EVERWELL

  Introduction: A Surprising New Player in the Fight Against Aging The search for ways to slow aging has led scientists to an unexpected candidate: oxytocin, often called the “love hormone.” Known for its role in bonding, trust, and emotional connection, oxytocin might also hold the key to reversing brain aging. New research shows that oxytocin levels naturally decline with age, and this drop may set off a chain reaction that accelerates inflammation, damages DNA regulation, and weakens the brain’s energy systems. So, can restoring oxytocin reverse this process? A new study in mice suggests it might. Researchers found that oxytocin delivered through a nasal spray revived molecular markers of youth and improved brain health in just 10 days. The Problem: The Vicious Cycle of Brain Aging As we age, the brain undergoes several interconnected changes that reinforce each other: Falling oxytocin levels: Aging mice had lower oxytocin levels and fewer oxytocin-producing neurons in t...

Nuts have been around forever, but so has the debate: if they’re packed with fat and calories, how can they be good for you? For years, nutrition experts have gone back and forth on this question. Now, a major new umbrella review, essentially a mega-analysis of existing research, has given us one of the clearest answers yet. In this article, we’ll break down what the science says and how a simple handful of nuts a day can make a big difference to your health. What Exactly Is an Umbrella Review? Think of it as the ultimate summary. Instead of running one experiment, scientists look at all the top-quality studies and meta-analyses ever done on a topic and combine their results. It’s the “study of studies,” giving a bird’s-eye view that helps cut through conflicting data and highlight what’s really true. This method is especially powerful for questions like this, ones that have been studied for decades but still cause confusion. And in this case, it’s helped confirm what many dietitian...

  Have you ever reached an age be it 40, 50, or 60 and felt a shift in how you think about your health? The focus subtly moves from immediate fitness goals to a more profound question about the future. It's no longer just about avoiding a single illness, but the daunting prospect of managing several at once. This is a reality for millions. There's a clinical term for it:  multimorbidity , which simply means living with two or more major chronic conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or cancer. This isn't a rare occurrence; it's a defining health challenge of our time. A startling statistic reveals that more than 50% of adults aged 60 and older are currently living with multimorbidity. This isn't meant to be alarming, but to highlight a common challenge that demands a proactive solution. What if one of the most powerful tools to change that future was already on our plate? Unveiling the Groundbreaking Research The good news is that a major new study offe...

  It’s wild to think that something sitting in your kitchen cabinet might be quietly working to keep your cells young and healthy. A recent study found that two natural compounds, thymol and carvacrol, found in herbs like thyme and oregano, can trigger your cells’ internal cleaning crew. These compounds help your body clear out old, damaged mitochondria and other cellular junk, keeping your cells in top shape and better equipped to handle the stress that comes with aging. Here’s how it works. These compounds set off a fascinating process known as mitohormesis, basically the cellular version of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” When thymol or carvacrol enter the picture, they cause a tiny, controlled disruption in the mitochondria, the powerhouses of your cells. It’s not enough to do damage, but it’s just enough to get the cell’s attention. Your cells respond by stepping up their maintenance game, turning on processes called autophagy and mitophagy, which clear out old and...

  Most of us know we should be eating more fiber. Health guidelines recommend around 25 to 38 grams per day, but many adults barely reach half that amount, with the average intake for participants in one recent study hovering around just 12 grams. At the same time, milk consumption has been on a slow decline, sometimes driven by concerns about lactose. This leaves a nutritional gap for many. But what if a familiar, comforting food like milk could be cleverly redesigned to tackle both of these issues at once? What if your daily glass of milk could also deliver a powerful dose of the prebiotic fiber your gut is missing? This is precisely the idea behind a "Novel Milk," or N milk, recently tested by scientists. This isn't just another lactose-free option. Instead, it’s a product in which the milk sugar, lactose, is enzymatically transformed into a beneficial prebiotic fiber called galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). This process reduces lactose while simultaneously creating a hi...

  Male infertility isn’t a fringe issue, it’s a growing public health concern that affects millions of couples worldwide. Roughly half of all infertility cases involve male factors, which makes lifestyle choices like exercise, stress management, and especially diet, key areas of interest for researchers. Among all the dietary patterns out there, the Mediterranean Diet has attracted the most attention. It has been praised for its heart protective and anti inflammatory benefits, but does it really make a difference when it comes to fertility? That is the question a major 2024 systematic review and meta analysis set out to answer, and the results give us both reasons for optimism and reasons for caution. First, it is worth clarifying what the Mediterranean Diet actually is. It is not just a trendy buzzword, it is a dietary pattern that researchers define in consistent ways. At its core, the Mediterranean Diet is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats...

  Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are brutal because the drugs we have don’t fix the underlying problem they mostly just manage symptoms. That’s why scientists are digging into natural sources: plants, fungi, even marine life. These compounds often look impressive in the lab, but the real test is whether they can move from Petri dish promise to something that actually helps patients. One reason natural compounds are exciting is that they’re multitaskers. Take curcumin from turmeric it reduces inflammation, fights oxidative stress, stops amyloid-beta from clumping, and even disrupts toxic tau tangles. That’s four big targets at once, which is rare for a single drug. The limitation? When you eat turmeric, only a trace of curcumin ever makes it into your bloodstream, and even less gets into the brain. In practice, sprinkling turmeric on your curry won’t prevent Alzheimer’s. Clinical trials so far have shown mixed results because of this bioavailability prob...

  Hair loss is one of those problems that gets under people’s skin literally. For a lot of men (and women too), it isn’t just about vanity. It’s about the biology of their scalp working against them. The main culprit? Hair follicles that are overly sensitive to testosterone. That sensitivity messes with the dermal papilla (DP) cells, which normally help hair grow. When these cells slow down, they stop chatting properly with stem cells, and the whole growth cycle goes off track. Over time, baldness creeps in. Now, treatments exist finasteride, minoxidil, even transplants but none of them check all the boxes. They either only tackle one piece of the puzzle, don’t last, or come with annoying side effects. Stem cell therapy looked promising, but keeping transplanted cells alive and safe is a whole other headache. This is where things get interesting. Instead of using the cells themselves, scientists tried using what the cells secrete their “secretome.” Think of it like using the soup o...

  When we talk about aging, we usually think about wrinkles, memory lapses, or aching joints. But beneath the surface, aging is a tangled biological process that touches almost every system in the body. And increasingly, scientists are turning their attention to the gut, home to trillions of microbes that shift and evolve as we get older. The big question is whether these microbial changes simply reflect aging or if they actively drive the diseases and frailty that often come with it. A recent study tackled this puzzle using a method called Mendelian Randomization, which leverages genetic data to test cause-and-effect relationships. Instead of just spotting correlations, the researchers asked: do specific gut microbes or microbial pathways actually influence age-related conditions like macular degeneration, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease? To get there, they examined 37 microbiome features against nearly 1,500 outcomes tied to aging, running over 55,000 statistical tests with...

  A systematic review of 61 studies has found consistent reports of menstrual changes following COVID-19 vaccination, though the effects appear to be short-term and generally mild. The findings bring data-driven clarity to an issue that first drew widespread attention through anecdotal accounts on social media during the initial months of global vaccination campaigns. Regulatory agencies have already acted on early safety signals. In October 2022, the European Medicines Agency required heavy menstrual bleeding to be listed as a possible side effect of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. By June of that year, menstrual disorders made up nearly 30% of all vaccine-related reports from women in the European Union. The review, conducted under PRISMA guidelines, analyzed studies across multiple vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, Sputnik V, Sinovac, and others. Pfizer dominated the data, appearing in 79% of studies. The majority of research relied...