Does the Ideal Antioxidant Really Exist?

The answer to this important question, in a word, is yes. Touted by researchers as the “universal” antioxidant, there is one free-radical quenching compound that’s both water- and lipid-soluble—able to function equally well in all areas of your body. A powerful antioxidant in its own right, this unique compound is able to magnify the effectiveness of other essential antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamins C and E. But that’s not all: This potent antioxidant also has the unique ability to regenerate your body’s stores of active glutathione—a powerful detoxifying, tripeptide antioxidant—offering a double-dose of critical protection against health-harming toxins and heavy metals. 1

This antioxidant nutrient is alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and research demonstrates that it’s one of the most valuable and versatile natural supplements you can take. Given its profound effectiveness against free radicals, its emerging role in the fight against numerous health concerns shouldn’t surprise you.

ALA is also a key cofactor that is required for cellular energy production, and studies show that daily doses of ALA can improve nerve health in diabetics, while increasing glucose sensitivity and reducing insulin-dependence. 1-2 Researchers have found that this multifunctional molecule boosts glucose disposal by as much as 50 percent in subjects with type 2 diabetes—and that nerve conduction and circulation improve in as little as one month of use.1 Cataracts have also been shown to respond to ALA, with animals studies revealing that alpha-lipoic acid can inhibit their formation by 60 percent. 1

Your heart can benefit from a daily dose of ALA, too: Research shows that it protects against damage caused by low oxygen availability or ischemia after a heart attack or stroke, and studies have revealed that animals given ALA experience dramatically lower death rates in the critical period following serious cardiac events. 1-2 By increasing the activity and regeneration cycle of vitamin E in your body, ALA also can help to combat artery-clogging LDL oxidation—a key contributing factor in the development of arteriosclerosis. 1 Animal studies also have shown that ALA can support healthy levels of triglycerides. 4

Research indicates that ALA supplementation also counteracts age-related, long-term memory deficits, while protecting brain tissue from oxidative damage, indicating it has important neuroprotective effects. 1,3,5  And if that wasn’t enough, studies also show that this compound can bolster both immunity and critical antioxidant profiles in AIDS patients. 1

The bottom line: For ideal antioxidant protection, ALA is one daily supplement you can’t afford to go without. To learn more about Poly-MVA, or to buy now, visit http://www.polymva.com/.

Reference:

1.Packer L, Witt EH, Tritschler EJ. alpha-Lipoic acid as a biological antioxidant. Free Rad Biol and Med. 1995 August;19(2):227-250. 
2.Pershadsingh HA. Alpha-lipoic acid: physiologic mechanisms and indications for the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2007 Mar;16(3):291-302.
3.Jia Z, Zhu H, Vitto MJ, Misra BR, Li Y, Misra HP. Alpha-lipoic acid potently inhibits peroxynitrite-mediated DNA strand breakage and hydroxyl radical formation: implications for the neuroprotective effects of alpha-lipoic acid. Mol Cell Biochem. 2008 Dec 11. Published Online Ahead of Print.
4.Butler JA, Hagen TM, Moreau R. Lipoic acid improves hypertriglyceridemia by stimulating triacylglycerol clearance and downregulating liver triacylglycerol secretion. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2009 Feb 20. Published Online Ahead of Print.
5.Klaus Hagera, Andres Marahrensa, Marlene Kenkliesa, Peter Riedererb, Gerald Münchc. Alpha-lipoic acid as a new treatment option for Alzheimer type dementia. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2001 June; 32(3): 275 - 82.
Original article on ALA © Copyright 2009 Vitamin Research Products

by Craig Weatherby

New findings from Denmark affirm and expand the role that vitamin D plays in our bodies most sophisticated immune response to infectious agents. And they follow an important discovery reported last year from Oregon State University (OSU), which confirmed vitamin D’s essentiality to humans first-line immune response to disease microbes. Lets take a look at both of these closely related studies, starting with last year’s OSU investigation.

Vitamin D’s role in the first-line defense against disease microbes

The human body responds to disease-causing microbes bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens by using two distinct but partly overlapping aspects of its immune system. Key points to consider:

- Gene studies affirm and detail vitamin D’s key role in the body’s sophisticated adaptive immune system, which remembers and targets specific pathogens.
- Findings follow affirmation of vitamin D’s role in activating anti-microbial proteins of the less targeted but still essential innate immune system.
- Immune system proteins activated by vitamin D also play key roles in cell and blood vessel growth, wound healing, and in the skin and digestive organs.

The innate immune system is first line of defense against bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. It is ancient in evolutionary terms, dating back some 60 million years to our pre-human primate ancestors. (The more recently evolved adaptive immune system, which was the subject of the new vitamin D findings from Denmark, reacts to and remembers specific microbes to provide a more targeted, potentially more effective defense.) The innate immune system, which employs proteins called anti-microbial peptides, recognizes that something that probably doesn’t belong in the body, even though the specific pathogen may never have been encountered before.

Last August, researchers from OSU reported their discovery that the ability of vitamin D to regulate the innate immune systems anti-microbial peptides is so important that it has been conserved through almost 60 million years of evolution (Gombart AF, Saito T, Koeffler HP 2009). The Oregon team also noted that the vitamin D-regulated innate immune system is unique to primates, including humans, and occurs in no other known animal species. They believe that this vitamin-D-mediated immune response must be critical to primates survival, or it would not have been retained through millions of years of natural selection. Last year, the Oregon team found a new genetic element that allows vitamin D to boost the innate immune response by activating antimicrobial peptides.

And if the peptides suppress a pathogen effectively, this may help prevent the adaptive immune system from overreacting. (It had already been known that vitamin D prevents the adaptive immune system from overreacting, thereby reducing counterproductive inflammation.) As OSU professor Adrian Gombart said last August, It’s essential that we have both an innate immune response that provides an immediate front line of defense [and] protection against an overreaction by the immune system, which is what you see in sepsis and some autoimmune or degenerative diseases. This is a very delicate balancing act, and without sufficient levels of vitamin D you may not have an optimal response with either aspect of the immune system. (OSU 2009) He described the history and importance of vitamin D in innate immunity in a 2009 review article that’s worth quoting at length: “Vitamin D deficiency has been correlated with increased rates of infection. Since the early 19th century, both environmental (i.e., sunlight) and dietary/supplemental sources (cod liver) of vitamin D have been identified as treatments for TB. The recent discovery that vitamin D induces antimicrobial peptide gene expression explains, in part, the antibiotic effect of vitamin D and has greatly renewed interest in the ability of vitamin D to improve immune function. Subsequent work indicates that this regulation is biologically important for the response of the innate immune system to wounds and infection and that deficiency may lead to suboptimal responses toward bacterial and viral infections.” (Gombart A 2009)

And as Dr. Gobart explained, the anti-microbial peptide activated by vitamin D plays other key roles in human health: “The [vitamin D-activated] antimicrobial peptide that we’re studying seems to be involved not just in killing bacteria. It recruits other immune cells and sounds the alarm that something is wrong. It helps promote development of blood vessels, cell growth and healing of wounds. And it seems to have important roles in barrier tissues such as skin and the digestive system. (OSU 2009)

Now, let’s turn our attention to the new study from Denmark, which concerns vitamin D’s role in the more sophisticated, powerful and potentially self-destructive adaptive immune system. New genome study details vitamin D’s key part in the modern immune system. Danish scientists say they’ve discovered that vitamin D is crucial to activating the adaptive immune system, which evolved later than the innate immune system. Their study focused on the T cells of the adaptive immune system, which, to be effective, must first be triggered to transform into killer or helper cells Killer T cells seek out and destroy pathogens, while helper T cells remember the pathogen so that the body will mount a more efficient immune response should it reappear in the future.

The Danes’ landmark study demonstrates that T cells rely on vitamin D to activate and remain dormant if vitamin D is lacking in the blood. According to lead author Carsten Geisler, Ph.D., “We have discovered that the first stage in the activation of a T cell involves vitamin D. When a T cell is exposed to a pathogen, the contact initiates a biochemical reaction that prompts the cell to extend the signaling device or antenna, known as a vitamin D receptor. Unless a T cell’s receptor encounters vitamin D, its full transformation into an effective killer or helper cell will cease.”

This is why the Danes’ achievement constitutes a major breakthrough. As Dr. Geisler said, “Scientists have known for a long time that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and that the vitamin has also been implicated as helpful in diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, but what we didn’t realize is how crucial vitamin D is for actually activating the immune system - which we know now.”

The Danish findings hold practical implications, as they say that they believe their discovery may help doctors enhance patients immune responses and deal with autoimmune diseases and reduce rejection of transplanted organs. Active T cells multiply at an explosive rate and can create runaway inflammation with serious, and sometimes - as in the state of sepsis that can follow a major infection, even fatal consequences. And after an organ transplant, T cells may attack the donor organ as a foreign invader. In an autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, T cells mistake fragments of the body’s own cells for foreign pathogens, leading them to attack the body’s own tissues. The Danish team was able to track the steps by which an inactive T cell changes into an active cell - a breakthrough that may allow doctors to intervene at several points to influence the bodys immune response.

“The findings,” says Professor Geisler, “could help us to combat infectious diseases and global epidemics. They will be of particular use when developing new vaccines, which work precisely on the basis of both training our immune systems to react and suppressing the body’s natural defenses in situations where this is important as is the case with organ transplants and autoimmune disease.”

Most vitamin D is produced when UV sunrays strike the skin. The only good dietary sources are supplements and certain foods: especially fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, sablefish, and mackerel. AMARC carries a high quality vitamin D3 supplement - click here to read more or buy now.

Sources

- Adams JS, Ren S, Liu PT, Chun RF, Lagishetty V, Gombart AF, Borregaard
N, Modlin RL, Hewison M. Vitamin D-directed rheostatic regulation of
monocyte antibacterial responses. J Immunol. 2009 Apr 1;182(7):4289-95.
- Copenhagen University (CU). Vitamin D crucial to activating immune
defenses. March 3, 2010. Accessed at
http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C428961%2Cb1kJkvww%2C3849958%2CbgGlHGh
- Gombart AF, Bhan I, Borregaard N, Tamez H, Camargo CA Jr, Koeffler HP,
Thadhani R. Low plasma level of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide
(hCAP18) predicts increased infectious disease mortality in patients
undergoing hemodialysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2009 Feb 15;48(4):418-24.
- Gombart AF, Saito T, Koeffler HP. Exaptation of an ancient Alu short
interspersed element provides a highly conserved vitamin D-mediated
innate immune response in humans and primates. BMC Genomics. 2009 Jul
16;10:321.
- Gombart AF. The vitamin D-antimicrobial peptide pathway and its role
in protection against infection. Future Microbiol. 2009 Nov;4:1151-65.
Review.
- Marina Rode von Essen, Martin Kongsbak, Peter Schjerling, Klaus
Olgaard, Niels dum & Carsten Geisler. Vitamin D controls T cell antigen
receptor signaling and activation of human T cells. Published online:
March 7, 2010 / doi:10.1038/ni.1851
- Oregon State University (OSU). Key feature of immune system survived
in humans, other primates for 60 million years. August 18, 2009.

