The Safest Seat on a Plane

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If you want to boost your odds of remaining healthy after a flight, let’s begin with the location of your seating assignment. Researchers determined that the people in the center of coach had the most contacts with other passengers and flight crew. That makes sense. Everyone with the need is going forward or backward to use the bathrooms. But the contacts increase if the passengers leave their seats. In addition, there’s more contact with the crew in the center of the plane.

As to seat location, the aisle seats get the most contact with crew and passengers, the middle seats a little less. The seat with the least contact with passengers or crew is definitely the window seat; in fact, there are zero contacts about 10% of the time. The crew has the most direct contact with passengers; that’s to be expected as they distribute food and drinks, answer questions, and conduct safety checks.

Here’s the surprise: the results of the air and physical locations that were tested and sent for analysis showed no measurable respiratory viruses of any kind. That seems unusual because eight of the flights were during cold and flu season. But finding no viruses means they found no viruses using standard virus-detection tests. It should be noted they did not test for bacteria that could have been present, just respiratory viruses.

Based on the results, the researchers estimated that the major points of contact would be one meter in front and behind a sick passenger sitting in any row. If you were outside of that zone, you could be reasonably confident you didn’t catch a respiratory infection while on a flight, even if some of the passengers were infected with a respiratory virus. In this day and age, the fear of catching some form of respiratory superbug on a flight is extremely low.

Yet we know travel often results in illness. Where could people pick up a bug? I’ll let you know on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1711611115

Can Airline Travel Make You Sick?

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Have you ever flown for a vacation and found you were beginning to get a cold or other respiratory infection? How about when you fly for business? Just when you want to be at your peak, you’re feeling congested and beginning to cough. You immediately want to blame the flight for making you sick; after all, being in an enclosed area and breathing all that recycled air in a confined space, you obviously picked up a bug from another passenger. Is that a reasonable conclusion?

The risk of respiratory infection is on the minds of those of us who travel for business and pleasure—okay, maybe not the first thing we think about, but it’s on the list. With the possibility of infections being easy to transmit on flights, it’s a global concern as well. The airline manufacturers are concerned because they provide the delivery systems for billions of passengers. It’s also on the minds of researchers who want to know how infections are spread on planes.

Researchers from Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Boeing Corporation sought to find out. Using prior research as a guide, they created a methodology of how to assess the course of respiratory infections. This is the kind of study research assistants dream about: they got to take 10 intercontinental flights from Atlanta to several West Coast locations. However, they were not just sitting quietly. They had to track the movement of every passenger and flight crewmember for the entire flight to monitor contacts between passengers and crew. And since they were on Boeing 757s, that’s quite a few passengers. Then they had to sample 22 different surfaces per flight.

I’ll let you know what they found on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1711611115

 

Rising CO2 and Nutrition: The Bottom Line

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All of nature is a delicate balance; when any component changes, there will be some sort of effect—maybe good, maybe not. The mineral nutrient and trace element content composition of a plant, technically called the ionome, reflects a balance between carbon, obtained through CO2 in the air, and the remaining nutrients, obtained from the soil. If the CO2 increases in a disproportionate way to the nutrients available from the soil, it could create an ionomic imbalance. In other words, the balance of nutrients is disrupted. This imbalance in CO2 and soil nutrients could affect the nutrient content of the plant including the protein and micronutrients.

That’s exactly what scientists found in their research. Remember, they used a CO2 level in the FACE-field testing to mimic CO2 levels at the end of the 21st century. Most species of rice declined in protein, iron, and zinc, but that was expected based on prior research. But there were also consistent reductions in vitamins B1, B2, B5, and B9. On the upside, they did find an increase in vitamin E in some varieties of the rice.

Here’s the concern: rice is a staple for two billion people. In fact, it’s their primary source of nutrients because food is not plentiful in many of those countries. A 10% decline in protein could have a major impact on the growth and development of the people dependent on rice for their primary food source. The same is true for any of the other nutrients; they’re critical for the immune system and many other biochemical functions.

