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Wisdom Wednesdays: A cheap and simple way to preserve cognitive function · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays.
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  Speaker 2: And firstly, apologies for the sound quality as I am
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  Speaker 2: on the road without a microphone. But today we're actually
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  Speaker 2: going to talk about something that's pretty important, really easy
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  Speaker 2: to do for cognitive function that will impact upon quality
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  Speaker 2: of life. And we're going to talk about a groundbreak
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  Speaker 2: and study that was published in the journal Nature Communications
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  Speaker 2: that reveals how prebiotic supplements might help aging brain stay sharp.
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  Speaker 2: Research because it shares light on how to plant specific
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  Speaker 2: prebiotics inulin and fructo oligosaccharides could enhance cognition in older adults.
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  Speaker 2: And for me, the exciting thing about this is that
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  Speaker 2: they are so accessible.
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  Speaker 1: So what are pre biotics important. So prebiotics are non
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  Speaker 1: digestible fibers that then get their way into your colon
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  Speaker 1: and they feed beneficial bacteria in the colon, stimulating the
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  Speaker 1: growth of these beneficial bacteria. And these got microbes don't
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  Speaker 1: just support digestion, they interact with our metabolism and as
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  Speaker 1: this emerging research shows, our brains as well. And you've
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  Speaker 1: heard me talk on and on about the gut brain
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  Speaker 1: axis or the gut brain microbiota axis, right, and it
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  Speaker 1: actually highlights how our gut influences a whole host of
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  Speaker 1: things from physical and cognitive function. So the study was
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  Speaker 1: known as the Promote trial and it focused on on
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  Speaker 1: thirty six twin perrs a's sixty and older, and that
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  Speaker 1: actually provides a really robust design to account for genetic
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  Speaker 1: and environmental factors. So twins really give you some really
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  Speaker 1: good insights. So the participants were split into two groups,
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  Speaker 1: with one twin from each perer receiving a daily prebiotic
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  Speaker 1: supplement either inulin or the fruital oligosaccharides mixed in with
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  Speaker 1: protein powder, while the other group received the placebo and
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  Speaker 1: bro also encouraged to do resistance exercises. So the trial
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  Speaker 1: ran for twelve weeks, during which the participants physical function,
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  Speaker 1: cognitive ability, and their gotc rabiota composition were monitored through
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  Speaker 1: online tools and mealed sample kits that they had to use.
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  Speaker 1: And so the kere there was two art cooms. The
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  Speaker 1: primary outcome was looking at muscle strength measured by churized time,
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  Speaker 1: so that's a pretty basic test that's often done in
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  Speaker 1: older adults. And then the secondary artcomes were cognitive performance,
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  Speaker 1: grip strength and got MIC Rabbiota changes is that probiotics
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  Speaker 1: and didn't significantly impact muscle strength, which I actually don't
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  Speaker 1: find that surprising. But there was a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: protein powder in there as well, but it didn't have
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  Speaker 1: an impact on the muscle strength as measured by that
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  Speaker 1: particular test. But what's really exciting really clear benefits for cognition.
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  Speaker 1: Participants who took the prebiotics made fewer errors on a
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  Speaker 1: memory test and had higher scores on overall cognitive tests. Now, interestingly,
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  Speaker 1: the prebiotic group had an increased abundance of Bifidobacterium. So
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  Speaker 1: this is a gut to improved brain health and other
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  Speaker 1: parts of our health. And it's aligns with prior studies
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  Speaker 1: suggesting that probiotics might enhance cognition by influencing gut bring
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  Speaker 1: communication through neural, hormonal, and immune pathways, and the study's
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  Speaker 1: innovative use of twin. I like these effects while minimizing
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  Speaker 1: confounding factors like diet and genetics. So that's why I
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  Speaker 1: really like this study. And so what does that actually
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  Speaker 1: mean for us? What are the take comes for this? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it really is pretty promising for addressing cognitive decline and
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  Speaker 1: older adults and we know from other research studies when
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  Speaker 1: you get older, you got microbiome really does start to
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  Speaker 1: change and it becomes less diverse, and there has been
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  Speaker 1: an increasing line of thinking that that then impacts on
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  Speaker 1: not only our immune system health, but our cognitive health
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  Speaker 1: as well, And this study reallyt up. Now there's probably
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  Speaker 1: more research I think needed to explore the long term
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  Speaker 1: effects and different dostages. But prebiotics like inulin and fruito
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  Speaker 1: oologo psycharides, which are available over the counter, could be
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  Speaker 1: a really cost effective way to health and overall gut
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  Speaker 1: health as you age. So for me, there's a couple
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  Speaker 1: of key takeaways here here Rather than just say right,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to take that supplement, we know that foods
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  Speaker 1: like garlic, onions, bananas, and chicory root and lots of
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  Speaker 1: other fruits and vegetables are rich in prebiotics and can
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  Speaker 1: help got microbiome. But you might want to also supplement,
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  Speaker 1: particularly if you don't normally eat a lot of those foods.
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  Speaker 1: You might also want to think about supplementing with these prebiotics.
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  Speaker 1: The inulin are the fruito oligo soccarides, because they're widely
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  Speaker 1: available and they're really cheap as you get older. I
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  Speaker 1: think that's important because, as I said earlier, we do
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  Speaker 1: know that our gut micropium becomes less diverse, and there's
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  Speaker 1: a whole heap of problems with that. And I think
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  Speaker 1: the other thing I think as well, which I've talked
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  Speaker 1: about ad nauseum, is making sure you're doing regular strength
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  Speaker 1: training and physical acts so that you also preserve your
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  Speaker 1: muscle mass and your muscle strength, because for me, it's
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  Speaker 1: suboptimal if you're just focusing on cognition and not focusing
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  Speaker 1: on your muscle mass and muscle strength. And I've talked
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  Speaker 1: i've nauseum before about the benefits of all of these
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  Speaker 1: muscle mio kinds. So combine in those two things, making
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  Speaker 1: sure you're doing plenty of resistance exercise, particularly as you
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  Speaker 1: get older, making sure that you're having lots of protein
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  Speaker 1: around two grams per kilogram of body weight. It seems
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  Speaker 1: to be ideal as we get older, and now making
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  Speaker 1: sure that you're eating lots of prebiotic roup, and it
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  Speaker 1: seems to be that it's worthwhile supplement within you and
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  Speaker 1: fruittal oligosaccharides as well, So hopefully that is useful. It's
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  Speaker 1: a pretty simple thing that you can do to improve
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  Speaker 1: or maintain your cognitive function as you get older. That's
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  Speaker 1: it for this week. Folks, catch you next time.