Study findings can be accessed at:

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C428961%2Cb1kJkvww%2C3849959%2CbgGlHGh

Many children undergoing treatment for cancer use herbal remedies, vitamins or other types of alternative therapies, a new research review suggests.

The review, of 28 studies involving 3,500 children, found that anywhere from 6 percent to 91 percent of study participants used some form of alternative or complementary approach at some point during their cancer treatment. In half of the studies, the rate ranged between 20 percent and 60 percent.

It is not clear from the studies whether some children were receiving alternative therapies instead of a particular standard cancer treatment, or whether they were only being used in addition to conventional medicine, according to lead researcher Dr. Felicity Bishop, of the University of Southampton School of Medicine in the UK.

What the studies do indicate, she told Reuters Health by email, is that “a substantial proportion of pediatric cancer patients use complementary and alternative medicine at some point in their treatment.”

The bottom line for parents, according to Bishop, is that they should discuss any use of such therapies with their child’s doctor.

She and her colleagues report their findings in the journal Pediatrics.

The public often perceives alternative therapies as “natural” and safe. But while some approaches are unlikely to cause harm — like relaxation therapies to reduce stress — other alternative treatments may present a risk to cancer patients. Research has found, for example, that high-dose vitamin C, St. John’s wort and green tea compounds may (in specific cases typically) interact with certain cancer drugs and lessen their effectiveness.

Some recent studies have had promising results; for example, a clinical trial last year found that the herb milk thistle may help limit liver inflammation as a side effect of chemotherapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Another found that adding flaxseed to the diets of men scheduled to undergo surgery for prostate cancer seemed to slow the cancer’s growth in some patients.

However, researchers caution that these are the first well-controlled clinical trials to evaluate those therapies, and more studies are needed before recommendations can be made.

In their review, Bishop and her colleagues found that herbal remedies were the most commonly reported alternative therapies, though use varied widely across the studies — with anywhere from 2 percent to 48 percent of children using herbs.

Between 3 percent and 47 percent of children used special diets or other nutritional therapies, while 3 percent to 30 percent used prayer or other forms of “faith-healing.” Other forms of integrative approaches included high-dose vitamins, mind-body therapies like meditation and relaxation techniques, and homeopathy.

In studies that asked parents why they had turned to alternative therapies, the most common reasons were “to cure or help fight the child’s cancer,” to help ease symptoms and to counter the side effects of conventional cancer treatment.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, patients considering alternative therapy should speak with their doctors first to make sure it fits safely into their overall care. Doctors or staff at a patient’s cancer center may also be able to recommend an alternative-medicine practitioner. Some cancer centers now offer alternative- and complementary-medicine programs that can be integrated into standard care.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, April 2010.

For information on how palladium lipoic complexes can nutritionally support the body during cancer and cancer therapy, visit the Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Research’s website.

Original article URL:

 http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62M3PV20100323?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=76

Overall, people who have mild to moderate hypertension can train similarly to those who have normal blood pressure with some modifications. They should engage in primarily low-impact aerobics, walk regularly and swim as a means of building cardiovascular endurance. Weight training should begin with low resistance at an initial level of 8-12 reps, increasing gradually to 12-20 reps over time.

Exercise intensity levels should be maintained at the lower end of the heart rate range (40 - 65%) and can be measured accurately and easily with the use of a portable heart-rate monitor. They are readily available on the market for costs ranging between $40-$350. People who are hypertensive should try to exercise at least four times per week with initial short durations, gradually increasing the amount of time they spend on warm-up, cool-down and actual exercise to as much as 30-60 minutes per session. The amount of time spent exercising depends upon the individual’s health history, management of hypertensive medications and other health concerns. It is important that graduated time is spent in warm-up and cool-down, beginning at 5 minutes and increasing to 10-15 minutes per session. Warm-up provides for a measured increase in muscle temperature, which reduces the likelihood of muscle injury; improves coronary blood flow; increases the flexibility of connective tissues as well as many other benefits. Cool-down prevents a rapid drop in blood pressure which generally results in feeling light headed or faint; reduces immediate propensity for muscle cramping or spasm and allows for a gradual reduction of adrenaline in the blood.

If you are hypertensive, check with your physician prior to beginning any exercise program. Also check with your physician if you are increasing or decreasing the intensity or duration of an existing exercise program in which you currently participate. Some medications may require a change in program content and it is important to work closely with your doctor in putting together an exercise plan that works for you and is safe. Sometimes, physicians may ask you to keep a record of blood pressure before and after exercise.

© The Better Life Experts | March 2010

The hottest topic in medicine isn’t the newest drug or the latest surgical device: It’s vitamin D.

What brought the simmering debate to a boil was a 2007 study showing that people taking normal vitamin D supplements were 7% less likely to die than those who didn’t take the daily supplements.

A year later, a major study found that when women with low vitamin D levels get breast cancer, they have a much higher chance of dying from their cancer than women with normal vitamin D levels.

That was surprising news. But just as surprising is the fact that many men, women, and children have insufficient blood levels of this important vitamin.

How many? Data suggest many of us don’t get the vitamin D we need. For example, a 2007 study of childbearing women in the Northern U.S. found insufficient vitamin D levels in 54% of black women and in 42% of white women.

These findings led the American Academy of Pediatrics to double the recommended amount of vitamin D a child should take — and have led many doctors to advise their adult patients to up their vitamin D intake.

Your health may depend on knowing the answers to these important questions:
• Why do I need vitamin D?
• How can I get enough vitamin D?
• Will a vitamin D test tell me if I need more vitamin D?
• Which foods contain vitamin D?
• How much vitamin D do my children and I need?
• Can I get too much vitamin D?
• What kind of vitamin D is best?
• Does vitamin D interact with other medications? 
 
Why do I need vitamin D?
Your body must have vitamin D to absorb calcium and promote bone growth. Too little vitamin D results in soft bones in children (rickets) and fragile, misshapen bones in adults (osteomalacia). You also need vitamin D for other important body functions.

Vitamin D deficiency has now been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, depression, weight gain, and other maladies. These studies show that people with higher levels of vitamin D have a lower risk of disease, although they do not definitively prove that lack of vitamin D causes disease — or that vitamin D supplements would lower risk.

The Vitamin D Council — a scientist-led group promoting vitamin D deficiency awareness — suggests vitamin D treatment might be found helpful in treating or preventing autism, autoimmune disease, cancer, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, heart disease, high bloodpressure, flu, neuromuscular diseases, and osteoporosis. However, there have been no definitive clinical trials.

The best known benefit of vitamin D is its role in helping calcium build strong bones. But that’s far from the whole story. Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system and the neuromuscular system. Vitamin D also plays major roles in the life cycle of human cells.

Vitamin D is so important that your body makes it by itself — but only after skin exposure to sufficient sunlight. This is a problem for people in northern climates. In the U.S., only people who live south of a line drawn from Los Angeles to Columbia, S.C., get enough sunlight for vitamin D production throughout the year.

Dark skin absorbs less sunlight, so people with dark skin do not get as much vitamin D from sun exposure as do light-skinned people. This is a particular problem for African-Americans in the northern U.S.

How can I get enough vitamin D?

Thirty minutes of sun exposure to the face, legs, or back — without sunscreen — at least twice a week should give you plenty of vitamin D.

But this much direct sun exposure might also expose you to potentially dangerous levels of cancer-causing UV radiation. And unless you live in the South or Southwest, you probably won’t get enough sunlight during the winter months for your body to make enough vitamin D.  The American Academy of Dermatology recommends against getting vitamin D from unprotected exposure to sunlight.
 
It’s probably a better idea to get vitamin D from foods or from supplements.
 
Will a vitamin D test tell me if I need more vitamin D?

Yes. As part of your regular blood test, your doctor should order a test for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD).

Everyone agrees that anyone with a 25-OHD level of less than 15 ng/mL or 37.5 nmol/L (depending on the units reported by a lab) needs more vitamin D.  A 2002 study found that 42% of African-American women of childbearing age had vitamin D levels below 15 ng/mL.

The U.S. National Institutes of health notes that 25-OHD levels over 30 ng/mL are optimal, and that there is “insufficient data” to support recommendations for higher levels.

The Vitamin D Council considers the ideal 25-OHD level to be between 40 ng/mL and 70 ng/mL.

Which foods contain vitamin D?

Surprisingly few foods contain vitamin D — unless it’s added to the food. That’s because your body is built to get vitamin D through your skin (from sunlight) rather than through your mouth (by food). But once your body has enough, it doesn’t matter whether you got it through your skin or through your stomach.

There are three vitamin D super foods:
• Salmon (especially wild-caught)
• Mackerel (especially wild-caught; eat up to 12 ounces a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are low in mercury)
• Mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light to increase vitamin D
 
Other food sources of vitamin D include:
• Cod liver oil (warning: cod liver oil is rich in vitamin A; too much may be bad for you)
• Tuna canned in water
• Sardines canned in oil
• Milk or yogurt — regardless of whether it’s whole, nonfat, or reduced fat — fortified with vitamin D
• Beef or calf liver
• Egg yolks
• Cheese
 
Nearly all milk in the U.S. is fortified with vitamin D. So are many brands of orange juice, yogurt, margarine, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.

How much vitamin D do I need?

The current recommended daily dose of vitamin D is 200 IU for people up to age 50, 400 IU for people aged 51 to 70, and 600 IU for people over age 70.

That’s not enough, Boston University vitamin D expert , MD, PhD, tells WebMD. Holick recommends a dose of 1,000 IU a day of vitamin D for both infants and adults — unless they’re getting plenty of safe sun exposure.

