New CABI-led study highlights institutional and policy bottlenecks to Integrated Pest Management in Africa

A new publication led by CABI has highlighted institutional and policy bottlenecks to using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to fight a range of potentially devastating crop pests in Africa

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CABI

 

IMAGE: A FARMER WITH A LOCAL REMEDY TO FIGHT PEST OF MAIZE view more 

CREDIT: CABI

A new publication led by CABI has highlighted institutional and policy bottlenecks to using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to fight a range of potentially devastating crop pests in Africa.

In the paper – published in the journal Current Opinion in Insect Science – the authors say that IPM is essential to achieve sustainability of food systems. But even though there are good examples of IPM delivering both economic and environmental benefits, its uptake is described as “patchy.”

Lead author Dr Roger Day (CABI’s Global Advisor, Plant Health), and a team of researchers from Michigan State University, the University of South Africa, the University of Nairobi and the African Union Commission, identify several areas where policy hinders IPM.

Regional and national agricultural policy often prioritises production and productivity above environmental sustainability. In this policy context, it’s not surprising that synthetic pesticides have become the default pest-control method for many farmers, even though their drawbacks are well-known.

Agricultural research is generally underfunded in Africa, but evidence shows agroecological research, including IPM, is particularly lacking support.  Although demand-led research is increasing, it is still common for research to be undertaken on single solutions to single pests in single crops, rather than looking at agriculture from the farmer’s point of view. Weak policy on intellectual policy can also discourage innovation.

Many factors affect farmers’ uptake of IPM. Farmer training and access to advice is usually necessary, so extension policy affects adoption. IPM is said to be “knowledge intensive”, so face-to-face extension methods are most effective, but they are expensive and extension systems may be poorly funded.

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be beneficial but care needs to be taken to avoid gender bias in the differential access to such technology.

Policies around credit, insurance and subsidy also affect farmers’ choice of pest control method, and the authors note that when Fall Armyworm arrived in Africa, many governments provided free pesticides, so encouraging chemical control.

Food-safety regulations and market standards can incentivise the use of IPM, particularly when there is effective compliance monitoring and capacity to meet the standards, such as in Kenya’s high-value export horticulture.

An important, and sometimes overlooked, policy area affecting IPM is input regulation. Regulatory systems for chemical pesticides, seeds, biopesticides and biological controls can encourage or constrain the adoption of IPM by affecting input availability and cost. 

If lower risk pest control products are as expensive to register as toxic pesticides, there is little incentive to the private sector to register them, especially as they may be more pest-specific and so have smaller market size than broad-spectrum chemicals. Weak regulatory enforcement also depresses the price of traditional pesticides, making it harder for innovative lower risk products to compete.

Finally, the way in which policy is developed can be improved by providing greater opportunity for participation in policy processes by stakeholders, particularly farmers. Research to support agricultural policy in IPM and related areas is often lacking – such as the external costs of chemical pesticides, and even the level of loss that pests cause (see www.croploss.org).

The authors conclude that: “Ultimately, the best chance for securing an enabling policy environment is for IPM to be seen not as a fire-brigade response to a problem, but as a key element of the food-system transformation that is increasingly being called for.”

Additional information

Main image: A farmer with a local remedy to fight pest of maize (Credit: CABI).

Full paper reference

Roger Day, Steven Haggblade, Shadrack Moephuli, Agnes Mwang’ombe, Simplice Nouala, ‘Institutional and policy bottlenecks to IPM,’ Current Opinion in Insect Science, Volume 52, 2022, DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2022.100946.

This paper can be read in full open access here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214574522000815?via%3Dihub

Acknowledgements

CABI is an international intergovernmental organisation, and we gratefully acknowledge the core financial support from our member countries (and lead agencies), including the United Kingdom (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — FCDO), China (Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), Australia (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research), Canada (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Netherlands (Directorate-General for International Cooperation — DGIS) and Switzerland (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation). See https://www.cabi.org/about-cabi/who-we-work-with/key-donors/ for details.

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JOURNAL

Current Opinion in Insect Science

DOI

10.1016/j.cois.2022.100946 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Institutional and policy bottlenecks to IPM

Services combine for homeless solution

Hundreds in secure housing in Australia's first social impact bond for people experiencing chronic homelessness

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

The majority of 575 people in South Australia with a history of chronic homelessness have found stable housing and are well on the way to a better life after three years of intensive support under the ‘Aspire’ program – Australia’s first social impact bond targeting homelessness.

“It’s a gift that I can’t even begin to explain to you,” one participant says, ahead of an event to launch the final evaluation of the program on 1 August 2022.

"Aspire is clearly a successful program which has had a positive impact on so many lives, not just helping people in their moment of crisis but setting them up for the longer term,"  says the South Australian State Premier Peter Malinauskas:

The State Minister for Housing Services Nat Cook says the results show the benefits of intensive wrap-around supports for people who have experienced lengthy or re-current homelessness, complex needs and multiple barriers to housing. “These barriers can be incredibly difficult to overcome, and this report shows what really works in terms of helping people overcome those barriers,” she says.

