A cheap, common drug could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year if used routinely, doctors say.

Living with the autoimmune condition coeliac disease (CD) can be challenging. Home meals require careful planning, and eating out is always risky.

For some families, keeping gluten-containing foods separate from other foods to avoid cross-contamination can be exhausting. Often this means taking precautions like doubling up on kitchenware appliances, i.e. toasters, bread machines, food processors etc. 

But a new preliminary study from the Children’s National Hospital brings some relief to those concerned about gluten-free living, suggesting that the risk of gluten transfer in common-cooking activities may be lower than suspected.

The research, published in Gastroenterology, found no significant gluten transfer when tools like the same toaster or knives were used for both gluten-containing and gluten-free foods. 

Coeliac disease most common in Europe

CD is a chronic digestive disorder caused by intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and wheat products. Eating it can trigger immune system attacks and damage the small intestinal lining, causing symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea, and fatigue.  

Although there are no accurate estimates of the incidence of coeliac disease in the South African population, a previous Health24 article notes that the disease tends to affect mainly individuals of European descent, and that the incidence s believed to be much lower in the indigenous population.

The disease also affects all age groups, including infants and children and is more common in women, with a female to male ratio of 2:1. 

How concerned should you be about cross-contamination?

Worried about your kitchen activities exposing you or family members with coeliac disease to gluten? It’s not so bad, say the study’s researchers. 

They tested three scenarios where it was thought that gluten transfer could be high enough to pose a gluten exposure risk for someone with coeliac disease. Generally, a high risk scenario is where there are more than 20 parts per million (ppm) or .002%*.

The study found less gluten transfer than expected in the following scenarios:

• Toasting bread: gluten levels remained at less than 20ppm when gluten-free bread was toasted in the same toaster as regular bread. This test was repeated several times, and the result remained the same – even when gluten-containing crumbs were present at the bottom of the toaster.
• Cupcakes: a knife was used to cut frosted gluten-containing cupcakes, followed by gluten-free cupcakes. Even when visible crumbs were stuck to the icing on the knife, it was found that gluten levels remained below 20ppm in most cases.
• Pasta: both gluten-free pasta and regular pasta were cooked in the same water, and the researchers found significant gluten transfer of as high as 115ppm. However, if the gluten-free pasta was rinsed under running tap water after cooking, the gluten transfer dropped to less than 20ppm.

*Interestingly, it is not possible to detect zero ppm, and the lowest detected level is 3 ppm (.0003%).

Simple tips to minimise risk

“Though the sample is small, this study gives me hope that someday soon we’ll have empirical evidence to reassure the families we work with that their best defence is not two kitchens – it’s simply a good kitchen and personal hygiene,” said Vanessa Weisbrod, executive director of the Celiac Disease Program at Children’s National Hospital, who conceived and led the study.

“We still recommend following all guidelines from your coeliac care team to prevent cross contamination while we do further study,” adds Benny Kerzner, M.D., the study’s senior author and director of the Celiac Disease Program at Children’s National. 

Simple hygiene such as the washing of utensils and equipment with soap and water, and handwashing, can minimise the risk of exposure to gluten or eliminate it entirely.

“But the results are compelling enough that it’s time for our larger coeliac community to look at the current recommendations with a critical eye and apply evidence-based approaches to pinpoint the true risks for families, and eliminate some of the hypervigilant lifestyle changes that we sometimes see after a family receives a coeliac diagnosis,” says Kerzner.

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Compiled by Zakiyah Ebrahim

When the seasons change, it’s likely that you might be shedding a bit of hair in the shower. Previous studies have linked seasonal changes to “moulting” in humans, and it’s usually nothing to worry about.

But new research, presented at the 28th EADV Congress in Madrid, shows for the first time that exposure to common air pollutants known as particulate matter (PM) is linked to hair loss in humans.

What does air have to do with hair?

The research was conducted using cells from the human scalp at the base of the follicles (human follicle dermal papilla cells or HFDPC) and exposing them to various particulate matters such as dust and diesel particulate, commonly found in polluted air.

