Week 127 of Changing to a youthful phenotype with sprouts

September 17, 2022October 30, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress Happiness, Reciprocity

1. My third gut microbiome test results came in this week. I submitted a sample earlier this month to follow methods in the second paper of Improving dietary fiber research in a continuing effort to treat my gut microbiota well.

But that study’s vendor was unable to ship an EU-approved product from The Netherlands to the US because it wasn’t FDA-approved. Our US pets can eat dried chicory root products every day, but we can’t? I haven’t received any positive responses from US vendors of dried chicory root products, so I’ll keep taking up to 10 grams of EU-manufactured inulin daily.

I also followed Dr. Horvath’s suggestion in Epigenetic clocks so far in 2022 to “measure epigenetic age because there’s always an opportunity to make a discovery” and submitted a blood test. Will link to those results when they arrive – How to measure biological age?

2. These gut microbiome test results highlight a 16S ribosomal RNA technology flaw that Resistant starch therapy pointed out:

“Relative abundances of smaller keystone communities (e.g. primary degraders) may increase, but appear to decrease simply because cross-feeders increase in relative abundance to a greater extent.”

Here are my top two relative abundance results, genus Faecalibacterium and genus Bacteroides:

25.330% (46,844 total count) of my gut microbiota being a butyrate producer is relatively higher than 22.567% (42,156 total count) 14 months ago. Here’s a review of butyrate’s effects.
25% cross-feeder genus Faecalibacterium didn’t relatively crowd out a primary degrader, genus Ruminococcus, which comparatively stayed at 6%. It may have relatively reduced secondary degrader genus Eubacterium abundance from 6% to 5%.

I don’t assign importance per the above graphic that other people achieve 12% relative abundance of a butyrate producer but I have 25%. Our 10,000+ microbiota species perform many overlapping functions.

Conversely, why should I care that other people host an average 25% genus Bacteroides and I relatively have 17% as I did 14 months ago? It’s similar to irrelevant comparisons of clinical biomarkers in Week 120 of Changing to a youthful phenotype with sprouts.

3. So what are appropriate gut microbiome measurements? They aren’t fine-grained relative measurements of my current gut microbiome, either vs. my previous measurements or vs. other people.

I could make a p < .05 finding out of 25.330% vs. 22.567%. But would those numbers be an adequate proxy for understanding truth?

I think science and industry will affordably catch up to these discrepancies as it has with epigenetic clocks. Haven’t come across well-designed gut microbiota studies that use technologically preferable shotgun metagenomic sequencing with absolute measures of both form and function. I’ve read plenty that are stuck in a relative abundance paradigm.

In the meantime, I’m alright, but have to toughen up quickly so that I can transition later this month from summer weather on my sunrise walk every day to a freezing destination.

Gut microbiota, SCFAs, and hypertension

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Neurochemicals, Serotonin Control group, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Infants

Two 2022 rodent studies from the same research group on short-chain fatty acid effects, beginning with butyrate:

“Maternal nutrition, gut microbiome composition, and metabolites derived from gut microbiota are closely related to development of hypertension in offspring. A plethora of metabolites generated from diverse tryptophan metabolic pathways show both beneficial and harmful effects.

Butyrate, one of the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), has shown vasodilation effects. We examined whether sodium butyrate administration in pregnancy and lactation can prevent hypertension induced by a maternal tryptophan-free diet in adult progeny, and explored protective mechanisms.

Decreased tryptophan metabolites indole-3-acetamide and indoleacetic acid observed in offspring born to dams that received the trytophan-free (TF) diet coincided with hypertension. This suggested that gut microbiota-derived tryptophan metabolites might be an offsetting mechanism, but not a cause of TF-induced hypertension. Considering that TF intervention reduced abundance of Romboutsia and Akkermansia, and many species are able to metabolize tryptophan, further studies linking abundance of bacterial species and concentrations of tryptophan metabolites are still required to identify main tryptophan metabolite producers.

Sodium butyrate treatment during pregnancy and lactation offset effects of maternal tryptophan-deficiency-induced offspring hypertension, mainly related to shaping gut microbiome, mediating SCFA receptor GPR41 and GPE109A, and restoring the renin–angiotensin system. A better understanding of mechanisms behind tryptophan metabolism implicated in programming of hypertension is critical for developing gut microbiota-targeted therapies to halt hypertension.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955286322001619 “Sodium butyrate modulates blood pressure and gut microbiota in maternal tryptophan-free diet-induced hypertension rat offspring” (not freely available) Thanks to Dr. You-Lin Tain for providing a copy.

A second study was on propionate effects:

“Early-life disturbance of gut microbiota has an impact on adult disease in later life. Propionate, one of predominant SCFAs, has been shown to have antihypertensive property.

We examined whether perinatal propionate supplementation can prevent offspring hypertension induced by maternal chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD is closely linked to adverse maternal and fetal outcomes, and is reported to affect at least 3%-4% women of childbearing age.

