Abide

More on Chocolate

From Wired:

Scientists Explain Chocolate Cravings
By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If that craving for chocolate sometimes feels like it is coming from deep in your gut, that's because maybe it is.

A small study links the type of bacteria living in people's digestive system to a desire for chocolate. Everyone has a vast community of microbes in their guts. But people who crave daily chocolate show signs of having different colonies of bacteria than people who are immune to chocolate's allure. . .

. . . this isn't part of an effort to convert a few to the dark side (or even milk) side of cocoa, Kocchar said.

In fact, the study was delayed because it took a year for the researchers to find 11 men who don't eat chocolate.

Well, no surprise there. But why didn't they use women as subjects?

. . . a dozen substances were significantly different between the two groups. For example, the amino acid glycine was higher in chocolate lovers, while taurine (an active ingredient in energy drinks) was higher in people who didn't eat chocolate. Also chocolate lovers had lower levels of the bad cholesterol, LDL.

I'm tempted to make a Google alert for 'chocolate' -- it will be interesting to see where this research leads.

Maybe chocolate will be the new (old) aspirin!

Chocolate is Good for Us!

From BBC News:

Chocolate 'aids fatigue syndrome'

A daily dose of specially- formulated dark chocolate may help cut chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.

Patients in a pilot study found they had less fatigue when eating dark chocolate with a high cocoa content than with white chocolate dyed brown.

Researchers from Hull York Medical School said the results were surprising but dark chocolate may be having an effect on the brain chemical serotonin.

I have to say, this is no surprise to me. My body has been telling me -- and I've been listening -- to eat a bit of dark chocolate every day. Of course,

Experts said patients should consume chocolate in moderation.

and

The researchers stressed the chocolate formulation used in the study was not currently available to the public.

Just wait -- they'll pull out some chemical, put it in a capsule, and expect it to work as well as the chocolate. Or, this will turn out to have been funded by some chocolate company.

But I don't think so; it sounds like the real thing.

I've been getting lots of alerts about this the past few days, but I first saw it at Lady Banana. Any of you who think I am (or was) inordinately attached to widgets must check out her site. She puts me in the shade. Deep shade.

Go have some chocolate!

Recent CFS/FMS/M.E. Research

I've been absent from here for a long time. My energy -- well, energy: what is that?

Still, I wanted to report on recent research. I imagine several of you are keeping up with this, but -- I haven't been reading you lately.

As usual, a lot on the differences between healthy folk and those of us with these mysterious illnesses; little on how to help us.

So here is what my Google Alerts are bringing me:

IBS & migraine, depression, fibromyalgia

From Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The findings from a large study indicate that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are at increased risk for migraine, depression or fibromyalgia, a chronic condition of fatigue, muscle pain and other symptoms . . .

The current study, published in BMC Gastroenterology, involved more than 125,000 subjects and did include a reference group. The subjects were drawn from a large U.S. health plan and were seen for either IBS or routine medical care (the non-IBS group).

Compared with non-IBS patients, those with the condition were 60 percent more likely to also have any one of the three disorders, the report indicates. The elevated risks for depression, migraine, and fibromyalgia were 40 percent, 60 percent, and 80 percent, respectively.

The current findings support previous reports, which have promoted speculation that all four disorders share an underlying biological mechanism, the authors conclude.

SOURCE: BMC Gastroenterology, September 28, 2006.

Emphasis mine. Photo mine, and meant to be cheering.

I was diagnosed with colitis when I was in my twenties, and there is no doubt that when this acts up, all of my symptoms are worse. Much worse.

Anyone surprised by the results of this study?

Interesting & Mysterious

 

From Forbes, of all places (& be warned, popups!):

Flexible Joints a Curious Clue to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

SUNDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Chronic fatigue syndrome has been accepted as a medical condition for almost 20 years. Once passed off as a series of sometimes ambiguous complaints about pain in the joints and a general malaise -- primarily by females -- the condition was confirmed by medical researchers as  bona fide in 1988. . .

What he and other researchers found was puzzling, to say the least.

Sixty percent of the 60 children and teens they treated for chronic fatigue syndrome also had hypermobility in at least four of their joints. Only 20 percent of the general public has a single hyperflexible joint, such as being able to bend a pinkie 90 degrees backward, touch the thumb to the forearm, or bend at the waist and rest both hands flat on the ground. . .

Their findings, which appeared in  The Journal of Pediatrics, added a vexing wrinkle to the current thinking on chronic fatigue syndrome. . .

