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Jordan News
3 days ago
- Health
- Jordan News
Simple Habits That Trick Your Body into Staying Young - Jordan News
Simple Habits That Trick Your Body into Staying Young A recent study has found that combining three simple lifestyle factors can significantly slow down the biological aging process in people over the age of 70. اضافة اعلان The promising findings come from the renowned DO-HEALTH study, led by a research team at the University of Zurich under Professor Heike Bischoff-Ferrari. The three-year study involved 777 participants and relied on cutting-edge technology known as epigenetic clocks—developed by scientist Steve Horvath—which track subtle chemical changes in DNA to accurately measure a person's biological age, rather than their chronological age. The Powerful Trio: Omega-3, Vitamin D, and Strength Training The study revealed that the combination of omega-3 supplements, vitamin D, and regular strength exercises significantly slowed down biological aging in people in their seventies. Taking omega-3 supplements alone was shown to reduce biological age by up to four months, regardless of gender or body mass index. However, the most striking results appeared when participants combined all three elements: omega-3, vitamin D, and at-home strength training three times a week. This synergy created a compounding effect that slowed aging much more effectively than any of the components alone. Professor Bischoff-Ferrari explains: "These three elements act through different but complementary mechanisms—omega-3 supports cellular health, vitamin D boosts vital functions, and strength training promotes tissue regeneration. Together, they deliver a much more powerful anti-aging impact." The study adds to earlier findings that this combination also reduces the risk of cancer, frailty, and infections in older adults. However, this is the first time such a direct impact on the aging process itself has been demonstrated. Promising but Early Despite the encouraging results, researchers caution that the study is still in its early stages. It was conducted only on participants in Switzerland, and epigenetic clock technologies are still evolving. Nevertheless, the research team is now planning to expand the study across other European countries, in collaboration with an international alliance focused on extending healthy lifespan. In the end, it seems the key to slowing down time may not lie in a complicated drug or high-tech procedure—but in daily habits that anyone can adopt. Professor Bischoff-Ferrari concludes: "Aging is a complex process, but this study shows that we already have some simple tools to positively influence it." Source: SciTechDaily
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bananas Could Be Wrecking Your Smoothie's Superpowers, Study Suggests
Bananas drastically reduce flavanol absorption in smoothies — by about 84% — due to their high levels of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Flavanols are important for healthy aging and mental health, with benefits seen especially in women, according to recent studies. To maximize flavanol intake, blend flavanol-rich fruits like berries with low-PPO ingredients such as pineapple, mango, oranges, or yogurt — and avoid bananas in the next time you go to make a smoothie, think long and hard about what you add to it. In May, SciTechDaily highlighted a study published in the journal Food and Function that examined how an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO) affects the absorption of flavan-3-ols, a subclass of flavanols, in the human body. This enzyme is critical as it causes fruits to turn brown, including bananas and apples. Flavanols are equally important for human health, as they help improve our overall well-being and can aid in aging gracefully. As Food & Wine recently explained, a 2025 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that individuals who consumed higher quantities of flavanols had a lower risk of frailty and a decreased risk of poor mental health as they age. The findings were more pronounced in women; however, men also experienced a net positive benefit. And because smoothies have long been a popular choice for health-conscious individuals seeking to consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, the researchers of the study aimed to test how different fruit combinations affect the absorption of key nutrients. Related: This Inexpensive Fruit Can Help Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally, Study Suggests To investigate this, researchers recruited volunteers who were tasked with consuming smoothies with high PPO activity, including those containing bananas, and smoothies with low PPO fruits, such as mixed berries. Participants also took flavanol supplements in capsules to serve as a control. They then had their blood drawn to measure the difference. According to the findings, bananas may be doing more harm than good in that smoothie mix. The findings noted that drinking the banana smoothie drastically reduced the amount of flavonols the body absorbed, and not just by a little. It reduced absorption by about 84% compared to the groups that had the capsules or the berry smoothie. The reason, the team explained, is that PPO interacts with flavanols