What makes your personality 'healthy' or 'unhealthy?'

Researchers believe that certain personality traits are "healthful" because they are conducive to leading a happier, healthier life, while others are "unhealthful." In a new study, they explain which traits are which and why.

To "map out" a person's personality, psychologists will assess how they score on five key personality traits. These traits are extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

However, each of these five personality traits comprises numerous other characteristics that help define personality.

A team of researchers from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) believes that some of these personality-defining characteristics are the building blocks of a healthy personality, while others may stand in the way of happiness and success.

In their new study, which features in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the researchers consider which of the 30 facets of the five key personality traits help define a "healthy personality" and which also relate to different types of behavior.

"We believe our results have both practical implications for the assessment of and research on health personality functioning as well as deeper implications for theories about psychological adaption and functioning," says the study's lead author, Wiebke Bleidorn, an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis.

"In addition to providing a comprehensive description of a psychologically healthy individual in terms of basic traits, the profile generated and tested provides a practical assessment tool for research on health personality functioning."

Wiebke Bleidorn

The 'healthy' personality profile

The researchers conducted their study in two parts. First, they asked trait psychology experts to try to describe what a "healthy personality" would look like using the 30 facets of the five key personality traits.

As part of this expert-consensus approach, they also sought the opinion of experts in positive psychology, which is the branch of psychology that focuses on people's virtues and positive traits, and the perspective of undergraduate psychology students.

In the second part of their study, the investigators collected and analyzed data from more than 3,000 study participants. They mapped out each participant's personality, which they then compared with the profile that the first part of the study had generated.

As the researchers expected, both the experts and the students who they interviewed in the first part of their study suggested that an individual with a healthy personality would score highly in the facets belonging to the traits of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, but would have relatively low scores in facets of neuroticism.

More specifically, the researchers say, "the expert-generated profile suggested that psychologically healthy individuals have particularly high scores on Openness to Feelings and low scores on Angry Hostility." They add, "Other top-rated facets were Warmth, Positive Emotions, Straightforwardness, and Competence. Facets rated as particularly low were Depressiveness and Vulnerability."

"People in general, no matter whether they are experts or not, seem to have quite a clear idea of what a healthy personality looks like," says Bleidorn.

Moreover, according to the existing body of research that the researchers took into account, it appears that these key personality traits could predict certain outcomes, including a person's state of health, self-esteem, academic performance, relationship quality, and performance at work.

Some intriguing findings

Looking at the data from the second part of their study, the researchers confirmed that those participants who had healthy personality profiles seemed to be better adjusted in life. These individuals had higher self-esteem, a sense of clarity and optimism, and an aversion to aggression and antisocial behaviors.

They also reported being better able to resist temptation, self-regulate behaviors, and stay focused on the task at hand.

However, it was the participants who had traits relating to narcissism and psychopathy that allowed the researchers to form a more detailed idea of what a "healthy personality" might look like.

The study results showed that individuals with "healthy personality" profiles tend to score lower in exploitativeness but relatively high in grandiosity and self-sufficiency, despite all of these traits having an association with narcissism.

The investigators observe that similar trends applied to characteristics with measures of psychopathy. Participants with "healthy personalities," they note, tended to score low on maladaptive characteristics, such as disinhibition and blaming the negative effects of their actions on others. However, they scored higher on other characteristics that are potentially less harmful, such as immunity to stress and boldness.

If you are curious to find out how you would score and whether or not you have a "healthy personality," you can take the test that the study authors designed here.

Source: Medical News Today

Men who eat lots of fruits and vegetables have less memory loss

Men who follow a healthful diet could be protecting their brains, according to a new study that tracked a large group of men for more than 2 decades.

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, analyzed data from a study that had followed 27,842 men for 26 years.

The men had all filled in detailed surveys about their food and drink intake at the start of the study in 1986 — when they were aged 51 years, on average — and then every 4 years until 2002.

The follow-up lasted until 2012, by which time their average age was in the mid- to late-70s.

During the last few years of the follow-up, they had also completed short tests to find out whether they had noticed any decline in their own ability to think and remember things.

The analysis showed that consuming higher amounts of certain foods and drinks was tied to lower risk of decline in memory and thinking skills.

The foods that most strongly showed this effect were leafy greens, red and dark orange vegetables, berry fruits, and orange juice.

The journal Neurology recently published a paper about the study and its findings.

"Our studies," says first author Dr. Changzheng Yuan, who works in the school's departments of nutrition and epidemiology, "provide further evidence [that] dietary choices can be important to maintain your brain health."

