"Overall, mice and humans share virtually the same set of genes. Almost every gene found in one species so far has been found in a closely related form in the other. Of the approximately 4,000 genes that have been studied, less than 10 are found in one species but not in the other." https://www.genome.gov/10001345/importance-of-mouse-genome
Perhaps too much red meat and not enough fiber? "But foods with fiber can have other good effects as well. They can help you stay at a healthy weight and lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer" https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...
To give another perspective on this, all my intestinal issues resolved when I eliminated fiber from my diet. Two other people I very intimately know that had IBS have managed their symptoms into remission by carefully gatekeeping fiber in their diets. last I was deep into this (5yrs ago or so) almost all of the prominent nutritional science was based on survey data and seemed to extrapolate way more than I was comfortable with given the narrow source. I have not kept abreast of new developments, but as far as I know the major impediments to real controlled nutritional studies are the same they always have been.
I started eating Brian Johnson’s superveggie about 4 times a week (it is about a pound of Brokkoli and cauliflower plus lentils and mushrooms) and can only say that my digestions thrives on it after a few days. So at least in my gut something needs to change so it can deal with the huge amount of dietary fiber but once it is settled it makes me feel much better overall
My greater point is that there is no one size fits all here. And generalizing things that are supposed to cover everyone like above is not always helpful, but can be actually harmful.
Fiber is the cause of many of intestinal issues, making constipation and crohn's disease worse.
Red meat also helps people stay at a healthy weight, lower the risk of heart disease (caused by glucose) and some types of cancer (which feed on glucose). What do fiber and red meat have in common? They are not sugar. You could replace fiber with other indigestible material such as sand, the effect would not be much different.
> Red meat also helps people stay at a healthy weight, lower the risk of heart disease (caused by glucose) and some types of cancer (which feed on glucose).
Are you a lobbyist for beef? This is not at all what research says, and research has said mostly the opposite for decades.
> Fiber is the cause of many of intestinal issues, making constipation and crohn's disease worse.
Big ol' citation needed on that one.
Fiber is more than fine if you actually drink enough water. There are also two types of fiber; some people need one more than the other, or vice-versa.
I know several people with Crohns where fiber has made the biggest difference in controlling it.
"A professor at the Institute for Work and Health found that people who stand throughout the day at their jobs have a 2.2 times higher risk of developing heart disease than those people who sit during the day." https://www.ergolink.com.au/blog/standing-vs-sitting-at-a-de...
I was a little miffed that this blog didn't include a link to that particular study, especially with how vague the citation is, so I went and found the original publication[0].
Of note, they have a "Setting the record straight" addendum[1] that includes a couple important quotes:
"Misconception #1: Office workers should now be confused about whether they should sit or stand, and about whether sit/stand stations are a good idea. They shouldn’t be, says Smith. The study’s main finding was about workers who are required to stand for long periods (i.e. five hours or more) throughout their work shift, without opportunities to sit. Extending this to any worker who stands (e.g. an office worker using a sit-stand desk) is not correct. This is because office workers who stand at these types of workstations likely have the option to sit down when they get tired or when they feel pain in their legs and back."
and
"Misconception #2: We no longer have to worry about the negative health effects of prolonged sitting, thanks to this study. Not so fast, says Smith. There was nothing in this study to refute the research on the health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle. Much of that research is about sitting too much throughout the day—at work, while commuting and at home. This study only focused on prolonged sitting and prolonged standing at work.
"And even within the study, another finding about prolonged sitting at work got lost in the coverage. Yes, prolonged standing occupations were linked with twice the risk of heart disease as prolonged sitting jobs. However, prolonged sitting jobs were still linked, among men, with a 40 per cent higher risk of heart disease compared to jobs that involve a mix of standing, sitting and walking."
"workers who are required to stand without opportunities to sit" sounds like it's little to do with posture and everything to do with the kind of jobs that don't let people sit typically being lower paid gigs for a different demographic...
I was thinking about posture as well, including building bad habits, possibly affecting breathing too which would turn everything around on its head, raising blood pressure and inflammation, affecting sleep and then causing avalanche cascading side effects throughout the human body.
I have for about 15 years used a stool to sit on at work, rather than a desk chair that I can slump in. I have found I feel much better - the stool forces my upper body to be actively held up and balanced; also, when I do go to meetings, instead of being annoyed at sitting in some dumb conference room, I am a little happy to be able to slump like a normal slouch.
