As if coffee drinkers needed another excuse to keep brewing their favorite cup, new research suggests that coffee is beneficial for gut health.
Known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, coffee has long been touted for its many health benefits. In fact, thousands of compounds are packed into every cup, helping to improve mental alertness, reduce inflammation, support heart health, and even ease post-workout pain. A recent study published in Nature Microbiology reveals a new benefit of coffee: It supports the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. [snip]
The researchers found that coffee drinkers had high levels of one specific bacteria strain, L. asaccharolyticus. The results suggest that drinking coffee can have a positive effect on your gut by helping the growth of good bacteria — an exciting win for coffee drinkers. [snip]
“It turns out that the microbiome in the gut is probably way more important than we even ever expected,” says Michael Caplan, MD, clinical professor at the University of Chicago and chief scientific officer at Endeavor Health. He explains that the beneficial bacteria in our gut are essential to our overall health, and having a diverse microbiome is crucial. A healthy gut can help prevent traveler’s diarrhea, antibiotic-induced diarrhea, and may even play a role in managing obesity, heart disease, and chemotherapy outcomes, according to Caplan. [snip]
Dr. Chaplan points out that it’s actually not only the caffeine that boosts the beneficial bacteria, as even drinking decaf coffee has a positive effect on our gut. The key contributors are likely the polyphenols, including chlorogenic acid and quinic acid, found in coffee, which help boost the growth of this beneficial bacteria. Science suggests that polyphenols act like prebiotics. They feed and encourage the growth of beneficial gut bacteria...
We'll =slurp= drink to that!
Imagine if President Bill Clinton created a Strategic Beanie Baby Reserve, hoping the ugly dolls could someday pay down the national debt.
Or if President Joe Biden had created a Hunter Biden Paintings Asset Stockpile, encouraging investment in a commodity that just so happened to enrich his son.
Here on real world earth, we’re lucky enough to get the worst of both worlds, the inane and the corrupt, with President Donald Trump creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve as well as a Digital Asset Stockpile ― to hoard cryptocurrencies that are even more volatile and sketchy than Bitcoin.
Trump’s plan has sparked outrage across the political spectrum from those who actually do know how the economy and money work.
“There is no argument for why the government should be buying it and holding it,” said Jason Furman, a top economist in the Barack Obama White House.
“We’re never going to need any of these tokens because they don’t do anything,” said Peter Schiff, who runs Euro Pacific Capital Management. “They’re just used to gamble.” [snip]
... Last September, he and his sons launched “World Liberty Financial,” a brokerage that lets the family make money buying and selling crypto.
That came not long after crypto backers began wooing him with pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago and six-, seven-, even eight-figure donations to the super PACs backing his effort to regain the White House. In all, the crypto industry spent $119 million, extracting a promise in September to make the United States the “crypto capital” of the world.
Then, three days before his inauguration, Trump took the corruption to whole new levels. Instead of divesting from businesses or placing them in a blind trust, as previous presidents have done, Trump created a quick, easy, impossible-to-track method for anyone to bribe him by purchasing some or lots of his very own crypto “coin.” [snip]
The federal government’s imprimatur is an enormous gift to those trying to persuade Americans that crypto is not just an updated, more sophisticated Nigerian Prince email scam. What’s more, if the U.S. government is holding particular cryptocurrencies with the intention never to sell them, that helps set a floor price — which, of course, enriches those who already own them... (our emphasis)
Who would have guessed that the lifelong grubbing grifter and lawless convicted felon would end up at the forefront of the crypto scam, giving him the way and the means to enrich himself without detection. Congratulations, America! We officially live in a kleptocracy.
Donald Trump’s policies could leave the US more vulnerable to dangerous synthetic drug trafficking from abroad, even as the administration has vowed to stop fentanyl from entering the country, former government officials say.
This week, Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, ostensibly as a tactic to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the US.
Jim Crotty, the former Drug Enforcement Administration deputy chief of staff, called the approach “coercive” and said it has the potential to backfire. Federal funding cuts could also leave US borders more insecure, according to Enrique Roig, a former Department of State official who oversaw Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) portfolios and who has also worked with USAid.
US overdose deaths began to decrease significantly for the first time in 2023, after rising for decades. But Crotty notes this progress is fragile.
“We’re seeing this decrease in overdose deaths and everyone’s still trying to suss out exactly why. I don’t think now is the time that we want to stop any of those existing efforts because we know that at least some, or a combination of them, have been working,” Crotty said.
Roig agreed: “All this has to be working together in concert.”
Federal funding cuts could put the US behind when it comes to drug detection technology. The global drug supply has increasingly shifted towards highly potent synthetic substances such as fentanyl and newly emerging nitazenes. Often, these drugs arrive in the US in the form of powders or precursor chemicals that take up minimal space, and are difficult to detect by odor.
Roig says advanced drug detection technology is therefore vital, but Trump’s federal funding and staff cuts mean less money for the latest technology and equipment, and fewer people to install it... (our emphasis)
Another Trump/ DOGE triumph in the making!
No comments:
Post a Comment