body

We already know where many of the microplastics that enter our body end up. We have bad news

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That microplastics had managed to enter our body is something that we already knew in detail, especially considering that we have found them in the lungsin the placenta and even in the testicles. However, there were questions about where they accumulated in greater quantities in our body and what consequences does it have. Something that science has already solved. What they have seen. It has been thanks to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology that it has finally been revealed that not only can cholesterol crystals be found in bile that end up generating stones, but also there are microplastics. And the worst of all is that they have a direct impact on the premature aging of the cells that make up our gallbladder. How do you know? To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed 14 samples of human bile: five from healthy patients without gallstones and nine from patients with gallstones. The results were conclusive, since they found microplastics in the samples, mainly highlighting two of them. the most common polymers in our daily lives: polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Here it could be seen that the particles had a size that ranged between 20 and 50 micrometers. A very relevant fact, since from these sizes is when they can cross the biological barriers, cross the intestine-liver axis and end up in the gallbladder of our liver. There is more. In addition to the presence of plastic in the bile, it could be seen that patients who had gallstones showed a higher load of microplastics. Something fundamental, since it is a fact that fits with recent research that suggests that these particles could act as ‘seeds’ around which cholesterol groups to form the dreaded stones in the gallbladder. What do they do? This is the key point of these studies, since we still do not have much idea of ​​the damage that microplastics can do to our body. Here it points out that bile causes mitochondrial dysfunction and promotes the aging of cholangiocytes, which are the cells that line the bile ducts. In previous experiments, it was possible to see that in the liver of laboratory mice exposed to environmental concentrations of microplastics there was alteration in the metabolism of bile acids and liver damage. In the case of humans, which increases oxidative stress. But the important thing is that in both cases the bile duct cell loses its ability to function correctly and ages prematurely, which in the long term could be related to liver and bile duct diseases. Can it be mitigated? Among the bad news, scientific literature suggests that there are ways to avoid it. One of the great protectors that exists is melatonin, suggesting that it can combat oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction generated by these synthetic intruders. In parallel, other recent experiments with human liver organoids have shown that the damage caused by microplastics improves when ursodeoxycholic acid is administered, which is the drug administered to ‘dissolve’ gallstones. The ‘magic’ of this compound is that it increases bile flow, suggesting that promoting a kind of natural “washing” of the bile duct could help reduce toxicity. A problem. The confirmation of bile as a “hidden reservoir” of microplastics highlights an undeniable reality: plastic pollution is no longer just an environmental problem in our oceans, but a systemic public health problem about which we know more and more data. The longer-term consequences, such as the relationship with gallbladder cancer, remain to be seen. Images | FREEPIK In Xataka | An 18-year-old girl has created the definitive weapon against microplastics: a filter that eliminates 96% of them from water

Sleeping in on the weekend seems like the perfect solution to your tiredness. Your body has a very different opinion

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Sleep eight hours a day religiously is for many a goal that they almost never manage to achieve, since the alarms sound too early and the days lengthen, accumulating a dream debt which we tried to settle on Saturday morning. But here the question is obligatory: are we achieving anything by sleeping 10 hours on Saturday? The answer. Here science has wanted to investigate the debate about whether doing this recovery sleep technique on weekends is useful or is a temporary patch. And the truth is that there are endless different options that mean we don’t have a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Cardiovascular shield. At first glance, science seems to agree with people who decide that the weekend is for sleeping, since several studies suggest that it is quite positive for our health. One of these analyzed more than 90,000 people and concluded that the group that accumulated more compensatory sleep on the weekend had a lower risk of developing heart disease. And more specifically, these people had up to 20% less risk of suffering from coronary heart disease. On the other hand, another study used data from the NHANES surveys carried out in 2018 and noticed an association between recovering hours of sleep and a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, which is something that stands out especially in patients who slept less than 6 hours during the week. There is small print. In science there are contrary points, since researchers, when they affirm measurement methods and look beyond self-completed questionnaires, reality is more complex. Here is a study with 70,000 people who used accelerometers to objectively measure sleep threw cold water on previous evidence by pointing out that compensatory weekend sleep is not associated with lower mortality or fewer cardiovascular events. More alterations. Apart from all this, different scientific reviews point out that the evidence is heterogeneous, pointing out that sleeping more on the weekend does not always manage to correct problems such as insulin sensitivity, which is altered after previous days of sleep restriction. And it is known right now that biologically, lack of sleep triggers complex processes such as insulin resistancethe activity of the sympathetic nervous system and systemic inflammation. And all this cannot be fixed in a silly weekend of sleeping a few more hours, since a much longer sleep regulation would be needed to once again have an optimized biological system. Beyond the heart. Although we usually focus on the engine of our body, the reality is that there are effects much further than that. In the case of mental health, science suggests that weekend recovery carries a lower risk of depression. But other articles on health-related quality of life suggest that the “optimal” duration of recovery sleep is not the same for everyone, and can vary greatly depending on the sex and chronotype of each individual. The verdict. Right now science tells us that there is an association, but not a proven coincidence. In this way, trying to pay off your sleep debt on the weekend is undoubtedly better than continuing to sleep little seven days a week, but it is not a metabolic time machine. What you have to keep in mind is that the final effect will depend on how much deficit you carry during the week and how many hours you try to achieve, but in the end the medical advice that we should stick with is that the objective is to have consistency in daily rest so that it is as optimal as possible. Images | Slaapwijsheid.nl In Xataka | We have accepted that “deep sleep” is the standard for sleep quality: science points in another direction

