Archive for category: News

Researchers have been unable to explain why after giving birth, Black patients are two to three times as likely to retain or gain additional weight compared to their white counterparts, even when pre-pregnancy weight and gestational-weight trajectories are comparable.

A first-of-its-kind study by University of Pittsburgh epidemiologists points to the stress of lived experiences with racism and gender-based discrimination as a possible explanation. The study was reported today in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Since postpartum weight retention is associated with increased cardiovascular risk and other negative health outcomes that persist throughout one’s life, the new research suggests interventions that address the underlying stressors of discrimination could be an important complement to community and clinical interventions.

“Beyond individual choices and behavior, we have to account for an individual’s environment, because that can have an impact on health, too,” said lead author Dara Méndez, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity at Pitt Public Health. “Context matters, and lived experiences matter. How can we link people to appropriate services and support in the postpartum period, in light of exposure to stress and experiences of discrimination?”

As part of the Postpartum Mothers Mobile Study (PMOMS), researchers recruited 313 pregnant individuals between 2017 and 2020, following them from their second trimester through one year postpartum.

Study participants weighed themselves on a weekly basis using Bluetooth-enabled scales, and completed brief surveys via smartphone once a day, on average. Study participants were asked about everyday experiences, including daily experiences of stress and discrimination.

The surveys were administered using a method called ecological momentary assessment (EMA), which aims to capture data on thoughts and behaviors in real time, while the participant is in their natural environment. In addition, the study captured acute exposure to discrimination with major institutions such as applying for loans, interacting with teachers or academic advisors, searching for or retaining employment, and interacting with police, including being unfairly stopped, searched, questioned, threatened or abused.

Black participants retained 0.3 more pounds for every 10% increase in the number of days they experienced racial discrimination in the previous month. Gender discrimination was also associated with weight retention, with 0.4 more pounds retained per 10% increase in days with these experiences. These findings persisted even when pregnancy-health factors had been comparable to those of participants who experienced less racial and gender discrimination.

A new study published in the journal of Science Translation Medicine showed that a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) improved kidney function in a mouse model by lowering proteinuria and improved endothelial function and encouraged renal protection in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet encourage regeneration and lessen damage in the pancreas, blood, stomach, and neurological system of the mice. While many organs benefit from fasting-mimicking diets, it is unclear how FMDs directly impact podocyte function and chronic kidney disease. Further, rats have not been used to test for an FMD. Thus, Villani and colleagues examined the effects of a low-salt FMD on chronic renal disease in a rat.

This study induced and fed CKD animal models a low-salt FMD that is comparable to what stage-III CKD patients in humans should consume each day. For 5 days a month for 3 months, the 13 clinical study participants consumed a plant-based meal that included unique vegetable-based soup, energy bar, energy drink, chip snack, tea, and important fatty acid and mineral-rich supplement formulations. Body composition, oxidative stress and inflammation markers, serum level of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), cardiovascular and endothelial risk factors, renal function markers, regenerative markers (circulating stem cells), and psychocognitive evaluation were among the physiological markers that this research assessed before, during, and, for some parameters, a year after the end of the intervention. The metabolic parameters of the animals were assessed.

The deterioration of kidney structures and function in rodents was slowed by 6 cycles of the proprietary low-salt FMD. This resulted in a significant decrease in glomerular and tubular injury, as well as a significant decrease in the albumin-to-creatine ratio and blood urea nitrogen at 4 and 6 weeks following the diet cycles. The FMD improved proteinuria, decreased inflammation, and alleviated renal impairment in the clinical study. 

When combined, these early findings provide credence to the viability of FMD and the necessity of conducting extensive randomized studies to determine whether the disease-reversing and regenerative benefits of the diet would also apply to people. Overall, the findings of this pilot clinical trial demonstrated that the FMD is well tolerated and preserves lean muscle mass in individuals with stage-III CKD. 

Reference:

Villani, V., Frank, C. N., Cravedi, P., Hou, X., Bin, S., Kamitakahara, A., Barbati, C., Buono, R., Da Sacco, S., Lemley, K. V., De Filippo, R. E., Lai, S., Laviano, A., Longo, V. D., & Perin, L. (2024). A kidney-specific fasting-mimicking diet induces podocyte reprogramming and restores renal function in glomerulopathy. In Science Translational Medicine (Vol. 16, Issue 771). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adl5514

Cannabis use causes cellular damage that increases the risk of highly cancerous tumours, according to a new paper published in the scientific journal Addiction Biology. The paper describes cannabis as a “genotoxic” substance because it damages a cell’s genetic information, which can lead to DNA mutations, accelerated aging, and cancer. To make matters worse, this genotoxicity may be transmitted via damaged egg and sperm to the cannabis user’s offspring, making the risk of cannabis use trans-generational.

In a recent publication in Addiction Biology researchers from The University of Western Australia have made a link between established knowledge that cannabis use damages cellular energy production by inhibiting mitochondria and new cancer research published in Science showing that mitochondrial dysfunction drives chromosomal damage, which shows up as increased rates of cancer, accelerated aging, and birth defects.

The Science studies were not conducted in the context of cannabis use; however, they provide mechanistic insights into some observations about cannabis use that were not previously well understood, such as that cannabis causes both mitochondrial and genetic damage. Taken together, the article in Addiction Biology put older historical research about cannabis into context and suggests that cannabis-related genotoxic damage may be all around us-even if we largely don’t see it.

Co-author Dr. Stuart Reece comments: “The link we’ve described between cannabis use and genotoxicity has far-reaching consequences. This new research shows how genetic damage from cannabis use can be passed down the generations. This should reframe the discussion surrounding cannabis legalization from a personal choice to one that potentially involves multiple subsequent generations.”

Reference:

Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse, Key insights into cannabis-cancer pathobiology and genotoxicity, Addiction Biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/adb.70003