Health Advice/Discussion

Wynter wrote:

Musa's a rebel. :hehe: :smitten:

Actually the ppl who would follow those dietary recommendations are more the rebel if you think about it ;)

Key vitamin deficiency linked to tripled risk of dementia: study

Lack of folate, also called vitamin B-9, may triple the risk of developing dementia in old age, according to a study published Tuesday.

Researchers in South Korea measured naturally occurring folate levels in 518 elderly persons, none of whom showed any signs of dementia, and then tracked their development over 2.4 years.

At the end of the period, 45 of the patients had developed dementia, including 34 diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, said the study, published by the British Medical Association's Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

When the researchers, led by Jin-Sang Yoon of Chonnam National University in Kwangju, South Korea, remeasured folate levels, they uncovered a strong link with the dementia.

Even after other factors were taken into account -- including age, disability, alcohol consumption, weight change -- "the onset of dementia was significantly associated with an exaggerated decline in folate," the researchers concluded.

Folate and folic acid, another form of the compound, are essential for the creation of new cells in the body.

The compound occurs naturally in leafy vegetables such as spinach, turnip greens, lettuces, dried beans and peas and in certain fruits.

An study published last year in The Lancet showed an improvement in short-term memory, mental agility and verbal fluency among persons over 50 who took a daily dose of 800 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid. The US recommended daily dose is 400 mcg.

Taking folic acid before conception and throughout the first trimester helps a mother ensure that her child will not develop certain brain and spinal cord defects, including spina bifida, according to previous research.

(From: Yahoo.com/news)

Enna wrote:Key vitamin deficiency linked to tripled risk of dementia: study

Oh snap, cool for a first post in a while! I don't doubt the veracity of this news at all. Funny thing is if the this research came out in America...they might say vitamins are bunk don't take them...keep eating the same slop you do ever day so we, the medical industry, can pump you with more drugs...because we all know drugs are everything and vitamins are nothing.

Yup. Keep eating burger king and popping pills. :shakehead: You have to make sure you don't take too much vitamins too. Too much is almost as bad as not enough.

I know a few people lacking vitamin B-9. I'll forward the study. :hehe:

I just had some peas for dinner - I guess I am good for today :mrgreen:

Enna wrote:The compound occurs naturally in leafy vegetables such as spinach, turnip greens, lettuces, dried beans and peas and in certain fruits.

Yay for my daily big salads! :beaten: :victory:

Enna wrote:Key vitamin deficiency linked to tripled risk of dementia: study

This dovetails with the study quoted in your article:

Fruit and veg juice may reduce Alzheimer's risk

By Stephen Daniells

31/08/2006- Drinking three glasses of fruit or vegetable juice a week could cut the risk of Alzheimer's disease by a whopping 75 per cent, according to a population based study from the US.
The results suggest that it is not the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins C, E and beta-carotene) but the antioxidant polyphenols that are behind the effects.
"These findings are new and suggest that fruit and vegetable juices may play an important role in delaying the onset of Alzheimer's disease," wrote lead author Qi Dai in The American Journal of Medicine (Vol. 119, pp. 751-759).

"These results may lead to a new avenue of inquiry in the prevention of Alzheimer's," wrote Qi.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide. The direct and indirect cost of Alzheimer care is over $100 bn (€ 81 bn) in the US alone. The direct cost of Alzheimer care in the UK was estimated at £15 bn (€ 22 bn).

Although the mechanism of Alzheimer's is not clear, more support is gathering for the build-up of plaque from beta-amyloid deposits. The deposits are associated with an increase in brain cell damage and death from oxidative stress.

It is against the oxidative stress that the polyphenols appear to offer protection.

The researchers followed 1,836 dementia-free Japanese American subjects (average age 72, 54 per cent women) in the Seattle population and collected information on their dietary consumption of fruit and vegetable juices by using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Cognitive function was assessed every two years for up to 10 years.

People drinking juices three or more times per week were reported to be 76 per cent less likely to develop signs of Alzheimer's disease than those who drank less than one serving per week, said the researchers. This was after taking into account dietary intake of vitamins E, C and beta-carotene.

"These [results] identify the possibility that other underlying beneficial elements in fruits and vegetables may contribute to Alzheimer's disease risk reduction," wrote Dai from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

"Also, animal studies and cell culture studies confirmed that some polyphenols from juices showed a stronger neuroprotective effect than antioxidant vitamins. So we are now looking at polyphenols," Dai said.

The benefit of the juice consumption also appeared enhanced in subjects who carried the apolipoprotein E epsilon-4 allele, a genetic marker linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease - the most common form of the disease, which typically occurs after the age of 65.

