Zinc-deficiency linked to Cardiovascular Disease

Zinc-deficiency linked to CV disease, animal study:

09/09/2005-

A deficiency of the mineral zinc may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease through inflammation and a decreased levels of compounds that protect against atherosclerosis, indicates a new study in mice.Atherosclerosis is the process whereby fatty substances such as cholesterol and calcium form plaque on the inner lining of an artery, causing them to harden. If enough builds up the plaque can reduce blood flow through the artery, and of it ruptures blood clots can form, which can block the flow of blood to the heart and cause a heart attack.
Atherosclerosis occurs naturally in humans as part of the aging process, but certain factors including high blood cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes increase the risk. Inflammation in the circulating blood, causing the formation of blood clots, is also believed to increase the risk of heart attack.
The researchers from the University of Kentucky set out to investigate whether zinc deficiency can increase and zinc supplementation increase factors leading to atherosclerosis.
Over a four-week period, the researchers fed the mice one of three different moderate-fat diets: the zinc-deficiency diet contained no zinc; the control diet contained 0.45 micro mol of zinc per gram; and the zinc-supplemented diet 1.529 micro-mol of zinc per gram.
They found that the mice fed the zinc deficient diet had significantly higher concentrations of both VLDL (‘bad’ low density lipoprotein) and HDL (‘good’ high density lipoprotein) cholesterol and triacylglycerides compared to the control mice.
In the zinc supplemented mice, these lipid variables were decreased.
The researchers also noted that the zinc-deficient mice experienced an increase in inflammatory markers compared to the control and supplemented groups. The concentrations of glutathione reductase mRNA in their thoracic aortae were also higher, and the DNA binding activity of peroxisome proliferator activate receptors (PPARs) in liver extracts was reduced.
“These data provide in vivo evidence of zinc deficiency inducing proinflammatory events in an atherogenic mouse model,” wrote the researchers in the September issue of the Journal of Nutrition (135:2114-2118).
“These data also suggest that adequate zinc may be a critical component in protective PPAR signaling during atherosclerosis,” they concluded., animal study


CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Announcing.... Q&A-MAIL

Announcing....
Christopher Wiechert's
Q&A-MAIL ... Individual Nutritional Adjustments

Over the years, with the advent of e-mail, I have received hundreds of e-mails asking me questions about health issues, program adjustments, dietary questions, program reactions etc, that I have tried to take time to answer. I also feel that there are many of you that would like to ask me questions, but don't want to bother me, because you know that my time is valuable and have respected that over the years. While I would love to answer them all, it takes a lot more time than most people think, trying to analyze each question, and all that typically goes with a well thought out and researched answer.

Starting immediately, in addition to full health evaluations, I will now take e-mails with up to 3 questions on any personal health issue, and will charge about the same price as a Chiropractic visit, only we will call it an Individual Nutritional Adjustment. The cost will be $35.00 and will be billed online via an e-mail with a PayPal Invoice, that can then be paid via a CCD or Visa/MasterCard Debit. You do not need to have a PayPal Account to participate, you will just receive an e-mail invoice, after I answer the questions, and you will pay via that e-mail. It's that simple...

What questions might one ask...

" I am thinking about starting a supplement program and wanted to know a good basic program to get started with. My Doctor is working with me on 2 issues... Type II Diabetes and Arthritis. What would you recommend I start taking and what foods should I eat or avoid if any? " Or ... " I currently take these 5 products (list them and let me know how much you take per meal), as my supplemental program, but I just found out I have Bursitis, and was wondering what else I could take, that might support that issue? " Or ... " Here is a list of what I have eaten over the last 5 days, I am trying to lose more weight, (correct a food allergy etc), what would you do different, if anything, to improve my results? " You get the idea.

I am excited to be able, through technology, to be here for any and all questions anywhere e-mail goes, just remember - Keep it to 1 Q&A-MAIL with no more than 3 questions, and make sure you understand that you should be working with a Medical Doctor as well, with any health issue and not just me.

I look forward to work with anyone who feels this might be a valuable service.

CW

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO ASK YOUR QUESTIONS NOW: CWW@CWIECHERT.COM


Christopher Wiechert, C.N.C.
Website: www.cwiechert.com
Health Blogger: www.cwiechert.blogspot.com
Q&A-MAIL: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL
@xiom Int'l, Inc.
E-Mail: cww@cwiechert.com
Phone: 925-394-1050 Toll Free Number: 800-803-3323

Strategies for healthy weight loss...

From vitamin C to the glycemic response.

Department of Nutrition,
Arizona State University East, 7001 E. Williams Field Rd., Mesa, AZ 85212, USA.

The ramifications of this epidemic are immense since obesity is associated with chronic metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and heart disease. Reduced physical activity and/or increased energy intakes are important factors in this epidemic. Additionally, a genetic susceptibility to obesity is associated with gene polymorphisms affecting biochemical pathways that regulate fat oxidation, energy expenditure, or energy intake. However, these pathways are also impacted by specific foods and nutrients. Vitamin C status is inversely related to body mass. Individuals with adequate vitamin C status oxidize 30% more fat during a moderate exercise bout than individuals with low vitamin C status; thus, vitamin C depleted individuals may be more resistant to fat mass loss. Food choices can impact post-meal satiety and hunger. High-protein foods promote postprandial thermogenesis and greater satiety as compared to high-carbohydrate, low-fat foods; thus, diet regimens high in protein foods may improve diet compliance and diet effectiveness. Vinegar and peanut ingestion can reduce the glycemic effect of a meal, a phenomenon that has been related to satiety and reduced food consumption. Thus, the effectiveness of regular exercise and a prudent diet for weight loss may be enhanced by attention to specific diet details.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html

When it comes to antioxidants, more is usually better...

Life Extension Update Exclusive...

High dose vitamin E supplementation extends median and maximum lifespan in mouse study:

A report published online in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (http://ajpregu.physiology.org/) revealed the findings of researchers from the University of Cadiz in Spain and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina that feeding mice high doses of vitamin E increased lifespan and improved neurological performance.
Professor Alberto Boveris of the University of Buenos Aires and colleagues used a senescence accelerated strain of mice whose median lifespan is 60 to 70 weeks and whose maximum lifespan is 100 to 120 weeks. (Maximum lifespan is the greatest amount of weeks, months or years a species has been observed to survive, while median lifespan is a middle value determined from the range of survival times.) Starting at 28 weeks of age, the researchers supplemented the diets of male and female mice with doses of alpha-tocopherol comparable to the 1200 to 2000 milligram doses taken without adverse effects in studies involving Alzheimer’s disease patients. A control group received diets that contained the standard amount of vitamin E.
Male mice received the greatest benefit from high dose vitamin E supplementation, with a 40 percent increase in median lifespan and a 17 percent increase in maximum lifespan. Supplemented male mice also showed greater neuromuscular performance and cognitive exploratory activity than unsupplemented mice over the course of the study, and this difference increased with age.
Female mice, whose median lifespan was improved by only 14 percent, were not tested for neurological performance. Although the female mice did not experience an increase in maximum lifespan associated with vitamin E, maximum lifespan for both supplemented and unsupplemented females was greater than that of males, which has been explained by lower mitochondrial oxidant production and the effect of estrogen on down-regulating oxidant production.
The team also found that the increased mitochondrial content of lipid and protein oxidation products in the brains and livers of older mice was partly prevented by vitamin E. Vitamin E also helped reduce the age-associated decline in mitochondrial enzymatic activity in the brain and liver.
Professor Boveris explained that the results "are in line with the free radical theory of aging put forward by Gerschman and Harman in the 1950s. Our results show a significant negative correlation between the mitochondrial content of the oxidation products of free-radical mediated reactions and mitochondrial enzymatic activities. Moreover, brain mitochondrial enzymatic activities were linearly related to mice success in the tests of neuromuscular function and of exploratory and cognitive activity and to the maximal mice life span.”
The authors conclude that further studies are needed “to suggest a threshold for the vitamin E doses that provide beneficial effects in the neurological function in aging mammals, an effect that is likely mediated by the antioxidant properties of alpha-tocopherol.”

