For some of us, social media and digital content have been our saving graces during the pandemica critical way to stay in the know, keep connected, and maintain relationships. But they have their own stress-inducing downsides as well and can lead to depression and increased anxiety.

You may need a digital diet. Heres how to increase your health and well-being by limiting your screen time. First, heres why a diet is integral:

Clearly there are some reasons to step back and reconsider (take pause with) and reasons to lighten up our usage (literally take a pause) in our digital consumption.

To get a better handle on your diet, consider your access, your content, and your activities.

Use your stats. To change behavior, you must first recognize a problem in order to do anything about it. Use the feature your device offers or an app to understand your usage.

Apple devices offer controls under its screen time setting, while Androids have digital well-being systems to tinker with. Stand-alone apps such as Social Fever, Offtime, or BreakFree also offer tracking and systems to manage your usage. In the same way that a blood test can be helpful to understand your cholesterol or triglyceride levels, your device stats can help you know what you must manage and how to improve. Whether your time goes into playing games, sending Snapchats to friends, or watching cat videos, its smart to increase your awareness of where things can change.

Keep your device out of sight. According to a study from the University of Texas at Austin, even having your device within view reduces your cognitive capacity and causes distraction. Put your device away in your purse or your pocket and concentrate on what else is in front of youfriends or other activities.

Choose your moments. You can manage your digital intake by considering your circumstances as well. Set limits based on locations or situations. Perhaps you can put down your device during dinner or when youre with friends to reduce the time youre accessing your device. In addition, you could commit that you wont use your device when youre in bedthus reducing exposure to blue light before sleep.

Unsubscribe. You know how email and DMs tend to proliferate, and notifications can overwhelm. Unsubscribe from all but your most valued subscriptions or businesses and turn off all but your most necessary notifications. With less traffic and push notifications from your device, youll be able to take charge of what youre consumingpulling whats most relevant for you, rather than being bombarded by mediocre messages which may not add value.

Unfollow. A key reason for sadness isnt just FOMO (fear of missing out)its also FOBLO (fear of being left out). Consider your reactions to the posts you see and follow people and sites that energize you, motivate you, and contribute to your positive experienceunfollow those that dont.

Seek diverse views. Diverse viewpoints are critical to learning, resilience, and tolerance. But the internet and apps are uniquely suited to place us in echo chambers where we only see and consume perspectives similar to our own. Seek information that is less familiar and content that challenges your current ways of thinking. This will provide you with greater perspectivea key ingredient of more optimistic, future-oriented thinking.

Find alternatives. Perhaps one of the very best ways to reduce your digital usage is to increase your nondigital activities. If youre hiking rough terrain, sweating through your hot yoga class, or even doing a messy-creative craft with your niece, you cant be scrolling. Fill your time with activities that require more of your attention or more of your physical investment and youll be unable to spend as much time on your device.

Remind yourself it will take some time. As you amp up your nondigital activity and ramp down your device time, go slowly, set manageable goals, and be patient with yourself. Businesses spend billions on finding ways to hook you, so its reasonable youll need time to manage yourself and ensure youre in charge of your device not the other way around.

In addition to getting happier, you also want to look back at a life well lived. How you spend your time is how you spend your life, so managing your access, your content, and your activities all matter. Keep your device out of sight, embrace your usage stats, and manage your usage time. Look for alternatives and dont be too hard on yourself. Behavior change takes time, but its worth it for a happier life and a better future.

Tracy Brower, PhD, MM, MCRw, is a sociologist focused on work, workers, and workplace, working for Steelcase. She is the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work: A Guide for Leaders and Organizations.

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Tips for making your digital diet more conducive to productivity - Fast Company

As of 2019, over 318,000 health apps were available for download on app stores worldwide. Of the 200 (yes, 200) apps entering the category each day, many zero in on nutrition as the way to build a healthier life. Anti-diet app Wellory joined the space in late August with the mission of making personalized nutrition accessible to more people than before, but some dietitians who practice the anti-diet philosophy still doubt that anyapp can truly encompass the anti-diet ethos.