In 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that breastfed infants receive 400 IU of vitamin D every day until they are weaned. This doubled the AAP’s previous recommendation.
 
The AAP also recommends 400 IU/day of vitamin D for children and teens who drink less than a quart of vitamin D-fortified milk per day.

The Vitamin D Council recommends that healthy adults take 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily — more if they get little or no sun exposure.

There’s evidence that people with a lot of body fat need more vitamin D than lean people.

The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board is currently updating its 1997 vitamin D recommendations. A report is scheduled for May 2010.

Can I get too much vitamin D?

Too much of any good thing is a bad thing. Too much vitamin D can cause an abnormally high blood calcium level, which could result in nausea, constipation, confusion, abnormal heart rhythm, and even kidney stones.

It’s nearly impossible to get too much vitamin D from sunlight or from foods (unless you take way too much cod liver oil). Nearly all vitamin D overdoses come from supplements.

The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board’s 1997 recommendations — scheduled for a May 2010 update — suggest that 2,000 IU per day of vitamin D is safe for adults and that 1,000 IU per day is safe for infants up to 12 months of age.

However, the relatively small doses of vitamin D in daily vitamin pills are not enough to correct serious vitamin D deficiency. A 2009 study suggested that the best regimen for treating vitamin D insufficiency is 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 taken three times a week for six weeks. This time-limited regimen did not result in vitamin D toxicity.

How much vitamin D is too much? That’s controversial. According to the National Institutes of Health, the maximum upper limit for vitamin D is 25 micrograms (1,000 IU) for children up to age 12 months and 50 micrograms (2,000 IU) for everyone else.

But some recent studies suggest that healthy adults can tolerate more than 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day. John Jacob Cannell, MD, executive director of The Vitamin D Council, notes that the skin makes 10,000 IU of vitamin D after 30 minutes of full-body sun exposure. He suggests that 10,000 IU of vitamin D is not toxic.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 25-OHD levels that are consistently over 200 ng/mL are “potentially toxic.”

What kind of vitamin D is best?

The recommended form of vitamin D is vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol. This is the natural form of vitamin D that your body makes from sunlight. Supplements are made from the fat of lambs’ wool.

Many supplements contain vitamin D as vitamin D2 or calciferol. It’s derived from irradiated fungus. Because this is not the form of vitamin D naturally made by your body, WebMD nutritionist Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, recommends using the D3 form for those taking vitamin D supplements.

Because of its potency, different forms of vitamin D are used in prescription medications. If you have a prescription for one of these medications, do not switch to another form of vitamin D without checking with your doctor.

Does vitamin D interact with other medications?

Yes. Steroid medications such as prednisone can interfere with vitamin D metabolism. If you take steroid drugs regularly, discuss vitamin D with your doctor.

The weight loss drug orlistat — brand names include Xenical and Alli — may cut absorption of vitamin D. So does the cholesterol-lowering drug cholestyramine (sold as Questran, LoCholest, and Prevalite). People taking these drugs should discuss vitamin intake with their doctors.

The seizure drugs Phenobarbital and Dilantin (phenytoin), affect vitamin D metabolism and affect calcium absorption. So do anti-tuberculosis drugs.

On the other hand, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and thiazide diuretics increase vitamin D levels.

AMARC Enterprises offers a high-quality D3 product to help you meet your vitamin D needs. Click here for more information or to order.

Original article URL:  http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/the-truth-about-vitamin-d?ecd=wnl_can_041310

Increasing consumption of sugary soft drinks contributed to 130,000 new cases of diabetes, 14,000 new cases of heart disease and 50,000 more life-years burdened with heart disease in the last decade, a new U.S. study finds.

“The finding suggests that any kind of policy that reduces consumption might have a dramatic health benefit,” said senior study author Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who was to present the finding during the upcoming American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference in San Francisco.

The study used a computer simulation of heart disease that has been applied to other cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and dietary salt, Bibbins-Domingo explained. “We probably underestimated the incidence, because the rise is greatest among the young, and our model focuses on adults 35 and older,” she said.

One plausible explanation is that the increased incidence of cardiovascular problems is due to a rising incidence of diabetes, Bibbins-Domingo said, while an increase in obesity might also be responsible.

“Whatever the mechanism, large population studies do suggest an effect of drinking large lots of sweetened beverages,” she said. “No one argues that these drinks are not fine in moderation, but over the past decade their consumption has been on the rise, while consumption of other beverages has declined.”

A statement by Maureen Storey, senior vice president for science policy for the American Beverage Association, noted that the study had not yet been published in a scientific journal, and therefore had not undergone review by outside, qualified scientists.

“What we do know is that both heart disease and diabetes are complex conditions with no single cause and no single solution,” Storey said in the statement, which noted that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is not listed as a risk factor by the American Heart Association. “Rather, we need to continue to educate Americans about the importance of balancing the calories from the foods and beverages we eat and drink with regular physical activity.”

But the study does suggest that any kind of policy that reduces consumption might have a health benefit, Bibbins-Domingo noted. One such policy is a proposed tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, she noted. “The reason why there is a current debate about a tax is that scientific evidence in populations has consistently shown that more than one drink a day increases your risk,” she said.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks such as soda pop, while “alternative choices are available,” said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and a past president of the association.

“Juice from fruit itself is nutrient-rich, and its nutritional value goes beyond the carbohydrate content,” Eckel said.

The recommended daily sugar intake amounts to just one can of sugar-sweetened soda a day for a man and slightly less for women, he said.

For more information, the cardiovascular effects of dietary sugar are described by the American Heart Association.

Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/increasingsodaconsumptionfuelsriseindiabetesheartdisease

Editor’s Note: Lifestyle choices - including diet, exercise, supplementation, and mental/spiritual health - are your greatest arsenal against the negative impacts of everyday unhealthy exposures. To further support your body toward optimal health, include Poly-MVA in your daily supplement regiment. Studies have shown that alpha lipoic acid, part of the Poly-MVA complex, is of great benefit in supporting the health of heart patients. Click here for more info.

By Bill Briggs
msnbc.com
March. 1, 2010

The medical tests are back. The cruel news is delivered: the numbers show trouble inside your body.

Instantly, you rocket from mildly anxious to scared straight. That’s how it feels, anyway. In the exam room, in that raw moment, you firmly renounce your bad health habits. You promise to adopt a low-fat, gym-heavy routine. You’ll live right, you tell the doctor — and yourself. You’ll stick to it. You swear.

Save it. Your doctor has heard it before.

“I think every physician has,” said Dr. Steven Chang, a family practitioner at the University of California Davis Medical Center and a staff physician at RightHealth.com. He recalled diagnosing some patients with diabetes and collaborating with them on a new diet plan. “They will leave my office and I’ll immediately see them in the [hospital] cafeteria — eating a hamburger and French fries … That’s difficult.”

What’s the true shelf life of a health scare? That can depend on individual willpower, the height of the internal emergency and whether someone feels or sees physical symptoms — like chest pain or blood after coughing. Tangible signs of sickness may inject deeper fear and more lasting improvements compared to, say, merely reading ugly stats on a sheet of paper (such as a high cholesterol count).

A text message poll of 100 U.S. family physicians, conducted by Truth On Call for msnbc.com, found that 47 percent of doctors said patients typically stick to their vow to live better for just a matter of weeks after a health scare, 25 percent said the good behavior lasts several months and just 7 percent said patients stick to their resolve for a year or longer. Nineteen percent said the effect of a health scare lasts just a few days and 2 percent said it doesn’t last for even a day.

Chang said he pins the typical duration of fright-induced lifestyle adjustments at three to six months. “Once you start an exercise regimen, if it peters out after a few months and if you don’t feel any different, the impetus to change may not be [as strong] as that initial shock.”

As Lori Hope found, drastic change is tough to maintain no matter how powerful your motivation.

“How long can we go vegan and macrobiotic? How long can we sustain that?” asked the former medical journalist. 

In 2002, after Hope was diagnosed with lung cancer, she stepped up her exercise routine. She already ate an organic diet but also added meditation and yoga to the list of things she tried to boost her health.

“I continued after my treatment, but that went away fairly quickly,” she said, finding it her busy schedule made it impossible to do it all.

Hope, a blogger, public speaker and the author of “Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know,” said she also became “wholly committed to avoiding anything that would exacerbate my condition.” Earlier, while researching a news documentary, she read about the theoretical links between cancer and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) — invisible areas of energy near power lines, wiring and appliances. Before undergoing surgery to remove the tumor in her chest, Hope noticed the close proximity between her desk and her office building’s bank of buzzing electrical meters. She borrowed a magnetometer, swiped it near the power boxes and saw high EMF readings.

“I walked to the opposite wall, got as far away as possible from the meters. It terrified me,” said Hope, now eight years healthy. “I ended up leaving that office partly because of that … And once I was diagnosed, it was like, there’s no way I’m getting a hair dryer near my head. I totally stopped using a hair dryer.”

How long did her anti-EMF conversion last? “Just a few weeks,” said Hope, 56. “Yes, I use a hair dryer now.” What changed? “I’m embarrassed to say that maybe vanity won out. [Plus] you do go back into a kind of sense of denial.”

Recording every heartbeat

Melanie Nayer, in contrast, can vividly describe her terror upon learning — at age 31 — that she had a heart rhythm disorder. While training for a marathon, Nayer noticed that her resting pulse was racing – sometimes staying above 180 beats per minute. After a month of exams, a doctor determined that she had supraventricular tachycardia, a disorder that causes the heart to beat faster than normal. Some tachycardias can raise the risk of stroke or cause cardiac arrest, while others may have no symptoms.

The diagnosis “scared the living crap out of me,” Nayer said. “I couldn’t understand why I had been dealt this card — I worked out regularly, ate well … I cried for a few hours, felt sorry for myself for a few days, yelled, screamed and probably broke a few things around the house.”

Along with taking pills to level her cardiac pace, Nayer began to “religiously” measure her heart rate and “recorded every beat in a journal.”

“This only made me more anxious and the anxiety only intensified the situation, and that was no way to live,” she said.

After four weeks, she put the journal away and grabbed a fresh attitude. “I stopped worrying about the little things, and the things that were out of my control. I stopped caring that my carpet hadn’t been vacuumed in over a week, or that there were dirty dishes in the sink. I would get to them. And a dirty dish wasn’t putting anyone’s life in danger.”

