The Livelong Newsletter

Happy Friday!

We are proud to announce that over 100,000 people are subscribed to the Livelong Newsletter 🫢! Your health and happiness is the reason we exist. I can’t wait to explore new topics in longevity, anti-aging, and wellness with you.

In today’s issue:

• Beware toast

• New microbiome, younger you

• Leaving the peanut-free table

• and more…

We love to hear from you—our community. Please share your feedback, stories, questions, testimonials, ideas, and more with us at [email protected].

👁️‍🗨️SPOTLIGHT

Beware toast

The common breakfast staple and your risk of stroke.

🍞 Toast can be a delicious and nutritious way to start your morning—especially when topped with heart-healthy avocado or omega-rich nut butter. However, a recent study shows that toast, coffee, and other traditional breakfast foods may have traces of acrylamide, a neurotoxin and probable cancer-causing compound.

Acrylamide may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke by 60%.

Acylamide formation

The food contaminant forms during high-temperature cooking, specifically during a process called the Maillard reaction—this occurs when sugars in carbohydrates react with proteins.

Higher cooking temperatures + longer cook time = greater risk of acrylamide formation

Isn’t all toasted or cooked food bad then? 

No. The toxin is more likely to form in starchy foods which are baked, fried, or roasted. 🧨 “If food is burnt to a crisp, it contains more acrylamide compared to a non-burnt starchy food,” according to Eating Well. While some organizations also have concerns about its risk of cancer, There’s not consistent evidence that shows it causes cancer.

So before you give up toast…

Toast it less for a safer solution, and consider that most things are not harmful in moderation–including eating burnt food, according to expert Eva De Angelis, LDN in Eating Well.

LIVE MORE+

• 🥑 The pickled avocado toast upgrade you should try. Read more.

• 🥦 Sulfer-containing compounds reduce acylamide formation in cooking. Here’s how.

• 🍳 The best way to cook eggs for taste, texture, and health. Read more.

🕜 COUNTING DOWN

One month until the Livelong Experience

Prices increase tomorrow!

Be part of the action

Apply to showcase your product or service today. Contact [email protected] to learn how you can be part of The Livelong Experience.

WELLNESS WATCH - Gut health + aging

A new microbiome can make you younger, or it ages you

A growing body of research offers proof that the microbiome—the collection of microorganisms that live in and on our bodies—contributes to aging and disease, according to Dr. Michael Greger in a new video.

For better or worse: A new microbiome reshapes health

In one study, young fruit flies got something similar to a fecal transplant, and the donors were older flies.

Feces contain the microbiome of an organism, and transplants can be used to observe how the microbiome impacts aging

After receiving an older microbiome, the younger flies experienced:

• Inflammation

• Intestinal permeability (‘leaky gut’)

• Reduced health span

• Earlier death

A similar trend emerged when feces from an old mouse were given to a young, germ-free mouse.

On the other hand, older African turquoise killifish were shown to live longer and healthier when their microbiomes were recolonized with those of younger fish.🐟

Similarly, germ-free rodents who got gut flora from the longest-living humans had less aging pigments in the brain. 🧠

Other fascinating bits

• Antibiotics increased lifespan in the fruit flies, the suspected reason being they kill ‘bad bugs’ in the older microbiome that drive inflammation and leaky gut.

• Disease may transfer through gut bugs. Numerous studies have found that fecal transplants from diseased mice into microbe-free mice are a medium for transferring disease.

Big picture

Based on analysis from these studies, Greger suggests that:

• Lifespan may be determined by ‘gut leakiness’

• The microbiome can have a functional role in aging

• The lethal aging combination = aged immune system + an aged microbiome

IN OTHER NEWS

Combat stress-induced eating with a microbiome diet

Eating a microbiome diet may prevent stress eating by boosting healthy gut bugs linked with less food addition and binge eating, according to an article in Psychology Today.

😋 Prolonged stress + bad microbes impact hormones that make you crave high-calorie/sugary foods. This creates a ‘vicious’ cycle between the gut and brain.

This cycle stresses your regulatory systems and can lead to metabolic dysregulation, obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease, say microbiome researchers Estefania Azevedo and Whitnei Smith.

🍒 Simple but effective: The microbiome diet emphasizes fiber-rich vegetables, berries, fermented foods, and probiotics to feed the good bacteria, while excluding sugar to ‘starve’ the bad.

Today’s top reads

• PAWS for the cause. Read more. 

• Life expectancy in Europe is stalling. Which country has the biggest slowdown? Read more.

• Dermatologist-approved retinol products for skin aging. Read more.

LONG-LEVITY

Leaving the peanut-free table

🥜 Peanut butter is my favorite food group. Unfortunately, many people with debilitating peanut allergies cannot have it (or even go near it).

However, a recent NIH study shows that immunotherapy enables children with a peanut allergy to eat peanut butter without an allergic reaction.

The peanut butter test: Children in the test group were initially able to tolerate peanut butter at a dose of 1/8 teaspoon (this is considered high threshold). They increases the dose every eight weeks to eventually work toward three whole tablespoons (9 grams).

Nearly 86% of children in the test group continued to tolerate nine grams, even after cutting peanut butter out of their diet for a short time. In other words, this new-found peanut tolerance is generally long-lasting.

Researchers are excited to see if this method can work with other food allergens.

_{Note, they did NOT study children with a more severe or life-threatening allergy.}

LIVELONG+ 

📚READ: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nester. You are probably breathing wrong, but your life depends on breathing right.

🎧 LISTEN: Outdoor living for longevity! Outside Interactive Founder and CEO Robin Thurston talks about the revolution in outdoors, technology, and health.

🍽️ TASTE: Protein-packed guacamole from longevity dietician @Cookingforpeanuts.

💬 SHARE: Know someone who’s passionate about living longer and healthier? Share this newsletter to spread the knowledge.

🌳 GROW: Don’t forget to grab your ticket to the Livelong Experience—March 28-29—we are so excited to meet you and dive deeper into longevity together.

🦉 WISDOM FOR LIFE

Let February be a reminder to cherish the ones you love

-Journey Journal

About Livelong

Look good, feel better, live longer.

Please note: Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through them. This helps us continue to bring you credible and actionable health and longevity insights at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified healthcare professional before starting any exercise, wellness, or health program. Nothing in our content, products or services should be considered, or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Livelong is a media company and not a medical provider. We try to give the most accurate possible, but sometimes information is subject to change.