🥦 Fibre is excellent for gut health, or is it?

The current belief is that fibre is the most essential nutrient for human health.

After all, fibre is fermented in the large intestine, increases stool bulk and its fermentation creates short-chain fatty acids (SCFA).

These SCFA have been linked to many positive health outcomes.

However, these are the same reasons why excess fibre may cause some gut issues.

In excess, fibre can causes constipation because of:

• Increased stool bulk

• Gas formation

• Slower gut transit

• Anal straining due to passing bulky stools

In some studies, eliminating fibre helped relieve constipation caused by lifestyle choices.

And when it comes to SCFA, the amount of SCFAs produced in humans is minimal compared to herbivores. Dairy and animal fats are much richer source of SCFAs.

Fibre is important for overall health. For example, fibre helps slow down the absorption of fats and sugars to better manage blood sugar levels (although not as much as fat). But increasing fibre intake beyond a moderate amount may not be wise choice.

🥊 Punchline

Enjoy fibre for its overall health benefits, but don’t think fibre is the most essential nutrient for human health.

😴 “Caffeine alternative” improves cognitive performance without disturbing sleep

Caffeine is the most consumed stimulant, but its use can cause adverse side-effects, including sleep disturbance.

Theacrine is a by-product from caffeine breakdown in the leaves of various plants

It has a similar chemical structure and stimulates the central nervous system in a similar way to caffeine

This new study investigated the effects of low- (100mg) and high-dose (400mg) theacrine when consumed in the morning (12 h prior to bedtime), afternoon (eight hours prior to bedtime), and evening (four hours prior to bedtime).

No significant effects of low- or high-doses of theacrine were found for sleep at any time point

The high dose of 400mg was found to improve cognitive performance the next morning when consumed in the afternoon, despite a slight small negative impact on sleep when consumed at all time points.

🥊 Punchline

Theacrine may therefore be a strategy to enhance next morning cognitive performance with minimal negative impacts on sleep.

🌞 Vitamin D supplements may lower blood pressure in older people with obesity

Vitamin D deficiency is very common worldwide and has been associated with multiple health issues (e.g. heart disease, immunological diseases).

A new study found that supplementation of vitamin D and calcium may lower blood pressure in older people with obesity.

Supplementation reduced blood systolic blood pressure (the higher reading) by −12 mmHg for systolic blood pressure (the lower reading) by −6 mmHg, which is clinically significant.

This was true for both groups taking either 15 or 94 micrograms of vitamin D per day for 1 year.

Meaning that the high vitamin D doses did not provide additional health benefits.

However, the study has some limitations.

For example, it relied on self-reported food intake (people with obesity tend to underestimate food intake), didn’t track exercise and low vitamin D status may account for the beneficial effect of vitamin D on BP.

🥊 Punchline

Vitamin D and calcium supplementation significantly decreased blood pressure in older people with obesity and high blood pressure, but greater dosage is not necessarily better.