Fasting two days a week may be effective for type 2 diabetes, according to new research.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, involved 405 Chinese adults who had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The study participants had not used any medication for the disease or weight loss drugs in the past three months. They were then divided into three different groups that received the diabetes drugs metformin and empagliflozin or a 5:2 meal replacement diet for a total of 16 weeks.
In a nutshell, 5:2 means fasting two days a week and eating as usual the other five days.
The meal replacement participants ate one serving of a low-energy product instead of three meals on two consecutive days. For the remaining five days, they ate breakfast and lunch of their choice, but a portion of the meal replacement product for dinner.
At the end of the study, glycated hemoglobin, weight, and anthropometric and biochemical parameters were analyzed.
The fasting participants had the greatest reduction in glycated hemoglobin compared to the other two groups. All participants in the group except those over 60 years of age had lower levels. The researchers saw no difference between those taking metformin or empagliflozin.
About 76% of the 5:2 group had a glycated hemoglobin level of less than 6.5% eight weeks after treatment. For people without diabetes, the level should be around 5.7%. Body weight also decreased more in the 5:2 group than in the other two groups, as did blood pressure.
The researchers conclude that 5:2 fasting can effectively improve glycemic control and reduce body weight in patients with type 2 diabetes, and that it is more effective than the medications tested.
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Researchers are developing different types of robotic insects. The idea is that they will revolutionize agriculture when other pollinators are threatened with extinction, but also to be able to engage in surveillance.
Today, a large proportion of the world’s pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are heading towards extinction, with the UN estimating that nearly 35% are threatened with extinction globally. However, robotic insects are not intended to replace real insects, but rather to develop agriculture.
Pollination is critical to the entire food industry, as 75% of the world’s food grown depends on pollination. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe that with artificial pollination, using robotic insects, farmers could in the future grow fruit and vegetables in multi-storey warehouses. This, in turn, is said to increase yields while reducing some of the harmful environmental effects of farming.
For some time, researchers have been working on developing various robotic insects. Earlier versions of the robotic insect consisted of four identical units, each with two wings, combined into a rectangular unit about the size of a microcassette.
Now, much smaller and more durable robotic insects have been developed. The new robots can hover for about 1 000 seconds, which is more than 100 times longer than previously demonstrated. At the same time, they weigh about the same as a paper clip and can fly much faster.
– Compared to the old robot, we can now generate control torque three times larger than before, which is why we can do very sophisticated and very accurate path-finding flights, said researcher Kevin Chen in a press release.
The goal is to achieve a flight lasting longer than 10,000 seconds. They also want to improve its precision so that it can land and take off from a flower, which it currently cannot do.
Photo: Harvard SEAS
Inspired by the crane fly
Researchers at Harvard University have also been working on developing robotic insects. RoboBee can fly, dive and hover like a real insect. The robot weighs only one-tenth of a gram and has a wingspan of three centimeters. The idea is that RoboBee could be used for artificial pollination, but also for surveillance and rescue operations.
However, researchers have long struggled to land it effectively, but now they have found a solution. Taking inspiration from nature, a seemingly graceful landing has been upgraded for RoboBee.
The crane fly spends much of its short life landing and taking off, and it has a strong ability to cushion the landing using its long legs that almost act as shock absorbers. Since the robot’s size and shape were already similar to the crane’s, the researchers chose to develop the robot’s legs like the crane’s.
However, RoboBee is still unable to fly without external energy and is wired. The idea now is to continue developing the robot.
– The longer-term goal is full autonomy, but in the interim we have been working through challenges for electrical and mechanical components using tethered devices, said researcher Robert Wood, from Harvard, in a press release.
The COVID vaccine AeroVax is not to be injected – but inhaled according to a method that will be tested in Canada with government funding. This is despite previous vaccines being linked to millions of reported side effects and vaccine injuries, including heart muscle inflammation, blood clots, and sudden deaths.
At McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, researchers have launched a phase 2 study of a new COVID vaccine that is not administered by injection but is instead inhaled.
The vaccine, named ChAd-triCoV/Mac, will now be tested on 350 participants from across the country, with $8 million in government funding, and researchers say they hope the new vaccine will provide stronger protection against infection than previous injection-based vaccines.
– While the current, needle-based COVID-19 vaccines have prevented a tremendous amount of death and hospitalization, they haven’t really changed a lot of people’s experience with getting recurrent infections, claims Fiona Smaill, professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and one of the study’s leaders.
– We’re looking to change that by providing robust protection directly at the site of infection, she declares.
Targets three virus proteins
The new vaccine differs from previous COVID vaccines in several ways. In addition to being administered as an aerosol inhalation, it targets three different proteins in the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the researchers, this should improve protection against any future variants of COVID.
When a vaccine is inhaled, the body’s immune system reacts differently than when it is injected, which McMasters claims is more effective in preventing the infection itself.
Results from preclinical studies, together with unpublished data from the phase 1 study, suggest that the inhaled vaccine elicits a stronger immune response than traditional injections because it targets the airways where the virus first enters the body.
For those already vaccinated – but not recently ill
AeroVax is intended for people who have already received at least three doses of an mRNA vaccine. To participate in the study, participants must not have had COVID-19 or been vaccinated in the three months prior to registration. Participants must be between 18 and 65 years of age, free of lung disease, and able to attend all on-site testing sessions.
