is made between ‘reactive’ aggression, an in-the-moment response to a perceived threat or provocation, and ‘proactive’ aggression, which requires planning.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials that explicitly measured aggression in people who’d been given omega-3 supplements. They specifically focused on aggressive behavior and not broader traits like anger, which is viewed more as a feeling or emotion, and hostility, which is more of an attitude. Studies where additional nutritional supplements, such as calcium and vitamin D, were included, but the researchers examined them as a potential moderator.

A modest short-term effect linked to omega-3 supplementation, which the researchers say equates to a 30% reduction in aggression, was seen across age, gender, baseline diagnosis, treatment duration and dosage. Notably, omega-3 was found to reduce both reactive and proactive aggression. The researchers were limited to short-term data because only one out of the 19 laboratories conducting the studies followed up with participants after supplementation ended.

The researchers explain how they think omega-3 exerts its effects. Previous studies have pointed to aggressive and violent behavior having a cognitive and neurochemical basis. And, omega-3 is known to play a critical role in brain structure and function, including regulating neurotransmitters and gene expression, and reduces brain inflammation.

“As such, given the undeniable fact that omega-3 is pervasively involved in multiple facets of neuronal biology, it is reasonable to believe that omega-3 supplementation could play a causal role in reducing aggression by upregulating brain mechanisms that may be dysfunctional in … individuals, given the assumption that there is, in part, a neurobiological basis to aggression,” said the researchers.

Further studies are needed to assess the long-term effectiveness of omega-3 supplementation on reducing aggression. Other research avenues would be using MRI scans to determine whether omega-3 enhances brain functioning and examining whether genetics affects omega-3 treatment. In the meantime, the researchers say there is little harm in people, including children, taking this widely available, safe and inexpensive dietary supplement.

“At the very least, parents seeking treatment for an aggressive child should know that in addition to any other treatment that their child receives, an extra portion or two of fish each week could also help,” Raine said.

And the researchers say omega-3 should be used in conjunction with existing psychological and psychiatric treatments.

“[W]e would argue that omega-3 supplementation should be considered as an adjunct to other interventions, whether they be psychological (e.g. CBT [cognitive behavioral therapy]) or pharmacological (e.g. [the antipsychotic drug] risperidone) in nature, and that caregivers are informed of the potential benefits of omega-3 supplementation,” the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior.

Source: University of Pennsylvania

 

Rheumatoid arthritis linked with gut bacteria imbalance

From New Atlas

Impressive new research led by a team from University College London is suggesting bacterial imbalances in the gut microbiome may play a major role in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. The preclinical study found damage to the gut lining directly correlates with joint inflammation and arthritis severity.

For some time now researchers have reported consistent links between gut microbiome abnormalities and rheumatoid arthritis, and increasing populations of certain types of bad bacteria have frequently been associated with arthritis severity.

But exactly how bacteria in the gut could influence joint inflammation has so far been unclear. A number of mechanisms have been hypothesized, from gut bacteria modulating the development of the specific inflammatory cells responsible for arthritis, to particular bacterial metabolites contributing to disease severity. This new study investigated a different causal hypothesis, focusing on the links between arthritis severity and a bacteria-induced weakening of the gut wall.

“We wanted to know what was happening in the gut and whether changes to the intestinal lining – which usually acts as a barrier to protect the body from bacteria – are a feature of the disease and contribute to its development,” explains co-lead author Claudia Mauri.

The new study showed mice bred to have a genetic predisposition to gut permeability also developed signs of severe arthritis. A different mouse model, engineered to develop collagen-induced arthritis, was then found to display reduced joint swelling when gut permeability was improved.

Looking at human patients the researchers found those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis had higher blood levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), LPS binding protein (LBP), and intestinal fatty acid binding protein. All these molecules are known biomarkers of intestinal damage, and LBP levels in particular were found to correlate with acute disease severity.

“Researchers at University College London have shown that, in arthritis, there is profound damage to the gut lining, which fails to work properly as a barrier, as well as an accumulation in the gut of white blood cells that cause inflammation,” the authors write in the newly published study. “The authors show that, in arthritis, bacteria cross the prohibited border of the intestinal lining and that repairing gut permeability defects with specific drugs inhibits joint inflammation.”

