- Probiotic increases Vitamin D in the blood
- It’s hard to criticize Jared Diamond. “You’re just a nit-picking specialist.” Steven Pinker & Jared Diamond: separated at birth.
- Concern about academic freedom at Duke University’s new Kunshan campus in China. “I n a preprandial discussion with [Duke President] Brodhead, the professor expressed concern over academic freedom [at Kunshan] — and Brodhead shot back at him that he is a “worrier.” . . . He told the professor if he ever needed a worrier to serve on a committee, he’d be picked.” Kunshan sinkhole.
- Butter is not as bad as we’ve been told. “The motto has been, if you want to sell crap, make sure it’s low-fat crap.” Related BMJ article.
- Sleep cleans brain of toxins. Have you heard of the glymphatic system?
Thanks to Claire Hsu.
The probiotic studied is very interesting, it is a specific strain of Lactobacillus Reuteri which is apparently being studied and marketed by a Canadian company. It was recently granted FDA approval to be sold in the US under the product name CardioViva. (I assume it has already been sold in other countries but I don’t know under what names.) It was shown in two published trials to reduce not only LDL cholesterol but also CRP. After reading about it I purchased some and decided to do my own experiment to see if it lowers cholesterol. (Mine isn’t particularly high but I’m not doing anything else to try and affect it so thought it would be interesting.) My husband is also trying it, he hasn’t been able to tolerate statins and should lower his LDL some so we’ll see.
Pass the butter, please:
A new integrative medicine paper examines the role of gut bacteria on the maturation of the immune system and claims evidence supporting the use of butyrate as therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease.
https://www.science20.com/news_articles/butyrate_therapy_fatty_acid_produced_gut_bacteria_boosts_immune_system-124388