If youre brand-new to the burgeoning field of nutrition known as anti-diet dietetics, Alissa Rumsey, RD, certified intuitive counselor and anti-diet dietitian, says you can think about the mindset as a countermovement against diet culture, thesystem of beliefs that conflates body size with health and worth, promotes weight loss, and praises certain foods while demonizing others. An anti-diet dietitian is someone who is weight inclusive and whose goal is to really help you turn inwards versus focusing on external guidance [with your eating habits], says Rumsey. Rather than focusing on macros, ingredient labels, or calories, an anti-diet approach teaches you to become an intuitive eater by rejecting diet culture and seeking out behaviors that will be healthfulto yououtside of that model.

Intuitive eating is one of the cornerstones of the anti-diet movement. Heres what it entails:

To be clear, the vast majority of nutrition and food-tracking apps on the market wouldnt consider themselves to be anti-diet. Noom calls itself a lasting weight loss program, Bellabeat labels itself an app for womens weight loss, and MyFitnessPal allows you to set goals around losing weight or lowering your BMI. (Well+Goods parent company owns a nutrition app called MyPlate, which helps people count calories, plan meals, and find healthy recipes.) These apps can be a useful tool for many people who want to eat healthily but dont necessarily ascribe to the anti-diet philosophy. I use a non-diet approach and dont recommend the use of dieting apps in my practice. However, I have seen some adults benefit from their own use of the food-tracking function in apps like MyFitnessPal as a way to become more aware of food choices and learn about which nutrients and ingredients are in certain foods, says Malina Malkani, RDN, creator of Solve Picky Eating.

However, Wellorys entrance into the world of nutrition apps, given that it explicitly positions itself as anti-diet, presents an intriguing opportunity to consider if downloading any nutrition app is compatible with the anti-diet philosophy. For Rumsey and anti-diet dietitian and 2020 Well+Good Changemaker Christy Harrison, RD, MPH, the answer is almost always no.

For starters, the north star of anti-diet eating is to listen to yourself and your own internal cues, says Rumsey. Anti-diet dietitians are there to teach you how to tap into your own tastes, feelings, and mentalities; they wont tell you, for example, to only eat X amount of sugar or incorporate a certain amount of fiber into your diet. When were tracking and relying on an app to tell us if were eating too much or that were eating not the right foods, thats, again, pulling us outside of our own body, says Rumsey. For people who are trying to maintain an anti-diet mindset, she worries that the focus on external numbers and stats common in nutrition apps can make it harder for them to listen to their own bodies.

Rumsey adds that the intention around food tracking (and related app use) often conflicts with being truly anti-diet. I think my first question [for anyone who wants to download a nutrition app] would be, Why does this person feel like they want to keep track of things? Whats the motivation and the intention behind it?' she says. Often, peoples motivations for tracking nutrition can be fueled (consciously or unconsciously) by a desire to lose weight or look a certain way, she sayswhich is antithetical to an anti-diet mentality.

I cant imagine an app, honestly, that would be fully, fully anti-diet, Harrison says, unless it wasnt focused on food tracking and instead provided anti-diet affirmations or other features. Most nutrition apps dont do this, which is why she typically never recommends them to her clients. The exception: Recovery Record or Recovery Warriors, which are designed specifically for those in eating disorder recovery. (And even then, its a case-by-case basis.)

Thus, Harrison and Rumsey wouldnt necessarily qualify any nutrition or food-tracking app as anti-dietWellory included. For example, under the Whats important to you? question in its entrance survey, Wellory lists weight loss among its potential options. This is in direct conflict with the fact that anti-diet dietitians neverset weight loss as a goal. But Emily Hochman, the founder of Wellory, sees it a bit differently. While weight loss is still an entry point to Wellory, we view it purely as extrinsic motivation. And its important that we understand all of a new clients motivations so we can help unlock their more intrinsic motivations, says Hochman.

Hochman feels confident that working with Wellorys slew of dietitians will naturally result in an anti-diet mentality for the app user down the line. Every client comes to Wellory with their own challenges, preferences, and routines. Our job is to meet you where you already are and take time to figure out what really works for you, she says.

