Frontline: Heart disease; blindness and gut bacteria; Kundalini yoga

Too Much Niacin May Contribute to Heart Disease

High levels of an essential B vitamin—niacin—may raise the risk of heart disease, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, in February. Scientists were looking for common markers that might reveal new risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and they discovered a substance—4PY—that is found in blood only when there is excess niacin. Niacin is found in many foods, including meat, fish, nuts, and fortified cereals and breads. It can also be taken as a supplement. Niacin is often part of a daily multivitamin, but most people get enough niacin from the food they eat. Prior to the development of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, niacin was commonly prescribed to improve cholesterol levels. That practice is not as popular as it once was. Given that too much niacin may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and most people get enough niacin from the foods they eat, be sure to discuss the use of niacin supplements with your doctor.

Blindness From Some Eye Diseases May Be Caused by Gut Bacteria

Sight loss in certain inherited eye diseases may be caused by harmful gut bacteria, and may be treatable with antibiotics, according to a study published in the journal Cell, in February. The study suggests that the genetic mutation responsible for these inherited eye diseases may relax the body’s defenses, which in turn allows harmful bacteria to reach the eye and cause blindness.

The researchers were investigating the impact of the Crumbs homolog 1 (CBR1) gene, which is associated with inherited eye diseases and helps regulate what flows in and out of the eye. They found that when the gene has a particular mutation that reduces its effect, the barriers in both the retina and the gut can be breached, enabling bacteria in the gut to move through the body and into the eye and leading to lesions in the retina that cause sight loss.

Kundalini Yoga Provides Cognitive Benefits to Women at Risk of Alzheimer’s

Kundalini yoga provides benefits to cognition and memory for women at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, in February. Kundalini yoga focuses on meditation and breathing more than physical poses.

In the study, a group of more than 60 women ages 50 and older who had self-reported memory issues were divided evenly into two groups. The first group participated in Kundalini yoga sessions for 12 weeks, while the other group underwent memory enhancement training. The Kundalini yoga group participants saw several improvements not experienced by the memory training group, including significant improvement in subjective memory complaints.

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