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Tag: osteoarthritis

  • From Gastric Balloons to Fake Knee Surgeries: When the Fix Is an Illusion | NutritionFacts.org

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    Sham surgery trials have shown that some of our most popular surgeries are themselves shams.

    Intragastric balloons “arrived with much fanfare in the 1980s,” since they could be implanted into the stomach and inflated with air or water to fill much of the space. Unfortunately, surgical devices are often brought to the market before there is adequate evidence of effectiveness and safety, and the balloons were no exception.

    The “gastric bubble” had its bubble burst when a study at the Mayo Clinic found that 8 out of 10 balloons “spontaneously deflated,” which is potentially dangerous because they could pass into the intestines and cause an obstruction, as you can see below and at 0:40 in my video Is Gastric Balloon Surgery Safe and Effective for Weight Loss?.

    Before balloons deflated, however, they apparently caused gastric erosions in half the patients, damaging their stomach lining. The kicker is that, in terms of inducing weight loss, they didn’t even work when compared to diet and other behavior modification strategies. Eventually, intragastric balloons were pulled from the market. But now, balloons are back.

    After a 33-year hiatus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started approving a new slew of intragastric balloons in 2015, which immediately resulted in the placement of more than 5,000 devices. By then, the Sunshine Act had passed. It forced drug companies and the surgical and medical device industry to disclose any payments made to physicians, shining a disinfecting light on industry enticements. By now, most people know about the overly cozy financial relationships doctors can have with Big Pharma, but fewer may realize that surgeons can also get payments from the companies for the devices they use. The 100 top physician recipients of industry payments received an unbelievable $12 million from device companies in a single year. Yet outrageously, when they published papers, only a minority disclosed the blatant conflict of interest.

    The benefit of balloons over most types of bariatric surgery is that they’re reversible, but that doesn’t mean they’re benign. The FDA has released a series of advisories about the risks, which include death. But how could someone suffer a stomach perforation with a smooth, rounded object? By that smooth, rounded object causing the patient to vomit so much that they rupture their stomach and die. Nausea and vomiting are unsurprisingly “very common side effects,” affecting the majority of those who have balloons placed inside of them. Persistent vomiting likely also explains cases of life-threatening nutrient deficiencies after balloon implantation.

    Some complications, such as bowel obstruction, are due to the balloons deflating, but others, oddly enough, are due to the balloons suddenly overinflating, causing pain, vomiting, and abdominal distention, as you can see below and at 2:45 in my video.

    This issue was first noticed in breast implants, as documented in reports such as “The Phenomenon of the Spontaneously Autoinflating Breast Implant.” Out of nowhere, the implants can just start growing, increasing breast volume by an average of more than 50%. “It remains an underreported and poorly understood phenomenon,” one review noted. (Interestingly, breast implants were actually used as some of the first failed experimental intragastric balloons.)

    As with any medical decision, though, it’s all about risks versus benefits. Industry-funded trials display “notable weight loss,” but it’s hard to tease out the effect of the balloon on its own from the accompanying “supervised diet and lifestyle changes” prescribed in the studies. In drug trials, you can randomize study participants to sugar pills, but how do you eliminate the placebo effect of undergoing a procedure? Perform sham surgery.

    In 2002, a courageous study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The most common orthopedic surgery—arthroscopic surgery of the knee—was put to the test. Billions of dollars are spent on sticking scopes into knee joints and cutting away damaged tissue in osteoarthritis and knee injuries, but does that actually work? People suffering from knee pain were randomized to get the actual surgery versus a sham surgery, in which surgeons sliced into people’s knees and pretended to perform the procedure—even splashing saline—without actually treating the joint.

    The trial caused an uproar. How could anyone randomize people to get cut open for fake surgery? Professional medical associations questioned the ethics of the surgeons as well as “the sanity” of the patients who agreed to be part of the trial. Guess what happened? The surgical patients got better, but so did the placebo patients, as you can see below and at 4:42 in my video.

    The surgeries had no actual effect. Currently, rotator cuff shoulder surgery is facing the same crisis of confidence.

    When intragastric balloons were put to the test, sham-controlled trials showed that both older and newer devices sometimes fail to offer any weight-loss benefit. Even when they do work, the weight loss may be temporary because balloons are only allowed to stay in for six months (at which point the deflation risk gets too great). Why can’t you keep putting new ones in? That’s been tried; it failed to improve long-term weight outcomes. A sham-controlled trial showed that any effects of the balloon on appetite and satiety may vanish with time, perhaps as your body gets used to the new normal.

    What sham surgery trials have shown us is that some of our most popular surgeries are themselves shams. Doctors like to pride themselves on being men and women of science. For example, we rightly rail against the anti-vaccination movement. Many of us in medicine have been troubled by the political trend in which people “choose their own facts.” But when I read that some of these still-popular surgeries are not only useless but may actually make matters worse (for example, increasing the risk of progression to a total knee replacement), I can’t help but think we are hardly immune to our own versions of fake news and alternative facts.

    Doctor’s Note

    Next in this two-part series is Extreme Weight-Loss Devices.

    For more on bariatric surgery, check out related posts below.

    My book How Not to Diet is focused exclusively on sustainable weight loss. Borrow it from your local library or pick up a copy from your favorite bookseller. (All proceeds from my books are donated to charity.)

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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • Can Olive Oil Compete with Arthritis Drugs? | NutritionFacts.org

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    What happened when topical olive oil was pitted against an ibuprofen-type drug for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis?

