Could Autism start in the gut?

For instance, some researchers found that the microbiota of autistic children lacked the beneficial strains of bacteria Bifidobacteria and Prevotella, while other studies found “a significant increase in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio” and higher levels of the bacterial taxa Escherichia/Shigella and Clostridium cluster XVIII.

Also, autistic children tend to experience gastrointestinal issues such as constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.

Read the Article

Walking Shoes VS Fish Oil

Over-50s who buy fish oil supplements to boost brains ‘are wasting their money’

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s Charity Director said: “These eminent experts have concluded it doesn’t do any good to take supplements to promote your brain health in later life so our advice to older people is to save your money and spend it on a healthy diet, full of delicious fruit and vegetables instead.”

How Parkinson’s starts in the gut:

Researchers discover proteins which run like an electrical cable from the stomach to the brain can trigger disease

[…]

The study builds on a discovery of proteins clumped in parts of the nervous system controlling the gut, as well as in the brain, of Parkinson’s sufferers.

Following his breakthrough in 2003, German neuroanatomist Heiko Braak hypothesized the proteins traveled up the nerves into the brain like a ladder – where they clump up and cause nerve tissues to die – causing the symptoms of Parkinson’s.

Dr Hanseok Ko, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, then found this was consistent with early stage Parkinson’s links with constipation.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7183949/Researchers-discover-gut-proteins-linked-Parkinsons-disease.html

Blue Zones Lifestyle Article

Why We Eat Too Much, Move Too Little & Feel Stressed All the Time—And What We Can Do to Feel Better

[…]

What we eat

We evolved in a context of scarcity, and had to walk or run for miles and scavenge to find food; we had to work for it. When we ate, we did not know when the next time would be. When we had it, we were better off eating the high-calorie food that increased our chance of survival when hungry (greasy food feels appealing). Food was not quick to digest, stomachs also had to work hard for it: meat, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts. None of these contained “easy” sugary calories. The body that was prone to starvation, evolved to eat it all when available, and store it, and be stingy in its use.

But now, food is just a few feet away, and we can easily consume thousands of calories in one serving. Fatty food, which required days and miles of hunting and scavenging to acquire, is now right there in the fridge or at the McDonald’s. It is like giving full fridge privileges to your Labrador. Easy calories like soda and candies provide a very large amount of energy in a very short amount of time and confuse the whole system. We end up fat and fatigued.

How we move

This body did not evolve to sit at a desk eight hours a day, and then lie on a couch for the rest of the day munching on high-calorie food, looking at a small or large screen. A contemporary American may only walk a few dozen steps to the car, drive to work, ride the elevator to the office, walk a few dozen steps back to the car, get drive-thru food, then be back on the couch. Suboptimal muscles use leads to weaker joint support, and weird postures cause pain. Pain leads to reduced activity, more obesity, and weaker muscles; then comes opioid epidemic, overuse of pain medications, and back surgeries for all!

How we sleep

Before TVs, halogen lamps, and video games, our sleep was regulated by diurnal change in exposure to the big lamp in the sky and environment temperature. Light and sounds got dimmed, the body and brain had time to slow down and get ready for sleep.

Well now, we go 60 miles per hour with TV and music and video games and intense stimulation by the social media (switching through hundreds of subjects in a matter of minutes), and then hope for a good night sleep – that ain’t happening. Quick 60 to 0 is not how our brains are wired.

[…]

READ FULL ARTICLE