HEALTH NEWS

 

Hyaluranic acid, a naturally occurring compound, awakens stem cells to repair damaged muscle

'A banana a day': Starch supplement may reduce the risk of some hereditary cancers

Running reduces risk of death regardless of duration, speed

Eating processed foods is hurting your brain, study says: Even '2 cookies' can affect health

Sharing memories with toddlers helps their well-being into adulthood

What the Amish can teach us about health and happiness

 

Hyaluranic acid, a naturally occurring compound, awakens stem cells to repair damaged muscle

University of Ottawa (Ontario), August 4 2022

A new study published in the journal Science reveals a unique form of cell communication that controls muscle repair. In damaged muscle, stem cells must work together with immune cells to complete the repair process, yet how these cells coordinate to ensure the efficient removal of dead tissue before making new muscle fibers has remained unknown. The scientists have now shown that a natural substance called hyaluronic acid, which is used in cosmetics and injections for osteoarthritis, is the key molecule that manages this fundamental interaction.

"When muscles get damaged, it is important for immune cells to quickly enter the tissue and remove the damage before stem cellsbegin repair," said Dr. Jeffrey Dilworth, senior scientist at the University of Ottawa and senior author on the study. "Our study shows that muscle stem cells are primed to start repair right away, but the immune cells maintain the stem cells in a resting state while they finish the cleanup job. After about 40 hours, once the cleanup job is finished, an internal alarm goes off in the muscle stem cells that allows them to wake up and start repair."

Dr. Dilworth and his team identified hyaluronic acid as the key ingredient in this internal alarm clock that tells muscle stem cells when to wake up. When muscle damage occurs, stem cells start producing and coating themselves with hyaluronic acid. Once the coating gets thick enough, it blocks the sleep signal from the immune cells and causes the muscle stem cells to wake up.

"Interestingly, aging is associated with chronic inflammation, muscle weakness and a reduced ability of muscle stem cells to wake up and repair damage,. "If we could find a way to enhance hyaluronic acid production in the muscle stem cells of older people it might help with muscle repair."

'A banana a day': Starch supplement may reduce the risk of some hereditary cancers

Universities of Newcastle and Leeds (UK), August 4, 2022

Resistant starches (RS) are carbohydrates that pass undigested through the small intestine and are digested, or fermented, in the large intestine. They are present in plant-based foods including beans, oats, breakfast cereals, rice, cooked and cooled pasta, peas, and slightly unripe bananas. RS forms part of dietary fiber, which is known to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer and many other non-communicable diseases.

Researchers at Newcastle University and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom found that a RS powder supplement may help prevent cancer in people with Lynch syndrome.

Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition, predisposes people to colon cancer, gastric cancer, and several other cancers.

The experts ran a multinational trial involving almost 1,000 people with Lynch syndrome. They gave the participants a 30g dose of RS for an average of two years.

The supplementation did not affect colorectal cancers as expected. However, unexpectedly, its protective potential was most apparent in the upper digestive tract, where cancers are aggressive and not usually caught early.The  trial analyzed the long-term effects of aspirin and RS on cancer onset in patients with Lynch syndrome.

The dose used was equivalent to eating one slightly unripe banana daily. Bananas at this stage resist breakdown in the small intestine, reaching the large intestine and feeding the microbiome there.

They found no difference in the