Health & Fitness

What do heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration and other chronic health conditions of modern society have in common? They all have increased by shocking amounts in the last decades. And, they are all linked to the consumption of seed oils.

In a recent speech at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, titled "Diseases of Civilization: Are Seed Oil Excesses the Unifying Mechanism?," Dr. Chris Knobbe reveals startling evidence that seed oils, so prevalent in modern diets, are the reason for most of today's chronic diseases.¹

Knobbe, an ophthalmologist, is the founder of the nonprofit Cure AMD Foundation, dedicated to the prevention of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD).² He is a former associate clinical professor emeritus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.³

His research indicts the high consumption of omega-6 seed oil in everyday diets as the major unifying driver of the chronic degenerative diseases of modern civilization. He calls the inundation of Western diets with harmful seeds oils "a global human experiment … without informed consent."

The Rise of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)

Trans fats and polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils and plant oils, are a fairly recent invention and include cottonseed, rapeseed, sunflower, safflower, rice bran, soybean, corn and other popular oils. PUFAs owe their existence to "roller mill technology," which around 1880 replaced stone mill technology that was used to grind wheat into flour.⁴

Roller mill technology facilitated the entire removal of the bran and the germ of a grain, leaving only the endosperm, a refined product with its nutrients removed.⁵ According to Knobbe, writing on the Cure AMD Foundation website:⁶

"The first of these [PUFAs] was cottonseed oil. This was soon followed by the hydrogenation and partial hydrogenation of cottonseed oil, producing the first ever artificially created trans-fat. The latter was introduced by Proctor & Gamble in 1911 under the name 'Crisco,' which was marketed as 'the healthier alternative to lard … and more economical than butter.'"

Crisco, the grandfather of commercially produced PUFAs or trans fats, is still widely sold today. The plan of vegetable oil producers, says Knobbe, was to undersell and therefore replace animal fats, which were priced higher.⁷ The plan was successful.

PUFAs became so popular that they now make up 63% of the American diet, form the basis of USDA food recommendations and are found in 600,000 processed foods sold in the U.S. today.⁸ In 1909, Americans ate 2 grams a day of vegetable oil, says Knobbe, and by 2010 they were eating an astounding 80 grams of vegetable oil a day.⁹

There are several reasons PUFAs are harmful, says Knobbe. Unlike animal fats, they lack vitamins A, D and K, so they are nutrient deficient. They contribute to most of the chronic diseases associated with modern civilization. And PUFAs also contribute to the epidemic of obesity. The 80 grams of PUFAs a day that Americans are now consuming amount to 720 calories, says Knobbe, which means that one-third of most people's calories are "coming out of factories."¹⁰

Chronic Diseases Rose With PUFAs

Many people are aware that diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and other conditions were less common in the first part of the 20th century than they are today. But the rise in the incidence of these conditions is more dramatic than many realize. According to Knobbe:¹¹

• In 1900, 12.5% percent of the U.S. population died of heart-related disease; in 2010, that figure was 32%
• In 1811, 1 person in 118 died of cancer; in 2010, 1 in 3 died of cancer
• In 80 years, the incidence of Type 2 diabetes has increased 25-fold
• In the 19th century, 1.2% of Americans were obese; in 2015, 39.8% were obese
• In 1930, there were no more than 50 cases of macular degeneration; in 2020, there are 196 million cases

Are the rises in these chronic conditions correlated with the rise in the dietary consumption of PUFAs? Absolutely, says Knobbe in his lecture. He gives the following explanation:¹²

"These disorders from heart disease to atherosclerosis to type-2 diabetes to macular degeneration and cancer all have the same thing. They all have mitochondrial dysfunction …The very first thing that happens when the electron transport chain fails … is that it starts shooting out reactive oxygen species — these are hydroxyl radicals and superoxide …

These free radicals lead to nuclear mitochondrial DNA mutations … which contribute to heart failure … macular degeneration, Alzheimer's Parkinson's … a catastrophic lipid peroxidation cascade [that] leads to toxic aldehydes."

