Gut bacteria can cause, predict and prevent rheumatoid arthritis

Mayo Clinic  July 9, 2022

 

The bacteria in your gut do more than break down your food. They also can predict susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis, suggests Veena Taneja, Ph.D., an immunologist at Mayo Clinic's Center

 

Dr. Taneja and her team identified intestinal bacteria as a possible cause; their studies indicate that testing for specific microbiota in the gut can help physicians predict and prevent the onset of rheumatoid arthritis.

"These are exciting discoveries that we may be able to use to personalize treatment for patients," Dr. Taneja says.

 

"Using genomic sequencing technology, we were able to pin down some gut microbes that were normally rare and of low abundance in healthy individuals, but expanded in patients with rheumatoid arthritis," Dr. Taneja says.

 

The second paper, published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, explored another facet of gut bacteria. Dr. Taneja treated one group of arthritis-susceptible mice with a bacterium, Prevotella histicola, and compared that to a group that had no treatment. The study found that mice treated with the bacterium had decreased symptom frequency and severity, and fewer inflammatory conditions associated with rheumatoid arthritis. The treatment produced fewer side effects, such as weight gain and villous atrophy—a condition that prevents the gut from absorbing nutrients—that may be linked with other, more traditional treatments.

 

While human trials have not yet taken place, the mice's immune systems and arthritis mimic humans, and shows promise for similar, positive effects. Since this bacterium is a part of healthy human gut, treatment is less likely to have side effects, says study co-author Joseph Murray, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist.

 

 

 

 

Adding salt to your food at the table is linked to higher risk of premature death

Tulane University School of Public Health, July 11, 2022

 

People who add extra salt to their food at the table are at higher risk of dying prematurely from any cause, according to a study of more than 500,000 people, published in the European Heart Journal today.

Compared to those who never or rarely added salt, those who always added salt to their food had a 28% increased risk of dying prematurely. In the general population about three in every hundred people aged between 40 and 69 die prematurely. The increased risk from always adding salt to food seen in the current study suggests that one more person in every hundred may die prematurely in this age group.

In addition, the study found a lower life expectancy among people who always added salt compared to those who never, or rarely added salt. At the age of 50, 1.5 years and 2.28 years were knocked off the life expectancy of women and men, respectively, who always added salt to their food compared to those who never, or rarely, did.

"To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relation between adding salt to foods and premature death," he said. "It provides novel evidence to support recommendations to modify eating behaviors for improving health. Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits, especially when it is achieved in the general population."

 

Hops extract studied to prevent breast cancer

University of Illinois  July 8, 2022 

 

An enriched hops extract activates a chemical pathway in cells that could help prevent breast cancer, according to new laboratory findings from the Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Researchers led by Judy Bolton, professor and head of medicinal chemistry, applied hops extract to two different breast cell lines to see if they would affect estrogen metabolism, a key mechanism in breast cancer. One compound, 6-prenylnarigenin, or 6-PN, increased a detoxification pathway in the cells that has been linked to a lower