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HEALTH NEWS

B vitamins can potentially be used to treat advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Decreased acetyl-L-carnitine levels associated with depression

Skip the texts: Face-to-face meetings make college students happier

Eating more plant protein associated with lower risk of death

Heat therapy boosts mitochondrial function in muscles

Your soap and toothpaste could be messing with your microbiome

 

B vitamins can potentially be used to treat advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Duke University Medical School, August 6, 2022

Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School have uncovered a mechanism that leads to an advanced form of fatty liver disease—and it turns out that vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements could reverse this process.

These findings could help people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, an umbrella term for a range of liver conditions affecting people who drink little to no alcohol, which affects 25% of all adults globally, and four in 10 adults in Singapore. 

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease involves fat build-up in the liver and is a leading cause of liver transplants worldwide. When the condition progresses to inflammation and scar tissue formation, it is known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). 

Dr. Tripathi, study co-author Dr. Brijesh Singh and their colleagues in Singapore, India, China and the US confirmed the association of homocysteine with NASH progression in preclinical models and humans. They also found that  when homocysteine attached to a protein called syntaxin 17, it blocked the protein from performing its role of transporting and digesting fat (known as autophagy, an essential cellular process by which cells remove malformed proteins or damaged organelles) in fatty acid metabolism, mitochondrial turnover, and inflammation prevention. This induced the development and progression of fatty liver disease to NASH. 

Importantly, the researchers found that supplementing the diet in the preclinical models with vitamin B12 and folic acid increased the levels of syntaxin 17 in the liver and restored its role in autophagy. It also slowed NASH progression and reversed liver inflammation and fibrosis. 

 

Decreased acetyl-L-carnitine levels associated with depression

Stanford University, July 30 2022.

 An article that in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported a link between low levels of acetyl-L-carnitine and a greater risk of depression.

Acting on the findings of animal research conducted by lead author Carla Nasca, PhD, the researchers recruited men and women between the ages of 20 and 70 years who had been admitted to Weill Cornell Medicine or Mount Sinai School of Medicine for treatment of acute depression. Clinical assessments were conducted upon enrollment and blood samples were analyzed for levels of acetyl-L-carnitine.

In comparison with levels measured in blood samples provided by 45 demographically matched healthy men and women, acetyl-L-carnitine blood levels in depressed subjects were substantially lower. Acetyl-L-carnitine levels were lowest among depressed patients who had severe symptoms, a history of treatment resistance, or early onset disease. Having a history of childhood abuse was also associated with low acetyl-L-carnitine levels.

“We’ve identified an important new biomarker of major depression disorder,” Dr Rasgon stated. What’s the appropriate dose, frequency, duration? We need to answer many questions before proceeding with recommendations, yet. 

 

Skip the texts: Face-to-face meetings make college students happier

University of Hamburg (Germany), August 5, 2022

In a world where everyone spends more and more time with eyes fixed on their phones, new research suggests young people feel happier after socializing with friends in person rather th