The Gary Null Show - 02.18.22

Mortality lower during five-year period among adults who supplemented with calcium plus vitamin D   Thirumalai Mission Hospital (India), February 16 2022.    A study published in the  Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism found a decrease in fractures and mortality during a 5-year average follow-up period among individuals who regularly supplemented with calcium and vitamin D. The study involved participants in a community-based osteoporosis detection program that included women aged 50 and older who had been postmenopausal for five years and men over the age of 55.  Osteoporosis and osteopenia were detected among 2,882 participants, who were subsequently advised to consume 500 mg calcium and 250 IU of vitamin D3 per day. These participants were additionally offered annual injections of 600,000 IU vitamin D3. The current analysis was limited to 2,113 participants among this group who were not treated with prescription drug therapy for severe osteoporosis and who were followed for at least two years. Among those who supplemented regularly, the risks of experiencing a fracture or death were respectively 73% and 47% lower during the 5-year average follow-up compared to those who failed to adhere to the regimen.   (NEXT)   Black walnuts found to suppress appetite and oxidative degradation of lipids   University of Georgia, February 3, 2022   Researchers have found that adding black walnuts (Juglans nigra) to your breakfast not only helps you feel fuller, but also protects your cells from oxidative damage. In their report, which was published in the journal Nutrition Research, the team explored the benefits of using black walnuts as a butter substitute. In their report, the team noted that most studies on the health benefits of walnuts use English walnuts, which have a different nutritional profile than black walnuts. While walnuts are nutrient-dense, they argued that black walnuts have more protein than the more popular English walnuts. Black walnuts, they proposed, can improve satiety and even regulate postprandial increases in lipid peroxidation better than English walnuts. A total of 30 healthy adults participated in the randomized, double-blind control crossover study. At each testing visit, the participants were asked to eat a breakfast meal that had either butter (which served as the control) or a butter substitute (black walnut or English walnut). After three testing visits, the team noted that participants who ate black walnuts reported feeling fuller than those who had English walnut and butter. In addition, they had greater suppression of lipid peroxidation after eating. “Substituting butter in a breakfast meal with [black walnuts] or [English walnuts] increased fullness; however, the [black walnut] meal was superior for suppressing overall appetite while also lowering postprandial lipid peroxidation,” the team wrote in their report.   (NEXT)   Human brain doesn't slow down until after 60   Heidelberg University's Institute of Psychology, February 17, 2022   You used to be able to make snap judgments in your 20s, but now it feels like you take a lot longer to react to questions, decisions and challenges put before you. Don't fret, it's not that you're losing brain power. Your response time does tend to slow down as you age, but a new study argues that's not because your brain's processing speed is deteriorating. Your brain remains as nimble as ever until you hit your 60s, according to a report published Feb. 17 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. "Our research now shows that this slowing is not due to a reduction in cognitive processing speed," von Krause said. "Until older adulthood, the speed of information processing in the task we studied barely changes."   (NEXT)   Study shows exercise can help older adults retain their memories   We all know exercise is good for us, but that still leaves plenty of questions. How much exercise? Who benefits the most? And when in our lives? New research led by University of Pittsburgh psychologists found that it seems like exercising about three times a week for at least four months is how much you need to reap the benefits in episodic memory." Episodic memory is the kind that deals with events that happened to you in the past. It's also one of the first to decline with age. "I usually like to talk about the first time you got behind the wheel of a car," said Aghjayan. "So you might remember where you were, how old you were, who was in the passenger seat explaining things to you, that feeling of excitement." Seeking clarity in the muddy waters of the scientific literature, the team pored over 1,279 studies, eventually narrowing them down to just 36 that met specific criteria. The researchers found that pooling together those 36 studies was enough to show that for older adults, exercise can indeed benefit their memory.   (NEXT)   Prevention Against Gallstones - Eat More Foods With Vitamin E   University of Kiel (Germany), February 16, 2022   More than 90 percent of the population does not meet their recommended daily allowance of vitamin E. Researchers in Germany led by the University of Kiel found that subjects with gallstone disease had lower blood levels of vitamin E than those who did not have gallstones. Vitamin E does everything from ease exercise soreness, treating menstrual pain, preventing cancer and playing a central role in neurological and cardiovascular function. Adequate levels of vitamin E, an essential micronutrient, are especially critical for the very young. The scientists also found that those with gallstone disease also had a lower alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio than healthy individuals. A similar association was found with gamma-tocopherol levels. However, with the gamma form, the results were not statistically significant.   (OTHER NEWS)   How Medicare is quietly being privatized   By Abdul El-Sayed, M.D. Detroit Metro Times, February 9, 2022   Healthcare is big business — literally one of the most lucrative corporate endeavors in the country, accounting for one-fifth of our total economy. And the way that the business of healthcare interferes with actually providing Americans with appropriate, accessible, and affordable healthcare has been a frequent subject of my writing in these pages. From hospital consolidation to drug pricing, rising premiums to healthcare inequities, the fact that our healthcare system is designed to maximize profit for a few large corporations is the root, if not all, of the problem. The fattest slice of that very, very large pie is healthcare for seniors — the Americans who most often need care. American seniors are insured through Medicare, a government health insurance program that’s supposed to offer them affordable, comprehensive healthcare. But as this is the American healthcare system we’re talking about, the knives are constantly out for Medicare — looking for just another bite. Late last year, I wrote about the Medicare (dis)Advantage program, a frontal assault on Medicare, which cajoles beneficiaries into selecting privately managed Medicare plans. The private health insurance corporations that administer these plans get to keep the money they don’t spend on healthcare as profit, putting $27 billion of taxpayer moneyinto the pockets of health insurance corporations in 2018 alone. As bad as Medicare Advantage is, a new plan hatched under the Trump administration — and being allowed to proceed under the Biden administration — is even worse. But unlike Medicare Advantage, most seniors haven’t even heard about it. It’s called Direct Contracting. Designed by the Trump administration, it’s a sop to the health insurance corporations and private equity firms that have been such a persistent force in Republican healthcare circles. They agree on a simple goal: privatize everything. Instead of cajoling seniors to hand over their Medicare dollars, large corporations, called Direct Contracting Entities, target doctors. When a doctor signs up, all of the Medicare beneficiaries they see are signed up too — without their knowledge or consent. The Direct Contracting Entity acts as a middleman between the physician and Medicare — and like Medicare Advantage, they profit off of the Medicare dollars that aren’t spent on beneficiaries. In exchange for signing up, the doctors earn a kickback from the Direct Contracting Entity. But Direct Contracting isn’t a matter of law; Congress never voted on this. It’s just a pilot program designed by the Trump administration … that the Biden administration is now carrying forward. They could kill Direct Contracting in its tracks if they wanted to! The fact that it’s not should be extremely worrying to seniors, consumer rights advocates, and anyone who pays taxes to the U.S. government. The irony here is that President Biden ran on a public option — which doesn’t look to be coming anytime soon. Instead of that promise, his administration is allowing a backdoor private buyout of Medicare.