Flinders University Professor of Social Impact Ian Goodwin-Smith says: “What Aspire shows is that if you stick with people experiencing chronic homelessness and work with them closely, you get great results for people and great results for the community.

“That’s what the evidence shows. That’s what the investment in Aspire has achieved – massive improvements in people’s lives and a significant return on investment in terms of savings to the public purse.”.

The evaluation, by experts from the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University and the University of Western Australia, found many major achievements from the ‘intensive wraparound’ program which included help with securing stable housing and support for trauma, disability, or tri-morbidity issues (co-existing physical, mental health and drug and alcohol issues).

The final report found:

• By June 2021, 369 Aspire participants had secured a tenancy, mostly in public housing, and among those participants, 93% were maintaining their tenancies.
• Participants accessing Specialist Homelessness Services – down 78%; hospital emergency department visits – down 27%; and inpatient stays – down 26%.
• Aspire participants court system interactions – down 70%.
• So far this has led to $8.9m in service costs saved by the South Australian Government.
• Aspire participants’ overall wellbeing scores increased by 15% and they reported improvements in their interpersonal relationships and community connections.
• Another indicator of enhanced wellbeing was that participants recorded significant reductions in their access to hospital services for mental health and alcohol/drug related issues.

“Some of the Aspire participants said no other program had worked for them, and they had lost all hope by the time they came to the program,” says Flinders University research fellow Dr Veronica Coram.

“However, the final report finds Aspire was a life-changer for many participants who avoided continued rough sleeping, jail or hospitalisation, and whose health and wellbeing would otherwise have declined further.”

The average Aspire participant was a 39-year-old male who, on entry to the program, had been without stable housing for more than three years and was experiencing tri-morbidity issues.

Aspire’s success is largely attributable to its long duration, its capacity to provide flexible and holistic supports addressing multiple life domains, and the strong levels of trust and respect participants form with their case navigators.

“What Aspire has done for so many people is to give them the sustained support they needed to maintain a stable tenancy and achieve the dignity of having their own home, secure employment and undertake education,” says Ian Cox, who leads the Office for Homelessness Sector Integration at the SA Housing Authority.

Aspire was made possible by a strong, cross-sectoral collaborative partnership between multiple SA Government agencies, the Hutt St Centre and housing providers, Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and private investors.

The benefits of providing wrap-around services has given participants a sense of purpose and the confidence to live with more certainty, says Hutt St Centre CEO Chris Burns.

“By providing wrap-around services we can lessen the demands on our health and hospital services, correctional services and on social services including emergency accommodation. It has also given our participants a sense of purpose and the confidence to live with more certainty.”

Social impact bonds (SIBs), which were pioneered in Australia by Social Ventures Australia, involve private investors financing the delivery of social service programs, with governments repaying the investors when positive outcomes are achieved.

Social Ventures Australia CEO Suzie Riddell says: “SVA’s vision is for an Australia where all people and communities can thrive and we’re delighted that the Aspire SIB has made a lasting difference to hundreds of people experiencing persistent homelessness in Adelaide,” says Ms Riddell.

“We design SIBs to generate very high quality evidence about whether a program works, as well as show how governments can save money across departments – including health, housing and justices – by investing in high-quality programs that can change lives.

“We know that this SIB and the evaluation will contribute to the growing evidence base for intensive ‘housing first’ approaches, with sustained wraparound support for people experiencing homelessness which can be used to create impact at an even greater scale,” she says.

Evaluation of the Aspire Social Impact Bond: Final Report (2022) by V Coram, L Lester, S Tually, M Kyron, K McKinley, P Flatau and I Goodwin-Smith from the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University and Centre for Social Impact, University of Western Australia is available online here: https://doi.org/10.25916/202z-ey67 

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DOI

10.25916/202z-ey67 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Evaluation of the Aspire Social Impact Bond: Final Report

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Jul-2022

New study finds global forest area per capita has decreased by over 60%

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IOP PUBLISHING

Over the past 60 years, the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares, a loss that contributed to the more than 60% decline in global forest area per capita. This loss threatens the future of biodiversity and impacts the lives of 1.6 billion people worldwide, according to a new study published today by IOP Publishing in the journal Environmental Research Letters. 

A team of researchers, led by Ronald C. Estoque from the Center for Biodiversity and Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) in Japan, have found that the global forest area has declined by 81.7 million hectares from 1960 to 2019, equivalent to an area of more than 10% of the entire Borneo Island, with gross forest loss (437.3 million hectares) outweighing gross forest gain (355.6 million hectares).  

The team used global land use dataset to examine how global forests have changed over space and time. Consequently, the decline in global forests combined with the increase in global population over the 60-year period has resulted in a decrease of the global forest area per capita by over 60%, from 1.4 hectares in 1960 to 0.5 hectares in 2019. 

