Month: June 2017

Tales of people developing allergies to red meat have been making the rounds lately. I feel bad for others afflicted with the ailment, but I’m happy to know I’m not a freak.

I’ve had a confirmed allergy to red meat for more than three years now, but it’s only recently that I’ve come to understand what’s happening.

An Allergy to Taxes?

My story begins when I was sitting in the tax office in 2013. I noticed I was getting itchy and feeling really hot, so I went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I saw in the mirror that I was pretty red, but I was determined to finish my business. A few minutes later, when I was with a tax processor, it became difficult to breathe and I could feel my face swelling.

He must have noticed, too. He resolved my issues and had me out of there in less than five minutes—maybe he didn’t want me to die in his office!
I knew I was in rough shape, but I did my best to keep my cool and take the fastest route to a nearby urgent care clinic. I tried to fill out the paperwork, but the nurses realized I was in a bad way and got an IV full of Benadryl in my arm within minutes. Apparently, when people think you’re dying, they give you speedy service!

A few hours later, I awoke from a deep, medically induced nap and had a prescription for an Epi-pen. But I had no idea what caused the attack.

Unclear Diagnosis

I went to an allergist and we discussed all the things I had eaten that day, a childhood bee sting, and my love of spicy foods, but we really didn’t have any clue about what had happened to me.

Fortunately I was back on my feet pretty quickly. But every few months or so, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night with labored breathing and a strange rash at the base of my hairline and on my arms and legs.
I’d typically apply some anti-itch cream or take some Benadryl and sleep it off, feeling fine the next day. But I just couldn’t match cause with effect.

Finally, a pattern emerged.

Once, on a road trip, my friends and I found ourselves in a small town that was having a rib fest. I’m a pretty socially conscious person, so I try not to eat too much red meat in my daily life, because not eating meat is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

But I have a weakness when it comes to ribs. I joyfully ate a full rack of ribs that night, but I spent the rest of my trip under the influence of Benadryl and smothered in anti-itch cream.
Later it hit me: I’d had these same symptoms after grilling ribs at home, after eating a very beefy stew with a Boy Scout troop I worked with, and after a moment of weakness with a fast food cheeseburger.

So I made an appointment with my allergist to have her ­­test me for allergies to red meat. At first she scoffed at the idea but essentially said she’d take my money. About a week later, she was eating her words and told me I should stop eating red meat. But she couldn’t really identify why.

Slow-Growing Awareness

I’d browsed the internet and heard of others with similar allergies, but it wasn’t until I listened to a RadioLab podcast that I really came to understand what has happened to my body. I have developed an allergy to alpha-gal, a sugar molecule found in mammal meats.

It’s likely that several years earlier I was bitten by a lone star tick, a species that lives across most of the eastern half of the United States and is named for the Texas-shaped white spot on its back.
[related article_ids=1006628]
As Wired magazine describes it, “Something in the tick’s saliva hijacks humans’ immune systems, red-flagging alpha-gal, and triggering the massive release of histamines whenever red meat is consumed.”

A cancer drug trial helped scientists learn about the illness.

Some of the nation’s foremost researchers at the Asthma and Allergic Disease Center at the University of Virginia have been looking into the alpha-gal story.
Their work began when two pharmaceutical companies were developing a drug to help treat colon cancer. The drug makers noticed that some recipients of the treatment—mostly in the southeastern United States—had harsh allergic reactions to the experimental medicine.

The UVA scientists determined that the people experiencing ill effects were having a specific allergic reaction to alpha-gal carbohydrates found in the medicine.
Clever epidemiologists on the team noticed that when they made a map of where these allergic reactions occurred, it looked almost identical to one showing outbreaks of Rocky Mountain spotted fever—another disease carried by the lone star tick.

“At this time,” wrote the researchers “three members of our group developed red meat allergy and each one distinctly remembered being bitten by ticks weeks or months prior to the development of symptoms.”
Using before-and-after blood samples, the researchers found that after getting bitten, the participants’ antibodies that react to alpha-gal “had increased dramatically (4 to 10-fold).”

