Gut health
💊 The Drugs Your Gut Won't Forget
We know the gut microbiome is a dynamic ecosystem, highly sensitive to its surroundings.
But I was reminded just how sensitive it is by a recent study (PMID: 40981429), which compared information from stool samples from 2,509 participants with those individuals’ electronic health records.
This allowed the researchers to correlate medication use from up to 5 years earlier with changes in the gut.
Of 186 drugs considered, nearly 90%had some effect with 5 classes of drug found to have particularly long-lasting effects, namely
- Broad-spectrum antibiotics
- Beta-blockers (prescribed for heart health)
- Benzodiazepine derivatives (given for anxiety disorders)
- Proton-pump inhibitors (used to treat stomach ulcers and H.pylori infections)
- Antidepressants
Another key observation was that for some people, these drugs had an additive effect, namely the more unique medications the person was taking, the greater the impact on the gut microbiome.
Now, none of this is to say you should not take these medications if you are prescribed them.
Antibiotics, antidepressants and beta-blockers have literally saved millions of lives between them. Like all medical interventions, the risk of taking the drug has to be weighed against the risk of doing nothing.
However, if you do need to take one of these drugs, here’s what you should do:-
1️⃣ Ask the doctor who prescribes them what impact it might have on your gut microbiome
2️⃣ Consider increasing your intake of dietary fibre: cheat code - eat 30 plants per week (fruit, veg, berries, nuts, seeds, whole grains) and you’ll smash 30 plants
3️⃣ Choose a fiber supplement like LOAM to help you get the minimum of 30g per day
LOAM gives you 10g of fast, medium and slow-fermenting fibers meaning the entire gut microbiome gets nourished. It’ll dissolve into anything and has no discernible taste or texture, so all you need to do for the win is stir it into your morning coffee. You’ll never notice the difference.
GENERAL health
🧠 Do This Now To Prevent Cognitive Decline
We’re all too well aware we need to save for the future. What we do with our money today will have an impact in the future.
According to a recently-published study (PMID: 41282848) the same is literally true with our health.
Researchers in the US analysed several decades-worth of data collected from 402 participants, who were an average 58 years old at the start of the study.
Data was collected using the American Heart Association's Life’s Simple 7 metrics.
These metrics were 3 behavioural and 4 health factors that combine to give an overall picture of one’s cardiovascular health. These factors include diet, exercise, whether you smoke etc.
Study participants also undertook the Mini-Mental State Examination - a general assessment of cognitive ability - between two and four times, so that the researchers could see how their cognitive levels changed over time.
Another interesting aspect of this study was that approximately half of the participants were Mexican-Americans, while the other half were non-Hispanic whites.
All this means the investigators could correlate the participants’ cardiovascular health at the start of the study with their cognitive health in relative old age AND look at if ethnic background had any effect.
Two key findings were apparent:-
1️⃣ Quote: “any level of physical activity" (was) associated with a significantly slower rate of cognitive decline in late life.” This was particularly seen in the Mexican-American group.
2️⃣ Optimal fasting glucose levels were a significant protective factor in the non-Hispanic group. Just as a reminder <100 mg/dL (<5.6 mmol/L) is considered to be a “normal” range of fasting glucose levels for non-diabetic adults.
My absolute favourite word in those last two sentences is “any”.
And given physical exercise generally has a positive impact on fasting glucose levels, there’s an opportunity for a win-win here.
We all know physical exercise is excellent for our cardiovascular health, metabolism, and immune functioning, not to mention mental and emotional health, now.
But this study suggests that becoming more active while you’re in middle age might pay dividends much later in life.
And if you’d like to get a measure of your own cardiovascular health, the good news is, you can take the Life’s Simple 7, now called Life’s Essential 8, for free here.
REFLECTIONS
👷 Why You Should Play More With Lego
Why do (some) grown adults love Lego so much?
I mean, apart from the fact it’s pretty expensive…it’s for kids, right?
The answer lies in a famous psychology paper from about 15 years ago.
Researchers asked ordinary people to make things:- origami, IKEA boxes… and Lego sets and then asked them to assess what they’d made in terms of:-
1️⃣ how much they liked it
2️⃣ how much money it was worth.
They also got the participants to make similar judgements about items they hadn’t made.
Overwhelmingly, the items were judged as more pleasant and worth more money were the ones they participants had made themselves.
In some cases, the participants even believed the item they made was worth more than an equivalent item made by an expert and thought others would value it similarly.
With one condition.
That they actually completed the item, because when the researchers stopped them short of completing whatever they were building, their assessments tended to drop.
Our preference for and pride in things we’ve built ourselves is now known as the IKEA effect.
I think it’s true that we derive satisfaction from the things we’ve earned in life, not the things that came easy.
- The relationships that took years to build and had to endure ups and downs
- The business that swallowed time and cash before you even served the first customer
- The 10km, or marathon time that was built on early-morning runs
All these things are hard and that’s precisely why we value them.
At least sometimes, choose hard.
👋 Who are you again? I’m Karan Rajan - a doctor and curious explorer of all things health and wellness. I'm the founder of LOAM Science, a microbiome company aiming to create the best fiber product in the world! I host the Dr Karan Explores Podcast, where I talk to experts in science and medicine to cut through the BS of modern health advice. If you'd like an easy way to dig through the archive, you can ask me any questions about the podcast and talk to my digital librarian here. I've also written two books "This Book May Save Your Life" and "This Is Vital Information". I'm the Chief of Science of Throne, a smart gut health tracking device.
If you feel strongly about some health things or just want to say hi? Hit reply... I’d love to hear it and hear from you! (yes I read every reply!!!)