Male offspring were divided into four groups: control, CKD, control+propionate (CP), and CKD+propionate (CKDP).

Perinatal propionate supplementation:

Prevented offspring hypertension;

Shaped gut microbiota with increases in species richness and evenness;

Increased plasma propionate level; and

Upregulated renal GPR41 expression.

Results reveal the feasibility of manipulating gut microbiota by altering their metabolites with early-life use of propionate to prevent offspring hypertension in later life.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/16/3435/htm “Perinatal Propionate Supplementation Protects Adult Male Offspring from Maternal Chronic Kidney Disease-Induced Hypertension”

An inflammation clock

September 5, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress Control group, DNA methylation, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease

Here are six 2022 papers that either cited the second study of Variable aging measurements, or provided further evidence for its findings. Let’s start with a citing study:

“This study aimed to investigate expression patterns and prognostic values of the inflammatory aging clock (iAge) in glioblastoma (GBM), and its relations with stem cells. Similar to epigenetic clocks and transcriptomic clocks, iAge could track multifaceted aging phenotypes and have clinical significance in translation medicine.

iAge was positively correlated with chronological age, and highly associated with immune cells and inflammatory activities. iAge could serve as a prognostic biomarker for overall survival, and could precisely predict GBM stem cells stemness.

We identified the physiological importance and function of iAge in GBM, and provided novel insights into how iAge is a critical event for development of GBM.”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.925469/full “Inflammatory aging clock: A cancer clock to characterize the patients’ subtypes and predict the overall survival in glioblastoma”

Beginning with a human osteoporosis study, five papers investigated cytokine CXCL9, which the iAge study found to be “clearly actionable as shown by our experiments in CXCL9 where we can reverse aging phenotypes.”

“We assessed whether levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 were elevated in human serum samples of older adults who had incident hip fractures. Our findings revealed higher serum levels of CXCL9 in pre-fracture blood samples of men with subsequent hip fractures, compared with their non-fracture controls. There was no such difference in CXCL9 serum levels between cases and controls in women.

Serum CXCL9 improved the prediction of osteoporotic hip fracture in men. The association between CXCL10 and hip fracture risk was not statistically significant in either sex.

While our epidemiologic findings are supported by experimental data providing the mechanistic pathway for CXCL9 in regulating osteoclast recruitment, further studies are needed to confirm validity of our findings and determine their generalizability to other study populations. Underlying biological mechanisms that limit our findings to men but not women require further investigation.”

https://asbmr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbmr.4646 “CXCL9 Predicts the Risk of Osteoporotic Hip Fracture in a Prospective Cohort of Chinese Men—A Matched Case–Control Study”

Two immune-mediated skin diseases, with a vitiligo review:

“Current findings emphasize the critical role of immune cells and their mediators in the immunopathogenesis of vitiligo. IFN-γ [interferon gamma] is the primary cytokine mediator that activates the JAK/STAT pathway, causing keratinocytes to produce the key chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10.

Interactions between immune and non-immune cells finally result in apoptosis of melanocytes. Additional investigations of these pathways may provide an opportunity for finding possible therapeutic targets, as there are currently no targeted biological drugs available for treatment of vitiligo.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/10/7/1639/htm “Current Concepts of Vitiligo Immunopathogenesis”

and a study of psoriasis:

“CXCL9 is an important chemokine involved in T cell recruitment, and is up-regulated in plasma of patients with psoriasis. Increased CXCL9 expression can aggravate the progression of psoriasis.

IL-1β and CXCL9 were up-regulated and CLDN8 was down-regulated in psoriasis with statistically significant differences. Identification of potential key molecular markers and signaling pathways provides potential research directions for further understanding molecular mechanisms of psoriasis.”

https://www.wjgnet.com/2307-8960/full/v10/i18/5965.htm “Identification of potential key molecules and signaling pathways for psoriasis based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis”

Two lung-related studies, first, an editorial for a human lung transplant study that isn’t freely available:

“CXCL9 and CXCL10 are chemokines that bind to the shared receptor CXCR3, potentiating T cells, mononuclear cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. Previous studies demonstrated that presence of these chemokines in bronchoalveolar lavage samples preceded development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD).

Acute rejection and acute lung injury are known risk factors to the development of CLAD, yet this study found that increased risk was dependent on the presence of CXCL9/CXCL10 plasma elevation. Early identification of patients at risk, possibly during the active inflammatory phase, rather than once abnormal wound healing pathways dominate resulting in irreversible injury, provides an attractive opportunity for intervention.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajt.17135 “CXCL9 and CXCL10 plasma levels: Potential keys to unlocking CLAD risk”

and a study of smoking effects:

“We collected blood samples from 78 healthy male volunteers aged 18–60, including non-smokers (n = 30), current smokers (n = 30), and ex-smokers (n = 18). Expression levels of CXCL9/MIG [monokine induced by IFN-γ] and sIL-6R significantly increased after smoking, and continued to increase after quitting smoking.