Chaplin died on Christmas. In March they were already asking for $600,000 in ransom for his body.

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On the night of March 1-2, 1978, a pair of unemployed mechanics dug up the coffin of the legendary Charles Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery, and moved it to a cornfield, where they hid it. They asked for $600,000 to return it and the widow refused to agree to their demands. Everything was solved with an intervention by the police, but with an unexpected final twist: the thieves did not remember where they had hidden it. Death. Chaplin had died on December 25, 1977, at the age of 88, at his residence in Corsier-sur-Vevey, a town on the shores of Lake Geneva. He had been there since 1952, when the US government denied him a visa to return to his country after being accused of communist sympathies. during McCarthyism: He had left the United States to attend the London premiere of ‘Candilejas’ and was never able to return. The funeral was discreet and the oak coffin was buried in the local cemetery without much fanfare. A quiet end for someone who had been, literally, the most famous person in the world in the 1920s. The robbery. The tranquility lasted ten weeks. In the early hours of March 1-2, 1978, two men crossed the unprotected cemetery carrying flashlights and shovels. They were Roman Wardas, Polish, 24 years old, political refugee who led a precarious life in Switzerland and Gantscho Ganev, Bulgarian, 38 years old, also a mechanic, also without stable work. They had come to the conclusion that Chaplin’s corpse was the solution to his financial problems. They unearthed the 135 kilo oak coffinthey dragged him to the street and loaded him into Ganev’s car. They drove to a cornfield a little over a mile from the Chaplins’ house and reburied him. You don’t negotiate with terrorists. On the morning of March 2, police discovered the empty hole and notified the family. Press speculation They were immediate: uncontrolled fans, local anti-Semites, neo-Nazis resentful of ‘The Great Dictator’… That same day, calls from tomb desecrators began to arrive. And they repeated themselves. Between March 2 and May 16, Oona Chaplin, the actor’s very young widow, received 27 calls demanding a ransom of $600,000. His refusal made history: “Charlie would have found it ridiculous.” In reality, there was a reason for delaying them: while he pretended to negotiate to buy time, the police tapped his phone and deployed agents to the two hundred public telephones in the region, because the thieves changed booths with each call. The situation was complicated because impostors appeared who claimed to have stolen the body, forcing the real kidnappers to photograph the coffin to prove that they were the ones who had it. The thieves also threatened the family’s youngest children, but Oona Chaplin stood her ground. The arrest. On May 16, 76 days after the robbery, Wardas was arrested in a telephone booth in Lausanne, and Ganev fell shortly after. The police took them to the cornfield to recover the coffin, but there was still comedy in the story: the thieves did not remember the exact point where they buried it. The agents had to use metal detectors to locate the coffin. Chaplin was reburied in the same place, this time with a concrete slab on top of the coffin. Oona died in 1991 and is buried next to him. More robberies. The theft of Chaplin’s body was not an isolated accident, but the continuation of a macabre tradition of famous kidnapped corpses. In 1876, a gang of counterfeiters attempted to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body to ask for a ransom and the plan was aborted when the thieves had already sawed off the tomb’s padlock. In 1977, weeks after Elvis Presley’s death, four people attempted to break into his mausoleum in Memphis, convincing the family to move the remains to Graceland, also sealed under a slab. Eva Perón lived a posthumous journey that lasted decades: her embalmed corpse was stolen by the Argentine military in 1955, stored in a van parked in the streets of Buenos Aires, secretly transferred to Italy and buried in Milan under a false name until she was able to return to Argentina in 1974. And in 2015, the skull of ‘Nosferatu’ director FW Murnau disappeared from his grave near Berlin, possibly stolen by satanists. He never recovered. In Xataka | This is how sound was added to cartoons before sound films: the complex simplicity of mechanical orchestras

How does not having enough magnesium impact our body?

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For society and science, aging healthily and having a good quality of life in the last years of life It is a goal that we want to reach little by little. Gene therapies, evidence that do exercise of strength is the best and even having a good diet These are some of the keys we know to be able to have very healthy aging. But to this list now we must add the magnesium. On everyone’s lips. The magnesium supplementation It is something that is quite fashionable right now in society in general due to the supposed benefits that having optimal levels of this mineral can have. But now it is being seen that magnesium deficiency is not only tremendously common as we age, but it acts as a catalyst for our body to age worse and faster. There are studies. To verify the effect of magnesium on our old age, we have to look at the research that science has done on the matter. In this case, in the biology of aging they are guided by what they call the ‘hallmarks of aging’that is, marks of aging in the genetic material that dictate how and why our cells deteriorate. Here is a review from 2024 put on the table that magnesium is directly related to each and every one of these markers. We are talking about DNA instability, shortening of telomeres, which are essential to protect the genetic material, dysfunction of the mitochondria, which are the ‘energy factories’ and the dreaded chronic inflammation. And it has been seen. Studies done in the laboratory had already warned us of this. In 2008 It was shown that when a type of human cell was cultured in a magnesium-poor environment, it entered programmed senescence. That is, they age suddenly. Here it was seen how tissue aging markers began to increase and telomeres shortened rapidly. Basically, the cell loses its ability to repair itself and goes into an “early retirement” mode. Its consequences. This accelerated cellular aging not only remains in the microscope, but has great consequences in the human body that results in what is known in medicine as ‘inflammation‘, that is, the chronic low-grade inflammation that is associated with age. In this way, chronic magnesium deficiency favors the production of free radicals and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and this oxidative cascade has a direct impact on protein. Klothopopularly known as the “anti-aging protein.” And it is that this protective protein of our cells, without magnesium, it seems to function much worse. In the day to day. Here science suggests that having low levels of magnesium in the blood increases up to 24% the risk of dementia and cognitive decline. And in the case of muscle, it occurs a loss of muscle mass and strengthwhich is one of the great dangers in the elderly. Why is there a deficit? As we age, our body becomes inefficient at processing this mineral, which results in the The intestine absorbs less magnesium from food and the kidneys excrete more through urine. Yes to this we add diets which may be poorer at certain ages, along with more typical age-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, the result may be a drop in magnesium. The supplementation. Although it may be very easy, given all this, to start taking magnesium pills daily, the truth is that it is not necessary. In this case, the clinical approach proposed is to have personalized supplementation with a diet rich in magnesiumwith more green leafy vegetables and legumes. But in addition, it is also important to measure how much magnesium we have in our blood with an analysis to decide whether to take supplementation or not. The problem is that today having a magnesium supplement is within everyone’s reach, finding it on supermarket shelves. But we must insist that, before starting to take a pill, we must see if we really need it. Images | MIND FAVOR Daniel Franco In Xataka | Which dietary supplements really work and which don’t, in a great graph

What exactly happens to your body if you continue drinking after age 65?

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The alcohol is quite normalized in our society as it is for sale to the public as long as you are of legal age, and almost always because we associate it at leisure. But the truth is that we are talking about a drug that has important harmful effects on our body, that at 30 years old may not be noticed because we have a strong body that processes it relatively easily. But when we reach the barrier of 65-70 years this changes completely. An older organism. What at 30 years old can be easily counteracted with healthy organs, cannot be achieved with organs that are more ‘worn out’ with the passage of time. This means that science suggests that, from a certain age onwards, it is advisable to stop drinking alcohol, and scientific evidence behind It never stops giving us reasons to do so if we want to have a better old age and with fewer diseases. A structural change. The first and most critical factor that alters our relationship with alcohol as we age is drastic change in body composition. As we age over 65, the body experiences a progressive loss of lean muscle mass and, crucially, a reduction in total body water. This is vital, because alcohol is a substance that is diluted in water, and that is why, as there is less water in the body to dilute it, the same amount of alcohol ingested by a 65-year-old person will result in a significantly higher concentration than in a younger person of the same weight and gender. We go slower. Added to this is the slowing down of liver metabolism, since the aging liver produces Less of the key enzymes responsible for breaking down ethanolwhich means that alcohol remains in the bloodstream longer, prolonging its toxic effect. The direct result is drunkenness that comes much sooner with less alcohol, drastically increasing the risk of loss of balance, falls and bone fractures. Something that at that age is almost a sentence for the muscle loss that it entails. Neurotoxicity. If we start talking now about the direct effects that alcohol has on the different organs of our body, the first obligatory stop is the brainwhere one of the most severe impacts of continued consumption occurs. Here alcohol acts as a neurotoxin that accelerates neuronal lossa process that already occurs naturally due to aging, but that ethanol multiplies. Prestigious neurologists such as Richard Restak emphasize that neuronal damage after the age of 65 is irreversible, recommending total abstinence here. This joins reviews carried out in Spain that demonstrate that alcohol accelerates cognitive deterioration, the impact being even more serious with distilled beverages compared to fermented ones. In memory. But the loss of brain matter, which can lead to severe dementia, is also accompanied by loss of memory and control of what we do. Cohort studies, such as the NEDICES projecthave linked high alcohol consumption in people over 65 years of age with notably lower neuropsychological scores. Furthermore, the loss of motor coordination explains why 60% of serious falls in the elderly they are related to alcohol consumption. Multi-organ damage. Continued consumption in the elderly is not limited to one organ, but causes cascading systemic failure aggravated by oxidative stress, which is the great enemy of aging. A recent cross-sectional study made in Extremadura With more than 2,800 participants, it was demonstrated that in men over 65 years of age, the prevalence of risky consumption reaches an alarming 30%, being strongly associated with increased cholesterol, hypertension and cardiovascular risk such as a heart attack. The heart. Undoubtedly, you suffer the onslaught of alcohol-induced hypertension and an increased risk of arrhythmias, while blood vessels lose their elasticity. This makes it much easier to have high voltage spikes that lead to a stroke, for example. In the liver. Without a doubt, one of the most affected organs, being the ‘factory’ that is in charge of processing all the alcohol that enters the body. Chronic toxicity here not only increases the risk of cirrhosis, but, due to poor metabolism, prolonged exposure to toxic metabolites exponentially increases the risk of developing cancer, especially liver, breast and colorectal. Something that responds to the greater damage suffered by DNA in the elderly who continue to drink with some frequency. In the intestine. Perhaps one of the most recent notes we have is the erosion caused by alcohol in the intestinal mucosaand therefore to the microbiota found here. Little by little we are seeing that the microbiota is more important than we think, and it has been shown that its loss allows endotoxins to pass into the bloodstream, favoring chronic inflammation of different parts of the body. Something that is linked to many other effects. Without going any further, this inflammation aggravates the osteoporosis that is already marked at this age, damages the pancreas and causes an accelerated shortening of cellular telomeres, which translates into premature biological aging and a fragile immune system incapable of fighting respiratory infections effectively. The silent trap. A critical factor that is often overlooked is the polypharmacysince the vast majority of people over the age of 65 take several prescription medications daily. It is not uncommon to see a person with a pill for stress, diabetes, pain, to reduce fluid retention… The problem is that combining some of these pills, such as anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, increases the risk of suffering severe digestive bleeding. Images | Vlad Sargu In Xataka | The work ethic has been selling for years that getting up at 05:00 AM is good. Science is clear that absolutely

After “skincare”, the new cosmetic fever focuses on one of the most hidden corners of the body: the scalp