“Following up on this connection,” the UVA researchers wrote, “we started to ask patients about tick bites and rapidly became aware that most of those with delayed anaphylaxis had experienced recent bites from adult or larval ticks.”
The scientists were excited to recognize what was causing these allergic reactions to both the cancer drug and mammal meat, but they still couldn’t identify the exact mechanism.

Three dominant theories are:

1) There’s something in the tick saliva that mimics alpha-gal and causes our bodies to “label” that carbohydrate a bad thing that should be attacked.
2) The ticks pick up alpha-gal chemicals when they suck on other mammals’ blood and then transmit it to humans when they bite us.
3) The ticks are carrying another organism, perhaps a bacteria, that is causing the reaction.

The researchers note that “it remains a striking challenge to identify why the response is so strong and why it is directed so consistently against the alpha-gal carbohydrate residue.”

Living With a New Allergy

While scientists work out what to do about it, I try to remind myself that this disease has helped me make an ethical lifestyle choice—eating less mammal meat. But it’s not always easy. It turns out that even something as simple as broth can set off a reaction!
The first thing that caused me trouble that day at the tax office was a favorite dish, authentic Chinese hand-pulled noodles in beef broth. It kills me that I can’t have them again.

I traveled to Savannah, Georgia, last winter and went to a restaurant famous for their seafood boil. My partner and I made sure to ask for our meal without any red meat, but the restaurant’s kitchen is essentially just a giant vat of steaming shrimp, crawfish, corn, potatoes—and sausage.
A few hours after the mouthwatering seaside meal, I felt my palms itching and that familiar rash starting at the base of my hairline. I reluctantly popped a Benadryl, knowing it would knock me out for about 12 hours of my vacation.

When I awoke the next morning, I learned I had slept through a breathtaking display of dolphins splashing around just a few feet off the beach where we were. Grrrrrr…lone star!

This doesn’t have to happen to you.

Ticks hang out in the woods, in shrubs, and in weeds and tall grasses. Check yourself regularly whenever you’re in these areas in warmer months.

I’m not suggesting that you don’t go outside, but make sure that you take precautions when you head into nature.
There are several strategies for avoiding tick bites when you’re outdoors: Tuck your pants in your socks, apply bug spray that has DEET as the active ingredient, and wear light-colored clothing so you can tell when ticks are crawling on you. You can even buy clothes that are treated with a tick-murdering chemical called permethrin.

These strategies should help keep you safe (unless you want to miss out on eating ribs and seeing dolphins, of course). And as always when it comes to health concerns, get in touch with a healthcare professional if you think you may have encountered the lone star tick.

A new study shows that yoga and other mind–body interventions (such as meditation or tai chi) can positively affect molecular reactions in our DNA. Far from simply relaxing those who practice it, yoga makes them healthier in observable ways.

The study was undertaken by the University of Coventry in the UK and the University of Radboud in the Netherlands. The authors reviewed more than a decade’s worth of studies that examined how mind–body interventions affected gene behavior.

The results confirmed what many already believed about yoga.

The simple exercise can yield concrete results, namely less inflammation throughout the body.

One of the study’s lead authors, Ivana Buric, said “Millions of people around the world already enjoy the health benefits of mind–body interventions like yoga or meditation, but what they perhaps don’t realise is that these benefits begin at a molecular level and can change the way our genetic code goes about its business.”

The mechanism by which this works is fairly complicated but well studied.

Our sympathetic nervous systems increase production of a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) when we are in stressful situations. NF-kB makes genes produce inflammation-inducing proteins called cytokines.
These proteins help trigger a fight-or-flight response, which is good for short-term survival. But in the long run, this response can cause cancer, accelerated aging, and depression.

Practicing mind–body interventions can reverse these effects.

Calming the body through yoga, meditation, or tai chi decreases the production of NF-kB and thus cytokines.

Buric further explains, “These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cells, which reverses the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply, MBIs cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.”
When you stop to think about it, our fight-or-flight responses are not as necessary in modern times as they were in the past. When the world was wilder, with large predators, we had much more of a need to jump-start our bodies to respond to dangers.

Now, the gene response causes health problems more than it saves us from dangerous situations. Fortunately, reducing these inflammation-causing chemicals may be as simple as enrolling in a yoga class or setting aside an hour a night for meditation.

Scientists still have a long way to go to more fully understand the positive benefits of mind–body interventions.