The authors explain, “the continuous loss and degradation of forests affect the integrity of forest ecosystems, reducing their ability to generate and provide essential services and sustain biodiversity. It also impacts the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, who depend on forests for various purposes.”  

The results also revealed that the change in the spatiotemporal pattern of global forests supports the forest transition theory, with forest losses occurring primarily in the lower-income countries in the tropics and forest gains in the higher-income countries in the extratropics. Ronald C. Estoque, the lead author of the study, explains, “despite this spatial pattern of forest loss occurring primarily in the less developed countries, the role of more developed nations in this said forest loss also needs to be studied more deeply. With the strengthening of forest conservation in more developed countries, forest loss is displaced to the less developed countries, especially in the tropics.” 

“Today, monitoring of the world’s forests is an integral part of various global environmental and social initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. To help achieve the goals of these initiatives, there is a profound need to reverse, or at least flatten, the global net forest loss curve by conserving the world’s remaining forests and restoring and rehabilitating degraded forest landscapes,” the authors further explain. 

ENDS 

About Environmental Research Letters 

Environmental Research Letters is an open access journal published by society publisher, IOP Publishing. The journal covers high-quality research in all areas of environmental science. All submissions are expected to meet a high standard of scientific rigour and contribute to advancing knowledge in the field.  

 

About IOP Publishing  
IOP Publishing is a society-owned scientific publisher, delivering impact, recognition, and value to the scientific community. Its mission is to expand the world of physics, offering a portfolio of journals, eBooks, conference proceedings and science news resources globally. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit society, IOP Publishing supports the Institute’s work to inspire people to develop their knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of physics. Go to http://ioppublishing.org or follow us @IOPPublishing.    

IOP Publishing contact: juliet.hannay@ioppublishing.org 

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JOURNAL

Environmental Research Letters

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/ac7df5 

ARTICLE TITLE

Spatiotemporal pattern of global forest change over the past 60 years and the forest transition theory

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Aug-2022

IF EATEN DAILY

Study: How red meat's digested may help explain heart risks

By Judy Packer-Tursman

New research suggests gut microbes may cause part of the higher risk of cardiovascular disease from eating red meat. 

Photo by Engin_Akyurt/Pixabay

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- New research suggests chemicals produced in the digestive tract by gut microbes may help explain the higher risk of cardiovascular disease from a diet of steak and hamburgers.

This flies in the face of most scientific studies on the harmful effects of red meat on heart health, which have focused on dietary saturated fat and blood cholesterol levels.

The study was published Monday in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, the American Heart Association's peer-reviewed journal.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Nationwide, nearly 700,000 people died from it in 2020, accounting for 1 in every 5 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, increases with age. But experts say heart health may be improved by lifestyle factors such as regular exercise, good sleep, healthy body weight -- and eating healthy foods.

Meng Wang, the study's co-lead author, told UPI in an email that the new evidence reinforces longstanding American Heart Association recommendations that Americans should limit their intake of red meat and processed meat to reduce heart disease risk.

According to Wang, a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, the new research "helps us better understand why meat intake [is] associated with a higher cardiovascular risk."

Previous research has found that certain metabolites -- chemical byproducts of food digestion -- are associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, a news release said.

One such metabolite is TMAO, or trimethylamine N-oxide, which is produced by gut bacteria to digest red meat and contains high amounts of the chemical L-carnitine .

However, the extent to which TMAO and related metabolites derived from L-carnitine may contribute to cardiovascular risk associated with red meat consumption is unclear.

So, the researchers measured levels of the metabolites in blood samples, and also examined whether blood sugar, inflammation, blood pressure and blood cholesterol may account for elevated cardiovascular risk associated with red meat consumption.

According to Wang, "The novel set of metabolites generated by our gut microbes, as well as pathways related to blood sugar and general inflammation, appeared to explain much of this elevated risk -- more so than blood cholesterol or blood pressure."

These findings suggest that when making dietary recommendations, "it may be less important to focus on saturated fat or cholesterol content in red meat," Wang said. "Other components like L-carnitine and heme iron in red meat may play a more important role and need to be better studied."

Wang said in a press release that, based on the study's findings, "novel interventions may be helpful to target the interactions between red meat and the gut microbiome to help us find ways to reduce cardiovascular risk."

One example of "novel interventions," she explained to UPI, is "medications to inhibit the generation of TMAO-related metabolites. It could potentially be used in people with high TMAO levels."

Could this result in a person taking a pill along with their steak in the future?

Said Wang, "Theoretically what you described is possible. However, I would say that following healthy eating behaviors is still an important first step to reduce cardiovascular risk, since it is safer and likely also more cost-effective compared to medications and can be applied to everyone."

She added: "Medications are usually used when lifestyle modifications alone cannot successfully manage the risk."