At the root of the harmful biochemical reactions enacted by seed oils is linoleic acid, says Knobbe, which is an 18-carbon omega-6 fat. Linoleic acid is the primary fatty acid found in PUFAs and accounts for about 80% of total vegetable oils. Omega-6 fats must be balanced with omega-3 fats in order not to be harmful.

"Most of this linoleic acid, when it oxidizes, it develops lipid hydroperoxides and then these rapidly degenerate into … oxidized linoleic acid metabolites," says Knobbe.¹³

The oxidized linoleic acid metabolites are a perfect storm. They are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, atherogenic and thrombogenic, says Knobbe. Their atherosclerosis and thrombogenic actions are especially concerning because they can produce strokes and clots.

PUFAs Create Insulin Resistance

Diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome have become epidemic since the U.S. diet has been based on PUFAs. It is estimated that nearly 70% of Americans are now overweight or obese and a substantial amount are metabolically unhealthy.¹⁴

This puts people at risk for Type 2 diabetes as well as the many chronic diseases associated with insulin resistance, from cancer to Alzheimer's disease. In his lecture, Knobbe explains how these conditions develop:¹⁵

"When you consume omega-6 to excess … it combines with reactive oxygen species like hydroxyl radicals … so this begins catastrophic lipid peroxidation cascade — these polyunsaturated fats are accumulating [in] your cells, accumulate in your membranes, accumulate in your mitochondria and they cause a peroxidation reaction."

Because there's so many reactive oxygen species it leads to developing insulin resistance at the cellular level and the production of lipid droplets in your liver, continues Knobbe:

" … that creates a catastrophic lipid part or it feeds back to the lipid peroxidation … so now you're not burning fat for fuel properly so the person gaining weight and getting sick in this regard is now carb dependent — their glycolysis is working but … [they] start storing the fat … so this leads to obesity."

Linoleic acid is especially a culprit in this harmful process, agrees Dr. Paul Saladino, a physician journalist, in a podcast. Linoleic acid "breaks the sensitivity for insulin at the level of your fat cells" — it makes them more insulin sensitive — and, since your fat cells control the insulin sensitivity of the rest of your body by releasing free fatty acids, you end up with insulin resistance.

Rat Studies and Indigenous People Show PUFA Harm

Animal studies have dramatically demonstrated the deleterious effects of PUFAs. In one study Knobbe cites, two sets of rats were put on identical diets except one group received 5% cottonseed oil and the other received 1.5% butterfat.¹⁶ The result of the study was that:¹⁷

" … the rats on the cottonseed oil grow to sixty percent of normal size and live[d] 555 days on average; they're, weak, fragile, sickly little rats. The rats on the butterfat they are healthy; they grow to normal size and they live 1020 days so they grow to almost twice the size [of the cottonseed oil-fed rats], live twice as long and are infinitely more healthy."

While it's suggested that the American Heart Association and other medical groups might discount such studies, potentially calling them paradoxical, there are also examples of the positive effects from saturated and animal-based fats upon human health, says Knobbe.

For example, the Tokelau people who live on islands in the South Pacific between Hawaii and Australia eat a diet almost exclusively of coconut, fish, starchy tubers and fruit.¹⁸ Between 54% and 62% of their calories come from coconut oil, which contains saturated fat, Knobbe points out.

Nevertheless, a study of Tokelau men between 40 and 69 years found that they had no heart attacks, no obesity and no diabetes.¹⁹ They were "fantastically healthy," says Knobbe.

Whether we're talking about animal studies or studies of non-Westernized people, at least 80% of obesity and chronic diseases in Westernized countries come from processed foods, Knobbe concludes. "It is driven by vegetable oils and trans-fats … fast food restaurants almost all cook in soybean oil and canola oil."

Other Experts Agree With Knobbe

In a previous newsletter with the Saldino podcast mentioned above, I discussed how Saladino and journalist Nina Teicholz decry the popularity and ubiquity of PUFAs in the modern food system and believe in the healthful benefits of saturated fat.