For example, there is more to learn about which types of yoga or meditation do the most to reduce inflammation.

Buric summed up the situation by saying, “More needs to be done to understand these effects in greater depth, for example how they compare with other healthy interventions like exercise or nutrition. But this is an important foundation to build on to help future researchers explore the benefits of increasingly popular mind–body activities.”

For 10 years, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have been on a quest for a better tanning product.

Tanning beds increase the risk of skin cancer by 59 percent for people under 35. Spray tans, meanwhile, contain a chemical called DHA, which might damage DNA. Besides, spray tans aren’t always that convincing.
But still many people are in pursuit of the “perfect” tan. So far that desire doesn’t seem to be going away completely, so researchers are thinking of solutions to the myriad problems associated with tanning and artificial tanning products.

What some researchers have been working on is a topical substance that stimulates the production of melanin pigment. According to the latest round of studies on mice, they’ve cracked the code. But the benefits of this new “real tan” cream could go way beyond cosmetic usage.
Scientists remain hopeful that this new substance will cut rates of skin cancer as soon as it can be introduced on the market.

“Assuming there are no safety concerns, it is clearly a better option than UV exposure,” Jerod Stapleton, of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, told Science magazine. “We are talking about millions of young people potentially not using tanning beds each year. …It could be a game-changer for skin cancer prevention.”

Stapleton was not involved in the latest study, but dermatologist David Fisher was.

“We are excited about the possibility of inducing dark pigment production in human skin without a need for either systemic exposure to a drug or UV exposure to the skin,” Fisher told Cosmopolitan.

The substance spurs cells to produce melanin pigment, which naturally protects the skin from damage caused by the sun’s UV rays. To understand how a tanning cream can actually provide real health benefits, consider the action of a natural suntan.
The UV light of the sun strikes the skin, damaging the cells with prolonged exposure. Skin cells respond by producing more dark melanin, which is the body’s way of protecting the skin from UV rays. Fisher’s “real suntan” cream skips the first step, spurring the skin to produce dark melanin without first sustaining damage.

Even redheads, who typically burn badly, can enjoy a nice tan by using this substance.

Unfortunately, we’ll all have to wait awhile before it hits the markets.
“A lot more research has to be done before we see this sort of technology being used on humans, however, it’s certainly an interesting proposition,” Matthew Gass, of the British Association of Dermatologists, told BBC News. “Skin cancer rates in the UK are going through the roof…any research into ways that we can prevent people from developing skin cancer in the first place is to be welcomed.”

The breakthrough study in this decade-long pursuit was published in the journal Cell Reports in July 2017. The secret was to manipulate a skin protein that scientists call salt-inducible kinase, or SIK for short.
SIK controls the production of melanin, shutting off the cells that produce the pigment. Fisher and a chemist named Nathanael Gray, who works at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, found a molecule that inhibits the SIK action that shuts off melanin production.
Then they shaved the backs of pale mice. They painted a liquid compound containing the special molecule on the exposed skin of the mice every day for a week. By day seven, the skin had become “almost jet black,” as Fisher described it to Science.

While the substance is a long way from commercial availability, Fisher and Gray have experimented on human skin.

They mixed in chemicals that are known to improve penetration into the skin, then they acquired patches of skin removed in unrelated surgical procedures. They tried many creams, but only one created a brown splotch on the skin.

When the researchers examined this skin on a microscopic level, they found that it was indistinguishable from a natural suntan. So what would it take to create a cream that gives you a natural tan and reduces your chance of developing skin cancer?
Well, the BBC reports that the research team is busy at work with more tests. A product like this has to be proven safe many times over before it will be approved for general use. The good news, though, is that the researchers have seen “no hint of problems,” they told the BBC.

Not every scientist is thrilled with this new development.

Jennifer Herrmann, a dermatological surgeon who works at Moy-Fincher-Chipps Facial Plastics & Dermatology in Beverly Hills, warns readers of Science that it’s too early to celebrate. A natural suntan cream could carry its own new risks, she said.

