A study conducted by researchers from the US, Canada, France and Israel, has discovered that adults over the age of 60 are significantly cleverer at the start of autumn compared with spring. The difference between the autumn and spring equinox say the scientists, was equivalent to four years of ageing.

The study analysed data involving more than 3,000 people in North America and Europe, most of whom were over 70. They had each been given annual tests of memory and processing speed, with their testing spread randomly throughout the year.

Doctors had assumed that the month the testing occurred was irrelevant, but the paper in the online journal Plos Medicine found that the seasons did matter. In fact, cognitive performance was shown to be higher in the summer and autumn compared with winter and spring. It peaked at the autumn equinox then dropped off until the spring equinox six months later.

Important considerations for dementia testing

For some participants, the researchers also looked at levels of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. This revealed seasonal rhythms in Alzheimer-disease-related proteins in the spinal fluid, and in the expression of specific genes in the brain, giving us a window into the underlying mechanisms.

They found a 30% greater chance of meeting diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment or dementia if cognitive tests are carried out in late-winter or early-spring. “The difference in performance was enough to impact the clinical impression of what diagnostic category a patient was going to be in,” said one of the researchers Andrew Lim, from the University of Toronto.

The team could only speculate on the cause of such a change. Light, temperature, the body’s hormone levels or vitamin D consumption could be to blame, Lim said. But on the bright side, the study opens up the possibility that “good cognition” could be extended beyond that peak time to prevent or slow the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

One theory is that our lifestyle and health habits vary with the season, we may for instance eat, sleep and exercise differently.

Lead researcher Philip De Jager, from Columbia University, said another theory was that during winter our brains experienced something akin to a mild hibernation. “The underlying rhythms are similar to those that regulate many other mammals and animals,” he said. “They probably help us minimise activity in months when fewer resources are available and take advantage of them at a time when they are abundant.”

• For more on the connection between weather and health see our article Must be the weather

It’s true we all have regrets. Forsaken dreams. Romantic interests not pursued. Securing a job near home rather than an adventurous position overseas.

But, according to new Cornell University research, our most enduring regrets are the ones that stem from our failure to live up to our “ideal selves”.

A survey undertaken by psychologist Tom Gilovich and former Cornell graduate student Shai Davidai has found people are haunted more by regrets about failing to fulfill their hopes, goals and aspirations than by regrets about failing to fulfill their duties, obligations and responsibilities.

The research, “The Ideal Road Not Taken,” was published in the journal Emotion. It builds on the idea that three elements make up a person’s sense of self: the actual, ideal and the ought selves.

The actual self is made up of the attributes a person believes they possess. The ideal self is the attributes they would ideally like to possess, such as hopes, goals, aspirations or wishes. The ought self is the person they feel they should have been based on duties, obligations and responsibilities.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda

Gilovich and Davidai surveyed hundreds of participants through the course of six studies, describing the differences between the ought and ideal selves, and asking them to list and categorise their regrets based on these descriptions.

The participants said they experienced regrets about their ideal self far more often (72% versus 28%). More than half mentioned more ideal-self regrets than ought-self regrets when asked to list their regrets in life so far. And when asked to name their single biggest regret in life, 76% of participants mentioned a regret about not fulfilling their ideal self.

Why do ideal self failures spark such enduring regret? The expectations of the ought self are usually more concrete and involve specific rules – such as how to behave at a funeral – and so are easier to fulfill. But ideal-related regrets tend to be more general: Be a good parent, be a good mentor. “Well, what does that mean, really?” Gilovich said. “There aren’t clear guideposts. And you can always do more.”

Just do it

The research has practical implications, he said. First, we often assume we first need inspiration before we can strive to achieve our ideals. But a significant amount of psychological research shows that’s not true, Gilovich said.

“As the Nike slogan says: ‘Just do it,'” he said. “Don’t wait around for inspiration, just plunge in. Waiting around for inspiration is an excuse. Inspiration arises from engaging in the activity.”

And people often fail to achieve their ideal goals because they’re worried about how it will look to others. For example, a person might want to learn how to sing but feel they could never let others hear how bad they are.

Again, Gilovich says, just do it.

“People are more charitable than we think and also don’t notice us nearly as much as we think,” he said. “If that’s what holding you back – the fear of what other people will think and notice – then think a little more about just doing it.”