quickly, causing them to degrade and preventing them from entering your bloodstream. Perhaps most surprisingly, even when participants consumed flavanols separately from the banana smoothie (taking alternating sips of the berry smoothie) absorption was still negatively impacted. As for what you can take away from this study, it's that fruits like berries remain an excellent choice for your next blended drink. Perhaps you could simply enjoy that banana on its own as a snack later. Related: A Banana That Won't Brown So Fast? Scientists Just Made It Happen 'Smoothies are a popular way to pack fruit and vegetables into our morning routines. We know from previous studies that flavanols can be broken down by polyphenol oxidase. The extent of the effect from adding a single banana was still very surprising — it had enough polyphenol oxidase to destroy the vast majority of flavanols found in the berries," Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading and co-investigator of the study, said in a to punch up the flavanols even more? Kuhnle had the answer. 'If you want to boost your flavanol intake with a smoothie, you should combine flavanol-rich fruits like berries with foods that have a low polyphenol oxidase activity like pineapple, oranges, mango, or yogurt.' Read the original article on Food & Wine
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bird Flu Jumped to Dairy Cows and Mutated Without Anyone Noticing for Months—Here's What Parents Need to Know
As a crunchy mother who's always watching out for emerging health concerns that could affect my family, the recent discovery of bird flu in dairy cows has captured my full attention. This isn't just another agricultural problem – it represents a potentially significant shift in how this dangerous virus behaves, and health experts are sounding the alarm. According to SciTechDaily, scientists have traced the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in U.S. dairy cattle back to a single spillover event from a wild bird in Texas during mid-to-late 2023. What makes this bird flu in dairy cows particularly concerning is how it went undetected for several months while silently spreading from cow to cow across multiple states. Related: Think about that for a moment – a virus that previously hadn't established itself in cattle managed to jump species, adapt, and spread efficiently without detection. By the time it was identified, it had already moved from Texas to several other states including North Carolina, Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, and South Dakota through the movement of infected or presymptomatic animals. Even more troubling is that this bird flu in dairy cows hasn't stayed contained within cattle populations. The virus has continued to demonstrate its versatility by infecting poultry, raccoons, domestic cats, and various wild birds like grackles, blackbirds, and pigeons. This multi-species spread significantly increases the opportunities for the virus to further evolve and adapt. When researchers analyzed the genetics of this virus, they found something that keeps virologists up at night – mutations associated with adaptation to mammals that are now firmly established in the viral population. These genetic changes could make the virus better at infecting mammals, including potentially humans. Related: This bird flu in dairy cows represents a case study in what scientists fear most about pandemic potential – a dangerous virus quietly gaining the ability to spread more efficiently between mammalian hosts. While human cases remain extremely rare so far, the rapid evolution and spread demand attention. Researchers emphasize that this situation requires coordinated responses across regulatory agencies and between animal and public health organizations. This isn't just an agricultural issue or wildlife concern – it's a potential public health challenge that crosses traditional boundaries. For families wondering what this means, it's not a cause for immediate panic but rather a reminder that viral threats require vigilance, scientific monitoring, and proper public health responses to protect both animal and human health. Up Next:
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experts uncover chilling new signs of collapse in iconic gulf waters: 'It may be high early in the season and then decline'
A trend of shrinking ice coverage in the Gulf of St. Lawrence might signal long-term problems that could lead to extreme weather events. Sea ice spreads across the Arctic Ocean and neighboring bodies of water each winter. According to an article by NASA Earth Observatory and posted to SciTechDaily, ice formation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near eastern Canada is more uncertain these days. Based on data from 1981 to 2010, ice usually started forming in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in December and peaked by late February. However, that's not the case anymore. There has been a lot of variation with the ice in the gulf more recently, according to Walt Meier, a sea ice expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. "Some years, it may be high early in the season and then decline," Meier said, per NASA Earth Observatory. "Other years, it can be quite low and then shoot up as late as March." Numbers from NSIDC show