Comment: For more on how antioxidants effect our health, click here... www.cwiechert.com/antioxidants

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com

Another great reason to use EVO

Extra Virgin Olive oil contains natural anti-inflammatory agent
01 Sep 2005

Throaty sting provides new clues to health benefits of Mediterranean diet - A naturally occurring chemical found in extra-virgin olive oils is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, report scientists from the Monell Chemical Senses Center and collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania, The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and Firmenich, Inc. Named oleocanthal by the researchers, the compound inhibits activity of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, a pharmacological action shared by ibuprofen. The finding is significant because inflammation increasingly is believed to play a key role in a variety of chronic diseases. "Some of the health-related effects of the Mediterranean diet may be due to the natural anti-COX activity of oleocanthal from premium olive oils," observes Monell biologist Gary Beauchamp, PhD. The findings are described in the September 1 issue of the journal Nature. The scientists were led to the discovery by the serendipitous observation that fresh extra-virgin olive oil irritates the back of the throat in a unique and unusual manner. "I had considerable experience swallowing and being stung in the throat by ibuprofen from previous studies on its sensory properties," explains Beauchamp. "So when I tasted newly-pressed olive oil while attending a meeting on molecular gastronomy in Sicily, I was startled to notice that the throat sensations were virtually identical." Taking their lead from the cues provided by olive oil's throaty bite, the scientists systematically evaluated the sensory properties of an unnamed chemical compound thought to be responsible for the throat irritating property of premium olive oils. When results confirmed that the irritating intensity of a given extra-virgin olive oil was directly related to how much of the chemical it contained, the researchers named the compound oleocanthal (oleo=olive; canth=sting; al=aldehyde). To rule out the possibility that any other compound was involved, chemists at Monell and Penn created a synthetic form of oleocanthal identical in all respects to that found naturally in olive oil, and showed that it produced exactly the same throat irritation. Co-author Amos Smith, PhD, explains, "Only by de novo synthesis could we be absolutely certain that the active ingredient was oleocanthal." The sensory similarities between oleocanthal and ibuprofen led scientists at Monell and the University of the Sciences to investigate potential common pharmacological properties. Studies revealed that, like ibuprofen, oleocanthal inhibits activity of COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes. Because inhibition of COX activity underlies the anti-inflammatory actions of ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the new findings suggest oleocanthal is a natural anti-inflammatory agent. Monell sensory scientist Paul Breslin, PhD, who directed the research together with Beauchamp remarks, "The Mediterranean diet, of which olive oil is a central component, has long been associated with numerous health benefits, including decreased risk of stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, and some dementias. Similar benefits are associated with certain NSAIDs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Now that we know of oleocanthal's anti-inflammatory properties, it seems plausible that oleocanthal plays a causal role in the health benefits associated with diets where olive oil is the principal source of fat." Beauchamp said future research will aim to identify how oleocanthal inhibits COX enzymes and how this is related to throat sting. According to Breslin, "This study is the first to make the case for pharmacological activity based on irritation and furthers the idea originally proposed decades ago by Fischer that a compound's orosensory qualities might reflect its pharmacological potency." The Monell Chemical Senses Center is a nonprofit basic research institute based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For 35 years, Monell has been the nation's leading research center focused on understanding the senses of smell, taste and chemical irritation: how they function and affect lives from before birth through old age. Using a multidisciplinary approach, scientists collaborate in the areas of: sensation and perception, neuroscience and molecular biology, environmental and occupational health, nutrition and appetite, health and well being, and chemical ecology and communication.

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com

Lose fat not muscle with a protein-rich diet & exercise

Protein-rich diet boosts benefit of exercise...

06/08/2005-

People following advice to cut calories and increase physical activity to lose weight will see greater benefits if their diet is rich in protein, reveals a new study. The trial on almost 50 overweight women confirms previous studies showing that a high-protein diet can lead to greater fat loss than a low-calorie, high carbohydrate diet.
But the researchers from the University of Illinois have also demonstrated that when both regimes are combined with an exercise programme, the protein-rich diet is still more effective at reducing body fat.
"There's an additive, interactive effect when a protein-rich diet is combined with exercise. The two work together to correct body composition; dieters lose more weight, and they lose fat, not muscle," said author Donald Layman, professor of food science and human nutrition.
Layman’s team recruited 48 women aged around 46 years old with a body mass index of 33 kg/m(2) during weight loss.
Half the women ate a protein-rich diet containing specific levels of leucine, one of the essential amino acids, for four months. The others followed a diet based on the US food guide pyramid, which contained higher amounts of carbohydrates.
Both groups consumed the same number of calories, but the first group substituted protein foods, like meat, dairy products, eggs, and nuts, for foods high in carbohydrates, such as breads, rice, cereal, pasta, and potatoes.
"Both diets work because, when you restrict calories, you lose weight. But the people on the higher-protein diet lost more weight," said Layman.
High-protein diets have been controversial as they counter the accepted weight-loss diet and there is little information on their impact on health over the long-term. But recent studies suggest that they may indeed work better than low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diets by increasing satiety and reducing fat mass.
In the current study, published in the August issue of the Journal of Nutrition (vol 135, issue 8, pp1903-10), the subjects were also required to follow one of two different exercise programmes. The first involved walking two to three times a week, while the second group included five 30-minute walking sessions and two 30-minute weightlifting sessions per week.
In both groups of dieters, the exercise helped spare lean muscle tissue and target fat loss. But, the protein-rich, high-exercise group, lost even more weight, and almost 100 per cent of the weight loss was fat, report the researchers.
In the high-carbohydrate, high-exercise group, however, as much as 25 to 30 per cent of the weight lost was muscle.
The protein-rich diet seems to be even more effective for people at higher risk of heart disease.
"The protein-rich diet dramatically lowered triglycerides and had a statistically significant effect on trunk fat, both risk factors associated with heart disease," said Layman.
"Exercise helped dieters lose an even greater percentage of body fat from the abdominal area."
The protein-rich diet is thought to work well because it contains a high level of leucine. The amino acid works with insulin to stimulate protein synthesis in muscle.
"The diet works because the extra protein reduces muscle loss while the low-carbohydrate component gives you low insulin, allowing you to burn fat," explained Layman.

Comment: HealthPointe 2.0 is just the program to follow to get these kind of results. www.cwiechert.com/weightloss.html

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

The Rest of The Story - You will not hear...

Autistic boy dies during controversial treatment

PostGazette.com
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 By Karen Kane and Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A 5-year-old Monroeville boy died this week during a medical treatment that's being touted by some as a cure for autism. The autistic boy died while receiving chelation -- an intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA, for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the practice only to treat heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, though still controversial, for autism. Police are investigating the boy's death, which occurred Tuesday morning in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Portersville. Kerry did not return calls today. An autopsy conducted today was inconclusive. Results on the cause and manner of death are pending additional testing that could take up to five months to complete, authorities said.

I received this e-mail from Dr. Garry Gordon, a pioneer in Chelation and a person I respect very much...

Dear Health Care Professionals:

I am involved in gathering all of the details surrounding this unfortunate situation. We know the media is going to put this in the light that money hungry doctors are taking advantage of the gullible public and telling them that heavy metals are contributing to many different health problems. In fact that kind of "attack" against chelation doctors treating for heavy metals has been published very recently. You cannot imagine how much of a feeding frenzy the media will have over this unless you remember the story about Dr Shortt and the Hydrogen Peroxide death a few months ago. There the media, particularly "60 minutes", PRETENDED that they wanted to know the FACTS. Of course that was just so that they could fabricate a story protecting mainstream medicine that was the real culprit while doing everything in their power to put the alternative medicine approach down. I have been told by those who are in touch with the mother for the deceased boy that she is convinced that the entire program her son was on was dramatically changing his life for the better. She hopes the doctors will not stop offering chelation to children who she knows are being benefitted and she bears no regret that she was pursuing these therapies. She does NOT want to see other parents abandon the concepts that were clearly helping her 5+ year old son.

You may soon read and hear the kind of hysteria and negative press that I expected to see, but it will get FAR WORSE before it gets better. As of this moment, I can only assume that there must have been a substantial deviation from the standard procedures that I, and all of you, have established for the safe administration of Calcium EDTA. As incredible as it may seem to those of you belonging to this discussion group, the possibility exists that the child was treated with Disodium EDTA administered by IV Push. I am forced to consider this unfortunate explanation unless there was some major undiagnosed illness in the child that no one suspected, such as a major heart defect or perhaps an aneurism that ruptured at the exact time the patient was receiving the IV Push of Calcium EDTA. However, the autopsy has been completed and the results were inconclusive so that they have ordered additional tests, which may take up to 5 months to complete.

