Health gurus who weren’t so healthy

 Here’s an amusing seconds-long video of Bill Mahr talking about diet and health gurus, all but one of whom didn’t make it to age 70.  

Clive McCay, believed that a restricted calorie diet was the key to longevity, as explained in his book Nutrition, Ageing, and Longevity (1942). He died at age 69 following two strokes.

Adelle Davis, best known for Let’s Cook it Right (1947) died of bone cancer at the age of 70. Davis contended that almost any disease could be prevented by proper diet. She took lots of vitamins.

Euell Gibbons, who wrote Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1962), died at 64 of a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Jim Fixx, author of The Complete Book of Running (1977), died at age 52 of a heart attack while he was out on a run.

Nathan Pritikin’s books, such as The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise (1979), recommended a low fat, high fiber diet. He committed suicide at the age of 69 after being hospitalized with two types of cancer.

Michel Montignac, author of Eat Yourself Slim (1987) and other diet books, died of prostate cancer at age 65. Like others, he’s quoted as advocating “healthy eating habits, which can also prevent illness and disease."

I’m not sure what the lesson is in all of this. Maybe keep your ideas to yourself?

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Companies that analyze your microbiome

 Microbiomes are all the rage these days, especially those that inhabit the gut. (Your microbiome is the 100 million microorganisms—such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses—that live in your body.) Because we now know the crucial role our microbiome plays in our health, companies are looking for ways to monetize this new field. Some are developing therapeutics. For example, in 2018, a company called Microbiotica signed a $534 million deal with Genentech to develop therapeutics for irritable bowel syndrome. Others are marketing their services directly to the public. In these cases, the companies analyze your gut microbiome based on your stool and blood samples and provide recommendations for foods to eat and avoid.  Here are three companies offering these services: 

Viome: I have seen somebody’s results from this company. It was a 104-page report that included a list of the bacteria in her gut along with recommendations on what foods to eat and avoid as well as suggested supplements.

Zoe: Like Viome, it analyzes your gut bacteria but it also has you wear a continuous glucose monitor to see how different meals affect your glucose and fat levels. (Glucose response is highly individualized.) It provides dietary advice based on the data it collects.

DayTwo: Aimed at diabetics, the company analyzes your gut microbiome and continuously monitors glucose levels. The company pairs you with a dietician who provides personalized diet recommendations. 

In 2017 I had my gut microbiome by The American Gut Project, a "citizen science" project at the University of California. The information I got was interesting but not especially useful. If I had health problems, I might try one of the other companies. If I had diabetes, I’d definitely try DayTwo.

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The Epstein-Barr virus triggers M.S.

 In October, 2020, I wrote a post naming various diseases that were likely linked to the Epstein-Barr virus. The diseases include a variety of cancers, long Covid, and autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and M.S. (multiple sclerosis). More than 90 percent of us have the Epstein-Barr virus—one that we usually acquire in childhood. It’s passed from person to person through saliva. Most of us never realize we have it. Once you have it, you have it forever. If you’ve had mononucleosis, you have the virus.

Because so many of us have the virus, it’s been difficult to positively prove the association between the virus and M.S.—a disease in which the immune system destroys the protective sheath (myelin) that coats nerve fibers. In the U.S., one of every 330 people develop M.S., usually between age 20 and 50.  Ordinarily, to prove the association between Epstein-Barr and M.S., you’d have to follow a huge group of people over decades, comparing those who contract the virus and develop M.S. with those who don’t. 

Recently, some scientists figured out an easier way to prove the association: they looked at the health records of military personnel between 1993 and 2013, identifying cases of M.S. among this group. They found that, of 801 soldiers with M.S., 800 were positive for Epstein-Barr. As one of the scientists remarked, “In practical terms, if you’re not infected with E.B.V., your risk of M.S. is virtually zero.”

Scientists are careful label the virus a “necessary precondition” for M.S., rather than the cause. As to why more of us don’t have the disease, they assume other factors come into play, including genetic susceptibility. Now that the link between Epstein-Barr and M.S. has been proven, a vaccine will soon be on the way.

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Covid-19 doesn’t live on surfaces

 I never worried about getting Covid by touching something and never wiped anything down to prevent catching it. My reason for not worrying about it is partly because I’m not much of a worrier, and partly because the incidence of the disease in my area is fairly low. Plus, there are no documented cases of the virus spreading by way of contaminated surfaces. Now, scientists have figured out why that’s the case.  

Covid is spread by aerosols—the fine mist we exhale as we breathe, talk, laugh, cough, and sneeze. Early in the pandemic, some studies seemed to show that the virus was viable on surfaces for days and even weeks. It turns out those studies were wrong, and here’s why: the researchers used water to simulate sneeze droplets, which does not mimic real world conditions. As Jessica Kramer, a biomedical engineer at the University of Utah says, “…people don’t sneeze out water. They sneeze out mucus.” Big difference, it turns out. In fact, the spit that helps spread the virus in the air actually blocks it from later infecting someone via surfaces.

It turns out that mucus has protective effects because of two characteristics: it evaporates slower than water and it contains sugar and proteins. These characteristics make a huge difference when it comes to preventing virus transmission via a surface. What happens is, when an infected person coughs and the virus lands on a tabletop, the virus grabs all the proteins it can from the mucus as the surrounding fluid begins to evaporate. By the time the virus is dry, it’s spikes—which cause infections—are full. The process, called "binding," renders the virus impotent.

So, you can stop worrying about touching surfaces and wiping them down. It’s all been wasted effort.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.