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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 20th, 2023
  • mal099@kbin.socialtoPolitical Memes@lemmy.world•If he can't win then none of us should! ...Wait
    52·
    11 months ago

    For all those other non-Americans like me who are not completely up to date on this:
    Trump was barred by the Colorado Supreme Court from appearing in the Republican primary in the state because of his role in the January 6 insurrection, reversing a previous decision by a lower court that ruled that while Trump did engage in insurrection, he’s technically not an “officer of the United States”, which apparently makes insurrection OK. This will almost certainly go to the US Supreme Court which appears likely to overturn it, given some of their previous decisions and the fact that it contains 3 Trump appointees. Colorado is a solidly Democratic state which is very likely to go to Biden anyway, but the decision still seems quite important, given that this is the first time something like this has happened.
    Trump’s campaign called the decision “undemocratic”, Biden’s campaign declined to comment.

  • mal099@kbin.socialtoScience@lemmy.ml•Wasabi, beloved on sushi, linked to "really substantial" boost in memory, Japanese study finds
    12·
    11 months ago

    Here’s the study, for anyone who wants to read it. It’s surprisingly short and open access.
    A few things:
    The participants took Wasabi supplements once a day for 12 weeks, not just normal Wasabi. In each pill, there was 0.8 mg of the active compound (6-MSITC). Quick googling gave me the following for the level of that compound in actual Wasabi:

    Another study determined ~550-556 μg/g of 6-MSITC in wet weight of wasabi root [10] . The present study observed a concentration of 120-150 μg/g wet weight of 6-MSITC in stem and rhizome blend.

    In other words, you could actually also get the same amount of 6-MSITC that was in the supplements by eating a few grams of regular wasabi each day, assuming that the processed stuff still has similar levels. The abstract provides a reasonable summary of the study, and of the fact that it agrees largely with some previous science on the subject (although there’s not a lot, two studies in small journals):

    Cognitive functions decline with age. Declined cognitive functions negatively affect daily behaviors. Previous studies showed the positive effect of spices and herbs on cognition. In this study, we investigated the positive impact of wasabi, which is a traditional Japanese spice, on cognitive functions. The main bioactive compound of wasabi is 6-MSITC (6 methylsulfinyl hexyl isothiocyanate), which has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory functions. Anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories have an important role in cognitive health. Therefore, 6-MSITC is expected to have positive effects on cognitive function. Previous studies showed the beneficial effects on cognitive functions in middle-aged adults. However, it is unclear that 6-MSITC has a positive effect on cognitive functions in healthy older adults aged 60 years and over. Here, we investigated whether 12 weeks’ 6-MSITC intervention enhances cognitive performance in older adults using a double-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT). Methods: Seventy-two older adults were randomly assigned to 6-MSITC or placebo groups. Participants were asked to take a supplement (6-MSITC or a placebo) for 12 weeks. We checked a wide range of cognitive performances (e.g., executive function, episodic memory, processing speed, working memory, and attention) at the pre- and post-intervention periods. Results: The 6-MSITC group showed a significant improvement in working and episodic memory performances compared to the placebo group. However, we did not find any significant improvements in other cognitive domains. Discussion: This study firstly demonstrates scientific evidence that 6-MSITC may enhance working memory and episodic memory in older adults. We discuss the potential mechanism for improving cognitive functions after 6-MSITC intake.

    They tested the study participants once before and once after the 12 weeks of daily wasabi supplements. The participants were not tested for any long term cognitive effects.

    As someone else has pointed out here in the comments, the study does list a Wasabi company as one of the sources of funding:

    Funding
    This study was founded[sic] by KINJIRUSHI Co., Ltd. and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19H01760, 22H01088).
    Conflicts of Interest
    This study was supported by KINJIRUSHI Co., Ltd. The funding body had no role in the design of the study, collection, analyses, or interpretation of the data, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to publish the results.

    Also, I don’t want to poison the well too much, but I feel like I should mention that the editorial board of the journal resigned in 2018 because the publishers “pressured them to accept manuscripts of mediocre quality and importance”. Doesn’t mean it’s all bad, but it’s a very early study and more research should be done.