So let's look at the big picture, there are NO DEATHS occurring when EDTA, either calcium or Disodium are PROPERLY administered. Furthermore, on my www.gordonresearch.com website, all of my current PowerPoint presentations have more and more DOCUMENTATION regarding the increasing extent of heavy metal accumulation in the population and profound studies PROVING that these toxic metals are causing serious health problems in every tissue, from the cataracts to the blood vessels and so on. (Cataracts-Harvard study proves bone lead goes to the brain, recent study ties lead to renal failure, hypertension, lowered IQ, increased morbidity and mortality from all causes). Simply put there is NO SAFE LEVEL of Lead. Now the media will try to make chelation out to be fraudulent and the tests that we do to measure lead etc as being meaningless. Amazingly they will bring out Quack buster Barrett who with a little more effort we may be able to one day put behind bars for his lies and incompetence. Thus I have to conclude some error in rate of administration, dosage, method of preparation probably occurred; in fact, I now believe this is most likely rather than administering the correct drug, Calcium EDTA, intravenously, which even in children is safe and effective. Doctors who have been providing this treatment to children can hardly stop talking about the remarkable successes they have been witnessing with children responding far more rapidly than we could ever do with just the oral Calcium EDTA that I have been advocating for so long.We know that worldwide sales of all forms of EDTA have been steadily increasing and that based on logical calculations it appears that well over 10 million patients have been safely treated with either Calcium or Disodium EDTA over the past 32+ years without a single documented fatality, as long as the established protocols were followed. So with all the evidence to date supporting my contention that EDTA is perhaps the safest therapy offered in medicine, outside of placebos, no other medical therapy that I am aware of enjoys a better safety record.To my knowledge, EDTA has been safely administered for nearly 50 years with the only deaths occurring in the beginning, with terminal cancer patients suffering uncontrolled hypercalcemia where inappropriate doses of Disodium EDTA were administered by rapid infusion to patients with known compromised renal status. With the extensive proof now existing that everyone today has nearly 1000 times too much lead in their bones and Harvard publishing that this bone lead will compromise vision there can be no argument that we all have some heavy metal toxicity. Then once we conclude that government cannot stop the mercury, cadmium, lead etc from going in the air, and thus into everyone anywhere on earth, then it becomes a matter of personal choice, live with these heavy metals or remove them. Oral chelation is clearly necessary since bone lead will take 10 years to turn over for the average adult, but some of us want results NOW. Nothing is as effective as the 147 fold increase in lead excretion over base line that IV Calcium EDTA, PROPERLY FORMULATED, was documented to induce by Doctors Data with the help of Dr Whitaker's staff. Thus I must extend my sympathy to the family of the deceased 5-year-old boy from Nigeria whose brave mother came to the Pittsburg area from the United Kingdom to seek treatment for her autistic child. She was seeing clear improvements in her son. This was the third infusion he had received. He apparently had a cardiac arrest and was unable to be resuscitated immediately following this third infusion of what I fear was not Calcium EDTA, which is the ONLY form of EDTA that I have advocated for the exciting rapid infusion technique. I hope those who have experience with it in their practice are NOT GOING TO STOP USING it that you have the "rest of the story", as best as we can establish it at this time. Please understand that the involved doctors cannot be expected to admit anything on advice of their attorneys. I have only checked to see if they have ever purchased Calcium EDTA and found the answer was no leading me to compose this email in an attempt to diminish the harm that the media will do to everyone who otherwise could have been receiving oral and or IV chelation and will now be afraid.This email may be copied and handed to your patients in an effort to meet the need for a fully informed consent so that patients who now will have the media getting them badly frightened- with incompetent physicians, like quack buster Barrett, alleging that the mercury in our body is OF NO CONSEQUENCE and the tests that we all use to determine heavy metal status are all "Bogus". This is my effort to provide some balance. We know we are lead, mercury, cadmium, toxic and we know we have less than optimal health because of these heavy metals. We know that they have a long half-life and without some intervention they will be there to help diminish our immune system function just when we most need it. After an auto accident, when we are flat on our back, the bones start to breakdown due to lack of exercise releasing lead so that the infections we are exposed to in the hospital KILL over 100,000 a year, not all due to virulence of the organism, but partly due to the diminished capacity of a lead poisoned immune system in a lead toxic body. Or, with menopause, the bone loss releases lead bringing about hypertension. So WE ALL NEED detoxification everyday of our life and this unfortunate death will not change those facts.

Sincerely,

Garry F. Gordon MD, DO, MD(H)
President,
Gordon Research Institutewww.gordonresearch.com

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Just say no to drugs

8 Medical Lies and Why I Abandoned Medicine
By Shane Ellison, M.Sc.
Early to Rise © 2005

By education and by trade, I was a drug chemist. My passion for science motivated a successful career in drug design and synthesis – in both academia and industry. As a scientist, I witnessed first-hand the priorities of international pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma), which ranked wealth first and health a distant second.In the pharmaceutical industry, making money supercedes science. Science no longer prevails in medicine. Instead, modern medicine has been democratized. Drug approval is a simple matter of 51% telling the other 49% that a prescription drug is safe and necessary. The outcome: deadly drugs are approved for use among misinformed medical doctors and patients. Herein lies a story of deceit and a chemist’s abandonment of modern medicine.My suspicion of modern medicine began while I was employed by Eli Lilly to design a new generation of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) drugs. Such drugs include tamoxifen and raloxifene. Initially, these drugs were thought to block estrogen receptors (excess estrogen can initiate cancer growth) and thereby halt cancer. As time progressed, though, it was learned that they were also capable of activating estrogen receptors. The end result was a biochemical environment favorable to cancer growth among users.[1][1] The Journal of the American Medical Association recognized this trend and stated "our data add to the growing body of evidence that recent long-term use of HRT is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and that such use may be related particularly to lobular tumors." The risk of cancer associated with HRT drugs was obscured from doctors by drug companies. This can be seen by the fact that tamoxifen is the gold-standard used by medical doctors to fight cancer among their patients, particularly breast cancer. This explains why medical doctors might not notice its ability to cause cancer – the patient already has it.At any rate, my task was made clear: Design HRT “knock-offs” that are effective without causing cancer.My attempt to design safer alternatives was unsuccessful. And after one year, the project was ended. However, access to HRT drugs like tamoxifen was not. They remained on the market. The fuel driving the continued use of HRT drugs was disinformation via Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) advertising. Since 1962, monitoring DTC advertising has been the sole responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But in a ghastly conflict of interests, the FDA granted the duty of DTC advertising to the pharmaceutical companies in 1997. Officially, this was done as a means of “promoting health awareness to ensure health and safety.” Unofficially, it was done to sell more drugs. DTC advertising dictated that all women over 50 should use HRT to remain healthy. Women scurried to their doctors to ask if “HRT was right for them.” My suspicion grew into conflict. The disinformation campaign behind HRT drugs was not an isolated case. I learned that drug advertising and science are frequently in direct opposition to each other. For example:
DTC advertising dictates that lowering cholesterol prevents heart disease. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that an aspirin a day will keep heart attack away. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that depression is a disease that must be treated with prescription drugs. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that ADHD is a disease and that our children must be treated with amphetamines. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that infants must be vaccinated to prevent childhood illness. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that blood pressure must be controlled via a lifetime of servitude to prescription drugs. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that chemotherapy is your first line of defense against deadly cancer. Science proves otherwise.
DTC advertising dictates that Type II diabetes must be treated with daily insulin use. Science proves otherwise.
By spreading the aforementioned health myths, DTC advertising forges a belief among the general public which asserts that drugs – not lifestyle habits and nutrition - confer health and longevity. And although, in reality, medicine is only necessary for sick people in times of emergency, DTC advertising has been wildly successful in convincing people that being healthy requires a lifetime of prescription drug use. While it's true that the advertising usually mentions the potential side effects of drugs, doctors tend to discount them. They simply regurgitate the pharmaceutical-company line that “the benefits of a drug outweigh the risks.” Don’t believe it.
Western Medicine’s plague of deception is deadlier than any virus, illicit drugs, and terrorism combined. Well-documented in scientific journals and reported by media outlets nationwide, FDA approved drugs are killing an estimated 106,000 people every year.[2][2] That equates to one individual dying every five minutes from “approved” drugs - 300 people dying every day. Which is twice as many deaths in a single year from "approved drugs" as the total number of U.S. deaths from the Vietnam War.[3][3] This does not count death by hospital medical error, which adds 98,000 deaths to the atrocity.[4][4] If not killed, an estimated 2 million people are victims of drug-induced illnesses.[5][5] These may include drug-induced obesity, cancer, kidney disease, autism, depression and heart failure.
Hypnotized by DTC advertising, people are oblivious to the ill effects of prescription drug use. This is evidenced by their willingness to swallow whatever “the doctor ordered.” They drug their children, hop the borders to smuggle inexpensive prescription drugs back into the U.S., beg their congressman for discounts and pay a lifetime of insurance fees in order to snatch up these silent killers. The avalanche of DTC advertising has smothered common sense.
For the general public and medical doctors to fully grasp the effect of Modern Medicine’s Deceit, they have to judge the situation by what a drug is actually accomplishing, rather than what the drug company ads and pharmaceutically-compliant politicians insist. The health benefits of prescription drugs are illusory. Step away from the hypnotic drug ads, close the ghost-written medical journals, discard research studies dominated by statistical contortionists and give yourself a prescription-drug reality check: Very few prescription drugs have any value outside of emergency medicine and those that do can usually be replaced with safer and less expensive natural medicine. This was a troublesome lesson for me, as an aspiring drug chemist, to learn. Unfortunately, it was not the only one.Humanitarianism among Big Pharma has been abandoned. The technical skills of chemists are not being used for humanitarian purposes. They are being used in a deadly game of profiteering. Those at risk are not the misinformed, high-paid medical doctors but rather their patients. Becoming aware of this ripple effect of DTC advertising led to my abandonment of modern medicine.
I had to face the cold, hard facts: Western Medicine has become a billion dollar empire not out of keen science, but rather deceit. The end result has been one nation under drugs. This subjugation has set a standard of health in America that, by definition, is sick care disguised as health care.
Forward thinking chemists recognize the deadly trend. But few have the luxury of speaking out or resigning. The majority of chemists in the U.S. are foreigners. Their career secures them the right to live and work in the U.S. This demands allegiance to their employer, regardless of the end result of their labors. Admittedly, that this is an intentional act of Big Pharma is speculative.
Individuals outside of the drug industry often question my conflict with Big Pharma. How can a single person denounce a philosophy adhered to by millions of medical doctors? That is simple: I ignore the majority thinking that is steeped in disinformation. I stand firm in science. Truth in science requires only one scientist to verify reproducible results in the face of pharmaceutical tyranny.
Science proves that habits, not drugs, create and eradicate disease. The current devastation of prescription drugs is a warning that healthy lifestyle and nutrition habits must replace blind worship of prescription drugs in the pursuit of life-extension. As people obtain better health intelligence and heed this warning, drug use will recede. A new model of health care based on common sense, not profiteering, will emerge.
About the Author
Shane Ellison is dedicated to stopping prescription drug hype in its tracks. To this end, he has made it his mission to introduce healthy lifestyle habits as well as safe and effective nutritional supplements to the public. With his keen ability to sift through scientific literature and weed out fact from fiction, Shane has empowered thousands to assert their health freedom by saying "no" to prescription drugs. Learn more at www.healthmyths.net