The Bottom Line—For Now

While this research is real, it’s most definitely not complete yet. The CO2 projections for the turn of the century may not be accurate; they could be lower or they could be even higher. What if they were higher? Let’s take it one step farther and consider the food supply in the U.S. and Canada right now. What if the current CO2 levels are having an impact on our food supply now, not just on rice, but in all the food that’s grown? What if our food is becoming less nutritious?

This raises two points. If there were ever a reason to complement your diet with dietary supplements, this would be it.

Take it a step further. I get more queries on what people can and cannot eat because they have issues with specific foods such as wheat. What if it’s not the gluten in wheat that’s the problem? What if it’s the changes in nutrient content that upsets the balance of amino acids? Or the B vitamins? That imbalance may be the actual culprit. Only more research will tell.

This one is far from over. I’ll keep watching to keep you informed.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Science Advances: DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012.

 

How Researchers Determined the Effect of CO2 on Nutrition

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An international group of researchers wanted to know how higher CO2 levels would impact the nutrient content of a staple in the diet of over two billion people: rice. If the nutrient levels change substantially, that could have an impact on the nutritional status of many people who might already be undernourished.

Over several years the researchers grew 18 strains of rice that are raised throughout the world. They used an interesting technique called FACE, which stands for free-air CO2 enrichment. The technique uses tubing to emit CO2 near the plants. The amount emitted is dependent on the CO2 levels on the plot of land and controlled by sensors. That allows them to keep the CO2 levels constant just as they would be when grown in fields while the plants grow in a natural outdoors setting.

The researchers used the CO2 levels that are estimated to occur by the end of this century. True, none of us will likely be alive by then, but most of us know people who will be. The knowledge gives agricultural scientists time to develop plants that can grow with adequate nutrient content in those CO2 levels. CO2 may not increase as expected, but future generations can be prepared if they do.

What did they find? I’ll let you know on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Science Advances: DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq1012.

 

Does Carbon Dioxide Affect Nutrition?

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Carbon dioxide is a waste product of energy metabolism. When we burn the food we eat, the protein, carbohydrates, and fat will be eliminated as carbon dioxide and water. When we use the gasoline in our cars or lawnmowers, CO2 and water are also released during that form of metabolism (called combustion) as well. The benefit for us and our cars is that we get energy. The problem is that we’re producing too much CO2 from gasoline and other fossil fuels.

CO2 levels have risen and fallen over the millennia in response to global trends, but since the invention of the internal combustion engine, the atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise. As the number of uses for engines has increased, so have CO2 levels; they’re now 100 ppm higher than the previous highest level.

What does this have to do with nutrition? After all, don’t plants need CO2 for photosynthesis? They combine CO2 and H2O together to make sugar, right? Correct. But what researchers wanted to know is whether the excess CO2 would affect the nutrient content of specific crops. Are we growing supercrops? That could have immense implications for global nutrition. I’ll talk about what they discovered on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: https://go.nasa.gov/2zkpdjL.

 

Celebrate Your Independence

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Tomorrow we celebrate Independence Day in the U. S. with parades, picnics, and fireworks. We will eat our favorite grilled foods—burgers and dogs or smoked slow-cooked ribs and corn on the cob and on and on.

The problem is that while we celebrate our nation’s Independence, we are giving up our own independence. Based on a just-released report from the Centers for Disease Control, just 22.9% of all adults meet the exercise guidelines set 10 years ago (1).

It’s this simple: if you’re not working at moving, you’ll eventually lose your independence to move. You’ll need canes and walkers just to be able to prevent falls. You may graduate to a wheelchair and then the ultimate: the motorized cart. The more sedentary you are, the more independence you lose. Ever sink your behind into a chair you couldn’t get out of without help? Imagine if that’s your life all day, every day.

The guidelines aren’t that complicated. Two days a week, do some muscle-strengthening activities: lifting weights, calisthenics, yoga, whatever strengthens and stretches your muscles. Then either moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for at least 150 minutes per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise or some combination of the two. That’s it. Just about 30 minutes per day.