Interestingly, no relationship between tea drinking and Alzheimer's risk was observed, a result that goes against previous studies that reported significant risk reductions with drinking tea (for example, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, pp. 355-361).

A limitation of the study, and an avenue of research for the future, is the lack of data on specific juice types.

"We don't know if it is a specific type of juice (that reduces risk). That information was not collected in the current study," said Dai. "But we can use plasma to narrow down the kinds of juices."

The next step, therefore, is to test the subjects' blood samples to see if elevated levels of polyphenols are linked to the reduced risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, and may point to the types of juice that would be most beneficial.

The researchers sounded a note of caution, however, by stating that future studies are needed to confirm or refute these findings, and that the general public should not "jump the gun" regarding the value of juice as a preventive measure for Alzheimer's disease.

Harriet Millward, deputy chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust told NutraIngredients.com that previous research has reported mixed results with some suggesting that the benefits of fruit and vegetables were short lived.

"But this is a long term study following a relatively large group of people," she said.

"Many scientists believe there is a link between the release of free radicals within the body and early changes to brain cells in people who ultimately go on to develop Alzheimer's disease. Since fruit and vegetable juices are rich in antioxidants which 'mop up' free radicals, this interesting piece of research adds weight to this theory.

"Diet almost certainly plays a part in every person's Alzheimer's risk - and diet is a magnet for research because it could offer a relatively inexpensive way to fight a disease that ruins countless lives and costs the NHS more than cancer, stroke and heart disease put together.

"The Alzheimer's Research Trust funds dietary research looking at everything from oily fish to soya, but much more work is needed before we can say an apple juice a day keeps the doctor away," she said.

Tu_triky wrote:Fruit and veg juice may reduce Alzheimer's risk

Problem is, most vegetable juices have tons of sodium. :sweat:

At least V8 does.

bmwracer wrote:
Problem is, most vegetable juices have tons of sodium. :sweat:

At least V8 does.

I drink the Low Sodium V8. It cuts the sodium by a lot and in comparison to other vegi drinks.

bmwracer wrote:
Problem is, most vegetable juices have tons of sodium. :sweat:

At least V8 does.

That processed shiet does...not the real, live juices....that you actually juice....even celery that's high in organic sodium is good for you....it actually seeks out and displaces the inorganic sodium (i.e. table salt, sodium chloride) that f*cks up your cells....

Vegetable juice is actually loaded with potassium and magnesium more so then sodium...and those electrolytes are actually antagonists of sodium and help to wash away excess sodium from the body.

uhno wrote:I drink the Low Sodium V8. It cuts the sodium by a lot and in comparison to other vegi drinks.

I'd rather just eat the vegetables rather than drink something that's been processed to death... :sweat:

uhno wrote:

I drink the Low Sodium V8. It cuts the sodium by a lot and in comparison to other vegi drinks.

Yeah because those fools ADD sodium to the juice...those canned juices aren't that good for you anyway, in comparison to fresh juices...they have no enzymes at all b/c they are pasteurized.

bmwracer wrote:
I'd rather just eat the vegetables rather than drink something that's been processed to death... :sweat:

see my comment to uhno...trust me...if it's between V8 and fresh veggies...there's no comparison. you stick to what you're doing.

but reading the article for what it's worth...3 juices A WEEK...that ain't shiet...amazing that so little fresh vegetable juice can have such a staggering effect on your health in terms of reducing your risk.

Tu_triky wrote:Vegetable juice is actually loaded with potassium and magnesium more so then sodium...and those electrolytes are actually antagonists of sodium and help to wash away excess sodium from the body.

Yeah, I've read that about potassium and magnesium and why I'm eating several bananas a day.

Though, I think my arms are getting longer. :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:
Yeah, I've read that about potassium and magnesium and why I'm eating several bananas a day.

Yeah potassium and magnesium both relaxes the muscles and arteries, so it's good to load up on them...chronic or acute pain conditions can often be helped by both minerals....most of us are sorely deficient in both.
I've read two reallly well researched books on magnesium...it has so many important facets to it in regards to health.

Though, I think my arms are getting longer. :beaten:

:lol: funny!

Tu_triky wrote::lol: funny!

Maybe to you: my knuckles are raw from them scraping the ground... :beaten:

From Yahoo! News:

Fast-food binge harms liver, but boosts good cholesterol: study

by Marlowe Hood

A month-long diet of fast food and no exercise led to dangerously high levels of enzymes linked to liver damage, in an unusual experiment inspired by the docu-movie "Supersize Me."