Subjective cognitive function test

The purpose of the subjective cognitive function (SCF) tests that the men completed was to discern changes in memory and thinking abilities that they had noticed themselves.

The SCF test contains six items, and the study authors note that its "validity was supported by strong associations" with a gene that is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The subjective test can uncover decline in memory and thinking skills before they begin to show up in objective tests.

The men completed the SCF test twice: once in 2008 and again at the end of the follow-up in 2012. Typical questions included:

"Do you have more trouble than usual remembering a short list of items, such as a shopping list?"

"Do you have more trouble than usual following a group conversation or a plot in a TV program due to your memory?"

The authors note that they "categorized the average of the [two] scores as good, moderate, and poor SCF."

Early warning of mild cognitive impairment

Any memory decline revealed in the SCF results could herald the start of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

MCI is a condition that often precedes Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. However, not everyone with MCI will develop Alzheimer's.

In the United States, around 80 percent of those "who fit the definition of amnestic MCI" develop Alzheimer's disease within 7 years, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Amnestic MCI is the form of MCI that is most often tied to memory loss.

In the recent study, 55 percent of the men scored "good" on the SCF test, 38 percent scored "moderate," and 7 percent scored "poor."

Consumption of fruits and vegetables

The team split the men into five groups according to their fruit and vegetable intake. The results showed that the group that ate the most vegetables consumed about 6 servings per day, and that the group that ate the least consumed 2.

The daily consumption of fruit ranged from 3 servings for the group that ate the most to half a serving for the group that ate the least.

A comparison of the vegetable consumption against the SCF scores revealed that:

The men who ate the most vegetables were 34 percent less likely to report having experienced a reduction in memory function.

Of the men who ate the most vegetables, 6.6 percent scored poor on the SCF, compared with 7.9 percent of those who ate the least.

The results also showed a 47 percent less chance of having a poor SCF score among the men who drank orange juice every day compared with those who only drank it once per month. The link was most relevant for older men who drank orange juice every day.

In addition, men who ate the most fruit each day were the least likely to have a poor SCF score, but this link lost its strength after the team considered the effect of other foods.

The team also found that high levels of fruit and vegetable consumption near the start of the study period was linked to a lower chance of having a poor SCF score some 20 years later.

Whether or not the men kept eating lots of fruits and vegetables — up to 6 years before taking the SCF test — had no effect on the link.

Source: Medical News Today

Breast cancer: Tumor growth fueled by bone marrow cells

New research, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals a novel mechanism that fuels tumor growth in breast cancer and may have a negative impact on a person's outlook. However, the findings might also help scientists develop individually tailored treatments that target breast cancer tumors more precisely.

Neta Erez, a senior lecturer in the department of pathology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University in Israel, is the first author of the new paper that details a novel tumor growth mechanism in breast cancer.

As the scientists note New research, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals a novel mechanism that fuels tumor growth in breast cancer and may have a negative impact on a person's outlook. However, the findings might also help scientists develop individually tailored treatments that target breast cancer tumors more precisely.

Neta Erez, a senior lecturer in the department of pathology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University in Israel, is the first author of the new paper that details a novel tumor growth mechanism in breast cancer.

As the scientists note in their study, breast cancer is still "one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in women in the Western world," despite the intense research efforts in the medical community and public awareness campaigns.

Indeed, in the United States, breast cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related death among women of all races and ethnicities.

The new research by Prof. Erez and colleagues uncovers a mechanism that may explain why some people have poorer outlooks than others after receiving a cancer diagnosis. This mechanism, the authors explain, involves fibroblasts — cells that enable tumor growth, despite not being cancerous themselves.

In the case of breast cancer, these fibroblasts help cancer cells proliferate by driving inflammationand helping to form blood vessels that deliver oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the growing tumors.

Until now, scientists thought that most of these cells came just from the surrounding breast tissue, but the new research by Prof. Erez and her colleagues shows that many of these fibroblasts actually derive from bone marrow cells.

Findings replicated in human breast tumors

The researchers studied a mouse model of breast cancer and found that a significant proportion of "cancer-associated fibroblasts" came from so-called mesenchymal stromal cells — that is, "spindle-shaped" bone marrow cells that have the capacity to differentiate into other cells, such as the ones forming bone, muscle, cartilage, or connective tissue.