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For years the message was simple: maintain good hydration and, please, do not go to sleep without removing your makeup. Then we immersed ourselves and fell in love with a new trend: the skincare and his feared ten steps exported from South Korea. Now, in 2026, when it seems that we already have the keys to a good routine integrated, and our pulse does not tremble when deciding whether the serum goes before or after the moisturizing cream, a new task arises. In the midst of a fever to optimize health, the focus moves a few centimeters higher: the scalp. The ten-step routine falls short It is increasingly common to find yourself in cities or, failing that, on TikTok, with centers of hair spa Japanese inspired. Cranial massage, activation of energy points, water jets and hair diagnosisall seasoned with an environment that offers an experience of absolute relaxation. With a proposal this striking, it is not surprising that these treatments have become the new object of desire. beauty. But, as happens with almost everything that promises well-being and succeeds on social networks, an inevitable question arises: are we facing a new gesture to care for our well-being based on science or a new fashion without much sense? This “instagrammable” fusion of hair care with moments of relaxation was born in Asia but the franchise Japanese Head Spathanks to viral videos, has awakened the desire of thousands of users and has managed to adapt the treatment to the European public; especially when emphasizing the relaxation and well-being part. (Unsplash) Aída García, the promoter of the business, discovered the technique at a fair in Miami, but also through TikTok videos, mostly from accounts in Saudi Arabia, where many users wondered when something like this would arrive in Spain. It was then that it detected this gap in the market and decided to take the step, currently having more than 25 centers spread throughout the national territory. “It seems easy, but behind it there are years of experience, an incredible team and a very strong focus on marketing; for example, TikTok has been key because every time we upload a video, our agenda fills up” Aida Garcia, promoter of Japanese Head Spa It is clear that the virality and striking nature of the treatment is what attracts so many users, helping the proliferation of these establishments. Not in vain, these types of centers top the list of trends in spas and wellness, with a 233% increase in searches in 2025 compared to the previous year according to the report SpaSeekers. But there is undoubtedly another compelling reason for this growth. And it is that in a day to day where they prevail the rush and frenetic paceany help to lower the revs is welcome: “They come here from girls who give it to their mothers because they have seen it on TikTok, women aged 30-40 who come accompanied by their partners or grandmothers with their granddaughters. Nowadays, when we have cortisol through the roof and we are going a mile an hour, everyone needs to stop, that is why a hair spa treatment is super giftable,” explains García. This trend around the globe has meant that the endless skincare routines with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or niacinamide are also transferred to scalp care. As an example, the term “scalp serum” recorded, for much of 2025, a monthly average of more than 910,000 results on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok; assuming an increase of 77% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, if we focus on the global market, sales of products and treatments dedicated to the scalp grew by 4.2% in 2024 and the trend continued to increase in 2025, the year in which articles intended for this area of ​​the body reached 9.6 billion of dollars. (Unsplash) South Korea is not far behind in this trend, honoring its deep cult of beauty. What’s more, the debate about hair loss has transcended the merely aesthetic and has become a public policy issue thanks to the South Korean president and his proposal to cover baldness treatments by the national health insurance. According to Lee, for many young people the problem has stopped being aesthetic and has become “a survival question“On the other hand, when it comes to the viral, there are many spa centers in the country in which famous and influencers enjoy those 15 or 18 steps which includes the Head Spa treatment promising to cleanse, revitalize and balance the scalp. Indeed, the entire experience of this ritual, if we focus on its relaxation aspect, is something positive and can benefit us. However, it is when it comes to hair diagnosis and the avalanche of products with active ingredients where we have to put the brakes on and be more cautious. There are no shortcuts to healthy hair The truth is that although these spas claim that in general they are treatments suitable for all types of hair and scalp, they always urge people with specific conditions such as psoriasis to consult with a dermatologist first. And that’s what we have done, although to satisfy all our doubts: “People have a profound lack of knowledge about health in general, and about the aesthetics and health of the skin and hair in particular, it is something that I see a lot in consultation, that false sense of information. Sometimes they make cherry-picking and they do not know how to relate the concepts, which in the end is the most important thing,” says Dr. Silvia Berjón, a specialist in trichology. The Glowmour Clinic doctor agrees with the sensory and well-being benefits that these treatments provide. Emphasizing “the value of human contact and the release of oxytocin that can cause this relaxation process.” Furthermore, from its focus on longevity medicine emphasizes that not only healthy habits influence a longer and fuller life but, as supported by science, “also activities that nourish emotionally and help reduce stress”, such as these types of rituals. Even … Read more

Drinking coffee in the morning has very positive consequences for someone unexpected in your body: the microbiota