Yet less then 23% of all adults meet those guidelines. Some states are better than others. The best? Colorado at 32.5%. The worst? Mississippi at 13.5%. Just for comparison, I checked a similar map of the diagnosed type 2 diabetes rate of the U.S. If you super-imposed the type 2 diabetes diagnosis rate over the exercise levels, they would be close to identical. The lower the rate of exercise, the higher the rate of diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and a whole host of other health issues wait for those who stay sedentary.

The Bottom Line

Over this holiday and the succeeding weekend, try doing some type of aerobic activity every day for 30 minutes. Continuous or broken up into two 15s or even three 10s. If you can, try to do some stretching for 10 minutes one of those days. Find out for yourself that it’s not that big a deal. Then make it a habit to meet those guidelines. Years from now, you can celebrate your independence from canes and walkers, and so on.

Today, I record the 700th edition of my Grand Rapids radio show Straight Talk on Health. See the Health Info page for info on how to listen online; if you’re a Member or Insider, this new edition will be posted after it plays this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July, a belated Happy Canada Day, and a simple thank you to all my readers all around the world—I continue to be amazed at how many countries this Memo reaches. I’ll be back with new Memos next Tuesday. Until then:

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr112.pdf
2. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/data/statistics/national-diabetes-statistics-report.pdf.

 

Toddler Health Tip: No More

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“No more!” Those are the words Riley says when he doesn’t want any more milk, food, or anything else we feed him. When he says “no more,” that’s really it—he’s done. At dinner last week, Paula said, “That pasta was great and I could eat more, but I think I’ll be like Riley: no more.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we would just use those words when our brains tell us we’ve had enough and our eyes tell us it still looks really good? No more. Say it out loud and really make a commitment. It doesn’t mean that seconds aren’t available. It doesn’t mean that a sweet dessert isn’t there. It just means you’re not having any more. You can say that any time during the meal or after you’ve cleaned your plate, but that lets you and everyone else know that you’re done eating. Period.

“Just one more bite.” I’ll bet you’ve done that a time or two or a thousand. I have. But you’ll take no more even when you’re putting away leftovers or getting the take-home box from the restaurant. And you don’t clean up the bite or two the kids left on their plates. No more means no more.

You can follow the ketogenic diet, the Mediterranean diet, a vegan diet, or any of the many ways to eat, but unless you learn to say “no more” on a regular basis, you won’t get to the body weight you desire.

Be like Riley. Say “no more” and see how it affects your weight.

The Bottom Line

The Memos this week have focused on a common-sense approach to health. We absolutely need to get ourselves checked out by healthcare professionals to make sure there’s no underlying disease going on. Once that’s done, remember that many times, the simplest solution is the correct one. That’s a common-sense approach to health.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Common-Sense Health: Pillow Talk

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Sometimes the smallest mechanical changes can make a big difference. Here’s an example. When I lived in Indiana, a member of my running club had developed chronic hip pain. He spent over a year trying one thing after another with no real relief: new shoes, different types of shoes, orthotics, stretching the iliotibial band that runs the outside of the hip down to the knee, chiropractic. He tried everything. Finally, one day, he went into his closet to find a specific type of shoe and he happened upon his old pillow. About a year before, his wife had purchased new pillows; he always liked the old one, so he put it back on the bed. Within three days, his hip pain was gone.

I could try to explain the changes in forces on the body due to the pillow, but it’s complicated. Suffice it to say that small changes in mechanical forces can create changes in the way the body is aligned. Most of the time we probably just adapt with no issues. Once in a while, people don’t adapt and they have problems that in no way seem related to those changes. It can and does happen.

Common-sense lesson? When you have pain, you should always get it checked out. Once the possible has been eliminated, check for the changes you’ve made—even something as innocuous as getting a new pair of jeans. If they’re just a few millimeters tighter than the last pair, you could change the forces that result in lower back pain. New desk chair, new sofa, any change in your environment can have detrimental effects.

