Also, some experiments have shown that spraying oxytocin into the noses of kids with autism may boost their social skills. —Takamitsu Watanabe et al., “Clinical and neural effects of six-week administration of oxytocin on core symptoms of autism,” Brain 11 (2015): 3400–3412.
Research shows that people with an AA variant of an oxytocin receptor gene called rs53576 are less empathic…—Franz Korbinian Huetter et al., “Association of a Common Oxytocin Receptor Gene Polymorphism with Self-Reported ‘Empathic Concern’ in a Large Population of Healthy Volunteers,” PLOS One (2016).
…as one study found, if they are mothers, parent their kids with less sensitivity in times of parental conflict. —Melissa L. Sturge-Apple and Dante Cicchetti, “Differential Susceptibility in Spillover Between Interparental Conflict and Maternal Parenting Practices: Evidence for OXTR and 5-HTT Genes,” Journal of Family Psychology 26 (2012): 431-442.
On one late afternoon in 2007, forty-seven couples entered the unassuming steel-and-concrete buildings of the University of Zurich…Beate Ditzen et al., “Intranasal Oxytocin Increases Positive Communication and Reduces Cortisol Levels During Couple Conflict,” Biological Psychiatry 65 (2009): 728-731.
It makes us better at reading facial expressions of emotions…—Gregor Domes et al., “Oxytocin improves ‘mind-reading’ in humans,” Biological Psychiatry 6 (2007).
It makes us more trusting. —Michael Kosfeld et al., “Oxytocin increased trust in humans,” Nature (2005).
It can even make husbands stand further away from pretty women. —Dirk Scheele et al., “Oxytocin Modulates Social Distance between Males and Females,” Journal of Neuroscience 32 (2012).
There is evidence that oxytocin has anti-inflammatory properties…—C. Sue Carter, “Oxytocin Pathways and the Evolution of Human Behavior,” Annual Review of Psychology 65 (2014): 17-39.
…some researchers have even dubbed it the “elixir of youth.” —Susan E. Erdman, “Microbes and healthful longevity,” Aging 8 (2016).
…their hearts were in far worse shape, too. Yet these effects could be reversed with simple injections of oxytocin. —Manal Tabbaa et al., “Neuropeptide Regulation of Social Attachment: The Prairie Vole Model,” Comprehensive Physiology 7 (2016): 81-104.
Even your success in speed dating may be affected by serotonin. —Karen Wu et al., “Gender Interacts with Opioid Receptor Polymorphism A118G and Serotonin Receptor Polymorphism−1438 A/G on Speed-Dating Success,” Human Nature 27 (2016): 244-260.
…social isolation makes the levels of the neurotransmitter plummet, which in turn can prompt aggressive behaviours…—Simon N. Young, “The effect of raising and lowering tryptophan levels on human mood and social behaviour,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 368 (2013).
It has even been directly connected to longevity…—Sara Fidalgo, Dobril K. Ivanov and Shona H. Wood, “Serotonin: from top to bottom,” Biogerontology 14 (2013): 21-45.
One study of Japanese centenarians suggests there may be a link in humans, too. —Yasuyuki Gondo et al., “Contribution of an affect-associated gene to human longevity: Prevalence of the long-allele genotype of the serotonin transporter-linked gene in Japanese centenarians,” Mechanisms of Ageing and Development 126 (2005): 1178-1184.
Also unlike oxytocin, it appears that more vasopressin circulating in the body is not necessarily better…—Florina Uzefovsky et al., “Vasopressin selectively impairs emotion recognition in men,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 37 (2012): 576-580.
It can make rat mothers fiercely protective of their babies…—Oliver J. Bosch and Inga D. Neumann, “Both oxytocin and vasopressin are mediators of maternal care and aggression in rodents: from central release to sites of action,” Hormones and Behavior 61 (2012): 293-202.
…both males and females swap partners left and right. —Renee C. Firman and Leigh W. Simmons, “Experimental evolution of sperm quality via postcopulatory sexual selection in house mice,” Evolution 64 (2010): 1245-1256.
Back in the late 1990s, Larry Young and his colleagues at the Atlanta lab…—Larry J. Young et al., “Increased affiliative response to vasopressin in mice expressing the V1a receptor from a monogamous vole,” Nature 400 (1999): 766-768.
