HEALTH

Best part of an apple

LOVE munching on apples? You could be missing out on the best part of the fruit, according to a recent report.
Researchers from Graz University of Technology in Austria recently conducted a study, published in the Frontiers of Microbiology journal on Aug 2, 2019, to explore how the fruit’s bacteria – much of which promotes gut health – affects the human body.
To do so, they assessed the bacterial content of the different components of an apple, including the stem, peel, fruit pulp, seeds and calyx. They examined both organic and conventional store-bought apples.
After analysing the results, they found a typical 240g organic or conventional apple contains around 100 million bacteria and much of it is located in the fruit’s core, particularly the seeds. Only 10 million bacterial cells live in the flesh.
“To the heroes among you who eat the whole apple: Besides extra fibre, flavonoids and flavour, you’re also quaffing 10 times as many bacteria per fruit as your core-discarding counterparts,” the authors said in a statement.
But organic apples have an edge over the conventional ones, because they “harbour a more diverse and balanced bacterial community – which could make them healthier and tastier than conventional apples, as well as better for the environment”, the team said.
For example, Escherichia coli and Shigella species were found in most of the conventional apples, but not the organic ones. Lactobacilli, which is a type of probiotic, was found in most organic apples, but not conventional ones.
And methylobacterium, known to enhance the biosynthesis of strawberry-flavour compounds, was more prominent in organic apples. The scientists now hope to continue their investigations to better understand the bacteria makeup of other fruits.
“The microbiome and antioxidant profiles of fresh produce may one day become standard nutritional information, displayed alongside macronutrients, vitamins and minerals to guide consumers,” the scientists concluded.
“Here, a key step will be to confirm to what extent diversity in the food microbiome translates to gut microbial diversity and improved health outcomes.” – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Tribune News Service.

Humans have ability to regrow joint cartilage

The process could be harnessed as a treatment for osteoarthritis
CONTRARY to popular belief, cartilage in human joints can repair itself through a process similar to that used by creatures such as salamanders and zebrafish to regenerate limbs, researchers at Duke Health found.
Publishing online Oct 9 in the journal Science Advances, the researchers identified a mechanism for cartilage repair that appears to be more robust in ankle joints and less so in hips. The finding could potentially lead to treatments for osteoarthritis, the most common joint disorder in the world.
“We believe that an understanding of this ‘salamander-like’ regenerative capacity in humans, and the critically missing components of this regulatory circuit, could provide the foundation for new approaches to repair joint tissues and possibly whole human limbs,” said senior author Virginia Byers Kraus, MD, PhD, a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Orthopedic Surgery at Duke.
Kraus and colleagues, including lead author Ming-Feng Hsueh, Ph.D., devised a way to determine the age of proteins using internal molecular clocks integral to amino acids, which convert one form to another with predictable regularity.
Newly created proteins in tissue have few or no amino acid conversions; older proteins have many. Understanding this process enabled the researchers to use sensitive mass spectrometry to identify when key proteins in human cartilage, including collagens, were young, middle-aged or old.
They found that the age of cartilage largely depended on where it resided in the body. Cartilage in ankles is young, it’s middle-aged in the knee and old in the hips. This correlation between the age of human cartilage and its location in the body aligns with how limb repair occurs in certain animals, which more readily regenerate at the furthest tips, including the ends of legs or tails.
The finding also helps explain why injuries to people’s knees and, especially, hips take a long time to recover and often develop into arthritis, while ankle injuries heal quicker and less often become severely arthritic.
The researchers further learned that molecules called microRNA regulate this process. Not surprisingly, these microRNAs are more active in animals that are known for limb, fin or tail repair, including salamanders, zebrafish, African fresh water fish and lizards.
These microRNAs are also found in humans — an evolutionary artifact that provides the capability in humans for joint tissue repair. As in animals, microRNA activity varies significantly by its location: it was highest in ankles compared to knees and hips and higher in the top layer of cartilage compared to deeper layers of cartilage.
“We were excited to learn that the regulators of regeneration in the salamander limb appear to also be the controllers of joint tissue repair in the human limb,” Hsueh said. “We call it our ‘inner salamander’ capacity.”
The researchers said microRNAs could be developed as medicines that might prevent, slow or reverse arthritis.
“We believe we could boost these regulators to fully regenerate degenerated cartilage of an arthritic joint. If we can figure out what regulators we are missing compared with salamanders, we might even be able to add the missing components back and develop a way someday to regenerate part or all of an injured human limb,” Kraus said. “We believe this is a fundamental mechanism of repair that could be applied to many tissues, not just cartilage.” – Science Daily

Link between osteoarthritis and sugar

MOST times, a mother’s words will go unheard unless you’ve experienced a life-changing health scare. But if we don’t give our body proper attention and care now, it can lead to multiple illnesses in the future.
Take, for example, osteoarthritis (OA) which has a close link to diabetes. Studies have shown that hyperglycemia could promote joint inflammation and cartilage degradation through oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators induction as well as through accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs).
In addition, increased insulin resistance in diabetes may be a factor in osteophyte development and subchondral bone sclerosis.
To put it in simpler terms, diabetic patients have a 46% chance of potentially suffering from OA. Likewise, OA patients need to manage their glucose level properly to reduce the risk of getting diabetes one day.
Also known as degenerative joint disease, OA is the most common type of arthritis which can be found in people at the age of 60 and above. But it doesn’t mean people in their 20s or 30s won’t suffer from OA.
Often times, the female gender is more susceptible to OA, especially after the age of 45. For men, however, it occurs more frequently before they reach 45.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, so it’s worth looking at some of the factors that lead to OA including being overweight – which puts additional pressure on your hips and knees – as well as injury and overuse because repetitive movements or injuries to the joints can also lead to OA.
Mostly occurring in your hips, knees and spine, there have been cases where OA affects the finger joints and the joint at the base of your thumb or big toe.
Besides sugar management, OA patients should strive for a healthy body weight, maintain an acceptable range of blood pressure and lipid profile while doing regular exercise.
OA patients are encouraged to carry out low-impact exercises such as swimming, cycling and walking. Such exercises can help to maintain and improve muscle strength. With stronger muscles, it can support and protect the joints that are affected by OA.
High-impact exercises like running, hiking or squatting is a big no-no for OA patients, as it can cause the cartilage to break down further.
As a major cause of disability, OA can put a restriction on your movements as you will be in constant pain, significantly impacting your quality of life as you get older. In the long run, you will have to resort to surgical joint or knee replacement, while bearing the cost of medical expenses. –The Star