    Fifty million Americans suffer from arthritis, and osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common form, making it a leading cause of disability. There are several inflammatory pathways that underlie the disease’s onset and progression, so various anti-inflammatory foods have been put to the test. Strawberries can decrease circulating blood levels of an inflammatory mediator known as tumor necrosis factor, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into clinical improvement. For example, drinking cherry juice may lower a marker of inflammation known as C-reactive protein, but it failed to help treat pain and other symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. However, researchers claimed it “provided symptom relief.” Yes, it did when comparing symptoms before and after six weeks of drinking cherry juice, but not any better than a placebo, meaning drinking it was essentially no better than doing nothing. Cherries may help with another kind of arthritis called gout, but they failed when it came to osteoarthritis.

    However, strawberries did decrease inflammation. In fact, in a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial, dietary strawberries were indeed found to have a significant analgesic effect, causing a significant decrease in pain. There are tumor necrosis factor inhibitor drugs on the market now available for the low, low cost of only about $40,000 a year. For that kind of money, you’d want some really juicy side effects, and they do not disappoint—like an especially fatal lymphoma. I think I’ll stick with the strawberries.

    One reason we suspected berries might be helpful is that when people consumed the equivalent of a cup of blueberries or two cups of strawberries daily, and their blood was then applied to cells in a petri dish, it significantly reduced inflammation compared to blood from those who consumed placebo berries, as you can see below and at 2:02 in my video Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Arthritis.

    Interestingly, the anti-inflammatory effect increased over time, suggesting that the longer you eat berries, the better. Are there any other foods that have been tested in this way?

    Researchers in France collected cartilage from knee replacement surgeries and then exposed it to blood samples from volunteers who had taken a whopping dose of a grapeseed and olive extract. They saw a significant drop in inflammation, as shown below and at 2:30 in my video.

    There haven’t been any human studies putting grapeseeds to the test for arthritis, but an olive extract was shown to decrease pain and improve daily activities in osteoarthritis sufferers. So, does this mean adding olive oil to one’s diet may help? No, because the researchers used freeze-dried olive vegetation water. That’s basically what’s left over after you extract the oil from olives; it’s all the water-soluble components. In other words, it’s all the stuff that’s in an olive that‘s missing from olive oil.

    If you give people actual olives, a dozen large green olives a day, you may see a drop in an inflammatory mediator. But according to a systematic review and meta-analysis, olive oil—on its own—does not appear to offer any anti-inflammatory benefits. What about papers that ascribe “remarkable anti-inflammatory activity” to extra virgin olive oil? Their evidence is from rodents. In people, extra virgin olive oil may be no better than butter when it comes to inflammation and worse than even coconut oil.

    So, should we just stick to olives? Sadly, a dozen olives could take up nearly half your sodium limit for the entire day, as you can see below and at 3:47 in my video.

    When put to the test, extra virgin olive oil did not appear to help with fibromyalgia symptoms either, but it did work better than canola oil in alleviating symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any studies putting olive oil intake to the test for arthritis. But why then is this blog entitled “Can Olive Oil Compete with Arthritis Drugs?” Because—are you ready for this?—it appears to work topically.

    Topical virgin olive oil went up against a gel containing an ibuprofen-type drug for osteoarthritis of the knee in a double-blind, randomized, clinical trial. Just a gram of oil, which is less than a quarter teaspoon, three times a day, costing less than three cents a day, worked! Topical olive oil was significantly better than the drug in reducing pain, as you can see below and at 4:37 in my video.

    The study only lasted a month, so is it possible that the olive oil would have continued to work better and better over time?

    Is olive oil effective in controlling morning inflammatory pain in the fingers and knees among women with rheumatoid arthritis? The researchers went all out, comparing the use of extra virgin olive oil to rubbing on nothing and also to rubbing on that ibuprofen-type gel, and, evidently, the decrease in the disease activity score in the olive oil group beat out the others.

    Doctor’s Note

    For more on joint health, see related posts below.

    What about eating olive oil? See Olive Oil and Artery Function.

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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • The Secret to Senior Pet Vitality? A Thousand-Year-Old Ingredient May Hold the Key! | Animal Wellness Magazine

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    Every pet parent wants their dog or cat to stay active, happy, and healthy well into their senior years, and science is pointing to sialic acid as a secret to senior pet vitality.

    Nobody wants to see their beloved fur baby slow down as they age. Muscle loss, pain, cognitive decline, and a weakened immune system can all chip away at their vitality. But what if there were a single, natural solution that could address all four of these issues?

    Thanks to a groundbreaking product from Japan, there is! MIRANEST uses a proprietary blend of ingredients, including a centuries-old wellness secret derived from swiftlet nest, to help dogs and cats age with strength, comfort, and energy. Thousands of pet parents are already using MIRANEST to restore senior pet vitality, and here’s how it works.

    It Supports Muscle Health to Maintain Vigor

    As dogs and cats age, they naturally lose muscle mass and strength. This decline can lead to:

    • Reduced mobility
    • Weight gain
    • Stress on the bones and joints
    • Pain and inflammation

    As such, keeping your fur baby’s muscles strong is key when it comes to supporting vitality during their golden years.

    MIRANEST’s swiftlet nest extract is rich in sialic acid, one of eight essential glyconutrients, which supports muscle repair, growth, and maintenance, helping seniors stay strong and active.

