Eating olive oil before carbs has a surprising effect on blood sugar

 The order in which you eat different foods may have a surprising effect on blood sugar levels. Research in mice suggests that consuming fat before carbohydrates can reduce the sharp rise in blood sugar that typically follows a meal. The findings also reveal how hormones and nerve signals work together to influence this response.

Keeping blood sugar from rising too high after eating is an important part of diabetes management. Previous clinical studies have shown that eating vegetables, protein, or fat before carbohydrates can help limit these increases. This suggests that changing the sequence of foods during a meal could offer a practical, sustainable way to improve blood sugar control without eliminating entire food groups.

Scientists have generally explained this effect through two main mechanisms. The first is slower gastric emptying, which means food moves from the stomach into the small intestine more gradually. The second involves increased release of hormones called incretins, including GLP-1, which help the body regulate blood sugar.

However, researchers have not fully understood how hormones produced by the gut and pancreas interact with the nervous system to produce these effects. To investigate, an international research team examined how consuming fat before or after glucose influences blood sugar, hormone activity, and the speed at which the stomach empties.

"Our group has long been interested in practical dietary approaches that people can continue in everyday life," says corresponding author Daisuke Yabe of Kyoto University. "Meal-sequencing is appealing because it merely changes how a meal is eaten rather than requiring people to avoid entire food groups."

Testing How Olive Oil Changes Blood Sugar Levels

The researchers conducted a series of experiments in mice to determine whether the timing of fat consumption affected how the body processed glucose.

After an overnight fast, the mice were assigned to three groups. One group received water followed by glucose. A second group was given olive oil, followed 15 minutes later by glucose. The third group received glucose first, with olive oil administered 15 minutes afterward.

The scientists then measured blood glucose levels and several hormones involved in blood sugar regulation, including insulin, glucagon, GIP, and GLP-1. Glucagon is normally associated with increasing blood sugar, while GIP and GLP-1 help regulate glucose levels after eating.

To determine how quickly material was leaving the stomach, the researchers also administered acetaminophen, a common pain reliever. By measuring how much of the drug appeared in the bloodstream after oral administration, they could estimate the rate of gastric emptying.

The team extended the experiments to additional groups of mice, including animals with type 2 diabetes and others that lacked the receptor needed to respond to GLP-1.

They also performed experiments that blocked glucagon or GLP-1 signaling, surgically interrupted the vagus nerves below the diaphragm on both sides, and examined whether different dietary fats produced similar results. The vagus nerve is an important communication pathway between the brain and digestive system, helping coordinate functions such as digestion and hormone release.

Eating Fat First Slows Blood Sugar Spikes

The results showed a clear difference depending on when the mice received olive oil.

When olive oil was given before glucose, the initial rise in blood sugar was smaller than when the oil was administered afterward. The earlier fat intake also slowed gastric emptying, delaying the movement of glucose from the stomach into the intestine.

At the same time, consuming fat before glucose stimulated an early increase in several hormones, including glucagon, GIP, and GLP-1.

Importantly, these effects were also observed in mice with type 2 diabetes and severe insulin deficiency. This suggested that the response could still function even when normal insulin regulation was significantly impaired.

A Surprising Role for a Blood Sugar Hormone

One of the most unexpected findings involved glucagon, a hormone generally known for raising blood sugar by stimulating the liver to release stored glucose.

The researchers discovered that blocking glucagon signaling alone did not eliminate the blood sugar lowering effect of consuming olive oil before glucose. Blocking GLP-1 signaling by itself also failed to remove the benefit.

However, when both signaling pathways were blocked simultaneously, the beneficial effect was reduced.

This finding suggests that glucagon and GLP-1 work together as part of a more complex system that helps moderate blood sugar after fat is consumed before carbohydrates. It also reveals that glucagon, despite its familiar role in increasing blood sugar, can contribute to a response that ultimately limits the rise in glucose after eating.