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Zinc & Vitamin D in the news...

Weekly Zinc Supplements Can Reduce Deaths In Young Children
2005/08/23 -
The Lancet

From 2000 to 2003, pneumonia caused 2 million of 10·6 million deaths among childrenyounger than 5 years worldwide. Diarrhoea causes a further 1·9 million deaths in this groupannually. Daily regimens of zinc have been reported to prevent acute lower respiratory tractinfection and diarrhoea, and reduce child mortality.
Abdullah Brooks (International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh)and colleagues looked at whether giving children zinc weekly could prevent clinicalpneumonia* and diarrhoea in children younger than two years. Between April 1999 andAugust 2000 the investigators recruited 1621 children aged 2–12 months from Kamalapur,Bangladesh. Half the children were assigned to a weekly 70 mg dose of zinc and half toplacebo. The investigators found mortality was reduced by 85% in the group assigned zinc.Children younger than 12 months in this group also had less pneumonia and diarrhoea thanthose on placebo.
Dr Brooks states: “Zinc substantially reduced the incidence of pneumonia and other upperand lower respiratory tract disease, and modestly reduced that of diarrhoea. However, theeffect of zinc on mortality was strong . . . Zinc might be progressively protective against moreinvasive and severe disease, leading to an 85% reduction in overall mortality, primarily owingto pneumonia.”
Dr W Abdullah Brooks, Programme of Infectious Diseases & Vaccine Sciences, Health Systems InfectiousDiseases Division, ICDDRB Centre for Health & Population Research, GPO Box 128, Mohakhali,Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Author in the US until August 27 contact T) +1 518 945 3071;Mobile: 443 722 5511.


Half of women treated with osteoporosis drugs may have insufficient vitamin D levels...

Research conducted by Michael F Holick, MD, PhD, of Boston University School of Medicine and colleagues has found that women being treated for osteoporosis have low levels of vitamin D, a nutrient that is necessary for adequate bone mineralization. The study was published in the June 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (http://jcem.endojournals.org/).
Dr Holick and colleagues recruited 1,536 women from 61 study sites who had been taking osteoporosis medications for a minimum of three months. Participants were allowed to have used vitamin D supplements, but were excluded if they had recently decreased or increased the amount taken. All participants received medical examinations during which they were questioned concerning medication and supplement intake, and blood samples were drawn and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (the active vitamin D metabolite) levels measured.
Fifty-two percent of the women were found to have inadequate levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, defined as less than 30 nanograms per milliliter. Eighteen percent had levels even lower, at 20 nanograms per milliliter or below. Sixty-three percent of women who reported an intake of 400 international units or less of supplemental vitamin D had inadequate vitamin D levels compared to 45 percent of those whose intake was 400 international units or greater. The absence of prior discussion with a physician concerning vitamin D's importance to bone health was also associated with lower levels of the vitamin.
The authors write that although the study was conducted during winter when vitamin D levels are usually lower, even with adequate sun exposure during summer and fall the public is still at risk for low levels of the vitamin because its half life is only two weeks. They recommend greater education concerning improving vitamin D status in women with osteoporosis.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Fish oil 'calms kids with ADHD'

AAP16aug05A

DAILY dose of fish oil helps calm children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, an Australian study suggests, PhD psychology student Natalie Sinn, of the University of South Australia and CSIRO Nutrition, studied 145 children aged seven to 12 with ADHD over 15 weeks.

Half were given a commercially available dietary supplement containing a combination of fish oil and evening primrose oil, in a ratio of four to one.
The other group took a placebo – an inactive treatment.
In what's known as a double-blind study, parents, children and researchers did not know whether children were taking the daily fish oil capsules or the placebo.
MS Sinn said when parents were later questioned, children on the active fish oil capsules, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, showed improvements in attention, behaviour and vocabulary.
"They were able to concentrate better, they were calmer, less impulsive, that sort of thing," Ms Sinn said in an interview.
"The same improvements were not reported from children who took the placebo."
When the placebo group switched to the fish oil capsules for a further 15 weeks, they showed similar benefits.
Children recruited into the study were not taking medication for their ADHD.
They were given just under a gram of fish oil a day in the trial.
Ms Sinn said 60 per cent of the brain was composed of fats, the most important being omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oil, and omega-6, like those in evening primrose oil.
She said many people in western societies were deficient in the omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in dark leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds and oily fish.
"There's a growing body of research that's finding evidence of links between omega-3 deficiency and mental health problems like depression and schizophrenia," Ms Sinn said.
"Research is also suggesting that some children with developmental problems, including ADHD and dyslexia, can benefit from taking omega-3 supplements."
Ms Sinn said no adverse effects had been reported to date.
By comparison, Ritalin – a drug commonly used to treat ADHD – has been linked to suicidal thoughts, hallucinations, aggressive and violent behaviour and heart problems.
Ms Sinn said the fish oil in her study had higher concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to docosahexaenoic acid (DPA).
"Researchers are starting to think that perhaps EPA is the important one," she explained.
The Adelaide-based researcher urged general practitioners, psychologists and psychiatrists to take the research on board as evidence about the benefits of fish oil accumulates.
Ms Sinn presented her research in Melbourne at the State Library of Victoria.

Comment: A few years ago I wrote this article for the Brentwood Times and I will reprint it below...

ADD/ADHD, Disorder or Deficiency?

Recent research in the area Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, (ADHD), shows that 3% to 5% of our children here in the U.S. suffer from this difficult problem. Symptoms of this disorder include short attention span, inability to complete tasks, hyperactivity, and a tendency to interrupt others. In addition to these behavioral issues, nearly 25% of these children suffer from one or more specific learning disabilities in math, spelling, or reading. Most parents of children with ADD/ADHD report feelings of frustration because they know their kids are quite bright in spite of the evident behavior. So here is the critical question…Are these children deficient in Ridlin, the drug of choice these days, or is something natural missing from their diets?

Since 1995, many reputable studies around the world have suggested that ADD and ADHD are actually caused by a deficiency in certain essential fatty acids and not necessarily disorders requiring drug therapy. A study first reported in 1995, conducted at Purdue University, linked a sub-clinical deficiency in a long chain fatty acid derived from fish, called Docosahexaenoic Acid, or DHA, as responsible for the abnormal behavior of children with ADD/ADHD.

In 1997, Dr. Barbara Levine, Professor of Nutrition in Medicine at Cornell University, sounded the alarm that most Americans were grossly deficient in DHA because of a lack of enough fish in the American diet. DHA is the building block of human brain tissue and is very abundant in the gray matter of the brain and the retina of the eye. Low levels of DHA in adults have also recently been associated with many health issues such as depression, memory loss, dementia and visual problems.