    MIRANEST Manages Pain to Keep Activity Levels High

    Pain is one of the biggest barriers to senior pet vitality. It’s impossible for dogs and cats to feel their best and live their best lives when they’re experiencing discomfort or chronic pain because of conditions like osteoarthritis. In fact, it can stop them from engaging in their favorite activities, make stairs a challenge, and even prevent regular exercise.

    MIRANEST’s natural formula helps slow the progression of osteoarthritis and supports cartilage regeneration. This means more comfort, more mobility, and more of the joyful activities they love.

    It Prevents Cognitive Decline to Preserve Youthful Playfulness

    Cognitive decline can affect sleep, energy, playfulness, and activity levels, leading to stress, anxiety, withdrawal, and a lower quality of life.

    MIRANEST’s key ingredient, swiftlet nest extract, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects. It helps support brain function, keeping your fur baby mentally sharp and emotionally engaged well into their golden years.

    MIRANEST Protects the Immune System to Support Overall Health and Energy

    The immune system tends to weaken with age, leading to illness and inflammation that impact energy, mood, appetite, and overall quality of life. The sialic acid in MIRANEST products plays an important role in:

    • Controlling inflammation
    • Modulating the immune system
    • Protecting against pathogens

    By supporting immune function, MIRANEST helps dogs and cats stay resilient and full of life.

    Support Senior Pet Vitality with All-Natural MIRANEST!

    MIRANEST is made from cruelty-free, sustainably sourced swiftlet nest extract and plant-based ingredients. It provides all eight essential glyconutrients to naturally support senior pet vitality and health, from muscles and joints to immune and cognitive function.

    I’ve tried several supplements for my dog, but the MIRANEST Jelly Stick has been the most effective. After a few weeks, I noticed a significant improvement in my dog’s coat and energy levels. It’s easy to give, and he loves the taste. I’m definitely sticking with this one. – Grace

    Join the growing number of pet parents turning to MIRANEST to reduce allergy symptoms, treat hot spots, support vitality, and improve gut and immune health in as little as 30 days. Visit MIRANEST to learn more!


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    Animal Wellness is North America’s top natural health and lifestyle magazine for dogs and cats, with a readership of over one million every year. AW features articles by some of the most renowned experts in the pet industry, with topics ranging from diet and health related issues, to articles on training, fitness and emotional well being.

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    Animal Wellness

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  • The Largest Study on Fasting in the World  | NutritionFacts.org

    The Largest Study on Fasting in the World  | NutritionFacts.org

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    The Buchinger-modified fasting program is put to the test.

    A century ago, fasting—“starvation, as a therapeutic measure”—was described as “the ideal measure for the human hog…” (Fat shaming is not a new invention in the medical literature.) I’ve covered fasting for weight loss extensively in a nine-video series, but what about all the other purported benefits? I also have a video series on fasting for hypertension, but what about psoriasis, eczema, type 2 diabetes, lupus, metabolic disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, depression, and anxiety? Why hasn’t it been tested more?

    One difficulty with fasting research is: What do you mean by fasting? When I think of fasting, I think of water-only fasting, but, in Europe, they tend to practice “modified therapeutic fasting,” also known as Buchinger fasting, which is more like a very low-calorie juice fasting with some vegetable broth. Some forms of fasting may not even cut calories at all. As you can see below and at 1:09 in my video The World’s Largest Fasting Study, Ramadan fasting, for example, is when devout Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset, yet, interestingly, they end up eating the same amount—or even more food—overall.

    The largest study on fasting to date was published in 2019. More than a thousand individuals were put through a modified fast, cutting daily intake down to about ten cups of water, a cup of fruit juice, and a cup of vegetable soup. They reported very few side effects. In contrast, the latest water-only fasting data from a study that involved half as many people reported nearly 6,000 adverse effects. Now, the modified fasting study did seem to try to undercount adverse effects by only counting reported symptoms if they were repeated three times. However, adverse effects like nausea, feeling faint, upset stomach, vomiting, or palpitations were “observed only in single cases,” whereas the water-only fasting study reported about 100 to 200 of each, as you can see below and at 2:05 in my video. What about the benefits though?

    In the modified fasting study, participants self-reported improvements in physical and emotional well-being, along with a surprising lack of hunger. What’s more, the vast majority of those who came in with a pre-existing health complaint reported feeling better, with less than 10 percent stating that their condition worsened, as you can see in the graph below and at 2:24 in my video. 

    However, the study participants didn’t just fast; they also engaged in a lifestyle program, which included being on a plant-based diet before and after the modified fast. If only the researchers had had some study participants follow the healthier, plant-based diet without the fast to tease out fasting’s effects. Oh, but they did! About a thousand individuals fasted for a week on the same juice and vegetable soup regimen and others followed a normocaloric (normal calorie) vegetarian diet.

    As you can see below and at 2:54 in my video, both groups experienced significant increases in both physical and mental quality of life, and, interestingly, there was no significant difference between the groups.

    In terms of their major health complaints—including rheumatoid arthritis; chronic pain syndromes, like osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and back pain; inflammatory and irritable bowel disease; chronic pulmonary diseases; and migraine and chronic tension-type headaches—the fasting group appeared to have an edge, but both groups did well, with about 80 percent reporting improvements in their condition and only about 4 percent reporting feeling worse, as you can see below and at 3:25 in my video. 

