A Gut Health Revelation To Blow Your Mind…

You’ve read about gut bacteria, cheered probiotics, fretted over yeast overgrowth in your nether regions and dodged viral gastroenteritis. 

But archaea are neither bacteria nor viruses or eukaryotes… they belong to an ancient, parallel lineage of life that diverged from ours over three billion years ago.

The latest discovery is a species of archaea called Methanobrevibacter intestini…the newly christened methanogen discovered in human stool samples. So why the fuss? (in nerdy microbiome circles only)

Well archaea possess unique biochemistry. Their cell membranes and their enzymes can survive extreme environments you’d find inhospitable… like the depths of your fiery rotten egg infused colon (or a volcanic hot spring).

They also convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane, and they churn out succinate and formate… small molecules that influence your energy balance, gut inflammation, and (quite possibly) influence the trajectory of chronic diseases.

The irony is we obsessively monitor probiotic labels (“oh this one has nine strains!”) whilst neglecting an entire domain of life that’s been quietly reshaping our gut chemistry since our ancestors first crawled out of the primordial slime (and I’m not just talking about your dad stepping out of the shower onto a squelchy bathroom mat)

Archaea are like subterranean unicorns of flatulence… rarely seen, deeply misunderstood, yet potent enough to alter the landscape of our microbiome.

It’s a humbling reminder that we are not alone and we are not singular beings but entire ecosystems. Our cravings, moods, even our metabolic set–points are negotiated in microscopic boardrooms where bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses lobby for influence and flatulence.

𝗚𝘂𝘁-b𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 a𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

If your gut is a tangled metropolis, you can still sprinkle in some rigorous support…encouraging not just bacteria, but those archaeal allies that thrive on hydrogen and produce those key methane, succinate, and formate signals.

1. Feed the hydrogen producers
   – Eat resistant starch (cooled potatoes, green bananas) and inulin (chicory, artichokes). These fibers ferment in the colon, generating hydrogen that methanogens need as fuel.
   
   

2. Balance your fiber portfolio
   – Include a mix of lots of different fiber types (think different vegetables and plants; seeds, nuts, fruit, seasoning etc) Diverse substrates create a richer, more resilient microbiome; archaea included.
   
   

3. Limit rapid-fermenting sugars (within reason)
   – Whilst I’m not telling you to impose a ban on that Krispy Kreme you desire now and then… excess simple sugars can trigger explosive bacterial blooms that outcompete archaea. Embrace low-glycemic carbs and polyphenol-rich foods (berries, green tea) to modulate fermentation rates.
   
   

4. Avoid unnecessary antibiotics
   – Antibiotics decimate your bacterial friends… and the hydrogen producers archaea rely on. Reserve them for true infections and consider post-antibiotic prebiotic therapy.
   
   
   

After all, if we fail to listen to the smallest voices in our microscopic democracy, they might just start a little mutiny inside you. Not recommended.

Hope For Adults With Peanut Allergies…?!

I’ve got a couple of friends with severe peanut allergies and for them the fear of accidental exposure can feel like a life sentence. 

But a small, but pretty groundbreaking study published in Allergy (PMID: 40268292) offers a potential reprieve. 

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) using real-world peanut products has shown remarkable success in desensitizing adults to peanuts! 

***If you do have a peanut allergy and are thinking of starting your car to go buy some peanuts from the supermarket for a bit of DIY science… put the keys down and read the science first please.

The study: Rewiring immunity, one peanut at a time

Researchers at King’s College London conducted a Phase II trial involving 21 adults (ages 18–40) with severe peanut allergies. Participants underwent a carefully monitored OIT protocol:

1. Microdosing: Started with 0.8 mg of peanut protein (less than 0.3% of a peanut) mixed into food.

2. Gradual escalation: Over weeks, doses increased to 1,000 mg daily (4 peanuts), then transitioned to real peanuts or peanut butter.

3. Exit challenge: After 6 months, participants faced a cumulative dose of 1.4 g peanut protein (12 peanuts).

Results:

• 67% (14/21) tolerated the full 1.4g dose-a 100-fold increase from their baseline tolerance (30mg ➔ 3,000mg).

• Immune shifts: Reduced skin prick test reactivity and elevated peanut-specific IgG (a protective antibody) confirmed systemic desensitization.

• Quality of life: Participants reported reduced anxiety around accidental exposure and improved daily functioning.

  
  

Why This Matters

Peanut allergies affect 2% of Western populations, with adults often excluded from prior OIT research focused on children. This trial bridges that gap, proving adults could achieve similar desensitization.

But.. this is where nuance needs to be highlighted! 

• Safety first: Three participants withdrew due to allergic reactions (e.g., throat swelling). OIT requires strict medical supervision…never attempt this at home.

• Maintenance required: Desensitization isn’t a cure. Daily peanut consumption is needed to sustain tolerance.

