Health & Fitness

Microorganisms in your gastrointestinal tract form a highly intricate, living "fabric" that plays an integral part in your health, affecting everything from body weight and nutrition to chronic diseases of all kinds. And, as detailed in the featured documentary, “Microbirth,” written, produced and directed by Alex Wakeford and Toni Harman, the groundwork for your gut microbiome laid at the time of birth.

The film highlights how events during childbirth have lifelong consequences, and reviews the current scientific views on how to best seed your baby’s microbiome in order to build a robust immune system.

Importantly, a baby basically “inherits” the microbiome from its mother, which is why it’s so important to address your gut health before, during and after pregnancy.

If you've taken antibiotics or birth control pills, if you eat a lot of processed or sugary foods — even being bottle-fed as a baby — can impact the makeup of bacteria and microbes in your gut, which in turn will influence your child’s microbiome and health after birth. Your microbiome may even have a generational impact, affecting DNA that is then passed on to future generations.

Loss of Microbial Diversity Extols a Steep Price

The film begins by asking questions about what is it that sets humans apart from the millions of other species on Earth. Our intellect has allowed us to develop a technological society that would appear “magical” to those in centuries past. Yet for all our accomplishments and scientific miracles, we find ourselves sicker than ever before.

In 2008, the World Health Organization announced noncommunicable chronic diseases had taken over as the chief causes of death globally.¹ “The shifting health trends indicate that leading infectious diseases — diarrhea, HIV, tuberculosis, neonatal infections and malaria — will become less important causes of death globally over the next 20 years,” WHO wrote.

By 2018, noncommunicable diseases were responsible for 71% of global deaths,² with cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes topping the list of lethal conditions.

The film cites research suggesting that by 2030, about half the net worth of all nations in the world will go toward treating chronic illnesses. To say we’re on an unsustainable trajectory would be an understatement.

Considering we are basically a walking ecosystem — a symbiotic superorganism — with microbes outnumbering our cells 10-to-1, could this changing health trend have something to do with changes occurring in our microbiomes?

As noted in the film, the human body is 90% microbial and only 10% mammalian, and research suggests decades of inappropriate medical interventions and diet — such as overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial products, routine cesarean births, pesticides and processed food — have led to a steep loss of diversity in the human microbiome.

With this loss of microbial diversity, the homeostasis (balance) of your body is disrupted, rendering it more vulnerable to disease. Bacteria play an essential role in your metabolism and immune function, but in order for them to do their job, there must be enough of them to go around. They also need to be in the proper ratio with other microbes.

Experts featured in the film believe the degradation of our microbiome is one, if not the primary, underlying cause of most of our current disease epidemics. Comparisons between indigenous peoples living in the jungles of South America and people living in modern societies suggest we’ve lost one-third of our natural microbiome.

Mode of Birth Influences Your Baby’s Microbial Profile 

The film goes on to discuss the importance of natural childbirth, skin-to-skin contact after birth, and breastfeeding. These are all critical times for seeding and nurturing your baby’s microbiome. During vaginal birth, your baby is “seeded” with microbes as it goes through the birth canal.

According to a 2014 study,³ the microbiome of a healthy woman’s vagina is dominated by Lactobacillus genus, which confer a variety of health benefits, including protection against more hostile and disease-causing microbes.

Research⁴ shows the microbes found in a woman’s vagina change during pregnancy in preparation for birth. Specifically, Lactobacillus species are enriched, while there’s a decrease in overall diversity, the hypothesis being that this helps ensure the transfer of beneficial microbes to the baby as it passes through the birth canal. As noted in the 2017 paper, “The Maternal Infant Microbiome: Considerations for Labor and Birth:”⁵

“This ‘seeding’ or transfer of microbes from the mother to newborn may serve as an early inoculation process with implications for the long-term health outcomes of newborns.

Studies have shown that there are distinct differences in the microbiome profiles of newborns born vaginally compared to those born by cesarean. Antibiotic exposure has been shown to alter the microbial profiles of women and may influence the gut microbial profiles of their newborns.