    Now, this was not a randomized study; people chose which treatment they wanted to follow. So, maybe, for example, those choosing fasting were sicker or something. Also, the improvements in quality of life and disease status were all subjective self-reporting, which is ripe for placebo effects. There was no do-nothing control group, and the response rates to the follow-up quality of life surveys were only about 60 to 70 percent, which also could have biased the results. But extended benefits are certainly possible, given they all tended to improve their diets, as you can see below and at 4:00 in my video.

    They ate more fruits and vegetables, and less meats and sweets, and therein may lie the secret. “Principally, the experience of fasting may support motivation for lifestyle change. Most fasters experience clarity of mind and feel a ‘letting go’ of past actions and experiences and thus may develop a more positive attitude toward the future.”

    As a consensus panel of fasting experts concluded, “Nutritional therapy (theory and practice) is a vital and integral component of fasting. After the fasting therapy and refeeding period, nutrition should follow the recommendations/concepts of a…plant-based whole-food diet…”

    If you missed the previous video, check out The Benefits of Fasting for Healing.

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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • Key Information About Joint Pain And Medical Marijuana

    Key Information About Joint Pain And Medical Marijuana

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    Roughly 19% of the people suffer from joint pain – a daily struggle…but here is how medical marijuana can help.

    Roughly 19% suffer from joint pain or some part of arthritis. Not only is it painful, it is disruptive in daily life. Some pain can be short term, like from sprains, an injury, tendinitis, or tendon inflammation, an infection of the bone or joint, or overuse of a joint. But some can be long term issues with an impact the patients like. Arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, bursitis, lupus and more can be long, lingering issues with pain. There is some hope, and cannabis might be one.  Here is key information about joint pain and medical marijuana.

    RELATED: What’s Next For Rheumatoid Arthritis And Cannabis?

    One study concluded about 20% of patients with rheumatoid diseases who actively consume cannabis report an improvement in pain. Cannabis contains key components which help reduce inflammation.  More research needs to be done to to perfect treatment and dosage, but early indicators look positive for help. Another current benefit of medical marijuana or CBD with joint pain, is it helps with sleep, which is a problem with people in chronic pain.

    Photo by Ake via rawpixel.com

    Medical marijuana, in the right dose can also be easier on the body. Long used as a natural pain killer, it is less addictive and the body responds positively.  Currently used, orticosteroid injections have been a staple in managing pain and inflammation. With new research showcasing the long-term effects of one of the most used treatments, doctors and researchers are concerned about the risks of injections and the potential risks involved with cortisone. 

    RELATED: Dear Dr. Green: Can Marijuana Topicals Help With Arthritis?

    A Boston University study found patients who had been given the medicine by injection found a risk for “accelerated adverse joint events after treatment.” Meaning, when a patient was treated for osteoarthritis or other joint pain via a shot of cortisone, it may have accelerated joint destruction and bone loss. The study also found certain preexisting conditions, such as older age and Caucasian race seemed to increase the risk for the outcome even more. Researchers recommended MRI pre-screening before injections were given to identify the area better and find if the danger could be accurately assessed before the dose was given. 

    Not only can medical marijuana be helpful, but so can CBD. The Arthritis Foundation has a guide to CBD for those that suffer from the condition. According to Dr. Daniel Clauw, a contributor to the guide, “Right now, it (CBD) appears to be fairly safe and might help certain types of pain.” 

    While CBD and THC can be used as part of a pain management regimen, they currently can not be the entire plan. Studies like the one conducted on cortisone treatments are bringing the conversations of cannabis and CBD to greater light and offering less stigmatization, but until more research is done, the best path for joint pain is still unknown.

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    Amy Hansen

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  • Here’s One Malady You Share With Ancient Egyptian Scribes

    Here’s One Malady You Share With Ancient Egyptian Scribes

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    Ancient Egyptian scribes held high-status jobs, making up some of the 1% of Egyptians who could read and write at that time. But the scribes suffered for it: New research published in Scientific Reports reveals that the ancient documentarians suffered from osteoarthritis as a consequence of their labors.

    Florida Family Takes NASA to Court Over Home Damaged by Space Trash

    The discovery was made by a team of archaeologists who studied the remains of 69 adult males found in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt, which was used between 2700 BCE and 2180 BCE. The team found statistically significant differences in the skeletal traits of the scribes compared to a reference population; those degenerative changes were concentrated in the joints, spines, and jaws of the scribes.

    “Most of these statistically significant differences” in skeletal traits “show a higher prevalence of the observed changes among the scribes (90%), which allows us to deduce that they might be related to scribal activity,” the researchers wrote, though they noted that factors such as age cannot be ruled out as a cause of some of the disfigurements.

    “Officials with scribal skills belonged to the elite of the time and formed the backbone of the state administration,” Veronika Dulíková, an Egyptologist at Charles University and co-author of the study, told LiveScience. Fitting, then, that the scribes’ own backs would feel the weight of the kingdom, and carry evidence of it to the grave.

    “In a typical scribe’s working position, the head had to be forward, and the spine flexed, changing the centre of gravity of the head and putting stress on the spine,” the research team wrote in the paper. Over time, the load put on the upper spine—in particular the C7-T1 motion segment, the authors note—could cause degenerative effects in the cervical spine of the Ancient Egyptian scribes.

    Another disfigurement identified in the skeletal remains was to the temporomandibular joint, familiarly known as TMJ. TMJ disorders are responsible for jaw pain in many people today; in the scribes, the team wrote, it was likely caused by chewing the brush used to write hieroglyphs (in that regard, the scribes’ condition likely differs from most modern TMJ disorders). Other upper body disfigurements included osteoarthritis in the hand, which “probably reflects pinch grip work, such as frequent gripping of the pen,” the team noted. Anyone who took a standardized test with a No. 2 pencil growing up can probably relate.

