Wives’ Tales are unscientific and unsubstantiated pieces of advice akin to superstition. Not all of them are necessarily untrue, however. A case in point is chicken soup for the treatment of colds. Believe it or not, several studies demonstrate that chicken soup possibly has anti-inflammatory activity, namely inhibition of the migration of a type of white cell called the neutrophil.
Certainly, inflammatory mechanisms underlie the genesis of many different acute and chronic illnesses—not only colds but also obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer and even aging, if it is proper to refer to aging as an illness.
Known risk factors for inflammation and disease include smoking, drinking, drug abuse, overeating, sedentary lifestyle and insufficient sleep.
The prescription for #overinflammation or #inflammaging?
Stress more.
This is one of the takeaways from an EpicentRx-authored article on anti-aging strategies in the journal, PharmaTimes.
In response to moderate amounts of stress, that is heat, cold, exercise and food restriction, for example, the organism adapts and builds back better and stronger. Or, as the philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Kelly Clarkson emphasize, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
The benefits of stresses like exercise are that they increase the production of potentially harmful substances, such as free radicals which, in turn, activate the production of antioxidants to counteract them.
NLRP3 inflammasome agents like RRx-001 (nibrozetone) may also act as an adjunct to exercise, dietary restriction, and exposure to heat and cold.
Like the anti-inflammatory activity of chicken soup, another potentially true or, at least, not wildly off base wives’ tale is the one about eye damage/eyestrain and too much TV (or computer) time.
And so, with that we end this blog post.