Always passionate about seeing the world, she became a travel writer, working from Boston. “My health scare turned out to be the best thing for me … Regardless of the severity of any diagnosis, you just never know when life will throw you a curveball. So I decided to start living the life I wanted to live,” Nayer said, “because, as morbid as it sounds, I wasn’t sure when it would end.”

Three years later, Nayer has been cleared for annual cardiologist visits (instead of twice per year) and is on a lower dose of medication. Just eight months after her diagnosis, she also began running again.

But for people who vow to start running and who stop, for those who abandon burgers and fries only to return to a fast-food lifestyle a few months after a bad health episode, the reasons for relapse can include a lack of self discipline and a tendency to “self sabotage,” said Debbie Mandel, who hosts a stress-management radio program, “Turn On Your Inner Light” on AM1240 WGBB in Long Island, N.Y.

Past mistakes also are hard to admit. And “to change, even for the better, makes a statement that one was wrong,” Mandel said. Moreover, life changes made amid a health catastrophe are often a drastic, desperate response to a crisis. “When the crisis is over, so is the motivation. For change to take hold, it is best to start small to reap giant gains. This way one can inventory and tweak along the way. All or nothing is hard to maintain.”

A little help from friends

Upholding healthier habits can require a little handholding, too. Chang noticed that many patients who successfully stuck with leaner diets and longer walks for at least a year were able to rely on friends and family members to accompany them down their new paths. For patients with diagnoses, such as diabetes, that require radical changes in diet and exercise, Chang makes it a point to call his patients one week after he gives them the news — or he asks them to return to his office three weeks later — to “check in” on their improvements and to vocally cheer them on.

Tapping a social support network is precisely how Ellen Snortland shed 50 pounds and kept the weight off, and how she transformed herself from a heart patient into a self-defense teacher in Altadena, Calif. In 2003, after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting — including taking the diet drug Fen-Phen — Snortland was diagnosed with a heart valve problem.

“I asked [my doctor], ‘So what are my alternatives?’ They said, ‘Surgery or, in some cases, if you lost a major amount of weight, it could make a difference.’ I said, ‘Holy moly!’ — although I may have used another word. I walked out of there like I’d been given a death sentence,” Snortland recalled.

She soon entered a 12-step program aimed at weight loss. She began speaking daily to a sponsor, submitting a daily food plan, and attending three meetings a week with her group. “It’s the only way I can see I’ve been successful,” she said, “because we are bombarded with food ads.”

At 56, Snortland described her heart’s current condition as “perfect” and said she feels “completely and utterly vigorous.”

The shelf life of her health scare? She can name it in four words: “Evergreen, perpetual, long-lasting, enduring.”

© 2010 MSNBC.com

Original URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35584798/ns/health-behavior/from/ET/

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD FeatureReviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD

It’s 3 p.m., and you’re definitely dragging. Your body feels like a car that’s run out of gas. And while your official workday may soon be over, your day probably isn’t.

If you’re like most women, your to do list probably still includes some or all of the following tasks: pick up the kids, cook dinner, get in a workout, supervise homework, tend to aging parents, walk and feed the dog, feed the cat, catch up on bills, and take care of housework.

Whew. Reading the list alone can make you feel exhausted.

But here’s a solution - our six proven fatigue-fighting strategies. Some of these strategies offer an instant energy boost - just in time to shine for the 4 o’clock meeting. Other strategies are longer-term remedies. They require a bit more patience, but they’ll pay off big-time in the long run. Once you’ve mastered these energy-boosting strategies, any one of them can make you feel like you’ve just had a tune-up.

Energy Boost #1: Reach for energy food

You may be thinking “candy bar!” but a sugar boost will just leave you lagging again in an hour. For a nearly instant energy boost that lasts, eat a healthy snack containing protein and a complex carbohydrate, says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, MPH, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and a weight control researcher at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

One place to find complex carbs is in whole grain bread products. “Try a whole grain cracker with low-fat cheese,” Gerbstadt says. “Or a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread.”

The secret? “That combination of protein and a complex carbohydrate (digested more slowly than simple carbs) increases your blood glucose in a sustained way,” she says. “It boosts energy longer than if you eat gum drops, for instance.”

Energy Boost #2: Eat a high-carb, high-fiber breakfast

For short-term and long-term energy boosts, make a habit of eating a high-fiber, carbohydrate-rich breakfast, says Jaimie Davis, PhD, RD, research associate at the Institute for Prevention Research at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

As proof it works, Davis points to a study that compared the effects of two carbohydrate-rich breakfasts - one high-fiber, one low-fiber - with two high-fat breakfasts. The high-fiber, high-carb meal was associated with the highest level of alertness between breakfast and lunch. The study was published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition.

To boost the fiber and carbs in your first meal of the day, select such foods as whole wheat toast or high-fiber cereal. A half cup of high-fiber cereal can contain as much as 14 grams of fiber, and some high-fiber breads have 6 grams per slice. Aim for 25 to 30 grams of total fiber daily, Davis says, noting that most Americans get perhaps 10 to 15 grams.

Energy Boost #3: Take breaks

Multi-tasking is viewed as the way to get a lot done quickly. But taking a short break and doing absolutely nothing for a few minutes can help you overcome fatigue and actually get more done in the course of a day, says Jon Gordon, a Florida-based consultant who advises corporations and athletes on how to stay energized. One short break of 5 or 10 minutes or even less can boost your energy immediately, and making break time a habit can keep your energy up long-term, he says.

“If you take short breaks throughout the day, you will have more overall accomplishments,” says Gordon, author of The Energy Bus.

Human performance studies show he’s right. In one conducted at Louisiana State University and published in Computers and Industrial Engineering, researchers compared three different work-rest schedules for workers who used the computer. The schedule that allowed for briefer, more frequent breaks was best in terms of fighting fatigue and increasing productivity.

The researchers found that workers who took four breaks per hour, usually just 30 seconds each, followed by a 14-minute break after two hours of sitting at the computer, reported higher performance and worked faster and more accurately than their coworkers.

Energy Boost #4: Get moving

For an instant energy boost, drop out of your busy life for 10 minutes and hit the road - or the hallways of your office. “Walking is an energizer,” says Gordon. Even a 10-minute walk can help you overcome feelings of fatigue.

And yes, it works better than a sugar infusion. In a study published two decades ago but still often-quoted, Robert Thayer, PhD, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, compared the energizing effects on 12 different days when 18 subjects either ate a candy bar or walked briskly for 10 minutes. Walking was the better bet. Walking increased energy for two hours. The sugar snack initially boosted energy, but after an hour, participants were more tired and had less energy.

Energy Boost #5: Take 5 and Meditate

Numerous studies have demonstrated the fatigue-fighting effects of meditation, but there’s no need to light candles, sit cross-legged, or learn a mantra. Mini-meditation can work wonders, says Judith Orloff, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California Los Angeles and author of Positive Energy.

“A three-minute meditation is a way to calm yourself down and stop rushing,” she says. “You can replenish yourself. You can take control of your energy.”

Orloff suggests getting the day off to a positive start with a mini-meditation while you’re still in bed, then continuing with short meditation breaks throughout the day. Any quiet place in your home or office will do, Orloff says. You can even use the office bathroom for an instant energy boost.

“Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths,” Orloff says. “Begin to relax your body. When thoughts come, think of them like clouds in the sky. Let them float by. Visualize a positive thing - a sunset, the beach in Hawaii.”

Energy Boost #6: Ditch the Energy Vampires

To increase the amount of energy in your life long-term, experts suggest surrounding yourself with positive people whenever possible. Of course, you can’t always avoid some negative people, like a moody boss or that complaining grocery clerk who always seems to be the one who checks you out.

But negative people can do more than bring down your mood, says Orloff. Some people can make you feel so stressed in their presence that they cause a stress reaction in your body. Orloff terms them “energy vampires.” And stress is the biggest energy drain of all. “Stress like that burns out the adrenals,” Orloff says, “and when the adrenals are burned out you have no energy.”

Not sure if someone’s negative enough to affect your energy levels? Analyze how you feel in their presence, Orloff says. If, after a few minutes together, you feel like you want to take a nap, or if your energy suddenly bottoms out, that’s a telling sign. If someone really makes you tense, you may even find yourself feeling nauseous or dizzy or notice a headache coming on. “Emotions are catching,” she says.

Original URL: http://women.webmd.com/features/fatigue-fighters-six-quick-ways-boost-energy?ecd=wnl_can_030210

Editor’s Note: Energy is such a buzz topic of discussion these days that it has become almost deafening.  Can we really have an effect on our energy level? What can we really do about it?  The truth is a whole lot, and the best way to do it is in concert with a complete approach to health and life. Many of us talk about balancing what we eat and how we live. Well, this approach is the key to our energy levels. By complementing our lives with the right food, exercise, mindset and supplementation, we can not only improve our lives but transform our state of mind. The unique characteristics of Poly-MVA provide optimal nutritional support that works hand-in-hand with a proper diet and lifestyle. The combination and complex of alpha lipoic acid, vitamins and minerals support our bodies to make energy - they are so unique they can actually create energy for your body while protecting your health at the same time. By adding Poly-MVA to your daily regiment, you will be giving your body the best it can have to live long and stay healthy. Click here to read more.

Writing New Year’s resolutions is a time-honored American tradition. For many of us, these resolutions focus on what we want to improve in our health-related behaviors. We tend to focus on things we want to lose (generally weight), give up or cut down on(watching TV, drinking alcohol), or stop (smoking).  While many of us do say we want to start or increase our exercise time, we often view that as a punishment instead of as a gift.

This year let’s try a different approach.  Try writing 10 healthy resolutions that you can and will achieve; write resolutions that are not only specific and achievable, but which you can view as GIFTS to yourself and to your family. Too often we fail to focus on our own health because we feel a need to focus on other family members first. The best gift we can give to our loved ones is to take care of ourselves. 

I suggest starting the process with a positive and healthy attitude.  Make as many of the resolutions “Thou shalt” commitments, as opposed to “Thou shalt nots.”  The first priorities are to focus on overcoming dangerous behaviors.  If you smoke, drink too much alcohol, or practice reckless sexual behaviors (those that increase your risk of unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases), just stop.  If you need help, see your physician or a trained psychologist.  Enlist the support of your friends and family members.