Study participants included nearly 4,000 of 5,888 adults initially recruited more than three decades ago for the Cardiovascular Health Study: federally funded research looking at risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults aged 65 or older.

Participants' average age was 73, nearly two-thirds were female, and 88% self-identified as white.

Over the course of the study, participants provided blood samples and answered questionnaires about their dietary habits.

For the new study, the researchers compared the risk of cardiovascular disease among participants who ate different amounts of animal source foods, including red meat, processed meat, fish, chicken and eggs.

They found that eating more meat, especially red meat and processed meat, was linked to a higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a 22% higher risk for about every 1.1 servings per day, the release said.

The scientists said the increase in TMAO and related metabolites found in the blood explained roughly one-tenth of this elevated risk.

They also noted that blood sugar and inflammation appear to be more important in linking red meat intake and cardiovascular disease than pathways related to blood cholesterol or blood pressure.

And the researchers concluded that eating fish, poultry and eggs was not significantly linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Wang noted the significance of having older adults participate in the study, though the findings may not apply to populations that are younger or more racially diverse.

She said "there haven't been many studies of animal source food intake and cardiovascular disease specifically focusing on this age group. So our study provides an important piece of evidence for older adults."

Christopher Gardner, chair of the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee, told UPI in an email these findings "won't change anything for the vegan or vegetarian, other than further reinforcing their convictions and practices."

Gardner, professor of medicine at Stanford University and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said he will assume "the committed carnivore will brush this off as sounding too complex to move them to make a change."

However, the nutrition scientist said he thinks the target audience for this new finding is "the many people" who are considering eating less red meat.

"Maybe this is the added finding that convinces the on-the-fence flexitarian that despite some of the misinformation campaigns and social media confusion created around saturated fat, cholesterol, and fiber ... there is yet another scientifically plausible explanation for harm to health from red meat, published in a peer-reviewed, high-impact medical journal," Gardner said.

Research links red meat intake, gut microbiome, and cardiovascular disease in older adults

Microbiome-related metabolites like TMAO, as well as blood sugar and general inflammation, appear more important than blood cholesterol or blood pressure in mediating heart disease risk

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Does eating more meat—especially red meat and processed meat—raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and if so, why? Despite intense study, the impact of animal source foods on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is vigorously debated, and the mechanisms underlying potential effects of animal proteins remain unclear. Understanding the impacts of meat consumption is particularly important in older adults, because they are the most vulnerable to heart disease yet may benefit from intake of protein to offset age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. 

Over the years, scientists have investigated the relationship between heart disease and saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, sodium, nitrites, and even high-temperature cooking, but evidence supporting many of these mechanisms has not been robust. Recent evidence suggests that the underlying culprits may include specialized metabolites created by our gut bacteria when we eat meat. 

A new study led by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute quantifies the risk of ASCVD associated with meat intake and identifies underlying biologic pathways that may help explain this risk. The study of almost 4,000 U.S. men and women over age 65 shows that higher meat consumption is linked to higher risk of ASCVD—22 percent higher risk for about every 1.1 serving per day—and that about 10 percent of this elevated risk is explained by increased levels of three metabolites produced by gut bacteria from nutrients abundant in meat. Higher risk and interlinkages with gut bacterial metabolites were found for red meat but not poultry, eggs, or fish. 

The study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB) on August 1, is the first to investigate the interrelationships between animal source foods and risk of ASCVD events, and the mediation of this risk by gut microbiota-generated compounds as well as by traditional ASCVD risk pathways such as blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar. 

The research drew on years of data from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a long-term observational study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Americans age 65 and older. Several blood biomarkers were measured at baseline and again during follow-up, including levels of the gut-microbiome generated trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and two of its key intermediates, gamma-butyrobetaine and crotonobetaine, derived from L-carnitine, abundant in red meat. 

Highlights 

• In this community-based cohort of older U.S. men and women, higher intakes of unprocessed red meat, total meat (unprocessed red meat plus processed meat), and total animal source foods were prospectively associated with a higher incidence of ASCVD during a median follow-up of 12.5 years. 
• The positive associations with ASCVD were partly mediated (8-11 percent of excess risk) by plasma levels of TMAO, gamma-butyrobetaine, and crotonobetaine. 
• The higher risk of ASCVD associated with meat intake was also partly mediated by levels of blood glucose and insulin and, for processed meats, by systematic inflammation but not by blood pressure or blood cholesterol levels. 
• Intakes of fish, poultry, and eggs were not significantly associated with ASCVD. 

“These findings help answer long-standing questions on mechanisms linking meats to risk of cardiovascular diseases,” said the paper’s co-first author Meng Wang, a post-doctoral fellow at the Friedman School. “The interactions between red meat, our gut microbiome, and the bioactive metabolites they generate seem to be an important pathway for risk, which creates a new target for possible interventions to reduce heart disease.” 