However, in the case of breast cancer, Prof. Erez and team found that the tumors can "recruit" these mesenchymal stromal cells from the bone marrow and make them differentiate into fibroblasts — which, in turn, help tumors to grow further.

The new research revealed additional nuances. For instance, it found that, unlike other cancer-associated fibroblasts, the ones derived from bone marrow cells do not have a signaling protein called PDGFRα.

However, the cells compensate for this lack by over-producing a protein called clusterin. This protein helps the tumors produce more blood vessels and multiply much faster than those that are exclusively fuelled by fibroblasts from nearby breast tissue.

Importantly, the scientists replicated their findings in human breast cancer tissue. They found that human breast cancer tumors also have PDGFRα-deprived fibroblasts, which led the researchers to believe that these fibroblasts may have also come from bone marrow cells.

 in their study, breast cancer is still "one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in women in the Western world," despite the intense research efforts in the medical community and public awareness campaigns.

Indeed, in the United States, breast cancer remains the most common cause of cancer-related death among women of all races and ethnicities.

The new research by Prof. Erez and colleagues uncovers a mechanism that may explain why some people have poorer outlooks than others after receiving a cancer diagnosis. This mechanism, the authors explain, involves fibroblasts — cells that enable tumor growth, despite not being cancerous themselves.

In the case of breast cancer, these fibroblasts help cancer cells proliferate by driving inflammationand helping to form blood vessels that deliver oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the growing tumors.

Until now, scientists thought that most of these cells came just from the surrounding breast tissue, but the new research by Prof. Erez and her colleagues shows that many of these fibroblasts actually derive from bone marrow cells.

Source: Medical News Today

What percentage of our brain do we use?

The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Many believe that a person only ever uses 10 percent of their brain. Is there any truth to this?

A person's brain determines how they experience the world around them. The brain weighs about 3 pounds and contains around 100 billion neurons — cells that carry information.

In this article, we explore how much of the brain a person uses. We also bust some widely held myths and reveal some interesting facts about the brain.

How much of our brain do we use?

According to a survey from 2013, around 65 percent of Americans believe that we only use 10 percent of our brain.

But this is just a myth, according to an interview with neurologist Barry Gordon in Scientific American. He explained that the majority of the brain is almost always active.

The 10 percent myth was also debunked in a study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

One common brain imaging technique, called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can measure activity in the brain while a person is performing different tasks.

Using this and similar methods, researchers show that most of our brain is in use most of the time, even when a person is performing a very simple action.

A lot of the brain is even active when a person is resting or sleeping.

The percentage of the brain in use at any given time varies from person to person. It also depends on what a person is doing or thinking about.

Where does the 10 percent myth come from?

It's not clear how this myth began, but there are several possible sources.

In an article published in a 1907 edition of the journal Science, psychologist and author William James argued that humans only use part of their mental resources. However, he did not specify a percentage.

The figure was referenced in Dale Carnegie's 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People. The myth was described as something the author's college professor used to say.

There is also a belief among scientists that neurons make up around 10 percent of the brain's cells. This may have contributed to the 10 percent myth.

The myth has been repeated in articles, TV programs, and films, which helps to explain why it is so widely believed.

Improving brain function

Like any other organ, the brain is affected by a person's lifestyle, diet, and the amount that they exercise.

To improve the health and function of the brain, a person can do the following things.

Eat a balanced diet

Eating well improves overall health and well-being. It also reduces the risk of developing health issues that may lead to dementia, including:

• cardiovascular disease
• midlife obesity
• type 2 diabetes

The following foods promote brain health:

Fruits and vegetables with dark skins. Some are rich in vitamin E, such as spinach, broccoli, and blueberries. Others are rich in beta carotene, including red peppers and sweet potatoes. Vitamin E and beta carotene promote brain health.

Oily fish. These types of fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which may support cognitive function.

Walnuts and pecans. They are rich in antioxidants, which promote brain health.

There is a selection of walnuts and pecans available for purchase online.

Source: Medical News Today

Men who eat lots of fruits and vegetables have less memory loss

Men who follow a healthful diet could be protecting their brains, according to a new study that tracked a large group of men for more than 2 decades.

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, MA, analyzed data from a study that had followed 27,842 men for 26 years.

The men had all filled in detailed surveys about their food and drink intake at the start of the study in 1986 — when they were aged 51 years, on average — and then every 4 years until 2002.

The follow-up lasted until 2012, by which time their average age was in the mid- to late-70s.

During the last few years of the follow-up, they had also completed short tests to find out whether they had noticed any decline in their own ability to think and remember things.

