HEALTH NEWS Berberine Shows Beneficial Effects on Metabolic Health, Study Reports Cooperation beats selfishness more often than scientists thought Sleep Disorders Don’t Just Exhaust You. New Research Shows They Change Your Brain Two Hours of Strength Training Weekly Linked to Lower Heart Attack Risk in Women, Study Finds Planetary Health Diet lowers cardiovascular risk in older women Berberine Shows Beneficial Effects on Metabolic Health, Study Reports Peking Union Medical College (China), July 24 2026 (Natural News) A review published in the journal Molecules has summarized evidence indicating that berberine, a compound found in several plants, may influence glucose and lipid metabolism. According to the review, berberine has been associated with improvements in metabolic health markers across multiple studies. The compound is a yellow alkaloid extracted from plants such as European barberry, goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape, and tree turmeric. The review cited evidence that berberine may reduce blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity, according to clinical trials. A systematic review of seven randomized clinical trials from China published in Nutrients revealed that berberine consistently alters the composition of gut bacteria in patients taking the supplement, and the analysis examined data across conditions including Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and colorectal adenoma. Lipid panel improvements, including lower total cholesterol and triglycerides, were also reported in the reviewed studies. Cooperation beats selfishness more often than scientists thought Hebrew University of Jerusalem & Rutgers University, July 20 2026 (Eureaklert) For decades, one of the most influential ideas in evolutionary biology has suggested that when individuals act purely in their own self-interest, cooperation should eventually collapse. But a new study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University demonstrates that evolution may be far more optimistic than previously believed. Their findings reveal that cooperation does not require close family ties, reputation, repeated favors, or rigid social structures. Instead, cooperation can flourish simply because individuals respond differently to different opponents. The research proposes a new solution to one of biology's oldest puzzles: how cooperation survives in a world shaped by natural selection. Using mathematical models, evolutionary simulations, and populations of artificial intelligence agents, the researchers found that cooperation consistently evolved when individuals adjusted their willingness to cooperate according to whom they encountered. Rather than treating everyone identically, simple opponent-specific responses created stable communities in which cooperative behavior repeatedly outperformed purely selfish strategies. Perhaps the study's most surprising finding is that cooperative societies are not fragile exceptions. Across thousands of simulations, populations repeatedly evolved toward highly cooperative states, while purely selfish populations often failed to dominate. Even when mutations introduced new defectors, cooperative communities remained remarkably resilient. Sleep Disorders Don’t Just Exhaust You. New Research Shows They Change Your Brain Florida International University, July 26, 2026 (SciTech Daily) A poor night’s sleep can affect far more than energy the next day. Research from Florida International University links sleep disorders with structural differences in brain regions that help control attention, motivation and decision-making. Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the findings provide one of the broadest comparisons yet of how different sleep disorders are associated with the brain. The researchers compared two broad categories. Dyssomnias, such as insomnia and sleep apnea, interfere with falling asleep or remaining asleep. Parasomnias, including sleepwalking, nightmare disorder and sleep terrors, involve unusual events that disrupt the sleep cycle. Both categories were associated with decreases in the thalamus, a region that filters incoming information, supports concentration, and contributes to higher-level thinking. The researchers identified changes specifically in the pulvinar, an area within the thalamus that directs attention and helps manage cognitive control. These differences were connected with wider brain networks that support concentration and task performance. That pattern may help explain why disrupted sleep is associated with slower reactions, poorer decision-making and a greater likelihood of errors and accidents. Two Hours of Strength Training Weekly Linked to Lower Heart Attack Risk in Women, Study Finds Harvard School of Public Health, July 26 2026 (Natural News) A large-scale study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has found that women who engage in regular strength training have a significantly lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The study examined data from 117,025 women over an average follow-up period of 14.5 years. Women who performed any amount of resistance training had a lower risk of cardiovascular events compared with those who did none. The association persisted after adjusting for overall lifestyle and health factors, the study stated. Among the study’s specific findings, women who performed at least two hours of resistance training per week had a 44% lower risk of heart attack relative to women who did no resistance training, the report said. Any cardiovascular disease risk was 20% lower for that group, with an additional 5% reduction per extra hour of weekly resistance training, according to the study. The benefits of strength training were more pronounced among women who maintained resistance training consistently and trained both upper and lower body, according to the study. Adding strength training to regular aerobic exercise – such as walking or running – was linked to better heart health. Planetary Health Diet lowers cardiovascular risk in older women University of Caliornia at Irvine, July 25 2026 (News-Medical) A 20-year study of more than 65,000 postmenopausal women found that higher adherence to the Planetary Health Diet was associated with a lower risk of overall cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure. The findings showed that women whose diet most closely followed the Planetary Health Diet had about a 28% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with women in the group scoring the lowest for adherence. However, even moderate adherence to the diet was linked with lower risk. The Planetary Health Diet emphasizes foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and unsaturated fats while limiting foods such as red and processed meats, added sugars, refined grains and saturated fats. The investigators followed 66,892 participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). Overall, the results showed that women in the group whose diets were more closely aligned with the Planetary Health Diet had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease. These women also showed a decreased risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke risk compared to the women in the lowest-adherence group. However, even moderate adherence to the diet was associated with a decrease in risk, with each 10-point increase in Planetary Health Diet Index score linked to further risk reduction.
