DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: How being a bit of a Neanderthal can help you stave off Covid

• New study has found people with Neanderthal genes are more sensitive to pain 

When it comes to pain, I like to think I’m pretty tough – but when I was recently asked to take part in a study of pain, I came out rather badly.

This was for a TV programme I’m making about sleep, and we were looking at the extent to which a poor night’s sleep lowers your ability to tolerate pain, which is important if you suffer from a chronic pain condition.

The test consisted of being blindfolded, putting my hands in a bucket of ice-cold water, and then seeing how long I could keep it there before the pain became intolerable.

I did this test before and after a night where I was deliberately sleep deprived, getting just four hours of shut-eye.

And though my pain threshold was lower when I was tired (I lasted just 90 seconds), it wasn’t that impressively high even when I was well rested (I only just reached two minutes).

So perhaps I am not as tough as I like to think – or maybe I can blame it on my Neanderthal genes.

A new study led by researchers at University College London has found that people who’ve inherited certain Neanderthal genes are much more sensitive to some types of pain

In fact, we all have them. And now a new study led by researchers at University College London has found that people who’ve inherited certain Neanderthal genes are much more sensitive to some types of pain (stabbing pain rather than heat or pressure pain) than those who don’t have them.

Phones may spot early signs of depression 

Social  media and mobile phones are often blamed for driving the rise in poor mental health that’s being seen in people of all ages.

But could they also contribute to the solution?

One of the major problems for people with depression or anxiety is that their symptoms are often missed — and that’s where mobile phones could come in, as they can track the way we behave.

A study in 2015, for example, by Northwestern University in the U.S., found that simply using data from people’s phones could identify those with depressive symptoms with 87 per cent accuracy.

One give-away sign was the amount of time people spent on their phones — the more time spent, the more likely they were to be depressed.

In this study the average daily usage by depressed individuals was 68 minutes (which strikes me as quite low), while for the non-depressed it was only about 17 minutes.

How far they travelled in an average day was also a powerful predictor, because when people are depressed, they are not motivated to go out and do things.

Now researchers are looking to see if artificial intelligence (AI) systems, built into phones, can make accurate predictions about our mental health based solely on our behaviour.

I’m not sure if I find the idea of my phone reading my mind encouraging — or disturbing.

The Neanderthals were a human species who lived long before our remote ancestors came out of Africa around 70,000 years ago. At some point our ancestors must have paired up with Neanderthals, because we all carry a little bit of their DNA.

The Neanderthals became extinct around 30,000 years ago, leaving us as the only remaining human species on the planet.

But they left a valuable legacy in the form of genes – which continue to shape our lives.

Neanderthal DNA makes up around one per cent of our genes, though when I sent a sample of my saliva to a DNA ancestry website recently, I was told nearly 2 per cent of my DNA must have come from Neanderthal ancestors and that I am more Neanderthal than most people they’ve tested.

So what does this all mean for us today? Well firstly, as the recent study shows, it affects our response to pain. The researchers made this discovery by measuring the pain thresholds of nearly 2,000 people, after testing their blood for three specific Neanderthal genes previously identified as being likely to lead to greater sensitivity to pain. They found that those people who were more reactive to stabbing pain were more likely to have these genes.

Although the main reason we feel pain is to protect us from damage (if you accidentally put your hand on a hot surface the pain makes you move your hand away, for instance), it’s not clear why being more sensitive to pain would have been a particular advantage for Neanderthals, or why these genes have persisted in modern humans.

It does, however, put a dent in the popular image of Neanderthals as insensitive brutes. As well as sensitivity to pain, other genes Neanderthals bequeathed us include those that affect the shape of our noses (researchers say it leads to ‘a taller nose’ but don’t say what that means); the thickness of our lips; and even the roundness of our heads. More importantly, there is evidence that a particular Neanderthal gene helps boost a woman’s chance of giving birth to a healthy baby.

This was the suggestion from scientists at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who analysed the blood of more than 244,000 women and found that almost one in three had inherited an increased sensitivity to the hormone progesterone from Neanderthals.

Progesterone is a hormone that plays an important role in pregnancy, latching on to receptors that are scattered throughout the body.

It doesn’t stop there. Recent research shows that genes inherited from Neanderthals help boost our immune system and protect us from deadly viruses, including, surprisingly enough, Covid-19.

The study, by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan (published in the journal PNAS in February 2021), revealed that genes inherited from Neanderthals cut your risk of becoming seriously ill if you get Covid-19 by around 20 per cent.

These protective genes, which are present in half of us, work by producing enzymes that attack and destroy viruses. The fact that they are present in so many of us suggests they do an important job.

It is remarkable that another species of human continues to protect and support us long after they vanished from the face of the Earth.

Could eating onions stop me wanting chocolate biscuits?

We know fibre-rich foods are good for our gut, but a new study shows that eating certain types of fibre also alters our brain, helping reduce the cravings for sugary treats. 

As someone who struggles to say no to a chocolate biscuit, the findings piqued my interest.

This fascinating research was carried out by scientists at the University of Leipzig Medical Centre in Germany, who scanned the brains of 59 overweight, middle-aged people as they were shown pictures of food, including sweet treats; they were also asked to give each treat a score at the same time. 

Over the next two weeks they consumed a drink that was high in inulin (a type of fibre found in onions) Stock Image

Over the next two weeks they consumed a drink that was high in inulin (a type of fibre found in onions, wheat and green bananas) or a placebo. They then returned to the lab to have their brains scanned again, while looking at the same pictures.

Amazingly, the brain scans showed the inulin had effectively dialled down activity in reward areas of the brain; volunteers who consumed it also reported fewer cravings. These brain changes were matched by changes in the inulin group’s gut bacteria, with a significant increase in bifidobacteria – these are thought to activate the release of GLP-1, another chemical in the gut.

This is the same chemical targeted by the new ‘miracle’ weight-loss drugs currently causing much excitement.

The researchers are now running a six-month follow-up study to see what impact inulin has on people’s eating behaviour and weight.

Thanks to 3D printers, you can ‘print’ anything from shoes to guns.

Scientists at Oxford University have even shown you can make new brain tissue, using ‘bio-ink’ made of cells to create an appropriate shape. The idea is that in future surgeons might use this approach to patch up people’s brains damaged by trauma, stroke or even cancer

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