The Nutrient: Periodic fasting, Salmonella, Beer and -biota

Research

Association of periodic fasting with lower severity of COVID-19 outcomes in the SARS-CoV-2 prevaccine era

Intermittent fasting gets all the attention, but the original method involved a nothing-burger for at least 24 hours. In this study, periodic fasting meant a full day of no eating at least once a month, for 40+ years. It's a lot to aspire towards. In a group of 1,682 people, 205 people got Covid and 6 died. Out of the 205 people who tested positive, routine periodic fasting was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization and mortality in patients with COVID-19.

When you fast, your body burns fat instead of stored sugar, which increases levels of linoleic acid in the blood. How this all relates to Covid is that the virus has receptors that linoleic acid can bind to, preventing the virus from binding to receptors on your cells. All you have to do is nothing.

News

Salmonella found in ground meat

Consumer Reports tested 351 packages of ground chicken, turkey, beef, and pork, and found salmonella in almost a third of the chicken samples. That's insane. I was surprised to see the samples came from reputable grocery stores, including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

This test also found a strain of E. coli(!) in a sample of ground beef from a grocery store in Seattle, which is absolutely insane because E. coli can cause a deadly infection. Good news: they alerted the Department of Agriculture, prompting a recall of more than 28,000 pounds of meat.

Article

Beer might actually improve gut health, study finds

In a new study, researchers found that consuming beer daily for a month made participants’ microbiomes more diverse, a sign of good gut health.

InverseElana Spivack

“We hope that people can see that moderate beer consumption as a part of a well-balanced diet can be used as a strategy to improve our microbiota (*raises eyebrows*). Particularly the responsible choice of non-alcoholic beer (*lowers eyebrows*)."

Words of the week

"Being chronically sick, depressed, unmotivated, fatigued, or when medicine just isn’t working, are all indications that your needs aren’t being met. A helpful first step is to ask yourself what nutrients am I lacking?"

An expert from my article this week entitled Are you lacking essential nutrients (outside your diet)?