Learn about how ultra-processed food took over your shopping cart; which you lose first, brain or brawn; and how bats are showing resistance to a once deadly white-nose syndrome epidemic.
Learn about how ultra-processed food took over your shopping cart; which you lose first, brain or brawn; and how bats are showing resistance to a once deadly white-nose syndrome epidemic.
The perils of ultra-processed food by Kelsey Donk
Which do we lose first: brain or brawn? by Kelsey Donk
We have the first genetic evidence that some bats are resistant to white-nose syndrome by Grant Currin
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-battle-of-brains-vs-brawn-in-aging-perils-of-ultra-processed-food-and-bats-surviving-white-nose-syndrome
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how ultra-processed food took over your shopping cart; which you lose first, brain or brawn; and how bats are showing resistance to a once deadly epidemic.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
If you feel like you eat at least a little bit of junk food on a regular basis, then you’re not alone. Because more than half of the calories consumed in both the US and the UK come from what scientists call “ultra-processed foods,” and other countries are quickly catching up. And that’s a problem. Why? Well, diets high in ultra-processed food can lead to all sorts of health problems.
If you don’t know what an ultra-processed food is, I don’t blame you. A 2017 commentary in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition dedicated 300 words to the definition alone. That publication laid out what’s now a widely used classification system for different types of food, called NOVA. In Group 1, it put unprocessed or minimally processed food, like whole fruits, vegetables, grains, and unprocessed meat. Group 2 includes processed culinary ingredients like butter and sugar. Group 3 includes “processed” foods, like cheese, bread, and canned fruits and vegetables. Group 4 is what we’re talking about here: ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, packaged snacks, and frozen meals. They defined these as, quote, “formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives, with little if any intact Group 1 food,” unquote — basically, as far from whole foods as you can get.
The existence of ultra-processed foods isn’t news. Packaged bread and Twinkies and crackers have been around for decades now. What’s news is how much ultra-processed food we’ve all started eating. Some food scientists today say that it would be hard for any of us to get through just one day without eating a few ultra-processed foods. From a morning bowl of cereal with almond milk to a lunch of chicken nuggets to a protein bar or shake for a workout snack, it’s all ultra-processed food.
What’s the big deal? Well, in 2018, a French study with over 100,000 participants found that a 10 percent increase of the ultra-processed food in a person’s diet is associated with a 12 percent greater risk of cancer. And when researchers gave people as much ultra-processed food as they wanted for a study in 2019, they ended up eating around 500 extra calories a day compared to the group given whole foods. That’s about the same number of calories as a quarter pounder with cheese. They also gained 1 kilogram, or about 2 pounds, in just two weeks. So yeah: we do have evidence that an ultra-processed diet leads to overeating and weight gain.
In many industrialized countries, it’s all but impossible to completely remove ultra-processed foods from your diet. But you can reduce them with some easy rules of thumb. Try to avoid food that comes in a package, and when it does, aim for the options that have shorter ingredients lists. Do the best you can, and forgive yourself for eating the occasional Pringle.
Which do we lose first: brains or brawn? This isn’t just a fun hypothetical question; the answer can help us understand how to better take care of ourselves in later life. After we turn 50, people start to slowly lose both physical and cognitive abilities. The World Health Organization says 3.2 million people die every year because of physical inactivity. But are those people less active because their brain function slows down? Or does the loss in muscle and physical activity cause their brains to slow?
Most scientific studies have suggested that when physical activity starts to slow down, brain function does too. But no one had ever really tested which came first — until recently. For a new study from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, researchers used a database of more than 100,000 people between the ages of 50 and 90. They measured participants’ physical and cognitive abilities every two years for 12 years.
And they did that with three tests. A verbal fluency test asked how many animals participants could name in 60 seconds. A memory test had them memorize a sequence of 10 words and recite them back a few minutes later. Finally, a physical activity survey had them report how often they engaged in low- to moderate-intensity activities like gardening and going on walks.
What the researchers found from this simple data was surprising. Changes in cognitive skills appear to predict changes in physical activity. So when people stay mentally active, they remain physically active much longer. But when people start to lose their mental edge, they also start to do less physical activity.
The researchers did note that physical activity also influences cognitive ability. But the impact seems to be weaker than scientists previously thought.
So it might be time to recommend puzzles, books, and language apps to our aging relatives. If they can keep their brains sharp, it’s possible they’ll stay physically active longer, too.
Coronavirus may have started in bats, but there’s a different disease that’s taking a deadly toll on these animals. It’s called white-nose syndrome, and it’s killed bats in North America by the millions, decimating 90 to 100% of the population in some areas. Fortunately, today we have some good news to share: new research suggests some bats may be developing resistance to it.
This whole issue started in 2006, when a fungal pathogen was accidentally brought to the northeastern United States. It soon caused outbreaks of white-nose syndrome, which is a deadly disease that makes bats wake up from hibernation early and burn through the fat reserves they need to survive the winter.
A team of researchers at the University of Michigan wanted to see how bats were responding to the new threat, so they compared the DNA of two groups: bats that died from white-nose syndrome and bats that had the disease and recovered. The differences they found offer a glimmer of hope for North America’s bats.
The team conducted their research on little brown bats in northern Michigan, where the disease wasn’t detected until 2014. The researchers visited abandoned mines in the winter to collect the bodies of bats that had died during hibernation. Later in the year, they returned to the mines and caught bats that had survived a winter with white-nose syndrome.
It turns out that the survivors shared a few genetic mutations that apparently helped them survive. The differences were in genes associated with waking up from hibernation, turning fats into energy, echolocation, and releasing histamines. If you’re a bat who doesn’t want to die of white-nose syndrome, those are some pretty great genes to have!
One of the study’s co-authors said, quote, “it could be that bats that are genetically predisposed to be a little bit fatter or to sleep more deeply are less susceptible to the disease," end quote.
This was a small study of just 34 bats, but the findings indicate something extraordinary. In just five years, some of the bats had quickly evolved traits that help them resist and survive white-nose syndrome. This isn’t the first time scientists have seen such rapid evolution, but it’s the first time it’s been documented in bats.
The researchers are currently working on a much larger study to get a better understanding of this astounding evolutionary feat — and to figure out what it means for the future of bats in North America.
Let’s recap today’s takeaways
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Grant Currin, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!