Considering that the first major microbial colonization occurs at birth, it is essential that labor and birth nurses be aware of factors that may alter the composition of the microbiome during the labor and birth process.”

Gut flora is not the only factor influenced by the method of birth, however. According to animal research published in PLOS ONE,⁶ vaginal birth triggers the expression of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2, which is important for improving brain development and function in adulthood. The expression of this protein was impaired in mice born via C-section.

Your Gut Microbiome Also Changes During Pregnancy

The composition of a woman's gut microbes also changes during each trimester of pregnancy, in ways that support fetal growth. These changes are largely influenced by the hormonal shifts that occur during pregnancy.

Interestingly, research published in the journal Cell⁷ in 2012 found that, as pregnancy progressed, there was an increase in Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria.

When the microbiota taken from women in their third trimester were transferred to germ-free mice, it induced greater weight gain and insulin resistance compared to the microbiota taken during the first trimester.

As noted by the authors, “Many of the immune and metabolic changes occurring during normal pregnancy also describe metabolic syndrome,” and “Gut microbiota can cause symptoms of metabolic syndrome in nonpregnant hosts.” In a pregnant female, on the other hand, the promotion of energy storage in fat tissue is part of what allows the fetus to grow normally.

The Drawbacks of C-Section

While a C-section can be necessary and lifesaving in some instances, they’ve become overused in many parts of the world. The most significant drawback to C-section is that the baby will not be inoculated with bacteria from the mother, as the baby is not passing through the birth canal. 

As noted in the film, this leaves the baby open to acquiring bacteria from some other source instead, and in most cases, this will be the hospital environment. This could spell trouble, as hospitals are hotbeds for pathogenic bacteria.

Experts interviewed in the film say a hypothesis currently being looked at is whether this might be what’s happening to so many of our children. Their immune systems have been primed by the wrong bacteria right from the start, thus making them more prone to illness. 

The Importance of Skin-to-Skin Contact

Even if you do end up needing a cesarean though, you can still nurture your baby’s microbiome through close skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding for at least six months. In a “Microbirth” film review, naturopath Louise Loula writes:⁸

“Not only is skin to skin necessary to further seed them with bacteria from your skin but it can also regulate and stimulate their hormone production which allows them to calm down, to regulate their blood sugar levels and their instinct of hunger to then seek out the mother’s nipple to being the third phase in seeding, breastfeeding ...

A baby with a C-section, especially those who are then fed formula are potentially at risk for some very serious long term complications. They may be picking up bacteria from an imbalanced environment, especially in a hospital.

Their immune training if incorrect right at the beginning may or may not be possible to correct. It is seen to then go on to affect all tissue from brain development to muscle and mucosal lining development.”

Bacterial Swabbing Can Inoculate Baby Born Via C-Section 

In the film, Rodney Dietert, professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell University, also discusses the use of a bacterial swab when doing a C-section. Quite simply, the baby is inoculated with bacteria from a swab taken from the mother’s vagina, thus receiving the same bacteria he or she would have received if birthed vaginally.

To do this, an 8-by-10-inch piece of sterile gauze is folded in a fan pattern and inserted much like a tampon into the mother’s vaginal canal one hour before the C-section.

The gauze is extracted and placed in a sterile container right before the procedure, and once the baby is out, the gauze is unfolded and used to “wash” the baby’s whole body, starting with the mouth and face.

According to a researcher studying this technique, the health parameters of babies born by C-section who get swabbed with their mother’s bacteria are closer to those born vaginally than those born by C-section who do not get swabbed.

The Importance of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the third crucial component that primes your baby’s microbiome. Breast milk is uniquely designed to nourish beneficial bacteria. As explained by Dietert, it also contains important immune hormone-like substances, some of which have anti-inflammatory activity.

Breast milk also provides your baby with antibodies against diseases to which you have a natural immunity (meaning you got sick, recovered from your illness and now are immune against it), and unique sugars called oligosaccharides.

These sugars are indigestible, so for a long time, their presence in breast milk puzzled scientists. As it turns out, oligosaccharides feed beneficial bacteria in the baby’s gut.