The final common-sense health tip comes from our grandson Riley on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Common-Sense Health: Where Is Your Wallet?

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Keeping things balanced is important, and I try to do that in the Memos I write. Usually I tackle issues that are serious with significant health implications, but life is to be enjoyed so this week, we’ll lighten up before a holiday by talking about a guy’s wallet. And this is also about balance.

When Paula and I had dinner with friends this weekend, the husband talked about the physical therapy for back pain he’s been doing. The exercises have worked, but he chided me: “You didn’t tell me my wallet could affect my back.” Oops. He’s correct.

If you have a wallet in your back pocket and you sit most of the day, the force of the chair on the wallet can compress the sciatic nerve, and voila, you may have pain shooting down your lower back and the back of your leg. A recent paper talked about three men with lower back pain that was due to their wallet.

The simplest solution is to reduce the size of your wallet or just carry what you actually need on a clip in your front pocket or in your jacket: a picture ID, a credit card, your Costco card, and some cash. What more do you need? Membership cards? I have an app on my phone that shows my gym membership so I don’t need to carry that card.

If you have lower back pain, I would recommend you get a referral to a physical therapist to find out how you should deal with it; there may be different muscle groups involved depending on your specific anatomy. But if you’re sitting on a fat wallet that throws off your balance, changing that could make a difference.

How could your pillow affect your hip? I’ll let you know on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Curr Rheumatol Rev. 2017 Mar 9. doi: 10.2174/1573397113666170310100851.

 

The Bottom Line on Essential Amino Acids

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Essential amino acids are becoming more prevalent in the sport nutrition supplement offerings. Yet there are still questions that remain, and we don’t have a total picture of who will benefit from EAA use. Let’s take a look.

Questions

Even with this new research, there’s so much we still don’t know about EAAs.

  • Is there a special proportion of EAAs that works best? In other words, should the amount of leucine or isoleucine or tryptophan be higher than other EAAs? What’s the best proportion?
  • What’s the best source? Milk, which contains whey and casein? Soy? Rice? Pea? Or a form of meat such as chicken, fish, or beef?
  • Do the EAAs compete for absorption? Does eating a complete protein such as the protein in beef or chicken inhibit the absorption of the EAAs in the protein? After all, just eating more meat could potentially be the best solution, but maybe it’s not as efficient as getting the EAAs in a stand-alone product.
  • How much muscle will athletes build in how long a time? Will it be 1% or 5% better than just eating more protein or will it be the same?
  • Should the EAAs be taken alone or as part of a protein shake?
  • When is the best time to take the EAAs in relation to a workout? Or does it really not matter? What about other nutrients taken at the same time such as carbohydrates or fats? Will they positively or negatively impact the EAAs?

There are some partial answers in the research but nowhere near enough to say “This is how you do it for the best benefit.” That’s not to say that there are no opinions, but it’s based more on limited research or personal experience than anything else.

The Bottom Line

Based on all of the available information, here is the bottom line on EAAs.

  • Everyone needs more EAAs in their diet, especially those of us over 50. (We all need to do more resistance exercise, but that’s a different Memo.) It’s more than just losing muscles mass as we age; it’s also about being able to make all the hormones we need for optimal health.
  • Eat about one gram protein per pound of body weight up to about 150 grams per day. If someone is overweight or oversized, trial and error is the only way to set an upper limit. But it’s critical for athletes and older people to hit that mark. Chicken seems to be the best profile for EAAs next to milk protein, but there’s more research needed.
  • If you get your EAAs from powders, whey protein isolate seems to have the best profile based on the content of branch-chained amino acids, but soy protein has a good profile as well. There doesn’t seem to be a perfect source yet.
  • If you want to take a separate EAA product that has no other amino acids, that’s fine. It will probably be best to take it before you work out or lift weights, but there’s good reason to take it after working out as well. About 15 to 30 minutes later, take your complete protein, whether from powders or food.

As research continues, I’ll update the recommendations as we get more answers. For now, make sure you get enough protein for health and growth based on what we know today.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet