Fruits, veggies and sperm

Your diet clearly influences your heart health.  It definitely influences liver health.  It certainly influences brain health.  Without a doubt, it influences your bone health.  Diet influences muscle health.  Now- there is compelling research that suggests that it also influences sperm health.  

After studying 188 men between ages 18-22, researchers found that those men who ate a healthy diet had sperm that were better "swimmers."  The sperm count and shape did not vary depending on the diet, but sperm from poor eaters moved around much less.  In other words, their motility was compromised.  

"The main overall finding of our work is that a healthy diet seems to be beneficial for semen quality," said Audrey J. Gaskins, lead author of the first study.  USA Today

While this research has been lacking previously, it should come as no surprise  Did we really think that nutrition could be vital to so many other cells and tissues in the body, EXCEPT for sperm?  

This research simply adds onto the millions of other reasons we should be eating well.

Good news for Fruits and Veggies

What causes disease; bad genes or bad environment (diet, exercise etc.)?  This has been the age-old question that has actually already been answered.  The answer is, "both."  The more nuanced perspective questions the relative influence of both of those variables.  We all know that genes don't change; that is basic biology.  However, the expression of those genes is known to be modifiable.  

A recent study suggests that fruits and vegetables may actually play a significant role in modifying the expression of a genetic profile that promotes heart disease.  When a group of people with that high risk genotype ate lots of raw fruits and vegetables, they had a much lower risk of having a heart attack.  In fact, the people (with the same high risk genotype) who did not eats lots of produce had 2 times the risk of having a heart attack.  This article in TIME magazine reviews the research and states,

That suggests that diet can make a real difference in heart disease risk, even when that risk is genetically based. "It means that perhaps our family history, or genetic risk, is modifiable," says Anand (one of the co-authors of the study)  "Despite not being able to change our genetics, if we are able to modify the effect or expression of our genes. That's exciting."

It is great to see science validating the effects of a healthy diet.  A healthy diet has the real potential to modify the expression of your genes.  I wonder what a bad diet does to the expression of those hazardous genes.

Good bacteria

I opened up the paper today and right there on the front page of the Washington Post (Oct. 11, 2011) was the headline that screamed, "'Good bugs'  may be the key to staying healthy."

What a way to start the morning... good news all around!  For years, clinicians have been touting the significance of the beneficial bacteria in the body.  We are still very far from knowing the details and all the benefits they bring, but it was so good to see a very main stream outlet think this news worthy of the front page.  Not that long ago, the folks that advocated probiotics and yogurt consumption were thought of as grungy, granola-loving, hippie health nuts.  In less than a decade, that has turned around to the point where there is genuine interest from conventional health care professionals, doctors and researchers alike.  The article quotes Rob Knight, a professor at the University of Colorado as saying,

"In terms of potential for human health, I would place it with stem cells as one of the two most promising areas of research at the moment."

The author of the piece, Rob Stein, writes,

"Moreover, scientists are becoming more convinced that modern trends — diet, antibiotics, obsession with cleanliness, Caesarean deliveries — are disrupting this delicate balance, contributing to some of the most perplexing ailments, including asthma, allergies, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer and perhaps even autism."

These bacteria are so important.  It leads to the question, what is causing a disruption in the balance, health or functionality of these populations of bacteria.  If these bacteria are potentially involved in all these diseases, then what causes their dysfunction?

When you take a step back from this piece and assess it in its entirety, it paints a very clear picture that most chronic diseases process are multifactorial. If most chronic diseases have a multifactorial origin, then shouldn't the therapeutic effort also be multi-pronged? 

To say it differently, while many pharmaceuticals have enormous potential, doesn't it stand to reason that in the absence of healthy lifestyle, even the most powerful drug will be handcuffed in terms of efficacy.   If Mr. Stein is reporting accurately and many scientists are concerned that diet and other variables are disrupting the delicate balance, then how can we restore health in the absence of a healthy diet?

Science will always reveal greater insight into the mysteries and complexities of our physiology.  But while we are waiting for more and more truth to emerge, let's also keep in mind that science also often validates "common sense" principles as it pertains to health.