I put a zafu (kapok filled, and not too full so its soft/adjustable) on the stool, and adjust the desk height so I don't have to reach up at all to touch the keyboard.
I also do a lot of zazen on a zafu (with legs crossed) so keeping my torso upright is pretty ingrained into my body.
This is just anecdata, but my dad suffered with back pain his entire life (included multiple herniated spinal disks), knock wood, I haven't. If I skip the check on the keyboard height and find I am reaching up for a while, I will get shoulder soreness, but so far early enough to function as a warning to lower it.
Sitting upright as tho you are a world honored one does I think affect the entire mind/body system in a healthy way :)
Spot on. I used to have back pain and all sorts of discomfort throughout body, neck shoulders, etc. until I figured out how to properly sit. Luckily I haven't had any issues lately, I'm in my mid 40s and have been in a much better shape than I was in my mid 20s. I don't use a stool necessarily but I try not to use the back support too much and for me the sitting area must be rigid, any cushion can mess up with my sitting position.
Bingo. As they say, “motion is lotion.” Staying in any position for a long time (even a “good” posture) is going to cause problems. Better being active if you’re passive, resting if you’re active, moving around, taking breaks, and basically just switching it up. All more important than doing one static pose or repetitive motion for an entire day.
I can think of a lot of confounding factors for that. Are they just looking at standing desks, or also at the numerous blue collar and service industry jobs that demand long hours of standing at machines and registers? If it's just the former, then there's the question of what kind of people choose standing desks over sitting desks. Is it people worried about their health but don't take the time to exercise outside of work and think standing will be enough? If the latter applies, then there's facts about the stresses and complications of being less financially secure, such as less access to healthcare, longer working hours, poorer diets.
Certainly but correlations not working make it unlikely that sitting is a dominant factor in current health problems. Looking at the details described it makes sense that sitting is a form of idleness and idleness is possible in a standing job. Therefore idleness could more reasonably be the dominant factor with other correlations then contributing more for idle standers than idle sitters, etc.
Research confirms a wider variety of gut contents provides better health... "By increasing the variety of your diet, you can improve your gut health and overall well being" (and) "A diet rich in these foods helps maintain microbiome diversity and can reduce the risk of several diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease"
For those wishing to delay the inevitable...
"Large observational prospective epidemiological studies with adequate control of confounding and two large randomized trials support the benefits of the Mediterranean dietary pattern to increase life expectancy, reduce the risk of major chronic disease, and improve quality of life and well-being."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5902736/
I'm aware of the importance of wearing a hat (with a brim) when in sunlight, to protect scalp and ears from UV radiation.
"Researchers think the three primary types of skin cancer -- melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma -- are mostly caused by too much time in the sun. So it’s very important to use sunscreen or cover up if you’re going to be outside longer than 15 minutes or so." https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-sunlight-he...
Consuming foods rich in antioxidants may help. "Research suggests that free radical molecules can add to the risk of health issues linked to aging. Some examples are heart disease, age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer's disease and cancer." https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...
On the other hand, it's known that consuming the antioxidant vitamin E actually promotes the progression of lung cancer. Cancer cells are under oxidative stress so antioxidants can help them survive and grow.
Just goes to show that biology is WAY more complicated than "if you want to prevent X then do Y" - especially at microbilogical scale. Genes influence each other for example, so by up- or downregulating stuff you are interfering in a highly complex, non-linear system with complex consequences.
The Vitamin E / NAC relationship are interesting. As far as I understand, there needs to be a balance of anti-oxidants (C, E, Selenium, etc). To make it worse there are so many formulations of Vitamin E you can buy (tocopherols, tocotrienols, etc). Sometimes its hard to tell from the studies what forms exactly were being used.
You may also find this interesting:
"NRF2 activation is a predictor of poor clinical outcomes in lung cancer. Given the widespread use of NRF2-inducing compounds such as resveratrol and sulforaphane, these findings raise important concerns about their safety in individuals at risk for or living with cancer."
A cheap method would be to leave the brush head soak overnight in a saline solution. Use tap water or COLD water from boiled kettle plus small amount salt.
Not if you have high blood pressure, both it and salt can affect your B.P.
Years ago I suffered with very bad dizzy spells which always began when I tried to get out of bed in mornings. They could last a few days. A doctor said another patient had same symptom and found reducing caffeine intake reduce them. I switched to decaf and progressively they got weaker, ultimately vanishing!
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