“I worry these molecules could give people a false sense of security,” Herrmann said. “If you are just slightly darker, you may not give yourself a huge amount of protection.”
For now, and maybe forever, Herrmann suggests that we’re better off with sunscreen. Someday soon, we might be able to pick up a tanning sunscreen that gives us the most possible protection from the sun’s rays while also darkening the skin to the desired hue.

“Dr. Fisher says everyone should ‘absolutely’ use sun-cream, and they eventually want to combine it with the drug to provide the best protection from solar radiation,” the Independent reports.
Imagine that: Soon, high-SPF sunscreens may not be the only name in the game.

When most people worry about health issues, typically cancer and heart disease are the first things to come to mind—and justifiably so. Studies show that these two diseases take the lives of more Americans than any others.

But did you know that there’s a silent killer that ranks near the top of the list too, killing more than 274 people per day? One American dies every six minutes from complications of a blood clot.

What is a blood clot?

A blood clot is a gelatinous mass that is formed by platelets and fibrin in order to protect you.

Blood clots’ primary function is to stop bleeding and repair damage that’s been done to an artery or a vein. Let’s say you have an injury to your artery (sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can’t). Platelets get called on to plug up the hole in the lining, then fibrin comes in to act as a final patch.

After the injury has healed and the clot is no longer necessary, your body disposes of it by dissolving it. Sometimes, however, not all goes well with this process, and problems occur.

The three biggest issues surrounding the mechanism of blood clotting involve instances in which:

1. They don’t dissolve properly.

2. They form when they’re not supposed to (like when there’s not enough circulation and blood gets stagnant).

3. They move to areas that they’re not supposed to be in. (This is type of clot is called an embolus and may “get caught” in an area and inhibit blood flow past it.)

Why does a blood clot form?

Nature intended blood clots to form to repair the body after trauma or injury, but they also form for other reasons. 

Since circulation plays a huge factor in clotting, immobility is a frequent cause of blood clots. Your blood needs to move around and flow to different parts of your body. The less you move, the more stagnant your blood becomes.

The more stagnant it becomes, the more likely it is to clot.

In a vein, stagnant blood forms small clots along the walls. These clots can grow to a size at which they partially or completely block a vein and keep blood from returning to the heart. This is called the “damming effect.”

In an artery, the mechanism of clotting is different. Plaque or atherosclerosis forms along the walls of the artery, causing it to narrow. In an effort to get blood moving, the body uses considerable force to push it through the vessels.

This force can cause plaque to dislodge, which is a problem. When plaque dislodges, your body goes into overactive mode and unnecessarily forms blood clots.

What are the risk factors for forming blood clots?

Sometimes you can blame your tendency to clot on your ancestors, but more often lifestyle plays a huge part in unnecessary clotting. Here are the most common risk factors:

-High blood pressure

-Diabetes

-High cholesterol

-Smoking

-Certain medications, such as birth control pills

-Heart conditions

-Genetic disorders

-Long trips with prolonged immobility

-Surgery (especially when casts and splints are used)

-Pregnancy

-Menstruation

-Age (people over age 60 have an increased increased risk)

-Obesity

-Certain cancers

-Certain inflammatory diseases

-Lack of physical activity

What are the signs that you may have a blood clot?

Unfortunately, some blood clots cause no symptoms until things have progressed to a serious stage (e.g., they become dislodged or rupture). Generally, if you have a clot in a vein, it develops slowly with a gradual onset of swelling and pain. These symptoms normally take hours to progress.

If you’ve got a clot in an artery, it’s much more of an immediate event. Your tissues need oxygen all of the time, and any loss of blood supply will create a situation where you’ll feel the symptoms right away. However, as acute as this type of blood clot is, there are warning signs that normally precede artery blockage.

If you experience any of the following, you may have a clot in a vein or an artery. Any of these signs warrants contacting your doctor or healthcare provider immediately.

1. Your skin is burning or freezing.

When there’s a disruption of blood flow, your body will let you know by changing the temperature of the area where the clot is. If you notice a part of your body that’s suddenly hot or extremely cold, call your doctor.

2. You have pale or reddened skin.

Along with disrupted blood flow and temperature change, you’ll also notice a change in the color of your skin.

If one area looks much paler or significantly redder than other areas, this can mean a blood clot as well.