But investigators, reporting their findings on Thursday, were also stunned to find that a relentless regimen of burgers, fries and soda also boosted so-called good cholesterol, seen as a key measure of cardiovascular health.

Researchers in Sweden asked 12 men and six women in their twenties, all slim and in good health, to eat two meals per day at McDonalds, Burger King or other fast-food restaurants over four weeks.

The volunteers were also told to refrain from exercising. The goal was to increase body weight by 10 to 15 percent to measure the impact of an abrupt surge in calorie intake.

Blood samples were taken before, during and after the experiment to monitor levels of an enzyme called alanine aminotransferase, or ALT, a potential marker for liver damage often seen among heavy drinkers and patients with hepatitis C.

Levels of ALT increased sharply after only one week, and quadrupled on average over the entire period, said lead researcher Frederik Nystrom, a doctor at the University Hospital of Linkoping.

"The results scared me," he told AFP. "One of the subjects had to be withdrawn from the study because he had 10 times the normal ALT levels."

For 11 of the 18 subjects, ALT rose to levels that would normally reflect liver damage, even among individuals who did not drink any alcohol, although no such damage occurred, he said.

Two of the individuals had liver steatosis, or fatty liver, in which fat cells build up dangerously in the liver, he said. Steatosis is associated with the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, which has taken on epidemic proportions, especially in industrialised countries.

Published in the British Medical Association's journal Gut, the study "proves that high ALT levels can be caused by food alone," said Nystrom.

That signs of liver damage were linked to carbohydrates was another key finding, he said.

"It was not the fat in the hamburgers, it was rather the sugar in the coke," he said.

But the most startling result implies that an intensive fast food diet might have some health benefits too, apparently from fat.

"We found that healthy HDL cholesterol actually increased over the four-week period -- this was very counter-intuitive," Nystrom said.

HDL, sometimes called "good cholesterol," seems to clean the walls of blood vessels, removing excess "bad cholesterol" that can cause coronary artery disease and transporting it to the liver for processing.

Nystrom has yet to publish the cholesterol findings, but said they were consistent with the so-called "French Paradox."

For nearly two decades, scientists have wrestled to explain how the French can consume a diet rich in fats -- from abundant butter, cream, cheese and meat -- yet have generally low levels of heart disease and hypertension.

"The study showed that the increase in saturated fat correlated with the increase in healthy cholesterol," he said.

The young Swedish guinea pigs ate at least two fast-food meals a day, and terminated the study once they had gained a maximum of 15 percent in weight.

On average, they tipped the scales 6.5 kilos (14.3 pounds) more, but one ballooned by 12 kilos (26.4 pounds).

Nystrom got the idea for his study from the 2004 Oscar-nominated documentary "Supersize Me," in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock asked doctors to monitor him over a 30-day period in which he ate at McDonalds morning, noon and night.

Doctors were so alarmed by changes in his blood chemistry -- including skyrocketing levels of ALT -- that they begged him to halt his experiment.

"I wasn't just inspired by the movie, I copied it to the best of my ability," said Nystrom.

The movie helped spur a change of tack by fast-food corporations to include healthier options on their menus.

im going to print this out and show it to my mom... then she can stop b!tching about my belly... :hehe:

From the L.A. Times:

A heart to heart on oat benefits
By Susan Bowerman
Special to The Times

February 18, 2008

Remember the oat bran craze? In the late 1980s, several published studies touting the benefits of oat bran for lowering cholesterol had health professionals singing its praises.

Food companies were only too happy to accommodate the newfound demand, trotting out oat bran garlic bread, oat bran muffins, oat bran animal cookies, oat bran brownies, even oat bran-dusted potato chips and doughnuts.

Research in the 1980s focused mostly on the effects of the bran, but over time, the focus shifted to the benefits of whole oats. And by 1997, the cholesterol-lowering evidence for oats was so strong that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first "food-specific claim," permitting labels of oat-rich products to bear a statement that eating oats and oat-based foods reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease. (Up until then, only nutrient-specific claims -- such as for reduced fat or salt -- had been given FDA approval.)

Findings on food and health sometimes swing back and forth like a pendulum. But in the 10 years since that claim was allowed, continued research into the reported benefits of oats has verified the link and offered new insights into how oats help the heart.

Regular oatmeal consumption lowers total cholesterol as well as "bad" -- LDL -- cholesterol, with no adverse effects on the "good" -- HDL cholesterol. It also has the potential to reduce inflammation, one of the first steps in the development of atherosclerosis.