Researchers then performed a process on the cells to detect a specific protein that helps the hair grow. It was shown that the presence of PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres) decreased the level of that protein.

The study also revealed that the levels of three other proteins, which are responsible for hair growth and hair retention, were decreased by PM10-like dust and diesel particulate.

Why does particulate matter matter?

Particulate matter (PM) can be described as a mix of solid particles and droplets found in the air. PM is divided into categories based on their diameter. PM10 is considered a major pollutant and is linked to many other conditions besides hair loss. PM10 includes burning fossil fuels, petrol, diesel, coal, oil and biomass.

Lead researcher, Hyuk Chul Kwon from the Future Science Research Centre in the Republic of Korea, stated in the news report: “While the link between air pollution and serious diseases such as cancer, COPD and cardiovascular diseases is well established, there is little to no research on the effect of particulate matter exposure on the human skin and hair in particular. Our research explains the mode of action of air pollutants on human follicle dermal papilla cells, showing how the most common air pollutants lead to hair loss.”

Protect yourself against air pollution

Whether you are concerned about hair loss or not, air pollution can also increase your risk of respiratory allergies and conditions. While those who live and work in highly-populated industrialised urban areas can’t entirely escape air pollution, there are ways to contain your exposure:

• Avoid exercising (running and walking) near traffic-dense areas such as freeways or busy roads.
• Change your clothes, shower and wash your hair as soon as you come home from work to avoid spreading particles around the house.
• Invest in houseplants to increase the air quality inside your home.
• Avoid burning gas and wood without proper ventilation.

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Compiled by Marelize Wilke

For some women, fertility struggles can be frustrating and emotionally draining, especially when research and doctors cannot provide answers. Now, researchers have found that bone marrow might be the key element in solving fertility issues in women, as seen in a study with mice. 

The study, which was conducted by researchers from Yale, was published in PLOS Biology. It was found that when an egg is fertilised, stem cells from the bone marrow travel through the bloodstream to a woman’s uterus.

A paradigm shift

The stem cells are responsible for creating an important change in the uterine lining, which is required for the embryo to implant. If the embryo cannot implant, the body terminates the pregnancy.

Dr Hugh Taylor, senior author and the Anita O’Keeffe Young Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale said, “We have always known that two kind of things were necessary for pregnancy. You must have ovaries to make eggs, and you must have a uterus to receive the embryo. But knowing that bone marrow has a significant role is paradigm shift.”

Dr Reshef Tal, first author of the study and assistant professor of obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences at Yale said, “Some of these bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells travel to the uterus and become decidual cells, which are cells that are essential for the process of implantation and pregnancy maintenance.”

Previously, research has shown that, in small numbers, bone marrow-derived stem cells contribute to the non-pregnant uterus but it was not clear how stem cells affected the pregnant uterus. The study was made possible by methods that Taylor and Tal developed a few years ago.

More research is needed

“We used an anti-metabolite drug, which is still considered a chemotherapy, but it does not harm the ovary, and therefore the mice are still able to get pregnant, allowing us to track the transported bone marrow cells and investigate their role in reproduction,” said Tal.

“We are currently translating these findings into humans to better understand the role that these bone marrow-derived stem cells play in recurrent implantation failure and recurrent pregnancy loss, two conditions that are unexplained in the majority of women and have no effective treatment.”

Although more research is needed before they can begin with clinical trials, Tal and Taylor believe that the findings from this study will bring hope for patients undergoing treatment for infertility.

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Deeanne Daniels

Five-year-old Ava Macfarlane died from sepsis in December 2017.

How do you make healthy food more popular? Start by giving it a yummy-sounding name, researchers say.

People are much more likely to choose good-for-you foods like broccoli or carrots if labelled with names that emphasise taste over nutritional value, according to Alia Crum, an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University, and her colleagues.

Current cultural approach

In previous research, Crum’s team found that Stanford students were far more likely to go for decadent-sounding veggies like “twisted citrus glazed carrots” over an equivalent option that might be labelled “dietetic carrots.” The key, however, is the food must actually be tasty, the new study confirms.