For many decades, scientists have known that low caloric intake is linked with greater longevity in humans and other organisms. The researchers were interested in exploring how fasting worked at the molecular level, specifically in the stem cells in the intestine.

Intestinal stem cells are responsible for maintaining the lining of the intestine, which typically renews itself every five days. When an injury or infection occurs, stem cells are key to repairing any damage. As people age, the regenerative abilities of these intestinal stem cells decline, making it more difficult to recover from gastrointestinal infections or other conditions that affect the intestine.

It’s been observed that the prevalence of both metabolic syndrome and vitamin D deficiency have been observed among postmenopausal women in India. But as yet, there has been no research linking the two conditions.

To see if there was a link, Indian researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of women in rural West Bengal. They randomly selected 222 postmenopausal women and assessed their serum vitamin D levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, triglyceride levels and HDL cholesterol.

Results, published in the journal PLOS One found was that 70% of the participants suffered from either vitamin D insufficiency (51%) or deficiency (19%).

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among the women studied was 46%. Among these women, 75% exhibited vitamin D insufficiency (22%) or deficiency (53%).

In addition, 68% of those with a waist circumference of 80cm or more were vitamin D-insufficient or deficient.

The same was observed in 84% of those with a fasting blood glucose measurement of 110mg/dl, 75% of those with a triglyceride level of 150mg/dl, 74% of those with HDL cholesterol level of below 50mg/dl, and 70% of those with a blood pressure of 130/85 or higher.

Potential risk factor

Metabolic syndrome affects nearly a quarter of the world’s adult population, and it is defined by a group of risk factors that put you on the road to diabetes and heart disease. The characteristic symptoms include obesity around the waistline and at least two of the following: high blood sugar levels, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Sufferers usually also have excess fat in their liver.

The main cause of metabolic syndrome appears to be a diet high in fat or carbohydrate. However, observational studies have also linked metabolic syndrome to vitamin D deficiency, which affects 30-60% of the world’s population.

We’ve previously reported on an animal experiment, conducted by researchers from the US and China, in which boosting levels of circulating vitamin D in mice improved gut flora, which in turn improved the symptoms of metabolic syndrome in the animals.

Not all studies agree that there is a link between vitamin D and metabolic syndrome. However, referencing a broad range of previous studies, the authors of the current study conclude: “Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency, therefore, may be one of the potential risk factors for developing metabolic syndrome in the studied population…”​

Future research should focus on other ethnicities to see if the association is as strong in these.

The site will no longer sit within the Neal’s Yard Remedies enterprise but become an independent entity, Natural Health News, run by current editor Pat Thomas.

“The name is the only thing that will really change,” says Thomas “I will continue to run the site as owner, editor and curator. The focus of the news and articles and our newsletters will remain unchanged and the commitment to ensuring that reliable information about natural health is given the space it deserves online is as strong as ever.”

“I hope everyone continues to visit and support the site, to encourage their friends and family to become part of our growing online community and to use the information to stay informed, healthy and well,” she adds.

Users are encouraged to change their bookmarks, if they have them, but in any case all previous links will automatically be directed to the new site and social media pages over the next week or so.

Building confidence in natural alternatives

Natural News launched in 2011 with a simple premise: to help visitors feel more confident in managing their own health naturally.

Many complementary and alternative approaches to health are well-researched and effective, and user satisfaction is high, but this fact is not well reflected in the mainstream press.

We wanted to correct this deficit by giving space to natural health success stories, by busting a few myths and producing informative articles on natural prevention and self-care. It was also important to provide context – health isn’t created in a vacuum but is so often a result of our environment and lifestyle choices.

We also wanted to produce a site that was beautiful and easy to navigate, which had lots of useful ‘stuff’ on it like recipes, our Remedy Finder, and Vitality Quiz, and most recently our Detox Quiz, and which could call on a wide range of expertise both inside and outside our organisation.

The website launched quietly but has grown quickly to become an impressive archive of more than 2000 news stories, articles and campaigns. Over the years millions of visitors from around the world have come to the site and we also have a lively social media presence.

A growing community

Editor Pat Thomas, is the author of numerous books on health and environment – for both adults and children – and an award-winning campaigner.

She says of the change: “This website has been a labour of love and I am grateful for Neal’s Yard Remedies’ support over the years. It has been very gratifying to see the website and online community grow as more as more people become aware of and interested in using natural and holistic approaches to managing their health.”