The research cannot completely explain the chain of mechanisms that link this weakening of the gut lining with arthritis. So although modulating the degree of gut permeability was found to directly relate to joint inflammation there are still missing links in that relationship yet to be described.

Mauri does say, however, these finding do indicate the gut could be a useful therapeutic target. She particularly speculates that improving gut permeability may be an effective new treatment model.

“Our findings suggest that the intestinal lining is a therapeutic target,” says Mauri. “Importantly, we found that using existing drugs that restore the gut-barrier integrity i.e., prevent the gut from becoming leaky or inhibit inflammatory cells from moving to and from to the gut, could reduce the severity of arthritis in pre-clinical models.”

The new study was published in the journal Med.

Source: University College London

 

A remarkable new weight-loss drug

From Melbourne's The Age newspaper

Scientists and advocates say new anti-obesity drugs generating remarkable levels of weight loss in clinical trials will once and for all dispel the myth that obesity is simply the result of making unhealthy choices, rather than a genuine disease.

The emergence of the new drug, marketed locally as Wegovy, promises to revolutionise weight-loss treatments. In one major clinical trial patients using the drug lost 11 per cent more body weight than those undergoing an intensive diet and exercise program.

Scientists and campaigners have long rejected the popular narrative that obesity is solely the result of unhealthy choices. Wegovy’s dramatic results might provide the sort of black-and-white proof that convinces society at large, they hope, that it is a disease and needs to be treated as such.

“I think it will reframe the argument. As these drugs become more effective and available, it will be harder for people to ignore them,” said Professor Brian Oldfield, a leading obesity researcher at Monash University and editor of the field’s top academic journal.

Tiffany Petre, director of the Obesity Collective, said she “hopes this drug changes conversations about obesity in society”.

“People with obesity haven’t been able to get appropriate healthcare. Now there is something on the market.”

Governments around the world have poured hundreds millions of dollars into public health campaigns that aim to tackle obesity by encouraging healthy eating and exercise.

Then-prime minister John Howard in 2004, for example, rolled out a $116 million program to pay for after-school sports and healthy-eating education for families – while also rejecting plans to ban fast-food advertising in children’s TV programs.

While healthy eating and physical activity are vital for good health, decades of evidence suggest they simply do not lead to large amounts of weight loss, said Oldfield. “They are not enough by themselves. They typically give a 3 to 5 per cent reduction in body weight.”

This problem shows up in a large trial of Wegovy published in JAMA early last year. Some 611 volunteers were given ‘Intensive Behavioral Therapy’: eight weeks on a supervised very-low-calorie diet, followed by more than a year of a low-calorie diet.

They were also asked to do 100 minutes of exercise a week, eventually increasing to 200 minutes, and received 30 visits from a dietitian. “That’s extreme and unsustainable,” said Oldfield.

After this enormous effort they lost, on average, 5.7 per cent of their body weight. A subgroup who did all this and took Wegovy lost 16 per cent of their body weight – an average of 16.8 kilograms.

Wegovy, which was approved by Australia’s medicines regulator for weight loss last year, mimics a natural hormone that slows down how fast the stomach works, making people feel fuller for longer. It also seems to affect how the brain regulates appetite.

The drug does come with side effects – particularly nausea – and in clinical trials about 6 per cent of volunteers are forced to drop out. Experts caution it is not a silver bullet and must be used alongside diet and exercise.

Several years ago, Professor Stephen Simpson, director of the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, and his team ran a series of focus groups looking at how to change people’s opinions about the cause of obesity.

“People have this deep-seated view it is their fault, particularly those with living experience. It’s deeply held and pervasive,” he said. (Oldfield has received fees from the drug’s sponsor Novo Nordisk, as has Obesity Australia; Simpson sits on that organisation’s board).

This stigma has even shown up in the response to recent Wegovy shortages, said Simpson, with some seeking to blame people with obesity for seeking medical treatment for their condition.

The most-effective tool, he found in his focus groups, was to “smash the frame” – to disrupt people’s idea that obesity was caused by predominantly by bad choices.