Changes in related cytokines after smoking cessation are mainly restorative, while some cytokines further strengthen the trend of smoking-related changes.”

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/12/3715/htm “Effects of Smoking on Inflammatory-Related Cytokine Levels in Human Serum”

Natural sulforaphane effects

September 5, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress Control group, DNA methylation, Genetic factors

This 2022 rodent cell study used the natural form of sulforaphane to replicate experiments performed with mixtures of its natural and unnatural forms:

“Natural sulforaphane (SFN) exists as a single enantiomer with a R_S absolute configuration. Most studies focusing on its biological activities, in particular its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, have been conducted using its racemic (rac) form. rac-SFN has shown these effects in several in vitro and in vivo models.

These findings demonstrate that (R)-SFN was able to:

Modulate inflammatory response and oxidative stress induced by LPS stimulation in murine peritoneal macrophages;

Reduce pro-inflammatory enzyme expression (iNOS, COX-2 and mPGES-1) and cytokine production (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, IL-18 and TNF-α);

Inhibit MAPK, JAK2/STAT-3, and canonical and non-canonical inflammasome signaling pathways;

Reduce NO and ROS levels and up-regulate the Nrf-2/HO-1 axis; and

Modulate epigenetic changes through histone methylation (H3K9me3) and deacetylation (H3K18ac).

(R)-SFN could be a new epinutraceutical compound useful for management of several immunoinflammatory diseases.”

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8247/15/8/966/htm “Immunomodulatory Effects of (R)-Sulforaphane on LPS-Activated Murine Immune Cells: Molecular Signaling Pathways and Epigenetic Changes in Histone Markers”

Epigenetic effects of plasma concentrate

September 5, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Stress, Telomeres DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neurodegenerative disease

“We use data from a safety study (n = 18, mean age 74) to investigate whether human umbilical cord plasma concentrate (hereinafter Plasma Concentrate) injected weekly (1 ml intramuscular) into elderly human subjects over a 10-week period affects different biomarkers, including epigenetic age measures, standard clinical biomarkers of organ dysfunction, mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN), and leukocyte telomere length.

More than 20 clinical biomarkers were significantly and beneficially altered. Telomere length and mtDNA-CN were not significantly affected by treatment.

An increase in entropy means that the methylome becomes noisier. We found that entropy was significantly decreased after treatment. Decreased entropy may implicate rejuvenation of the epigenetic landscape after plasma concentrate treatments.

Treatment reduced DNA methylation-based GrimAge by an average of 0.82 years, suggesting a reduction in morbidity and mortality risk. By contrast, no significant results could be observed for epigenetic clocks that estimate chronological age.

Our study lends credence to the notion that there are youth-promoting factors in the secretome of umbilical cord plasma. This conclusion has also been reached by other researchers that have provided treatment with stem cells, which do not work by plasma dilution but primarily by providing humoral factors and changing the microenvironment of cells and tissues. While there may be youth-promoting microvesicles or humoral factors that are at work, we do not want to rule out the possibility that it is ‘young and undamaged’ albumin that leads to the improvements noted, especially in light of recent evidence for such a mechanism.

This first human epigenetic clock study of plasma concentrate treatments revealed age-reversal effects according to a well-established DNA methylation-based estimator of morbidity and mortality risk. Future placebo-controlled replication studies are warranted with a larger number of participants over a longer study period, which our laboratory has undertaken to pursue.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.13696 “Umbilical cord plasma concentrate has beneficial effects on DNA methylation GrimAge and human clinical biomarkers”

Improving dietary fiber research

August 29, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system Control group

Two 2022 papers on aspects of dietary fiber research, starting with a review:

“Considerable attention has been given to unraveling the interaction between fiber type and gut microbiota utilization, focusing mainly on single, purified fibers. Studying these fibers in isolation might give us insights into specific fiber effects, but neglects how dietary fibers are consumed daily and impact our digestive tract: as intrinsic structures that include the cell matrix and content of plant tissues.

Food processing per se is not health-detrimental. Certain foods are barely digestible without any processing, and for specific populations, e.g. those suffering from malnutrition or diseases, food processing is crucial. However, increased digestibility has resulted in negative health outcomes related to obesity and welfare diseases.

Intrinsic structural features of plant cells likely slow down fiber fermentation, inducing a lag phase, but do not necessarily reduce the absolute amount of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) produced. Consequently, there is a gradual release of SFCA, which means that SCFA production is not restricted to the proximal colon but spread throughout the whole colon, including its distal parts, benefiting local, mucosal health.

This translates into beneficial, systemic, peripheral effects as distal SCFA infusion in vivo has shown to induce more pronounced effects on biomarkers than proximal. Delayed fermentation of intrinsic fibers presents a highly relevant feature that isolated, single fibers do not have.

Instead of further processing our already extensively processed foods to create new products, we should minimize this processing, and exploit health benefits associated with the original cell matrix of plant tissues.”

