New Hampshire Health News Digest

Food Restriction Increases Dopamine Receptors -- Linked to Pleasure -- In Rats : "A brain-imaging study of genetically obese rats conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provides more evidence that dopamine - a brain chemical associated with reward, pleasure, movement, and motivation - plays a role in obesity. The scientists found that genetically obese rats had lower levels of dopamine D2 receptors than lean rats. They also demonstrated that restricting food intake can increase the number of D2 receptors, partially attenuating a normal decline associated with aging. [...] It's not clear whether reduced receptor levels are a cause or consequence of obesity: Overeating may chronically reduce receptor levels, which, over the long term, could eventually contribute to obesity. But having genetically low receptor levels may also lead to obesity by predisposing the individual to overeating in an attempt to stimulate a "blunted" rewar...

Fructose Sets Table For Weight Gain Without Warning he University of Florida researchers hypothesized that a high-fructose diet could lead to leptin resistance, which in turn could lead to exacerbated weight gain in the face of a high-fat, high-calorie diet, a typical diet in industrialized countries. To test their hypothesis, the research team performed a study with two groups of rats. They fed both groups the same diet, with one important exception: one group consumed a lot of fructose while the other received no fructose. Two groups similar over six months During these six months, there were no differences in food intake, body weight, and body fat between rats on the high-fructose and the rats on the fructose-free diets. In addition, there was no difference between the two groups in the levels of leptin, glucose, cholesterol or insulin found in their blood. There was only one difference at the end of the six months: The rats on the high-fructose diet had higher levels of triglycerid...

Brains Sixth Sense For Calories Discovered In analyzing the brains of the sweet-blind mice, the researchers showed that the animals' reward circuitry was switched on by caloric intake, independent of the animals' ability to taste. Those analyses showed that levels of the brain chemical dopamine, known to be central to activating the reward circuitry, increased with caloric intake. Also, electrophysiological studies showed that neurons in the food-reward region, called the nucleus accumbens, were activated by caloric intake, independent of taste.

Insulin levels affect the brain's dopamine systems Insulin, long known as an important regulator of blood glucose levels, now has a newly appreciated role in the brain. Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, working with colleagues in Texas, have found that insulin levels affect the brain's dopamine systems, which are involved in drug addiction and many neuropsychiatric conditions. In addition to suggesting potential new targets for treating drug abuse, the findings raise questions as to whether improper control of insulin levels - as in diabetes - may impact risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or influence the effectiveness of current ADHD medications. The study, led by Aurelio Galli, Ph.D., in the Center for Molecular Neuroscience and Calum Avison, Ph.D., in the Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), appears online this week in the Public Library of Science Biology (PLoS Biology). [...] The results are some of the first to link insulin status an...

Is ADHD An Advantage For Nomadic Tribesmen? : "A propensity for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might be beneficial to a group of Kenyan nomads, according to new research. Scientists have shown that an ADHD-associated version of the gene DRD4 is associated with better health in nomadic tribesmen, and yet may cause malnourishment in their settled cousins." A study led by Dan Eisenberg, an anthropology graduate student from Northwestern University in the US, analyzed the correlates of body mass index (BMI) and height with two genetic polymorphisms in dopamine receptor genes, in particular the 48 base pair (bp) repeat polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene. The DRD4 gene codes for a receptor for dopamine, one of the chemical messengers used in the brain. According to Eisenberg "this gene is likely to be involved in impulsivity, reward anticipation and addiction". One version of the DRD4 gene, the '7R allele', is believed to be asso...

Failure of magnesium to maintain self-administration in cocaine-naive rats. : "Title: Failure of magnesium to maintain self-administration in cocaine-naive rats. Author: Kantak, K M : Bourg, J F : Lawley, S I Citation: Pharmacol-Biochem-Behav. 1990 May; 36(1): 9-12 Abstract: Previous research has shown that magnesium interacts with cocaine in such a way that it potentiates its action in a variety of behavioral situations. More recently, it has been demonstrated that magnesium will dose dependently substitute for cocaine self-administration and reduce the intake of cocaine. It is of considerable interest to determine if magnesium would be self-administered in cocaine-naive animals. The results of two experiments demonstrate that magnesium is not self-administered by cocaine-naive rats since although responding for magnesium chloride is above hypertonic saline control levels on day 1 of access, this responding is not maintained on subsequent days, does not occur in a regularly space...

I have been reading about magnesium lately! Fascinating stuff. It is low in people with diabetes, ADD, migranes, leg cramps, depression, and more. Low magnesium causes carb cravings. Women having PMS are low in magnesium, and crave chocolate, which is high in magnesium. Lots of calcium drives magnesium out of the body, so balance out your supplements. Coffee, alcohol, stress, diabetes, diuretics and carbs lower magnesium. Healthnotes Newswire: Magnesium Reduces Opiate Dependency and Cocaine Cravings - Medfinds Magnesium Reduces Opiate Dependency and Cocaine Cravings By Darin Ingels, ND Healthnotes Newswire (August 14, 2003)?People addicted to opiate drugs, such as heroin and morphine, may be able to reduce their use by taking oral magnesium, according to a new study in Journal of Addictive Diseases (2003;22:49?61). Magnesium may also help cocaine addicts experience fewer cravings for the drug, although it is not clear that it reduces cocaine use. --------- Mineral deficiencies. In addi...

Immunoendocrine Abnormalities in Narcolepsy Elsevier Article Locator Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder emerging in early adulthood on an HLA-related genetic background. Through unresolved pathways, involving the destruction or silencing of specific cells in the lateral hypothalamus, a deficiency of orexin production occurs. An autoimmune process targeting orexin-producing cells may cause acquired orexin deficiency. Abnormalities in cytokine production reported in narcolepsy unspecifically support this idea, but empirical evidence for a causative role of immunopathology is lacking. Orexin deficiency affects neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems leading to reduced stability of and/or disturbed transitions between wakefulness, REM, and nonREM sleep. However, narcolepsy is rather a complex neuroendocrine disorder rather than a pure sleep disorder because orexin deficiency induces endocrine and metabolic disturbances such as obesity and diabetes.

Cut the Carbs to Stay Awake | Bastyr Center for Natural Health Cut the Carbs to Stay Awake People with narcolepsy, a debilitating nervous-system disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness, may benefit from eating a low-carbohydrate diet, according to a study in Neurology (2004;62:2300–02). People with narcolepsy may have “sleep attacks” that cause them to involuntarily fall asleep during activities. They may also have episodes of paralysis or muscle weakness (such as jaw drop, slurred speech, and buckling of the knees), paralysis while sleeping, and vivid dreams and sounds when they first fall asleep. Symptoms usually start between the ages of 15 and 30 years. While the cause is not fully understood, results of new research suggest that a deficiency of a chemical called hypocretin may be associated with the disease. Hypocretin is a chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) produced in the brain that plays a role in the regulation of sleep and appetite. People with narcolepsy have 85...