If you need to lose weight, you know it and your body knows it. This year, try something new and leave off the “I will lose 15 pounds” resolution.  Instead, try positive and specific resolutions that will enable you to achieve the desired weight loss without focusing on the “losing” concept.  For example, try “I will eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day” or “I will start each day with a healthy breakfast sitting down.”  No - coffee and a doughnut is not a healthy breakfast!  You don’t need to have a four-course meal, but ideally you should have 4 food groups represented, and protein should be one of them.

Increasing water consumption often helps dieters and most Americans are not getting enough water daily.  Do you really need 8 glasses per day?  At least.  To calculate exactly how much you should be drinking, divide your weight in pounds by 2.  This is how many ounces per day you need before exercising.  With exercise, add an additional 8 ounces per 20 minutes of aerobic exercise.

Go through each resolution and write a paragraph about it.  Add something about sleep. Add something about fun!

Suggested Healthy New Year’s Resolutions:

• I will give myself and my family the gift of a healthier lifestyle this year.
• I will give myself the gift of a healthy breakfast each day.
• I will give myself the gift of stopping my unhealthy behaviors (e.g. smoking, drinking too much alcohol, etc.).
• I will take my necessary vitamins and supplements.
• I will wear my seat belt religiously.
• I will increase my water intake.
• I will practice proper dental hygiene.
• I will get my annual physical exam(s).
• I will keep myself mentally and spiritually healthy.
• I will increase my daily activity and enjoy it!

This article comes with my best wishes to all for a happy and healthy New Year!

Original article by Donnica Moore, M.D.

However, there are some common myths about dietary supplements that may keep some people from making supplements a part of their everyday routine. Let’s take a look at some of these common myths and consider whether they are true or false.

Using supplements may cause people to pay less attention to improving their diets. FALSE.

Many nutrition surveys show that people who use supplements also tend to pay attention to their diets, in fact supplement users have slightly better diets than other people — not perfect diets by any means, but still better. Dietary improvement and supplement use are complementary aspects of the effort to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

People who use supplements tend to go overboard, believing that if one is good, more is better. FALSE.

Most people use dietary supplements in a reasonable way. National surveys show that more than 80% of supplement users take only one to three products on a regular basis, and in most cases one of those is a multivitamin. But taking more than this is by no means unreasonable. Regardless of the number of supplements you are taking, always be sure to read and heed label directions.

Taking vitamins and minerals in quantities greater than the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is unsafe. FALSE.

Most vitamins and some minerals are safe at levels many times greater than the RDA. The RDA is the level of intake recommended to maintain health, and is not in any way a safety limit. In fact, for many nutrients, for example vitamins D and E, scientific research suggests potential benefits can be gained by intakes beyond the RDA. The same experts that establish the RDA also set Upper Levels of Tolerable Intake (UL). The UL is also not a safety limit, but simply identifies a level of daily intake at which there is no known toxicity, and at which there is sufficient evidence of safety for the nutrient. The UL neither suggests that intakes above that level are unsafe, nor does it constitute a recommended intake. For some vitamins, like C and E, the UL is more than 10 times higher than the RDA. In some cases there is no UL as is the case for some B vitamins. This is because no study has ever identified an unsafe level, even when large amounts have been given.

Recent clinical studies show that supplements don’t work. FALSE.

Science moves in a stepwise fashion, and the steps are not always in a forward direction. Each new study adds to our total knowledge, even though it may sometimes seem that the results go back and forth, with positive news one week and negative news the next. What is important is the overall picture, and for dietary supplements the overall picture is pretty good. Calcium and vitamin D supplements help protect against osteoporosis, antioxidant supplements protect the eyes and the brain, omega-3 fatty acids are good for heart health, selenium may reduce the risk of getting prostate cancer, vitamin E and other vitamins reduce the risk of heart disease in some studies but not others and folic acid (a B vitamin) even helps protect against birth defects such as spinal bifida. Perhaps the strongest testimony to the fact that supplements work is the fact that the National Institutes of Health and other research organizations are pouring millions of dollars into more studies using various supplements for health promotion and disease prevention. The results are good enough to justify that kind of investment, and they are good enough to provide a reason for people to add supplements to their healthy lifestyle choices.

Clinical trials are the most reliable tool for evaluating the benefits of specific nutrients or dietary habits. NOT NECESSARILY.

Clinical trials are a valuable and reliable tool for assessing the effectiveness of pharmaceutical products (drugs). The drug can be given to one group of patients and not to another group, and the difference in response can be observed. The patients are not already being exposed to the drug from their diet or any other sources — they are getting it in the study or they are not getting it at all. Studying nutrients—both in nutritional supplements and food—is different. People are likely already getting these nutrients from their regular diets, and if participating in a nutritional study should not be asked to eliminate these foods—so it becomes very difficult to evaluate the effects of the added amounts. Additionally, the benefits of specific nutrients or dietary patterns are related to disease prevention, not disease treatment. Such benefits may take years to develop — much longer than most clinical trials. Finally, most clinical trials are conducted in people who already have a disease, or very high risk factors for the disease, so these trials are not really testing preventive effects, but are essentially testing treatment effects. When it comes to dietary patterns and nutrient intake, large observational studies should be strongly considered in identifying those factors that make people healthy. For example, everything we know about the benefits of diets high in fruits and vegetables is based on observing what people ordinarily eat and analyzing the health benefits of certain patterns of intake — it is not based on clinical trials showing those benefits. The same may apply to long term supplement use. If an observational study in tens of thousands of nurses shows that women who take vitamin E for at least 2 years have a 40% lower risk of heart disease, that is good information, even if it does not come from a controlled clinical trial. When it comes to diet and nutrition, the best advice is : Do what healthy people do and look at outcome based studies and Quality of Life Studies. Drug studies do not take into consideration the protection QOL of life that many supplements give people, they simply look at disease or no disease and the fact of the matter is that health does not work that simply.

I encourage you to spend some time doing your own research, whether it be online, talking to your practitioner, talking to family and friends, or through other resources. Above all else, making informed decisions is the best thing you can do for your and your loved ones’ health. Additionally, if you’d like to talk to one of our consultants about the benefits of any of the supplements AMARC provides, and how they can work synergystically to improve your health and well-being along with god lifestyle choices, please give us a call at 866-765-9682.

Toxic overload, an autoimmune misfire, or a common viral infection could be the cause of a variety of liver problems. Acute hepatitis can be caused by everything from a viral infection to certain types of drugs, alcohol or autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Viral infection of the liver is called infectious or viral hepatitis—that is, inflammation of the liver—and it’s serious business.

The good news? Acute hepatitis—unlike its more destructive chronic counterpart—usually resolves itself in a matter of months. The bad news is that there’s no treatment available in most of these cases… and while only a small number of acute infections will actually result in death, the risk is still very much there.

Of course, even without that risk, acute hepatitis is a hard pill to swallow. When you’re faced with symptoms like persistent fatigue, nausea, and headache—not to mention a few extras, including jaundice and anorexia—simply “waiting it out” is no walk in the park.

Luckily, a recently published clinical trial offers some compelling modern-day support for the historical use of milk thistle—and more specifically, its main constituent silymarin. The study enrolled 105 subjects, each with symptoms of acute hepatitis—including levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) that were more than double the normal upper limits.

Participants were treated with either 140 mg of silymarin or placebo three times per day, for a period of four weeks—followed by an additional four-week follow up. Liver tests were run at regular intervals throughout the eight-week trial… with some very promising results.

Researchers found that subjects taking silymarin experienced a significantly quicker recovery from acute hepatitis symptoms—including jaundice, dark urine, and yellowing eyes—when compared to the placebo group. Liver function tests also revealed a decrease in this group’s levels of indirect bilirubin—a hemoglobin byproduct that’s excreted in bile, and which naturally rises in cases of hepatitis, cirrhosis, and other forms of liver disease. Even better, no adverse events were reported. (1)

You can find silymarin as a stand-alone supplement or as part of a comprehensive liver support formula. AMARC offers a superb liver support product which contains silymarin - read more here!

Reference:

1. El-Kamary SS, Shardell MD, Abdel-Hamid M, Ismail S, El-Ateek M, Metwally M, Mikhail N, Hashem M, Mousa A, Aboul-Fotouh A, El-Kassas M, Esmat G, Strickland GT. A randomized controlled trial to assess the safety and efficacy of silymarin on symptoms, signs and biomarkers of acute hepatitis. Phytomedicine. 2009 May;16(5):391-400.

Original source: Health News, VRP Staff

Most people are well-versed in the importance of vitamins, minerals, and herbs to their health. Stress, environmental pollutants, and poor diet all contribute to the depletion of nutrient levels in the body. Unfortunately, most people are not aware of how prescription drugs create drug-induced nutrient depletion. This is an important issue that becomes even more important when a patient must take a prescription for a chronic condition.

As America ages, it’s inevitable that more of the population will need prescription drugs for chronic conditions. There’s already an influx of prescriptions for Americans’ high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, heart disease, and other health concerns. This is a prime opportunity to educate your patients about the need for nutritional therapy as an adjunct to taking prescription medications. Not only does this benefit the patient, but also enables you to integrate natural medicines into your clinic or pharmacy.

Consider that anti-hypertensive medications for blood pressure, drugs that comprise the sixth largest dollar-volume category of prescription drugs in the U.S. in 1998, will deplete zinc in the body. This mineral is crucial to the immune system and its many functions including wound healing and infection fighting. A zinc deficiency can also cause insulin resistance and sexual dysfunction.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs such as LipitorR and ZocorR comprise the third largest category of prescription drugs in the United States in 1998 and can easily deplete Coenzyme Q10(CoQ10). On the flip side, magnesium may inhibit the absorption of these drugs. And even commonplace NSAIDs deplete nutrients like folic acid And it’s this deficiency that poses greater risk for women because of the link to cervical dysplasia and birth defects in their children. Other problems associated with a lack of adequate folic acid include anemia, depression, elevated homocysteine levels (and corresponding risk of cardiovascular disease), and increased risks for developing breast and colorectal cancers.

Natural Medicine Online offers a chart of the most commonly prescribed drugs and their corresponding effects on body nutrient levels. Please use this chart to educate yourself about the added importance of nutritional supplements and natural medicines when taking prescription medications.

Top Prescription Drugs

NorvascR, ProcardiaR, and AdalatR
Description: Types of anti-anginal drugs used for heart disease. 
Depletion: Procardia and Adalat can cause potassium depletion (hypokalemia)
Interactions: Ingestion of grapefruit or grapefruit juice has been shown to increase the blood levels of these drugs and may increase side effects.
Nutritional Support: Krebs Magnesium- Potassium Chelates.
 