the Gulf's ice coverage was below average in February and remained that way through mid-March. The numbers from 2024 were even lower. Experts noted that low ice allows the water to absorb more energy from the Sun and warm up faster. That means marine navigation and fishing in the region could be impacted. The shift in sea ice coverage will also affect certain marine mammals like seals, which depend on ice for birthing their pups. Scientists found that the Arctic ice peak this year was the lowest it's been in more than 40 years. According to the World Wildlife Fund, Arctic sea ice has been declining at a rate of nearly 13% per decade. The Arctic could be completely without ice by 2040 if temperatures continue to rise. One of the benefits of Arctic ice is that it stores methane, a planet-warming gas that contributes to air pollution. When the ice thaws, methane is released into the atmosphere. Melting ice can ultimately lead to extreme weather events like polar vortices and intense heat waves, per the WWF. The loss of sea ice also contributes to rising sea levels that put coastal communities at risk and disrupt our food systems. While extreme weather events have always happened, experts have found that the human-induced climate crisis supercharges extreme weather events, making them more powerful and dangerous. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Experts have issued warnings about severe weather events moving forward. While there have been technological developments to help predict certain disasters, the best way to prevent extreme weather events is to take action at home. Many everyday human activities contribute to the warming of the planet. Adjusting behaviors that negatively impact the environment can help mitigate critical climate issues. That includes using less polluting methods of transportation and reducing energy consumption. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists issue dire warning after making frightening discovery in the Atlantic Ocean: 'Sudden, wide-reaching impacts'
A new study from researchers in Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the U.K. cautions that changes from our overheating planet on a major ocean current could unleash a chain of events that would alter the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a powerful ocean current system in the Atlantic that helps to balance our planet's climate, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Scientists say changes due to our warming world are being detected in another major ocean current located in the Arctic, the Beaufort Gyre, which could cause a series of events that would allow an influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic. "The results of this study make us concerned that the reduction of sea ice in the area could lead to a tipping point where the AMOC collapses," said Céline Heuzé, a senior Lecturer in Climatology at the University of Gothenburg and one of the authors of the study, per SciTechDaily. "We find that most models predict that the gyre will shrink in a future warmer climate, in response to changes in the atmosphere," concluded the international team of scientists behind the study, which was published in the JGR Oceans journal and shared by Wiley. "This gyre decline is predicted both under a high-emission scenario and under an intermediate 'middle of the road' emission scenario. The BG region would no longer accumulate freshwater. This could impact future oceanic properties in the Arctic and in the North Atlantic." If melting sea ice crosses a critical tipping point, resulting in the Gyre allowing a large volume of freshwater to flow into the North Atlantic, the AMOC would be at risk of weakening and perhaps collapsing. "Such a collapse would be what scientists call a 'climate tipping point' — an event that would lead to sudden, wide-reaching impacts that are difficult if not impossible to reverse," according to MIT professor of oceanography Raffaele Ferrari. "Changing currents would cause sea levels to rise swiftly in areas like the U.S. East Coast, storms would grow more severe, the rainy and dry seasons in the Amazon may flip, and the ice age pattern of a cooling north and warming south would play out once again." The good news is that a study published in February found that the circulation hasn't declined in the last six decades and that it might be more resilient than once thought. However, most research suggests that if heat-trapping pollution remains high, the slow AMOC process will slow even further in the future, and it is not a matter of if it will collapse, but when. Do you think we should deal with air pollution by burying things underground? Sounds great No way Only for certain waste I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. A significant reduction in the amount of heat-trapping gases being released into Earth's atmosphere could help prevent the collapse of the AMOC. It will take a massive transition from dirty energy sources to renewable options. Making changes to our homes is one way we can all help. Replacing old HVAC systems with a heat pump, installing solar panels, and opting for an induction stove instead of a conventional range are ways to reduce energy bills and reduce harmful carbon pollution. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
