Exercise Fueling the Brain

From the NYTimes an article on how exercise improves brain functioning. This could be part of the anti-aging aspect to exercise. (More info on my practice here.)

How Exercise Fuels the Brain
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Moving the body demands a lot from the brain...
This increase in brain activity naturally increases the brain’s need for nutrients, but until recently, scientists hadn’t fully understood how neurons fuel themselves during exercise. Now a series of animal studies from Japan suggest that the exercising brain has unique methods of keeping itself fueled. What’s more, the finely honed energy balance that occurs in the brain appears to have implications not only for how well the brain functions during exercise, but also for how well our thinking and memory work the rest of the time...
But about 10 years ago, some neuroscientists found that specialized cells in the brain, known as astrocytes, that act as support cells for neurons actually contained small stores of glycogen, or stored carbohydrates. And glycogen, as it turns out, is critical for the health of cells throughout the brain.

While a brain with more fuel reserves is potentially a brain that can sustain and direct movement longer, it also “may be a key mechanism underlying exercise-enhanced cognitive function,” says Hideaki Soya, a professor of exercise biochemistry at the University of Tsukuba and senior author of the studies, since supercompensation occurs most strikingly in the parts of the brain that allow us better to think and to remember. As a result, Dr. Soya says, “it is tempting to suggest that increased storage and utility of brain glycogen in the cortex and hippocampus might be involved in the development” of a better, sharper brain...
He and his colleagues have found that “glycogen supercompensation in some brain loci” is “enhanced in rats receiving carbohydrates immediately after exhaustive exercise.” So for people, that might mean that after a run or other exercise that is prolonged or strenuous enough to leave you tired, a bottle of chocolate milk or a banana might be just the thing your brain is needing.

The Latest Data on Weight Loss and What Works

A summary of the findings of a new research study, by five nutrition and public health experts at Harvard University. There's a lot in there, so please read the whole thing if diet and weight control is an issue for you. Some of the findings are expected. In the negative column: "French fries led the list: Increased consumption of this food alone was linked to an average weight gain of 3.4 pounds in each four-year period. Other important contributors were potato chips (1.7 pounds), sugar-sweetened drinks (1 pound), red meats and processed meats (0.95 and 0.93 pound, respectively), other forms of potatoes (0.57 pound), sweets and desserts (0.41 pound), refined grains (0.39 pound), other fried foods (0.32 pound), 100-percent fruit juice (0.31 pound) and butter (0.3 pound)." Of course television watching was also in the negative column, as was smoking.
In the positive : "Also not too surprising were most of the foods that resulted in weight loss or no gain when consumed in greater amounts during the study: fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Compared with those who gained the most weight, participants in the Nurses’ Health Study who lost weight consumed 3.1 more servings of vegetables each day.
Furthermore: "But contrary to what many people believe, an increased intake of dairy products, whether low-fat (milk) or full-fat (milk and cheese), had a neutral effect on weight.

And despite conventional advice to eat less fat, weight loss was greatest among people who ate more yogurt and nuts, including peanut butter, over each four-year period."

They also found getting enough sleep was important. In sum, it's the kind of calories you eat more than the actual calorie count. Fascinating. And I'm ecstatic that peanut butter is okay to eat. Yay!

July 18, 2011
Still Counting Calories? Your Weight-Loss Plan May Be Outdated
By JANE E. BRODY

It’s no secret that Americans are fatter today than ever before, and not just those unlucky people who are genetically inclined to gain weight or have been overweight all their lives. Many who were lean as young adults have put on lots of unhealthy pounds as they pass into middle age and beyond.

It’s also no secret that the long-recommended advice to eat less and exercise more has done little to curb the inexorable rise in weight. No one likes to feel deprived or leave the table hungry, and the notion that one generally must eat less to control body weight really doesn’t cut it for the typical American.

So the newest findings on what specific foods people should eat less often — and more importantly, more often — to keep from gaining pounds as they age should be of great interest to tens of millions of Americans...

(For more info on my practice, please click here.)