    In the lower body, the researchers found a higher incidence of osteoarthritis in the hip, knee, and ankle, indicating that the scribes may have preferred a specific sitting position “which could also cause overloading of the lumbar spine.” If you haven’t yet, please consider your own posture as you read this article and adjust it accordingly.

    More: Ancient Egyptians Tried to Surgically Treat Cancer, Study Finds

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    Isaac Schultz

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  • Is Our Life Expectancy Extended by Intermittent Fasting?  | NutritionFacts.org

    Is Our Life Expectancy Extended by Intermittent Fasting?  | NutritionFacts.org

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    Alternate-day modified fasting is put to the test for lifespan extension. 

    Is it true that alternate-day calorie restriction prolongs life? Doctors have anecdotally attributed improvements in a variety of disease states to alternate-day fasting, including asthma; seasonal allergies; autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis; infectious diseases, such as toenail fungus, periodontal disease, and viral upper respiratory tract infections; neurological conditions, such as Tourette’s syndrome and Meniere’s disease; atrial fibrillation; and menopause-related hot flashes. The actual effect on chronic disease, however, remains unclear, as I discuss in my video Does Intermittent Fasting Increase Human Life Expectancy?. 
     
    Alternate-day fasting has been put to the test for asthma in overweight adults, and researchers found that asthma-related symptoms and control significantly improved, as did the patients’ quality of life, including objective measurements of lung function and inflammation. As you can see in the graphs below and at 0:56 in my video, there were significant improvements in peak airflow, mood, and energy. Their weight also improved—about a 19-pound drop in eight weeks—so it’s hard to tease out the effects specific to the fasting beyond the benefits we might expect from weight loss by any means. 

    For the most remarkable study on alternate-day fasting, you have to go back more than a half-century. Though the 2017 cholesterol findings were the most concerning data I could find on alternate-day fasting, the most enticing was published in Spain in 1956. The title of the study translates as “The Hunger Diet on Alternate Days in the Nutrition of the Aged.” Inspired by the data being published on life extension with caloric restriction on lab rats, researchers split 120 residents of a nursing home in Madrid into two groups. Sixty residents continued to eat their regular diet, and the other half were put on an alternate-day modified fast. On the odd days of the month, they ate a regular 2,300-calorie diet; on the even days, they were given only a pound of fresh fruits and a liter of milk, estimated to add up to about 900 calories. This continued for three years. So, what happened? 
     
    As you can see below and at 2:16 in my video, throughout the study, 13 participants died in the control group, compared to only 6 in the intermittent fasting group, but those numbers were too small to be statistically significant. 

    What was highly significant, though, was the number of days spent hospitalized: Residents in the control group spent a total of 219 days in the infirmary, whereas the alternate-day fasting group only chalked up 123 days, as you can see below and at 2:38 in my video. 


    This is held up as solid evidence that alternate-day fasting may improve one’s healthspan and potentially even one’s lifespan, but a few caveats must be considered. It’s not clear how the residents were allocated to their respective groups. If, instead of being randomized, healthier individuals were inadvertently placed in the intermittent fasting group, that could skew the results in their favor. As well, it appears the director of the study was also in charge of medical decisions at the nursing home. In that role, he could have unconsciously been biased toward hospitalizing more folks in the control group. Given the progress that has been made in regulating human experimentation, it’s hard to imagine such a trial being run today, so we may never know if such impressive findings can be replicated. 

    Well, that was interesting! I had never even heard of that study until I started digging into the topic.  

    Check out my fasting series and popular videos on the subject here.  

    For more on longevity, see related videos below.



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    Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

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  • High-dose CBD fails to relieve pain in knee osteoarthritis patients – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    High-dose CBD fails to relieve pain in knee osteoarthritis patients – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Cannabidiol (CBD) is marketed by some suppliers as a painkiller, e.g. for osteoarthritis of the knee. Animal experiments have shown that the substance, which is extracted from the hemp plant, has an anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effect in arthritis. As pain researchers at MedUni Vienna were now able to show for the first time in humans, CBD is not effective as pain medication, even in high doses. The results of the clinical study involving patients from the Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal “The Lancet Regional Health – Europe”.

    86 men and women with an average age of around 63 years who suffered from severe pain due degeneration of the knee joint (osteoarthritis) were involved in the study. While one half of the patients received high-dose cannabidiol (CBD) by the mouth, the other group was given a placebo that was not recognizable as such, i.e. a drug without an active ingredient. The strictly controlled study period of eight weeks showed that CBD did not have a stronger pain-relieving effect than the placebo.

    This means that CBD is not an alternative for pain therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee, so the search for more effective options must continue.”

    Sibylle Pramhas (Division of Special Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesia, General Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at…

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    MMP News Author

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  • Having Asthma, Eczema Might Raise Arthritis Risk

    Having Asthma, Eczema Might Raise Arthritis Risk

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    By Denise Mann 

    HealthDay Reporter

     

    TUESDAY, March 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) — If you’re one of the millions of people with allergic asthma or eczema, you may be more likely to develop the wear-and-tear form of arthritis as you age.

    This is the main finding from a new study that examined the risk of developing osteoarthritis among people with the two allergic conditions.

