Richard W. Hubbard

Neuroendocrine and Stress Hormone Changes During Mirthful Laughter

Positive emotional activities have been suggested as modifiers of neuroendocrine hormones involved in the classical stress response. To detect changes in these components during a mirthful laughter experience, the authors studied 10 healthy male subjects. Five experimental subjects viewed a 60 minute humor video and five control subjects did not. Serial blood samples were measured for corticotropin (ACTH), cortisol, beta-endorphin, 3,4-dihydrophenylacetic acid (dopac)--the major serum neuronal catabolite of dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, growth hormone, and prolactin. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that cortisol and dopac in the experimental group decreased more rapidly from baseline than the control group (p = 0.011, p = 0.025, respectively). Epinephrine levels in the experimental group were significantly lower than the control at all time points (p = 0.017). Growth hormone levels in the experimental group significantly increased during baseline (p = 0.027) and then decreased with laughter intervention (p less than 0.0005), whereas, the controls did not change over time (p = 0.787). ACTH, beta-endorphin, prolactin, and norepinephrine levels did not significantly increase. The mirthful laughter experience appears to reduce serum levels of cortisol, dopac, epinephrine, and growth hormone. These biochemical changes have implications for the reversal of the neuroendocrine and classical stress hormone response.

Dietary intake and biochemical, hematologic, and immune status of vegans compared with nonvegetarians

Dietary and nutritional status of individuals habitually consuming a vegan diet was evaluated by biochemical, hematologic, and immunologic measures in comparison with a nonvegetarian group. On the basis of 4-d dietary records, the intake of female and male vegans tended to be lower in fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and cholesterol and higher in dietary fiber than that of vegetarians. With computed food and supplement intakes, vegan diets provided significantly higher amounts of ascorbate, folate, magnesium, copper, and manganese in both female and male participants. The body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) of the vegans was significantly lower than that of the nonvegetarians and 9 of the 25 vegans had a BMI <19. Serum ferritin concentrations were significantly lower in vegan men but iron and zinc status did not differ between the sexes. Mean serum vitamin B-12 and methylmalonic acid concentrations did not differ; however, 10 of the 25 vegans showed a vitamin B-12 deficit manifested by macrocytosis, circulating vitamin B-12 concentrations <150 pmol/L, or serum methylmalonic acid >376 nmol/L. Vegans had significantly lower leukocyte, lymphocyte, and platelet counts and lower concentrations of complement factor 3 and blood urea nitrogen but higher serum albumin concentrations. Vegans did not differ from nonvegetarians in functional immunocompetence assessed as mitogen stimulation or natural killer cell cytotoxic activity.

Shared neuroendocrine patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder and alexithymia

&NA; High norepinephrine/cortisol ratios have been shown to be useful indicators of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alexithymia can result from overwhelming stress; thus, we hypothesized that sympathetic‐adrenal medullary/hypothalamic‐pituitary adrenal ratios would be positively associated with alexithymia severity. In the present study, we correlated 3‐methoxy‐4‐hydroxyphenylethylene glycol (MHPG)/adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and MHPG/cortisol ratios with self‐report Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) scores in a group (n = 17) of nondepressed, formerly alcohol‐dependent men. The correlations between the respective ratios and TAS scores were 0.515 (p = 0.034) and 0.561 (p = 0.019). We suggest that increasing degrees of alexithymia are accompanied by an increasing separation of these two endocrine systems and then speculate that this dissociation has an anatomical basis in the lateralization of emotions.

Effect of dietary protein on serum insulin and glucagon levels in hyper- and normocholesterolemic men

This study was designed to test the effect of dietary protein on blood levels of insulin and glucagon. Twelve normocholesterolemic (less than 200 mg/dl) and 11 hypercholesterolemic greater than 240 mg/dl) healthy male subjects, 31-62 years of age, were randomly given 3 liquid test meals 1 week apart. Meals were identical except for the protein source (soybean, casein, or protein free). Blood was drawn at fasting, and 0.5 and 2 h postprandially. Insulin and glucagon levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Hypercholesterolemic subjects had a higher (P less than 0.05) insulin/glucagon ratio (1.5) than normocholesterolemic subjects (0.7) 2 h post-prandially when fed the casein test meal. There was no significant difference following the soybean test meal. This implies that the post-prandial insulin/glucagon ratio was affected by the amino acid composition of the diet. There was a consistently higher insulin response to all test meals among hyper- versus normocholesterolemic subjects. These results are consistent with our hypothesis that the hypocholesterolemic effects of soybean protein and the hypercholesterolemic effects of casein were mediated by altered levels of insulin and glucagon.

