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The Gary Null ShowAuthor: Progressive Radio Network
Gary takes on the real issues that the mainstream media is afraid to tackle. Tune in to find out the latest about health news, healing, politics, and the economy. Language: en Genres: Alternative Health, Health & Fitness Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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The Gary Null Show - 10-13-26
Episode 2556
Tuesday, 13 October, 2026
HEALTH NEWS New review identifies pistachios as a promising whole food for sleep research Dietitians Say Boiling Sweet Potatoes May Help Manage Blood Sugar Better Than Roasting or Baking Very severe long COVID linked to differences in lung and mouth microbiomes Using AI for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to persist at hard things Late-night snacking may affect liver health New review identifies pistachios as a promising whole food for sleep research Augusta University Medical College of Georgia, October 6 2026 (News-Medical) Nearly one-third of U.S. adults report sleeping less than seven hours a night, below the minimum amount recommended for most adults, while nearly one in five has trouble staying asleep most days or every day. At the same time, nearly one-third of Americans say they are seeking improved sleep from foods, beverages or nutrients. Pistachios have attracted researchers' attention because they naturally bring together several nutrients and plant compounds connected to sleep. Now, a new narrative review published in Nutrition Research Reviews identifies pistachios as a promising whole food for sleep research and explores how their nutrient profile may influence processes related to sleep quality, falling asleep, staying asleep and regulation of the sleep–wake cycle. Pistachios provide tryptophan, vitamin B6 and magnesium, which the body uses in the production of serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin is involved in sleep regulation and is also used to make melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate the sleep–wake cycle. Pistachios also contain phytomelatonin, the form of melatonin produced by plants, although its absorption and effects from eating pistachios have not been established in people. Pistachios provide vitamin B6 and magnesium, which are involved in the production and function of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a brain chemical that helps quiet nerve activity and plays a role in regulating sleep. A one-ounce serving of pistachios provides about 71 milligrams of tryptophan, roughly 20% of the daily amount recommended for a 154-pound adult. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid the body uses to make serotonin, a brain chemical involved in sleep regulation, and melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate the sleep–wake cycle. The authors of this review concluded that pistachios could represent a promising wholefood intervention for improving sleep due to their unique combination of nutrients and bioactives, and map a clear path to additional research needed. Dietitians Say Boiling Sweet Potatoes May Help Manage Blood Sugar Better Than Roasting or Baking University of West Indies (Jamaica), October 10 2026 (Natural News) Boiling sweet potatoes may offer advantages for blood sugar management compared with roasting, baking, or frying. The report described boiling as the easiest cooking method and one that may help prevent large post-meal blood sugar spikes. The glycemic index, or GI, is a scale that ranks carbohydrate-containing foods by how quickly they raise blood sugar after eating. Boiling sweet potatoes may be better for blood sugar than baking or roasting, according to dietitians. The result is a sweeter, denser vegetable with a different effect on blood glucose than a boiled sweet potato. Researchers compared a baked or roasted potato to a raisin and a boiled potato to a grape. That moisture difference is one reason the two preparations behave differently in the body. Research on carotenoid retention suggests boiling generally preserves these compounds well compared with some higher-heat methods, though results vary by sweet potato variety and the antioxidant being measured. One study found that boiling unpeeled medium-sized sweet potato roots for 30 minutes resulted in a 14 to 59 percent reduction of total carotenoid content across four sweet potato cultivars. Other research on orange-fleshed sweet potato reported a true retention of all-trans-beta-carotene ranging from 70 percent to 80 percent with longer boiling times. Very severe long COVID linked to differences in lung and mouth microbiomes University of Dundee (UK), October 10 2026 (Medical Xpress) People with long COVID have distinct differences in the mix of bacteria that live in their mouths and lungs, according to a study of more than 700 people published in the European Respiratory Journal. The research also shows that these differences in the lung microbiome are linked to respiratory symptoms, as well as the cognitive and digestive problems known to occur in long COVID. Researchers say their findings may shed light on why some people develop long COVID and could point to new ways to treat the condition. Prior studies have shown some changes in the gut microbiome with long COVID, but COVID is a lung disease and so it makes sense to look to see if the lung microbiome is changed in long COVID." Researchers divided the participants into four groups based on how severe their symptoms were five months after being discharged from the hospital. These were "very severe," with serious physical, mental and cognitive impairments; "severe," with serious mental and physical impairments but no cognitive problems; "moderate," with primarily cognitive difficulties; and "mild," with few symptoms and good recovery. Six months after patients were discharged, researchers collected saliva samples from their mouths and sputum samples from their lungs and used DNA sequencing to identify which microbes were present. This showed that people with very severe long COVID had clear differences in the microbiome in their mouths and lungs compared with people who did not have severe long COVID. It also showed that there were differences linked to specific symptoms, including reduced lung function (meaning your lungs cannot hold as much air as normal or air cannot flow in and out of your lungs as easily as normal), neurocognitive symptoms (including "brain fog," difficulties with memory, attention and concentration) and gut symptoms (including pain, nausea, diarrhea and loss of appetite). Among the changes associated with long COVID symptoms was an overabundance of bacteria that produce lactic acid. Using AI for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to persist at hard things University of California at Berkeley, October 9 2026 (Eurekalert) Brian Christian has spent 20 years thinking about how artificial intelligence will change our minds and our world. His 2020 book The Alignment Problem has been praised as one of the best on AI, and like many scientistss. Christian was part of a team behind a landmark study that found that spending just 10 minutes relying on an AI tool significantly impairs our ability to focus and persist with difficult tasks. To test how quickly people’s focus and persistence plummeted, researchers designed a series of randomized controlled trials and recruited 1,222 participants online. For the first experiment with 354 participants, one group was tasked with solving 15 basic fraction problems without help, while another had ChatGPT open on the side to use for assistance and to even ask for the answer. The group with AI access started off more accurately than the group without it. Then, after 12 problems, researchers took away the AI tool. Almost immediately, the people in that group stopped solving questions accurately. A similar thing happened when they ran the experiment on a second, larger group of 667 participants. Whereas the AI users got answers wrong or gave up entirely when the AI assistance was withdrawn, the group without AI stuck with the task and were more successful at the end. Researchers then ran a third experiment with 201 participants and an SAT reading comprehension prompt. The results echoed those from the fraction problems: When the AI tool was removed, persistence and accuracy dropped. The findings backed up what anecdotes and surveys have increasingly found in recent years: An overreliance on AI for answers erodes our cognitive fitness. When AI produces answers in seconds, we get used to that speed; anything that takes longer feels inefficient. And relying on AI also removes what the team called “productive struggle,” which can lead people to find their research strengths and passions. Late-night snacking may affect liver health Oregon Health & Science University, October 9 2026 (News-Medical) New research led by Oregon Health & Science University suggests you should think twice about indulging in a late-night snack if you'd like to preserve liver health. The study, published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, documents an increase in the correlation between people who reported late-night eating - defined as eating after dinner or after bedtime - and a heightened risk of two types of liver disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and cirrhosis. Researchers analyzed three large, preexisting nationwide datasets. They extracted diet and lifestyle habits self-reported by almost 200,000 participants in all three studies, grouped them by eating behaviors, and then looked for correlations to people who reported fatty liver disease or cirrhosis. They found a 20% to 30% increase in all forms of liver disease among the group of people who reported late-night eating compared to those who did not.