The analysis showed that consuming higher amounts of certain foods and drinks was tied to lower risk of decline in memory and thinking skills.

The foods that most strongly showed this effect were leafy greens, red and dark orange vegetables, berry fruits, and orange juice.

The journal Neurology recently published a paper about the study and its findings.

"Our studies," says first author Dr. Changzheng Yuan, who works in the school's departments of nutrition and epidemiology, "provide further evidence [that] dietary choices can be important to maintain your brain health."

Subjective cognitive function test

The purpose of the subjective cognitive function (SCF) tests that the men completed was to discern changes in memory and thinking abilities that they had noticed themselves.

The SCF test contains six items, and the study authors note that its "validity was supported by strong associations" with a gene that is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The subjective test can uncover decline in memory and thinking skills before they begin to show up in objective tests.

The men completed the SCF test twice: once in 2008 and again at the end of the follow-up in 2012. Typical questions included:

"Do you have more trouble than usual remembering a short list of items, such as a shopping list?"

"Do you have more trouble than usual following a group conversation or a plot in a TV program due to your memory?"

The authors note that they "categorized the average of the [two] scores as good, moderate, and poor SCF."

Early warning of mild cognitive impairment

Any memory decline revealed in the SCF results could herald the start of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

MCI is a condition that often precedes Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. However, not everyone with MCI will develop Alzheimer's.

In the United States, around 80 percent of those "who fit the definition of amnestic MCI" develop Alzheimer's disease within 7 years, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Amnestic MCI is the form of MCI that is most often tied to memory loss.

In the recent study, 55 percent of the men scored "good" on the SCF test, 38 percent scored "moderate," and 7 percent scored "poor."

Consumption of fruits and vegetables

The team split the men into five groups according to their fruit and vegetable intake. The results showed that the group that ate the most vegetables consumed about 6 servings per day, and that the group that ate the least consumed 2.

The daily consumption of fruit ranged from 3 servings for the group that ate the most to half a serving for the group that ate the least.

A comparison of the vegetable consumption against the SCF scores revealed that:

The men who ate the most vegetables were 34 percent less likely to report having experienced a reduction in memory function.

Of the men who ate the most vegetables, 6.6 percent scored poor on the SCF, compared with 7.9 percent of those who ate the least.

The results also showed a 47 percent less chance of having a poor SCF score among the men who drank orange juice every day compared with those who only drank it once per month. The link was most relevant for older men who drank orange juice every day.

In addition, men who ate the most fruit each day were the least likely to have a poor SCF score, but this link lost its strength after the team considered the effect of other foods.

The team also found that high levels of fruit and vegetable consumption near the start of the study period was linked to a lower chance of having a poor SCF score some 20 years later.

Whether or not the men kept eating lots of fruits and vegetables — up to 6 years before taking the SCF test — had no effect on the link.

Source: Medical News Today

Does using testosterone to treat depression work?

Medical professionals have been discussing whether testosterone treatment can actually reduce depressive symptoms in men for many years. A recent meta-analysis attempts to draw a clearer picture.

Could testosterone therapy be the antidepressant of the future?

Depression is a major global concern. Per year, major depressive disorder affects an estimated 16.1 million adults in the United States alone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) describedepression as "the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide."

There are drugs available to manage depressive symptoms, but they do not work for everyone.

In fact, a significant percentage of people do not experience long-term relief, even after trying multiple drugs.

Depression is roughly twice as common in women as it is in men, which means that depression currently affects around 100 million men.

The testosterone debate

Scientists have been discussing whether or not testosterone therapy could help treat depression in men for several decades. As a neuroactive steroid, testosterone can influence mood, making it a reasonable hormone to study in regard to low mood.

In rodent models of depression, testosterone therapy boosts production of serotonin, or the happy chemical. Also, testosterone levels tend to drop as men age, and some studies have shown that men with lower levels are more likely to have depressive symptoms.

However, other studies have found no relationship between lower levels of testosterone and low mood. Others still did find links between testosterone levels and depression, but only in certain groups of men.

Does depression cause obesity or does obesity cause depression?

A large-scale new genomic study examined the links between obesity and depression.

Due to discrepancies between studies, healthcare professionals do not recommend testosterone treatment to men with depression; however, there is a strong possibility that at least some men might benefit.

Existing depression therapies only work for a subset of the population. For this reason, it is vital to understand whether testosterone might help in treatment-resistant cases.