“One of the most powerful ways of pushing back against that, we found out very quickly, is to say it is biological. There is a powerful biology that underpins obesity.” The success of Wegovy, he said, “is clearly indicating there is a profound biological underpinning”.

US life expectancy falls again

For the third year in succession, US life expectancy has fallen.

Source: The Economist
Does not include 2017 & 2018 data.

From Science Alert:

The US is the only wealthy country in the world where the life expectancy needle is moving the wrong way.

Between 1959 and 2014, the average length of time that Americans were expected to live was on the rise. Now, for the third year in a row, it's declining, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Americans operate under a lot of misconceptions about how superior we are in many facets of our lives and this is not one of them," the study's lead author Steven Woolf told Business Insider. "We may think we have best medical care in world and highest life expectancy … but that's not the case."

This decline can't be linked to just one ethnicity, gender, or geographic area, either: It originates among an entire age group. People between the ages of 25 and 64 in the US are dying at higher rates, wracked by health problems like opioid addiction, obesity, alcoholic liver disease, and suicide.

Despite having the highest per capita health care spending in the world, Americans are "more likely to die before age 65 than people in other countries," Woolf added. "Their children, too, are less likely to live as long".

Woolf and his co-author Heidi Schoomaker's new study looked at more than 50 years' worth of data on US life expectancy from the US Mortality Database and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's WONDER database.

Results showed that, in the 1970s, the country experienced a rapid and significant jump in life expectancy. But by the 1990s, that increase started to level off.  In 2011, US life expectancy plateaued, and three years later it started to drop.

"We've reached the point where we're going into a free fall," Woolf said.

Medical advances, particularly in the realms of cancer treatment and heart health, prompted an almost 10-year increase in the average American's lifespan. Between 1959 and 2013, life expectancy rose from 69.9 years to 78.9 years. Now, however, that average has dropped to 78.6 years.

The news isn't good if you compare it to other countries, either. In 1960, Americans had the highest life expectancy of any country in the world. But in the past couple of years, the US has plummeted to the bottom of the list of countries with a similar GDP and high average income, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In fact, the US is currently ranked in the mid-40s globally in terms of life expectancy, squished between countries like Lebanon, Cuba, and Chile, which have GDPs that fall far short of our own.

This counterintuitive trend – of an affluent, first-world country that spends billions on privatised healthcare losing swaths of their middle-aged working class – could be traced back to one massive elephant in the room.

"It's a quandary of why this is happening when we spend so much on healthcare," Woolf said, adding: "But my betting money is on the economy."

Upticks in suicides, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related diseases "are all symptoms of people struggling in a poor economy who can't afford housing, find consistent jobs," and despair because of it, according to Woolf.

Drug overdose, alcohol abuse, and suicide – referred to by some as "deaths of despair" – appear to be the primary culprits [of the rising mortality rates].

This age group [25 -64] experienced a nearly four-fold increase in fatal drug overdoses between 1999 and 2017.

Suicide rates went up by nearly 40 percent for people between the ages of 25 and 64, and by 56 percent for people ages 55 to 64 during the same time frame. For Americans between the ages of 25 and 34, the rate of alcohol-related disease deaths spiked almost 160 percent, as well.

Obesity-related mortality rates among this age group also went up by 114 percent, and deaths linked to high blood increased by about 80 percent.

"Working-age Americans are more likely to die in the prime of their lives," Woolf said. Between 2010 and 2017, midlife US adults experienced a 6 percent total increase in mortality rate.

"We are seeing social determinants of health shaping well-being and outcomes," Howard Koh, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of public health who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.

"Forces like income inequality and unstable employment cause psychological distress and drive conditions by which diseases and deaths occur," he added.

In countries around the world, research has shown that people with lower incomes die sooner than their wealthier counterparts.  A 2017 study linked low socioeconomic status to significant reductions in life expectancy.

But what makes the US unique, according to Woolf, is that "poor people in other countries live longer than poor people in our country".

[Read more here]


I talked about this before, in my piece Shit-Life Syndrome.  The standard American diet (SAD) is undoubtedly one factor in falling life expectancy, but that doesn't explain suicide, now at the highest rate since the Great Depression, nor rising deaths from alcoholism.  Rising inequality is killing people.  It's time for a change.