Latest news with #KyraDahring
CNN
7 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Can You Lower Your Risk for Dementia? - Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:03 Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. Thank you so much for joining us. We are really trying to be your source for answers to whatever health questions you've been mulling over. Feel free to send those in to us. This is the show where we take those questions, really dig into the science and hopefully the stories behind them. Kyra's back with us. Who do we have first? Kyra Dahring 00:00:24 Hey Sanjay. So first up today, we've got a question from Alan in Ottawa, Canada, who wrote in asking if having type 2 diabetes accelerates cognitive decline if you're over the age of 70. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:40 Alan, I am really glad you asked about this, because so many people in both Canada and the United States have type 2 diabetes. In fact, around 11% of the general population lives with diabetes, and the numbers for those over the age of 65 jump up close to 30%. Keep that in mind when we give you the answer right after the break. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:06 'Alright, so does having type 2 diabetes affect cognitive decline in older adults? Well, the short answer, unfortunately, is yes. Studies find that diabetes can increase the odds of developing cognitive decline up to two times. A 2021 JAMA study following about 10,000 men and women found that those who had diabetes at age 70 had a higher likelihood of developing cognitive decline. So, you know, older adults with diabetes do have higher instances of dementia overall, Alzheimer's disease, and also something known as vascular dementia. And it has also been shown that the risk of cognitive decline in dementia is higher for those who develop diabetes at a younger age. So the earlier the age when you develop diabetes, the more likely you are to have cognitive decline again after age 70. Now, we don't know exactly why this is, but the connection appears to be pretty strong. So much so that some people have started calling Alzheimer's type 3 diabetes. Now that might be a bit hyperbolic, but I think there's no question that we know diabetes raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, which hurt heart and blood vessels, damaged blood vessels in the brain, could contribute to cognitive decline. We also know that the brain is dependent on many different chemicals, which can become imbalanced when insulin is not working as it should. Some of those changes could trigger cognitive decline, high blood sugar all by itself is pro-inflammatory that could damage brain cells and cause dementia to develop. But all this to say that there's clearly a connection between lifestyle and dementia. In fact, if you look at some of the latest studies, probably around 40% of dementia cases are preventable through lifestyle changes -- healthy balanced diet, physical activity, exercising your brain, social activity, and yes, keeping your blood sugar in check. There was another recent study called the Poynter Study, around 2,000 participants from across the United States, people who were between the ages of 60 and 79 and were cognitively healthy, okay, so they did not have problems, but they were leading sedentary lifestyles and had a higher risk of dementia due to health issues like pre-diabetes or borderline high blood pressure. And what they did in these two groups is one was given sort of a structured lifestyle intervention program, and the other was given guidance, but they were told to sort of do it on their own. All of it was geared towards healthy behaviors. Things like 30 minutes of cardio a day plus several days of weight training, a Mediterranean DASH diet, which is basically the Mediterranean diet with even more salt restrictions, certain brain training exercises, social activities, and health monitoring. Both groups that focused on these lifestyle changes did see an improvement in cognitive function. So that was really encouraging. There was other studies that have shown people who had even been given the diagnosis of cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease also saw an improvement. Not only were they able to slow or stall the progression of the disease, in some cases they were able to reverse it with lifestyle changes alone. So there's this connection between high blood sugar, diabetes and cognitive impairment. But I think the evidence is becoming increasingly clear that there's a lot that you can do about it. Hope that helps, Alan. I'll be back to answer another one of your questions right after the break. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:04:50 All right, all sorts of pagers going off. Kyra, who's next? Kyra Dahring 00:04:55 Okay, next up we've got Cal. Now, he's wondering, can learning a new language or even picking up a new instrument, can that actually help slow down cognitive decline? Or what kind of impact does that have? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:11 'So just as keeping your body active is important, and we know it's really important, not just for your physical health, but your brain health as well, we also know that learning a new language or learning to play an instrument can have a really significant beneficial impact on cognitive decline. I love this question. I love the topic. It is true that just moderate brisk activity, physical activity, is probably the most evidence-based way to improve your overall brain health. But when it comes to doing other things, learning new skills, taking on new hobbies, the key word here is new. A lot of people focus on things like crossword puzzles, which can be really helpful for overall brain-health, but mostly what crossword-puzzles do is make you really good at crossword puzzles. What you want to do is something new! Learning a new language is kind of like a form of developing cognitive reserve, like a demanding career of some sort that's going to strengthen and organize your brain circuits, helping to fight off the initial symptoms of dementia until later in life. I really loved this one study when it came to instruments. There was a study of twins where one twin had developed dementia, the other didn't. And what they found after controlling for education and physical activity, that playing a musical instrument was significantly associated with lower likelihood of dementia and cognitive impairment. So, you know, genetically identical individuals, the only big difference was that one played an instrument. Taking that a step further, there was a study that found professional musicians who began training before age seven actually had reliably thicker areas of certain parts of the brain, such as the anterior corpus callosum, which is the very front of the brain that sort of connects the two hemispheres. Even learning an instrument later in life, was associated with improved attention, improved thinking skills, and overall better mental health. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:18 'So, Shukriya, merci, gracias for your question. Thank you very much. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. I'm inspired by your curiosity. I love reading these questions, I love hearing your stories and I love your voices. That is what makes this show so special. So keep the questions coming. If there's something health related you've been wondering about send it to us, we might try and answer it next week! Record a voice memo email it to AskSanjay@ or give us a call, 470-396-0832, and leave a message. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back next Tuesday.
