Friday, January 23, 2015

Research suggests vitamin D could affect brain function

This article came from bostonglobe.com by Jeremy Fox, a Globe Correspondent, and was titled: "Research suggests vitamin D could affect brain function." I was interested since I take a Vitamin D supplement as I believe it is essential for not only bone and joint health but for overall immune function and now there is evidence suggesting Vitamin D supports even more than that.

When you think of vitamin D, you may think of bone health. For years, doctors have recommended vitamin D and calcium supplements to guard against fractures and osteoporosis.

But in recent years, the efficacy of those supplements has been widely questioned, while other research has explored possible connections between vitamin D and heart health, cancer prevention, and other health benefits.

Those connections have not yet been proved, but now studies on the relationship between vitamin D and serotonin production are taking researchers down a new path. A growing body of evidence suggests that vitamin D — present in some foods and produced naturally when skin is exposed to sunlight — regulates the enzyme that converts the amino acid tryptophan into serotonin, a neurotransmitter believed to help regulate moods and direct brain development while in the womb.

“It is very important for guiding [where] neurons . . . go in the brain and how they shape the structure and the wiring of the brain,” said researcher Rhonda P. Patrick. “Without adequate serotonin in that developing fetus, the brain . . . doesn’t develop normally.”

Patrick, a postdoctoral fellow at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, Calif., said the degree to which vitamin D regulates serotonin isn’t yet clear. But psychologists and neuroscientists have established the effects of low serotonin by restricting tryptophan entering the brains of human test subjects, she said.

“What happens is their long-term decision making shuts down,” she said. “They become impulsive and aggressive, angry, unhappy. They have difficult time interpreting people’s facial expressions.”

‘Why do we feel better when we go out in the sun? Sun makes vitamin D in your skin.’

Vitamin D is naturally present in some foods, including fatty fish such as mackerel, salmon, and tuna, and in small amounts in cheese, egg yolks, and beef liver, according to the National Institutes of Health. But most vitamin D in the human diet comes from its addition to foods such as milk, orange juice, and breakfast cereals.

Because vitamin D regulates about 1,000 different types of genes in the body — roughly 5 percent of the human genome — Patrick and her mentor, Bruce N. Ames, a senior scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, believes the nutrient may play a much larger role in our health than previously realized.

Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, said that the hypothesis suggests many avenues for further research.

“This work by Ames and Patrick is significant because it describes a potential pathway linking vitamin D with serious mental conditions, and may explain some of the features of these diseases,” Willett said in an e-mail.

Researchers are working to confirm Ames and Patrick’s hypothesis in the lab. Mark R. Haussler, a professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Phoenix, and Peter Jurutka, an associate professor at Arizona State University, have conducted experiments that support the hypothesis, Haussler said.

In successive experiments using synthesized DNA, then cells from human kidneys, then cells from the brains of rats and of humans, Haussler and Jurutka established that vitamin D produced effects consistent with Patrick and Ames’s hypothesis: It enhanced the ability of the brain cells to produce serotonin by anywhere from double to 30 times as much, Haussler said.

Haussler said a better understanding of how to regulate serotonin production could have a “huge impact, and all the way across the life span.” Haussler speculated that regulating serotonin in developing brains could potentially affect the development of autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Some benefits of vitamin D have been known for generations, Haussler said, though they might have been described in different terms.

“When I was young, my mother would say, ‘Mark, go out in the sun; you’ll feel better,’?” Haussler said. “Well, you know, I usually did, and that’s a common-sense-type thing, but why? Why do we feel better when we go out in the sun? Sun makes vitamin D in your skin.”

But too much sun can also lead to skin cancer, he cautioned, and not all sun exposure will help produce vitamin D. In New England during the winter, the sun is too low on the horizon to help generate the production of vitamin D.

Doctors and researchers said that in this region and many others, it is beneficial to take a vitamin D supplement, at least during winter months, but controversies have arisen in recent years about the use of vitamin supplements and the tools for measuring vitamin D deficiency.

