PALEOTERRAN

Monthly Finds 1.2011

Broccoli Fights Cancer by Clearing Bad Tumor Suppressors - Scientific American, Jan. 27
The p53 gene codes for proteins that keep cancer cells in check. If p53 mutates, it codes ineffective proteins. Broccoli destroys mutant p53 genes so effective proteins can get their work done suppressing tumors.

Global Food System Needs Massive Overhaul - onearth, Jan. 26
One of several recent articles on the rising threat of food insecurity. 

Eating Wheat Gluten Causes Symptoms in Some People Who Don't Have Celiac Disease - Whole Health Source, Jan. 20
Suffering from unexplained fatigue or digestive problems? Try avoiding gluten.

Study: Strength Training Lowers Blood Pressure Equal to Medication or Aerobics - Primal Wisdom, Jan. 19

Bioactive compounds in berries can reduce high blood pressure - EurekAlert, Jan. 14
Another reason to love blueberries.

Does Dietary Saturated Fat Increase Blood Cholesterol? An Informal Review of Observational Studies - Whole Health Source, Jan. 13

Eat Greener, Look Better - Environmental News Network, Jan. 13
Healthy glowing skin: another reason to eat your fruits and vegetables.

Lice DNA Study Shows Humans First Wore Clothes 170,000 Years Ago - ScienceDaily, Jan. 7

Alpha-carotene from veggies linked to longer life - Scientific American, Dec. 30
You wont find it in your multivitamins or supplements: alpha-carotene, just one more reason to eat your vegetables.

Neanderthal diets included some grains - Hunt.Gather.Love, Dec. 27

Positive Well-Being to Higher Telomerase: Psychological Changes from Meditation Training Linked to Cellular Health - ScienceDaily, Nov. 4
Rebuilding and lengthening your telomeres through meditation protects your DNA?!


An "Insight of the Decade": Chronic inflammation kills

Macrophages are "hallmarks of inflammation" and provide important immunological defense. However, they can also promote disease.Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, describes the Four Horsemen of Aging in his book The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer. Although not a paleo book per se, the discussion of the Four Horsemen - Free radicals, Inflammation, Glycation and Stress - is mostly on target.

Bowden quotes a number of specialists in the field:

Inflammation is one of the things that keeps us alive in a hostile world. … Without inflammation we would be sitting ducks in a very hostile world, with no way to repair the damage constantly being inflicted on us. Our internal inflammatory responses let us attack invaders, surround, them, and ultimately kill them before they kill us. (Barry Sears, PhD)

However, while we need acute inflammation to repair damage done by a cut, an infection, or other insult, chronic inflammation is another matter altogether. While not necessarily the starter switch, “chronic inflammation may be the engine that drives many of the most feared illnesses of middle and old age.” (Christine Gorman)

SAD is largely to blame:

Changes in brain architecture due to altered sleep/wake cycles

Our physiology is linked to the planet through circadian rhythms. Specifically, our sleep/wake cycle is synched to the 24-hour light/dark cycle of the Earth. What happens to the brain when the light/dark cycle is shortened from 24-hours to 20-hours?

Researchers at Rockefeller University studied this in mice. Mice exposed to a 20-hour light/dark cycle gained weight and some became obese. More bothersome and surprising was the development of alterations in brain architecture: dendrites (the projections that transmit information from other nerve cells to the body of the neuron) became shorter and the organization of nerve cells “in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex, a brain region important in executive function and emotional control” became less complex. The author's conclusion:

How our findings translate to humans living and working in chronic circadian disruption is unknown, but we believe that this model can provide a foundation to understand how environmental disruption of circadian rhythms impacts the brain, behavior, and physiology.

What is not known is whether these changes correct themselves after the mice are returned to the endogenous 24-hour cycle. Possibly this will be the subject of a subsequent study.

Related Entries
Dim lights at dusk for better sleep
Paleolithic & hunter-gatherer sleep
The end of night

Dim lights at dusk for better sleep

Sleep is fundamental to good health. Sleep impacts the quality of your day, and what happens during the day impacts the quality of your sleep. While many factors affect sleep, one we can control, yet often don’t, is the intensity of light we are exposed to before bedtime.

As we saw in The End of Night, the development of the light bulb and alternating current allowed us to effectively eliminate night at will. Since most of us prefer to get a good night's sleep, recall during the Paleolithic the slow decrease in light intensity at dusk prepared the brain for sleep, primarily by the secretion of melatonin. Today, we often keep the room lights on until bedtime and then, once turned off, expect to fall asleep effortlessly. For millions of Americans, the failure to adequately prepare the brain results in nonrestorative sleep.

According to EurekAlert, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism will publish an article comparing normal room light versus dim light on the secretion of melatonin:

More young adults staying home

Paleolithic hunter-gatherers organized in bands that included several families and consisted of 20-30 people, although some were larger. This closeness afforded protection and a survival advantage. When a couple married they usually lived in the band of one of the spouses. Bands included all generations from infants to the elderly. With the advent of civilization and the protection provided, living in nuclear families, or alone, became possible.

Modern life provides vastly greater opportunities for young adults than the Paleolithic era, yet the path to those opportunities is predictable. For the typical boomer it included high school, college or a job, marriage and having children. Moving out of the family home was a mark of adulthood. However, more recently, many young adults are staying home.