CNN
24-06-2025
- Health
- CNN
How Far Are We from Animal Organs Saving Lives? - Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Podcast on CNN Audio
Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:03 'Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is one of my favorite parts of the week, because I get a chance to connect with you, to answer your questions, and to hear what's on your mind. I also often get to talk about some of the big medical developments that are shaping our lives. If you caught last week's episode, for example, you know that we've been diving into something that sounds very much like science fiction, but at the same time has become very real, quickly, xeno-transplantation, X-E-N-O, transplantation. That is the medical term for transplanting organs from one species into another. In this case, specifically from animals into humans. Even more specifically, from pigs into people. Now, I'm so fascinated by this. I spent two years working on a documentary and we covered everything from the special pig farms to operating rooms. Scientists, surgeons, and patients who are making this happen. I spent a lot of time with all of them. Today, I'm really excited to keep the conversation going by answering the many questions you guys sent in. So let's get into it. Kyra's back with us. What do we have, Kyra? What's up first? Kyra Dahring 00:01:20 Yeah, so Paul wrote in wondering something pretty fascinating about personalized organs, and I'm gonna read it to you. So he wrote: over the past two decades, work was happening in the area of using one's cell makeup to create an organ in the lab. Is this still an approach being considered? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:01:37 Okay, Paul, this is a great question. And the answer is yes. There is work that is being done in this particular space of creating basically individualized organs. One of the efforts of a company known as United Therapeutics, they work in the xenotransplant area, one of their efforts is also in creating what can best be called ghost organs. And we got a chance to see this. So imagine this, okay, so you have a pig organ, maybe a pig heart in this case, and it essentially is cleansed using these detergents of all of its biology, of all its cells. The only thing left is the scaffolding of the organ, okay? And then that scaffolding is essentially repopulated, reseeded with human cells, a specific human cells. Now, if you think about that, that essentially now is a personalized organ for somebody. This approach, this idea of creating ghost organs, is still further off than where we are currently with xenotransplantation. But I think to your question, this is the future. These ghost organs that are repopulated with an individual's human cells to create a personalized organ, that may be what we can expect in the future, so for example, let's say you have cardiac disease or you have some sort of disease where you know you're gonna need a transplant in the feature. You could potentially create a personalized organ that would be ready to go when you need it. Before your condition gets too far along, scientists could take some of your cells, simply from your blood or your skin, grow those cells, and then use them to populate the ghost organ scaffolding. Not only do you have an organ designed for you, but because they are your cells immunosuppression, rejection, acceptance, that shouldn't be an issue. It is essentially your organ. Now stick around, after the break we're going to get into just how many of these pig kidneys have actually made it into humans, and the bigger question, could this really solve the organ shortage crisis? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:03:54 Okay, we're gonna try and get to as many pages as possible. Kyra, what do we have next? Kyra Dahring 00:03:59 'Next is Ann from Kansas, and she wants to know, you know, how many pig kidney transplants have been done? Whether anyone's lived long-term with them? And if they use different anti-rejection meds than the typical transplant. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:04:14 'All right, first of all, how many kidney xenotransplants? Four in two living patients. And the reason I say living patients is because the first couple of transplants were actually done into patients who were brain dead. These were patients who had signed up to be organ donors, but instead in a way they became organ recipients when they were brain-dead. It was an opportunity for scientists to try and study, could these pig organs actually survive in the human body and they found that it worked. So in March of 2024, the first patient, a guy named Rick Slayman at Massachusetts General Hospital got a transplant, a xenotransplant, and he lived for two additional months. In April 2024, a month later, Lisa Pisano got a transplant, lived for a two additional month. A few months later, November of 2024 the third patient, Towana Looney at NYU got a pig kidney. She is still alive, but had to have the pig kidney removed after 130 days because of an unrelated infection. And then in January of 2025, this year, Tim Andrews, the fourth