Late last year, a widely discussed editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine encouraged the public to “stop wasting money” on vitamin and mineral supplements that had not been proved to prevent or slow the development of chronic diseases.

That editorial included a caveat that vitamin D supplementation remained “an open area of investigation, particularly in deficient persons” but nevertheless concluded that “current widespread use [of vitamin D supplements] is not based on solid evidence that benefits outweigh harms.”

Also last year, a study from Massachusetts General Hospital found that many of the 70 percent to 90 percent of African-Americans diagnosed as vitamin D deficient may actually have healthy levels of the vitamin — and are not deficient — because they are genetically disposed to carry more of the “free” form of the nutrient.

Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health, said the anti-supplement editorial “was unhelpful as it lumped together a very wide range of doses and conditions.”

Willett said many Americans do not get enough vitamin D from diet and sun exposure and should take a supplement. His recommendation included African-American adults because, he said, science has not yet determined which forms of vitamin D benefit specific organs, and the “free” form may not be helpful in all instances.

There is no universal agreement about the proper dosage, but Willett recommends 1,000 international units per day for most adults. Patrick said that before taking a supplement, people should get tested and consult their physicians.

MyAchingKnees comment: I am currently taking 5,000 IU a day. My base supplements provide 1,000 IU day a day and I take an addition 4,000 IU. When everybody around me is sick, I'm not. But I'm not attributing that to the Vitamin D alone,...it is only one of the many nutrients I believe a person needs in much higher doses than the RDA in order to have a robust immune system and a healthylife.

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Friday, January 16, 2015

Scientific team sounds the alarm on sugar as a source of disease

This article is from Barbara Sadick, of the Chicago Tribune, posted on MedicalXpress.com and is pretty convincing about how bad sugar is for us. If you don't believe that then why does PET Scans use a sugary mix ingested by the patient to detect cancers? Because the sugar feed cancers and the scan shows where the sugar goes...well that's my explanation of it anyway. And it is likely that sugar also enhances the onset of cardiovascular disease, diabetes (which is a no brainer), and even liver disease. As always let the consumer beware. If eating all that sugar is working for you, well then you probably ought to continue.

Is sugar making us sick? A team of scientists at the University of California in San Francisco believes so, and they're doing something about it. They launched an initiative to bring information on food and drink and added sugar to the public by reviewing more than 8,000 scientific papers that show a strong link between the consumption of added sugar and chronic diseases.

The common belief until now was that sugar just makes us fat, but it's become clear through research that it's making us sick. For example, there's the rise in fatty-liver disease, the emergence of Type 2 diabetes as an epidemic in children and the dramatic increase in metabolic disorders.

Laura Schmidt, a UCSF professor at the School of Medicine and the lead investigator on the project, SugarScience, said the idea is to make the findings comprehensible and clear to everyone. The results will be available to all on a website (SugarScience.org) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Added sugars, Schmidt said, are sugars that don't occur naturally in foods. They are found in 74 percent of all packaged foods, have 61 names and often are difficult to decipher on food labels. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires food companies to list ingredients on packaging, the suggested daily values of natural and added sugars can't be found.

The FDA is considering a proposal to require food manufacturers to list information on sugars in the same way they do for fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates and protein. But because so much added sugar is dumped into so many products, one average American breakfast of cereal would likely exceed a reasonable daily limit.

"SugarScience shows that a calorie is not a calorie but rather that the source of a calorie determines how it's metabolized," said pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, a member of the SugarScience team and the author of "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease." Lustig said that more than half of the U.S. population is sick with metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and liver disease that are directly related to the excessive consumption of added sugars in the Western diet.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the category of heart attack/stroke as the leading cause of death in the United States. Every day, 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease. That's about 800,000 a year, or one in three deaths.

