Bodes Well
Health breakthroughs.
‘What we know is that a diet based on naturally occurring foods… is important for health, and that it is mostly the whole diet that counts, not single foods.’ Dr Amy Loughman
What does the future hold for our health? It’s impossible to know, but there are exciting discoveries and innovations on the horizon.
Allergies affect about one in five Australians and are on the rise, but what if a single injection could deliver lifelong protection against allergic reactions? This could be the reality in 10 years’ time, say researchers who’ve found a way to stop the immune system’s T cells from overreacting to otherwise harmless substances, such as dust mites, pets or food.
The problem is that T cells develop a memory of an allergen and mount an attack each time they encounter it, says Associate Professor Raymond Steptoe of the University of Queensland’s Diamantina Institute. “We’ve been able to ‘wipe’ the memory of these T cells in animals using gene therapy, so that the T cells can tolerate the allergen,” he explains. The next step will be to trial this in human cells.
It’s one of many revolutionary treatments now being developed, including a way to plug holes in teeth using stem cells that regrow dental tissue. Yet some of the most intriguing breakthroughs have less to do with high-tech wizardry and more to do with understanding how food and exercise can keep us well.
Gut microbes are a hot area of research, with evidence that too much over-processed food and too little fibre can change the balance of these microbes. This, in turn, may influence the risk of health problems as diverse as inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, heart disease and even mental wellbeing.
Friendly microbes thrive on ‘prebiotic’ fibre from foods such as lentils, chickpeas, rye, barley, some nuts and fruits, producing beneficial short-chain fatty acids that may help to keep body and brain healthy. And that’s only one way in which gut microbes may influence brain health. There’s still much to learn, says Dr Amy Loughman, a researcher with Deakin University’s Food &
Mood Centre, which studies how foods influence the brain, mood and mental health.
“What we know is that a diet based on naturally occurring foods, and high in vegetables and fruit, is important for health,” adds Dr Loughman, “and that it is mostly the whole diet that counts, not single foods.”