Muscle Talk

Development of Alzheimer’s correlated to BOTH diet and exercise

Alzheimer’s is an epidemic that affects about 40 million people around the world. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, “Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common cause of dementia. It is characterized by a decline in memory, language, problem-solving and other cognitive skills that affects a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.” Perhaps you have a parent or grandparent with the illness, or know someone who’s been diagnosed. Researchers in the US have found that lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise affect the development of Alzheimer’s. It was shown that elderly people who scored high on levels of physical activity and met the scientists’ criteria for “healthy diet score” were less than half as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those who got less exercise and had unhealthy diets. As a loyal reader of MUSCLE INSIDER, you’re probably in a good spot, but if your parents aren’t as diligent as you, start by getting them either moving more or eating less—a combination of both would be perfect!

New 2-for-1 drug treats diabetes AND cancer

Metformin, a drug used by people with type 2 diabetes to control glucose levels in the bloodstream, has recently been found by scientists at Cardiff University to also improve survival rates in people with diabetes and stave off cancer and cardiovascular disease. Researchers studied 180,000 people over 5.5 years, and the conclusions, according to the lead author of the study, were “statistically significant … This cheap and widely prescribed diabetic drug may have beneficial effects not only on patients with diabetes but also for people without.” Metformin was also useful for reducing the chance of a pre-diabetic person getting diabetes by 33 percent.

More fat, more feminine

The connection between fat cells, testosterone, and estrogen can be summarized as such: Adipocytes (aka fat cells) make an enzyme called aromatase. Aromatase converts testosterone into estradiol, the primary female sex hormone and steroid. Thus, more fat equals more estradiol, which equals less testosterone. The bad news doesn’t end here; Estradiol is a steroid hormone. If you have a lot of steroid hormones floating around in your blood, the brain reacts by “turning down” your body’s levels by lowering two other hormones, LH and FSH. LH and FSH stimulate the production of testosterone and sperm in the testes. You see where this is going … less test and lower sperm quality. So control your gut to control your manhood!

For more supplement science tidbits, and recent research, check out Jaime Filer's articles here!