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For millions of people, the day doesn’t begin until the first cup of coffee hits their table. Something that makes a lot of sense because of how coffee affects our brain. so we can wake up and improve concentrationbut the reality is that it has many more effects further down the brain. We talk about the intestinewhere it passes and has a great involvement in the microbiota. The microbiota. There is more and more research that is focused on the microbiotathe bacteria we have in our digestive system and that have an increasingly relevant role in our daily lives. In this case, taking care of these bacteria inside us is a priority to be able to have good health, even to avoid major diseases. Now science is beginning to glimpse that Coffee is much more than a vehicle for caffeineand that has an important implication in the modulation of the intestinal microbiota. Beyond caffeine. We tend to think that coffee is nothing more than “caffeinated water”, unless you add a little sugar to remove its bitterness. But the reality is that we have a large ‘soup’ of bioactive compounds. Science is seeing how coffee is key due to its intestinal impact thanks to two of its components: polyphenols and dietary fiber. This is something that is currently being analyzed through studies. in the laboratory and in animal models where they have seen that a large part of these compounds reach the colon intact without digesting. There they act as ‘food’ for the bacteria that are there, such as dihydroferulic acid, which has local anti-inflammatory effects. That is, it acts like something similar to a prebiotic. The ‘planter’ effect. If we treat the intestine like a garden, coffee seems to work as a selective fertilizer. Although the evidence in humans is still heterogeneous, several patterns are repeated in the scientific literature, such as an intervention study in humans that showed that three cups of coffee daily for three weeks increased abundance of Bifidobacteriuma genre classically associated with intestinal health. But it does not stop there, since another large population metagenomic study associated the consumption of beverages rich in polyphenols such as coffee, tea or red wine with greater alpha diversity. This is something that within this world is associated with greater resilience and health in the microbiota. The recent discovery. Published in Nature in 2024science found a very specific association: those who regularly consume coffee have a much greater presence of the bacteria Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticu. A bacteria that is not just any bacteria, but helps digestion and also offers the colon the necessary elements for it to have much more energy and even prevents inflammation. That is why having this bacteria in large numbers in our intestine is actually very beneficial. Have metabolic health. Keeping the bacteria in our intestine ‘happy’ is essential as we have seen. The main hypothesis that supports all of this focuses on the ability of bacteria to ferment fiber and polyphenols of coffee producing short chain fatty acids such as butyrate. These compounds are the favorite fuel of colon cells and have systemic anti-inflammatory properties. This could explain, at least partially, why epidemiological studies often associate moderate coffee consumption with better metabolic and cardiovascular health. The small print. Before you rush for your fifth cup, you need to put on the brakes and look at the limitations of current studies, since not everything is rosy. And science, despite offering these benefits, indicates that robust clinical evidence is lacking. It must be taken into account here that not all coffees are the same, since soluble coffee, an espresso or using a filter in a coffee maker are not the same. And furthermore, not all people respond the same because each microbiota is literally a different world in each organism. Big tests are missing. Although in the laboratory and on paper everything may sound great, we must keep in mind that there are still many studies that demonstrate that coffee causes a direct improvement in diseases through the microbiota. And although coffee feeds your Bifidobacteria It does not eliminate the fact that excess caffeine causes insomnia, anxiety or tachycardia in sensitive people. Furthermore, the benefits observed in the microbiota are associated with black coffee or coffee with little milk. If your “coffee” is a smoothie loaded with sugar, cream and syrups, the negative impact of ultra-processed foods on your intestine will probably cancel out any benefits of polyphenols. Images | Nathan Dumlao CDC In Xataka | Having a cup of coffee as soon as you wake up seems like a great idea. Science has something to say about it

We have accepted that sport is “medicine” for the body. Now science is discovering its side effects

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Physical exercise can be prescribed as a drug in doctors’ offices, even though it is not packaged in a simple pill that we take. This is because the evidence behind it has made it more than clear that playing sports can prevent a large number of chronic diseasesI know even have a very good old age. But behind all this, too There is a negative part behind doing physical exercise. Its side effects. If we accept exercise as a drugwe must also accept that every drug has a leaflet, specific doses and of course some adverse effects. That is why as a society we have the problem of having begun to sell the fact of “exercising” in a generic way, ignoring the fine print that this task has, as recognized by the Spanish Heart Foundation itself. And it has a very simple solution: personalizing physical exercises per patient. The problem of metaphor. The slogan “exercise as medicine” is undoubtedly an excellent marketing campaign within the world of public health, but for science there are several important flaws. As different scientific studies point out, exercise does not act like a classic drugsince it does not have a predictable response in a patient as if it occurs as a pill. This forces us to always think that the effect can be very different for each person. In this way, by calling exercise a drug we can make invisible the diversity of individual responses. And there is no universal “squat pill”, since doing this exercise in a specific person can be very beneficial, but in another it can be be the origin of a pathology due to overload. And all because we throw ourselves into exercise without planning how to do it, since we find it very easy to pick up some weights and start building biceps. The damage numbers. We often hear that it is a great danger to stay sitting on the couch, and it is true because they are many diseases related to a sedentary lifestyle. But according to different studies done in the United States, people who meet or exceed the recommendations for moderate or vigorous exercise They have a 44 to 66% chance of developing musculoskeletal injuries. than subjects who remain inactive. In addition to this, although cardiovascular health improves with physical exercise because the heart reduces its heart rate, for example, the “maintenance cost” of the physical body increases dramatically with the amount of exercise done. A question of biases. Without a doubt, this is one of the most critical points that scientific literature reveals regarding the lack of transparency in clinical trials related to exercise. This is something that was seen in an analysis that included 103 trials on knee osteoarthritis, where it was found that 6% of the participants suffered direct damage from this exercise. But the most worrying thing is not the number, but the low information: many patients who abandon studies due to pain or discomfort are not classified as “victims of adverse effects”, which generates an artificially high perception of safety. This problem is repeated in oncology, where the motto “exercise is medicine in oncology” live with non-trivial adverse events which have forced us to propose much stricter monitoring systems to protect patients. We pass each other sometimes. The underlying problem in this case is undoubtedly recommending intensive or complex programs without a clear benefit/harm relationship compared to an alternative that is much simpler. But, on the other hand, we also fall into the phenomenon of “quaternary prevention” making medicine focus on avoiding harm from its own interventions. by overmedicalizingnullifying the benefits of physical exercise. The necessary consensus. In this way, the authors who popularized the concept of ‘exercise as medicine’ explicitly recognize that exercise is not without risks. Even the WHO itself In its guides it maintains that inactivity is the greatest population risk, but there is fine print that must be taken into account: Exercise should be ‘prescribed’ starting with a low intensity, and not opt ​​for maximum intensity from the first day. This causes a person who has spent years on a couch to begin to carry a lot of weight, for example, and end up injured. Pain is not always bad, and the patient must be educated so that they see that fatigue from the gym does not have to be medicalized with pills. Patients with cardiac risk must be evaluated to prevent uncontrolled exercise from aggravating the situation. Be supervised. The conclusion in this case is that exercise is obviously necessary and without a doubt it is one of the practices that can prevent the appearance of many diseases. But we always have to be aware of what we do. Loading the body with a large amount of exercise from minute 0 can cause significant injuries or the aggravation of diseases that are already present. In this way, the possibility of being in a gym with trainers who can advise on the progression curve that should be followed can be an interesting idea to have the benefit of exercise without the consequences of doing it aggressively. Images | Jonathan Borba In Xataka | Doing cardio or strength training: for science there is no debate about which is the ideal exercise after 50

