Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
Methylene blue helps brain cells use oxygen more efficiently to make energy after they’ve been starved.
Quantitative
When brain cells are starved of oxygen and sugar and then get them back, giving them methylene blue right after helps more of them survive.
Descriptive
Even in overweight mice, the brain’s TRPM2 sensor still works — it can still turn on heat production in fat tissue.
Scientists traced a direct nerve connection from a brain region that controls hunger to the fat tissue that burns calories.
Turning on these brain cells makes a different heat-producing protein (IRF-4) go up in fat tissue, but not the usual one (UCP1) — meaning the body might be warming up in a new way.
When scientists turn on POMC brain cells with a chemical switch, mice get warmer — but if you block TRPM2 first, they don’t warm up at all.
When scientists block the TRPM2 sensor, the chemical that normally warms up the mice no longer works — the body temperature stays the same.
Injecting a chemical into the brain of mice makes certain brain cells active and raises their body temperature, even if they’re overweight.
When a specific chemical (ADPR) is added, it makes certain brain cells fire more, but if you block the TRPM2 sensor, this effect disappears.
Some brain cells that help control hunger and energy use have a special sensor (TRPM2) that can detect certain chemical signals, which might help them tell the body to burn more heat.
Mixing a high-PUFA olive oil (Arbequina) with a more stable one (Picual) makes the blend more heat-resistant—less gunk forms when you fry with it.
Some olive oils, like Picual and Cornicabra, handle high heat better than others—they keep more of their good stuff and make less gunk when cooked.
When you heat olive oil super hot, it starts forming gunk (polar compounds), but even at the highest temperature tested, it didn’t get bad enough to be considered unsafe for frying by food safety rules.
When you heat olive oil really hot, the healthy unsaturated fats break down much faster than the saturated ones—oils with more unsaturated fats lose them the most, making the oil less healthy.
When olive oil gets super hot (200°C), it starts forming gummy, sticky molecules called dimers—some oils make way more than others, especially blends high in Arbequina, while Picual makes the least.
In pig milk cells, the GPR40 receptor is more important than GPR120 for helping oleic acid make milk fat.
When you heat olive oil really hot (200°C), the good antioxidants called tocopherols disappear—some oils lose them completely, while others like Picual and Cornicabra keep a little bit left.
Baby pigs whose moms ate more oleic acid got more protective substances like antibodies and antioxidants through the milk, which may help them stay healthier after birth.
When scientists blocked one specific receptor (GPR40) in pig milk cells, the cells made about 38% less milk fat from oleic acid — blocking the other receptor (GPR120) had a smaller effect.
In pig milk-making cells, oleic acid turns on certain fat-handling proteins and helps make more milk fat, and this happens mostly through two specific cell receptors called GPR40 and GPR120.
Mechanistic
When mother pigs eat more oleic acid (a healthy fat), their milk becomes fattier and their baby pigs grow bigger by the time they're weaned.
The blue dye methylene blue cut the amount of a harmful chemical (hydrogen peroxide) in heart and blood vessel fat by about half when tested in the lab.
The fat directly on the heart makes more harmful chemicals than the fat around blood vessels, and this matches with it having more of the enzyme MAO-A.
When the fat tissue was given serotonin (a chemical the body uses in mood and digestion), it made over twice as many harmful molecules — but adding methylene blue cut that increase in half, showing the enzyme MAO-A is involved.
Correlational