The 3,931 study subjects were followed for a median of 12.5 years, and their average age at baseline was 73. The study adjusted for established risk factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, physical activity, other dietary habits, and many additional risk factors. 

“Interestingly, we identified three major pathways that help explain the links between red and processed meat and cardiovascular disease—microbiome-related metabolites like TMAO, blood glucose levels, and general inflammation—and each of these appeared more important than pathways related to blood cholesterol or blood pressure,” said co-senior author, Dariush Mozaffarian, dean for policy at the Friedman School. “This suggests that, when choosing animal-source foods, it’s less important to focus on differences in total fat, saturated fat, or cholesterol, and more important to better understand the health effects of other components in these foods, like L-carnitine and heme iron.” 

By leveraging extensive clinical and dietary data among a large elderly community, the research “links the gut microbial TMAO pathway to animal source foods and heightened atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risks,” said co-senior author Stanley L. Hazen, section head of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation at Cleveland Clinic. “The study also argues for dietary efforts as a means of reducing that risk, since dietary interventions can significantly lower TMAO.”

More study is needed to determine if the findings are generalizable across ages and nationalities. The authors also noted that while microbiome biomarkers were directly measured in the blood, the dietary habits of study participants were self-reported, and study findings are observational and cannot prove cause-and-effect. 

Ahmed Hasan, a medical officer and program director in the Atherothrombosis & Coronary Artery Disease Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the NIH, agrees. “While more studies are needed, the current reports provide a potential new target for preventing or treating heart disease in a subgroup of people who consume excessive amounts of red meat,” said Hasan, who was not a part of the study. 

For now, consumers are encouraged to follow current recommendations for a heart-healthy lifestyle, including adapting a healthy diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and other heart-healthy foods, NHLBI’s Hasan said. Other heart-healthy lifestyle changes also include aiming for a healthy weight, managing stress, managing blood pressure, getting more exercise, getting adequate sleep, and quitting smoking, he added.

Higher Levels of TMAO, Related Metabolites Linked to Higher Risk of Death

The ATVB study is part of ongoing collaboration among scientists at the Friedman School and Cleveland Clinic to uncover the role that the gut microbiome plays in human health, especially cardiovascular health. In a paper in JAMA Network Open in May, many of the same researchers reported that TMAO and related metabolites in older adults are positively associated with a higher risk of death whether deaths were related to cardiovascular disease or another disease. Participants with the highest levels of plasma TMAO and its biomarkers had a 20 to 30 percent higher risk of death compared with those having the lowest levels. 

This study included more than 5,000 participants from the CHS. Findings were notable because there have been few studies of TMAO and risk of death in the general population; previous research typically looked at clinical patients with underlying conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease. While identified risk factors are concerning, the good news is that TMAO levels are potentially modifiable. “Now that we know more about the severity of risks associated with TMAO, we can explore effective approaches to change these levels in the body,” said the paper’s co-first author, Amanda Fretts of the University of Washington Department of Epidemiology.

Both the ATVB and JAMA Network Open studies support the importance of the microbiome and specific metabolites to human health, with the ATVB paper specifically linking the gut microbiome with meat intake, and impacts on heart health. 

On the ATVB paper, Zeneng Wang of Cleveland Clinic was co-first author. On the JAMA Network Open paper, Hazen was co-first author; Rozenn Lemaitre of the University of Washington and Mozaffarian were co-senior authors. Work was supported by awards from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01HL135920, R01HL103866, and R01HL130819). Complete information on authors, funders, and conflicts of interest is available in the published papers. 

DISCLAIMER: This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. 

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JOURNAL

Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology

DOI

10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.316533 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Dietary Meat, Trimethylamine N-Oxide-Related Metabolites, and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Aug-2022

COI STATEMENT

D. Mozaffarian reports research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Vail Innovative Global Research, and Kaiser Permanente; personal fees from Acasti Pharma, Barilla, Danone, and Motif FoodWorks; scientific advisory board, Beren Therapeutics, Brightseed, Calibrate, Discern Dx, Elysium Health, Filtricine, HumanCo, January Inc, Perfect Day, Tiny Organics, and (ended) Day Two and Season Health; stock ownership in Calibrate and HumanCo; and chapter royalties from UpToDate. Z. Wang and S.L. Hazen report being named as coinventor on pending and issued patents held by the Cleveland Clinic relating to cardiovascular diagnostics and therapeutics. S.L. Hazen also reports being a paid consultant for Zehna Therapeutics and having received research funds from Procter & Gamble, Zehna Therapeutics and Roche Diagnostics. Z. Wang and S.L. Hazen report being eligible to receive royalty payments for inventions or discoveries related to cardiovascular diagnostics or therapeutics from Cleveland Heart Lab, and Procter & Gamble, and S.L. Hazen from Zehna Therapeutics. B.M. Psaty serves on the Steering Committee of the Yale Open Data Access Project funded by Johnson & Johnson. The other authors report no conflicts.

