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One Type of Fiber May Have Weight Loss Benefits Similar to Ozempic

https://www.sciencealert.com/one-type-of-fiber-may-have-weight-loss-benefits-similar-to-ozempic

Excerpt:

.....A recent study on mice, however, suggests not all fiber supplements are equally beneficial.

A form that is readily found in oats and barley, called beta-glucan, can control blood sugar and assist in weight loss among mice fed a high-fat diet.

Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA) and the University of Vienna say it is the only type of fiber supplement they tested that decreased a mouse’s fat content and body weight within 18 weeks.

The other fibers considered, including wheat dextrin, pectin, resistant starch, and cellulose, had no such effect, despite shifting the makeup of the mouse microbiome significantly compared to mice fed no fiber supplements.

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An example of lifestyle changes, i.e. eating more beneficial fiber, instead of the latest medical offering. It is also more cost effective and doesn’t have the side effects of medical offerings.

Low-cost, portable device can detect colorectal and prostate cancer in an hour

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-portable-device-colorectal-prostate-cancer.html

Excerpt:

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have created a portable device that can detect colorectal and prostate cancer more cheaply and quickly than prevailing methods. The team believes the device may be especially helpful in developing countries, which experience higher cancer mortality rates due in part to barriers to medical diagnosis.

“Our new biochip device is low-cost—just a few dollars—and sensitive, which will make accurate disease diagnosis accessible to anyone, whether rich or poor,” said XiuJun (James) Li, Ph.D., a UTEP professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “It is portable, rapid and eliminates the need for specialized instruments.”

.....Li explained that the most commonly used commercial method of cancer biomarker detection, known as ELISA, requires costly instrumentation to work correctly and can take twelve hours or longer to process a sample. This delay is heightened in rural areas in the U.S. or developing countries, he said, because patient samples must be transported to larger cities with specialized instruments, contributing to a higher rate of cancer mortality.

“If you can detect biomarkers early on, before the cancer spreads, you increase a patients’ chance of survival,” Li said. “Any delays in testing, especially in regions that don’t have access to expensive tools and instruments, can be very bad for a patient’s prognosis.”

The device that Li’s team created is microfluidic, which means that it can perform multiple functions using very small amounts of fluids. The device uses an innovative “paper-in-polymer-pond” structure, in which patient blood samples are introduced into tiny wells and onto a special kind of paper. The paper captures cancer protein biomarkers within the blood samples in just a few minutes. The paper subsequently changes color, and the intensity of the color indicates what type of cancer is detected and how far it has progressed.

So far, the research has focused on prostate and colorectal cancers, but Li said the method they devised could be applicable to a wide variety of cancer types.

Li said that the device can analyze a sample in an hour—compared to 16 hours using some traditional methods. According to study results, the device is also about 10 times more sensitive than traditional methods, even without using specialized instruments. That means the device can detect cancer biomarkers that are present in smaller quantities, typical of cancer in its early stages. A less sensitive device may not pick up on the smaller quantities, Li said.

Before the device is available to the public, Li said the prototype of the device will need to be finalized and the device tested on patients in a clinical trial, which could take several years. It would require final approval by the Food and Drug Administration before it could be used by physicians.

Nutritional supplements with curcumin could curb macular degeneration, study suggests

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2024/10/24/macular-degeneration/4871729717068/

Excerpt:

Nutritional supplements that contain curcumin — a natural anti-inflammatory compound — may protect the eyes from the development and progression of age-related macular degeneration, a new study suggests.

The study was published Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Macular degeneration is the most frequent cause of irreversible vision loss in the developed world. It affects the macula — the center of the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye — and can cause in blurred vision or a blind spot primarily in people older than 50.

Although no treatments exist to reverse macular degeneration, researchers say some dietary supplements can help prevent the condition from becoming worse.

“Curcumin is the biologically active ingredient of turmeric,” the golden-orange spice used to flavor foods, the study’s corresponding author, Dr. Ehsan Rahimy, an ophthalmologist and adjunct clinical assistant professor in the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., told UPI.

“We see it promoted as a health supplement in many circles of medicine,” Rahimy said.

In addition to anti-inflammatory effects, the supplement has antioxidant properties, which help shield cells from damage, aging and eventually death, he noted.

While research suggests that genetics, age and smoking play a role in this condition, emerging evidence indicates that “chronic inflammation in the body can contribute to macular degeneration formation and progression,” Rahimy said.