patient, he still has his xenotransplant and soon is gonna surpass 130 days, becoming the longest survivor in the world with a xenotransplant. Now, in addition to the four xeno kidney transplants, there have been two pig heart transplants as well, both at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. January of 2022, David Bennett lived for two additional months. September of 2023, Larry Faucette lived for an additional six weeks. Now, I just wanted to name everybody there because all the folks I just mentioned are pioneers. They volunteered, they put their hands up to do something that had never been done before. And they really sort of ventured out into the unknown. Very, very brave. And as a result of their efforts, they have really advanced science. That's why I wanted to give you all their names. Now, with regard to the second part of your question, the immunosuppression or the anti-rejection medications are very similar to what a human-to-human transplant would take, but typically at higher doses. So similar meds, but higher doses of the meds. And typically a few other drugs that have been added into the regimen, which have been shown to be effective so far in these early studies. The key to the success though, make no mistake, is the engineering of the pig's DNA to make it more similar to a human's. In some cases, there were some genes that were removed. In other cases, certain trans genes were added. So human genes actually added into pig's genome. All right, Kyra, what's our last question? Kyra Dahring 00:07:08 All right, Sanjay, we're wrapping up with one from Alia in Kuwait. She's asking a pretty big picture question: how far are we from this being a solution to the organ crisis? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:19 Well, Alia, first of all, thanks for calling us from Kuwait. Five years. Five years is the number that I was given over and over again. Kidneys, in part, are going to be the first organs to really get to scale, but it sounds like they're also going to get to hearts, livers, and possibly lungs. We're about to enter clinical trials this summer with United Therapeutics, and we had a chance to visit the farm where they're raising the pigs for the trials. These are biosecure farms, look nothing like a typical farm. They have these filters and clean water and air. In some ways the food and the water and the air that the pigs are getting is even cleaner than what the humans are getting that work there. They have a high level of security. They have their operating rooms right there on campus. So they take the organs there and then send the organs directly to recipients around the country. I don't know, Alia, that I would necessarily say that this is going to solve the organ shortage crisis, but I think it's going to be a very important stopgap. Keep in mind, some of these farms can raise thousands of pigs, and there's a few of these farms around the country, but there's 100,000 people on the waiting list for organs in the United States alone. 17 people who die waiting for an organ. So we're going to need hundreds of thousands of organs potentially to try and solve the organ shortage crisis. And then there are a lot of people who don't currently qualify for transplant, even though they probably should, they're just not sick enough. Then the question becomes, could these pig organs start to supply organs to those folks as well? It's a fascinating field. It combines so many different scientific developments. IVF, cloning, CRISPR gene editing, transplant immunology, transplant surgery. All these scientific developments, some of them Nobel Prize winning developments, came together to create this field of xenotransplantation and potentially save and extend a lot of lives in the process. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:09:28 'Thanks for being so fascinated by this like I am and thank you for writing in your questions, sending in your question. I always love hearing what you're curious about. And if there's something else health related you've been wondering about, don't be shy, record a voice memo, email it to AskSanjay@ or give us a call, 470-396-0832, leave a message, and be sure to check out part two of our Chasing Life special on xenotransplantation. I'm gonna dive even deeper into what this breakthrough could mean for the future of medicine overall. The documentary is called Animal Pharm, P-H-A-R-M, and part two will be on the feed Friday. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back next Tuesday. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Eryn Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Galaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofia Sanchez, Kyra Dahring, and Madeleine Thompson. Andrea Kane is our medical writer, our senior producer is Dan Bloom, Amanda Sealy is our showrunner, Dan Dzula is our technical director, and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. With support from Jamus Andrest, Jon Dianora, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Leni Steinhardt, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kounang of CNN Health and Wendy Brundige.