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.954845/full “Intrinsic dietary fibers and the gut microbiome: Rediscovering the benefits of the plant cell matrix for human health”

Reference 115 was a human study by the same researchers:

“We investigated the impact of dried chicory root in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial with 55 subjects at risk for type 2 diabetes. Evidence for a trophic chain including Bifidobacterium and Anaerostipes spp. was recapitulated by in vitro incubations that resulted in high levels of butyrate and propionate production from the treatment product.

We observed a simultaneous increase in faecal and circulating SCFA levels, and a marked improvement in dynamic markers of glucose control. In subjects with a low relative abundance of Blautia spp. – a genus that previously has been associated with T2D – static glycaemic markers also decreased pronouncedly.

Our results demonstrate a strong modulatory potential on gut health and microbial metabolism by native inulin and cell wall fibres pectin, cellulose and hemicellulose in the intrinsic form of dried chicory roots.”

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/gut-microbiome/article/dried-chicory-root-improves-bowel-function-benefits-intestinal-microbial-trophic-chains-and-increases-faecal-and-circulating-short-chain-fatty-acids-in-subjects-at-risk-for-type-2-diabetes/6209AEAFBDDB181197F22AE24388186B# “Dried chicory root improves bowel function, benefits intestinal microbial trophic chains and increases faecal and circulating short chain fatty acids in subjects at risk for type 2 diabetes”

Another use of a routine blood test

August 24, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Cerebrum, Immune system

A 2022 human study investigated three measurements of the CBC with Differential/Platelet test:

“This study explored the relationship between the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and stroke prognosis. SII was defined as neutrophils × platelets/lymphocytes. Neutrophils and lymphocytes are involved in the inflammatory and immune response, whereas platelets have a primary role in the thrombo-inflammation of stroke.

Patients were divided into four groups according to SII values: quartile (Q)1 <366; Q2 366–533; Q3 534–799; and Q4 ≥800. As the SII quartile increased, patients with acute ischemic stroke were more likely to have poor functional outcomes during follow-up.

Although age, smoking status, and alcohol consumption are risk factors, and female estrogen is a protective factor for stroke, we did not identify subgroups specifically being affected by these factors. Even if we adjusted our model for factors identified by previous studies as immune-inflammation markers that might affect prognosis, such as the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level, our results still suggested that SII is closely related to short- and long-term prognosis of patients with acute ischemic stroke.

As a new type of immune-inflammation index, the SII integrates neutrophils, platelets, and lymphocytes, and can reflect the balance of the systemic immune response and inflammatory response.”

https://www.aging-us.com/article/204228/text “Correlation of the systemic immune-inflammation index with short- and long-term prognosis after acute ischemic stroke”

Non-patentable boron benefits

August 14, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Acetylcholine, Amygdala, Cerebellum, Cortisol, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Lower brain, Memory, Neurochemicals, Serotonin, Stress Brain neurons, Control group, Genetic factors, Infants, Neurodegenerative disease, Prefrontal cortex

To follow up Is boron important to health? I’ll highlight a 2022 review of boron intake:

“Boron is essential for activity of several metabolic enzymes, hormones, and micronutrients. It is important for growth and maintenance of bone, reduction in inflammatory biomarkers, and increasing levels of antioxidant enzymes.

The average person’s daily diet contains 1.5 to 3 milligrams of boron. Boron intakes of 1–3 mg/day have been shown to improve bone and brain health in adults when compared to intakes of 0.25–0.50 mg/day.

One week of 10 mg/d boron supplementation resulted in a 20% reduction in inflammatory biomarkers TNF-α, as well as significant reductions (nearly 50%) in plasma concentrations of hs-CRP and IL-6. Calcium fructoborate, a naturally occurring, plant-based boron-carbohydrate complex, had beneficial effects on osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms. A double-blind study in middle-aged patients with primary OA found that all groups except the placebo group saw a reduction in inflammatory biomarkers after 15 days of food supplementation with calcium fructoborate.

Dietary boron intake significantly improves brain function and cognitive functioning in humans. Electroencephalograms showed that boron pharmacological intervention after boron deficiency improved functioning in older men and women, such as less drowsiness and mental alertness, better psychomotor skills (for example, motor speed and dexterity), and better cognitive processing (e.g., attention and short-term memory). Boron compounds can help with both impaired recognition and spatial memory problems.

We discussed the role of boron-based diet in memory, boron and microbiome relation, boron as anti-inflammatory agents, and boron in neurodegenerative diseases. Boron reagents will play a significant role to improve dysbiosis.”

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/11/3402/htm “The Role of Microbiome in Brain Development and Neurodegenerative Diseases”

Findings, or fun with numbers?

August 13, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress Control group, Genetic factors

This 2022 rodent study investigated bone mass phenotypes and sulforaphane:

“Mouse strains can have divergent basal bone mass, yet this phenotype is seldom reflected in the design of studies seeking to identify new modulators of bone resorption by osteoclasts. Sulforaphane exerts inhibitory effects on in vitro osteoclastogenesis in cells from C57BL/6 mice. We explore whether a divergent basal bone mass in different mouse strains is linked both to in vitro osteoclastogenic potential and to SFX-01 sensitivity.