Rowe emphasized that having hyperflexible joints doesn't mean a person will have the syndrome. Just how the two are related is little more than a guess, Rowe and Jason agreed. . .

I'm intrigued, partly because I have hyperflexible joints -- always have. Even at my age and weight, I can still bend at the waist and put my hands flat on the floor, and nearly touch my thumbs to my forearms. The latter is less flexible than it used to be, though; a bit of arthritis, I think.

Odd, isn't it?

CDC on CFS

lydiajen at LiveJournal's CFIDS and M.E. Support Community points to a very interesting CDC press briefing on their recent CFS research. I've selected some comprehensible to non-scientist me excerpts [all emphases mine]:

CFS/M.E./M.S./Epilepsy?

From U.S. Newswire:

Potential Animal (Zoonotic) Virus Identified in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy

NEEDHAM, Mass., May 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Recent independent scientific research funded by the National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. (NCF) of Needham, MA provided preliminary confirmation of a new virus identified in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Foundation's medical research dovetails with that completed to date by Cryptic Afflictions, LLC (1), a private company.

Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.

. . .

Dr. Robbins' evidence includes the presence of virus-specific antibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients suffering from these disorders, the ability of the virus to cause virtually identical disease in experimentally-infected animals, and nucleotide sequence data that indicates that the virus is pandemic and represents a single virus species much like measles.

. . .

As usual, it's difficult for a non-scientist to interpret this research, or to make any assessment of its potential importance -- but a virus has always been suspected.

A not entirely gratuitous cat post

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!  The Carnival of the Cats will be at Catcall next Sunday, and Laurence is planning a Carnival of the Cats #102 raffle:

I'd really like to make this a big carnival this time around to celebrate the fact that catblogging has gotten its paw in the door with the MSM here with a Chronicle.Community readerblog.

If there's over 100 sites submitting catblogging posts to the Carnival of the Cats this week, I'll raffle out four special cat-related gifts among the lucky participants.

So here is another cat post, pushing toward that hundred.

But I also have a relevant link, via inkyCIRCUS -- Brain injury may cause chronic fatigue:

By Helen Carter | ABC Science Online

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be caused by a temporary 'brain injury' during the early, inflammatory stages of glandular fever, according to Australian scientists.

"We believe that parts of the brain which control perception of fatigue and pain are damaged during the acute infection phase of glandular fever," says lead researcher, Professor Andrew Lloyd from the University of New South Wales.

The researchers, who publish their study this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, believe the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, might trigger CFS in some people.
. . .
The scientists found the virus itself does not cause this ongoing fatigue but they hypothesise that a 'hit and run' brain injury does.
. . .
The study is the first to follow patients within a few weeks of acute glandular fever infection for a year.
. . .
The scientists will test their hypothesis by doing brain scans on study participants.

I've seen hypotheses about Epstein-Barr before, but none that have been validated by research. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this one.

Chronic Fatigue is Real!

Are you surprised?

Researchers might have found evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and legitimate neurological condition.

A pilot study published in the open access journal BMC Neurology reveals that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a set of proteins in their spinal cord fluid that were not detected in healthy individuals. These proteins might give insight into the causes of CFS, and could be used as markers to diagnose patients with CFS.

James Baraniuk and Begona Casado, from Georgetown University in the US, and colleagues from other institutions in the US and Italy, studied the content of the spinal cord fluid, or 'cerebrospinal fluid', in CFS patients and healthy individuals. This fluid can be tested for the diagnosis of various neurological diseases and infections. The researchers identified 16 proteins that can be found in patients with CFS but not in healthy individuals. Five of these proteins are found in all CFS patients but none of the controls. They could be a 'biosignature' for the disease, which could be used to diagnose it.

This is a pilot study, but Baraniuk et al. conclude that "this is the first predictive model of chronic fatigue syndrome to be based only on objective data". They add: "Given the controversy over whether CFS and its allied syndromes are legitimate medical conditions, our model provides initial objective evidence for the legitimacy of CSF as a distinct neurological disease."

Many of the proteins found in CFS patients are involved in protein folding and in various neurological syndromes, which might give clues regarding the origin of chronic fatigue syndrome.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcneurol/

A Hole in the Clouds?

Somewhat desperate, I went to the doctor today, and he said he might actually have something that could help. He's very encouraged by the research and his own patients' experience. So, my own Cymbalta trial begins today. I'll keep you posted; anyone else tried it yet?

[Yes, I know that's not a cloud photo, but it's today's photo.]