“This is radically different from our current cultural approach to healthy eating which, by focusing on health to the neglect of taste, inadvertently instils the mindset that healthy eating is tasteless and depriving,” Crum, senior author of the new report, said in a university news release.

“And yet in retrospect, it’s like, of course, why haven’t we been focusing on making healthy foods more delicious and indulgent all along?” she added.

In the new study, the researchers tracked food choices made by students enrolled across a network of 57 US colleges and universities. The investigators looked at 71 vegetable dishes labelled with either taste-focused, health-focused or neutral names.

Students were 29% more likely to select veggies when taste was emphasised rather than health. And they were 14% more likely to consume vegetables that had a tasty-sounding name instead of a nondescript name, such as “orange vegetable”.

A critical window

Diners also ended up eating nearly 40% more vegetables (by weight) when appetising marketing was deployed, the findings showed.

Mouth-watering names increase a diner’s expectation of a yummy meal, Crum said. Certain key words – such as “garlic”, “ginger”, “roasted”, “sizzling”, and “tavern-style” – seem to do the trick, she noted.

Knowing this could make a difference in the effort to get people, particularly young people, to eat more healthfully, the study authors said.

According to study co-author Bradley Turnwald, “College students have among the lowest vegetable intake rates of all age groups. Students are learning to make food decisions for the first time in the midst of new stresses, environments and food options. It’s a critical window for establishing positive relationships with healthy eating.”

The report was published online in Psychological Science.

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HealthDay

He was born with much of his skin missing from his neck down and was given a slim chance at birth by doctors. In fact, taking on his case was a first.

“It was just red. Bright red,” his mother, Priscilla Maldonado, 25, told Today. “You could see all his veins; everything was exposed.”

Born on New Year’s Day this year, Ja’bari Gray weighed a low 1.3kg. He spent the first three months of his life in a San Antonio Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and his family was told to prepare for the worst, but they refused to accept defeat.

And now, after a skin transplant at Texas Children’s Hospital, the little fighter’s mother can finally kiss him.

Doctors started covering Ja’bari’s body with skin grown inside a Boston lab that specialises in burn victims, from cells taken from the back of his ear in May – and used 12 trays of skin to do this, Maldonado told Today. 

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Two previous cases who didn’t survive

It was reported that he tested well through the pregnancy until an ultrasound at 37 weeks showed that he wasn’t gaining weight and his heart rate had dropped. Doctors then performed an emergency C-section and Ja’bari came into the world “completely silent”, Maldonado previously told San Antonio Express-News.

Maldonado says doctors told her only two other babies like Ja’bari had been born in the US, and neither of them survived.

His case, cited as a “medical mystery” by medical professionals, has undergone a remarkable transformation and Ja’bari now weighs a healthy 8.2kg, although he still has a long way to go.

Even though his skin is slowly starting to grow on its own now, his eyes are fused shut and his fingers, toes and neck also became fused while he was in the NICU. He underwent two surgeries to open his eyelids, but they reclosed. His arms, right hand, right foot and neck will also require surgery to be separated.

More babies with different rare skin diseases

Like Ja’bari, many other babies around the world displayed no signs of something being wrong during the early stages of pregnancy. In September 2017, Anna Wilklow was born with a rare skin condition called Harlequin ichthyosis, Business Insider reports. According to the US National Library of Medicine, the extremely rare genetic condition occurs in one out of 300 000 babies.

The condition meant her skin cracked minutes after birth and her skin’s tightness across the chest and stomach made breathing difficult. She was only diagnosed an hour after her birth and spent a full month in a medical care centre. Anna is covered in healing ointment and bathed multiple times a day to keep her skin from cracking. 

In 2016, Harper Foy was immediately taken to the NICU after arriving in the world. Her skin was pulled so tightly that her eyelids had flipped inside out, reports Seattle Children’s Hospital. She, too, had been born with Harlequin ichthyosis.

The one thing in common all the parents of these brave little fighters have is a will to never give up. 

“If it wasn’t his purpose to be here, he would have been gone from birth or even before birth, so he does have a purpose in this world and we never know what it is until the future,” Maldonado said to ABC News.