While food-tracking apps arent beloved by the anti-diet dietitians interviewed for this article, Rumsey adds that, under the right circumstances, she may recommend a client journal about how their eating choices make them feel throughout the day. But again, the intention behind the practice really matters. I do think that journaling can be really helpful when its done in a more open-ended way so not focused on calories or the amount of food youre eating, but more about, Did this food feel satisfying? What were your energy levels like? Reflection prompts to get you to check in with your own body, she says.

The bottom line: The utility of nutrition apps really depends upon the intent of the person using them. For someone whos seeking nutritional guidance for weight management, better sleep, or improved energy levels, then an app might be the right choice. Within the anti-diet framework, however, youll be hard-pressed to find a dietitian who recommends one.

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Can a Food-Tracking App Ever Be Truly Anti-Diet? Not All Experts Are Convinced - Well+Good

How dealing with trauma leads to ultimate healing

Healing isnt always green juice and Om Shanti. Sometimes its dishes in the sink for days, so you have time to write, and sob and stare at trees as if the answer will be illuminated at dusk.Healing isnt always meditation and herbal remedies, sometimes its sleeping late because your body is super glued to the bed or screaming bloody murder in the privacy of your car. Most importantly, healing is not a solitary activity, its a communal one. We must be willing to ask for help for complete healing. Health is not just about exercising and eating healthy, its about making peace with our hardships and in our minds.

In August of 2015, chronic insomnia arrived like a freight train at midnight. Later, the culprit revealed itself as Lyme disease, unresolved trauma and excessive busyness. At first, I ignored the problem, drank more coffee and tried to wear the energizer bunnys jumpsuit. Guess what? It didnt work. No wonder my body was like wet cement, heavy and hard to move. I had just left a high-stress position in the market research industry where 12-hour days were not uncommon. When I wasnt working, I was working out, socializing, or yes, scrubbing my tub with rap music blaring. The word rest did not exist in my vocabulary.

After five months of battles in my bed, I finally sought help and began listening to my mother, Babs Freibert, who is a Healthy Living Coach and eventually inspired me to become a coach too.My mom smells of frankincense, fresh linen and rooibos tea. She knew about Echinacea and alkaline diets long before they were in every magazine. She was New Age before the term was coined, revealing humor in dire situations and sharing cures for every ailment with her library of alternative healing methods. Although she taught me everything I know about holistic health, what I value most about her wisdom goes deeper. However, it wasnt until I was very ill that I began to put her advice about emotional health into action.

For years, my mom told me, We are as sick as our secrets. We can stuff trauma, put on a Pollyanna smile, positive attitude and move forward. But at some point, we get triggered and emotions erupt. This is exactly what happened to me and to my mother. When I was twelve my parents divorced. Ten days after my fourteenth birthday my father died. And at 26, chronic illness knocked me off my feet. I had let my traumas build up like dirty laundry and it began to stink. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association now proves that PTSD (or trauma) is linked to autoimmune diseases. In other words, people that carry unresolved trauma in their bodies have a predisposition to illness.

In my case, a tick did bite me. However, Lyme disease, as well as many other autoimmune illnesses, go deeper than the physical realm, which is one reason why some people never recover. With such illnesses, treatment must begin with the physical. But we must also address our emotions that are inextricably linked to the physical issue. Right after my father passed away, my mom suggested my brother and I invite friends over. My brother was skateboarding outside with his crew when my mom found me upstairs in my room. She asked, Dont you want to invite your friends over? I replied, No. I dont want anyone to know he died. Looking back I see I was terrified to feel my feelings. For years, I stuffed them into my minds junk drawer, thinking, Oh, Ill deal with or feel that later. Until it was too late, just like mama had warned me, my stuck emotions did eventually erupt.

My mom shares a similar experience with trauma leading to physical health issues. Little Babsy grew up protecting her beloved parents from the secret of alcoholism. From age five to nine, she became the parent. At school instead of learning multiplication, she wondered, Will the milk be sour or fresh when I get home? How will I feed my baby brother? Will my parents still be asleep when I get home? At one point, she almost became an orphan before her parents got sober. It wouldnt be until 25 years later that my mom began sharing her story.