In the podcast, Saladino and Teicholz review the history of the demonization of saturated fat and cholesterol, which began, they say, with the flawed hypothesis in 1960 to 1961 that saturated fat causes heart disease.

The hypothesis was buttressed by the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans, introduced in 1980, which told people to limit their saturated fat and cholesterol, all the while exonerating carbs, which were increasingly made with PUFAs. It should be no surprise that the hypothesis and dietary guidelines were linked to a rapid rise in obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease.

In the podcast, Saladino and Teicholz discuss the reasons why this myth has been allowed to persist, despite the scientific evidence against it.

If saturated animal fats were acknowledged to be healthy and processed industrial vegetable oils and grains were exposed as unhealthy, it would decimate the major processed food and fast food industries, which rely on vegetable oils and grains. Moreover, statin sales and other Big Pharma profit areas would suffer. Big Food and Big Pharma have financial motives for keeping the health benefits of real food hidden.

Like Knobbe, the experts are convinced that the massive increase in linoleic acid consumption because of its ubiquity in industrial vegetable oils and processed foods is a key metabolic driver of obesity, heart disease, cancer and other chronic disease.

They stress that the belief that high low-density lipoproteins (LDL) — the so-called "bad" cholesterol — are a risk factor for heart disease and that by lowering your LDL you lower your risk of a heart attack, is incorrect. The science simply doesn't bear this out, they say. The reason for this is because not all LDL particles are the same.

Cutting down on red meat and saturated fat and eating more vegetable oil may cause LDL to go down, Saladino explains, but those LDLs will not be oxidized. It is the effect of LDL oxidation that triggers insulin resistance and related problems, including heart disease — something the LDL tests don't detect.

Eating saturated fat, on the other hand, may raise your LDL, but those LDL particles will be large and fluffy and do not cause arterial damage, says Saladino.

The take-home message from both doctors Knobbe and Saladino is that seed oils are responsible for the vast majority of modern diseases and the best thing you can do for your health is renounce them.

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Horseshoe crabs may represent an unwitting casualty in the race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. Not only has the vaccine development process been criticized for being the most fast-tracked vaccine ever created in history, but it’s dependent on the blue blood from horseshoe crabs — the only known source of limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL).¹

LAL is used to detect endotoxins, bacterial contaminants that can be deadly if they end up in vaccines, injectable drugs or other medical devices and implants, such as artificial knees and hips. When blood from horseshoe crabs comes into contact with endotoxins, amebocytes — horseshoe crab immune cells — clot, forming a mass that signifies the presence of the potentially deadly bacterial contaminants.²

Drug Companies Bleed 500,000 Horseshoe Crabs Annually

The bleeding of horseshoe crabs for pharmaceutical usage is not a new phenomenon, nor one that’s limited to experimental COVID-19 vaccines. The ability of horseshoe crab blood to detect endotoxins, which occurs via a “primitive but highly sensitive immune response,”³ has been known since 1956,⁴ and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved LAL for use in testing drugs and vaccines in 1977.⁵

Prior to this, the pharmaceutical industry used rabbits to detect endotoxins, which led to hundreds of thousands of rabbit euthanizations every year. Today, every U.S. FDA approved drug must be tested for bacterial contaminants, and although a synthetic alternative to LAL exists, the U.S. Pharmacopeia, which works closely with the FDA, hasn’t fully endorsed it.⁶

As a result, the horseshoe-derived test is still widely used. Every year, the pharmaceutical industry captures about 500,000 horseshoe crabs on the East Coast of the U.S. and drains up to one-third of their blood.⁷ The pharmaceutical industry maintains that most horseshoe crabs are unharmed by the process, but an average of 13% of the bled crabs are sold off as bait to fisheries.

The remaining crabs are returned to the water, but estimates vary on how many ultimately die from the stress of the experience. Studies have found deaths related to the bleeding process range from 5% to 15%, with the 15% figure used for management purposes.

However, this may be misleading, according to a study published in the journal Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology,⁸ because most of the studies involved only males, did mimic handling practices typical of the biomedical facility doing the bleeding, and harvested females after spawning season, when much of the biomedical harvesting occurs during the season.