NSAIDS including AleveR, aspirin, ibuprofen, FeldeneR, IndocinR, RelafenR, NaprelanR, Naprosyn, etc.
Description: Types of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Depletion: Iron, folic acid, zinc, vitamin C, and possibly vitamin B12.
Interactions: High dosages of vitamin E (i.e.,>400 IU/day) can decrease platelet aggregation. This may result in additive blood thinning effects already present in NSAIDs.
Nutritional Support: Glucosamine Sulfate, a high potency daily multiple vitamin for women or men, and MSM.

PremarinR, PremproR, and other estrogen hormones
Description: Types of estrogen replacement (HRT) used for menopause. 
Depletion: Vitamin B6, folic acid, niacin, and vitamin C. 
Interactions: Red clover extracts and soy isoflavones may interfere with absorption.Vitamin D, calcium, zinc, magnesium, and ipriflavone may increase absorption.
Nutritional Support: A high potency daily mutiple vitamin for women or women 45+ and standardized black cohosh. Standardized black cohosh is effective for relief of menopause symptoms.

PrilosecR and other proton pump inhibitors
Description: Types of ulcer/gastric reflux medications (GERD)
Depletion: Vitamin B12.
Interactions: May decrease the absorption of calcium, magnesium, and other minerals by blocking the release of stomach acid.
Nutritional Support: Vitamin B12(Methylcobalamin) and a high potency daily multiple vitamin for women or men. Gastro-ReliefT helps relieve acid indigestion.

ProzacR, ZoloftR, and other SSRIs
Description: Types of anti-depressants. 
Depletion: Melatonin.
Interactions: Low levels of B vitamins may reduce the effectiveness of these drugs.
Nutritional Support: St. John’s Wort and 5-HTP should not be taken with any SSRI unless under a physician’s supervision. Melatonin and a complete daily multiple vitamin for women or men.

SynthroidR and other thyroid hormone medications (EltroxinR, Levo-TR, LevothroidR, LevoxylR, EuthroidR, ThyrolarR, etc.)
Description: Types of thyroid hormone replacement.
Depletion: Calcium. 
Interactions: Iron supplements and soy products taken at the same time as SynthroidR may interfere with absorption.
Nutritional Support: Milk thistle extract standardized to contain 70% silymarin. Thyroid preparations are best taken on an empty stomach at the same time every day.

VasotecR, CapotenR, (Captopril), PrinivilR, ZestrilR
Description: Types of (anti-hypertensives) medications for blood pressure.
Depletion: Zinc.
Interactions: These drugs may increase blood levels of potassium above normal or reduce potassium excretion in urine.
Nutritional Support: A high potency daily multiple vitamin for women or men.

Albuterol (ProventilR, VentolinR)
Description: Types of bronchodilator (asthma).
Depletion: Magnesium and calcium.
Nutritional Support: A high potency daily multiple vitamin for men or women and Krebs Magnesium-Potassium Chelates. BronchorilT can help keep airways free of mucus.

Amoxicillin preparations including AugmentinR, AmoxilR, PolymoxR, TrimoxR, and others
Description: Types of antibiotics.
Depletion: Biotin, vitamin K, and possibly other B vitamins.
Interaction: The enzyme bromelain increases the absorption of amoxicillin and other antibiotics.
Nutritional Support: Acidophilus and bromelain. Lactobacillus acidophilus preparations can be taken with antibiotics. 

ClaritinR, ClaritinR-D
Description: Types of allergy medications.
Depletion: None known
Interactions: None known
Nutritional Support: A high potency daily multiple vitamin for women or men.

CoumadinR (warfarin)
Description: Types of anticoagulant therapy used for heart disease (blood thinner).
Depletion: None known.
Interactions: Vitamin K may decrease the effect of CoumadinR.
Nutritional Support: Ginkgo biloba extract, vitamin E, and aspirin may increase the effect of Coumadin. A high potency, standardized grape seed extract helps to maintain healthy blood vessels. Iron, magnesium, and zinc may bind with CoumadinR and decrease its absorption. Take any supplement containing these compounds at least two hours before or after taking CoumadinR. 

Diuretics including LasixR, AldactoneR, EsidrixR, HydrodiurilR, EdecrinR
Description: Types of blood pressure medications also used for fluid retention.
Depletion: Potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins (especially thiamin). 
Interactions: Diuretics cause the body to excrete higher levels of potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins. However, calcium levels tend to be preserved.
Nutritional Support: A high potency daily multiple vitamins for women or men. Potassium supplementation is routinely provided by medical doctors when they prescribe diuretics

GlucophageR, also DiaBetaR, MicronaseR, GlucotrolR
Description: Types of oral anti-diabetic agents.
Depletion: Folic acid and vitamin B12. 
Interactions: These drugs should be taken on an empty stomach.
Nutritional Support: Magnesium, chromium, and a high potency daily multiple for diabetics. Diabetics have higher needs for virtually all nutrients, especially vitamins C, E, and B, magnesium, and chromium. 

LanoxinR (digoxin) 
Description: Type of inotropic heart medication.
Depletion: Magnesium, potassium, and thiamine.
Interactions: Low levels of potassium increase the risk of digoxin toxicity. Siberian ginseng should not be used with Lanoxin.
Nutritional Support: Krebs Magnesium-Potassium Chelates, and high potency daily multiple vitamin for women or men. Avoid licorice extract unless it is deglycyrrhizinated.

LipitorR, MevacorR, ZocorR, PravacholR, and other HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors.
Description: Types of anti-cholesterol medications.
Depletion: Coenzyme Q10.
Interactions: Magnesium may inhibit the absorption of these drugs. High doses of niacin will increase risk for adverse liver effects and myopathies.
Nutritional Support: Coenzyme Q10 (softgel). Do not use concomitantly with red yeast rice products unless under the supervision of a physician.

Editor’s Note: Medical science has known for decades that even the most wonderful drugs of our time have a certain time and place for use. LONG TERM USE OF ANY DRUG HARMS THE BODY IN SOME WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. That is not to discount that some medications are keeping people healthy, rater that there is damaging being done elsewhere. The recent explosion of the pharmaceutical companies wanting people to stay on medication for the long term is primarily financially-driven. Our medical system is designed not around developing good health through good habits but what magic pill can we take to fix our problem. We all know what type of situations this short-term thinking can mean for our long-term health. It only hurts our health! The good news is that more research and more people are changing their lives through proper nutrition, exercise and supplementation. The top 4 supplements that are showing a great synergistic effect are CoQ10, Vitamin D, Fish Oils, and POLY-MVA.  The most exciting of these supplements is POLY-MVA. It’s a revolutionary, complexed supplement which can protect our cells and provide cellular energy support at the same time. The combination of these supplements not only protects and supports our cells but work across the basic fundamentals of good health and for many different situations - diabetic patients, stroke, cardiac situations and cancer cases, to name a few. By specifically targeting metabolic therapy, protection and support you really give your body the best chance of being healthy.

Scientists are now reporting a breakthrough therapy to lower the risk of developing the most common and deadly chronic diseases - diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer - by about 80 percent.

In some ways, this might sound like old news. The therapy is called taking care of yourself: not smoking, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.

True, you’d have to be smoking something hallucinogenic to not understand that cigarettes are unhealthy. Take away cigarettes, and you take away lung cancer and a good deal of heart disease. Similarly, the mantra of eating right and exercising has been drilled into us. Pork rinds and videogame expertise does not a healthy body make.

What’s new, though, is evidence of the cumulative protective effect provided by all four healthy factors. The research, published in a recent issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, involves over 23,000 Germans and is part of a larger, ongoing European study on lifestyle choices and disease.

Action cheaper than reaction

Americans, an ever ingenious and resourceful lot, are now debating how to have a world-class healthcare system without paying for it through higher taxes or taking steps to improve their health. Maybe we’ll succeed; we’ve defied gravity before. But this radical idea of taking care of yourself could help.

Chronic diseases are expensive because, as the name implies, they stay around usually for the rest of your life. This adds up in terms of drug costs, surgery, hospital stays, missed work and lower productivity.

Obesity is costing the American healthcare system more than $100 million annually. And while there’s some overlap, diabetes costs nearly $150 billion, cancer care costs more than $200 billion, and heart disease costs more than $300 billion annually, according to studies by the National Institutes of Health.

The way it was

Cancer is difficult to cure simply with lifestyle changes. Lung cancer would go away, but the four aforementioned health factors contributed to “only” a 36-percent reduced risk of all cancers on average.

Diabetes, on the other hand, doesn’t need to exist. And it hardly did exist until the 20th century. The researchers found that four health factors contributed to a 93-percent reduced risk in developing diabetes among the people in the study.

Heart disease, too, is largely preventable. Here the risk of a heart attack was lowered by 81 percent. In fact an unrelated study, also published this week, in PLoS ONE, suggests that heart attacks and strokes may have been rare for the vast majority of human history.

For this PLoS One study, team led by Michael Gurven of University of California, Santa Barbara, studied a remote Amazonian tribe in Bolivia known as the Tsimane. They found that peripheral arterial disease does not increase with age in this population despite risk factors found in industrialize countries, such as chronic inflammation and tobacco use. The implication is that these risk factors become deadly only in the context of an unhealthy diet and an inactive lifestyle.

Of course, life isn’t a paradise in the Amazon. Life expectancy is around 50 years, and half the Tsimane die from infectious or parasitic disease. Other leading causes of death are accidents and violence. Yet they remain mostly remarkably fit throughout life. This is the natural state for humans.

Genetic connection

Genetics do play some role in chronic disease.

For example, some people pack on extra pounds easily. Yet as the German study and other large studies are revealing, the obesity epidemic is mostly driven by lifestyle choices. The genetic predisposition, if any, is not the ease in gaining weight but the difficulty in losing it.

And so…

More certain is American’s genetic predisposition to rely on liposuction, stomach stapling, angioplasty, bypass surgery, dialysis and lots and lots of prescription drugs to fight disease. But the key to affordable healthcare, according to these two studies, is to pay for disease prevention, not treatment - and, perhaps, to avoid poisonous blow darts.
Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books “Bad Medicine” and “Food At Work.” His column, Bad Medicine, appears each Tuesday on LiveScience.