The latest statistics from the American Diabetes Association show that 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent, have diabetes. Of that number, 21 million have been diagnosed and 8.1 million have not, and the numbers continue to grow, according to the association.

It doesn't stop there. The American Liver Foundation says at least 30 million Americans, or 1 in 10, has one of 100 kinds of liver disease.

Clinicians widely believe that obesity is the cause of metabolic disease. Although it is a marker for these diseases, Lustig said, it's not the cause. "Too much sugar causes chronic metabolic disease in both fat and thin people," he said, "and instead of focusing on obesity as the problem, we should be focusing on our processed-food supply."

The average American consumes 19.5 teaspoons (78 grams) of sugar a day, substantially more than the amount recommended by the American Heart Association. The association sets these limits: 6 teaspoons (24 grams) for women, 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men, and 3-6 teaspoons (12-24 grams) for children, depending on age. Just one 12-ounce soda contains 8 to 9 teaspoons (32-36 grams) of sugar.

Liquid sugar in sodas, energy drinks and sports drinks is the leading source of added sugar in the American diet. That represents 36 percent of all added sugars consumed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And because liquid does not include fiber, the body processes it quickly. That causes more sugar to be sent to the pancreas and liver than either can process properly, and the resulting buildup of sugar leads to heart disease, diabetes and liver disease.

Consuming too much sugar causes the level of glucose sugar in the bloodstream to increase. That, in turn, causes the pancreas to release high levels of insulin that cause the body to store extra calories as fat.

Too much insulin also affects the hormone leptin, a natural appetite suppressant that signals the brain to stop eating when full. But the imbalance of insulin levels caused by the intake of too much sugar causes lipid resistance, and the brain no longer gets that signal.

Another member of the SugarScience team, Dean Schillinger, is a professor of medicine at UCSF and a practicing primary care doctor at San Francisco General Hospital. He believes the overconsumption of added sugars is a social problem, not a problem of individual choice and freedom.

"People are becoming literate about the toxic effects of sugar," Schillinger said, "and have more understanding of the idea that high doses are bad for one's health." He sees evidence that those in a higher socioeconomic bracket are taking steps to limit intake of sugar when compared with poorer, less literate people.

Healthy food is expensive and less readily accessible in poorer neighborhoods, and because corn is so abundant and cheap, it is added to many food products. "Dumping high fructose corn syrup into cheap foods, sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks is toxic to the body, causing epidemic metabolic diseases and a serious health crisis," Schillinger said.

To underscore the scope of the problem, he pointed out that during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 1,500 American soldiers lost a limb in combat. In that same period, 1.5 million people in the U.S. lost limbs to amputations from Type 2 diabetes, a preventable disease. "We have yet to mobilize for a public health war," he said, "but the time has come to do so."

Such a war would have to take on the root causes of the problem. As a nation, Schillinger added, we would need to look at our food policies, food pricing, availability of healthy foods, and the marketing being carried out by food and beverage industries to hook the public on unhealthy choices loaded with added sugar.

Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, is not a SugarScience researcher, but he agreed that the amount of sugar consumed by the American public is too high. SugarScience, he said, is being helpful by bringing the information about added sugar to public attention.

"It's just about impossible," Hu said, "to know from food labels what kinds and amounts of sugars are in a product." That's why he thinks the FDA should require food companies to list those amounts on all food labels so people know what they're eating, in what amounts they're eating it, and what amounts are safe.

Food labels are important, Schillinger said, and they need to be revised, but the most important change needed is to make the healthier choice the easier choice.

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Vitamin IV's? Really?

A friend of mine sent me a link to a Tampa Bay, Florida based business that offers Vitamin Interveinous Therapy. It's called the HangIVer Bar,...get it? as in hanging a IV. They also offer supplements through an IM (intra-muscular injection).

There are so many things wrong with this, I don't where to start,......

Let's consider having arms looking like a pin cushion or a heroin addict after a few treatments.

How about the costs? Way too expensive and you are not getting but a small number of nutrients. Now where on the website does this HangIVer Bar tell you the amounts of nutrients you are getting. And there is nothing on the quality. If they are providing food grade supplements as opposed to pharmaceutical grade, then you may be getting doubly ripped off.

While IV is the quickest way to get electrolytes or expand blood volume following blood loss it is not the way nature intended our bodies to be nourished.

You can get a membership for $49 and save on the cost of each IV - these are the IV's they offer, their cost and what they are advertised for:

RevitalIV (General Fatigue/Dehydration/Jet Lag) $115 (members $97.75)

Need a boost? Great for general and chronic fatigue, jet lag, and dehydration.
•Balanced electrolyte solution
•B complex
•B12


Hair of the Dog (Hangover) $129 (members $109.65)

One drink too many? We have your hangover dream come true. This drip is full of vitamins, minerals, and medicines to quickly relieve headaches, nausea, dry mouth and other related symptoms.
•Balanced electrolyte solution
•B complex
•B12
•Choice of anti-nausea or pain reliever
•Add on severe nausea
•Add on antacid


Chicken Soup (Acute viral illness) $139 (members $118.15)

Expedite the healing process….increase your immunity to fight the common viruses and bugs that we encounter daily.
•Balanced electrolyte solution
•B complex
•B12
•Vitamin C
•Magnesium


Finish Line (Exercise/Performance related fatigue and prep) $149 / Wednesdays $99 (members $126.65)

For all levels of athlete…to replenish what your body naturally loses through strenuous exercise and heat. To keep the body at it’s optimum performance.
•Balanced electrolyte solution
•B complex
•B12
•Glutatione


Fountain of Youth (Youthful restoration) $159 (members $135.15)

Created ideally for skin rejuvenation and hydration. The vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants needed to restore youthful appearance.
•Balanced electrolyte solution
•Vitamin C
•Glutatathione
•B complex


Skinny Minny $125 / Mondays – $99)

The combination of amino acids that help break down fat deposits from the liver as well as antioxidants and vitamins to increase metabolism.
•Amino acids
•Vitamin C
•B12


The Pro-Gram

All of the benefits of the modified Myers Cocktail with the added benefits of a proprietary blend of vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants to maximize tissue healing and repair.
Proprietary blend of:
•B vitamins
•Essential minerals
•anti-oxidants


Fat Fighter IM injection $45

Suffering from fatigue from dieting? Struggling with cravings? This is an intramuscular injection of amino acids and anti-oxidants to help you power through a restricted diet and still have the energy to exercise.
•Amino acids
•Vitamin C
•B12
•Lidocaine (really!?!?)


B12 Booster $19 (Free monthly for members)

This is an intramuscular injection excellent for chronic fatigue and low energy states, mild depression and related mood swings, chronic deficiency, and migraines.
– methylcobalamin (active form of B12) (isn't this a muscle relaxer??)


A la Carte Additions:

Vitamin C $25
Glutathione $30
Anti-nausea $25
Anti-acid $25

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Thursday, January 1, 2015

8 Best Foods for Instant Detox

Article from Eat This, Not That!, By David Zinczenko, posted on Yahoo! Health   Fat. Sugar. Salt. Alcohol. If our bodies had minds of their own, they’d have put us on notice on Thanksgiving, served us with papers by Christmas, and be off dating a vegan yogi by New Year’s Eve.

So why not make friends with it again? These essential Eat This, Not That! Detox Foods will instantly cleanse your body without any painful fasts or expensive juices. You’ll find the complete list—and a simple and effective diet plan that can strip off up to 16 pounds in 14 days—in my new book, The Zero Belly Diet.


The Liver Fixer: Almonds

Downing those winter cocktails make you more than fat and hungover; the fatty deposits that build up around your liver after weeks of overeating and drinking put you at increased risk for liver cancer. But just a couple small handfuls a day of vitamin-packed almonds could help cleanse the deposits out, according to a recent study from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers found a clear inverse response between vitamin E intake and liver cancer risk; those that consumed the most—about 16 mg, or about 15 almonds—showed a 40 percent lower risk of liver cancer than those who consumed less.

