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Mexico: food and beverages with trans fats to be banned as of September 2023
Due to an amendment to Mexico’s General Health Law, approved at the beginning of the year and published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, as of the second week of September 2023, the production for sale to the public of oils, edible fats, foods and non-alcoholic beverages containing partially hydrogenated oils, better known as trans fats, which have been added during the industrial manufacturing process, will be penalized.
Article 216 bis of the General Health Law regarding the regulation of trans fatty acids or trans fats indicates that such products must not contain more than 2% of their total fatty acid content.
Source: Official Journal of the Federation
Chronic stress potentiates the development of obesity
A recent study conducted by scientists at the University of New Wales, Australia, revealed that chronic stress triggers the brain’s desire for comfort food, i.e., food rich in calories, which can increase the development of obesity by generating an unhealthy vicious cycle.
According to findings published in the journal Neuron, stress overrides the brain’s natural response to satiety, which generates continuous reward signals that promote the consumption of sweet and higher-calorie foods. This phenomenon develops in a part of the brain called the lateral habenula. Professor Herzog, lead author of the study, mentioned that a healthy diet in times of stress is essential for optimal brain function.
Source: Neuron
Anti-obesity drug shows strong protection against heart disease
The pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced that Wegovy, the trade name for the drug semaglutide, which was originally created to treat obesity, demonstrated a 20% reduction in the risk of serious cardiovascular events.
In a clinical study called SELECT, more than 17,600 adults received injections of the drug and placebo and were monitored for five years. Those who received the drug reflected a lower risk of heart attack, stroke and death from cardiovascular disease. The full results of the trial are expected to be presented at a conference in late 2023 in order to expand the approved use of Wegovy in the U.S. and the European Union. Until now, there was no drug approved for weight control that also reduced the risk of such heart conditions.
Source: Novo Nordisk
Alert: relationship between weight loss drugs and suicidal thoughts
The safety committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued an alert and initiated a systematic review of socalled Hollywood drugs after three patients from Iceland reported suicidal thoughts and self-harm after taking drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, used for weight loss and to treat type 2 diabetes, including Ozempic (semaglutide), Saxenda (liraglutide) and Wegovy (semaglutide).
The EMA mentioned that it is not yet clear whether the reported cases are related to the medicines themselves or to the patients’ underlying conditions or other factors, however, they are currently investigating whether such cases represent possible side effects, as they do not appear in the information of any of the products indicated.
Source: European Medicines Agency’s (EMA)
Vegetarians have higher risk of hip fracture than carnivores
According to a study conducted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, people who base their diet on vegetarian foods are more likely to suffer hip fractures than conventional meat eaters.
Such results published in the journal BMC Medicine revealed that those who follow a vegetarian diet face a 50% higher chance of suffering a hip fracture compared to those who eat meat regularly. On average, 6.5 regular meat eaters and 6.5 occasional meat eaters experienced a hip fracture, while there would be 7 cases among pescetarians and 9.5 among vegetarians. The low BMI of vegetarians would be an explanation for the higher risk of their fractures.
Source: BMC Medicine
Experimental genetic treatment reduces alcohol addiction by 90%
With a technique used for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and some types of cancer, U.S. scientists conducted a study in primates based on gene therapy where they discovered that it is possible to reduce alcohol addiction to the point of almost disappearing.
The procedure consisted of balancing the production of dopamine. According to the researchers, in the four animals that received the GDNF growth factor through gene therapy, their consumption was reduced by 90%, compared to the control group; for months, they chose only water and avoided alcohol.
These preclinical findings suggest that gene therapy could be a novel approach to treating compulsive cocaine abuse.
Source: Nature Medicine
The most important project in the history of the simulation of the human brain fails
After a decade of research, more than 500 scientists involved, and funding of 600 million euros from the European Union, the so-called Human Brain Project will come to an end in September 2023 without achieving the expected results.
Human Brain Project (HBP) is one of the most important efforts ever undertaken in history that aimed to recreate the human brain in a computer, and thereby obtain a complete or original understanding of that organ.
However, although the total recreation of the brain was not possible, the scientists involved published thousands of papers, as well as the creation of 3D maps of more than 200 parts of the brain, the development of brain implants to treat blindness, among other advances in neuroscience.
Source: Nature
Scientists develop mind readers that allow people with paralysis to speak fluently using their thoughts
Teams of researchers have enabled people with cerebral palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to communicate verbally with unprecedented fluency and accuracy.
The advances were made thanks to reading implants developed through Artificial Intelligence (AI), by creating brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that translate neural signals into text or words pronounced by a synthesized voice that sounds like the voice of the patients, they also designed an animated avatar that mimics facial expressions and recreates a natural conversation from thoughts.
Although they claim that these devices could be clinical consumer devices shortly, the researchers still need to implement improvements, such as making the connection of these devices wireless, as well as testing on more people to demonstrate their reliability.
Source: Nature