“Female mortality is of particular concern because they have greater importance than males for population dynamics, are preferentially harvested and are more likely to be physiologically stressed than males because of energy outlay for egg production,” the researchers wrote, adding that one study reported a 29% mortality in female horseshoe crabs that were bled.

How Many Horseshoe Crabs Are Dying to Test Human Vaccines?

When the Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology study researchers compared the mortality of unbled female horseshoe crabs with that of female horseshoe crabs bled by a biomedical company, a significant difference was found. While only 3% of unbled horseshoe crabs died, this rose to 22.5% of crabs that were bled and returned directly to the water and 29.8% of crabs that were bled and held overnight before being returned to water — a common practice.

“Mortality rates in bled treatment groups were double those used in current management of the biomedical fishery. The bait and biomedical fisheries are managed differently because biomedical is considered a low-mortality ‘catch and release’ fishery,” the researchers wrote, but clearly they’re having a detrimental effect on horseshoe crabs’ survival.⁹

Even using conservative estimates of mortality caused by bleeding, and combining it with the crabs sold for bait, another study estimated that at least 130,000 horseshoe crabs are killed every year by the biomedical industry.¹⁰

What’s more, aside from the crabs that die outright, sublethal effects, including injury and disorientation, are also known to occur as a result of capture, handling and transportation, and may affect horseshoe crabs for weeks following the bleeding. This may result in increased disease in the crabs and could cause lower spawning rates, further affecting the specie’s survival.¹¹

In fact, a study followed 28 horseshoe crabs that were fitted with acoustic transmitters and released into the Great Bay Estuary in New Hampshire. Half were bled and half were not.¹²

The collected data showed that the bled crabs approached mating beaches less often than the nonbled crabs in the first week after they were released, while the bled animals also stayed significantly deeper during the spawning season compared to the nonbled crabs.

Horseshoe Crab Populations Are on the Decline

Horseshoe crabs, which have been on this planet for an estimated 450 million years, surviving ice ages, asteroids and more, and predating dinosaurs by more than 200 million years,¹³ may have met their match with the pharmaceutical industry, as their population is on the decline.

They’re unique in a number of ways, including having 10 eyes and 10 legs, with a mouth in the center. And, despite their name, horseshoe crabs aren’t crustaceans like true crabs but, rather, are more closely related to spiders and scorpions. They belong to the Merostomata class, which means “legs attached to mouth.”

These living fossils are a keystone species that play a valuable role in the environment, hosting organisms such as barnacles and blue mussels on their shells, acting as predators and helping to control clam, mussel and crustacean populations and providing a food source for a number of marine animals.

Population monitoring studies suggest horseshoe crab populations decreased more than 10%, or about 1% per year, from 2003 to 2014, although more striking declines have also been noted.

“An especially compelling example has been observed near Cape Cod at Mashnee Dike, where the spawning horseshoe crab count dwindled from around 3,000 to 148, representing a 95.3% decline over a 15-year period (1984–1999),” researchers wrote in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.¹⁴

Biomedical Harvesting the Greatest Threat to Horseshoe Crabs

While environmental pollutants, including the sunscreen chemical oxybenzone, have been cited for harming horseshoe crabs,¹⁵ according to National Geographic, “The biggest threat to horseshoe crabs is being harvested for human use, including for bait and biomedical materials.”¹⁶

Reports by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) also show a concerning rise in the number of horseshoe crabs being harvested by biomedical bleeding facilities, and dying as a result. According to a review article in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science:¹⁷

“From 2004 to 2012, the number of crabs delivered to biomedical bleeding facilities increased from 343,126 to 611,827, or by about 78%; while total mortality correspondingly increased by 75%. The percentage of horseshoe crabs that died prior to being bled more than doubled from 2008 to 2012, which may be attributed to deleterious harvest and transportation practices.

The maximum harvest mortality limit of 57,500 set by the ASMFC (based on the 15% mortality allowance) has been exceeded at times by more than 20,000 horseshoe crabs every year since 2007. More recently, ASMFC data has estimated the mortality of horseshoe crabs harvested for the biomedical industry to be 70,000 (with a range of 23,000–140,000).