Babs says, Keeping my story a secret was too hard on my system. At some point, it began bubbling up like a geyser. When its ready to be released, there is no stopping it. For me, it erupted in the form of a burning red rash on my arm. Doctors tried to medicate it with ointments and pills to no avail. It was only when I started sharing my story and changing my diet that allowed these poisonous toxins to release from my skin and begin to heal. After she began talking, the rash disappeared.

In our culture, I hear people say, Be strong. Dont cry. But being strong is actually allowing a friend to hold you in silence as you sob on their shoulder. It took getting sick for me to see this and put it into practice.Brene Brown, author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers and researcher of courage and vulnerability says, The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. Its our fear of the dark that casts our joy [and health] into the shadows.

Wounds fester like sores if we leave the Band-Aid on too long, because we are afraid of the dark. Babs says, The Band-Aid helps for a day or two but then it needs light, fresh air and to be open for true healing. Just as we have to be open and talk about our traumas for true healing to begin. Rip the Band-Aid off and it stings at first, but it is only then that new skin is created.

We live in a culture that promotes quick fixes. Stressed? Have a drink. Have a headache? Pop an Advil. Hungry? Drive through McDonalds. But there is nothing quick about healing and health. This is one reason why both my mom and I love coaching. Through serving others, we are reminded that through taking daily steps, like meditation, being present with our feelings, moving mindfully and eating loads of greens, it pays off in the long run. The habits have compounding interest. You may not notice anything after a month or two, but over time, it is what creates success.

My mom and I both have had clients seek us out to lose weight, increase their fitness or energy. Or so they thinkBabs says, Once they start talking and get in touch with some emotional obstacle that has been holding them back and once they acknowledge it and give it a voice, it moves out of the way. Then, the healing begins. We are all like crying toddlers in big kid bodies, who simply want to be held, seen and heard. Tony Robbins, the worlds top life coach and business strategist, grew up with abuse and says, It didnt happen to me, it happened for me.

Although this in no way justifies abuse or hardship, it illuminates that in the yuck of the muck is where growth happens. Being vulnerable and sharing our stories, not only helps us heal, but also allows others to heal through empathetic connection.Many think healing is like an angel playing the harp when in reality, it feels like drowning in a sea of snakes.

Today, I still catch myself red-handed, escaping through busyness, instead of sitting down to process my emotions. I constantly have to pause and check in with myself. So if I feel blue, I lean into it. I turn on a sad song and weep or schedule an appointment with my coach because the only way out is through. I do it over and over again. Just like a snake that sheds its skin each year.

At first, I feel exposed with raw skin in open air. But I continue to heal by scheduling time to simply be with myself. I ask for help from those I trust, like my mom and my spiritual counsel. And by doing so, I make more space for vitality by being present with each uncomfortable or lovely emotion that comes knocking at my door.

For more information:

Visit illuminousliving.com to work with Babs.Visit barrettfreibert.com to work with Barrett.

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Health Begins Within - Voice Tribune

The latest study, published in the Journal of the Orthopaedic Research Society - Spine, was led by Bernard Halloran, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) and Xuhui Liu, MD, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of California - San Francisco.

The findings from the mouse study show a diet high in dried plum (DP) completely prevents bone loss associated with spinal cord injury (SCI), while also restoring some of the bone loss.

"This evaluation is particularly important as individuals who suffer SCI experience extremely rapid bone loss," said Liu."The SCI-related bone loss then leads to an increased risk of fractures, osteoporosis, and overall morbidity and mortality."

The research, funded by the California Dried Plum Board as well as the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, involved two parts: prevention and recovery. In the prevention experiment, the researchers looked at dietary supplementation with dried plum for mitigating the loss of bone induced by SCI. For the recovery experiment, the team examined whether a dried plum diet could restore bone loss after SCI.