3. You feel tingling in your arms or legs.

Are you feeling a persistent tingling in one arm or leg? Pay attention to see if it passes. If you have high blood pressure, be especially vigilant about watching for this sign.

4. You experience shortness of breath.

Shortness of breath and rapid breathing that are also accompanied by chest pain, a rapid pulse, and light headedness are symptoms of a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot located in the lung). This is a life-threatening condition and should be taken very seriously.

5. Your leg hurts or you feel a leg cramp.

Persistent pain or cramping in one area of one leg is a warning signal that something may be wrong. If it’s accompanied by change in color or temperature of the same area of the skin, you should call a doctor.

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT, a blood clot that forms in a vein—typically in a leg) and arterial blood clots in the leg can move and end up as a pulmonary embolism. Take these signs very seriously.

6. You’re having trouble speaking.

If you’re having trouble speaking and this is accompanied by vision change, dizziness, and/or weakness in one side of the body, you may be experiencing a stroke (or a blood clot in an artery of the brain).

This is a life-threatening condition and the sooner you get medical attention, the better your prognosis will be.

7. You’re sweating profusely.

Excessive perspiration is a sign that you may have a blood clot in the lung or the heart (otherwise known as a heart attack).

If you’re feeling this along with chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, indigestion, and/or a rapid heart rate, go straight to your doctor or the emergency room.

8. Your back is hurting in a specific, non-muscular spot.

We don’t often associate back pain with a blood clot. But persistent back pain that’s not alleviated through stretching and massage can be a symptom of a blood clot in the pelvic area or the inferior vena cava (the main abdominal vein). Permanent damage may occur if this clot goes untreated, because it cuts off blood to the extremities.

9. You have blood in your stool.

Finding blood in your bowel movement is quite unnerving and can be attributed to many things. If it’s accompanied by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain, it may be mesenteric ischemia (a blood clot to an artery in the small intestine) and needs to be treated immediately.

In all of these cases, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. If you have a concern, contact your healthcare provider or nearest urgent care facility or hospital right away.

Bicycling can be a blast. You may have fond memories of riding along sidewalks in your neighborhood as a child, but now that you’re all grown up, you might have written off the use of two wheels as “kid stuff.” If that’s your mindset, though, you’re only kidding yourself.

Doctors recommend 20 minutes of robust physical activity per day. For many people, choosing to bike to work for their commute can put them in compliance with their doctor’s orders.
Biking to work can also save you money on gas, parking, and gym memberships. And, of course, this fun physical activity can also help to reduce your carbon emissions—if you’re into that sort of thing.
In addition to these benefits, Dutch researchers are now saying that riding a bicycle can literally help you live longer.

The Research

A team from the Netherlands’ Utrecht University surveyed 50,000 Dutch people, examining their mobility patterns.

According to a summary on the university’s website, researchers determined that “The average Dutch person cycles about 75 minutes each week. That accounts for over a quarter of all trips made.”
The scientists then put this survey data into the the Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT), a new project of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This tool is designed to help conduct an economic assessment of the health benefits of walking or cycling by estimating the value of reduced mortality that results from specified amounts of walking or cycling,” the HEAT website explains.

When the researchers plugged the data from their survey into this powerful public health tool, they found that the average Dutch cyclist would live about six months longer thanks to their healthy habit.
Utrecht University professor Carlijn Kamphuis worked on the study and pointed out this data suggests that, at least in the Netherlands, “it appears that about 6.5 thousand premature deaths are saved each year through cycling.”

Great News for Cycling Advocates

“This is important information to convince policy makers about the significance of promoting cycling measures,” Kamphuis told her university’s website.

“The figures speak for themselves. An investment in better cycle paths, for example, is easily recovered through the enormous health benefits and potential financial savings. There are also other benefits from cycling including improved air quality, reduced traffic and as people move more, less burden due to illness.”
American cycling advocates People for Bikes further crunched the numbers on this study and realized that this research essentially meant that “Every minute you spend on a bicycle increases your lifespan by one minute.”

People for Bikes joked that since you get back every minute you spend on a bike in the form of a longer life, this essentially means that “bicycles are instantaneous teleportation devices.”
So the next time someone tells you to be safe on your bike, you can brazenly tell them, “Be safe in your sedentary lifestyle, Jack!”