… Based on current rates of horseshoe crab mortality and related [increasing U.S. human] population trends, over the next two decades, demand for the LAL test is likely to reach unsustainable levels.

While horseshoe crab populations have moderately stabilized in some regions of the Atlantic, increases have also not been observed, which may be a result of negative behavioral or reproduction changes once the animals are returned to the ocean as well as deteriorating coastlines.”

A loss of horseshoe crabs will also affect shorebirds, especially the red knot, semipalmated sandpiper, ruddy turnstone and sanderling, which have migrations that correspond with horseshoe crab spawning.

Red knots, for instance, travel 19,000 miles from the southeastern U.S. or South America to the Canadian Arctic. The final stop in their migration is the Delaware Bay, where they feed primarily on horseshoe crab eggs, a necessary nutrition source for them to complete the final leg of their journey.

Without plentiful horseshoe crab eggs, the birds’ populations are also declining. “From 1980 to 2014, red knot populations decreased by as much as 75% in some areas, largely due to the lack of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay,” researchers noted, adding, “From 1997 to 2002, the number of red knots that reached their target weight decreased by 70%, possibly due to late arrival in the Delaware Bay, compounded by a shortage of horseshoe crab eggs.”¹⁸

Vaccine Maker Says Only One Day’s Worth of Lysate Needed

Conservationists argue that the heavy burden placed on horseshoe crabs for the production of COVID-19 vaccines could prove detrimental to the species. Speaking out against such criticism, vaccine maker Lonza, whose COVID-19 vaccine is slated for human clinical trials, stated that their COVID-19 vaccine tests would require only a day’s worth of lysate production from three U.S. manufacturers.¹⁹

John Dubczak, Lonza’s executive director of reagent development and pilot program operations, similarly stated that 600,000 tests would be performed to produce 5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, which would require about the amount of lysate produced in one day. “This places no undue burden on the [lysate] supply chain or horseshoe crab populations,” he told National Geographic.²⁰

Unfortunately, even the current state of horseshoe crab harvesting appears unsustainable, while efforts to protect horseshoe crabs by industry following established Best Management Practices are not being upheld.

As reported by the Frontiers in Marine Science review article, in 2013, the ASMFC noted, “The current elected panel is predominantly comprised of stakeholders representing the agencies that control horseshoe crab biomedical assay commerce, suggesting that effective management strategies may be compromised by conflicting economic and environmental considerations.”²¹

Use of Synthetic Alternative Could Save Horseshoe Crabs

In 1997, scientists at the National University of Singapore developed laboratory-synthesized recombinant Factor C (rFC), a synthetic alternative to the LAL test. The synthetic version uses a single protein cloned from a horseshoe crab as its active ingredient.²² Although rFC is approved for use in Europe, questions about efficacy have kept it from being widely used in the U.S.

Writing in PLOS Biology, however, researchers determined that rFC is not only effective for endotoxin detection but also may largely eliminate the occurrence of false positive reactions that may occur to glucans and some other substances.²³ “The reagent [rFC] is more consistent since it is not subject to the lot-to-lot variability found in LAL,” they noted, adding that it presents potential cost savings as well.

Importantly, switching to rFC would reduce the demand for LAL by 90%, which could save about 100,000 horseshoe crabs from dying every year in North America alone. The represents an “extraordinary opportunity” for the pharmaceutical industry to contribute to horseshoe crab conservation, leading the researchers to call for urgent change in the industry:²⁴

“Given the equivalent efficacy, proven reliability, a clearly defined regulatory pathway, and the profound ecological benefits of ending the bleeding of horseshoe crabs, the authors recommend rapid proactive adoption of the recombinant-based alternatives as the standard method for endotoxin testing in pharmaceutical and biomedical laboratories worldwide.”

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Metabolic syndrome may be the most common and serious condition you’ve never heard of. (At least that’s what I found out when I asked friends and relatives about it.) Worse, a study published recently in JAMA shows that it’s on the rise.

