UF Health Podcasts

For years, the longstanding medical treatment for inflammation-related lost sense of smell was to prescribe oral vitamin D supplements.

But sometimes you just have to turn convention on its head.

Researchers at the University of Florida and Northwestern University, in a study published earlier this year, reduced nasal inflammation and improved the sense of smell in mice by using a vitamin D nasal spray.

The inflammation was caused by cigarette smoke. But the researchers said the potential treatment, an active form of vitamin D called calcitriol [kal-suh-tray-ahl] might be effective for treating nasal inflammation caused by other conditions, including COVID-19.

Although the study involved an animal model, researchers noted that their previous work using human tissue bolsters confidence that the treatment might work for people, too. There remain years of research ahead, including potential human trials.

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D is deficient in smokers’ nasal tissue.

In the recent study, the mice received intranasal treatment three times a week for one month. When placed in a maze, the treated mice avoided areas with an unpleasant smell. The unstreated mice didn’t notice the odor at all.

CT scans confirmed that the treated mice had much less nasal tissue blockage than their untreated counterparts.

If the spray can be used in humans, it would vastly improve treatment options, which are limited mostly to supplements, surgery or pricey lab-produced antibodies.

And it would improve quality of life for those who miss catching a whiff of gardenia, garlic and onion sizzling in a pan or cookies coming out of the oven.

There’s nothing quite like a heaping portion of sauerkraut to accompany a nice sausage or potato dish. While the tangy, fermented cabbage dish is deeply rooted in German culture today, it has actually been consumed by humans for at least 2,000 years, dating back to ancient Rome.

Besides its appealing salty-tangy combo punch and preservative qualities cultivated in the fermenting process, a new study shows how sauerkraut is also good for our gut microbiome. Its health benefits might also be a testament to why the dish has been around for millennia.

Researchers explored the fermentation process and compared the nutritional profile of sauerkraut with raw cabbage as well as the liquid brine left from fermentation.

Their findings indicated that sauerkraut, whether bought at the grocery or made in their lab, helped protect intestinal cells from inflammation-related damage, while the raw cabbage and leftover brine did not have the same effect.

The researchers explained that some of the metabolites found in sauerkraut are the same kinds made by the gut microbiome, strengthening the evidence that sauerkraut can benefit gut health.

In recent years, scientists have gained a better understanding of just how important a properly balanced gut microbiome can be for overall health. The researchers in the current study recommend eating more fermented foods alongside fruits and vegetables to help optimize gut health.

Rather than relegating sauerkraut to a lowly topping, promote it to a full-on side dish and relish its rich tangy goodness tangy goodness … while giving your gut health a boost.

It’s June, and that means it’s Paul McCartney’s birthday. On June 18, the former Beatle turns 83. Happy birthday, Paul.

So, it’s a great time to remind the world about the obscure if important role played by the Beatles in an unlikely field — medicine.

The scientist who is thought to have been most responsible for the invention of the CT scanner is Godfrey Hounsfield. Many millions of people have received a CT scan, widely called a CAT scan.

A computed tomography scan helps doctors diagnose many illnesses or injuries. It’s undoubtedly saved many lives by using X-rays in thin slices to provide a view inside your body.

Hounsfield worked for a company called English Musical Industries, or EMI. One part of the company sold records under the Parlophone label. Other divisions, however, produced a variety of products.

Hounsfield was an engineer on the nonmusical side of the business and worked at EMI through the 1960s.

As any Beatles fan can recite chapter and verse, a Parlophone producer, George Martin, signed the Fab Four to a recording contract in 1962. What followed was a string of hits and nearly 200 million records sold through the rest of the decade. EMI profits doubled.

Many argue that this rich vein of money allowed EMI to generously fund new product research. Hounsfield started work on his project in 1967, the year the Beatles’ made their seminal album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sitting on loads of cash, EMI hardly blinked at funding Hounsfield’s big idea.

Hounsfield would be awarded a Nobel Prize for work he accomplished, perhaps with a little help from his friends.

Does a big, juicy steak for breakfast sound appealing? Perhaps not, but finding ways to boost your protein intake during breakfast and lunch might be a good idea.