Insulin Resistance Syndrome

Our bodies do need sugar (glucose) as a fuel for our cells to perform their daily cellular functions. When we eat sugar or foods that are broken down into glucose such as high-glycemic carbohydrates, our body’s digestive process puts that glucose into the blood stream for the cells to collect and utilize. The cells rely on the pancreas to monitor the blood levels and to alert them when glucose is abundant. The pancreas does this by secreting insulin which circulates through our bodies delivering the message to the cells of glucose’s presence.

In perfect balance, when we eat carbohydrates and produce glucose, the cells use it up as energy and there is little left over.

When our cells ignore insulin and become resistant

Over the course of years as we get older, become more sedentary, and our diets become “sugar loaded,” we process more glucose than our cells can use and the excess floats around in our blood, or is turned into fat in the cells.

Insulin Resistance also increases the symptoms and/or risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, contributing to:

1. Accumulation of body fat
2. Obesity
3. Elevated triglycerides
4. High blood pressure.
5. Acceleration of the aging process.

Diet

It is commonly accepted that eating large amounts of simple carbohydrates (pastas, breads, and sugar filled foods) could lead to Insulin Resistance, elevated cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, and obesity. For this reason, as part of our program, we recommend that our patients change to a low-glycemic index diet.

The Glycemic Index is the rate that carbohydrates break down into sugar in the blood. The best source of low-glycemic carbohydrates are vegetables. Vegetables are slow burning carbohydrates and help keep insulin levels steady.

A diet rich in vegetables, proteins, good fats in the form of omega-3, and water is optimal for a long health span.

It is important to point out that a single diet will not work for everyone. To optimize your nutritional needs you should visit with an experienced health care professional well versed in the issues of metabolic syndrome and nutrition.

Editor’s Note: Targeting cellular health and energy support is key to helping your body regulate its hormones and get the most benefit from a healthy diet. A key supplement in metabolic support, cellular energy production and protection is POLY-MVA. Its unique complex of alpha lipoic acid, B-1 and the mineral palladium make it ideal for these types of situtiaons. Only ¼-1/2 tsp per day and you have the added benefit of a superior antioxidant while at the same time supporting energy production for you cells. Read more…

Added sugars, which are sprinkled on and processed into packaged foods and beverages, have become all too common in the American diet, says the American Heart Association. The group argues that sugar bingeing is helping drive the uptick in metabolic changes in the American population, including the exploding obesity rate, and has now recommended an upper limit on daily consumption. (Sugar intake and cancer: What’s the link?) Women should consume no more than 100 calories per day of added sugars, and men should not top 150 calories per day. There goes the soda habit: One 12-ounce can contains about 8 teaspoons or about 33 grams of added sugar, which equals approximately 130 calories, notes the AHA. One gram of sugar serves up 4 calories, according to the American Dietetic Association.

With math like that, it’s not surprising that the average American rings up an average of 22.2 teaspoons, or 355 calories per day, of added sugars, mostly from sugar-sweetened beverages. But those who shun sweet-tasting drinks are not off the hook. Part of the challenge of avoiding added sugars, argues the AHA, is that they have become far more prevalent over time; the amount of added sugars in Americans’ food options increased 19 percent between 1970 and 2005.

Here are 11 sneaky dietary sources that are surprisingly high in added sugars based on serving sizes from non-brand name nutrition labels at www.nutritiondata.com. The per-serving figures allow you to calculate your own added sugar intake, both in grams and calories, if you use more or less.

1. Fortune cookies. Just one fortune cookie packs about 3.6 grams of added sugar.

2. Flavored booze. Exercise good judgment when you drink: One ounce of crème de menthe has 14 grams of added sugar; 53-proof coffee-flavored liqueur has 16 grams of added sugar per ounce.

3. Baked beans. A one-cup serving of canned baked beans with no salt added will cost you nearly 15 grams of added sugar.

4. Dried, sweetened cranberries. Without the sweetener, this fruit can be incredibly tart. But one serving-a third of a cup-of this treat will hit you with 25 grams of added sugar.

5. Ketchup. A favorite condiment, a single one-cup serving of regular-or low sodium-ketchup racks up nearly 40 grams of added sugar.

6. Cream substitutes. A one-cup serving of a liquid “light” cream substitute packs 22 grams of added sugar, while a one-cup serving of a powdered “light” cream substitute adds a whopping 69 grams.

7. BBQ sauce. A one-cup serving of this summertime favorite adds 9 grams of added sugar onto those ribs and chicken.

8. “Reduced” salad dressings. A one-cup serving of reduced-calorie French dressing heaps 58 grams of added sugar, and a one-cup serving of reduced-fat coleslaw dressing hits a home run with 103 grams of added sugar.

9. Lemonade. A cup of lemonade powder has a massive 200 grams of added sugar. A single serving of the drink has almost 17 grams of added sugar.

10. Flavored popcorn. Think the added sweetener can’t be that bad here? Fat-free-syrup caramel popcorn has 18 grams of added sugar per ounce serving.

11. Granola bars. Often deemed a healthful snack, some are tricky-a 1-ounce serving of a granola bar with oats, fruit, and nuts has 11 grams of added sugar.

Source: http://health.yahoo.com/featured/35/foods-surprisingly-high-in-added-sugar/

But it’s true: One critical compound forms the backbone of all of these age-defying marvels. (1) Even better, this very substance occurs naturally as part of your own body’s most delicate and important cellular structures—at least, for a while.

This substance is hyaluronic acid (HA)—and as a critical building-block of your body’s tissues and fluids, there’s no question that even modest shortages can add up to some serious problems for your daily health. The trouble is, your body’s levels of this health-sustaining molecule start to drop—and quickly—with advancing age. And the result is sagging skin, degenerating eyesight, expensive dental visits… and most notably, painful, aching, arthritic joints.

Just because these changes are normal consequences of aging, that doesn’t mean you have to accept them. In fact, there’s absolutely no reason to—especially when HA supplementation has been proven in numerous clinical trials to be beneficial in reversing these distressing complications and more.

Recent studies show that men and women over 40 with osteoarthritis in their knees reported a greater decrease in total symptoms and pain relief when supplementing with HA as opposed to placebo—while needing only half the anti-inflammatory pain medication—over a period of just eight weeks. (2) Similar results have been seen in older patients whose daily activities are limited by arthritis-related pain—with further clinical research demonstrating HA’s ability to reduce pain and inflammation, enhance DNA repair, and combat free radicals while protecting cartilage and increasing patient mobility. (3-6)

These same abilities make HA a critical natural skin-saver—with applications that range from collagen regeneration to reducing most of the complications of disorders like oral lichen planus (OLP), a common inflammatory disease of the skin and mouth. (7-12)  And your vision can benefit, too—from the added protection HA offers against sun, eye strain, and dryness of the eyes. (13-16)

Take HA’s natural antibacterial and tissue-healing properties into account—both of which support its role against gingivitis, periodontitis, canker sores, and other diseases of the mouth—and it’s hard to deny the usefulness of a quality HA supplement when it comes to averting the most common, painful annoyances of aging. (17-22)

References:
1. Volpi N, Schiller J, Stern R, Soltés L. Role, metabolism, chemical modifications and applications of hyaluronan. Curr Med Chem. 2009;16(14):1718-1745.
2. Kalman DS, Heimer M, Valdeon A, Schwartz H, Sheldon E. Effect of a natural extract of chicken combs with a high content of hyaluronic acid (Hyal-Joint) on pain relief and quality of life in subjects with knee osteoarthritis: a pilot randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Nutr J. 2008 Jan 21;7:3.
3. Strauss EJ, Hart JA, Miller MD, Altman RD, Rosen JE. Hyaluronic Acid Viscosupplementation and Osteoarthritis: Current Uses and Future Directions. Am J Sports Med. 2009 Feb 3.
4. Akmal M, Singh A, Anand A, et al. The effects of hyaluronic acid on articular chondrocytes. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2005;87:1143-1149.
5. Grishko V, Xu M, Ho R, et al. Effects of hyaluronic acid on mitochondrial function and mitochondria-driven apoptosis following oxidative stress in human chondrocytes. J Biol Chem. 2009 Apr 3;284(14):9132-9139.
6. H, Nakamura H, Katayama K, et al. Effects of an oral administration of glucosamine-chondroitin-quercetin glucoside on the synovial fluid properties in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2009 Feb;73(2):288-292.
7. Greco RM, Iocono JA, Ehrlich HP. Hyaluronic acid stimulates human fibroblast proliferation within a collagen matrix. J Cell Physiol. 1998 Dec;177(3):465-473.
8. Karna E, Miltyk W, Pałka JA, Jarzabek K, Wołczyński S. Hyaluronic acid counteracts interleukin-1-induced inhibition of collagen biosynthesis in cultured human chondrocytes. Pharmacol Res. 2006 Oct;54(4):275-281.
9. Nawrat P, Surazyński A, Karna E, Pałka JA. The effect of hyaluronic acid on interleukin-1-induced deregulation of collagen metabolism in cultured human skin fibroblasts. Pharmacol Res. 2005 May;51(5):473-477.
10. Pageon H, Bakala H, Monnier VM, Asselineau D. Collagen glycation triggers the formation of aged skin in vitro. Eur J Dermatol. 2007 Jan-Feb;17(1):12-20.
11. Tanaka M, Masuko-Hongo K, Kato T, Nishioka K, Nakamura H. Suppressive effects of hyaluronan on MMP-1 and RANTES production from chondrocytes. Rheumatol Int. 2006 Jan;26(3):185-190.
12 Nolan A, Badminton J, Maguire J, Seymour RA. The efficacy of topical hyaluronic acid in the management of oral lichen planus. J Oral Pathol Med. 2009 Mar;38(3):299-303.
13. Pauloin T, Dutot M, Joly F, Warnet JM, Rat P. High molecular weight hyaluronan decreases UVB-induced apoptosis and inflammation in human epithelial corneal cells. Mol Vis. 2009;15:577-583.
14. Johnson ME, Murphy PJ, Boulton M. Effectiveness of sodium hyaluronate eyedrops in the treatment of dry eye. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2006 Jan;244(1):109-112.
15. Brignole F, Pisella PJ, Dupas B, Baeyens V, Baudouin C. Efficacy and safety of 0.18% sodium hyaluronate in patients with moderate dry eye syndrome and superficial keratitis. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2005 Jun;243(6):531-538.
16. Acosta MC, Gallar J, Belmonte C. The influence of eye solutions on blinking and ocular comfort at rest and during work at video display terminals. Exp Eye Res. 1999 Jun;68(6):663-669.
17. Sukumar S, Drízhal I. Hyaluronic acid and periodontitis. Acta Medica (Hradec Kralove). 2007;50(4):225-228.
18. Pistorius A, Martin M, Willershausen B, Rockmann P. The clinical application of hyaluronic acid in gingivitis therapy. Quintessence Int. 2005 Jul-Aug;36(7-8):531-538.
19. Lee JH, Jung JY, Bang D. The efficacy of topical 0.2% hyaluronic acid gel on recurrent oral ulcers: comparison between recurrent aphthous ulcers and the oral ulcers of Behçet’s disease. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2008 May;22(5):590-595.
20. Mendes RM, Silva GA, Lima MF, et al. Sodium hyaluronate accelerates the healing process in tooth sockets of rats. Arch Oral Biol. 2008 Dec;53(12):1155-1162.
21. Higuchi Y, Ansai T, Awano S, et al. Salivary levels of hyaluronic acid in female patients with dry mouth compared with age-matched controls: a pilot study. Biomed Res. 2009 Feb;30(1):63-68.
22. Yuan J, Tohara H, Mikushi S, Hoshino T, Yue B, Uematsu H. The effect of “Oral Wet” for elderly people with xerostomia—the effect of oral rinse containing hialuronan. Kokubyo Gakkai Zasshi. 2005 Mar;72(1):106-110.