Powerful antioxidants are an alternative to achieve beneficial bone effects and avoidance of osteoporotic bone loss. Sulforaphane (SFN) is a natural antioxidant found at high levels (as glucoraphanin) in cruciferous vegetables. SFN activates the NRF2 pathway and has anti-inflammatory effects, protecting against oxidative stress in many cell types.

These findings suggest that BM cells derived from animals with a high in vivo bone mass are less sensitive to M-CSF and RANKL in vitro leading to lower osteoclastogenesis. They also support the hypothesis that similar sensitivity extends to inhibitory effects of SFX-01 on osteoclast formation/function.

It is important to stress that osteoclasts generated in these strains may simply undergo multinucleation in a manner related to their underpinning genetics, and that by coincidence alone this is matched to their bone mass.”

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cbf.3734 “High bone mass in mice can be linked to lower osteoclast formation, resorptive capacity, and restricted in vitro sensitivity to inhibition by stable sulforaphane”

I curated this study primarily for its honesty. I’ll link this post to future posts of studies where researchers lack similar honesty.

Broccoli sprouts and your brain

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 gettingwell4 0-1 star Wasted resources, Brain development, Cerebrum, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Stress Brain neurons, DNA methylation, Embryo development, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease

A 2022 review of Nrf2 signaling hilariously avoided mentioning sulforaphane, although of ~4,000 sulforaphane published articles, two were cited. I’ll curate it anyway to highlight referenced brain effects.

“A good stability of NRF2 activity is crucial to maintain redox balance and therefore brain homeostasis. In this review, we have gathered recent data about the contribution of the NRF2 pathway in the healthy brain as well as during metabolic diseases, ageing, and ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases.

A functional NRF2 system is important to regulate both neuroinflammation, i.e., activation of microglia and astrocytes, and oxidative stress in the brain. NRF2 and NF-κB transcription factors regulate cellular responses to inflammation and oxidative stress in order to maintain brain homeostasis. Both pathways have been described to inhibit each other.

Future challenges will be to establish novel therapies to:

Increase NRF2 activation in specific cell types and/or brain regions; and

Modulate NRF2 pathway in senescent cells.

Modulation of NRF2 signalling pathway by using specific food products [like unmentioned broccoli sprouts] and phytochemicals [like unmentioned sulforaphane], dietary supplements [like unmentioned Vitamin D3], drugs, and epigenetic modifiers, alone or in combination, will help to limit inflammatory diseases, ageing process, and subsequently ageing-related diseases.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/8/1426/htm “Normal and Pathological NRF2 Signalling in the Central Nervous System”

Week 120 of Changing to a youthful phenotype with sprouts

August 1, 2022November 30, 2023 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Beliefs, Epigenetics, Immune system Control group, Genetic factors

It was time for an annual physical last Wednesday. My focus was to see whether reducing sulforaphane intake per Week 87 had the desired effect on thyroid measurements.

That and other adjustments did! Readings of TSH 2.91 (0.45 – 4.50 uIU/mL), free T4 1.22 (0.82 − 1.77 ng/dL), and free T3 2.4 (2.0 – 4.4 pg/mL) were all in-range. 🙂

I won’t repeat the Week 63 workbook calculations done after last year’s annual physical. To me, that’s another form of magical thinking.

Every explanation of those reference ranges, and optimal ranges built from all-cause mortality statistics, requires a suffix “of people who didn’t positively change their healthspan and lifespan.” What value is there in optimizing (pick a measurement) against those outcomes? Why compare my efforts, or results, or any other aspect of my life, to people who didn’t actionably care about their one precious life?

I’m not deflecting with poor measurements:

3 of the 5 values in last year’s optimal ranges got better, and the other 2 stayed the same; and
2 of the 4 values that weren’t in last year’s optimal ranges came into those ranges, and the other 2 got better but stayed outside an optimal range.

We each have a lot at stake. Bad things like diseases of old age happen on their own. If we want good things to happen, we have to make them happen.

Consider this from The impact of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and early life experiences:

“Every disease is connected to the immune system.”

Are people making good choices every day for their immune systems?

Is boron important to health?

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Stress, Testosterone Brain neurons, Control group, Genetic factors

Three papers on boron, starting with a 2022 review:

“Boron-containing compounds (BCC) have effects in the metabolism of living organisms. Information regarding effects and interaction of these compounds was compiled, and potential applications for treating human metabolic disorders was suggested.

Dietary boron supplementation affects metabolism of calcium, magnesium, triglycerides, glucose, amino acids, reactive oxygen, nitrogen species, and hormones such as 17β-estradiol, calcitonin, and 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol. When food is boron-deprived, there are adverse effects like depressed growth, reduced serum steroid hormone concentrations, changes in plasma and organ calcium and magnesium concentrations, plasma alkaline phosphatase, and bone calcification on animal biological functions.