To this end, some researchers recently carried out a meta-analysis on existing studies that looked at testosterone and depression.

According to the authors, their analysis was the "largest examination to date of the association of testosterone treatment with depressive symptoms in men."

Specifically, the researchers aimed to "examine the association of testosterone treatment with alleviation of depressive symptoms in men and to clarify moderating effects of testosterone status, depression status, age, treatment duration, and dosage."

They recently published their findings in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

Testing testosterone

In their literature search, they found 27 relevant randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials, which included a total of 1,890 participants.

They found that testosterone has a "moderate antidepressant" effect when compared with placebo. They also found that the beneficial effect was most pronounced at higher doses; this is the first time that a study has ever suggested that higher doses might be necessary to generate an antidepressant effect.

They also saw that men who were the least depressed experienced the most benefits from the intervention.

An earlier analysis concluded that testosterone therapy only benefited men with particularly low testosterone levels; interestingly, in the new analysis, there was no relationship between antidepressant benefits and initial testosterone levels.

The benefits were comparable, regardless of baseline testosterone measures.

The analysis also showed no difference between younger and older men; all age groups had a similar level of response to testosterone therapy.

The authors report:

"Testosterone treatment appears to be effective and efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms in men, particularly when higher-dosage regimens were applied in carefully selected samples."

This will not be the end of the debate, however. The authors are quick to mention that, because of the diverse character of the studies that they analyzed, "more preregistered trials are needed that explicitly examine depression as the primary endpoint and consider relevant moderators."

Further studies and larger pools of data are needed before we can arrive at a definitive answer to the testosterone-depression conundrum.

Source: MEdicalNewsToday

'Breakthrough' treatment for peanut allergy awaits FDA check

Peanut allergy makes life more difficult for the millions of people who live with it. "Possible traces" of peanuts in foods pose a constant hidden threat for them, but a newly developed treatment could soon help people with peanut allergy become more confident in their food choices.

Peanut allergy may soon become less of a concern thanks to an effective new treatment.

Information provided last year by specialists from the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) indicates that almost 2.5 percent of all children in the United States may live with peanut allergy.

This number represents a 21 percent increase in the number of possible peanut allergies in childhood since 2010, the specialists also found.

A critical challenge for those living with peanut allergy is distinguishing between food products that are 100 percent safe to eat, and those that may trigger an allergy episode.

For some people, the allergy can be significant enough to lead to anaphylaxis, a severe, life-threatening reaction. Many food items may contain traces of peanuts because the factories that produce them also handle peanuts.

However, a new treatment developed by experts from research institutions across the world hopes to help individuals with this type of food allergy. The treatment aims to build up enough tolerance to peanuts so that people with a peanut allergy can handle accidental exposure without any problems.

"We're excited about the potential to help children and adolescents with peanut allergy protect themselves against accidentally eating a food with peanut in it," says study author Dr. Stephen Tilles, who is also past president of ACAAI, and consulting advisor for the biotech company Aimmune Therapeutics.

The researchers presented their results today at the ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting in Seattle, WA. These findings also appear in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Participants see increase in tolerance

"Because there is no approved treatment for peanut allergy, the standard of care has been a strict elimination diet and the timely administration of rescue medications in case of an allergic reaction on accidental exposure," the study authors write.

"However, despite vigilance, accidental exposures may occur and cause reactions of unpredictable severity, even with small amounts of allergen, leading to a lifelong risk of severe reactions," they continue.

The recent study tested the effectiveness of a new oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy called AR101, which is "a [...] peanut-derived, oral biologic drug that delivers a target daily maintenance dose of 300 [milligrams] of peanut protein," as the researchers explain in the study paper.

Peanut allergies may soon be treated with a vaccine

Will there be a vaccine for peanut allergy?

The research team worked with participants aged from 4 to 55 years old, though most of these fell in the 4 to 17 age range. All of the participants lived with peanut allergy.

At the beginning and the end of the study, the volunteers undertook an oral food challenge so that the scientists could establish the severity of their allergic reactions.

Of the total number of participants, two-thirds received AR101, while a third received a placebo. Each person received their assigned substance in increasing doses until they reached the maintenance dose — they continued to take this amount tor the duration of the study.

The researchers found that by the end of the study, 80 percent of the participants successfully reached the daily maintenance dose, which was the equivalent of about one peanut.

As Dr. Tilles explains, many participants saw a significant increase in their tolerance to peanuts. "Our hope when we started the study was that by treating patients with the equivalent of one peanut per day, many would tolerate as much as two peanuts," the study author says.

