● The World Health Organization notes that the risk of dementia is lowered when people follow a nutritious diet and limit their alcohol intake.
● The Alzheimer’s Society acknowledges that a diet rich in fruits, grains and vegetables and low in meat and sugar, may help to reduce the risk of developing the disease.
● Research also suggests that a diet high in plant foods can reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer, all of which are common causes of death among elderly people.
● “While some people may be tempted to believe that veganism is a diet for young people, the fact is that there are many benefits to eating vegan foods for seniors,” registered dietician Amber Dixon, MPH - who is also a geriatric nurse and founder of Elderly Guides, a platform that provides health resources for seniors and their families- says.
● She reiterated that it may reduce the risk of dementia, as well as help people to maintain their weight, “Eating vegan means that you will be getting plenty of fiber and complex carbohydrates,” she notes which helps you feel fuller longer and helps to regulate blood sugar levels.” She further notes that eating this way leads to optimal health.
Starbucks
● Starbucks invested $1 Billion dollars in AI technology to help it to develop a vegan breakfast sandwich.
● Starbucks announced its partnership with San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research laboratory SnackGPT to “leverage the trillions of machine-driven computations needed to help us finally figure out how to create a vegan sandwich for Starbucks.”
E.Coli
● E.coli found in meat may be responsible for more than 500,000 cases of UTIs in the US, each year, according to research published in the scientific journal, One Health, the study examined a strain of bacteria called FZECs (Food Borne Zoonotic E.Coli)
● The team of scientists, led by Lance Price and Cindy Liu from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, developed a new genomic approach for tracking origins of E. coli infections and strains.
● Using this method, the team estimated that between 480,000 and 640,000 UTIs in the US each year may be caused by foodborne E. coli.
● E. coli can live in and infect people and animals, including animals raised for meat. When the animals are slaughtered for food, the bacteria that inhabits their guts - including E. coli - can contaminate the meat products and put people at risk for exposure.
● Data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that a majority of raw meat products are contaminated with E. coli. Currently only specific types of diarrhea causing E. coli are monitored in the US, but this new research suggests that other strains may also pose serious health risks.
● “We’re used to the idea that foodborne E. coli can cause outbreaks of diarrhea, but the concept of foodborne E. coli causing UTIs seems strange, until you recognize that raw meat is often riddled with the E. coli strains that cause these infections,” Price, professor of environmental and occupational health and the founder of the GWU Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, said in a statement.
● In this study, the researchers collected raw chicken, turkey and pork purchased from major grocery store chains in Flagstaff, AZ and isolated E. coli from the meat samples.
● At the same time, the researchers collected urine and blood E. coli isolates from the patients hospitalized for UTIs at Northern Healthcare’s Flagstaff Medical Center.
● The team analyzed the genomes of E. coli from meat and those from patients. The team identified segments of E. coli DNA unique to strains that colonize food animals rather than humans, then they developed a new predictive model to differentiate E. coli from the two sources.
● This team used this new predictive model to look at all E. coli sequence types and showed that about 8 % of E. coli UTIs in the Flagstaff area could be attributed to meat.
● The foodborne E. coli strains identified in the current study not only were associated with UTIs, but also capable of leading to serious kidney and bloodstream infections and can be deadly. It is estimated that between 36,000 and 40,000 people in the US die of UTI bloodstream infections each year.
Vegan Meds
● Pharmacists at VeganMed are on a mission to help patients by identifying and certifying animal-free medications, supplements, and health products.
● Sachin Shah, PharmD, FACC, FAHA, CEO and founder of VeganMed says that 3 out of 4 medications contain animal derived ingredients, even though they don’t necessarily need to be sourced from animals.
● The article noted that up to 50% of supplements contain animal products.