In the prevention evaluation, mice underwent SCI and were fed a diet containing 25% dried plum by weight or a control diet for up to four weeks. In vivo microCT scanning was performed three times, including at baseline before SCI, as well as at two and four weeks after SCI.

The findings revealed that dried plum prevents SCI-related bone loss. when compared to the control diets, the dried plum diet completely prevented bone loss. In contrast, the control group diet resulted in 53% loss of bone volume at two weeks and 71% of bone loss volume at four weeks-post injury.

In the recovery experiment, mice were divided into groups and fed a control diet for two or four weeks. Another group was fed a control diet for two weeks to allow bone loss and then switched to the dried plum diet for an additional two weeks. The findings show that after two weeks, the dried plum diet partially restored bone that had already been lost to SCI. Another finding was bone strength was greater in the mice that switched to the dried plum diet when compared to the mice who were fed the control diet for four weeks.

Liu explained how dried plum might restore some SCI-related bone loss:

"There are two types of cells involved with bone metabolism - osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Osteoblasts help to build new bone, while osteoclasts are essentially 'bone eaters,'" and function to tear down bone," said Liu."At this time, we believe that dried plum functions to inhibit the bone-eating osteoclasts and this results in more bone."

The researchers say its unclear what bioactive compounds in dried plum are responsible for the beneficial effects on bone health, but point to the plums polyphenol content as a likely culprit.

The report explained that non-polyphenolic compounds in DP may also be involved, such as vitamin K and manganese. Both nutrients are recognized as contributing to the maintenance of normal bone. Future work will focus on identifying and isolating the bioactive factors in dried plums.

"In summary, dietary supplementation with dried plum or products derived from dried plum may prove to help slow the loss of bone induced by SCI, as well as to improve other bone-related conditions," said Halloran."The consistency of bone response to dried plum is remarkable, especially considering that dried plums are a whole food approach to healthy eating, as well as being readily available, economical, safe and - by all indications - effective in supporting healthy bones."

The gut microbiome is a key regulator in bone health. Research suggests that changes in microbiota composition may prevent or reverse bone loss with prebiotic and probiotic supplementation. One way microbes influence organs is through the production of metabolites that diffuse from the gut into the systemic circulation. Recently, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have emerged as key regulatory metabolites produced by the gut microbiota.

The report explained that DP contains prebiotic factors and changes in the microbiome have been linked to changes in mineral metabolism. Intestinal calcium bioavailability has also been shown to be associated with changes in short chain fatty acids (SCFA), although dietary consumption of plum has been reported to have no effect on SCFA. Other factors reported to affect bone, such as vitamin K (menaquinone), are produced in the intestine and synthesis is altered by the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Collectively, these observations suggest that the effects of DP on bone in SCI patients may be mediated through changes in the gut microbiome, explained the authors.

"We are seeing an exciting 'dried plum effect' on bones," said Halloran."In a variety of unique research scenarios, dried plum is consistently associated with a favorable bone response. No other compound appears to have the same degree of positive impact."

In conclusion, dietary supplementation with DP can prevent bone loss in an acute model of SCI, and restore a fraction, but not all, of the bone that has already been lost in mice following SCI, noted the authors.

Previous clinical research has demonstrated a favorable bone response to prunes among post-menopausal women, along with animal-based research that shows a similar positive response among those exposed to radiation, such as astronauts in space.

Source: Journal of the Orthopaedic Research Society - Spine2020 doi.org/10.1002/jsp2.1113Dried plum mitigates spinal cord injuryinduced bone loss in miceAuthors: X. Liu et al.

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Mouse study reveals positive connection between dried plums and bone health - NutraIngredients-usa.com

Bowel, or colorectal, cancer has been called one of the most common and lethal malignancies in Western countries.

However, the way it develops involves multiple steps spanning over the course of several years.

This slow development offers many opportunities to intervene and prevent death.

Screening that leads to early detection is one important way to save lives.

Having a healthy lifestyle can also help by preventing abnormal cells from developing in the first place.

In addition, certain medications and supplements may play an important role in prevention.

Its not known, however, what might be the ideal preventive regimen.

To learn more about this issue, a team of scientists located in France, the Netherlands, and Canada reviewed the currently available evidence.