"We were pleased to find that two-thirds of the people in the study were able to tolerate the equivalent of two peanuts per day after 9 to 12 months of treatment, and half the patients tolerated the equivalent of four peanuts."

Dr. Stephen Tilles

Treatment may soon become available

Moreover, participants reported far fewer side effects throughout the trial than the researchers had predicted. No more than 6 percent of the participants experienced gastrointestinal side effects that caused them to leave the trial, while as many as one-third of the volunteers only experienced mild side effects.

As Dr. Tilles points out, "Reactions from the oral challenges at the end of the study were much milder than prior to treatment."

"On average, the participants were able to tolerate a 100-fold higher dose of peanut at the end of the study than they did at the beginning. In addition, the symptoms caused by the 100-fold higher dose at the end of [the] study were milder than the symptoms on the lower dose at the beginning of the study," he adds.

However, "This is not a quick fix, and it doesn't mean people with peanut allergy will be able to eat peanuts whenever they want," notes another one of the study's authors, Dr. Jay Lieberman, who is vice chair of the ACAAI Food Allergy Committee.

"But," he says, "it is definitely a breakthrough." He also expresses the hope that very soon, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the treatment, and that it may be more widely available "in the second half of 2019."

"If that happens," Dr. Lieberman adds, "people who receive and are able to tolerate this treatment should be protected from accidental exposures."

Source: MedicalNewsToday

Osteoporosis: Could probiotics protect bone health?

Osteoporosis predominantly affects older adults, but bone loss can start at as early as age 40. Recently, scientists have found that probiotics might be a safe and effective tool to help fight bone loss.

As we age, the interlinked bone structure (shown here) slowly becomes less robust.

Bones do not just grow once and then stay the same for life.

Instead, bone is made up of living tissue that is constantly being broken and remodeled into new bone.

This process is more efficient when we are young. By around age 30, the body stops increasing bone mass, and once we reach our 40s and 50s, more bone might be being broken down than we are replacing.

Over time, this can result in osteoporosis. Bones gradually become thinner, which can lead to fractures — even from a simple fall.

Older women tend to have a higher risk of developing the disease, but it is not exclusive to women; it can affect men as well.

Other risk factors may include breaking a bone after the age of 50, experiencing early menopause, having a smaller body frame, smoking tobacco, and having a family history of osteoporosis.

Fractures can have severe consequences; for instance, during the first year after a hip fracture, mortality rates are 24–30 percent due to the risk of complications.

Osteoporosis becomes more of an issue the older we get, and women tend to lose bone mass quickly during menopause. Regardless, by the time that people are in their 70s, both men and women lose bone mass at around the same rate.

Medications are available that can help treat osteoporosis, but preventing or slowing the initial bone loss would be a vast improvement.

Preventing osteoporosis?

A recent study, published in the journal Immunity, tested the ability of a probiotic to enhance bone growth.

The researchers, led by senior study author Roberto Pacifici — of Emory University in Atlanta, GA — tackled this topic with female laboratory mice. The scientists gave them oral Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG supplementation for a period over 4 weeks.

Osteoporosis: Mediterranean diet may slow bone loss

A recent large-scale study concludes that the Mediterranean diet might boost bone health.

The team revealed that the probiotic stimulated the growth of gut bacteria that produce a particular metabolite called butyrate. Butyrate, in turn, prompted T cells in bone marrow to produce a protein called Wnt10b, which is vital for bone growth.

"We were surprised by the potency of the gut microbiome in regulating bone and by the complexity of the mechanism of action of probiotics."

Roberto Pacifici

He explains that probiotics are somewhat controversial, claiming, "Because their mechanism of action in bone is unknown, they are regarded as some kind of alternative, esoteric, unproven treatment."

However, the research shows that they can affect bone structure in a positive way. Pacifici also believes that the number of bacteria contained in the probiotics may be as important as the probiotic that is used, but more research is needed to confirm this.

Limits of this study

The main thing to keep in mind from this study is that it was in mice, and not humans. The authors say that there is a big need to continue with the research. They would like to understand whether probiotics could help in other bone conditions and hope this research is continued with humans.

"Our findings will need to be validated in human studies," explains Pacifici. He notes that if those studies are successful, it may pave the way for an inexpensive and well-tolerated treatment that can help optimize skeletal development in young people and may help prevent osteoporosis in older people.

Source: MedicalNewsToday