    The study wasn’t designed to say how, or even if, these allergic diseases increase osteoarthritis risk, but the researchers do have a theory.

    “Our group has done work showing that mast cells [a type of allergic cell] are increased in numbers in the joints of people with osteoarthritis, and their activity contributes to the development of osteoarthritis,” said study author Dr. Matthew Baker, clinical chief in the division of immunology and rheumatology at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

    And asthma and eczema may be the tip of the iceberg, he said.

    “It is possible that other atopic conditions such as seasonal allergies, food allergies and/or allergic rhinitis [hay fever] may provide a similar risk,” Baker noted.

    These researchers did not look at these conditions in the new study.

    For the study, they reviewed insurance claims from two databases. The first set included more than 117,000 people with asthma or eczema and 1.2 million people without these conditions. After eight years of follow-up, the risk of developing osteoarthritis was 58% higher among folks with allergic asthma or eczema than among their counterparts without these allergic conditions.

    The risk of osteoarthritis was even higher among people who had both allergic asthma and eczema, the study findings showed.

    About half of people with eczema also have allergic conditions such as hay fever, asthma or food allergies, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

    The researchers also compared the risk of developing osteoarthritis among people with allergic asthma to those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a lung disease that doesn’t involve allergic pathways. People with asthma were 83% more likely to develop osteoarthritis than those with COPD.

    In the second database, the odds of developing osteoarthritis were 42% higher among people with either allergic asthma or eczema and 19% higher among those with both conditions. These findings weren’t as robust as those seen in the first set as they took body mass index (BMI) into account. (BMI is a estimate of body fat based on height and weight.) A high BMI is a risk for developing osteoarthritis.

    The million-dollar question is whether treating asthma or eczema lowers arthritis risk. The researchers didn’t look at this in this study, but there is reason for hope.

    Older research has linked the use of antihistamines with reduced structural progression in knee osteoarthritis, Baker said.

    “We are hopeful that any number of drugs that work to inhibit mast cells or mast cell products [such as histamine] will reduce the incidence of osteoarthritis,” he said.

    The study — published March 27 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases — was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

    The connection between osteoarthritis and allergic diseases could be the low-grade inflammation, said Dr. Theodore Fields, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, who reviewed the findings.

    The good news is that there are more treatments for eczema today than ever before and many more are in the pipeline.

    “If treatment of atopic disease helps prevent or lessen osteoarthritis, there are a lot of options and will be more,” Fields said.

    “For patients with eczema or asthma, this data can make them aware that they might be more likely to get osteoarthritis,” he said.

    If you have an allergic disease and develop aches and pains in your joints, see your doctor, he advised.

    “We have many strategies to improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis but don’t yet have a disease-modifying treatment,” Fields said.

    “There can be some hope in this study for patients with eczema or asthma that their treatment for atopic disease might prevent or diminish their potential to develop osteoarthritis,” he added.

    More information

    The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has more on eczema.

     

     

    SOURCES: Matthew Baker, MD, clinical chief, division of immunology and rheumatology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; Theodore Fields, MD, rheumatologist, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City; Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, March 27, 2023

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  • Running Long Distances Might Not Hurt Your Joints After All

    Running Long Distances Might Not Hurt Your Joints After All

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    March 22, 2023 — Long-distance runners are often warned that they are wearing out their joints. But running distance, frequency, and speed are not associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis, new research says.

    Osteoarthritis is caused by the breakdown of cartilage in joints, and it is the most common type of arthritis. Over 32.5 million U.S. adults have osteoarthritis, according to the CDC. 

    It has generally been thought that running could increase the risk of osteoarthritis because it puts more load on joints than walking or standing, said Grace Hsiao-Wei Lo, MD, assistant professor of immunology, allergy, and rheumatology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who was not involved with the work. Research in this area has had mixed results: A 2017 analysis of multiple studies found that competitive runners did have higher rates of arthritis than recreational runners, while another study Lo conducted found runners did not have an increased risk of knee osteoarthritis compared to non-runners. A 2018 study showed that marathon runners had lower instances of arthritis than the general population.

    In this new study, researchers surveyed 3,804 runners who participated in the 2019 or 2021 Chicago Marathon about their running history, average mileage per week, and average running pace. The survey also asked about known risk factors for osteoarthritis including weight, family history of arthritis, and past injuries of the knee or hip that prevented running. 

    Runners, on average, were about 44 years old and ran about 28 miles per week. The largest proportion of respondents had completed between two to five marathons (37.3%), around 21% respondents had finished six to 10 marathons, and 17% were running their first marathon. Study participants had an average of 15 years of running experience, 1,892 reported a previous hip or knee injury, and 413 had underwent knee or hip surgery. Overall, 36.4% reported experiencing hip or knee pain in the past year and 7.3% had been diagnosed with arthritis.

    Researchers found that there was no association risk of osteoarthritis and weekly mileage, years spent running, number of marathons completed, or running pace. Respondents who had undergone knee or hip surgery or had a previous hip or knee injury that prevented running were most likely to have arthritis. Family history of arthritis, higher body mass index (BMI), and older age were also tied with increased risk of the condition. 

    The news should be encouraging for runners, said Matthew Hartwell, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the research. If someone does not have injuries or surgeries that keep them from running, “you can still continue to run,” he said. “There may not necessarily be this dose response relationship where the more you run, the more you break down your knee or your hip.”

    Still, 24.2% of runners reported that their doctor had advised them to cut down their mileage or stop running altogether. Most runners (94.2%) said they planned to run another marathon.