Source: ScienceDaily

A plastic once thought harmless may be fueling fatty liver disease

 Microplastics have spread into nearly every corner of the environment. These tiny plastic particles have been found in ocean water, drinking water, and even inside the human body. Although their presence is well documented, scientists are still working to understand what prolonged exposure could mean for human health.

Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have now identified a potential health concern involving polyethylene, one of the most widely used plastics in the world. Their findings suggest that polyethylene microplastics may contribute to fatty liver disease, particularly when exposure occurs alongside an unhealthy diet.

Polyethylene accounts for approximately one-third of plastic production worldwide. It is used in numerous everyday products, including food wrappers, storage containers, plastic packaging, and the linings of beverage cups. Despite its widespread use, scientists have devoted relatively little attention to its potential effects on the liver compared with other types of microplastics.

"No studies have really looked into polyethylene's effect on liver health, and it's the most widely produced plastic," said Dr. Adi Joshi, associate professor in VMBS' Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology. "What we now know is that these microplastics, especially polyethylene, affect our liver's natural defense and repair mechanisms."

Common Microplastics May Contribute to Fatty Liver Disease

To investigate the possible health effects of polyethylene, Joshi and his colleagues examined whether exposure to this common plastic could promote fatty liver disease.

The condition develops when excessive fat accumulates inside liver cells. According to the American Liver Foundation, it affects approximately 25% of people worldwide, making it a major global health concern.

The researchers discovered that polyethylene exposure increased indicators of fatty liver disease even without the added influence of an unhealthy diet. When the plastic was combined with a diet rich in fat, fructose, and cholesterol, the signs of liver disease became more severe.

These results suggest that exposure to environmental pollutants and poor dietary habits may reinforce each other's harmful effects, potentially worsening liver damage.

"Those who have a more Western-style diet, including foods like burgers and sodas, may have a greater chance of progressing to fatty liver disease if they are also exposed to polyethylene," Joshi said.

The results were especially unexpected because polyethylene has traditionally been regarded as a relatively biologically inert material. In other words, scientists generally considered it less likely to interact with biological systems than more reactive substances.

However, the findings indicate that polyethylene may influence liver function in ways that were previously overlooked. Its effects appeared both independently and alongside dietary risk factors, raising important questions about how this common plastic interacts with the body's metabolism and protective mechanisms.

Scientists Pinpoint How Microplastics Affect the Liver

Understanding where and how polyethylene causes biological changes could help explain its potential role in liver disease.

To investigate these effects in greater detail, the Texas A&M team partnered with scientists at the University of Oklahoma and applied a powerful technique called spatial transcriptomics.

This technology allows researchers to study gene activity while preserving information about where individual cells are located within a tissue. Rather than simply measuring which genes are active, scientists can identify precisely where biological changes are occurring.

Using this approach, the team mapped areas of liver damage associated with polyethylene exposure and identified molecular pathways that may help explain the effects.

One important finding involved PPAR-alpha, a protein that helps regulate fat metabolism in the liver. The researchers found that polyethylene activated this protein, suggesting that it plays a significant role in the liver's response to microplastics.

They also identified ANXA2, a gene associated with tissue repair, as another possible contributor to the disease process.

Together, these discoveries provide a more detailed picture of how polyethylene may interfere with the liver's normal functions, including the mechanisms involved in protecting and repairing damaged tissue.

Joshi believes that understanding these biological pathways could eventually help researchers identify potential treatments that reduce the harmful effects of microplastic exposure.

Source: ScienceDaily

The eye has a hidden cleanup system scientists never knew existed

 Scientists have uncovered a previously unknown cleanup system at the back of the eye, revealing a hidden route that allows fluid and waste to escape into the body's lymphatic system. The discovery challenges long-standing assumptions about how the eye functions and could eventually lead to new approaches for treating serious conditions that cause blindness.

Glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and several other major causes of permanent vision loss are associated with the accumulation of fluid, metabolic waste, and inflammatory material in the back of the eye. Until now, researchers have struggled to explain exactly how this sensitive region removes unwanted substances.