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Compiled by Zakiyah Ebrahim

In South Africa, 9 to 15 October is National Nutrition Week. According to the experts, overweight, obesity and chronic disease linked to bad dietary habits are still on the rise in the country, despite what we know about the impact of food choices on our health.

And with so much conflicting information regarding healthy diets, as well as extreme diet trends, it’s often easier to simply plead ignorance than to try striving for a healthier lifestyle. We also have this notion in our heads that “healthy” foods should be expensive, exotic and only available from trendy health food stores.

But the 2019 National Nutrition Week wants to clear these misconceptions. The theme “Make eating whole foods a way of life” focuses on the importance of consuming a largely plant-based diet consisting of mainly unprocessed and minimally processed food. These include whole grains; fresh vegetables and fruits; nuts and seeds; and lean proteins.

Carol Browne of the Nutrition Society of South Africa (NSSA) points out that the risks of unhealthy diets and lifestyles start in childhood and build up over our lives. 

She says: “Approximately 13.3% of South African children under five years of age are overweight or obese, and according to the 2012 South African Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES), 14.2% children aged 6 to 14 years are overweight or obese. The situation among adults is even worse, with the 2016 South Africa Demographic and Health Survey finding that 68% of women and 31% of men in South Africa are overweight or obese. Severe obesity, which is life-threatening, affects around 20% of women and 3% of men. Unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity are contributing to a considerable burden of disease in our country.”

Luckily, there are some easy tips to help you shop for the healthiest whole foods:

1. Experiment with your food

Enjoy a wide variety of whole foods such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes, and ensure that this makes up at least 80% of your daily diet. Make at least one day per week meat-free, where you focus on plant-based foods as the main part of your meal. Not only is this good for your health, but also for the environment. 

2. Choose fruit and veggies

Choose seasonal fruit and vegetables that you enjoy. Not only will you commit to a healthy lifestyle when you really enjoy the taste and texture of fresh fruit and vegetables, but you will also save money and reduce waste. Don’t overbuy – choose five portions of fruit and veggies that you really enjoy and that you can use across several dishes during the week. A bag of carrots, for example, can be cut up as snacks, enjoyed in salads and used in casseroles and stir-fries for the rest of the week.

3. Make legumes a pantry staple

Beans, lentils and peas are not only high in dietary fibre, but also high in plant protein and several important micronutrients. And not only are these humble little legumes packed with nutrition, they are also budget-friendly and versatile. The hearty texture of beans and lentils makes for a wonderful meat substitute, or can stretch meat dishes further.

4. Plan ahead

Get into the habit of cooking at home and packing your own lunches, rather than buying ready-to-eat meals and processed snacks. Build a filling meal or snack by combining your macronutrients – carbohydrates high in fibre, protein and healthy fats. A slice of wholegrain bread with some peanut butter and a banana is for example much more nutritious than a sugary muffin from the coffee shop down the street.

5. Educate yourself about labels

Not all food will be unprocessed – some grocery items such as oats, bread, brown rice, canned items and condiments will be processed to a certain extent. But you can make healthier choices by knowing how to read a food label.

An ultra-processed food or drink is one that usually has five or more ingredients listed on the label, and typically a number of these are not recognisable as foods you would use in home cooking. 

Rebone Ntsie, Director of Nutrition at the National Department of Health says, “Ultra-processed foods typically contain a wide range of food additives such as stabilisers, emulsifiers, preservatives, flavourings and colourings. These are the opposite of whole foods, which are unprocessed like fresh vegetables or minimally processed such as brown rice.

Product ingredients are listed from the highest quantity to the lowest quantity, so be careful of foods that have sugar, salt or fats listed among the first three ingredients.

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Compiled by Marelize Wilke

People in Western countries are more likely to look for a partner who wants children, a study finds.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and their colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston report that the injectable hormone tesamorelin reduces liver fat and prevents liver fibrosis (scarring) in people living with HIV. The study was conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Cancer Institute, both parts of NIH. The findings were published online today in The Lancet HIV.