Article courtesy of Vitamin Research Products Health News.

For fiscal year 2010, FDA is requesting a budget of $3.2 billion. The acting head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Joshua Sharfstein, defended the agency’s request for more funding from drug companies: “I understand the concern that people . . . have expressed that user fees create a perception or a conflict of the agency’s work. I think these concerns reflect a broader lack of trust in the FDA.”

To alleviate unease, he said, the new FDA head, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, must “renew the public’s confidence by acting with integrity and transparency” and send “the signal inside and outside the agency that we will make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence and not on influence that’s inappropriate.”

The budget plan also seeks new fees to help clear a backlog of generic drug applications, and to reinspect food and medical product plants that fail to meet FDA standards.

US Rep. Maurice Hinchey said the growing percentage of fees from drugmakers “is something of great concern for a number of people on our committee.” We agree. We believe it is time to reform the Food and Drug Administration from the ground up. If you have not done so already, please go to ReformFDA.org and sign this petition, which will be delivered to Congress.

Eaten many coconuts lately? How about cherries or blueberries or grass-fed beef?

You should, because these are all foods with powerful health properties. However, few people pack their grocery carts full of these items.

Take kiwifruit. It’s chock full of vitamin C–a whopping 115% of what you need to eat in a day. It’s also low in calories–just 45 per fruit, sans skin.

“In America, most people don’t eat three servings of fruit and vegetables a day,” says nutritionist Jonny Bowden, author of seven books including, most recently, The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy. According to him, there are 10 very healthy foods we don’t eat enough of.

IGNORE THE FOOD PYRAMID (or at least branch beyond it)

Bowden says many Americans are misled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid, which is a graphic, pyramid-shaped depiction of nutrition guidelines, updated every five years, that tells Americans what to eat according to food groups. Bowden dismisses it as the product of interest group politics.

“It demonizes fat,” notes Bowden. “Fat is an essential building block for many important compounds in the body.” This is why Bowden puts grass-fed beef, wild salmon and, yes, coconuts, on his top 10 list.

Salmon, in particular, is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with heart and brain health as well as bringing down blood pressure and triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. Omega-3s have also been found to improve mood and reduce inflammation, says Bowden.

Another food packed with nutritional value that’s present–but not necessarily front and center in every grocery store–is kale. A member of the cabbage family, which Bowden dubs “vegetable royalty,” kale contains indoles, a compound found to fight cancer. Kale is also rich in antioxidants, which also help prevent cancer, says Bowden.

If that’s not enough for you, kale is also full of sulforaphane, yet another cancer-prevention agent. Kale has calcium, iron and vitamins A, C and K, and two nutrients that are great for the eyes, including zeaxanthin. Kale’s pièce de résistance: Two cups packs three grams of fiber. Try sautéing it with garlic and butter, recommends Bowden. Or eat it like salad, with pine nuts, cranberries and olive oil.

Then there are coconuts, a terribly misunderstood food, according to Bowden. The fat in coconuts is a particular kind that’s good for you. It’s called MCT, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides. The body doesn’t store MCT as fat, says Bowden, but rather uses it as energy, like a carbohydrate. Coconuts are also high in lauric acid, a fatty acid that tends to kill pathogens. In addition, coconut oil is great for cooking since it has a very high smoke point.

EAT MEDITERRANEAN

For Bowden, sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest way to eat. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, and lots of olive and nut oils. The Mediterranean diet has indeed been proved by study after study to have multiple healthful properties.

If all that sounds just too healthy, consider the 10th food on Bowden’s list: dark chocolate. Rich with a phytochemical called flavanol, found by a 2005 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology to improve cardiovascular health, chocolate with at least 60% cocoa content should be a regular on your shopping list.

Chocolate and coconut anyone? OK, but not until you’ve finished your kale.

Low levels of vitamin D may contribute to cancer development, U.S. researchers have found.

“The first event in cancer is loss of communication among cells due to, among other things, low vitamin D and calcium levels,” study leader Cedric Garland, an epidemiologist at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, said in a university news release.

Garland and colleagues developed a scientific model that suggests “this loss may play a key role in cancer by disrupting the communication between cells that is essential to healthy cell turnover, allowing more aggressive cancer cells to take over.”

This cellular disruption could account for the earliest stages of many cancers, according to the study, which was published online in the Annals of Epidemiology.

Maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D may help stop cancer development, Garland suggested.

“Vitamin D may halt the first stage of the cancer process by re-establishing intercellular junctions in malignancies having an intact vitamin D receptor,” Garland said.

He noted that appropriate vitamin D levels can be restored and maintained through diet and supplements. More research into the link between vitamin D and cancer is required, but Garland recommended that people get their vitamin D levels tested during annual check-ups.

Originating URL:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cancer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100239046

AMARC offers a high quality vitamin D3 product at the special price of only $14.95. Click here for more info or to order.

Times are indeed changing–and all because of you. In our society, the traditional structure of the doctor-patient relationship is being transformed by patients like yourselves who are no longer willing to assume the passive role, but choose instead to be “active patients,” educating themselves about their condition so that they can become partners with their physicians in the management of their healthcare.

Herb of Corona del Mar, California, is typical of this new breed of medical consumer who fortify themselves with information, explore all treatment options thoroughly, and then commit themselves 100 percent to the treatments that make the most sense to them.

Because of a bone disease in his hips called avascular necrosis, Herb had walked with crutches and lived pain for two and a half years. Discouraged after more than a year of unsuccessful treatment, Herb contacted one of the new health information services now available to provide him with information about his hip condition. Included in his report from the service was an article about a new experimental treatment called hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) that had been successful for a disorder similar to Herb’s. Herb contacted the doctor who wrote the article and asked if this therapy might be beneficial for his condition. The doctor replied that the HBO has not been proven effective for avascular necrosis, but he felt that in Herb’s case it was worth trying.

Herb underwent 28 HBO treatments over a period of six weeks. For nine months following the treatments he continued to use crutches, while he gradually increased his weight bearing. He also began swimming a mile three to four times a week, and on the days when he didn’t swim he did 500 sit-ups and 250 push-ups!

Today, Herb walks without crutches or a cane and is free of pain. X-rays taken a year after the HBO treatments showed evidence not only of a halt in the deterioration of the hip bones, but also show areas of new healthy bone tissue replacing dead bone tissue. In a letter to the health information service he used, Herb stated, “Without the article you sent me on hyperbaric oxygen treatment, none of my progress would have been possible.”

Another patient who took charge of his healthcare is George of Valley Stream, New York. In 1985, diagnostic tests revealed that George’s right carotid artery was completely closed and his left artery was 50-79 percent obstructed. (The carotid arteries are blood vessels that begin at the large artery of the heart and run straight up through the neck.) Surgery was recommended to clean the fatty deposits from the left artery, but surgery was not an option for the artery which was totally obstructed. George was told that he was a prime candidate for a massive stroke.

George then sought second, third, and even fourth opinions. He also began reading everything he could about carotid artery disease. He ordered a comprehensive research report on his condition from a health information service.

George’s reading left with many concerns about the recommended surgery. He learned that the operation itself caused strokes in 15 percent of the patients, five percent of whom died as a result. There were also growing charges that the surgery was often done unnecessarily.

He also learned about a highly controversial alternative treatment for arterial occlusion called chelation therapy. Intravenous chelation therapy is touted as a chemical method of cleaning out arteries and removing plaque. There has been considerable opposition to this therapy from both the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration. It is an unproven therapy–time-consuming, and expensive–factors George had to weigh carefully.

George decided to pursue the chelation therapy and found a physician experienced in the procedure. This physician stressed the importance of lifestyle changes, changes which George had already decided were necessary.

George increased his intake of fiber, decreased his meat consumption, and reduced his fat intake considerably. He exercised daily on a stationary bicycle that also exercised the upper body.

After six months of chelation therapy and adherence to his new dietary and exercise regimen, Doppler tests revealed that the obstruction in George’s left carotid artery was now 33 percent, a significant decrease from the original 50-79 percent occlusion. Today George’s gains remain stable. He continues to follow his exercise and nutrition program and to have chelation treatments once a month.

The next time you or a member of your family is faced with a medical problem, remember these stories and join the ranks of the “active patient.” You may want to explore treatment options yourself or you may choose to enlist the services of a health information service. These services can provide information on treatments, research, resource organizations, and the leading medical experts connected with your disorder.

Most of the services are holistic in orientation–providing information on both conventional medical treatments and alternative or adjunctive treatments such as naturopathic and homeopathic treatments, acupuncture, and mind-body approaches.

Janice Guthrie is president of The Health Resource, a medical research service she founded in 1984. She was a researcher and administrator in higher education before a diagnosis of cancer spurred her to develop this business as a service to others with medical problems. She was one of the contractors in the recent U.S. Congressional study of alternative cancer therapies. She can be reached at (800) 949-0090 and thehealthresource.com.

Article provided by the American Holistic Health Association.