A team from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Toronto has identified a previously unrecognized drainage route called the posterior ocular lymphatic outflow, or POLO pathway. The system appears to carry fluid and waste away from the back of the eye and into the lymphatic network, which helps the body maintain fluid balance, remove waste, and support immune defenses.

The finding, demonstrated in mice, offers scientists a new way to investigate how the eye protects its delicate tissues and what happens when waste removal is disrupted.

"The retina is one of the most metabolically active parts of the body, constantly generating byproducts that need to be cleared," said Dr. Neeru Gupta, professor and head of UBC's department of ophthalmology and visual sciences. "This discovery helps explain how the eye flushes this waste and promises to transform how we think about and treat a range of eye conditions."

A Hidden Eye Drainage System Could Open New Paths to Treatment

The retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, requires substantial energy to convert incoming light into signals the brain can interpret. This constant activity produces metabolic byproducts that must be removed to keep the surrounding tissues functioning properly.

When fluid and waste accumulate, they can contribute to conditions that damage the eye. Glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other retinal disorders are associated with changes in fluid regulation, cellular waste buildup, tissue stress, and inflammation.

Age-related macular degeneration alone affects approximately 2.5 million Canadians, highlighting the potential importance of understanding the processes that keep the retina healthy.

The newly identified POLO pathway suggests that the back of the eye has a natural mechanism for moving unwanted material out of this vulnerable region. If scientists can determine how that mechanism works and whether it can be strengthened, it could provide a new target for therapies designed to protect vision.

"This gives us a whole new framework for understanding these diseases and a potential target for therapeutics," said Dr. Gupta. "The question now is: How can we enhance or exploit this cleanup system to treat or even prevent disease."

Source: ScienceDaily

Just 10 minutes of daily exercise could unlock deeper sleep

 What if getting better sleep depends not just on how much you exercise, but how often you move? Research from The University of Texas at Austin suggests that being physically active every day, even for short periods, may help people spend more time in the deep, restorative stages of sleep that support recovery, mood, and mental health.

The findings suggest that consistency could be an important but often overlooked part of the relationship between exercise and sleep. Rather than saving all their workouts for the weekend, people may benefit from making movement a regular part of their daily routines.

The study, published in the Journal of Physical Activity & Health, examined activity and sleep data collected from University of Texas students who wore Fitbit devices over several months. While previous studies have largely examined how much time people spend exercising, the researchers focused on a different question: Does the number of days someone exercises influence how well they sleep?

"We wanted to know whether it matters if someone spreads out their exercise over the week versus doing it all at once, like a 'weekend warrior,'" said Benjamin Baird, a research assistant professor of psychology in UT Austin's College of Liberal Arts. "And for sleep health, frequency does seem to matter."

Just 10 Minutes of Daily Exercise May Improve Deep Sleep

The researchers found that participants who exercised more frequently tended to experience more restorative sleep. The findings build on previous research connecting physical activity with non-REM sleep, a stage that includes the deep sleep essential for physical recovery and healthy brain function.

Chris Corral, who recently earned a master's degree in health behavior and health education from UT Austin and co-led the study, explained that deep sleep is especially important during the early hours of the night. During this period, the body carries out many of the processes that help it recover from the day's physical and mental demands.

Participants who were active more often spent more time in these valuable stages of sleep.

"That's exactly what you want," Baird said.

"Better sleep means better brain health and potentially lower risks of chronic disease and depression."

Chris Corral

One particularly encouraging finding was how little exercise appeared to be necessary. Among the young adults studied, as little as 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day was associated with better sleep.

Source: ScienceDaily

Scientists make stunning discovery that could help explain why life exists

 Imagine a universe where stars still shine, planets still form, and water exists, but liquids are so thick that living cells can barely function. Even with the chemical ingredients for life, the conditions might make living organisms impossible.