• Phase II Limitations: This study was very small and had a short follow-up period. Larger, longer trials are underway and are needed before being able to extrapolate results to a larger population.
  
  
  

Taking Care Of The Jungle In Your Mouth

You may not like to know this but your mouth hole is a sprawling ecosystem of microbes (often the same ones that are to blame for your morning dragon breath too..)

… And twice a day, most* of us (*should be all of us) engage in an ancient ritual; scrubbing and flossing our teeth…yet we still treat our mouths like barren real estate rather than this thriving microbial archipelagos. 

Your oral health is nothing more, or less, than the health of your mouth’s microbiome, and mastering it and the 700+ bacterial species calling it their home, means thinking beyond minty freshness.

1. Saliva: The river of life (and microbial warfare)

When you chew sugar-free gum, you’re not just freshening breath-you’re unleashing a biochemical arsenal. Xylitol gum starves Streptococcus mutans (the bad stuffl) while saliva floods with lysozyme and lactoferrin:

• Lysozyme: Blasts holes in bacterial cell walls like a microbial wrecking ball, targeting Gram-positive pathogens.

• Lactoferrin: Hijacks iron from bacteria, starving them into submission while destabilizing their membranes to let lysozyme finish the job

Easy actionable: Chew xylitol gum post-meals. Studies show it reduces S. mutans by 30% and boosts Veillonella, acid-neutralizing allies 

2. Sugar: The trojan horse 

Excessive sugar is used by bacteria like S. mutans and transforms it into lactic acid, dissolving enamel. Meanwhile, prebiotic fibers (onions, oats) feed Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, fostering a pH-neutral utopia. Yes you get anti-vampire odours emanating from your gums but your immune system, oral health and mouth micorbiome will be pleased.

3. Flossing: Biofilm demolition derby

Brushing alone is like cleaning a crime scene but missing the fingerprints. Interdental brushes or floss disrupt biofilms-sticky bacterial slums where pathogens lie in wait. Floss removes 40% more plaque than brushing solo, forcing microbes to rebuild weaker colonies

Easy actionable: Floss at night. Biofilms regenerate fastest during saliva’s overnight drought.

4. Electric toothbrushes: The plague of plaque

Powered brushes with oscillating heads are thought to reduce more plaque than manual scrubbing, thanks to “acoustic microstreaming”- vibrations that annihilate bacterial grip. Think of it as a power washer for some of that nasty microbial graffiti

Easy actionable: Opt for brushes with pressure sensors. Overbrushing erodes enamel, creating camps for acid-loving bacteria.

6. Mouthwash: Uh-oh

Antibacterial rinses like chlorhexidine don’t discriminate… they nuke all oral bacteria, including S. salivarius that crowd out pathogens. Worse, disrupted oral microbiomes send shockwaves to the gut, altering microbiota linked to blood pressure and immunity. 

Oral care isn’t a quest for sterility… we should be concerned with balance. Your mouth is the first domino in a chain affecting your entire body.

The Lonely Island Over Overthinking…

Population: Me (and probably you)

I’ve been an overthinker as long as I can remember…my mind is a funhouse mirror of every possible outcome, distortion upon distortion until certainty becomes impossible and I’m paralysed by choice. 

If that sounds cruelly familiar it’s because it’s a trait of being human.

I know, intellectually, that second-guessing every decision is a recipe for inertia: the prefrontal cortex (the control centre of your brain) thwarts action by rehearsing every conceivable nightmare scenario (social humiliation, financial ruin, existential meaninglessness). Yet I still sit there, churning through pros and cons like a hamster on a wheel, unable to leap into the messy business of living.

At the heart of this lies a deliciously cruel cognitive dissonance: part of me craves movement, creativity, absurd leaps of faith and “fun” recklessness; another part insists on exhaustive analysis, as though I can reason my way to a guarantee. 

This “dissonance” is two contradictory motivations vying for dominance… and the friction between them is a perpetual itch I can’t scratch. 

Rumination, of course, is the slippery slope from healthy reflection into obsessive replay. 

Instead of refining an idea, I become fixated on every nuance… the sound of my own voice when I record a video, the angle of a potential rejection email, the ideological purity of my grocery list or food order… and the act of thinking eclipses the joy of doing. 

My friends, who “just do the thing,” almost seem superhuman: they trust the world to shape itself around their intentions, rather than trying to pre-sculpt every contingency. 

I’ll be honest. I envy their apparent lack of mental feedback loops, their minimal internal drama. It’s like watching someone walk through a door without checking every possible hinge failure first.

Neuroscience shows that overthinking hijacks our reward pathways: dopamine fires in anticipation of solutions, not in the messy fulfillment of them. So we binge on thought…daydreams, “what-ifs,” mental simulations… because it feels productive, even though it yields no external change. 

This is “analysis paralysis” in its purest form, and its true power lies in its masquerade: feeling busy while remaining motionless. The irony is that the more options I conjure, the less freedom I have to choose.

