Tag: dietary supplement

Categories : HIV PaediatricsTags :

Iron Supplements for Children with HIV may Aid Brain Development

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

A University of Minnesota Medical School research team has found that giving iron supplements to children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in sub-Saharan Africa could be an important first step in optimising brain development. 

The study, published in Lancet HIV, demonstrates that iron, while often withheld from children with HIV due to fear of increasing infection risk, is in fact beneficial. This finding paves the way for future research examining iron’s role in neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with HIV. 

“With the success and widespread availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART), children with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are living longer, and optimising their brain development is a new public health imperative,” said Sarah Cusick, PhD, associate professor at the U of M Medical School and a member of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

Between May 2018 and November 2019, researchers enrolled 200 children with HIV and anaemia who had received ART for at least six months. The study participants were randomly chosen to receive either iron supplements or a placebo for three months. Children who received iron had higher haemoglobin concentrations and better markers of iron nutrition than those who received the placebo. There also was no evidence of increased risk of infection. 

According to Dr Cusick, further research is needed to assess brain development and infection risk over a longer period of time.

Source: University of Minnesota Medical School

Categories : Exercise Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

Could an Alzheimer’s Treatment be Lurking in a Bodybuilder’s Supplement?

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Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

A safe treatment against Alzheimer’s progression may be hidden in a common bodybuilding supplement. Researchers recently discovered that a muscle-building supplement called beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate (HMB), may help protect memory, reduce plaques and ultimately help prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers published their results in the journal Cell Reports.

HMB is a safe over-the-counter supplement, which bodybuilders regularly use to enhance exercise-related muscle strength and growth.

“This may be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to halt disease progression and protect memory in Alzheimer’s disease patients,” said Kalipada Pahan, PhD, at RUSH Medical College.

Studies in mouse models of Alzheimer’s have shown that HMB successfully reduces plaques and increases factors for neuronal growth to protect learning and memory, according to neurological researchers at RUSH.

“Understanding how the disease works is important to developing effective drugs to protect the brain and stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” Pahan said.

Previous studies indicate that a family of proteins known as neurotrophic factors are drastically decreased in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and have been found to help in survival and function of neurons, which are cells that receive and send messages from the body to the brain and vice versa.

“Our study found that after oral consumption, HMB enters into the brain to increase these beneficial proteins, restore neuronal connections and improve memory and learning in mice with Alzheimer’s-like pathology, such as plaques and tangles,” Pahan said.

The study findings indicate that HMB stimulates the nuclear hormone receptor PPARα within the brain that regulates the transport of fatty acids, which is key to the success of HMB as a neuroprotective supplement.

“If mouse results with HMB are replicated in Alzheimer’s disease patients, it would open up a promising avenue of treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative disease,” Pahan said.

Source: Rush University Medical Center

Categories : Metabolic DisordersTags :

Simple Dietary Supplement in Type 1 Diabetes Calms Immune System

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Gut microbiome. Credit: Darryl Leja, NIH

A clinical trial performed by Australian scientists showed that a simple dietary supplement that targeted gut microbiota could improve gut health and strengthen the immune system in individuals with type 1 diabetes.

The supplement is a type 2–resistant starch consisting of a high-amylose (70%) maize starch that has been modified by bonding the acetate and butyrate. The supplement is resistant to digestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract and delivers a very high yield of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the colon. This makes it a useful tool to measure the effect of SCFAs on intestinal biology.

According to senior author and lead investigator Dr Eliana Marino, the study tested 21 adults with type 1 diabetes who incorporated the supplement into their daily diet for six weeks. Increased production of metabolites by the gut microbiota was observed, specifically SCFAs. This has an important role in preventing type 1 diabetes.

“People with 1 diabetes have shown altered gut microbiota and reduced production of short-chain fatty acids in stools and blood. We previously have demonstrated that the supplement used in this human study protected mice from diabetes,” said Dr Marino.

Published in Microbiome, the clinical trial showed that participants’ blood immune cells developed a more regulatory phenotype post-intervention.

“We were very excited to find that blood immune cells had become more regulated. Because type 1 diabetes is caused when the immune system becomes too activated and attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas,” said co-lead researcher Associate Professor Hamilton-Williams.

“Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong autoimmune disease that is on the rise with no cure. Individuals living with type 1 diabetes depend on insulin treatment. As a consequence, they can develop late life-threatening inflammatory complications, such as kidney failure, neurological and cardiovascular diseases,” said co-lead researcher Associate Professor Sonia Saad

“While glucose control and insulin requirements didn’t change overall, the participants with the highest short-chain fatty acid concentrations showed the best glucose control after the supplementation,” said co-lead researcher Dr Kirstine Bell.

“Using this supplement for longer and starting it earlier in the disease could potentially stop the immune attack, preserving insulin-producing cells and improving glucose regulation,” said Dr Marino.

“This dietary supplementation represents a safe and accessible alternative therapy for many children with type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune diseases. Also, it could decrease the risk of subsequent inflammatory complications such as cardiovascular disease as clinical trials are underway,” said Dr Marino.

Source: Monash University