The Stomach Settler: Guacamole

Think of guacamole as a designated driver for your digestive system. A study in The Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry analyzed the effects of feeding 22 different fruits to a group of rats with liver damage caused by galactosamine, a liver toxin. The fruit that proved most beneficial? You guessed it: the avocado. Cilantro, the savory herb that gives guac its distinctive flavor, contains a unique blend of oils that send a “simmer down!” message to an upset stomach. In fact, these two oils (specifically, linalool and geranyl acetate) are so powerful they’ve been shown to have a positive impact on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a study published in the journal Digestive Diseases and Science.

The Belly Fat Blocker: White Tea

Any tea will help soothe your nerves, but white tea packs a particular one-two punch that can actually attack belly fat. A study published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism showed that white tea can simultaneously boost lipolysis (the breakdown of fat) and block adipogenesis (the formation of fat cells). The tea’s combination of caffeine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) seems to set fat cells up for defeat.

The Pain Killer: Turmeric

You can put an ice pack on your throbbing head, but to get the same anti-inflammatory effect throughout the rest of your body, order the curry. Curcumin, a compound derived from the bright-orange spice turmeric, works as a powerful anti-inflammatory in the liver, research shows. A study in the journal Gut found supplementing with curcumin could significantly reduce bile duct blockage and curbed scarring (fibrosis) by interfering with chemical reactions involved in the inflammatory process.

The Hangover Cure: Asparagus

When you’re huddled over a plate of greasy diner food, begging the Hangover Gods for forgiveness, ask the waiter for a side of steamed asparagus. According to a study in the Journal of Food Science, the amino acids and minerals found in asparagus may alleviate hangover symptoms and protect liver cells against toxins. The veggie spears are also a natural diuretic, which will help flush the excess toxins from your system.

The Cholesterol Buster: Collard Greens

A staple vegetable of Southern cuisine, collard greens have an incredible ability to cleanse your system of excess cholesterol, especially when steamed. A recent study published in the journal Nutrition Research compared the bile acid binding capacity of steamed collard greens to Cholestyramine, a cholesterol-lowering drug. Incredibly, the collards improved the body’s cholesterol-blocking process by 13 percent more than the drug! Just hold the artery-clogging fried chicken.

The Detoxifier: Lemon Water

Start each day by making a large pitcher of “spa” water filled with sliced whole lemons, and make a point of sipping your way through at least 8 glasses before bedtime. Citrus fruits are rich in the antioxidant de-limonene, a powerful compound found in the peel that stimulates liver enzymes to help flush toxins from the body and gives sluggish bowels a kick, according to the World Health Organization.

The Artery Plumber: Wild Salmon

If quitting smoking is a New Year’s resolution, add a side of salmon. Researchers say a healthy diet rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids may then help to reverse arterial stiffness—a common side effect of smoking, which, like a kinked hose, inhibits the flow of cleansing blood through the arteries and to vital organs. A three-week study in the International Journal of Cardiology found smokers who supplemented with just 2 grams of omega-3s a day—what you’ll find in a 4-ounce portion of salmon—saw marked improvement in the elasticity of the arteries, allowing for healthy blood flow.

MyAchingKnees comment:  All good information above.  I prefer to de-tox daily starting with my breakfast meal replacement drink adding a fiber supplement that contains a combination of psyllium and inulin which is prebiotic that is believed to promote bifidobacteria in the digestive tract.  The psyllium adds fiber to my diet which is helpful to healthy cholesterol levels as well as reducing heart disease.  And because of years of Aspirin, Motrin and Flexaril abuse, before I got smart and healthy, I also take a daily pharmaceutical quality supplement for my liver providing nutrients that are helpful to stimulating liver enzymes and protecting against oxidative stress.   



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