    “The results of this study are consistent with the experiences of many lifelong runners and observations of sports medicine professionals that osteoarthritis is not an inevitable consequence of distance running,” said Brett Toresdahl, MD, a sports medicine doctor at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, who was not involved with the study. 

    Still, he emphasized that more research is necessary to understand if running contributes to the risk of developing osteoarthritis. The participants in the study were current marathoners, he said, so it is likely they have healthy joints that can tolerate running longer distances. 

    “If there is a subset of people who have joints that are negatively affected by running, they wouldn’t likely be registering for a marathon,” he said in an email interview. Lo said that comparing these marathoners to a non-running group would also help show if running can be harmful to joints. 

    While the research does not answer the question of whether running can lead to osteoarthritis, it helps show the need for long-term research on how running affects joints overtime and general health. 

     “It may take time for the medical community to move beyond, ‘if it hurts, don’t do it,’ and reflexively advising against high-impact exercise when someone starts to develop osteoarthritis,” Toresdahl said.

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  • ECCO Medical Brings Pain-Relieving Knee Embolization Treatment to Denver Area

    ECCO Medical Brings Pain-Relieving Knee Embolization Treatment to Denver Area

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    Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE), knee embolization, is a non-surgical procedure designed to block blood flow to parts of the knee that are inflamed from osteoarthritis (OA)

    Press Release
    –

    Jun 15, 2022


    LONE TREE, Colo., June 15, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ECCO Medical, a Denver-based interventional radiology clinic, has begun evaluating patients and performing an innovative outpatient embolization procedure for knee pain. Also called Genicular Artery Embolization (GAE), knee embolization is a non-surgical procedure designed to block blood flow to parts of the knee that are inflamed from osteoarthritis (OA).

    “I have performed thousands of outpatient embolizations. Our patients are amazed that these procedures are achieved without incisions, leading to a quicker and less painful recovery than traditional surgery,” said Dr. Charles Nutting. “When evaluating patients for knee embolization, I work collaboratively with orthopedic surgeons, primary care, and interventional pain doctors in Colorado.”

    Dr. Charles Nutting of ECCO Medical has been at the forefront of interventional radiology since he began practicing over 25 years ago. He is internationally recognized and has introduced many procedures and devices to North America. Dr. Nutting is currently preparing a lecture for the American Osteopathic College of Radiology (AOCR) covering embolization therapies including knee and prostate embolization.

    ABOUT ECCO MEDICAL: 

    ECCO Medical is a Denver-based interventional radiology clinic. ECCO specializes in precise and targeted minimally invasive, image-guided treatments to complex and serious diseases and conditions. Our physicians, Drs. Aaron Kovaleski and Charles Nutting, are leaders in their field. Their outpatient facility provides compassionate, expert care to patients.  

    For more information, contact ECCO Medical at (303) 529-7758, e-mail info@eccomedical.com or visit www.eccomedical.com.

    Source: ECCO Medical

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  • PetVivo, makers of Spryng™ with OsteoCushion™ Technology, introduces new Q&A sessions with equine expert Dr. Tracy Turner

    PetVivo, makers of Spryng™ with OsteoCushion™ Technology, introduces new Q&A sessions with equine expert Dr. Tracy Turner

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    Press Release
    –

    Jun 1, 2022


    MINNEAPOLIS, June 1, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    PetVivo, the company who makes SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology, is proud to work in collaboration with Dr. Tracy Turner, a recognized expert in equine lameness diagnosis, on new video Q&A sessions on joint health. Dr. Tuner, with more than four decades of experience, has seen the full spectrum of lameness and joint issue management products and when he encountered SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology, an intra-articular injectable veterinary device, he knew he had come across a potential game-changer.

    “I love telling the story of the first stifle I injected with SpryngTM. The horse was a strong grade three out of five lame with a beat-up meniscus. I told the owner she was likely at the end of her career, but that we could try injecting this new product,” recounts Dr. Turner, owner of Turner Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery. “When I came back two weeks later, I didn’t believe I was looking at the same horse — she was 100% sound. The only thing I had done was a SpryngTM injection. I stepped out of the barn that day knowing I had found a real boon to veterinary medicine.”

    Available only through licensed veterinarians, SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology is an innovative intra-articular injectable veterinary medical device that is designed to aid in the management of joint pain from loss of cartilage or tissue-bone mechanical malfunction caused by joint dysfunction not associated with infection (e.g., lameness, osteoarthritis, degenerative joint disease). A single SpryngTM injection provides both immediate joint protection and helps protect the joint from further injury, unlike other products that only treat symptoms. 

    “Anti-inflammatories eliminate the inflammatory process, but they don’t address the consequences of that,” says Dr. Turner. “SpryngTM is a product that needs to be in our toolbox for treating joint diseases and other arthritic type diseases. I recommend it to every veterinarian around the country.”

    Dr. Turner, who has used SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology for 10 years and joined the Veterinary Advisory Board of parent company PetVivo Holdings, Inc. in 2018, recently released a series of Q&A videos recounting his experience with and assessment of the SpryngTM product. The full video collection can be viewed on SpryngHealth.com.

    About Dr. Tracy Turner

    Dr. Turner is a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, and he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Thermology. He received his DVM degree from Colorado State University in 1978, after which he pursued his interest in equine medicine and surgery. He is board-certified in veterinary surgery and Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Turner served on the faculty of the University of Illinois, University of Florida and the University of Minnesota. He joined Anoka Equine Clinic in 2004, then started his own practice in 2016 dedicated strictly to Sports Medicine, Lameness, and Surgery.