A study of Swedish twins revealed that in men, polymorphisms of one vasopressin gene in particular, called AVPR1A…—Hasse Walum et al., “Genetic variation in the vasopressin receptor 1a gene (AVPR1A) associates with pair-bonding behavior in humans,” PNAS 105 (2008): 14153-14156.
In experiments, squirting vasopressin up people’s noses has been shown to improve sleep and memory…—Boris Perras et al., “Beneficial Treatment of Age-Related Sleep Disturbances With Prolonged Intranasal Vasopressin,” Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology: 19 (1999): 28-36.
…and to make women more conciliatory and men better at cooperation…—James K. Rilling et al., “Sex differences in the neural and behavioral response to intranasal oxytocin and vasopressin during human social interaction,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 39 (2014).
When mama rats engage in a lot of skin-to-skin contact with their babies…— S. Kojima et al., “Maternal Contact Differentially Modulates Central and Peripheral Oxytocin in Rat Pups During a Brief Regime of Mother–Pup Interaction that Induces a Filial Huddling Preference,” Journal of Neuroendocrinology 24 (2012): 831-840.
Mothers and fathers who have high oxytocin are more responsive, more sensitive, and warmer toward their kids…—Ilanit Gordon et al., “Oxytocin and the Development of Parenting in Humans,” Biological Psychiatry 68 (2010): 377-382.
Massage therapy can boost serotonin by 28 percent and dopamine by 31 percent. —Tiffany Field et al., “Cortisol decreases and serotonin and dopamine increase following massage therapy,” International Journal of Neuroscience 10 (2005).
Several studies have shown that orgasms are quite good at raising oxytocin levels in the blood. —S. Ogawa et al., “Increase in oxytocin secretion at ejaculation in male,” Clinical Endocrinology 13 (1980): 95-97 AND W. Blaicher et al., “The role of oxytocin in relation to female sexual arousal,” Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation 47 (1999): 125-126.
…the more a mother looks at her baby’s face, the more oxytocin gets pumped into her body. —Lane Strathearn et al., “Adult attachment predicts maternal brain and oxytocin response to infant cues,” Neuropsychopharmacology 34 (2009): 2655-2666.
More remarkable was an experiment published in 2015 in the journal Science…—M. Nagasawa et al., “Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds,” Science 348 (2015): 333-336.
When little mice are allowed to interact with other little mice in their nest, they grow up to have more oxytocin receptors in specific areas of their brains. —Igor Branchi et al., “Early interactions with mother and peers independently build adult social skills and shape BDNF and oxytocin receptor brain levels,” Psychoneuroendocrinology 38 (2013): 522-532.
…foods containing tryptophan don’t increase brain serotonin. —Simon N. Young, “How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs,” Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience 32 (2007): 394-399.
PART TWO: HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIPS AND YOUR MIND CAN PROLONG YOUR LIFE
CHAPTER 4: DITCH GOJI BERRIES
One study done in Mississippi suggested that for every unit increase in BMI…—Jongha Park et al., “Obesity Paradox in End-Stage Kidney Disease Patients,” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 56 (2016): 415-425.
If the illness progresses to a full-blown heart failure…—Jeptha P. Curtis et al., “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure,” JAMA 165 (2005): 55-61.
The obesity paradox has been found in hypertension, in atrial fibrillation (a heart condition)…—Carl J. Lavie et al., “Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology 63 (2014).
…and in lung-removal surgery. —L. Tulinský et al., “Obes
ity paradox in patients undergoing lung lobectomy—myth or reality?” BMC Surgery 18 (2018).
People with BMIs between 30 and 35, which is grade one obesity and above normal BMI of 18.5 to 24.9…—Katherine Flegal et al., Association of All-Cause Mortality With Overweight and Obesity Using Standard Body Mass Index Categories,” JAMA 309 (2013).
One explanation for such counterintuitive results is that BMI is simply not a good measurement of how extra pounds affect health. —BMI is calculated by simply dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by height in metres squared.
For one, it can sop up toxins. —Jongha Park et al., “Obesity Paradox in End-Stage Kidney Disease Patients,” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 56 (2016): 415-425.