There are people obsessed with doing a post-Christmas “detox” based on juices. Your body has something to say about it

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In the era of scroll infinite, the TikTok algorithm seems to have found the potion of eternal youth in 250 milliliter format. One day is the water with lemonother apple cider vinegar and, more recently, the beet shots either beet shots. Under labels like #detox or #guthealth, influencers with millions of followers promise to “cleanse” the body, flatten belly and speed up metabolism with a simple morning gesture. However, behind the careful aesthetics and pseudoscientific jargon, the medicine is forceful: your body is not a room that needs a three-day “cleaning spree”, but a complex system that already knows how to take care of itself if we do not hinder it. The viralization of deception. Behind the fascination with miracle cures operates a multi-billion dollar industry that capitalizes on consumer vulnerability. after the excesses, according to a report in The Washington Post. However, the phenomenon transcends conventional marketing to establish itself on social networks with alarming data: an analysis of Eating Behaviors Magazine on content on TikTok revealed that 97% of videos promoting supplements and dietary products lack any scientific basis. “Microbiota“. This gap between digital popularity and medical evidence evidences a public health problem where misinformation is monetized on a large scale. According to this same study93.6% of content creators do not mention their credentials, and the vast majority of promotions (95.7%) do not even clarify whether they are sponsored by brands. We are literally entrusting our metabolic health to strangers who they use terms as “microbiota” or “low-grade inflammation” to construct an illusion of rigor that sells much more than the boring reality of eating whole vegetables. The “detox” myth. Why do we feel “better” after a juice program? According to expertsit is not because of the mystical properties of celery or cayenne, but because we have stopped consuming ultra-processed foods, added sugars and alcohol for a few days. However, the concept of “detoxifying” the body with fluids is, biologically, nonsense. Dr. Tinsay Woreta maintains that the human body It operates with a highly efficient natural filtration system, where lungs, intestines and kidneys constantly eliminate toxins and pathogens. In tune, Mayo Clinic highlights the lack of scientific evidence on the alleged accumulation of waste requiring external “washing”; On the contrary, the institution warns that extreme cleansing, such as colon cleansing, poses an unnecessary danger that can lead to dehydration, infections or even rectal perforations. What science says (and TikTok remains silent). Far from being harmless, these diets can be counterproductive. According to a study from Northwestern Universityeliminating fiber to consume only juices—even for just three days—drastically alters the oral and fecal microbiome, increasing bacteria linked to inflammation and cognitive decline. Fiber is food for “good” bacteria that produce anti-inflammatory compounds; Without it, sugar-loving bacteria multiply. Even the “king” of home remedies, apple cider vinegar, has fallen from its pedestal. The famous study that supported its benefits for losing weight was retracted due to inconsistencies in the data and statistical errors. The reality is that taking it on an empty stomach can irritate the esophagus and permanently damage the enamel of your teeth. What is the real alternative? If the goal is longevity and liver health, science proposes replacing the “shot” with sustainable habits: Fruit is eaten, not drunk: Longevity expert Peter Diamandis a vital advice: If you like oranges, eat them whole. By juicing, you destroy fiber, which worsens satiety and triggers sugar absorption. Look North: As we obsess over supplements, the “new Nordic diet” is winning the battle to the Mediterranean in some studies. This pattern (based on canola oil, whole grains like rye, and berries) reduces the risk of fatty liver by a staggering 58%. Strength versus fragility: Walking is great for the heart, but to age with autonomythe body needs weights or elastic bands. Strength exercise is the only way to stop sarcopenia (muscle loss) and release myokines, proteins that protect the brain against Alzheimer’s. Be careful with him Protein Chic: The trend of adding protein to everything (coffees, yogurts, bars) is often an unnecessary expense. Dr. Stuart Phillips points out that excess protein It doesn’t build muscle on its own—training does that—and can unnecessarily strain the kidneys and liver. Health has no shortcuts. In short, science suggests that the best “cleanse” is one that is not done intermittently. As the experts consulted by The Washington Post concludea week-long juicing regimen cannot undo the damage of a sedentary lifestyle or a regular poor diet. The next time you watch a video with a magenta liquid promising miracles, remember: your liver is already working at full capacity while you sleep. What he really needs is not a trendy juice, but rather that you give him three days of weekly alcohol rest, a diet rich in fiber and, perhaps, that you stop searching on your cell phone for what can only be found in the market and in the gym. Image | freepik Xataka | We have been obsessed with the Mediterranean diet for decades. Turns out the Nordics had a much better solution