Most studies point to beta-glucan -- the soluble fiber in oat bran that gives cooked oats their gluey texture -- as the likely active agent in cholesterol reduction. Part of the mechanism has to do with bile, a cholesterol-rich fluid that helps the body digest fats. Beta-glucan increases the excretion of bile from the gall bladder into the small intestine. This, in turn, stimulates the body to produce more bile -- pulling cholesterol out of the blood to do so.

Whole oats also contain polyphenols, a class of antioxidant compounds found in all kinds of plant foods (including berries, tea, wine and chocolate) that may play an additional role in keeping the heart healthy. Avenanthramides, polyphenols unique to oats, have been shown -- at least in a cell culture dish -- to interfere with inflammation, a key step in the development of arterial plaque.

In one 2004 study, aortic cells were pre-treated with avenanthramides and then exposed to interleukin-1 beta, a substance known to stimulate inflammation. The avenanthramide mixture greatly reduced inflammation as well as the production of molecules normally produced in the early stages of plaque formation.

The amount of avenanthramides used in the study was much more than what one would obtain in a bowl of oats, but the study does help explain how polyphenols in oats may bring about their effects.

Weight loss lowers cholesterol too -- but oats plus weight loss seem to do it even better. Two trials have shown that when oats or oat bran are incorporated into a calorie-restricted regimen, total cholesterol and LDL levels drop an additional 4% to 12% beyond what is seen in subjects who lose similar amounts of weight on an oat-free plan.

In a recent review in which data from several studies were pooled, two daily servings of oats (each serving is about an ounce) dropped cholesterol levels about 8 points on average, and LDL cholesterol levels by about 7 points.

Americans eat, on average, about 2 1/2 pounds -- 40 ounces -- of oats per year, or less than 1 ounce per week. This pales in comparison with the nearly 95 pounds of wheat we consume, most of it refined.

If you want to add oats to your diet, basic breakfast oatmeal is the best way to start -- you can choose from various types. Steel-cut oats (chopped whole oat groats with only the tough outer husk removed) are 100% whole grain, as are old-fashioned rolled oats in which the groats have been steamed, rolled and flaked.

Quick oats (thinner flakes that cook in only a minute or two) are 100% whole grain, too. And even though instant oatmeal doesn't qualify for the 100% whole grain moniker because it typically has salt and flavoring added, it can still provide nearly the same amount of healthful soluble fiber.

Sugary granola bars and cereal bars might contain some whole grain oats but won't provide even close to a serving.

If you still prefer oat bran, consider adding it to your whole grain oat cereal in the morning, since science tells us bran is only part of the oat story. As with all other plant foods, the complex mixture in the whole food offers much more than its individual parts. But it's unlikely we'll see a "whole oat" craze any time soon.

Originally published February 19 2008

Green Tea Nutrient EGCG Blocks Diabetes-Promoting Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup
by David Gutierrez

(NaturalNews) While new research suggests that beverages containing high fructose corn syrup may increase a person's risk of contracting diabetes, the same study has also found evidence that a chemical in tea vastly counterbalances the cell-damaging effect of the sweetener.

Researchers discovered that beverages made with high fructose corn syrup contain high levels of reactive carbonyls, a free radical linked to tissue damage, the development of diabetes, and the occurrence of diabetes complications. When they added a chemical naturally occurring in tea to the beverages, however, the levels of reactive carbonyls drastically decreased.

The compound in question is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which was found to decrease reactive carbonyls in a dose-dependent manner -- meaning that the more EGCG added, the lower the levels of reactive carbonyls in the final beverage.

The researchers also discovered that tea beverages sweetened with high fructose corn syrup contained lower levels of reactive carbonyls than other beverages that used the same sweetener, suggesting that EGCG does not need to be chemically isolated to produce a reactive carbonyl-reducing effect.

Among beverages containing high fructose corn syrup, the highest levels of reactive carbonyls were found in carbonated beverages. Non-carbonated fruit juices contained only one third the reactive carbonyls, while non-carbonated tea beverages contained one sixth.

Because the test was conducted in a laboratory setting, it is not known if tea has a similar effect in the body, or if it only reduces the concentration of free radicals when mixed with another beverage.

As new purported health benefits to teas, and green tea in particular, have emerged, sales of green tea have surged in the United States, increasing by more than 35 percent over a five-year period. Sales increased from $119 million in 2001 to $160 million in 2006.

Tea has been consumed for more than 5,000 years in India and East Asia, and has traditionally been used for a variety of medicinal purposes.


NaturalNews.com