    Dr. Turner consults for the FEI and United States Equestrian Federation. He has worked at four Pan American Games, two World Equestrian Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Read Dr. Turner’s full biography here: https://www.petvivo.com/team-bios

    About Spryng™ with OsteoCushion™ Technology

    SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology is a veterinary medical device by PetVivo, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetVivo Holdings, Inc. SpryngTM is a veterinarian-administered, intra-articular injection designed to aid in the management of lameness issues, joint pain and osteoarthritis from loss of cartilage or tissue-bone mechanical malfunction caused by joint dysfunction not associated with infection. SpryngTM is currently available for use in horses and small animals and is available for commercial sale. To learn more about SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology, please contact info1@petvivo.com or visit https://www.sprynghealth.com.

    About PetVivo Holdings, Inc.

    PetVivo Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETV) is an emerging biomedical device company currently focused on the manufacturing, commercialization and licensing of innovative medical devices and therapeutics for companion animals. The Company’s strategy is to leverage human therapies for the treatment of companion animals in a capital and time efficient way. A key component of this strategy is the accelerated timeline to revenues for veterinary medical devices, which enter the market much earlier than more stringently-regulated pharmaceuticals and biologics.

    PetVivo has a pipeline of seventeen products for the treatment of animals and people. A portfolio of nineteen patents protects the Company’s biomaterials, products, production processes and methods of use. The Company’s lead product SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM technology.

    For more information about PetVivo Holdings, Inc. and our revolutionary product, SpryngTM with OsteoCushionTM Technology, please contact info1@petvivo.com or visit https://petvivo.com/.

    Press Contact: 
    Mary Kemp
    spryng@kickmpls.com

    ###

    Source: PetVivo Holdings, Inc.

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  • Osteo-Pharma and Emultech Announce Joint Venture to Develop First-in-Class Disease-Modifying Treatment for Osteoarthritis

    Osteo-Pharma and Emultech Announce Joint Venture to Develop First-in-Class Disease-Modifying Treatment for Osteoarthritis

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    AMSTERDAM, November 17, 2021 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Emultech and Osteo-Pharma today announced a joint venture, Bone-Tech, to develop what could be the first disease-modifying treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee. Bone-Tech brings together Osteo-Pharma’s novel combination drug therapy for the local treatment of osteoarthritis with Emultech’s world-leading microfluidics’ microspheres technology.  Bone-Tech’s patented OsteoActivator™ microspheres treatment promises to be the first and only extended-release treatment targeting subchondral bone remodelling for patients suffering from osteoarthritis-related pain and disability.

    Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, is a chronic, degenerative disease affecting over 1.5 billion people globally. OA causes life-long pain and is a leading cause of disability in the US and worldwide, accounting for >$185 billion in annual costs in the US alone in 2016. In OA patients, subchondral bone is characterized by impaired bone remodelling and the presence of bone marrow lesions (BML). BML’s are a hallmark in OA diagnosis and are strongly associated with pain, are a prognostic marker for cartilage loss and are predictive for the need for knee replacement surgery.

    “Intraosseous injection of OsteoActivator™ microspheres directly into subchondral bone locally targets osteoblast and osteoclast cells to restore bone remodelling, improves bone quality and relieves pain. There are currently no disease modifying treatments in the OA therapies market, and as such, OsteoActivator™ microspheres will be the first of its kind”, said Jan Gossen, CEO of Osteo-Pharma.

    “With its extended-release microsphere formulation, we believe the Bone-Tech product holds the potential to disrupt the current treatment paradigm, and we are dedicated to bringing this important new therapy to market for the millions of patients confronting this relentless disease”, said Rene Hansen, CEO of Emultech.

    Bone-Tech’s novel approach has demonstrated proof-of-concept in in-vitro and animal studies and is under development in preparation for IND filing and first-in-man studies. The Bone-Tech product employs proprietary microsphere technology for the extended-release of a combination of two well-known therapeutic agents delivered via intraosseous injection. Bone-Tech plans to pursue a rapid and low risk 505(b)(2) strategy to progress the product through clinical trials.   

    Bone-Tech is actively seeking venture and/or strategic partners to support clinical development. If interested, please contact Bone-Tech using the contact information below. 

    About Osteo-Pharma

    Osteo-Pharma is a Life Sciences company developing novel medical devices and pharmaceuticals to improve the local healing of bone defects and fractures. Its proprietary OsteoActivator platform is currently used to develop products for both dental and orthopedic applications. The company has recently announced its MREC approval for the initiation of a clinical trial for their lead product, OsteoActivator-P, in patients.

    About Emultech

    Emultech has developed the first and only continuous production of microparticles based on microfluidics. Emultech’s system enables superior control of particle properties (monodispersity, size, circularity and morphology) with high encapsulation efficiency, resulting in improved and adjustable loading, controlled drug release and degradation profiles with easier injectability. Our process is low energy and safe for all molecules, and parallelization enables instant, low risk, scale-up for high throughput production that is suitable for GMP. 

    Press Contact: 

    Scott Fleming, CCO, Emultech BV   scott.fleming@emultech.nl   +31 6 46 87 69 89

    Other Contact:

    Jan Gossen, CEO, Osteo-Pharma BV  info@osteo-pharma.com 

    Source: Bone-Tech

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