They found that some foods and medications may help prevent colorectal cancer.

According to Amber Ingram, a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the review found that medications like aspirin, low-dose aspirin, and NSAIDS (the class of medications that aspirin belongs to) were associated with decreased risk.

Nutritional factors that were associated with decreased risk included magnesium, folate, dairy products, fiber, soy, fruits, and vegetables.

Ingram said, however, that the 80 studies included in the review dealt with a population with average risk.

Anyone with a history of adenoma (polyp) removal, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, or genetic factors that increase the risk for colorectal cancer were excluded.

So, for people with average risk, these medications, nutrients, or foods might potentially protect against colorectal cancer.

She did note, however, that the level of evidence appears to be low to very low.

Dr. Michelle Pearlman, a gastroenterologist and expert in obesity medicine at the University of Miami Health System, further explained that this was because of large variations in study quality, publication bias, and other factors.

Ingram explained that meat and alcohol were factors that appeared to actually increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

Specifically, high intake of red meat and processed meats was linked to added risk.

In fact, there was a 10 to 30 percent increased risk of every additional 100 grams a day of total meat consumed.

Ingram said that 100 grams of meat is about 3.5 ounces, or the size of a deck of playing cards.

For alcohol, Ingram said the researchers saw an increase in risk even at one to two drinks per day.

The study didnt look at a consumption level less than this.

Pearlman noted the level of risk from both meat and alcohol increased as the level of consumption increased.

Also, men appeared to be at higher risk than women when it came to alcohol.

Lifestyle choices can play a major role in cancer prevention, Ingram said.

In fact, about one-third of common cancer in the United States could be prevented through lifestyle modifications, like having a healthy body weight, eating more healthily, and including more physical activity, she said.

Ingram said the American Institute for Cancer Research recommends the following to lower cancer risk:

Ingram suggested working with a dietitian to personalize a dietary plan to your own needs.

As far as supplements, she said a healthy diet alone should be sufficient.

However, if you have concerns that youre lacking a nutrient, speak with your doctor or a dietitian about what supplements they recommend.

Pearlman said the signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer might include unintentional weight loss, a change in bowel habits or stool caliber (e.g., stringy, thin stool), rectal bleeding, or abdominal pain.

She explained, however, that the goal is to be proactive and find potential problems before they cause symptoms.

Often when people become symptomatic in regards to lower GI symptoms, certain diseases like cancer can be far along or spread outside of the GI tract and are less amenable to treatment, Pearlman said.

She added youll need to follow screening and surveillance guidelines based on your family history, age, and any other conditions you might have.

Timing of screening and surveillance testing whether it be with blood work, stool testing, imaging, or colonoscopy depends on these baseline characteristics and will vary from person to person, she said.

The good news is that colorectal cancer is very treatable, according to Pearlman.

Depending on the cancer stage, options include surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of those, she explained.

More treatment options exist and prognosis is better for those that are diagnosed at an earlier stage, Pearlman added.

See more here:
These Foods and Medications May Lower Bowel Cancer Risk - Healthline

Broiler chicken producers the world over are all too familiar with coccidiosis, a parasite-borne intestinal disease that stalls growth and winnows flocks. Various approaches, developed over decades, have been used to control coccidiosis, but the disease remains widespread.

Recent research from the University of Illinois supports the use of immunomodulatory and antioxidant feed additives to reduce the effects of coccidiosis.

In the last two decades, partially to get around the parasites resistance to pharmaceuticals, vaccination has become more prevalent. That's when I got interested, because nutrition is a key element in the effectiveness of vaccines. Diet and health go together in that way, says Ryan Dilger, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois and principal investigator on the research. So, what we're talking about here is not a vaccine. Instead, we used nutritional technologies to disrupt the normal reproductive cycle of the parasite.

When a chicken picks up the parasite, of which there are seven major Eimeria species affecting broilers, its body mounts an immune response, starting with a cascade of inflammatory proteins known as cytokines. These cause the bird to stop eating and rest, so the immune system can do its work. In normal disease progression, an anti-inflammatory mediator known as interleukin-10 (IL-10) is eventually produced to keep the inflammation from ramping up too high and causing tissue damage through oxidative stress.