CNN
10-06-2025
- Health
- CNN
Does Your 'Filtered' Water Still Have Fluoride? - Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Podcast on CNN Audio
Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:03 Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta, one of my favorite times of the week. I really love hearing from you. You know, we've been doing this for a couple of months now. I love reading your questions, hearing your questions, gives me an idea of what's on your mind. Whether it's something in the headlines, sometimes it's something happening in your own life, I'm here to help try and break it down. And we've got a great first question lined up. Kyra, wanna do the honors? Kyra Dahring 00:00:30 Absolutely. So, Paula in West Springfield, Massachusetts asks, in our household, we use filtered water coming out of the refrigerator. Does that eliminate the fluoride in the water? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:00:41 'Okay, Paula, this is a great question. There's been a lot of news about fluoride lately. So let me give you a simple answer and then explain it. Most water filters are not going to remove fluoride. Keep in mind that fluoride is a mineral and it dissolves in the water, so it's actually quite hard to remove, to filter out. Most conventional filters are not going to do this. Now, there are a couple of ways to filter out fluoride. One is using something known as reverse osmosis, a reverse osmosis filter. This essentially is forcing the fluoridated water under pressure through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmoses is about 80 to 90% effective at removing fluoride. Another type is distillation, a distilling filter. Now, this essentially is boiling the fluorodated water and then capturing the water vapor, that steam that gets produced, and leaving the fluoride behind and that's nearly a hundred percent effective. Now again, I know there's a lot of discussion about fluoride lately, but two things I just want to make sure you know: in most places around the country around the United States, Fluoride is not going to be at a level that is high enough for concern. So despite the fact that we're talking about it a lot lately, there really isn't a lot of cause for concern. Second thing, there are ways to sort of figure out how much fluoride is in your water. There is something called a consumer confidence report that you can get from your water company, they're obligated to give it to you if you ask for it. That can tell you how much fluoride in your water. You can also go to the CDC's website and look for "My Water's Fluoride" and plug in where you live, that can also give you an idea of how much fluoride's in your water. But again, Paula, I just want to be clear for most people living in the United States, this is not a concern. Kyra Dahring 00:02:37 Okay wait, now Sanjay, let's just say the fluoride is removed from the drinking water. We have a question from a listener named Lucia in New York who wants to know if brushing her teeth with a fluoridated toothpaste or rinsing with a flouridated mouthwash, is that enough to protect her teeth? Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:02:53 Okay, yes, this is a great question. The short answer here is yes, fluoridated toothpaste or rinses are really effective at protecting teeth. One thing I just want to point out, if you look at the sort of overall impact of fluoridating water, the public health community often refers to that as one of the greatest public health achievements over the last century. And for good reason, it's made a huge impact. But at the same time, really since about 1975, the incremental benefit of fluoride in the water has gone considerably down. Why is that? Because around that time, 50 years ago, we started to have fluoridated toothpaste and more widespread access to dental care. So fluoridate toothpaste can make a huge difference. When you think about fluoridatied toothpaste, first of all, for children under the age of three, you don't need very much toothpaste, about a rice grain size amount of toothpaste is good for children under the age of three. That's not very much. And for adults, about a pea size amount a fluoridated toothpaste. When you're thinking about the fluoride, you want to make sure that it's sort of sticking to your teeth. And you don't want to rinse your teeth for a period of time after you brush your teeth, just let that fluoride sit on your teeth that's what allows it to of cause remineralization. Don't eat for 10 to 15 minutes afterward either. So no doubt then that brushing your teeth with a little bit of fluoridated toothpaste can make a huge difference. Now I will say that the impact of taking fluoride out of the water is a little bit hard to know. There have been some modeling studies, one came from a group of researchers at Harvard that basically predicted that over the next five years, if you remove fluoride from the water, it would lead to about 25 million excess cavities. Over 10 years, it would lead to about 54 million excess cavities, cavities being defined by something that needs a filling. So again, fluoridated toothpaste, fluoride rinses, they do a great job, but there's an impact as well at taking the fluoride out of the water. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:09 Okay, we're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we're gonna talk about foods to eat to keep your mind sharp. Stay with us. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:23 Alright. I know that sound. Kyra, who's up next? Kyra Dahring 00:05:26 Next up is Sam from Connecticut, and he has a question I think you're gonna love about brain food. Take a listen. Listener Sam 00:05:34 Hi, my name is Sam and I'm 68 in Norwalk, Connecticut. I don't know if you've covered this in one of the podcasts that maybe I've missed, but I'd like to know what are the best foods you could eat to nourish your brain? Memory, response time, accuracy? Thanks, have a great day and thank you for all the wonderful information. Bye. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:05:58 Okay Sam, thank you for your question and I do love the fact that you're thinking about how to keep your brain sharp. As you know, I'm a neurosurgeon, I think about the brain all the time, the most enigmatic three and a half pounds of tissue in the known universe. Now, with regard to how we nourish ourselves and its relationship to brain health, there is some solid science behind certain foods that support memory and cognition. In fact, I sat down on a previous episode of Chasing Life with Dr. Uma Naidoo. She's a nutritional psychiatrist, by the way, how cool is that? A nutritional psychiatrist, she's also a professional chef and she really digs deep into how food affects the brain. Listen to what she told me. Dr. Uma Naidoo 00:06:44 'Foods that will help cognition, we actually go back to those, those omega-3s, it's a group that's featured very frequently. Olive oil, also one that we lean into. The herbs and spices that showed up doing well for cognition and for thinking and for memory are turmeric with that pinch of black pepper, which makes it much more bioavailable, cinnamon, saffron, rosemary, ginger, sage. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:13 I hope you caught that last part. It's not only the specific foods, but also these added spices, which can make the foods much more bioavailable. If you eat foods that are good for you, but they're not highly bioavailable, that means they're not circulating around the body and the brain and doing their job. Now, Dr. Naidoo also gave us some great advice on caffeine and how, in moderation, it can actually help objectively with focus and memory. Dr. Uma Naidoo 00:07:41 Coffee was thought, if you keep your caffeine's consumption, or your coffee consumption, under 400 milligrams a day, it was thought to be healthy. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:07:50 Now, I think it's important to point out that Dr. Naidoo's not just talking about these things as individual ingredients. Oftentimes we think of medicines as these single molecules, but when it comes to food, it's really about putting all these ingredients together into a meal that is tasty, but also brain healthy. Dr. Uma Naidoo 00:08:10 You know, for me, this is some guidance. While I know that those foods have been identified as healthy, it's also part of an overall plate, right? It's not just eating the nuts or eating the olive oil, it's putting that together in a meal that's still tasty makes a very big difference to balancing that out for people. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:08:28 'Beyond that, let me give you some of my thoughts on what the research shows about food and brain health. Studies have shown that eating just a handful of blueberries or a single serving of spinach or kale can slow cognitive decline by years even. There was this big study that tracked over 16,000 older women for 15 years and found that just a half a cup of blueberries, or a cup a strawberries a week, slowed memory loss by two and a half years. Another study found those who ate a serving of leafy greens, spinach, kale, collard greens, arugula, appeared many years younger in terms of their overall cognitive health compared with those who rarely or never consumed green leafy vegetables. Another one to add to the list, oily fish, salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines. They are all rich in something known as DHA. DHA is a fat that can help protect your brain. And then there was a study showing that eating fish just once a week was associated with slower cognitive decline and a lower risk of Alzheimer's. You know, I also want to mention eggs. They are packed with something known as choline, which is a key nutrient for memory and learning that many people just don't get enough of, eggs can be a great source. So Sam, if you're at the store, think about these foods, look for color in your foods, berries, greens, those brain-boosting spices Dr. Naidoo mentioned, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, rosemary, ginger, sage, and don't forget your salmon. That's a big one. But remember again, it's about building meals around these components. Make them tasty and pack them with these ingredients, that's great way to support your brain health over time. Dr. Sanjay Gupta 00:10:19 'Alright, that's all the time we have for today, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions. I love hearing what you're curious about. If there's something health-related you've been wondering about, you can record a voice memo, email it to asksanjay@ or give us a call at 470-396-0832, leave a message. Thanks for listening, and I'll be back next Tuesday. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Aaron Matthewson, Eryn Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Galaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofía Sánchez, and Kyra Dahring. Andrea Kane Is our medical writer, our senior producer is Dan Bloom, Amanda Sealy is our showrunner, Dan Dzula is our technical director, and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. with support from Jamus Andrest, Jon Dianora, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Leni Steinhardt, Nichole Pesaru, and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kounang of CNN Health and Wendy Brundige.