Susan Curtis, Director of Natural Health at Neal’s Yard Remedies adds, “I’m delighted that our natural health site will continue as an independent enterprise with Pat Thomas staying on as editor. It is so important to have access to accurate and well-balanced information on health alternatives – and on environmental influences on health – and I hope the site will continue to go from strength to strength.”

The açaí palm is a species of palm tree cultivated for its fruit and hearts of palm. There’s growing interest in the health benefits of açai, which is sometimes called an Amazonian ‘superfruit.’ Scientists from the University of Reading and University of Roehampton suggest that its rich anthocyanin content means the fruit could help reduce the risk of age related diseases.

“We hypothesize that both fibre and plant polyphenols present in açai​ (Euterpe oleracea​) provide prebiotic and anti-genotoxic benefits in the colon,”​ they wrote in their report, published​​ in the journal Food Chemistry​.

This means that açai may have a prebiotic effect — which means it acts as food for beneficial bacteria living in the digestive system. Fermentation that comes from the bacteria’s digestion of prebiotics in turn provide health benefits to its hosts, such as anti-inflammatory activities, as well as influencing metabolism and satiety.

Genotoxicity, on the other hand, describes a substance that damages the genetic information within a cell causing mutations.

It is widely believed that antioxidants, such as polyphenols, can help protect against genotoxic stress, which has a role to play in aging and age-related diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Antioxidants are also prebiotics​

In this laboratory study the scientists traced the journey of polyphenols through the digestive process, to see if and how well they survived to reach the colon intact.

The researchers used açai pulp that had been freeze-dried and ground to a powder. Then, they simulated intestinal digestion using a standardised method that mimics the human digestive system. This was done to “look at the potential bioavailability and bioactivity of açai polyphenols,” they wrote.

From the process, they found that 49.8% of the total initial polyphenols were available post digestion. “Our work demonstrates that polyphenols present in açai may be degraded during the digestion process, but importantly, that they are not fully destroyed and a significant percentage of these compounds may therefore reach the colon,”​ according to the report.

Reaching the colon intact means they become a useful food source for good bacteria there.

Multiple studies have emerged in recent years to study how anthocyanin-rich fruits interact with bacteria in the gut, and whether or not this interaction offers health benefits.

For instance, a systematic review​​ by Brazilian researchers recently shed more light on the prebiotic properties of anthocyanins. It also found that this type of antioxidant does actually feed beneficial bacteria in the gut, offering potential health benefits to the host.

The study analysed data from more than 6,500 women aged 65-80 who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study, which began in 1996.

The women’s PUFA levels were measured in 1996 and then their health and causes of death, were tracked through August 2014.

Over an average 15-year follow-up period per woman, the researchers found that those aged 65 to 80 with the highest omega-3 blood levels were 20% less likely to die from any cause than those in the lowest levels. This was true even after adjusting for a wide variety of lifestyle and other factors that can hasten death such as smoking, physical activity and history of cardiovascular disease.

Furthermore, women who died during the follow up period were more likely to have lower omega-3 status then those who lived.

“This is the largest – but far from the only – study to confirm that blood levels of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids, in this case the omega-3 index [a measure of EPA and DHA levels in red blood cells], are independent predictors of risk for death,” said Dr. William Harris, lead author of the study. “These findings support the view that higher EPA and DHA omega-3 levels are associated with better overall health.”

Most aren’t getting enough

To put the results of this study in context, recent evidence suggest that around 80% of Americans have less omega-3 in their blood than was found in the healthiest women in this study,

Another 2016 paper confirmed this is not just a US phenomenon. It found that very low omega-3 levels “were observed in North America, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.”

Although this study was observational and did not analyse the effect of a specific intervention, the authors estimated that intakes of approximately 1g of EPA and DHA per day were required to increase omega-3 status from the lowest levels observed in this study to the highest.

This can be done by supplement or in food terms it is equivalent to two and a half to three salmon fillets per week.

The FDA considers dosages of EPA and DHA up to 3g per day Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), a higher level than the 1g per day estimated as a requirement to move from the lowest to highest level of omega-3 status in this study.

The researchers analysed of over 40,000 commonly available packaged foods and beverages and found that 66% – including some infant formulas and baby food products and many so-called ‘healthier’ foods such as yogurt, juice, breakfast cereals, and snack bars – have at least one type of added sugar in their ingredients list.