However, Eimeria tricks chickens into over-producing IL-10 earlier than expected, before the immune system can produce enough cytokines to effectively attack the invader. Its like the parasite is saying, Everything's fine. I'm not actually here! Its really trying to evade the immune response, Dilger says.

To reverse that effect, doctoral student Muhammed Shameer Abdul Rasheed included a novel feed ingredient, a dried egg product with IL-10 antibody activity, in the diet of broiler chickens before inducing coccidiosis.

We want the bird to have an acute pro-inflammatory response in order to clear the parasite, and that response is dampened when the parasite tricks the bird into overproducing IL-10 antibody. Were trying to take away the parasites ability to manipulate the birds own immune system against itself, Rasheed says.

The IL-10 dried egg product has been shown to be effective against mild Eimeria infection in other studies, but it hadnt been tested in severe cases and in the absence of vaccine administration.

Our results suggested that dietary dried egg product could be beneficial in promoting gut health during severe infection for particular strains of the parasite, even though suppression of the IL-10 response may promote an exaggerated inflammatory reaction in the intestinal epithelium, which may cause subsequent tissue damage, Dilger says.

Uncontrolled inflammatory responses can lead to oxidative stress, where chemicals with unpaired electrons, known as free radicals, start to damage healthy tissue. When Rasheed saw the intestinal damage in this study, he decided to test the combined effects of the IL-10 antibody and an antioxidant known as methylsulfonylmethane or MSM. He had previously tested MSM in chickens and found it had no adverse effects on health or growth, but it had never been tried as a treatment for oxidative stress during coccidiosis.

The IL-10 antibody works to combat the infection through an immune mechanism, which may inadvertently cause oxidative stress, so MSM was used in combination to specifically combat that tissue damage, Rasheed says. So the hypothesis was that if these two interventions are working through different mechanisms, combining them together may actually give us a better response than either of them alone.

When the research team fed infected birds a combination of MSM and IL-10 antibody, the treatment showed promise. First, chickens that got the treatment showed greater body weight gain 7-14 days post-infection than birds that didnt consume the dietary products. Also, total antioxidant capacity, an overall indicator of how well an animal can counteract oxidative stress, remained higher in treated birds three and four weeks after infection, suggesting lasting dietary effects.

In the end, the birds still got sick; they still had an infection that reduced their growth for a certain amount of time. Just like with some pharmaceutical agents designed to lessen the effects of the flu in humans, its not actually going to prevent you from getting the disease in the first place. However, our goal is to shorten the length of time youre sick, Dilger says. That's just as meaningful for broiler chickens.

Dilger thinks the dietary interventions may be even more effective in real-world production settings. In the clean, controlled environment of a laboratory study, these broiler chickens were raised on wire flooring to separate the birds from their excrement. However, broiler chickens raised on a commercial farm would be raised on the floor, in direct contact with litter, which is partly how the Eimeria infection cycle continues. In the end, the nutritional strategies studied here may act as a kind of insurance for producers to help birds bounce back sooner.

Producers may not have coccidiosis when they mix this in the feed, but by the time the chickens consume it, the disease may have reared up again. So if the product is already there, you have some protection, Dilger says. Again, it's not going to prevent the birds from getting coccidiosis, but hopefully it can reduce the untoward effects and allow them to get back to a healthy state faster and continue growing, such that they can remain productive during that time. It's another important tool in the arsenal for producers.