Scientists have uncovered a remarkable connection between the fundamental laws of physics and the ability of life to exist. Their findings suggest that even relatively small changes to some of the universe's most basic physical constants could dramatically alter how liquids flow, potentially preventing essential biological processes from taking place.

The discovery, detailed in a study published in Science Advances, came from physicist Kostya Trachenko at Queen Mary University of London. His theoretical analysis identified an additional constraint on the values of fundamental physical constants: They must permit liquids to move in ways that support life within and between cells.

The work raises a profound question about the universe. Why do the fundamental laws of nature have values that appear so well suited to the existence of life?

The Fundamental Constants That Shape Our Universe

Fundamental physical constants are numbers that govern how the universe operates. Examples include the mass and electric charge of an electron and the Planck constant, which plays a central role in quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that describes matter and energy at extremely small scales.

These quantities are generally considered universal and unchanging over time. Their values influence everything from the behavior of atoms and chemical bonds to the nuclear reactions that power stars and produce elements essential for life.

Despite their importance, scientists still do not know why these constants have the particular values we observe.

An important clue emerged in 2020, when Trachenko and his colleagues demonstrated that fundamental physical constants place a lower limit on the viscosity of liquids.

Viscosity describes how strongly a fluid resists flowing. Water has relatively low viscosity and pours easily, while honey and tar are much more viscous and move slowly. The researchers showed that there is a fundamental limit to how freely a fluid can flow, with that limit ultimately connected to the basic constants of nature.

The 2023 study took this connection much further by examining its implications for biology.

Why Tiny Changes to Physics Could Make Life Impossible

Every living cell depends on the movement of molecules. Nutrients must reach the places where they are needed, waste products must be transported away, and countless chemical reactions must occur in a liquid environment.

Another important process is diffusion, the natural spreading of particles through a fluid. Diffusion helps molecules move around cells and enables many of the chemical interactions required for life.

If the viscosity of those fluids changed too much, these processes could become severely disrupted. Liquids that were too thick might prevent vital materials from moving efficiently, while excessively low viscosity could also interfere with the controlled flow necessary for biological functions.

Trachenko explained the surprising connection:

"Understanding how water flows in a cup turns out to be closely related to the grand challenge to figure out fundamental constants. Life processes in and between living cells require motion and it is viscosity that sets the properties of this motion. If fundamental constants change, viscosity would change too impacting life as we know it. For example, if water was as viscous as tar life would not exist in its current form or not exist at all. This applies beyond water, so all life forms using the liquid state to function would be affected."

The implications extend beyond water. Although all known life depends on water, hypothetical organisms elsewhere in the universe might rely on different liquids. The same fundamental physical constraints would still influence how those liquids behave.

Trachenko suggested that the range of constants compatible with cellular life could be surprisingly narrow.

"Any change in fundamental constants including an increase or decrease would be equally bad news for flow and for liquid-based life. We expect the window to be quite narrow: for example, viscosity of our blood would become too thick or too thin for body functioning with only a few per cent change of some fundamental constants such as the Planck constant or electron charge."

These predictions come from theoretical models rather than experiments in which scientists actually changed fundamental constants. The precise limits that different forms of life could tolerate remain uncertain.

Source: ScienceDaily

Scientists discover why a 100-year-old mushroom disease won't go away

 A disease that has troubled white button mushroom growers for more than 100 years is far more complicated than scientists previously believed. Researchers at the University of Florida have discovered that the problem involves a surprisingly diverse collection of harmful bacteria, rather than a single pathogen. The finding could help explain why the disease has been so difficult to control and lead to more effective ways to protect mushroom crops.

The discovery comes from a University of Florida study investigating bacterial blotch, a persistent disease that damages white button mushrooms and causes significant financial losses for growers.

White button mushrooms are a valuable specialty crop and a familiar ingredient in everything from salads and appetizers to everyday meals. Rich in nutrients and valued for their versatility, they are often promoted as an example of the "food is medicine" concept, which emphasizes the role of nutritious foods in supporting good health. Their nutritional benefits make them an important part of many healthy diets.