The refined sugar found in most infant formulas cannot replicate this function. In fact, processed sugar tends to feed harmful bacteria instead, and promote excess weight gain. To prime and educate your baby’s immune system and give him or her a healthy start in life, breastfeeding for six months to two years is recommended.

Unbalanced Microbiome Linked to Neurobehavioral Disorders

Researchers are also starting to understand how a child’s microbiome can play a role in neurobehavioral disorders, including autism. A 2014 article in Scientific American pointed out:⁹

“Scientists have long wondered whether the composition of bacteria in the intestines, known as the gut microbiome, might be abnormal in people with autism and drive some of these symptoms. 

Now a spate of new studies^10,11 supports this notion and suggests that restoring proper microbial balance could alleviate some of the disorder's behavioral symptoms.”

The film addresses this issue as well, pointing out that an infant’s gut microbes influence not just the maturation of their immune system, but also the development of their brain and nervous tissue. According to Dietert, when the initial seeding of bacteria is inadequate, the byproducts produced from normal nutrients can have adverse effects on their brain.

Indeed, this is precisely what Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride surmised when she created the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Nutritional Program, which is designed to heal leaky gut by restoring the integrity of your gut lining. According to Campbell-McBride, in children with GAPS, toxicity flows from their gut throughout their bodies and into their brains.

This continually challenges their nervous system, preventing it from performing its normal functions and process sensory information. Virtually any toxic exposure, including a vaccine, can be the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in a situation like this. The end result can be symptoms of autism, and/or any number of other neurological problems.

The answer is to optimize the microbiome transfer during and after delivery through vaginal delivery, skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding. Once your baby is ready for soft foods, you can provide probiotics in the form of fermented foods.

The first fermented food Campbell-McBride recommends for infants is raw organic grass fed yogurt (not commercial yogurt from the grocery store), because it's well tolerated by most. Once yogurt is well tolerated by your baby, you can introduce kefir. Another alternative is to use vegetables fermented with yogurt culture or kefir culture.

Another Overlooked Yet Critical Factor — Vitamin D

Optimizing your vitamin D levels prior to, or at the very least during, pregnancy is another important factor to safeguard your and your baby’s health. Research shows pregnant women with a vitamin D level between 40 ng/mL and 60 ng/mL have 46% lower preterm birth rate than the general population.¹²

Those with a vitamin D level at or above 40 ng/mL by their third trimester have a 59% lower risk for premature birth compared to those with levels below 20 ng/mL.¹³ Among African-American and Hispanic populations, as much as 70% to 75% of all preterm births might be prevented.^14,15

A mother’s vitamin D status during pregnancy can also have lifelong ramifications for her child. Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy has been linked to higher rates of childhood allergies, asthma,^16,17 colds and flu, dental cavities, diabetes, and even strokes and cardiovascular disease later in life.^18,19

Suggestions for a Healthy Pregnancy and a Healthy Baby

Besides the issues of seeding your baby’s microbiome and optimizing your vitamin D level, entire books could also be written about the hazards of chemical exposures during pregnancy. Research clearly shows that prenatal chemical exposures, particularly to endocrine disruptors like BPA and phthalates, can have wide-ranging and long-term health effects.

While you may not be able to avoid all toxic exposures, it’s important to take whatever proactive measures you can to reduce your toxic burden, especially before and during pregnancy. For example, avoiding any and all unnecessary drugs and vaccinations is one aspect you have a large degree of control over. Below are several more.

Rather than compile an endless list of what you should avoid, it's far easier to focus on what you should do to lead a healthy lifestyle, free of as many toxic exposures as possible. This includes:

As much as you’re able, eat organic and grass fed foods to reduce your exposure to agricultural chemicals like glyphosate. Steer clear of processed, prepackaged foods of all kinds. This way you automatically avoid pesticides, artificial food additives, dangerous artificial sweeteners, food coloring, MSG and unlabeled genetically engineered ingredients. Rather than eating conventional or farm-raised fish, which are often heavily contaminated with PCBs and mercury, supplement with a high-quality purified krill oil, or opt for small fatty fish such as sardines, anchovies, mackerel and wild caught Alaskan salmon.