It turns out that the DHA of an infant’s brain triples during the first 3 months of life. Lactating mothers and women who are pregnant should make sure that they are getting optimal levels of DHA during that crucial time period. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Levine, the average DHA content of breast milk in the U.S. is the smallest in the world, most likely due to our low intake of fish, relative to other countries. Making matters worse, she tells us that the U.S. is the only country in the world where infant formulas are not fortified with DHA. This, despite the fact that in 1995, the World Health Organization recommended that all baby formulas should provide at least 40mg of DHA per kilo of infant body weight. Dr. Levine believes that postpartum depression, ADD, ADHD, and low IQ’s are all linked to the dismally low intake of DHA in the U.S.

Have you ever wondered why more male children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD compared with girls? Researchers at the School of Medicine at the University of Auckland discovered that male animals require 3 times as much essential fatty acids as do females in order to achieve normal neonatal infant development. Their studies also confirm that blood analysis of ADD/ADHD kids showed significantly depressed levels of DHA, and in most cases, low levels of zinc, an important trace mineral known for improving learning.

For many health reasons, Americans should eat cold-water fish like Salmon or Mackerel at least 3 times per week, or consider supplementing with up to 850mg of concentrated fish oil from a reputable source, as many scientists are suggesting. I encourage you to contact us for reprints of the studies I have on file so you can read more about this important research.

Christopher Wiechert, C.N.C.


Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Folic acid may be the most important nutrient to reduce Alzheimer's risk

From Life Extension Foundation...08-11-05

The results of a long-term study published in the inaugural issue of Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, indicate that consuming adequate levels of the B vitamin folate is associated with the greatest protection against Alzheimer's disease of any nutrient examined. Folate is found in a number of foods, such as leafy green vegetables, but is often destroyed by cooking. Grain products have been fortified with folic acid in the United States since 1998, however, it is believed that many Americans are still deficient in the vitamin. The study is the largest so far to evaluate the association between folate and Alzheimer's risk and to analyze antioxidants and B vitamins at the same time.
Assistant professor of neurology Maria Corrada of the University of California Irvine's Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia and colleagues utilized data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging which was begun in 1958 and includes over 1,400 participants. The current study involved 579 subjects without dementia aged 60 and older who completed seven-day dietary diaries between 1984 and 1991. Fifty-seven of these participants developed Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers found that individuals whose intake of folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin E were higher had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than those whose intake was less, however when the vitamins were analyzed together, only folate intake was correlated with a significantly decreased risk of the disease. Dr Corrada noted, "The participants who had intakes at or above the 400 microgram recommended dietary allowance of folates had a 55 percent reduction in risk of developing Alzheimer's. But most people who reached that level did so by taking folic acid supplements, which suggests that many people do not get the recommended amounts of folates in their diets."

cw

Comment: Make sure your multi vitamin has at least 400 mcgs of Folic acid. If it doesn't, change brands or add extra B-Complex. Other studies indicate Vit E and C as well as Omega 3 EFA's are also critical here.


Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Vitamin D levels low in almost all hip fracture patients

8/3/2005- Nearly all hip fracture patients are deficient, sometimes severely, in vitamin D, researchers in Scotland reported this week.Reviewing the cases of 548 patients over the age of 60 who were admitted at South Glasgow University Hospital during a four-year period, the researchers found that 97.8 per cent had vitamin D levels below normal.
In around a quarter of the group studied, levels were so low that they were "effectively unrecordable", said the authors in the online issue of Current Medical Research and Opinion (DOI: 10.1185/030079905X59148).
Vitamin D currently only makes up 4 per cent of all vitamin sales and lags well behind calcium in terms of bone health supplements. But increasing evidence underlines its importance in protecting against fractures.
In a second prospective study phase, the researchers looked at vitamin D levels among the first 50 patients admitted to the hospital with an osteoporosis fracture after November 2004.
More than 80 per cent had vitamin D levels below 70 nmol/L and 72 per cent had vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L.
"Although numbers were too small to justify extensive subgroup analyses, the mean vitamin D level in the 13 patients with hip fracture was lower than in the 37 with non-hip fractures," said the researchers.
They conclude: "It may be that vitamin D represents a correctable risk factor for fragility fracture in the elderly, possibly specifically for the hip."

Vitamin D3

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

WE ARE ALL GIRLY MEN UNTIL WERE 6 WEEKS OLD...

Have you ever wondered why your teeth chatter when you're cold, or if you could really catch a disease from sitting on a toilet seat?
New York physician Billy Goldberg, pestered by unusual questions at cocktail parties and other social gatherings over the years, puts the public's mind at ease in his book "Why Do Men Have Nipples?" which hits the book stores on Tuesday.
"It's really remarkable how often you get accosted," said Goldberg, 39. "There are the medical questions from family and friends, and then there are the drunk and outrageous questions where somebody wants to drop their pants and show you a rash or something."
The book, subtitled, "Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini," (Three Rivers Press), is co-authored by humorist Mark Leyner.
"People tend to know so little about their bodies as compared to their cars or their laptops," said Leyner, 49, of Hoboken, New Jersey. "When I worked in a pharmacy in Washington, D.C., people would ask me medical questions all the time. I was just a 22-year-old cashier at Rite Aid."
Chattering teeth is one way the body tries to generate heat.
When the body gets too cold, the area of the brain called the hypothalamus alerts the rest of the body to begin warming up. Shivering, the rapid muscle movement that generates heat, then begins. Teeth chattering represents localized shivering.
During the course of their research, Goldberg and Leyner found reports of gonorrhea, pinworm and roundworm found on toilet seats -- but catching something from it isn't common.
The authors discovered that an office setting might be worse for your health than toilet seats. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, found the typical office desk harbors some 400 times more disease-causing bacteria than the average toilet seat.
Goldberg had compiled a list of nagging questions for several years before embarking on the book after meeting Leyner. The two met while working on a short-lived ABC-TV medical drama, "Wonderland," in which Leyner served as a writer, while Goldberg was its medical advisor.
BURNING QUESTIONS
Some of the burning questions answered in the humorous book include "What causes morning breath?" and "Why do beans give you gas?"
Goldberg says morning breath results from anaerobic bacteria, the xerostomia (dry mouth) or the volatile sulfur compounds (which are waste products from the bacteria). Other contributing factors to foul oral odor includes medication, alcohol, sugar, smoking, caffeine, and eating dairy products.
Beans contain high percentages of sugars that our bodies are unable to digest, Goldberg explains. When the sugars make it to the intestines, bacteria go to work and start producing large amounts of gas.
And if you're ever bitten by a poisonous snake, sucking at the bite to remove the poison, as often shown in the movies and on TV is not only ineffective, but could lead to an infection.
Instead, the bite should be washed with soap and water and immobilized. The bitten area should also be kept lower than the heart. Medical help should be sought immediately.
And why do men have nipples?
While only females have mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo, the authors explain. The embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in.
Men, however, have already developed nipples.

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

IF YOU EAT FEW CALORIES, BUT ARE STILL GAINING WEIGHT, HERE IS A POSSIBLE CLUE:

Soft drinks sweetened with fructose make you fat...
Asian News InternationalWashington, July 30, 2005

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati suggests that drinking large amounts of beverages containing fructose adds body fat, and might explain why sweetening with fructose could be even worse than using other sweeteners.
The team led by Matthias Tschvp allowed mice to freely consume either water, fructose sweetened water or soft drinks. They found increased body fat in the mice that drank the fructose-sweetened water and soft drinks--despite that fact that these animals decreased the amount of calories they consumed from solid food.
It suggests that the total amount of calories consumed when fructose is added to diets may not be the only explanation for weight gain. Instead, consuming fructose appears to affect metabolic rate in a way that favours fat storage.
All the mice began the study at an average weight of 39 grams. Those consuming the fructose-sweetened water showed significant weight gain over the course of the study, with an average final weight of 48 grams--compared with averages below 44 grams for the other groups--and had about 90 percent more body fat than the mice that consumed water only.
Total caloric intake was lower in the mice that consumed the fructose-sweetened water than in the other groups, except for the control animals provided with water only.
"We were surprised to see that mice actually ate less when exposed to fructose-sweetened beverages, and therefore didn't consume more overall calories. Nevertheless, they gained significantly more body fat within a few weeks," Tschvp added.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

CANCER News Alert

Published Online: July 11, 2005 DOI: 10.1002/cncr.21216Print Issue Date: August 15, 2005

Ingredient That Makes Curry Yellow Effective Against Melanoma Cells ...