Testing a mechanism of control in human cholesterol metabolism: relation of arginine and glycine to insulin and glucagon

Eight men were given 2 casein meals, one with and one without a supplement of arginine and glycine, to measure the effect on plasma amino acids, insulin and glucagon. Supplementation resulted in increased levels of plasma glucagon, glycine and arginine, a tendency to decreased insulin and significantly lower insulin/glucagon ratio, tryptophan and tyrosine. The data suggest that insulin and glucagon, which control cholesterol metabolism, respond to dietary and postprandial plasma amino acid levels of arginine and glycine.

The potential of diet to alter disease processes

Abstract Diet is a strong factor in the control of atherosclerosis relating to general vascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke. The interrelated disorders in atherosclerosis of hyperinsulinemia, hyperlipidemia and hypertension are strongly subject to dietary influence. The type of dietary protein, animal versus plant, appears to be as important as the type of lipid, animal versus plant, in atherosclerosis. Dietary protein type, with its differing amino acid ratios, appears to be a major secretagogue of insulin. Diabetes mellitus, or Type II, diabetes is a related disease where diet is a possible causal or at least a strong contributing factor. Diet is the beginning and continuing basis for the control of Type II diabetes. Interestingly, diabetics have a high incidence of atherosclerosis. Renal failure has a long history of treatment with protein-restricted diets. Dietary plant protein is a possible therapy mechanism for the treatment of chronic and acute renal failure. Patients with rheumatic arthritis appear to be helped by specialized dietary approaches. A few examples of the use of vegetarian diets look very promising. Individual arthritic sensitivities or reactivities to certain foods appear to warrant more study. Osteoporosis is a disease or metabolic disturbance, particularly in postmenopausal women, that shows a need for very high dietary calcium intake. High calcium requirements appear to be related to the very high protein intake of the modern Western diet. A decreased protein intake, as can be obtained on a total vegetarian (vegan) diet, can allow for calcium balance, in a variety of age groups, from one-third to one-fifth the amount of daily calcium required on the Western diet. Cancer of the breast, colon and prostate appears to have a strong dietary relationship. The incidence of cancer is significantly greater on the modern Western diet than on a vegetarian or vegan diet. The greater antioxidant vitamin content, higher fiber level, higher complex carbohydrate, more unsaturated and less saturated fat, along with a variety of anticancer like compounds in vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and fruits are all dietary factors that appear to reduce the risk of cancer.

Thyroid stimulating hormone and prolactin responses to thyrotropin releasing hormone in nondepressed alcoholic inpatients

Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) responses to thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation are sometimes blunted in alcoholic subjects; however, the mechanisms involved in these phenomena have not been established. We hypothesized that elevations in free thyroid concentrations might be related to these abnormal responses and then tested that hypothesis in a sample of nondepressed alcoholic inpatients (n = 21). Four alcoholic patients had delta max TSH responses that were < 7 mIU/l; three had PRL responses at or below 8 micrograms/l. Baseline TSH was the only significant predictor of peak TSH; however, free thyroxine (FT4) and baseline TSH both were significant predictors of peak PRL. The average baseline FT4 concentration in alcoholic patients was significantly higher than that in healthy control subjects (n = 10). Our data, thus, suggest that small elevations of FT4 play a role in the inhibition of TSH and PRL responses to TRH among nondepressed, abstinent alcoholic patients.

Complementation of proteins from one meal to the next

The delayed-time complementation of rice and mungbeans was tested in weanling rats pair-fed 4 times a day at 5-hour intervals for 28 days. The mean growth SD was rice 41 3g, mungbean 41 10g, rice and mungbean 60 5g, and rice and mungbean fed alterately 62 7g, mungbeans and rice fed alternately 58 5g. Growth was the same whether the proteins were fed together in the same meal or in alternate meals, but significantly greater (p<.001) than rats fed single foods. The data suggest that proteins from one meal can effectively complement the protein of the previous meal.

Apparent skeletal muscle loss related to dietary trans fatty acids in a mixed group of omnivores and vegetarians

Abstract The well-fed free-living adult subjects in this study show evidence of skeletal muscle loss, evaluated from the increased levels of plasma alanine (p