Increased heart disease risk from red meat may stem from gut microbe response to digestion

ATVB News release

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

DALLAS, August 1, 2022 — Chemicals produced in the digestive tract by gut microbes after eating red meat may help explain part of the higher risk of cardiovascular disease associated with red meat consumption, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s peer-reviewed journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB).

In the United States and around the world, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. While the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, increases with age, other risk factors are influenced by lifestyle. Lifestyle and behaviors that are known to improve cardiovascular health include eating healthy foods, especially fruits and vegetables; regular physical activity; obtaining sufficient sleep; maintaining a healthy body weight; stopping smoking; and controlling high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.

“Most of the focus on red meat intake and health has been around dietary saturated fat and blood cholesterol levels,” said co-lead author of the study Meng Wang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston. “Based on our findings, novel interventions may be helpful to target the interactions between red meat and the gut microbiome to help us find ways to reduce cardiovascular risk.”

Previous research has found that certain metabolites — chemical byproducts of food digestion — are associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease . One of these metabolites is TMAO, or trimethylamine N-oxide, which is produced by gut bacteria to digest red meat that contains high amounts of the chemical L-carnitine .

High blood levels of TMAO in humans may be associated with higher risks of CVD, chronic kidney disease and Type 2 diabetes. However, whether TMAO and related metabolites derived from L-carnitine may help explain the effects of red meat intake on cardiovascular risk, and to what extent they may contribute to cardiovascular risk associated with meat consumption, are still unknown.

To understand these questions, the researchers conducting this study measured levels of the metabolites in blood samples. They also examined whether blood sugar, inflammation, blood pressure and blood cholesterol may account for the elevated cardiovascular risk associated with red meat consumption.

Study participants included nearly 4,000 of the 5,888 adults initially recruited from 1989 to 1990 for the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). The participants selected for the current study were free of clinical cardiovascular disease at time of enrollment in the CHS, an observational study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults aged 65 or older. The CHS follows 5,888 participants recruited from four communities: Sacramento, California; Hagerstown, Maryland; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The average age of participants at enrollment was 73, nearly two-thirds of participants were female and 88% of participants self-identified as white. The median follow-up time for participants was 12.5 years, and up to 26 years in some cases.  At follow-up appointment, participants’ medical history, lifestyle, health conditions and sociodemographic characteristics — such as household income, education and age — were assessed.

Several blood biomarkers were measured at the start of the study and again in 1996-1997. The fasting blood samples stored frozen at -80 ˚C were tested for levels of several gut-microbiome linked to red meat consumption including TMAO, gamma-butyrobetaine and crotonobetaine.

Additionally, all study participants answered two validated food-frequency questionnaires about their usual dietary habits, including intake of red meat, processed meat, fish, poultry and eggs, at the start of the study and again from 1995 to 1996. For the first questionnaire, participants indicated how often, on average in the previous 12 months, they had eaten given amounts of various foods, ranging from “never” to “almost every day or at least five times per week,” based on medium portion sizes, which varied based on the food source. The second questionnaire used a ten-category frequency of average intake over the past 12 months, ranging from “never or less than once per month” to “six+ servings per day,” with defined standard portion sizes.

For the current analyses, the researchers compared the risk of cardiovascular disease among participants who ate different amounts of animal source foods (i.e., red meat, processed meat, fish, chicken and eggs). They found that eating more meat, especially red meat and processed meat, was linked to a higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease - a 22% higher risk for about every 1.1 serving per day .

According to the authors, the increase in TMAO and related metabolites found in the blood explained roughly one-tenth of this elevated risk. They also noted that blood sugar and general inflammation pathways may help explain the links between red meat intake and cardiovascular disease. Blood sugar and inflammation also appear to be more important in linking red meat intake and cardiovascular disease than pathways related to blood cholesterol or blood pressure. Intake of fish, poultry and eggs were not significantly linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Research efforts are needed to better understand the potential health effects of L-carnitine and other substances in red meat such as heme iron, which has been associated with Type 2 diabetes, rather than just focusing on saturated fat,” Wang said. 

The study had several limitations that may have affected its results. The study was observational, meaning it could not control for all risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and may not prove cause and effect between meat consumption and cardiovascular disease or its mediation by gut microbe-generated chemicals. Additionally, food consumption was self-reported, so errors in reporting were possible. And, as most of the study participants were older, white men and women in the United States, the findings may not apply to populations that are younger or more racially diverse.

The co-lead author is  Zeneng Wang, Ph.D. Co-authors are Yujin Lee, Ph.D.; Heidi T.M. Lai, Ph.D.; Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, Ph.D.; Rozenn N. Lemaitre, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Amanda Fretts, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Nona Sotoodehnia, M.D., M.P.H.; Matthew Budoff, M.D.; Joseph A. DiDonato, Ph.D.; Barbara McKnight, Ph.D.; W. H. Wilson Tang, M.D.; Bruce M. Psaty, M.D., Ph.D.; David S. Siscovick, M.D., M.P.H.; Stanley L. Hazen, M.D., Ph.D.; and Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.Ph. Authors’ disclosures are listed in the manuscript.