The study includes 350 participants from across Canada. Two-thirds will receive the vaccine and one-third a placebo. None of the participants know which group they belong to, which the researchers say is crucial for an objective evaluation.
– Randomization allows for objective comparison between those who received the vaccine and those who didn’t, which can tell us a lot about the level of protection the vaccine could provide and its side effects, Smaill continues.
Canadian Government Begins Testing Inhaled Covid mRNA ‘AeroVax’
“The Canadian government has begun ramping up testing for a chilling new Covid mRNA “AeroVax” that seeks to overcome “vaccine hesitancy” by using aerosols to “vaccinate” the general public.
The study is led by researchers at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, and all development – from laboratory design to testing – is taking place in Canada.
– Every medicine or vaccine that we use and trust today has at one point gone through similar clinical trials processes, says Matthew Miller, director of the institute and a member of the research team.
– This is a highly regulated process with extensive oversight that ensures the safety of participants and will generate critical data to inform the next steps in development, he adds.
If the results are promising, the researchers plan to move on to a Phase 3 study with a larger group of participants – a step toward approval and market introduction.
Previous COVID vaccines were usually administered with a syringe. Photo: Canstockphoto
Millions of side effects
In this context, it is worth mentioning that since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines began, millions of side effects and vaccine injuries, including deaths, have been reported globally – ranging from fever and nerve damage to blood clots, heart muscle inflammation, and sudden death.
Young men have shown an increased risk of heart inflammation, which has led to certain vaccines being withdrawn or restricted in several countries, and many have come forward to testify about long-term vaccine injuries that affect their ability to work and their quality of life – but their stories have been silenced or dismissed by the healthcare system.
Critics argue that authorities and vaccine manufacturers prioritized rapid distribution over transparency and safety, and that the long-term effects are still very poorly understood.
The vaccine is also believed to have had virtually no effect on the spread of infection, and US health authorities were eventually forced to admit that vaccinated people could carry as much of the virus as unvaccinated people. In Sweden, too, healthcare providers concluded that the vaccine did not stop the spread of COVID-19.
A new group of environmental pollutants has been discovered in the blood of Swedes. Some of the substances may have a negative impact on fertility and may also be endocrine disruptors.
So-called synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) have been found in 30 blood donors in Stockholm, confirmed a study from Stockholm University.
SPAs are found in food packaging, chewing gum, clothing and skin care products, where they are often used to increase the durability of materials. Some of these substances are on the EU’s so-called candidate list, i.e. a list of substances of very high concern. This is because some of the substances can be endocrine disruptors and also negatively affect fertility.
Previous studies from China and the US have shown that the substances are present in both humans and the environment, and some in high concentrations. However, this is the first time it has been detected in the blood of Swedes. The levels are comparable or even higher than the levels of the more well-known PFAS substances, according to researchers.
– This study is a first indication that we have a high exposure to SPAs also in Sweden. Studies on more individuals in different parts of Sweden need to be done to understand the extent of the problem, says researcher Josefin Engelhardt in a press release.
“Don’t know what the consequences will be”
One reason why SPA levels may have been missed in the past is because of the great care required when analyzing blood. Since SPAs are used in plastics and laboratory materials, it is important to be sure that it is the blood levels that are being measured and not substances added during sample collection. However, new methods have now been developed to analyze SPAs in blood.
The researchers say that we now need to find out where SPAs come from and also investigate their health effects, to best prevent them from spreading and affecting people and the environment.
– We don’t know what the consequences of long-term exposure to these substances will be, but the fact that they are present in high levels in the blood is sufficient to act and reduce the levels in accordance with the Swedish Parliament’s environmental quality objective ‘A non-toxic environment’, says Engelhardt.
70 percent of Swedish youth consume more sugar than recommended, according to a dissertation from the University of Gothenburg. Primarily, young people consume soda, candy, and pastries.
The thesis looked at how much free and added sugar Swedish young people consume, something that has not previously been studied to any great extent. Added sugar refers, for example, to sugar in soft drinks, candy, cakes, pastries and some breakfast cereals, while free sugar includes both added and natural sugar found in, for example, honey, syrup and juice.
– Since there are guidelines for the intake of both added sugar, and since 2023 also for free sugar, it’s important to be able to follow up on how well these guidelines are adhered to, to have a basis for promoting public health through various health-promoting efforts, says Julia Wanselius, who wrote the thesis, in a press release.
The limits for the recommended maximum intake of sugar in Sweden are set in relation to the amount of calories consumed and then expressed in energy percent (E%). The intake of both added and free sugars is recommended to be limited to a maximum of ten energy percent, in other words, no more than ten percent of the calorie intake per day should be sugar. For an adult, this corresponds to approximately 50-75 grams of sugar per day.
Sugar linked to lower nutrient intake
The results show that only 30% of Swedish teenagers stay below the recommended maximum intake for sugar, which means that around 70% eat too much sugar.
The biggest sources of sugar are soft drinks, candy, cakes and pastries, which together account for about 70 percent of the added sugar that young people eat. The study also shows that a high intake of sugar is linked to a lower intake of important nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and whole grains.
One of the conclusions of the thesis is that the information around sugar intake would need to change to influence young people to eat less. Instead of focusing only on recommending less sugar, Wanselius suggests that the guidelines should instead focus on reducing the consumption of certain specific foods such as soft drinks and sweets.