If you want your body to be biologically eight years younger, science has a recipe for you: vegan diet

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We humans have many desire to appear as young as possiblealways seeking eternal youth. This has meant that its search has ceased to be the exclusive terrain of the alchemy to become one of the hottest fields in biotechnology, with many treatments that seek to literally make us younger or even extend our lives. Now, the vegan diet It is at the center of supposed iron health, and science has wanted to verify whether consuming it leads to an increase in the years of life. The twin experiment. Traditionally, doing research on how a person ages has been a problem because of genetics. And comparing two therapies between two people to see if they age more or less quickly makes us wonder if the result is due to the treatment or diet or because one of the members has very good genetics. To eliminate this variable from genetics, science has found the best way to work: use identical twins. In this way, their genetics will be exactly the same and the effect of the intervention we perform will be directly related. The study. They recruited a total of 21 pairs of healthy adult identical twins. One of each pair was assigned a healthy omnivorous diet; on the other, a strict vegan diet. In total, for eight weeks the impact was measured using epigenetic clocks with algorithmic tools that estimate biological age based on in DNA methylation. Methylation is the process by which small chemical groups called methyls are added to certain parts of DNA with the aim of being able to ‘turn genes on or off’, causing some instructions to be read and others not. Something that is related to agingsince it changes over time. The results. In this case, what the researchers saw was very interesting, because despite the short time the diet was maintained, it was found that the vegan group showed significant reductions in estimated biological age. This is something that was seen in decreased DNA methylation in pathways related to inflammation and metabolism. All of this adds up to improvements in fasting insulin and a reduction in LDL cholesterol, leading to better old age. But although everything seems very good, caution was already requested with these results. Because. It’s okay that the vegan diet seems to offer good results, but the big question is why this happens. And the summary tells us that it was not just because they left meat aside, but because they stopped eating in general. This is the most important point, because the vegan group consumed fewer calories simply because the calorie density, and therefore the calorie restriction in the end It is one of the few methods which has been proven to extend life in animal models. This also adds up to weight loss, as the vegan participants lost more weight than their omnivorous counterparts. Critics point out that rapid weight loss can alter epigenetic markers on its own, regardless of the food source. The problem. Although the fact of being on this diet for such a short time and under the study means that longitudinal research is still needed to know if this translates into years of real life gained. And although the biological clock slowed down in this case, researchers warn about the long-term risks of having a poorly planned vegan diet. One of the consequences is the vitamin B12 deficiencyalthough today the supplementation that is done in foods makes this a minor problem. Added sugar. The other culprit of aging and to which we pay less attention. A study published in 2024 I was quite clear about the consequences of its consumption, in some cases without knowing it because we did not read the labels of the foods we consumed. In this case, a study with 242 middle-aged women used epigenetic clocks to measure cellular damage to correlate it with their consumption. The results in this case were quite clear: each extra gram of sugar added was associated with an increase in epigenetic age. However, there is a brake that we find in our Mediterranean diet, which is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. That is why eliminating up to 10 grams of added sugar per day could reverse the biological clock in approximately 2.4 months. The lesson. Scientific literature points out in this case that what matters in food is quality, not just the label. This is why a varied diet with fruits, vegetables or legumes is directly associated with lower mortality and a decrease in chronic diseases. On the contrary, a vegan diet that is based on ultra-processed foods (even if it has very little meat) can be really harmful in the end. Images | Anna Pelzer In Xataka | The truth about intermittent fasting to lose weight: deciding whether its benefits have a scientific basis or are pure hype

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