The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, with additional support from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute on Aging.

Studies published in the American Heart Association’s scientific journals are peer-reviewed. The statements and conclusions in each manuscript are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers and the Association’s overall financial information are available here. 

Additional Resources:

• After August 1, view the manuscript online : https://newsroom.heart.org/news/increased-heart-disease-risk-from-red-meat-may-stem-from-gut-microbe-response-to-digestion?preview=0fd5e9bc554d43ed9d4b5619a314bab3
• AHA news release: Eating protein from a greater variety of sources may lower risk of high blood pressure (April 2022)
• AHA news release: Eating more plant foods may lower heart disease risk in young adults, older women (August 2021)
• AHA Scientific Statement: 2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association  (November 2021)
• Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews
• Follow news from the AHA’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB) journal @atvbahajournals

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public’s health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

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JOURNAL

Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology

DOI

10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.316533 

POSTMODERN ALCHEMY

NUS study: Black cardamom effective against lung cancer cells

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

NUS researchers embarked on a scientific study of black cardamom, a spice used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, as a source of potent bioactive compounds that are effective against lung cancer cells. view more
Credit: National University of Singapore

The main challenges associated with existing lung cancer drugs are severe side effects and drug resistance. There is hence a constant need to explore new molecules for improving the survival rate and quality of life of lung cancer patients.

In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, black cardamom has been used in formulations to treat cancer and lung conditions. A team of researchers from the NUS Faculty of Science, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and NUS College of Design and Engineering studied the scientific basis behind this traditional medicinal practice and provided evidence of the cytotoxic effect of black cardamom on lung cancer cells. The research highlighted the spice as a source of potent bioactives, such as cardamonin and alpinetin, which could be used in the treatment or prevention of lung cancer. The study is the first to report the association of black cardamom extract with oxidative stress induction in lung cancer cells, and compare the spice’s effects on lung, breast and liver cancer cells.

The findings could potentially lead to the discovery of safe and effective new bioactives which can prevent or cure cancer formation. The research was first published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in December 2021.

Delving into the science behind Ayurveda

The research provides the verification of ethnomedical uses of black cardamom for its effect on lung-related conditions. Black cardamom is typically used in Asian households in rice preparations, curries and stews either as a whole spice or in powdered form. The spice is also prescribed in Indian Ayurvedic medicine in powder form where it is used for conditions such as cough, lung congestion, pulmonary tuberculosis, and throat diseases. In addition, black cardamom has been used in medicine formulations for cancer patients in some rural and tribal cultures in India.

In the NUS study, black cardamom fruits were powdered and sequentially extracted with five types of solvents, including organic solvents and water. This allowed the researchers to evaluate the best solvents to extract the most potent actives in the fruit. The various types of black cardamom extracts were then tested for their cytotoxicity against several types of cancer cells. These included cancer cells from the lung, liver and breast. Among the three types of cells, lung cancer cells were least likely to survive when tested with the black cardamom extracts.

“The study lays the foundation for further study on whether consuming black cardamom can prevent, or help as a therapeutic for, lung cancer. Previous research papers on black cardamom’s effects on cancer were preliminary and did not link research findings with the use of black cardamom in traditional medicine. There was also not enough screening done using different cancer cells to understand which cancer cells were most responsive to black cardamom extracts,” said Pooja Makhija, a doctoral student from the Department of Chemistry at NUS Faculty of Science.

The sequential extraction method using hexane followed by dichloromethane produced a black cardamom extract that was most effective against lung cancer cells. Dichloromethane extract treated cells were found to be killed mainly by apoptotic pathway where the measure of live cells, dropped to less than an average of about 20 percent after 48 hours of contact with the black cardamom extracted using dichloromethane. Cell death was caused by apoptosis with cells displaying morphological changes, such as shape distortion and shrinkage, increased oxidative stress, and a failure in DNA damage repair.

After running the black cardamom extract though liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, the researchers linked the presence of two well-researched bioactives, cardamonin and alpinetin, to the cytotoxic potential of black cardamom.

“With black cardamom being commonly used as an important spice in cooking, further in-depth investigation about its impact on lung cancer progression in the pre-clinical models can provide strong evidence in support of the “food as medicine” philosophy of Hippocrates that has been neglected to great extent in the present day,” said Associate Professor Gautam Sethi from the Department of Pharmacology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, who was a collaborator for the research.

Potential applications for cancer research

“The black cardamom extract used in the study can potentially be used to isolate and identify more novel chemical compounds that can be effective against cancer cells. These new actives could then undergo cellular, pre-clinical and clinical testing for further development into drugs for treating cancer,” said co-principal investigator Adjunct Associate Professor Bert Grobben from Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management at the NUS College Design of Engineering.