A new study suggests spreading your protein intake more evenly across three meals is crucial to keeping your muscles strong as you age.

For three years, researchers led by McGill University studied more than 1,700 Canadians between the ages of 67 and 84. They measured participants’ physical performance once each year with two tests. One evaluated muscle strength through hand grip, arm and leg exercises, while the other assessed mobility through walking speed, chair stands and timed walking tests.

The researchers also conducted six 24-hour food recalls — three at the beginning of the study and three at Year 2 — to collect dietary information.

Women with the most balanced protein intake averaged 18 grams at breakfast, 23 grams at lunch and 23 grams at dinner. Men averaged 21 grams at breakfast, 29 grams at lunch and 30 grams at dinner.

These participants showed significantly higher muscle strength throughout the study, regardless of how much protein they consumed, compared with those whose protein intake was less consistent. However, the researchers also found that the rate of decline in muscle strength was not affected by protein distribution.

This suggests it might be important to do what you can to boost your muscle strength now, since we all will gradually lose it as we age.

So, no, you don’t have to eat a rare steak for breakfast. But if you want to improve your muscle strength, you might want to consider having an egg or two with your cereal.

Join us on Animal Airwaves-Live as Dr. Caryn Plummer, veterinary ophthalmology specialist from UF, discusses cataracts across pets and horses. She’ll help owners identify early signs like eye cloudiness and changes in navigation, explain the difference between normal aging and cataracts, and outline modern treatment options. Dr. Plummer will share insights on surgical procedures, recovery expectations, and species-specific considerations, equipping owners with knowledge to protect their companions’ vision and quality of life whether they have hooves or paws.

What if we put a bit of the stuff found in antiseptic mouthwash on our walls to protect our health?

That may sound like a harebrained scheme or like a bit of quackery found in the dark corners of the internet. A recent British study, however, tested an idea that does just that.

The pharmacy researchers found that adding a common antiseptic to paint containing epoxy resin can transform a surface into a deathtrap for harmful bacteria.

The scientists envision this paint being a boon to hospital infection control. Might an antiseptic paint for home use one day be found on the shelf of your local paint shop?

Experiments indicate the paint completely eradicates E. coli and candida and destroys 99.9% of antibiotic-resistant bacteria generally known as MRSA [MUR-suh].

The researchers say the paint is relatively cheap, although it will probably be a little more expensive than other resin-epoxy paints without antimicrobial properties.

The study found the paint retains the power to kill bacteria for months and does not appear to lose much strength as it ages.

The paint is combined with chlorhexidine digluconate [klor-HEX-ih-deen dye-GLOO-kuh-nate], a widely used antiseptic. It is, for example, a skin prep used before surgery. And as mentioned, it’s in mouthwash, too.

The antiseptic agent remains embedded in the resin and won’t wash off.

Touching a contaminated surface is a common way to pick up an infectious bacterium. MRSA, for example, has been shown to remain on glass and steel surfaces for six weeks. On plastic, it’s 90 days.

Someday, perhaps a doctor will send you to the hardware store instead of the pharmacy to prevent an infection.

In the last two decades, the average rate of obesity among adults in the United States has risen about 30%.

But the rate of those with the most serious, life-threatening forms of obesity —those with a body mass index, or BMI, of more than 60 — increased by a startling 210%.

Researchers from Lousiana State University analyzed national health survey data of adults from 2001 to 2023.

For those of us who don’t feel like solving our BMIs by hand, the internet is littered with calculators for the metric. If you plug in your height and weight, a widget will let you know if you’re underweight, which is a BMI under 18, within a healthy range, overweight, or obese, which is a BMI of 30 or higher.

Much scientific attention is being paid to those who are obese, but the researchers say there’s not nearly enough for the extremely obese.

According to the study, such high BMIs were presumed to be exceptionally rare, because most prior surveys lumped everyone with a BMI over 30 into one category.

For context, someone with a BMI of 30 may be 30 or 40 pounds overweight. But someone with a BMI of 60 is likely carrying 200 extra pounds.