Maintain optimal gut flora by eating raw food grown in healthy, organic soil and reseeding your gut with fermented foods. If you aren't eating fermented foods, you most likely need to supplement with a probiotic on a regular basis, especially if you're eating processed foods.

Optimize your vitamin D level, ideally through sensible sun exposure.

Exercise regularly throughout your pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that, in general, women who exercise throughout their pregnancies have larger placentas than their more sedentary peers. The volume of your placenta is a general marker of its ability to transport oxygen and nutrients to your fetus, so it stands to reason that having a large, healthy placenta will lead to a healthier baby.

Once your baby is born, seek to breastfeed for as long as you’re able, ideally at least six months. Breastfeeding helps ensure that your child's gut flora develops properly right from the start, as breast milk is loaded both with beneficial bacteria and nutrient growth factors that will support their continued growth. It also has powerful components that will inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria and yeast.

Store your food and beverages in glass rather than plastic, and avoid using plastic wrap and canned foods (which are often lined with BPA-containing liners).

Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (including your shower or bath).

Only use nontoxic natural cleaning products in your home.

Switch over to natural brands of toiletries such as shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics.

Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances, as they often contain phthalates, which have been linked to reductions in IQ and other chronic health problems. High-quality essential oils can be substituted for most of these if you desire a scent.

Replace your nonstick pots and pans with ceramic or glass cookware.

When redoing your home, look for "green," toxin-free alternatives in lieu of regular paint and vinyl floor coverings.

Replace your vinyl shower curtain with one made of fabric, or install a glass shower door. Most all flexible plastics, like shower curtains, contain dangerous plasticizers like phthalates.

Avoid spraying pesticides around your home or insect repellants that contain DEET on your body. There are safe, effective and natural alternatives out there.

from Articles https://ift.tt/2TuW8dr
via IFTTT

By 2050, it's estimated that 80 million Americans will be 65 years or older,¹ making brain health of paramount importance. Lifestyle factors are known to be protective of or damaging to the brain, and this includes alcohol consumption.

While some research suggests wine consumption may benefit heart health and even has neuroprotective properties,² numerous studies have shown that alcohol consumption has a detrimental effect on your brain.

Chronic excessive alcohol consumption, aka "alcohol abuse," in particular, is known to cause neuronal dysfunction and brain damage,³ but even drinking 1 gram of alcohol daily is enough to accelerate aging in your brain, according to one of the largest studies ever conducted on brain aging and alcohol.⁴

Daily Drinking Accelerates Structural Brain Aging

Researchers from the University of Southern California examined 17,308 human brain scans from people between 45.2 years and 80.7 years old, revealing that each additional gram of alcohol consumption per day was associated with 0.02 years, or 7.5 days, of increased relative brain age (RBA), which is a measure of a person's brain age relative to their peers, based on whole-brain anatomical measurements.

One gram of alcohol is equal to 0.035 ounces, and most people who drink alcohol are going to consume 1 ounce or more, which is equal to approximately 29 grams — an amount that would increase RBA by 0.58 years, or 211.5 days.

"Our analyses of alcohol intake frequency and RBA indicated that subjects who drank daily or almost daily had a significantly higher RBA compared to those who drank less frequently. Our finding was consistent with previous studies, which showed that heavy alcohol consumption was detrimental to the brain," the researchers wrote.⁵

It could be that daily, or almost daily, drinking is part of the problem, as the study did not find a significant difference in RBA among those who drank less frequently or abstained from drinking. At least one study also found that light-to-moderate alcohol intake, especially wine, was associated with larger total brain volume, suggesting it is potentially beneficial for brain aging.⁶

That being said, regular and extensive alcohol consumption is a known detriment to brain health, which may cause white matter and neuronal loss and a reduction of brain volume.⁷ This is particularly concerning, as unprecedented increases in alcohol use, high-risk drinking and alcohol use disorder (alcoholism) have occurred in recent decades.

Alcoholism May Affect 1 in 8 Americans

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry⁸ found that in the time period spanning 2001/2002 to 2012/2013, 30% more Americans engaged in high-risk drinking. The study included data from 79,402 Americans and found statistically significant increases in alcohol use across all sociodemographic groups.