Exploration of basic BCC as metabolism regulators is expanding. Although mechanisms of action are uncertain, limitation of damage induced by reactive species, inflammatory modulation, or activities on some enzymes and membrane transporters are often related to reported effects.

An increasing number of new BCC are emerging as potential tools for prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of metabolism maladies such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, cardiovascular, and liver diseases. For those innovative BCC, mechanisms of action are often clear.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12011-022-03346-9 “Boron‑Containing Compounds for Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Human Metabolic Disorders” (not freely available) Thanks to Dr. Marvin A Soriano-Ursúa for providing a link to a freely available document.

A second paper was a 2021 human study:

“In our elderly population-based sample, a boron-rich diet appeared to be characterized by high intakes of plant foods presumed to be healthy, low intakes of plant foods presumed to be less healthy, and low intakes of all kinds of animal foods.

Higher plasma boron concentrations were related to lower BMI and circulating concentrations of CRP. Plasma boron concentrations were associated with age, phosphate, and plasma lipid metabolism, and showed seasonal variations.

Human intervention studies are warranted to derive causal relationships of circulating and dietary boron with human health and metabolism. Robust databases on boron content of foods are needed to facilitate investigation of dietary boron intake in human studies.

Clarification of the non-/essentiality of trace element boron for human health will form the basis to derive recommendations for a dietary boron intake being sufficient to exert boron’s proposed beneficial physiological roles.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-021-02730-w “Plasma boron concentrations in the general population: a cross-sectional analysis of cardio-metabolic and dietary correlates”

As noted in this study, public agencies don’t consider dietary boron content important enough to include in public databases. My daily boron dietary intake estimated from published private databases is:

Walnuts, 1.63 mg x (28.3 g / 100 g) = .5 mg
Red kidney beans, 1.4 mg x (12 g / 100 g) = .2 mg
Chickpeas, 0.71 mg x (40 g / 100 g) = .3 mg
Celery, 0.5 mg x (72 g / 100 g) = .4 mg
Carrots, 0.3 mg x ( 76 g / 100 g) = .3 mg
Coffee .07 mg x 3 cups = .2 mg

2 mg boron daily dietary total

A third paper was a 2022 rodent study:

“Sodium pentaborate pentahydrate (NaB) 1 and 2 mg elemental B/kg supplementation induces the anagen phase in rats via Wnt-1, β-catenin, VEGF, PDGF, and TGF-β1 signaling pathways, which are important molecular mechanisms involved in hair growth.

NaB 4 mg B/kg suppresses these pathways and adversely affects hair growth.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0946672X22000876 “Sodium pentaborate pentahydrate promotes hair growth through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and growth factors” (not freely available)

A human equivalent of this study’s rat 1 mg elemental boron intake is (1 mg x .162) x 70 kg = 11 mg.

Trained immunity epigenetics

July 28, 2022July 28, 2022 gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory Control group, DNA methylation, Genetic factors, Infants

Two papers on trained immunity, starting with a 2022 review:

“Live attenuated vaccines such as the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin, measles-containing vaccines, and the oral polio vaccine have been shown to reduce overall mortality beyond their effects attributable to the targeted diseases.

After an encounter with a primary stimulus, epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming of bone marrow progenitor cells and functional changes of tissue immune cell populations result in augmented immune responses against a secondary challenge. This process has been termed trained immunity.

Main epigenetic events during induction of trained immunity are:

Chromosomal reorganization on the level of topologically associated domains;

Induction of long noncoding RNA activity;

Histone modifications and chromatin accessibility; and

DNA (de)methylation.

An epigenetic enzyme belonging to the lysine methyltransferase family, Set7, possesses vital function in β-glucan training of monocytes. When inhibited, trained immunity phenotype is diminished, while Set7 deficient mice cannot establish innate immune memory.

β-glucan is recognized by Dectin-1, and has been known to lead to a shift from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis as an ATP source. However, a more recent study reported an increase in both glycolysis and oxygen consumption following training, which signals a higher rate of OXPHOS. This discrepancy is explained by the difference in concentration of β-glucan used in the experiments.

Stopping vaccination with measles and polio once the pathogens are eradicated, or replacing live attenuated polio with inactivated polio, should be done with caution, as it may have a substantial impact on childhood mortality. Trained immunity may also represent an important new approach to improve current vaccines, or to develop novel vaccines that combine induction of classical adaptive immune memory and innate immune memory.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0952791522000371 “Trained immunity: implications for vaccination”

Reference 34 was a 2020 study by two of the same coauthors that provided details on the above discrepancy:

“Findings presented by the current study suggest that the disparity in terms of the role of OXPHOS arises from the stimulatory dose of β-glucan [by intraperitoneal injection]. A β-glucan concentration of 1 μg/mL induces both glycolysis and OXPHOS, whereas a concentration of 10 μg/mL induces glycolysis but inhibits OXPHOS.”