Here is what he recounted: “you are showing both signs of starvation and of protein poisoning…” —“Vihljalmur Stefansson was called and examined, May 8, 1919,” accessed November 27, 2014, https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24661516M/Vihljalmur_Stefansson_was_called_and_examined_May_8_1919_i.e._1920
…eating a lot of protein can accelerate the illness, so much so that scientists now advise against such diets in patients with chronic renal disease. —Adam M. Bernstein, Leo Treyzon and Zhaoping Li, “Are High-Protein, Vegetable-Based Diets Safe for Kidney Function? A Review of the Literature,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 107 (2007): 644-650.
Authors of a study that revealed worrisome changes in renal function in young men…—Helga Frank et al., “Effect of short-term high-protein compared with normal-protein diets on renal hemodynamics and associated variables in healthy young men,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 90 (2009): 1509-1516.
Very low-carbohydrate diets may elevate the risk of imminent death by as much as 31 percent. —Hiroshi Noto et al., “Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies,” PLOS One 8 (2013).
A fifty-five-year-old Indian national living in Canada…—Harinder Singh Bedi, Vivek Tewarson and Kamal Negi, “Bleeding risk of dietary supplements: A hidden nightmare for cardiac surgeons,” Indian Heart Journal 68 (2016): S249-S250.
Each year in the US alone there are an estimated fifty thousand serious adverse events connected to supplement consumption. —Pieter A. Cohen, “American Roulette—Contaminated Dietary Supplements,” The New England Journal of Medicine 361 (2009): 1523-1525.
In 2013, as many as 20 percent of cases of drug-induced liver injury were due to herbal and dietary supplements…—Victor J. Navarro et al., “Liver injury from Herbals and Dietary Supplements in the US Drug Induced Liver Injury Network,” Hepatology 60 (2014): 1399-1408.
First of all, about a quarter of supplements may have contaminants in them…—Antonia C. Novello et al., “Dietary Supplements Balancing Consumer Choice & Safety,” New York State Task Force on Life & the Law, 2006, accessed July 30, 2019, https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/task_force/docs/dietary_supplement_safety.pdf
As of 2014, over five hundred supplements have been found to be tainted with pharmaceuticals…—Pieter A. Cohen, “Hazards of Hindsight — Monitoring the Safety of Nutritional Supplements,” New England Journal of Medicine 370 (2014): 1277-1280.
According to meta-analyses of studies, taking at least 400 IU or more of vitamin E per day can actually shorten your life…—Edgar R. Miller III et al., “Meta-Analysis: High-Dosage Vitamin E Supplementation May Increase All-Cause Mortality,” Annals of Internal Medicine 142 (2005): 37-46.
…and so can beta-carotene supplements and vitamin A. —Goran Bjelakovic et al., “Antioxidant Supplements to Prevent Mortality,” JAMA 310 (2013): 1178-1179.
In a study of over eighty thousand American physicians, those who took multivitamin pills had a 7 percent higher risk of dying…—Jorg Muntwyler et al., Vitamin Supplement Use in a Low-Risk Population of US Male Physicians and Subsequent Cardiovascular Mortality,” JAMA Internal Medicine 162 (2002): 1472-1476.
“The enthusiasm for the health benefits of M. oleifera is in dire contrast with the scarcity of strong experimental and clinical evidence supporting them.” —Majambu Mbikay, “Therapeutic potential of Moringa oleifera leaves in chronic hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia: a review,” Frontiers in Pharmacology (2012).
A 2017 review published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry…—Kathryn M. Nelson et al., “The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin,” The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 60 (2017): 1620-1637.
So far no double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving curcumin has been successful. —ibid.
In one investigation of over 1,700 products available on the British market…—L. Fry, A.M. Madden, R. Fallaize, “An investigation into the nutritional composition and cost of gluten-free versus regular food products in the UK.,” Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 31 (2018): 108-120.
…contain lower amounts of some vitamins. —Giorgia Vici et al., “Gluten free diet and nutrient deficiencies: A review,” Clinical Nutrition 35 (2016): 1236-1241.