The greatest increases occurred among heavy alcohol users; the number of people diagnosed with alcoholism increased by 49% during the study period and is estimated to affect 12.7%, or 1 in 8, Americans.⁹

Overall, the number of people who reported drinking alcohol (in any amount) shot up from 65% to nearly 73% of Americans. About one-third of them engage in "high-risk drinking," which was defined as five or more standard drinks for men or four or more drinks for women at least once a week. Among women, however, this type of binge drinking increased by nearly 58% over the study period.¹⁰

With heavy alcohol usage on the rise, understanding its effects on cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease will be crucial for public health.

What Does Alcohol Abuse Do to Your Brain?

A 2019 review published in Frontiers in Neuroscience addressed the complex interplay between alcohol consumption and cognitive decline, noting that chronic alcohol abuse leads to "changes in neuronal structure caused by complex neuroadaptations in the brain."¹¹ The researchers explain:¹²

"In general, chronic alcohol consumption leads to degeneration of the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system as well as malnutrition of brain cells due to changes in metabolism and lack of folate and thiamine.

Alcohol abuse also severely affects the dopaminergic system, as repeated intake of alcohol increases the tolerance and suppresses to level of excitement, so that increasingly higher doses are consumed by addicts to stimulate their reward-system."

Increasing the dose of alcohol, in turn, can lead to neuroinflammation and neural death, and chronic alcohol abuse is associated with loss of gray matter and accelerated aging-related effects. What's more, the researchers noted, "It is even possible to identify alcoholics and controls looking at MRI scans of their executive control networks and reward networks."¹³

Alcohol-related dementia, ARD, can also occur due to chronic, heavy alcohol consumption, leading to symptoms such as cognitive deficits and problems with professional life and social relationships. It can also lead to degeneration and demyelination of the corpus callosum in the brain, which is a hallmark of Marchiafava-Bignami disease, a progressive neurological condition associated with alcoholism.

Alcohol Increases Alzheimer's Risk, Reduces Brain Volume

Research published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation¹⁴ revealed that binge drinking or heavy alcohol consumption may make it more likely that your brain may accumulate damaging amyloid-beta proteins, contributing to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

The study focused on rat microglial cells, which are immune system cells in the brain and spinal cord that actively work to clear amyloid beta in a process known as phagocytosis. Researchers exposed the microglial cells to alcohol (in a level comparable to that found in people who drink heavily or binge drink), inflammatory cytokines or a combination of alcohol and cytokines for 24 hours.

The expression of over 300 genes was altered following exposure to alcohol, while exposure to cytokines resulted in changes in more than 3,000 genes and the combined alcohol and cytokines exposure caused changes in over 3,500 genes. Many of the altered genes were involved in phagocytosis and inflammation.¹⁵

Notably, microglial phagocytosis was also affected by alcohol, decreasing by about 15% after one hour of exposure. Although the tests were performed in isolated rat cells, which means real-life alcohol consumption in humans may lead to a different result, they suggest that alcohol may hinder the microglia's ability to clear amyloid-beta.

Alcohol abuse continues to be detrimental to the brain even in older age, as those with alcohol use disorder had brain volume reductions, which were especially pronounced in those aged 65 and older, and were seen even in those who developed alcohol use disorder in later life.^16,17

Edith V. Sullivan, Ph.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine, who led the study, told the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism:¹⁸

"What was particularly striking about our study was accelerated aging of brain structure that was especially prominent in the frontal cortex. Even those individuals who developed severe AUD at an older age showed accelerated loss … A take-home message of our results is that old age is not protective against developing AUD-related brain volume deficits."

Alcohol's Effect on Heart Health Influences Your Brain

There's also a complex interplay between alcohol consumption, heart health and your brain. Excessive alcohol consumption damages heart health, which in turn affects cognitive performance. On the other hand, improving heart health may improve brain plasticity and lead to enhanced neurocognitive functioning.