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(20)30458-7 “The Set7 Lysine Methyltransferase Regulates Plasticity in Oxidative Phosphorylation Necessary for Trained Immunity Induced by β-Glucan”

The goddess of rainbows

July 27, 2022July 27, 2022 gettingwell4 5+ stars Premium, Acetylcholine, Dopamine, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, Immune system, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress, Telomeres Brain neurons, Control group, DNA methylation, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease

Two 2022 papers, starting with a review of irisin:

“This article is an overview of irisin generation, secretion, and tissue distribution. Its targeting of tissues or organs for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases is systematically summarized, with discussion of underlying molecular mechanisms.

Irisin is an exercise-induced myokine expressed as a bioactive peptide in multiple tissues and organs. Exercise and cold exposure are major inducers for its secretion.

Mechanistic studies confirm that irisin is closely correlated with lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, inflammation, ROS, endocrine, neurotrophic factors, cell regeneration and repairing, and central nervous system regulation. Irisin decreases with age, and is closely associated with a wide range of aging-related diseases.

A number of studies in elderly humans and animal models have shown that exercise can promote the body’s circulation and increase irisin levels in some tissues and organs. Resistance, aerobic, or combined exercise seem to play a positive role. However, exercise could not change serum irisin in some reported studies.

There are large individual differences in exercise training in the elderly population. Since the half-life of irisin in the body is less than 1 h, it is necessary to pay attention to the time of blood sampling after a single exercise intervention. Some factors that impede detection of irisin levels in vivo include the half-life of irisin protein, sampling time, different tissues, and different health statuses before and after intervention.

It is worth noting that high-intensity exercise shows higher irisin levels even with the same energy expenditure during exercise. Precision studies of irisin in elderly subjects following exercise intervention need to be further clarified.”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163722001222 “Irisin, An Exercise-induced Bioactive Peptide Beneficial for Health Promotion During Aging Process” (not freely available) Thanks to Dr. Ning Chen for providing a copy.

A second paper was a human study too recent to be cited by the first paper. I’ll highlight its irisin findings:

“We investigated the complex relationship among DNAm based biomarkers of aging, including DNAmFitAge, a variety of physiological functioning variables, blood serum measures including cholesterol, irisin level, and redox balance, and the microbiome on 303 healthy individuals aged between 33 and 88 years with a diverse level of physical fitness. Regular exercise was associated with younger biological age, better memory, and more protective blood serum levels.

Our research intends to show that regular physical exercise is related to microbiota and methylation differences which are both beneficial to aging and measurable. Our research provides the first investigation between microbiome derived metabolic pathways and DNAm based aging biomarkers.

Irisin levels decrease with age (0.23 average decrease for every 1 year older). We found age-related decreases in irisin levels were attenuated by exercise training. The link between irisin to GrimAge Acceleration and FitAge Acceleration is a novel observation.

HDL is positively associated with irisin. HDL and irisin have complex roles in physiology, and the positive relationship we observe between physical exercise and HDL and irisin align with protective effects seen between HDL and irisin with glucose homeostasis.

This work further supports the biological importance of irisin to the aging process. It is possible our research motivates interventions to boost irisin, like through physical exercise, as possible anti-aging therapies.”

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.22.22277842v1 “DNA methylation clock DNAmFitAge shows regular exercise is associated with slower aging and systemic adaptation”

Variable aging measurements

July 23, 2022September 20, 2022 gettingwell4 2-3 stars Required further work, Acetylcholine, Epigenetics, Immune system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress, Telomeres Control group, DNA methylation, Genetic factors, Neural plasticity, Neurodegenerative disease

Two papers on aging measurements, starting with a 2022 human study:

“We collected longitudinally across the adult age range a comprehensive list of phenotypes within four domains (body composition, energetics, homeostatic mechanisms and neurodegeneration / neuroplasticity) and functional outcomes. We integrated individual deviations from population trajectories into a global longitudinal phenotypic metric of aging.

We demonstrate that accelerated longitudinal phenotypic aging is associated with faster physical and cognitive decline, faster accumulation of multimorbidity, and shorter survival.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-022-00243-7 “Longitudinal phenotypic aging metrics in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging”

I disagree with this study’s methodology.

1. Although it acknowledged individual variability, nothing was done to positively adjust to those facts. What could have been done per A review of biological variability was:

“Obtain a measurement of variability that is independent of the mean to ensure to not confound changes in variability with shifts in mean.”

2. A usual research practice is to take at least three measurements, and use their average as representative. That wasn’t done here, maybe because of time and expense considerations?

3. An important measurement for physical function was the time to finish a 400 meter walk. I walk more than ten times that almost every day. I use the first 400 meters as a warmup period while getting to the beach to walk eastward and enjoy the predawn light and water animal activity. I concentrate on gait speed during the last third while walking westward on a straightaway bike path.

This study would measure my gait speed as a sometimes old person during the first 400 meters, rather than a gait speed that usually approaches a young person’s during the last 400 meters. Even if I tried to walk my fastest right out of the gate, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a decade or two difference by this study’s measurements between a morning walk’s first and last 400 meter gait speeds.