ReferencesRasheed MSA, Tiwari UP, Jespersen JC, Bauer LL, Dilger RN. Effects of methylsulfonylmethane and neutralizing anti- IL-10 antibody supplementation during a mild Eimeria challenge infection in broiler chickens. Poultry Science. Published online September 29, 2020. doi:10.1016/j.psj.2020.09.046

Rasheed MSA, Tiwari UP, Oelschlager ML, et al. Dietary supplementation with anti-IL-10 antibody during a severe Eimeria challenge in broiler chickens. Poultry Science. Published online September 12, 2020. doi:10.1016/j.psj.2020.09.012

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Harnessing the Immune System May Hold the Key to Healthier Chickens - Technology Networks

Yep, thats me. Youre probably wondering how I got here.NBC News/YouTube

Hello, America! I am the housefly that perched atop Mike Pences head for two solid minutes during tonights vice presidential debate, and Id like to talk to you about the future of this great nation. Like some of you, I was undecided when I began watching the debate, because, as with some of you, my brain is the size of a poppyseed. But when I heard Mike Pence outline the Trump administrations plans, I knew there was only one ticket I could trust to protect me and the 150 or so eggs I laid in the vice presidents hair. Today I am thrilled to wholeheartedly endorse Donald J. Trump for president.

You may be confused as to why I am offering an endorsement in the first place, since most Americans share molecular physicist Seth Brundles pernicious misconception that insects dont have politics. Its true that were not big on compromise, but its also true that we love garbage, and we love corpses, and we love shit, and you dont have to have one of those big ugly mammalian brains to tell which political party is committed to materially improving our lives. No president in my life cyclewhich began two weeks ago, when I was a maggot happily gnawing my way through a rotten Egg McMuffin in a dumpster behind Kingsbury Hallhas done more to roll back environmental regulations, ensuring that my family and I have a constant supply of garbage where we can live, laugh, and love. No president in my life cycle has provided more dead Americans for us to eat, working tirelessly to overwhelm hospitals and morgues, presumably for our benefit. And no administration in history, never mind my life cycle, has been as dedicated to shit in all its formsbullshit, horseshit, and of course the literal shit that inevitably accompanies a diet of fast food and Diet Cokepumping it into the airwaves, the sewers, and the skulls of their supporters. Theres just no question which administration will do more to help me feed my family.

This election goes beyond mere material concerns, however; theres also a spiritual dimension. And for faith-based voters like me, the Trump administration is the only option. Like all flies, I worship Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies, the Prince of Demons, the Archfiend of Lies and Death and Decay, and my faith is very important to me. When I heard Mike Pence speak so movingly of his faithhis faith in Donald Trump, primarilyI knew which administration I could trust to build Our Dark Lords Throne of Lies right here on earth. Kamala Harris did her best to dissemble at a few points, and maybe it worked on television, but take it from a fly in the studio audience: You could smell the evil radiating from Mike Pence. In fact, I was originally only planning on briefly alighting on the vice presidents head, running my ovipositor through his gorgeous strands of snowy white hair, dropping a clutch of eggs, and going on my merry way. But the second the setae on my footpads touched that wiry surface, I sensed a kindred intelligence coldly whirring and clicking away just under Pences skull, and I knew it was time for me to make my first political endorsement.

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My endorsement of a Republican candidate may be surprising to those who remember my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers endorsement of Hillary Clinton back in 2016, which famously caused Alex Jones to speculate that Clinton and Barack Obama were both demons:

The explanation here is simple, and its a treasured story my family has passed down to our larvae for 48 generations: We were pranking Alex Jones because he sucks. Land in the right place at the right time, and you can get that dude to believe pretty much anything. I know that humans are bad at detecting a wryly cocked proboscis, but you hardly needed compound eyes to see that Hillary Clinton was just a run-of-the-mill Democrat, not some kind of hellbeast of decay practically rubbing her hands together with glee at the thought of stacking the lies and the garbage and the bodies so high that mankinds rotten civilization finally collapses and the Age of the Fly can begin.

The 2020 election is different, however. I have listened closely to Mike Pences plans and policies. I have carefully smelled his hair. I have laid hundreds of eggs in his scalp. And this November, I am confident that there is only one ticket that can ensure a happy, healthy, and extremely well-fed future for my larvae. I urge all humans to cast your votes for Donald Trump and Michael Pence. They might not literally be insects, but theyre the closest thing weve got. Besides, the other guy is trying to kill me:

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I Am the Fly That Landed in Mike Pences Hair. Heres Why Im Supporting Donald Trump. - Slate