Therefore, heavy alcohol consumption not only may harm your brain directly but also indirectly via damages to your cardiovascular system. Researchers noted in Frontiers in Neuroscience:¹⁹

"In particular, fluid intelligence and executive functions are assumed to be enhanced and preserved the more physically active patients are and the stronger their cardiovascular system is, as people who are physically more active have a general lower risk for physical diseases.

This is related to the positive relationship of cardiorespiratory function and cognitive abilities. In accordance, decline in pulmonary function is associated with impaired memory and attention. The vitamin thiamine has been found to be a key substance in this issue, since lack of thiamine is caused by chronic alcohol abuse and leads to damages of the cardiovascular system."

Can You Buffer the Brain Damage From Alcohol Intake?

The best way to avoid alcohol-induced damage to your brain is to abstain from drinking it, especially heavily. However, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) (the dietary precursor of which is niacin, vitamin B3), is important if you drink heavily.

People with chronic alcoholism are at risk for niacin deficiency, both due to a reduction in dietary intake of niacin and interfering with the conversion of tryptophan to NAD.²⁰ Small doses of NAD (not time released) can be incredibly helpful when provided while weaning off alcohol.

The treatment helps to curb cravings for alcohol, detox the body, flushes alcohol (or other drugs) out of the system and relieves withdrawal symptoms. As a potent antioxidant, NAD helps to create energy in cells' mitochondria as well as increases the synthesis of neurotransmitters in the brain.²¹

What's more, it's being considered as an important therapeutic strategy to help maintain optimal function in the brain and possibly even treat Alzheimer's disease.²² N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a form of the amino acid cysteine, is another useful tool, as it's known to reduce alcohol consumption and withdrawal symptoms in rodents and cut down cravings in humans.

In a study of people who averaged one drink a week (or binge drinking 0.3 days a month), NAC increased the likelihood of alcohol abstinence and reduced drinks per week and drinking days per week.²³ NAC is also beneficial for brain function, as it may decrease levels of oxidative damage by protecting mitochondrial function, and in so doing reduce Alzheimer's risk, especially when combined with lipoic acid (LA).²⁴

Exercise Helps Reduce Alcohol Intake, Protects Brain Health

Exercise may help to mitigate some of the risks of alcohol consumption on your brain. Researchers wrote in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research:²⁵

"Chronic alcohol abuse is related to numerous deleterious neurobiological consequences, including loss of gray matter, damage to white matter (WM), and impairment of cognitive and motor functions.

Aerobic exercise has been demonstrated to slow cognitive decline and decrease the negative neural changes resulting from normal aging and from several diseases. It is possible that exercise may also prevent or repair alcohol-related neurological damage."

Indeed, the study revealed longtime drinkers who exercise regularly have less damaged white matter in their brains compared to those who rarely or never exercise.²⁶ The white matter is considered the "wiring" of your brain's communication system and is known to decline in quality with age and heavy alcohol consumption.

Even among chronic drinkers, those who got at least 2.5 hours a week of moderately intense exercise significantly reduced the biological impact of their drinking,²⁷ including reducing some of the cancer and all-cause mortality risks associated with alcohol drinking.²⁸

Exercise is also a potent tool for brain health, which is one reason it's recommended you do it regularly regardless of your alcoholic drink intake. Ultimately, however, the research is becoming clearer that in order to stay cognitively strong as you age, limiting alcohol intake is key.

from Articles https://ift.tt/3cDpXQx
via IFTTT

A new study has yielded an innovative method for bolstering memory processes in the brain during sleep.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/3cE5o6o

In a study of epilepsy patients, researchers monitored the electrical activity of thousands of individual brain cells, called neurons, as patients took memory tests. They found that the firing patterns of the cells that occurred when patients learned a word pair were replayed fractions of a second before they successfully remembered the pair.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/38AhH0A

An international team of scientists has launched a comprehensive overview of all proteins expressed in the brain. The open-access database offers medical researchers an unprecedented resource to deepen their understanding of neurobiology and develop new, more effective therapies and diagnostics targeting psychiatric and neurological diseases.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2Ir7l8o

It seems like common knowledge or conventional wisdom: stress can turn your hair gray.

Whether it’s the kids, your spouse, your job, or something else, people with gray hair have been blaming stress for centuries.

