Want to Lose a Little Weight? Hop to it!

Hops may be best known as an ingredient in beer. But it is also a versatile medicinal herb. And though beer is never going to help you lose weight, hops just might!

Though relatively little known as a medicinal herb, hops has an impressive range of proven uses from menopause to osteoporosis to insomnia, depression, anxiety and stress and even COVID. Now a new study has added weight loss.

In this double-blind study, 19 men of healthy weight were given either a placebo or 500mg of hops extract a day. Hops reduced the amount of food eaten by a significant 17% compared to placebo. It seemed to work by significantly increasing appetite-suppressing hormones. The men felt just as full while eating less.

Interestingly, while hops decreased appetite, it affected neither the men’s subjective feeling of appetite nor their enjoyment of their food.

This study introduces hops as a herb that can suppress appetite. This finding is of potential importance to people needing to lose weight for health reasons because controlling energy intake is a key to managing weight.

Am J Clin Nutr March 2022;115(3):925-40.

 

Pregnancy Should Not Be A Time Of Depression. Make Sure It Isn’t.

Though pregnancy should be a time of joy, the reality is that depression is common in the time just before and just after giving birth. But simply getting enough of a common vitamin could help bring back the joy.

During pregnancy, adequate vitamin D is needed by both the fetus and the mother. But vitamin D deficiency is quite common during pregnancy. That deficiency could increase the risk of depression for the mother.

A potentially important new systematic review and meta-analysis for pregnant women put together 25 studies of maternal levels of vitamin D during pregnancy and depression.

It found clear evidence that low vitamin D is associated with pre- and postpartum depression. During the postnatal period, vitamin D levels were 2.36 ng/mL lower in women with postnatal depression than in women who were not depressed. That difference translated into a 2.08 times greater risk of depression for the women with the lower vitamin D.

In the period just before giving birth, vitamin D levels were a significant 4.63 ng/mL lower in the women who were depressed than in the women who were not.

This study reveals a significant relationship between low levels of vitamin D and pre-and postnatal depression. The study is important because it could allow women to predict and prevent depression around pregnancy.

Nutrients. 2024;16(21):3648.

 

Probiotics Soothe Your Baby’s Colic

You’ve been up all night, and your baby can’t stop crying. He’s miserable and holding his tummy. His little legs are pulled up tight against his belly, and his fists are clenched. You try to soothe him, but it offers little comfort. Your baby has colic. But there really is help.

Babies with colic suffer severe pain in their abdomen. It is most common in infants up to 5 months of age and affects around 20% of all infants.

Babies with colic have been found to have lower levels of good intestinal microbiota and higher levels of bad ones. And there is very strong evidence that probiotics are the most effective treatment for colic.

Tons of studies have shown that giving colicky infants probiotics dramatically reduces crying time and fussing time (JAMA Pediatr 2014;168:228-33; J Pediatr 2015;166:74-8; J Paediatr Child Health 2014;50:801-5).

Studies have also shown that probiotics may be better than drugs. When babies were given either probiotics or the drug simethicone, the babies on the drug cried for 145 minutes a day; the babies on probiotics cried for only 51 minutes a day. 95% of babies responded to probiotics versus only 7% for simethicone (Pediatrics 2007;119(1):e124-30).

One of the best probiotics for colic is Lactobacillus reuteri. One study found that L. reuteri can remarkably reduce crying time from 248.2 minutes a day to 45.6 (Clin Pract. 2022 Feb; 12(1): 37–45).

A just published study suggests that a probiotic combination of Bifidobacterium longum and Pediococcus pentosaceus may work even better.

When colicky babies were given the probiotic combination, 61.1% reduced their crying and fussing time by more than 50% after one week. At two weeks, the number had grown to 84.6% and by three weeks it was 92.2%.

After one week, crying time was reduced from 270 minutes a day to 120 with the probiotics.

This study adds to the already solid evidence that probiotics are the most effective treatment for colic.

European Journal of Pediatrics. 2024 Sep;38(9):4614-4627.