Let’s start with the name, according to Merriam-Webster:

Metabolic: Relating to the chemical changes in living cells by which energy is provided for vital processes and activities and new material is assimilated

Syndrome: A group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality or condition.

So now you know what metabolic syndrome is, right? Perhaps not. Just knowing what the words in its name mean doesn’t help much in this case.

Metabolic syndrome defined

According to the most widely accepted definition, a person has metabolic syndrome when at least three of the following are present:

• Obesity: A body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, or a large waistline (greater than 40 inches in men or 35 inches in women)
• Elevated blood triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood): Above 150 mg/dL
• Low HDL (good) cholesterol: Below 40 mg/dL in men or 50 mg/dL in women
• High blood pressure: 130 mmHg or above (systolic pressure), or 85 mmHg or above (diastolic pressure), or previously diagnosed hypertension that requires medication
• Elevated blood sugar: A fasting plasma glucose level of 100 mg/dL or above, or taking diabetes medications.

Why having metabolic syndrome matters

While each component of metabolic syndrome can cause health problems on its own, a combination of them powerfully increases the risk of having

• cardiovascular disease (including heart attacks and stroke)
• diabetes
• liver and kidney disease
• sleep apnea

And this only a partial list. It’s likely we’ll learn about other health risks associated with metabolic syndrome in the future.

Metabolic syndrome is on the rise

A new study explores how common metabolic syndrome is and who is getting it. Researchers analyzed survey data from more than 17,000 people who were representative of the US population in gender, race, and ethnicity. While the overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased slightly between 2011 and 2016 — going from 32.5% to 36.9% — it increased significantly among

• women (from 31.7% to 36.6%)
• adults ages 20 to 39 (from 16.2% to 21.3%)
• Asian (from 19.9% to 26.2%) and Hispanic (from 32.9% to 40.4%) adults.

Rates of metabolic syndrome were similar among men and women, but increased with age (from about one in five in young adults to nearly half of all people over 60). Among Hispanic adults 60 and over, nearly 60% had metabolic syndrome.

Perhaps these findings should not be surprising given the connection between obesity and metabolic syndrome, and the well-documented epidemic of obesity in this country. Still, it is particularly worrisome that metabolic syndrome is rising so fast among certain ethnic groups and young adults, and there is currently little reason to think these trends won’t continue in the near future.

Health disparities in metabolic syndrome

The finding that metabolic syndrome is more common among certain ethnic groups reveals significant health disparities. These disparities are important not only in the context of long-term health consequences, but also because of the current pandemic. Some components of metabolic syndrome, such as obesity and hypertension, are associated with more severe COVID-19. Separately, research shows higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and deaths from COVID-19 among some racial and ethnic groups.

For example, hospitalization rates for COVID-19 among Blacks and Hispanics are four to five times higher than for non-Hispanic white people. Health disparities associated with COVID-19 may reflect a complex combination of elements — not just age and chronic medical conditions, but also genetic, social, environmental, and occupational factors. Similar factors probably play a role in why metabolic syndrome affects, and is rising in, some groups more than others. This is an area of active (and much needed) research.

What’s to be done about metabolic syndrome?

The biggest priority now regarding metabolic syndrome is prevention. Healthy habits can have a big impact on maintaining a healthy weight and normal blood sugar, lipid levels, and blood pressure. Once present, metabolic syndrome can be treated with loss of excess weight, improved diet (such as the Mediterranean diet or the DASH diet), and, when necessary, with medications (including those that can improve blood lipids, or lower blood pressure or blood sugar).

The bottom line

Metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for some of the most common and deadly conditions, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We need to figure out how to more effectively prevent and treat it, particularly because it appears to be on the rise. A good starting point is to pay more attention to risk factors such as excess weight, lack of exercise, and an unhealthy diet.

Now you know what metabolic syndrome is. Considering that about one in three people in the US has this condition, it’s likely someone close to you has it. Talk to your doctor about whether that “someone” is you.

The post Metabolic syndrome is on the rise: What it is and why it matters appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

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