Despite their popularity, these mushrooms face a longstanding problem that can make entire portions of a harvest difficult or impossible to sell.

A Century-Old Mushroom Disease With Hidden Culprits

Bacterial blotch causes brown or yellow discoloration on mushroom surfaces, damaging their appearance and reducing their commercial value. The disease can also lower crop yields and shorten shelf life, making it a costly challenge for mushroom farms across the United States.

Adding to the difficulty, visible symptoms sometimes develop only after mushrooms have been shipped to grocery stores or purchased by consumers. This delayed appearance makes the disease especially troublesome for growers trying to ensure consistent product quality.

For many years, scientists primarily associated bacterial blotch with a single disease-causing bacterial pathogen. However, researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) have now found that the disease involves a much more complex collection of pathogenic bacteria.

These microorganisms can thrive in the carefully controlled, humid indoor environments used for commercial mushroom cultivation. Because several bacterial species may contribute to the same disease, methods designed to target a single pathogen may not be sufficient.

"For years, the industry has struggled with treatments that provide inconsistent results against bacterial blotch," said Samuel Martins, co-author and assistant professor in the UF/IFAS Department of Plant Pathology. "As part of a separate $7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant involving Penn State, University of Delaware and UF/IFAS, we are developing advanced diagnostics and sustainable solutions to strengthen mushroom farms nationwide."

DNA Analysis Reveals More Than 17 Bacterial Species

To investigate what was causing the disease, the research team collected affected mushrooms from several production facilities across the southern United States.

The scientists combined DNA sequencing, chemical profiling and conventional laboratory testing to identify the bacteria associated with the damaged mushrooms. DNA sequencing allowed them to examine the genetic identities of microorganisms present in the samples, while the additional tests helped characterize the bacteria and their disease-causing potential.

The results revealed a far more diverse group of pathogens than expected.

"We found more than 17 different species of pathogenic bacteria associated with the disease," said Sameerika Mudiyanselage, the study's lead author and a doctoral student of Martins and Romina Gazis at UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center. "While two well-known bacterial pathogens dominated the known disease profile, we also detected a surprisingly high level of another group of bacteria that has not previously been linked to the mushroom disease."

The discovery suggests that scientists have been overlooking important contributors to bacterial blotch. Although two established pathogens remained prominent, the presence of additional bacterial groups indicates that the disease cannot be fully understood by studying those organisms alone.

This complexity may help explain why bacterial blotch has persisted for generations despite efforts to manage it. When several different microorganisms are associated with a disease, identifying the responsible bacteria, predicting outbreaks, and developing consistently effective treatments become more challenging.

The findings also suggest that growers may need more comprehensive detection methods capable of identifying a broader range of bacterial threats.

"We hope that expanding our research will lead to the development of better diagnostics and more effective treatments to address the full group of disease-causing bacteria in white button mushrooms," she said.

Source: ScienceDaily

Scientists find a surprising clue to why the universe’s expansion doesn’t add up

 It’s well established that the universe is expanding, but there’s serious disagreement among scientists over how fast it’s happening.

Two of our best ways of measuring the cosmic expansion rate, the Hubble constant, give answers that are stubbornly at odds. This presents a major problem in modern cosmology known as the Hubble tension.

However, we wondered if an idea originally proposed to solve another cosmic mystery — the origin of cosmic magnetic fields — could help us unlock the mystery of the Hubble tension.

Our recently published research explores whether extremely weak magnetic fields left over from the earliest moments after the Big Bang might help us unpack the Hubble tension, while offering a glimpse into physics at energies far beyond anything achievable on Earth.

The Hubble constant and tension

Astronomers use the Hubble constant as a measure of how fast the universe is expanding. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble who first discovered that the universe is expanding.