In the last few months something has helped turned the tide; mapping my desires onto paper to reduce unnecessary mental noise, and learning to let go of thoughts that serve no action. 

In my own life, that means journaling until the same worries lose their novelty and imposing deadlines… I’ll decide or I’ll fail by Friday, no further debate. Each tiny boundary shaves off a piece of mental baggage.

So I’m learning to tip the scales: fewer “what-ifs,” more “why nots”; fewer drafts, more first attempts; fewer audits of regret, more leaps into uncertainty. 

P.S This email takes so long to write because I keep worrying what people think of it. If people spot the dumb grammar and spelling errors. Here’s an errrorr just for you.

Digital Dementia…Reversed?!

Social media, the digital age and… short attention spans, brain rot and all the doom and gloom right?

Wrong. Maybe.

There was this term floating around calling “digital dementia” and it kind of makes sense. Are we outsourcing our innate cognitive abilities to technology so much that our own brains actually stop doing enough heavy lifting?

There’s been a recent interesting study which hypothesises that perhaps our technology (even our smartphones) may actually save our brains! (but not how you think)

A meta-analysis in Nature Human Behaviour (PMID: 40229575) flips the script: tech-savvy seniors have a 58% lower risk of cognitive decline and a 26% slower rate of mental aging. But is this simply Silicon Valley snake oil or legit brain armour?

Digital Dementia vs. Technological Reserve

• Digital dementia hypothesis: Predicts that binge-scrolling TikTok melts your hippocampus into mush.

• Technological reserve theory: Argues that actively engaging with tech (learning apps, problem-solving, even online banking) builds cognitive resilience, much like education or crossword puzzles.

The meta-analysis of 411,430 adults (avg. age 69) found overwhelming support for the latter: tech users had a lower risk for cognitive impairment and cognitive decline-even after controlling for income, education, and health. Non science translation: Your grandma’s zoom book club might be her secret weapon against dementia.

The Fine Print: Not all tech is created equal

Okay…so this isn’t a free pass to doomscroll on Tiktok at 3am because that will impact your brain. The study defines “technology use” as active engagement-learning new software, managing digital tools, solving problems. 

Playing Candy Crush for 6 hours (I’ve done this) won’t turn you into Einstein. But using Google maps to navigate a new city? That’s like neurological CrossFit.

Just as higher education builds “cognitive reserve” (a buffer against brain aging), tech literacy may forge a “technological reserve”.

1. Neuroplasticity push: Learning interfaces (apps, devices) forces your brain to rewire, strengthening neural networks.

2. Socio-emotional gym: Video calls and online communities combat isolation, a known dementia accelerant.

To emphasize again…passive consumption (Netflix autoplay, infinite scroll) offers no such benefits. Your brain needs reps, not reruns.

Actionables for the Aging Brain

1. Upgrade from Passive → Active Tech: Swap binge-watching for learning a language on an app or listen to an audiobook 

2. Mix analog + digital: Pair sudoku apps with paper puzzles. Diversity trumps dogma.

3. Beware the sedentary scroll: For every hour online, do 10 mins of physical activity (even walking around). Sitting is tech’s silent accomplice.

Tech’s impact isn’t one-size-fits-all. How you use it matters more than how much.

Tech won’t save your brain if you’re just cat-video marathoning. But used wisely, it’s the 21st-century crossword puzzle.

The Biggest Levers For Health

A lot of our health is influenced by genetics.

It’s not my fault I was gifted a ravenous appetite for carbs. I blame my parents and the long line of bread devouring ancestors that came before me and conspired to manipulate my genetics.

But..

..and this is important. 

Even if you are predisposed to a certain condition or have an increased risk of a disease because of genetics…it doesn’t always mean we are pre-determined for that outcome.

We have a lot of agency when it comes to increasing our health and healthspan.

There should be no surprises for you reading this when I say the boring stuff like diet, exercise and sleep will improve your odds. 

But what may surprise you is the magnitude of the control we have over the risk factors for some of the worst diseases of aging. For example we can reduce the accumulated risk of stroke, dementia and late-life depression by 50% by taking charge of these factors.

TL;DR: keep your blood pressure under control (and if you’re over the age of 30 please check it at least once a year), engage in regular intellectual as well as physical activity (walking IS exercise no matter what anyone says), take charge of your blood glucose and weight (although these don’t necessarily always tie in together), don’t smoke, don’t drink, avoid stress (easier said than done I know but it’s one of the markers of long term health and I feel compelled to at least mention it), get quality sleep, be mindful of your omega-3 intake (either eat fish or take the appropriate supplement), take care of your kidneys by minimizing salt intake, have a purpose in life (find what you enjoy and work towards it!)

This may seem like a silly list. But if you do most of that stuff on a somewhat regular basis…your probability of suffering from any of these diseases of old age markedly reduces. There is no bio-hacking longevity really.. beyond some of these basics. What I’ve outlined here won’t make you superhuman but it will make you have more life in your years than simply adding years to your life.