Curcumin, the yellow pigment found in the spice turmeric and a key ingredient in yellow curry inhibits melanoma cell growth and stimulates tumor cell death, according to a new study. Published in the August 15, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study also elucidates curcumin's intracellular mechanisms of action in this type of tumor.
As well as showing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, curcumin has been shown to have anti-cancer properties. In other tumors, it has been demonstrated to inhibit tumor growth and stimulate apoptosis, an intracellular mechanism for cells of all types to "kill" themselves. To evaluate the compound's efficacy in melanoma, researchers led by Razelle Kurzrock, M.D. of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston treated three melanoma cell lines with curcumin at different doses and for different duration.
Results show that curcumin treatment decreased cell viability in all three cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, curcumin induced apoptosis in tumor cells at high concentrations for short periods of time and low concentrations for long periods of time - a new finding in the study of curcumin.
Curcumin was found to suppress two specific proteins normally part of an intracellular pathway that prevents apoptosis when stimulated. Curcumin partially inhibited NF-êB and strongly inhibited its upstream stimulator and another independent inhibitor of apoptosis, IKK. However, it did not suppress two other signaling pathways associated with melanomas and tumor proliferation, B-Raf/MEK/ERK and Akt pathways.
"Based on our studies, we conclude the curcumin is a potent suppressor of cell viability and inducer of apoptosis in melanoma cell lines," said the authors, adding "Future investigation to determine the effects of curcumin in animal models of melanoma and clinical trials are planned."

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Could protein be the key to weight loss?

7/25/2005- New research bolsters the argument that the efficacy of low-carb diets could be due to their high protein content, reports Jess Halliday. So could raising America’s protein intake help the nation beat the obesity epidemic?In the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, David Weigle from the University of Washington School of Medicine and colleagues set out the test the hypothesis that increasing protein while maintaining carbohydrate intake decreases the appetite, leads to the consumption of fewer calories and results in weight loss.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr Arne Astrup of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen said that preventing weight gain is a more complex matter than simply telling people to eat less and exercise more.
A key take-home message of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans concerns calorie control and exercise, with consumers encouraged to choose foods in order to get the most nutrition out of calories consumed.
But Astrup argues that this is a simplistic strategy which assumes people have conscious control over their appetite and body weight regulation.
“I have never met an obese person who has worked hard to become obese and to maintain an excessive body size,” he wrote.
For Weigle’s study, 19 subjects followed three different diets, one after the other. For the first two weeks, they followed a weight-maintaining diet where protein accounted for 15 percent of calories, fat 35 percent and carbohydrate 50 percent.
For the second two weeks, they followed an isocaloric diet that was 30 percent protein, 35 percent fat and 50 percent carbohydrate.
Finally, for 12 weeks they followed a diet where there was no restriction on calories but the proportions, again, were 30 percent protein, 20 percent fat and 50 percent carbohydrate.
Their appetite, caloric intake, body weight, and fat mass were measured throughout, and at the end of each phase blood samples were taken to measure insulin, leptin (the hormone responsible for hunger) and ghrelin (the satiety hormone).
Weigle’s team found that satiety was 'markedly increased' with the isocaloric diet but leptin was unchanged.
With the ad libitum high protein diet, the participants’ average spontaneous calorie intake decreased by between 376 and 504 per day, their body weight decreased by between 4.4 and 5.4 kg and their fat mass decreased by 3.3 to 4.1 kg. Leptin levels 'significantly decreased' during this phase and ghrelin increased.
As carbohydrate remained at 50 percent during all three phases, the effects of the ad libitum diet would appear to be due to the high protein intake.
Astrup cited other research indicating that the high protein content of weight loss approaches like the Atkin’s Diet and The South Beach Diet may actually be due to the satiating effects of their high protein content (30 to 40 percent of calories consumed) rather than the low-carbohydrate design.
As to the reason that protein is more satiating than fat, the mechanism has not yet been discovered. Weigle’s results did not conclusively show that either ghrelin or leptin have a role to play.
Despite not knowing what triggers the increased satiety response, should we recommend that obese and overweigh people increase their protein intake from 10 to 20 percent of calories to 20 to 30 percent?
The answer, according to Astrup, depends on “the potential adverse effects of a high protein diet”. But the Institute of Medicine has found no clear evidence that high protein intake increases the risk of renal stones, osteoporosis, cancer or cardiovascular disease, and sets the acceptable range of protein intake as between 10 and 35 percent of calories.
Conversely, obesity increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, arthritis, asthma and back problems.
The trouble is, many of the sources of protein in the American diet – such as red meat, cheese and whole milk – are also high in saturated fats. And saturated fats are known to raise LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol levels.
“It is preferable to replace sugars from soft drinks with protein from low fat milk, high-fat milk and dairy products with the lean versions, and possibly white bread and pasta with lean meat, without reducing the intakes of fruit, vegetables and whole-grain products,” said Astrup.
At present, 64 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, and 16 percent of children are obese.
According to a recent study in Health Affairs private spending on obesity-related health care increased tenfold between 1987 and 2002, from $3.6 to $36.5 billion.
“Perhaps now is the time to consider the economic and environmental consequences of increasing the population’s intake of protein,” concluded Astrup.
Certainly, the problem needs to be addressed. But whether protein could be the key to bringing the obesity epidemic to its knees, opinion is divided.
It seems unlikely that policy-makers will jump into bed with the likes of Atkins or South Beach unless protein’s satiety mechanism is first unlocked, and the tactic is proven to be safe – irrefutably so.

Comment: No divided opinion here... But while Atkins and SB are better than average weight loss programs, neither one compares to Healthpointe 2.0 . Learn how to restrict Carbs to about 15 - 20 Grams per meal and eat protein between meals and control weight forever.

The healthpointe 2.0 Program

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Having your low carb lifestyle and .... eating it too

I have recently added back into my regular diet 2 carbs that I missed very much. As most of you know I believe that 75% of Americans are Carbohydrate Intolerant, and therefore cannot eat most high Glycemic foods without developing Metabolic Syndrome. The foods I have added back are rice and bread. The bread I found that can be eaten in moderation is called Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread. It is 100% flourless, being made from 6 different grains and legumes that are made from organic sources and sprouted, then mashed and made into bread. It has a low Glycemic level, is very high in fiber and protein. I eat 2 slices a day, usually with eggs in the morning. I mention this today because I have been very disappointed with the bread and cereal manufacturers for advertising lately how the government has revised their Food Pyramid and now recommend Whole Grains for a healthy lifestyle. The new Pyramid recommends less grains than the last one did, and emphasizes Whole Grains more than before. While I disagree with there assessment, and know that food lobbyist's were behind their choices, what really makes me mad is how they try to sell white flour and refined cereals, as Whole Grain. Nothing could be further from the truth. I won't belabor this point here today, but I hate when food companies tell lies to sell their products, especially with the twist that it's healthy for you and a wise choice for healthy conscious people. Please, spare me. Anyway, the second food I added back in Rice, was based on research I have been doing that indicated that, a small amount of Wild Rice would complement a mostly meat and vegetable meal. Wild Rice is a grass that grows wild in streams and is native to North America. Before it is refined to the Brown and White products that most people eat, it is loaded with nutrition and very high in fiber. The only problem with Wild Rice is it takes so long to cook (about an hour) and needs to be washed and strained after cooking, and therefore is not very convenient to cook, for most busy people. I recently ran across a product at Trader Joe's that made this problem go away, and made Wild Rice, an instant success. It carries the Trader Joe's label, and it comes in a handy pouch that you put in boiling water for 5 minutes. It has no preservatives and is just precooked Wild Rice, packed only in water. I gave it a try and was very impressed.

Ezekiel Bread can be found at Raley's in the Natural Food Refrigeration section and at Trader Joe's as well. If you keep these foods down to a reasonable level, say 50 grams of total carbs for the day, they will not elevate your insulin levels significantly, they will add back some useful fiber and nutrients, and can add a bit of comfort to your diet, that only carbs seem to do so well.