Āyurveda and Alchemy – Fontana Editore

Monkeypox: New agents to combat a dangerous pathogen

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

The coronavirus pandemic is far from over, and already another virus is causing a stir: “International outbreak of monkeypox” was the cry in the media a few weeks ago, followed by daily headlines along the lines of “first case of monkeypox in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin and so on”. Subsequent reports, like that of Bavaria’s public broadcasting service Bayerischer Rundfunk – “Study: monkeypox pathogen mutates faster than expected” – or that of the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel – “Doctor says of monkeypox: ‘We have gone past the point in time where the virus could still have been stopped completely’”, did nothing to calm the situation.

And at the latest since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries an "emergency of international concern" on 23 July, it should be clear to everyone: Viruses can cross species barriers at any time and cause novel diseases, known as zoonoses, in humans. In extreme cases, they can even trigger another pandemic.

Innovative approaches to drug development

Given this context, it seems more than fitting that the University of Würzburg (JMU) is now launching a new research project that deals with this very topic. “A structure-based approach to combat zoonotic poxviruses” is its title.

This project, with funding of around EUR 700,000 from the Volkswagen Foundation, is headed by Professor Utz Fischer, Chair of Biochemistry at JMU, and his colleague Dr Clemens Grimm. Also on board is Intana Bioscience GmbH, a biotech company based near Munich with a special interest in the development of new agents. Poxviruses are the focus of this project.

Poxviruses carry a high risk potential

“We know that animals carry many types of viruses in their organism that can pose a threat to humans,” says Utz Fischer. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict which of them will be the next to make the jump across species barriers. However, it is clear that some viruses have a higher potential than others and are therefore more threatening to humanity, with poxviruses right at the top of this list. The aim of the project is therefore to conceive new approaches to developing novel drugs against pox pathogens. To this end, the scientists are looking for substances that interfere with the viral transcription process and thus prevent the viruses from multiplying.

Fischer and his team can draw on findings that they presented to the public last autumn. “We succeeded in visualising the poxviral gene expression machinery at the atomic level,” explains the biochemist. These studies therefore allow to observe how the molecular machinery acts when the virus multiplies. The images show in detail how the players involved operate during the early phase of transcription. The short videos can be seen on the university's YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ij9iFks-NE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPHGoHxsAOA

An approach that can also be applied to swine fever

With the search for agents that can inhibit these molecular machines, the team can exploit a special circumstance: While many viruses draw extensively on the biochemical resources of the host cell for their multiplication, poxviruses encode their own molecular machinery in their genome for this purpose. Important components of this machinery are two enzymes: DNA polymerase, which multiplies the viral genes, and RNA polymerase, which transcribes the viral genes into mRNA.

This unique replication strategy offers the opportunity to search for inhibitors of key viral complexes and enzymes that attack at this exact point and thus spare the host cells, ideally making them free from side effects. Should the team succeed in identifying and designing such molecules, they might even kill two birds with one stone: “Because the transcription machineries of Poxviridae and Asfarviridae are highly similar, our research is also likely to be of relevance for the economically highly threatening Asfarvirus-linked swine fever disease,” says Fischer.

Technical progress helps the research

What is most helpful to the scientists in their work are technical advances. One of these is a significant increase in the resolution of cryo-electron microscopic images. With this technology, samples are “flash-frozen” to temperatures of up to minus 180 degrees Celsius. This is what makes it possible to examine biological molecules and complexes in solution and to reconstruct their three-dimensional structure on the scale of atoms.

The JMU has had a suitable electron microscope for many years. “Many medically relevant target molecules are therefore becoming the focus of drug design. We will use this technology alongside established methods to identify molecules that target the special structures of poxviruses and disrupt their multiplication,” explains Clemens Grimm, who carries out structural biology analyses at the department.

Indeed, the scientists involved are optimistic that they will succeed over the coming years in defining a number of chemical compounds that can serve as a kind of guiding structure for the subsequent development of a pharmaceutical product.

Poxviruses are a threat for several reasons

It is, of course, a coincidence that the research team is starting its work at the same time as this outbreak of monkeypox – the application was written months ago. But what is not a coincidence is that the scientists are focusing on poxviruses. After all, these pose a potential threat to humanity for various reasons. For one thing, there are currently very few antiviral drugs available, and these often display very limited potency.

In addition, while there is effective protection against pox infection in the form of vaccination, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox eradicated in 1980, the corresponding vaccination campaigns were terminated in the ensuing years. Since then, herd immunity to poxviruses has been noticeably dwindling in humans. It is no wonder that a recent study ranks the monkeypox virus as one of the most threatening viruses because of the risk of infecting humans, adapting to its new host through mutations and then spreading exponentially.