Dr. Bob's Mouthly Report

Every day we are ingesting tiny, often microscopic pieces of plastic -- "microplastics" -- with our food, beverages and with the very air we breathe.

Americans eat, drink and breathe between 74,000 and 121,000 microplastic particles each year depending on their age and sex, new research suggests.

Those who exclusively drink bottled water rather than tap water can add up to 90,000 plastic particles to their estimated annual total, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The full impact on our health isn't known. Research shows some particles are small enough to enter our tissues, where they can trigger an immune reaction, or release toxic substances and pollutants absorbed from the environment, including heavy metals.

How do microplastics get into our food and beverages?

Not only do animals ingest tiny plastic particles in their environments, but microplastics contaminate our food during production and packaging, previous studies suggest.

Read more at CNN

Apple's iOS 13 software update is a massive upgrade that brings a variety of new features to the company's mobile devices that span across its apps, user-interface design, privacy and security, and performance, among other areas.

While other updates in recent years focused more heavily on the camera, augmented-reality experiences, and iPad productivity features, iOS 13 feels like the first update in years that touches almost every single aspect of the company's mobile software.

Some of these updates bring Apple up to speed with third-party apps such as WhatsApp and Google Maps. Others are tools designed to protect consumer privacy in new ways at a time when concerns over how social networks and tech firms handle user data are higher than ever.Health was a large focus during Apple's keynote, as the company revealed that new features for tracking hearing health, activity trends over time, and women's menstrual cycles are coming to its products. But the Health app is also getting support for logging oral health in iOS 13, allowing users to monitor time spent brushing their teeth using data from third-party apps, such as Colgate, in Apple's app.

Read more at Business Insider

Just before the start of Memorial Day weekend, Meg Green meticulously followed online instructions for hacking an insulin pump.

Why? To make the small, computerized device smarter by giving it the capability to adjust itself, acting as an artificial external pancreas.

The hack worked, unlocking a world free of the constant blood sugar monitoring and insulin adjusting that became routine for the 26-year-old with Type 1 diabetes.

"I went out for drinks, and the pump automatically knew how much insulin to give me. I was stable all night,” Green said about the jailbroken device. "It was amazing, I just wanted to cry." 

Diabetes treatment has come a long way over the past few years as technology has evolved.

The professional medical community has developed gadgets equipped with sensors and wireless connectivity that can track blood sugar levels. There’s tech that remotely connects patients with health care providers and even wearables that can deliver medication into the body.

Read more at USA Today

Clean teeth and fresh breath isn’t just about having good manners.

A series of recent studies have linked oral health to a number of illnesses, thanks to roving mouth bacteria wreaking havoc on other parts of the body.

Researchers in Norway have DNA evidence that “bacteria causing gingivitis can move from the mouth to the brain,” says Piotr Mydel of Broegelmanns Research Laboratory at the University of Bergen (UiB). In the brain, gum disease bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.gingivalis), produces a protein that destroys brain cells, leading to memory loss and, potentially, Alzheimer’s.

In their study of 53 persons with Alzheimer’s, 96% of them tested positive for this harmful enzyme.

Mydel says his team will test a drug that “blocks” this process later this year. In the meantime, he says that those with a family history of both gingivitis (gum inflammation) or periodontitis (gum disease) and Alzheimer’s should be sure to have their teeth cleaned by a dentist regularly.

Another study published in the Journal of American Heart Association was able to pinpoint common oral pathogens in 79% of cerebral blood clots samples of 75 stroke patients. In the mouth, streptococci bacteria are harmless but can cause illness throughout the body, including infections of the cardiac valves. Previous research by the team at Tampere University in Finland found the same sort of bacteria in patients who’ve suffered heart attacks, coronary stenoses, cerebral aneurysms and venous or arterial thrombosis.

A related 2018 study in the AHA’s journal Hypertension also linked high blood pressure with poor oral hygiene. A review of medical and dental records of 3,600 people with hypertension revealed gum disease patients were 20% less likely to achieve and maintain healthy blood pressure levels compared to those with healthy gums.

Dr. Davide Pietropaoli, the study’s lead investigator and professor of dentistry at University of L’Aquila in Italy says, “Dental health professionals should be aware that oral health is indispensable to overall physiological health.”

Read more at The New York Post

Researchers estimate that eating a cup of blueberries a day reduced the risk of any cardiovascular event by 13 percent.

Researchers conducted a randomized, double-blinded trial with 115 overweight and obese adults aged 50 to 75 who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease. One third of the group ate a cup of freeze-dried blueberries a day, another third a half-cup, and the final third a similar-looking placebo. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lasted six months.

The diet did not affect insulin resistance or blood pressure. But compared with the half-cup consumers and the placebo group, the full-cup group had reduced arterial stiffness and increased levels of HDL (the “good” cholesterol). Those eating lots of blueberries also had increased levels of anthocyanin, a type of antioxidant found in plant pigments, and increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, a substance that relaxes smooth muscle cells and improves blood flow.

The authors estimate that eating a cup of blueberries a day reduced the risk of any cardiovascular event by 13 percent and the risk of coronary heart disease by 11.4 to 14.5 percent.

The senior author, Aedin Cassidy, a professor of nutrition at the University of East Anglia, said that in a healthier population, as little as three cups of blueberries a week would have beneficial effects. “If everyone ate more fruits and berries rich in anthocyanin,” she said, “there would be significant individual and population health benefits.”

The study received support from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.

Read more at The New York Times