Nerve Growth Factor and Electroacupuncture

I bring this article to your attention for a few reasons. One: this lab has concentrated on Nerve Growth Factor and acupuncture for quite a few years, and see it as a key link in the cascade of responses between the peripheral nervous system and the Central Nervous System including the autonomic nervous system (my area of interest.) Two: this investigator sees acupuncture's effects as similar to a massage or exercise. This is an interesting take, and the exercise angle is one shared by some Swedish researchers for years. Three: I think this is a direction of inquiry that may prove to be quite fruitful, and one that I don't know much about, so am eager to read more on this topic, and hopefully get some of the original articles to share with you readers. Four: this article has a free full text link! Here's the link. I will copy the abstract in full, as usual, emphases are mine.
Electroacupucture and nerve growth factor: potential clinical applications.
Manni L, Rocco ML, Barbaro Paparo S, Guaragna M

Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine, CNR, Rome, Italy. luigi.manni@inmm.cnr.it.
Arch Ital Biol. 2011 Jun;149(2):247-55. doi: 10.4449/aib.v149i2.1365.

The nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophin regulating the survival and function peripheral sensory and sympathetic neurons and of forebrain cholinergic neurons. Both peripheral neuropathies and brain cholinergic dysfunctions could benefit from NGFbased therapies, but the clinical use of NGF has been so far hampered by the development of important side effects, like hyperalgesia and autonomic dysfunctions. Acupuncture is a therapeutic technique and is a part of traditional Chinese medicine. Western descriptions of the clinical efficacy of acupuncture on pain, inflammation, motor dysfunction, mood disorders, and seizures are based on the stimulation of several classes of sensory afferent fibers and the consequent activation of physiological processes similar to those resulting from physical exercise or deep massage. Recently, it has been shown that peripheral sensory stimulation by electroacupuncture (EA) could improve brain NGF availability and utilization, at the same time counteracting the major sideeffects induced by NGF administration. This review focuses on the emerging links between EA and NGF with special emphasis on the work carried out in the last decade in our laboratory, investigating the role of NGF as a mediator of EA effects in the central nervous system and as a modulator of sensory and autonomic activity.

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Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Electroacupuncture and Exercise

After posting about PCOS and alternative medicine, (see here,) I was able to contact Elisabet Stener-Vitorin and she was kind enough to send a few reprints of other studies of hers. One of the more recent ones looks at low frequency electroacupuncture, exercise, and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. The low frequency acupuncture is the most beneficial in reducing androgen levels, acne, and increasing menstrual frequency. That's the good news. The (somewhat) bad news was that the study was carried out over 16 weeks. That's pushing it for most patients in my practice, but perhaps with such evidence on my side, the patience in my patients will improve?
(for more information on my practice please click here.)

Impact of electroacupuncture and physical exercise on hyperandrogenism and
oligo/amenorrhoea in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A randomized controlled trial
3 Elizabeth Jedel 1, Fernand Labrie 2, Anders Odén 3, Göran Holm 4, Lars Nilsson 5, Per Olof Janson 5,
4 Anna-Karin Lind 5, Claes Ohlsson 6, Elisabet Stener-Victorin 7,8 *
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab (October 13, 2010).
ABSTRACT
Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age, is characterized by hyperandrogenism, oligo/amenorrhea, and polycystic ovaries. We aimed to determine whether low-frequency electro-acupuncture (EA) decreases hyperandrogenism and improves oligo/amenorrhea more effectively than physical exercise or no intervention.

Results: After 16 weeks of intervention, circulating T decreased by –25%, androsterone glucuronide by –30%, and androstane-3α, 17β-diol-3glucuronide by –28% in the EA group (P=0.038, 0.030, and 0.047, respectively vs. exercise); menstrual frequency increased to 0.69/month from 0.28 at baseline in the EA group (P=0.018 vs. exercise). After the 16-week follow-up, the acne score decreased by –32% in the EA group (P=0.006 vs. exercise). Both EA and exercise improved menstrual frequency and decreased the levels of several sex steroids at week 16 and at the 16-week follow-up, compared to no intervention.
Conclusion/Significance: Low-frequency EA and physical exercise improved hyperandrogenism and menstrual frequency more effectively than no intervention in women with PCOS. Low-frequency EA was superior to physical exercise and may be useful for treating hyperandrogenism and oligo/amenorrhea.