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Two things you can do today to improve Type II Diabetes

Improve Heart Health in People with Type 2 Diabetes
By Maureen Williams, ND

Healthnotes Newswire (July 14, 2005)

When people with type 2 diabetes supplement with chromium, an electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement believed to indicate a reduced risk of heart disease improves, according to the American Heart Journal (2005;149:632–6).
Type 2 diabetes (sometimes called adult-onset diabetes) is a chronic disease marked by inability to control blood sugar (glucose) levels. Blood sugar regulation depends in large part on the hormone insulin, which stimulates the entry of glucose from the blood into the cells. In many people with type 2 diabetes, however, the cells are no longer sensitive to insulin, a state known as insulin resistance. In such people, both blood glucose and insulin levels are elevated, and high blood levels of glucose and insulin can damage many tissues of the body, including the blood vessels. Heart disease risk is greatly increased in people with type 2 diabetes and the degree of risk has been found to correlate closely with the QTc interval.
Chromium is an essential trace mineral that enhances the effect of insulin in the body, potentially decreasing insulin resistance. Many, though not all, studies have shown that supplementing with chromium improves blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.
An ECG measures the electrical impulses associated with the contraction and relaxation cycles of the heart muscles. A single cycle shows an ECG pattern of distinct changes that are named with the letters, P, Q, R, S, and T. The P wave reflects the contraction of the atria and the set of spikes and waves known as the QRST complex reflects the contraction of the ventricles. The duration of ventricular contraction, from initiation to relaxation, is measured by the length of the QRST complex and is known as the QTc interval. A number of studies have found that a long QTc interval is a strong risk factor for stroke, heart attack, and death.
The current research studied 50 people with type 2 diabetes who were managing their diabetes with diet alone and did not have evidence of serious complications such as heart or kidney failure. They were randomly assigned to receive either 1,000 mcg of chromium picolinate per day or placebo for three months. Each person then received the other treatment for a second three months. Physical exam, blood tests, and ECGs were performed at the beginning of the study, and after three and six months.
At the end of three months, insulin levels were significantly lower in the group using chromium than in the placebo group. The reduced insulin level was maintained in this group during the second three months of the study when they did not use chromium, suggesting that the effects of chromium supplementation persisted after treatment was stopped. The group that used chromium during the second three months had a similar drop in insulin levels by the end of the study. The QTc interval was also significantly shorter in the chromium group than in the placebo group at the end of the first three months. This reduction in QTc interval was maintained in the second three months, and the group that supplemented with chromium in the second three months had a similar reduction in the length of the QTc interval by the end of the study.
The results of this study show that supplementing with chromium can shorten the QTc interval in people with type 2 diabetes. This reduction in the length of the cardiac cycle is likely to indicate that the risk of heart disease has been reduced. Longer studies are needed to verify that chromium supplementation can have this benefit for people with high cardiac risk due to type 2 diabetes.
Maureen Williams, ND, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. She has a private practice in Quechee, VT, and does extensive work with traditional herbal medicine in Guatemala and Honduras. Dr. Williams is a regular contributor to Healthnotes Newswire.


White flour contains diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan:

You may want to think twice before eating your next sandwich on white bread. Studies show that alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour look "clean" and "beautiful," destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. That's right; you may be devastating your pancreas and putting yourself at risk for diabetes, all for the sake of eating "beautiful" flour. Is it worth it?
Scientists have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection for years; in fact, researchers who are studying diabetes commonly use the chemical to induce the disorder in Rats.
In the research sense, giving alloxan to an animal is similar to injecting that animal with a deadly virus, as both alloxan and the virus are being used specifically to cause illness. Every day, consumers ingest foods made with alloxan-contaminated flour. Would they just as willingly consume foods tainted with a deadly virus? Unless they had a death wish, they probably would not. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware of alloxan and its potentially fatal link to diabetes because these facts are not well publicized by the food industry.
How does alloxan cause diabetes? According to Dr. Hari Sharma's Freedom from Disease, the uric acid derivative initiates free radical damage to DNA in the beta cells of the pancreas, causing the cells to malfunction and die. When these beta cells fail to operate normally, they no longer produce enough insulin, or in other words, they cause one variety of adult-onset type 2 diabetes. Alloxan's harmful effects on the pancreas are so severe that the Textbook of Natural Medicine calls the chemical "a potent beta-cell toxin." However, even though the toxic effect of alloxan is common scientific knowledge in the research community, the FDA still allows companies to use it when processing foods we ingest.
The FDA and the white flour industry could counter-argue that, if alloxan were to cause diabetes, a higher proportion of Americans would be diabetic. After all, more consumers consume white flour on a regular basis than are actually diabetic. This point is valid, but it does not disprove the alloxan-diabetes connection. While alloxan is one cause of adult-onset type 2 diabetes, it is of course not the only cause. As the Textbook of Natural Medicine states, "current theory suggests an hereditary beta-cell predisposition to injury coupled with some defect in tissue regeneration capacity" may be a key cause. For alloxan to cause injury to an individual's beta cells, the individual must have the genetic susceptibility to injury. This is similar to the connection between high-cholesterol foods and heart disease. Eating high-cholesterol foods causes heart disease, especially in people who have family histories of heart disease. The link between alloxan and diabetes is as clear and solid as the link between cholesterol and heart disease.
If you've been eating white bread for years and you have a family history of diabetes, all hope is not lost for you. Studies show that you can reverse the effects of alloxan by supplementing your diet with vitamin E. According to Dr. Gary Null's Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, vitamin E effectively protected lab rats from the harmful effects of administered alloxan. Now, you're not a lab rat, but you're a mammal and vitamin E is definitely worth adding to your daily regimen of nutritional supplements, especially if you have a history of eating foods made with white flour and are at high risk for diabetes.
Even if you are already diabetic, some simple changes to your diet can help treat your diabetes. First of all, stop eating foods made with white flour. Even though you already have diabetes, vitamin E supplements can still help you, as can many common foods. Garlic, for example, does wonders for diabetes. As Dr. Benjamin Lau states in his book Garlic for Health, "When fed garlic, the rabbits' elevated blood sugar dropped almost as much as it did when they were given the antidiabetic drug tolbutamide. Researchers postulated that garlic may improve the insulin effect."
If you can't handle the taste of natural garlic, you can take it in widely available supplements. Aloe vera is a traditional diabetic remedy in the Arabian Peninsula, and its therapeutic characteristics are now gaining worldwide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes. According to both human and animal research studies, aloe vera lowers blood glucose levels by an unknown mechanism. According to the Clinicians Handbook of Natural Healing, this natural hypoglycemic effect extended over a period of 24 hours. Adding onions to your diet (along with the garlic) can also significantly reduce your blood sugar level. Additionally, as Dr. Michael T. Murray writes in The Healing Power of Herbs, studies show that ginseng controls glucose in both diabetic humans and diabetic laboratory animals.
It all comes down to asking if putting yourself at risk for diabetic coma, blindness, limb amputation and death is worth eating white bread. If you're willing to risk your quality of life and your life itself, then go ahead and eat all the foods made with white flour you want. However, if you want to stop poisoning yourself with alloxan, a known toxic chemical, then make a few simple dietary changes. Eat groceries made with whole-grain wheat flour, not processed white flour.

cw

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Study: Slow Walking May Be Best for Obese

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have good news for walkers: Strolling can help obese adults burn more calories per mile than brisk walking and might even lower the risk of arthritis and injuries to the joints than picking up the pace.
Restaurant consultant John Imbergamo drives to work but he takes time for a daily walk, either through Washington Park near his home or from his office to clients downtown.
"I end up walking a lot. It's easier than getting in my car and driving, especially downtown," said the 6-foot-1 Imbergamo, who at 280 pounds says walking is his main form of exercise. "Hopefully walking helps me keep my weight where it is."
Colorado doctoral student Ray Browning and his colleagues studied 20 men and women of normal weight and 20 considered obese as they walked set distances at different speeds. They found the obese people burned more calories walking at a slower pace for a longer time than walking at a faster speed.
It might be just the incentive needed for people turned off by the traditional advice to take at least five brisk walks, 30 minutes at a time, per week.
About 60 million Americans age 20 or older are considered obese, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Their health care costs amount to about $100 billion a year, according to the American Obesity Association.
Browning says vigorous exercise can decrease the risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses, but a slow walk can help people stay active while easing the stress on their joints. Obese adults are more at risk for knee osteoarthritis, which can cause painful stiffness.
"We're not at all advocating less physical activity, or less vigorous activity. We're just saying slow walking might be a way to burn a few extra calories a week," said Browning, a former professional triathlete.
Browning's team is trying to expand on the idea that walking at a more leisurely pace puts less stress on a person's lower body.
Another study is aimed at unlocking a surprise the Colorado researchers came across:
Previous research showed that a person of normal weight who tried to emulate an obese person by wearing leg weights and walking with a wider leg swing spent 50 percent to 100 percent more energy to walk. But in the latest study, the team found obese individuals spent only about 10 percent more energy than their lighter counterparts.
"Does someone with obesity walk differently than the way normal people walk? Do they do something to make it cheaper to walk? It appears they do something in the walking pattern to make it cheaper," Browning said, meaning they burn fewer calories.
His team guessed that obese people may walk with a straighter leg so the skeleton — rather than muscles — support their weight, or that they walk with shorter, faster steps. It could be a year or two to find an answer.
"People have speculated on whether differences in the cost of energy expenditure are a factor in weight gain. He's got a way to measure that now," said James Hill, head of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver.
If researchers can unlock the answer, they can find ways for people to spend more energy simply by walking — and sometimes by walking slowly.
"The message we need to give people is, get out and walk," said Hill, whose group America on the Move encourages walking and small cutbacks in calories to lose weight. "Any speed is fine. Some speeds are better than others, but get out and do it."
___
On the Net:
University of Colorado: http://www.colorado.edu
American Obesity Association: http://www.obesity.org

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Diabetes, obesity seen as accelerated aging

This study reported by the Life Extension Foundation - supports my own conclusions about a cluster of diseases that are really just symptoms of one big disease, Hyperinsulinemia or Metabolic Syndrome. The best way to treat this syndrome, unlike the authors conclusion, is to change the way you eat to a very low Glycemic, moderate protein diet like the one listed on my webpage www.cwiechert.com

Here is the report:

The July 2005 issue of the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (http://www.nature.com/nrd) published a review by Rory Curtis, Bard J Geesaman and Peter DiSefano of Elixir Pharmaceuticals that documents the links between the aging process and metabolic disease. The authors suggest that as an alternative to targeting individual diseases that occur with aging, aging itself can be targeted to treat its associated conditions.

