LifeOmic Health Round-Up: Cancer-Fighting Immune Cells, Flu Shots, Stress and Fasting
With our new health and science blogging platform lifeapps.io now in full swing, we’ll be updating our Medium blog with a weekly health news round-up!
1. You, against cancer.
It’s difficult for your immune system to kill off cancer cells, because unlike bacteria or viruses, your cancer cells are YOU, just sneakier. But researchers have now won the Nobel Prize for helping to activate your immune cells against cancer.
Drugs targeting checkpoint proteins CTLA-4 or PD-1 are now in use against several difficult-to-treat cancers. These proteins normally protect against autoimmunity (when your body turns on itself) by acting as “brakes” that prevent T-cells (a type of immune cell) from activating. But checkpoint proteins are leveraged by cancer cells, giving them the ability to directly turn off our T-cells.
Kickstarting your immune system with a balanced diet, intermittent fasting, exercise and other mTOR inhibitors can help your body fight off pre-cancerous cells before they become a problem.
2. A flu shot for your heart
Did you know that the flu may increase your risk of heart attack? Glen Pyle goes to the heart of the matter of how flu vaccines work and why you should get one this season.
3. Just be mindful — Stress can affect your immune system
Immune cells, the cells in your body that fight off infections and cancerous cells, have receptors for stress hormones. They are directly affected by stress and stressful events you experience in your life.
Stress increases the risk of developing chronic inflammation, but so does age, smoking, obesity, sleep disorders and possibly certain diets. Taking breaks, meditating, getting proper nutrition, getting enough sleep and exercising can also help to reduce stress levels.
4. Senolytics — The Latest on Fighting Aging
Researchers have found that mice whose diet is supplemented with the fruit-based flavonoid Fisetin have extended health and lifespans. Fisetin is a natural compound present in many fruits and vegetables such as apples, persimmons, grapes, onions, cucumbers and strawberries.
Research on fisetin and other potential senolytics, or compounds that kill senescent cells, in based on an emerging idea that we might be able to better maintain healthy immune systems and tissue function as we age by intermittently killing of “zombie” cells in our body that have become damaged, can no longer divide, and yet still metabolize nutrients and produce harmful inflammatory signals.
5. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is an emerging intervention for stress and emotional eating patterns. Learn more about how to practice mindful eating in a LifeOmic-hosted seminar this week with mindfulness researcher and practitioner Dr. Jean Kristeller.