There are two conceptually different approaches to measuring the Hubble constant. One is indirect, based on predictions of our cosmological model tuned to match the patterns in the cosmic microwave background, the faint afterglow of the Big Bang.

Telescopes such as the Planck Space Telescope have measured tiny fluctuations in this ancient light, predicting a Hubble constant of about 67 kilometers per second per megaparsec (km/s/Mpc). A parsec is a unit of distance used in astronomy equal to about 3.26 light years, or 30.9 trillion kilometers. A megaparsec is one million parsecs.

The second method is more direct, similar to the one used by Hubble in the 1920s when he first demonstrated that the universe is expanding.

It measures how fast distant galaxies are moving away from our home galaxy, the Milky Way, by observing the brightness of supernovae explosions in these far away galaxies.

Type Ia supernovae are known to be “standard candles” because we know that their luminosity is the same wherever they are. That means we can judge the distance to them from how dim they appear to us.

To determine their intrinsic brightness, astronomers use other standard candles, such as Cepheid stars, in the galaxies nearby. These observations, which use the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, give a higher value of around 73 km/s/Mpc.

This difference between the two measurements is called the Hubble tension. The difference between 67 and 73 may seem small, but it is statistically highly significant. If both methods are correct, then our standard model of cosmology must be missing something important.

Where did cosmic magnetic fields come from?

Magnetic fields are everywhere in the universe. Planets and stars generate their own fields, but gaps in our understanding emerge when we attempt to explain the much larger scale magnetic fields threading galaxies and clusters, and possibly even cosmic voids.

One long-studied possibility is that magnetism first arose in the very early universe, long before the first stars or galaxies formed. These so-called primordial magnetic fields have been studied for decades, and searching for their imprints in the cosmic microwave background and other data offers a way to probe the early universe and the extreme energies that would have generated these fields.

In 2011, two of us (Karsten and Tom) pointed out that primordial magnetic fields would influence recombination — when electrons and protons first combined to form neutral hydrogen — and the universe turned from opaque to transparent. The first light able to travel freely from that moment on is what we now observe as the cosmic microwave background.

If present, primordial magnetic fields would speed up recombination by pushing and pulling on charged particles, making matter slightly clumpy. Where particles are more crowded, they are more likely to meet and form hydrogen.

Shifting the moment when the universe becomes transparent changes the size of the observed patterns in the cosmic microwave background. This effectively alters the cosmic ruler used to measure distances and, in turn, the value of the Hubble constant inferred from the model, helping to ease the Hubble tension. Two of us (Karsten and Levon) demonstrated this effect in 2020 using a simplified model of recombination.

A breakthrough: What we found

In our new paper, we used the first full three-dimensional simulations of the primordial plasma with magnetic fields embedded in it, tracking how hydrogen forms.

We used the hydrogen formation history found through these simulations to compute predictions for how cosmic microwave background should appear if there were primordial magnetic fields, and tested these predictions against observations of the background.

The cosmic microwave background is extraordinarily sensitive to changes in recombination. If primordial magnetic fields altered it in a way that disagreed with observations, the idea could be ruled out. Instead, the data showed that our proposal remains viable.

Across multiple combinations of datasets, we find a consistent, mild preference for primordial magnetic fields, ranging from about 1.5 to three standard deviations. This is not yet a discovery, but a meaningful hint that they exist.

Equally important, the field strengths favored by the data, about five to 10 pico-Gauss today, are close to what would be needed for galaxy and cluster magnetic fields to originate from primordial seeds alone. A pico-Gauss is a unit used to measure the strength of magnetic fields.

Aside from helping ease the Hubble tension, if primordial magnetic fields are confirmed, they would open a new window into how the universe was when it was only split seconds old, perhaps offering a glimpse into important events such as the Big Bang itself.

Our results show that the proposal survives the most detailed test available today and provides clear targets for future observations. Over the next several years, we will learn whether tiny magnetic fields from the dawn of time helped shape the universe we see today and whether they hold the key to resolving the Hubble tension.

Source: ScienceDaily