The authors show that the regulation of aging and energy homeostasis share molecular pathways. Many of the genes recently discovered that can be manipulated to slow the aging process belong to pathways involved in the control of metabolism. Energy homeostasis dysregulation occurs during the aging process, when aged men and women experience a reduced ratio of lean to fat mass, and a redistribution of fat from subcutaneous to visceral areas that surround the internal organs located in the body’s trunk. This leads to decreased insulin sensitivity and increased serum insulin, which can result in the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Among younger individuals who have increased visceral fat mass there is a greater risk of the development of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, gallbladder disease, neurodegenerative disease, and a number of cancers, all of which are associated with aging.

Degree of obesity has been found to be inversely correlated with life expectancy. Calorie restriction, which has been the most successful means so far to extend the lifespan of numerous species, prevents obesity and has been demonstrated to postpone many signs of aging and protect against a number of age-related diseases. This life extending therapy also has been shown to affect genes involved in energy metabolism. Calorie restriction, as well as genetically manipulating the insulin receptor in fat cells, prevents visceral obesity and its consequent insulin resistance and elevated insulin levels, in addition to extending lifespan.

The authors believe that this knowledge will aid in the development of drugs that could not only treat diabetes, obesity and other metabolic conditions, but slow the aging process itself and extend lifespan. Professor of Molecular Biology John Kopchick, PhD, of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Konneker Research Center, Ohio University, commented, "The article by DiStefano et al. will stimulate a paradigm shift in our thinking about aging and age-related disorders. As pointed out by the authors, we are beginning to recognize that metabolic syndrome, in addition to being a precursor of serious diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, may be a sign of premature aging. For patients, this translates into the potential of a variety of novel drugs emerging from the science of aging, which then will be tested clinically in the treatment of metabolic diseases. What an exciting possibility!"

Here is the Life Extension Foundations conclusions, and I agree.

Protocol
Obesity

There are several hormones that impact how many ingested calories are stored as body fat. If any of these hormones are out of balance, a person can gain weight even though they may eat less food. One hormone that exerts a significant effect on hunger and fat storage is insulin.

Insulin is produced by beta cells in the pancreas mainly in response to high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Insulin enables the liver to store excess serum glucose. Insulin also stimulates the liver to form fatty acids that are transported to adipose cells and stored as fat. The net effect of insulin is the storage of carbohydrate, protein, and fat in the body.

A poor diet can induce the pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin. Aging people also experience metabolic disorders that cause the hypersecretion of insulin. Eventually the cells in the body become resistant to insulin (by decreasing the number of insulin receptors).

As cells become insulin resistant, the body stabilizes blood glucose by producing higher levels of insulin. The effect of high insulin production is weight gain. The long-term result is often Type II diabetes in which blood glucose levels become unstable even though insulin levels remain dangerously high.

As people accumulate excess body fat, they develop a chronic condition known as hyperinsulinemia, meaning the pancreas constantly secretes too much insulin and the body is unable to effectively utilize it.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

Supplement use associated with positive health status and health-related behaviors

Life Extension Magazine 07-03-05

A study published in the July 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition (http://www.nutrition.org/) found that nutritional supplement users in Britain have a greater number of positive health status indicators and health-related behaviors than men and women who don't use supplements.

Researchers at Cambridge University evaluated data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, a longitudinal study of 5,362 individuals born in Great Britain in 1946. Information from the year 1999 was used for the current study, during which the participants were 53 years old. Subjects were interviewed concerning alcohol consumption, physical activity, and smoking, and five day food diaries completed by the participants provided information on dietary and supplement intake. Waist circumference, height, weight, and blood pressure were ascertained during physical examinations, and blood samples were measured for cholesterol, folate, iron and vitamin B12.

Forty-five percent of the women and 25 percent of the men in the study reported using supplements. Women were more likely to consume multinutrient supplements, vitamin E, GLA and vitamin B6, while a greater percentage of men than women reported using fish oil supplements. Men who reported participating in vigorous exercise were 50 percent more likely, and women 60 percent more likely to be supplement users than those who did who did not report this level of exercise. Female nonsmokers were 50 percent more likely to use supplements than those who smoked. Women who used supplements also had a lower body mass index, lower waist circumference, and greater plasma folate and vitamin B12 status than those who did not report using supplements. Individuals with healthier diets that included cereals, fruit, yogurt, oily fish and olive oil were more often supplement users than those who did not consume these foods.

The results of the study show that there is a clustering of healthy behaviors and positive cardiovascular risk factors among some individuals, particularly women. It also shows that those who could benefit the most from supplements may be the least likely to use them.


Protocol
Cardiovascular disease

In the last 25 years, the incidence of coronary fatalities has decreased 33%. This is due largely to avoiding the traditional risk factors. Dr. Paul M. Ridker, M.D., M.P.H. (director of cardiovascular research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston), speculates that an auxiliary list of newer predictive factors may significantly increase the numbers benefiting from 21st century diagnostics and treatment (Ridker 1999a).

For the past 20 years, eclectic physicians have judged Syndrome X to be a powerful indicator of an eventual heart attack. For clarity, let it be understood that a syndrome represents clusters of symptoms. In Syndrome X, the symptoms are an inability to fully metabolize carbohydrates; hypertriglyceridemia; reduced HDL levels; smaller, denser LDL particles; increased blood pressure; visceral adiposity; disrupted coagulation factors; insulin resistance; hyperinsulinemia; and, often, increased levels of uric acid.

Omega-3 fatty acids help maintain flexible cell membranes (Igal et al. 1997). This is important, for healthy membranes contain large numbers of insulin receptors, increasing the surface areas available for insulin binding. This is extremely important in diabetes and Syndrome X.

A number of studies have shown the protective value of fish consumption in regard to averting coronary heart disease and the incidence of sudden cardiac death. For example, a recent study reported data collected from the Physicians' Health Study involving more than 22,000 men followed over a 17-year time frame. Researchers tested the blood of 94 male study volunteers who experienced an episode of sudden cardiac death (but in whom there was no prior history of heart disease) against 184 matched control study participants who did not experience a cardiac event.

On an average, men who died suddenly had lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Among the men with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood, there was a 72% reduction in the risk of sudden cardiac death when compared to the men with the lowest levels of these substances in their blood (Albert et al. 2002; Wascher 2002).

Comment: There is just too much proof at this point, that a high quality multi-vitamin with lots of anti-oxidants like Double X, and a separate fish oil supplement containing Omega 3 Fatty Acids, can not only improve your quality of life now, but can prevent or slow down the effects of aging and the progress of disease later.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.

NOT MILK

A new study links milk drinking with insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. The British Women's Heart and Health Study examined 4,024 British women aged 60-79. The metabolic syndrome was defined as including diabetes or prediabetic states, along with at least two of the following: obesity, hypertension, and lipid disorders (high triglycerides, low HDL). Those who avoided milk were about half as likely to have the metabolic syndrome, compared to milk drinkers: The age-adjusted odds ratio for the metabolic syndrome was 0.55 (95% CI, 0.33 – 0.94).
The researchers conclude that individuals who do not drink milk may be protected against insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome, but note that controlled trials are required to establish cause and effect.

Lawlor DA, Ebrahim S, Timpson N, Davey Smith G. Avoiding milk is associated with a reduced risk of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome: findings from the British Women's Heart and Health Study. Diabet Med. 2005;22:808-11.

Comment: Milk is high in lactose, a milk sugar that along with sucrose, fructose and glucose, are all associated with raising blood sugar levels and Hyperinsulinism. Milk is designed by nature to be used during the initial growth stages of mammals, and is not needed after weaning. If you do use dairy in your diet, use products that are slower sugar releasers like hard cheeses, low fat cottage cheese, whole or low fat yogurt and heavy cream and butter, which have little or no carbs. Prepared yogurt's with fruit added have huge amounts of sugars, including lactose, sugrose, fructose and high fructose corn syrup, which is the worst of all added sugars associated with Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity.

CW

Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. To be removed from this e-mail program, reply back and say unsubscribe.