Household Debt Ticks Up to $17.94 Trillion
Source: https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc
Yikes.
Scary Charts – 12.17.24
Prostate Cancer Diagnosis? Eat Less Omega-6 fats and More Omega-3 fats
To determine whether diet or supplements can play a role in managing prostate cancer, the UCLA-led team conducted a prospective clinical trial, called CAPFISH-3, that included 100 men with low risk or favorable intermediate risk prostate cancer who chose active surveillance. Participants were randomly assigned to either continue their normal diet or follow a low omega-6, high omega-3 diet, supplemented with fish oil, for one year.
The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show that a diet low in omega-6 and high in omega-3 fatty acids, combined with fish oil supplements, significantly reduced the growth rate of prostate cancer cells in men with early-stage disease.
University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. “A low omega-6, omega-3 rich diet and fish oil may slow prostate cancer growth.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/12/241213211326.htm (accessed December 13, 2024)
Another reminder I should get my PSA level checked.
Prostate Cancer Diagnosis? Eat More Veggies
In this cohort study of 2062 men with prostate cancer, higher intake of plant foods after prostate cancer diagnosis was associated with lower risk of cancer progression. These findings suggest nutritional assessment and counseling may be recommended to patients with prostate cancer to help establish healthy dietary practices and support well-being and overall health. Plant-Based Diets and Disease Progression in Men With Prostate Cancer – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2818122
This reminds me I should get my PSA level checked at my next annual visit.
Last reading was 0.64 back in 2022.
How To Feel Young at 70 (you read articles like this one)
Sofiya Milman is director of Human Longevity Studies at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She studies people known as “superagers” —95 and older. “As a group, they have a very positive outlook on life” and are notably resilient, like Jaffe, she told me.
Qualities associated with resilience in older adults include optimism and hopefulness, an ability to adapt to changing circumstances, meaningful relationships, community connections, and physical activity, according to a growing body of research on this topic. A Centenarian Thrives Living Alone, Active and Engaged – https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/centenarian-thrives-living-alone-older-adults/
Hilda Jaffe 102 lives alone and is thriving.
I need to improve my level of physical activity if I want to become a superager.
Humans are Difficult
That day at the Costco checkout, I paid for my groceries at a human-powered cash register and received the tiny oxytocin boost that comes from a random interaction with strangers, the kind that Mehret Biruk is always raving about, those small insignificant moments of connection that add to the richness of life…
This interaction made me realize that much of what I explore in this newsletter is about embracing inefficiencies—making phone calls instead of texting, planning your route ahead of time instead of relying on a GPS, waiting to check your email from a desktop instead of on-the-go, letting people know that you can’t always be instantly available across various communication platforms.
We live in a world obsessed with optimization. An era of contactless everything. This holiday season, lean into the inefficiencies. Make eye contact with strangers. Take your AirPods out of your ears and make small talk with the cashier instead of scanning your own groceries. Chat with the kind humans handing out samples at Costco. Choose human connection, however uncomfortable that may be. You might be pleasantly surprised. Humans are difficult – https://substack.com/@carmellaguiol
Choose human connection.
The Dark Side of TikTok – Beef Tallow For Skincare
In just three years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has more than quadrupled, from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023.
More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend seen on most other social media sites — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/15/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-seen-on-most-other-social-media-sites/
Beef tallow (if smeared on your face) may be be comedogenic according to Dr. Lee – The Beef Tallow TikTok Skincare Trend: Here Are The Concerns – https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2024/12/08/the-beef-tallow-tiktok-skincare-trend-here-are-the-concerns/
This too shall not end well.
The Dark Side of TikTok – Financial Advice?
What’s Your America? (there are 10 Americas) – Updated with Scary Charts 02.01.25
Asians and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders definitively outlive other Americans. Is there anything we can learn from them? A confluence of factors may be at play. They tend to have relatively higher socioeconomic status, lower rates of obesity, and the lowest smoking rates of any racial group in the U.S. Healthier traditional cooking may also contribute to their longevity. When it comes to life expectancy, there are 10 Americas – https://bigthink.com/health/ten-americas-for-life-expectancy/
Attention Mortality Risk Experts
Sharpen your pencils and don’t ask me what a pencil is.
Updated 02.01.25 with Scary Charts
Scary Charts 12.01.24
Office CMBS Delinquency Rate Spikes to 10.4%, Just Below Worst of Financial Crisis Meltdown. Fastest 2-Year Spike Ever – https://wolfstreet.com/2024/11/30/office-cmbs-delinquency-rate-spikes-to-10-4-just-below-worst-of-financial-crisis-cre-meltdown-fastest-2-year-spike-ever/
Yikes.
The world’s worst countries for binge-drinking – https://www.statista.com/chart/5357/the-worlds-worst-countries-for-binge-drinking/
Yikes.
Which Lifestyle Changes Can Make You Live Longer? – https://www.statista.com/chart/31766/reduction-in-the-risk-of-premature-death-after-age-40-when-sticking-to-the-lifestyle-factors/
Yikes.
The Worst U.S. States For Binge Drinking – https://www.statista.com/chart/12345/the-worst-us-states-for-binge-drinking/
Yikes. But a great day for Scary Charts!
My Fat Cells Have a Memory
Even after drastic weight loss, the body’s fat cells carry the ‘memory’ of obesity, research1 shows — a finding that might help to explain why it can be hard to stay trim after a weight-loss programme.
This memory arises because the experience of obesity leads to changes in the epigenome — a set of chemical tags that can be added to or removed from cells’ DNA and proteins that help to dial gene activity up or down. For fat cells, the shift in gene activity seems to render them incapable of their normal function. This impairment, as well as the changes in gene activity, can linger long after weight has dropped to healthy levels, a study published today in Nature reports.
Fat cells have a ‘memory’ of obesity — hinting at why it’s hard to keep weight off – www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03614-9
For the geeks, here’s a link to the original study – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08165-7
Even without this study I already knew my fat cells have a memory because they are constantly trying to make me gain weight.
Nonrandom Thoughts on Retirement – Nov. 2024 (scary chart too)
Americans are split over the state of the American dream — https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/02/americans-are-split-over-the-state-of-the-american-dream/
Are you familiar with the self-fulfilling prophecy in psychology/sociology? Simply stated a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when what you believe about your future causes it to happen. When you believe something will become true, you’ll act to make it a reality. Look at the chart above. Looks like around 50% of the survey respondents under the age of 50 will never achieve their American Dream.
They will make choices and act in ways to ensure they will never achieve the American Dream.
lifeunderwriter.net 
You must be logged in to post a comment.