The example of Barack Obama is often cited: his hair was quite dark when first elected president, but by the time he’d completed his second term, it was much grayer. Clearly it was the stress of his job, right?

Not so fast! As I wrote in a previous post, the notion that stress makes you gray may be largely myth. Certainly, there are factors other than stress that lead to graying, not the least of which are genetics and age. And plenty of people under significant stress never go gray.

Keep in mind that an individual strand of hair does not change color (unless it’s dyed). When we see someone going gray, it’s usually because strands of hair with color (pigment) have fallen out and hairs without pigment have grown in their place. When a large enough number of unpigmented hairs grow in, the change is noticeable, and a head of hair appears to turn gray. Typically, this happens because pigment-producing cells within hair follicles produce less color over time. While graying commonly starts during middle age, genetics plays a role in when it begins.

What is stress anyway?

While it’s a popular and well-accepted notion that stress is bad for your health, if you’re facing a charging tiger, the body’s response to this sudden (acute) stress can be lifesaving. Your heart races, blood pressure and blood sugar rise, blood vessels in your muscles dilate, along with other physiologic reactions that prepare you to fight or flee (and in this case, I’d recommend the latter).

And while chronic stress may have negative health consequences, different people respond to the same stressors differently. In fact, it can be hard to define stress: what one person finds terrifying and unpleasant (for example, public speaking) another person may find exciting and energizing.

Maybe it’s true after all: A new study finds stress can turn hair gray

You may have seen news reports about a new study suggesting that stress can turn hair gray and sorts out how it happens. But there’s one important caveat: the study was performed in mice whose fur turned gray within a few days of their being injected with resiniferatoxin (a substance similar to the active, irritating ingredient in chili peppers). Whether the findings apply to humans is not yet known, but this research does provide a scientifically plausible explanation of how it might happen.

In the January 22, 2020, edition of Nature, researchers describe a series of experiments suggesting that in mice, sudden stress leads to the following sequence of events:

• Stimulation of nerves causes the adrenal gland to increase production and release of norepinephrine, a close cousin of epinephrine (also called adrenaline).
• Norepinephrine causes certain cells in the skin’s hair follicles (called melanocyte stem cells) to rapidly divide and turn into pigment-producing cells.
• This depletes the melanocyte stem cells in the hair follicles, leading to loss of pigment in the hair shafts; when a large number of individual hair shafts lack pigment, the fur appears gray.

If these events also occur in humans, these findings could lead to treatments that prevent graying. Indeed, when researchers prevented melanocyte stem cells from dividing rapidly in the mice, their fur did not turn gray.

So what?

Media reports regarding this study suggest it cracks the code on the connection between stress and graying hair, and affirms that notion that work or family stress is turning you gray.

But, that’s not what this research showed! In fact, there are a number of reasons to be skeptical about how important these results are:

• Mice and humans are different. Often medical studies in animals turn out to be impossible to replicate in people.
• There’s a big difference between acute and long-term (chronic) stress. The acute stress experienced by the mice in this study is not the type of chronic stress most people think of when explaining gray hair. Of course, it’s not easy to design a mouse study that simulates chronic human stress such as daily traffic jams, a challenging job, or relationship trouble.
• Not all acute stress is the same. It’s not at all clear that the acute stress mice experienced after being injected with resiniferatoxin and their fur graying within a few days is applicable to the way humans experience stress or go gray.

The bottom line

The findings of this study are intriguing and potentially important, to explain changes in hair color and advance our understanding of how stress affects other parts of the body.

These findings have made me rethink the idea that stress-induced gray hair is a myth. Maybe it can happen, but only rarely. Or, perhaps stress is responsible for most or all of the gray hair in the world. One thing’s for sure: we’ll need a lot more research to know which of these is true.

If your hair is turning gray, you can blame your kids, your boss, or other sources of stress in your life. And you can point to this new study to support your perspective. But, until there is evidence that the findings of this study apply to people, I think it’s still more appropriate to blame your parents — and Father Time.

The post Can stress really make hair (or fur?) turn gray? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

from Harvard Health Blog https://ift.tt/2Tqbe3I