In one study, blood and urine samples of people on gluten-free diets had 47 percent higher levels of mercury and 80 percent higher levels of arsenic. —Stephanie L. Raehsler et al., “Accumulation of Heavy Metals in People on a Gluten-Free Diet,” Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 16 (2018): 244-251.
As a result, epidemiological research shows that people who habitually eat low amounts of gluten tend to have more diabetes…—Geng Zong et al., “ Gluten intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in three large prospective cohort studies of US men and women,” Diabetologia 61 (2018): 2164-2173
One study done in California has shown that vegetarians may live longer than others…—Fraser and Shavlik, Ten Years of Life; Paul N. Appleby et al., “The Oxford Vegetarian Study: an overview,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70 (1999): 525s-531s.
Adding three ounces (85 g) of red meat to your daily diet…—An Pan et al., “Red Meat Consumption and Mortality,” Archives of Internal Medicine 172 (2012).
In one 2014 interview, fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood…—Anita Singh, “Vivienne Westwood: People who can’t afford organic food should eat less,” The Telegraph, accessed July 30, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11225326/Vivienne-Westwood-People-who-cant-afford-organic-food-should-eat-less.html
Take, for example, a trial in which a group of women consumed either 3.4 ounces (96 g) of organic or conventional tomato purée per day for three weeks…—Alan D Dangour et al., “Nutrition-related health effects of organic foods: a systematic review,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92 (2010): 203-210.
Well, in another study that had people eat 1.1 pounds (500 g) of apples a day for almost a month…—ibid.
In a Danish trial, sixteen people ate either a strictly controlled organic diet…—Lisbeth Grinder-Pedersen et al., “Effect of Diets Based on Foods from Conventional versus Organic Production on Intake and Excretion of Flavonoids and Markers of Antioxidative Defense in Humans,” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51 (2003): 5671-5676.
…pyrethrum comes out at least as acutely toxic as the infamous synthetic pesticide chlorpyrifos. —Amanpreet S. Dhillon et al., “Pesticide/Environmental Exposures and Parkinson’s Disease in East Texas,” Journal of Agromedicine 13 (2008): 37-48.
Rotenone, meanwhile, another organic pesticide, ups the risk of Parkinson’s disease by as much as eleven times. —Caroline M. Tanner et al., “Rotenone, Paraquat, and Parkinson’s Disease,” Environmental Health Perspectives 119 (2011): 866-872.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Nate Lewis, farm policy director for the Organic Trade Association, commented on organic eating…—Tamar Haspel, “The truth about organic produce and pesticides,” The Washington Post, accessed July 31, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-truth-about-organic-produce-and-pesticides/2018/05/18/8294296e-5940-11e8-858f-12becb4d6067_story.html?utm_term=.23d0d9e722d3
Pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina who regularly deal with certain chemicals have double the risk of lung cancer. —Matthew R. Bonner et al., “Occupational Exposure to Pesticides and the Incidence of Lung Cancer in the Agricultural Health Study,” Environmental Health Perspectives 125 (2017).
Applying such products four or more times per year may increase the risk of melanoma by 44 percent. —Majoriê M. Segatto et al., “Residential and occupational exposure to pesticides may increase risk for cutaneous melanoma: a case–control study conducted in the south of Brazil,” International Journal of Dermatology 54 (2015): e527-e538.
Some scientists go as far as to argue that synthetic pesticides, just like the natural ones we eat in fruits and vegetables…—Anthony Trewavas and Derek Stewart, “Paradoxical effects of chemicals in the diet on health,” Current Opinion in Plant Biology 6 (2003): 185-190.
…animal research does show that small doses of many supposedly toxic chemicals…—Anthony Trewavas, “A critical assessment of organic farming-and-food assertions with particular respect to the UK and the potential environmental benefits of no-till agriculture,” Crop Protection 23 (2004).
“Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains should continue to form the central part of the diet…” —Lawrence H. Kushi et al., “American Cancer Society Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention,” ACS Guidelines on Nutrition and Physicial Activity for Cancer Prevention (2012).
Yet in seventeen years of practice in Roseto, the local physician, Dr. Benjamin Falcone…—Stewart Wolf et al., “Roseto, Pennsylvania 25 Years Later—Highlights of a Medical and Sociological Survey,” Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association 100 (1989).
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