4. An important cognitive function measurement was the Digital Symbol Substitution Test, apparently taken during subjects’ fasted state? Sometimes after exercising, I’m okay cognitively when starting work in a fasted state at 6:30 a.m., and other times I’m tired.

Two days ago during the last hour of work 1:30-2:30 p.m., I did outstanding work, four hours after eating whole oats for breakfast, and after drinking two coffees and three teas. I took time to put together pieces of puzzles into proper contexts for management’s attention. My bosses weren’t too pleased with the story it told, but it is what it is.

5. Are measurements of how you start what matters? Or is it how you finish, as is common in competitive sports?

This study would measure my cognitive function as a sometimes old person, rather than performance that approaches a young person’s later in the workday. For both physical and cognitive function, my abilities to ramp up and come close to young people’s capabilities are features that I work on, not random, inconvenient measurement variability.

6. Blood measurements were downgraded as having “limited coverage of the four phenotypic domains.” These were taken to fit into specific paradigms and epigenetic clocks. They predictably failed to show causality, as acknowledged with:

“Our analysis showed strong associations between global longitudinal phenotypic score and changes in physical and cognitive function. We did not have sufficient observations to fully separate these two dimensions over time, which would have strengthened the assumption of causality.”

Nowhere in this study was it hinted that all measurements were downstream effects of unmeasured causes. A follow-on study could reanalyze these subjects’ blood samples, MRI, and other measurements for originating upstream factors of signaling pathways and cascades per Signaling pathways and aging and An environmental signaling paradigm of aging.

Reference 35 of this first study was a 2021 human and rodent study that was tossed in as a limitation with:

“We might not have all of the relevant phenotypic measures (for example, more detailed immune profiles) for all participants.”

Its findings included:

“From the blood immunome of 1,001 individuals aged 8–96 years, we developed a deep-learning method based on patterns of systemic age-related inflammation. The resulting inflammatory clock of aging (iAge) tracked with multimorbidity, immunosenescence, frailty and cardiovascular aging, and is also associated with exceptional longevity in centenarians.

Canonical markers of acute infection such as IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α were not major contributors to iAge, indicating that, except for IL-1β, infection-driven inflammatory markers of the acute inflammatory response do not contribute to age-related chronic inflammation.

We conducted a follow-up study in an independent cohort of 97 extremely healthy adults (aged 25–90 years) matched for cardiovascular risk factors (including conserved levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), selected from a total of 151 recruited participants using strict selection criteria. In this healthy cohort, inflammation markers were measured using a 48-plex cytokine panel. Only 6 circulating immune proteins were significantly correlated with age, with CXCL9 again the largest contributor to age-related inflammation.

CXCL9 is a T-cell chemoattractant induced by IFN-γ and is mostly produced by neutrophils, macrophages and endothelial cells (ECs). We find that CXCL9 is mainly produced by aged endothelium and predicts subclinical levels of cardiovascular aging in nominally healthy individuals.

We did not find any significant correlation between known disease risk factors reported in the study (BMI, smoking, dyslipidemia) and levels of CXCL9 gene or protein expression. We hypothesize that one root cause of CXCL9 overproduction is cellular aging per se, which can trigger metabolic dysfunction.

As ECs but not cardiomyocytes expressed the CXCL9 receptor, CXCR3, we hypothesize that this chemokine acts both in a paracrine fashion (when it is produced by macrophages to attract T cells to the site of injury) and in an autocrine fashion (when it is produced by the endothelium) creating a positive feedback loop. In this model, increasing doses of CXCL9 and expression of its receptor in these cells leads to cumulative deterioration of endothelial function in aging.

IFN-γ did not increase in expression in our cellular aging RNA-seq experiment, suggesting that there are triggers of CXCL9 (other than IFN-γ) that play a role in cellular senescence in the endothelium that are currently unknown. However, in our 1KIP study, IFN-γ was in fact the second-most important negative contributor to iAge, which could be explained by the cell-priming effect of cytokines, where the effect of a first cytokine alters the response to a different one.

iAge derived from immunological cytokines gives us an insight into the salient cytokines that are related to aging and disease. A notable difference compared to other clocks is that iAge is clearly actionable as shown by our experiments in CXCL9 where we can reverse aging phenotypes. More practical approaches range from altering a person’s exposomes (lifestyle) and/or the use of interventions to target CXCL9 and other biomarkers described here.

Our immune metric for human health can identify within healthy older adults with no clinical or laboratory evidence of cardiovascular disease, those at risk for early cardiovascular aging. We demonstrate that CXCL9 is a master regulator of vascular function and cellular senescence, which indicates that therapies targeting CXCL9 could be used to prevent age-related deterioration of the vascular system and other physiological systems as well.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-021-00082-y “An inflammatory aging clock (iAge) based on deep learning tracks multimorbidity, immunosenescence, frailty and cardiovascular aging”