The latter’s health is more in peril. They often need help walking, turning to motorized carts, and are hospitalized frequently. They are often disabled.

There are 850,000 or more people in the U.S. in this category — a grave concern. They also exceed weight limits for standard medical equipment, which makes imaging, surgeries and anesthesia more challenging.

The researchers said they hope their study sends an urgent message to health care providers and policymakers not to overlook this previously unnoticed group.

Wrinkles on one’s face are an obvious, unavoidable sign of aging. But your heart might be aging, too, faster than you think — and now, scientists have a way to check.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia [An-glee-uh] have developed a new MRI-based method to reveal your heart’s functional age, or a measure of how well your heart is really doing, regardless of how many years you’ve lived on this planet.

Why does this matter?

Well, for people with high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity, that number can be much higher than their actual age.

Here’s how it works: Using MRI scans from more than 500 people, scientists measured data points like the size and strength of the heart’s chambers. Then, they built a formula that calculates heart age and compared it with hearts from healthy people to verify accuracy. For those without health issues, heart age and “real” age usually matched. But in patients with conditions like hypertension or diabetes, the heart was often 5, 10, even 20 years older than expected — like a 50-year-old who is living their day-to-day routine with the heart of a 55-year-old.

That’s not just trivia. It’s a warning sign.

After all, knowing your heart’s true age could help doctors spot heart disease before symptoms appear. And for patients, it might just be the wake-up call they need to change course, eat better and move more. With heart disease one of the world’s top killers, a tool that can identify cardiac risk early and give people time to turn things around is most welcome.

In the case of our hearts, we want them to act their age. And know if they’re precocious in the wrong way.

Much like sleep or sunlight, good mental health may come down to the little things we do every day — like chatting with a friend or taking a moment to step outside.

In a new study from researchers at Curtin University, a team looked at the habits of 600 adults in Western Australia and found that simple, everyday behaviors were strongly tied to better mental health.

In one instance, daily conversations with others stood out. Folks who talked to someone every day scored a whopping 10 points higher on a standard mental health scale than those who only did so once a week or less.

Nature helped, too. Spending time outdoors daily gave people a five-point mental health boost. Other feel-good habits included regular catchups with friends, physical activity, spiritual practices and mentally engaging tasks like reading or learning something new.

The takeaway? These aren’t expensive interventions or therapy sessions. They’re small things most of us can do that consistently make a difference. Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when social contact was limited, most participants showed no signs of psychological distress. Their mental well-being scores were on par with global prepandemic levels.

Although these ideas aren’t exactly groundbreaking, they demonstrate something even more important than sheer novelty or excitement: Daily habits and routines matter quite a bit.

A walk in the park, a quick chat, a crossword — they might seem small, but they add up. Each day is a building block that makes up what your life looks like, ultimately making the little things a big deal.

And hey … maybe that catch-up coffee really does count as self-care.

Finding ways to shed a few pounds has become an American obsession. Now, researchers have hit on an idea that will be music to the ears of anyone trying to trim the waistline.

It involves something of note to any musician — the sound frequency 440 Hertz.

For the less musically inclined, that frequency is the note A-4, or A in the fourth octave. It’s sometimes called “Concert A” because it is the standard tuning pitch for instruments. Once A is calibrated, it can be used as a reference point to tune other notes.

This frequency, it turns out, might help control fat in the human body.

Japanese researchers found in a recent study that exposing cells to this and other frequencies reduced fat cell formation by 15%. The finding is based on mouse cells in a laboratory, not in the human body, so don’t press your belly against a stereo speaker just yet.

The findings, however, suggest that sound therapies might one day be a new weapon in the fight against obesity.

Sound waves can cause physical reactions in cells. The study showed that at 440 Hertz, vibrations triggered production of a specific protein that causes a chain reaction of sorts.

One of the downstream effects is the production of a hormone-like substance tied to inflammation. The end result in experiments is that fewer fat cells develop and many that do fail to mature. And they stored less fat.

Different frequencies produced other cellular impacts. Scientists say these impacts raise questions about how the sounds in the environment might influence health.

Perhaps one day weight loss will be as easy as turning up the volume.