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August 2009 No. 14 Vol. 8
” You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.
Ronald Reagan
Table of Contents
- Soy Decreases Cancer Risk for Men and Women
- Exercise Fights Fatty Liver Disease
- The Milk Myth: What Your Body Really Needs
- Multivitamins and Preserving Cell Tissue [Fountain of Youth?]
- Protect Your Over-Stressed Brain
Soy Decreases Cancer Risk for Men and Women
Soy intake reduces the risk of prostate cancer and breast cancer, according to two new papers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. An analysis of 14 studies showed that increased intake of soy resulted in a 26 percent reduction in prostate cancer risk. Researchers found a 30 percent risk reduction with consumption of non-fermented soy products such as soymilk and tofu.
The second paper, which studied almost 2,400 Asian-American women, found that those with the highest intakes of soy and vegetables had a decreased risk of breast cancer. Those with the highest intakes of meat and starches had a twofold increased risk. Researchers concluded that lower intakes of meat and starches and higher intakes of legumes and vegetables protect against breast cancer in Asian-American women.
Yan L, Spitznagel EL. Soy consumption and prostate cancer risk in men: a revisit of a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1155-1163.
Wu AH, Yu MC, Tseng C, Stanczyk FZ, Pike MC. Dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in Asian-American women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1145-1154.
Exercise Fights Fatty Liver Disease
Counseling patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease on how to increase physical activity leads to health benefits that are independent of changes in weight.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common form of chronic liver disease in developed countries. It is associated with obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and is characterized by elevated liver enzymes.
Currently, patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are encouraged to alter their lifestyles, but the focus has been on weight loss through dietary changes. But when patients were encouraged to be active for at least 150 minutes per week, they showed improvements in liver enzymes and other metabolic indices, which were not connected to weight loss.
Sources:
Eurekalert July 1, 2009
Hepatology July 2009 Volume 50 Issue 1, Pages 68-76
The Milk Myth: What Your Body Really Needs
A recent study claims that young adults are not drinking enough milk — at least according to press reports on the matter. But according to the study’s lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium.
The words “milk” and “calcium” are often used interchangeably in the popular press. But while milk is a calcium source, no standard other than that of the National Dairy Council considers it the best calcium source.
The suggestion that you need to drink three glasses of the secretion of a cow’s mammary glands in order to be healthy is a bit outrageous and doesn’t fit the human evolutionary profile. In fact, most humans around the world cannot easily digest cow milk.
Yogurt has more calcium than milk and is easier to digest. Collards and other greens also have about as much or more calcium than milk by the cup. Greens, unlike milk, have the added benefit of vitamin K, also necessary for strong bones. Sesame is also very high in calcium.
When you measure calcium by cup of food product, milk is high on the list. When you view it by calorie, though, milk is at the bottom. A hundred calories of turnip greens have over three times as much calcium as 100 calories of whole milk.
Sources:
Live Science June 24, 2009
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior July/August 2009; 41(4):254-60
Multivitamins and Preserving Cell Tissue [Fountain of Youth?]
According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adding multivitamins to your daily routine improves the biology of your cells-making these cells younger according to the study!
The study compared the length of DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, called “telomeres,” of those who took multivitamins and those who did not.
The length of the telomeres of those who took multivitamins was longer, which is thought to mean they were biologically younger than those of non-users.
The lifespan of cells is linked directly to telomeres, which act to limit the number of times a cell can divide.
The telomeres ensure that cells keep their programmed arrangement and do not vary, preserving cell health and preventing variations in the cell that can lead to cancer.
Every time a cell replicates itself, the telomeres shorten, and once the telomeres are used up, the cell destroys itself.
Researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found that the telomeres of those who take multivitamins every day seem to be about 5 percent longer than those who do not.
As their database, the researchers used telomere and vitamin statistics of 586 participants in the Sister Study, which is a national, long-term tracking study of women ages 35-74 who have never had breast cancer but who have a biological sister with the disease.
“Regular multivitamin users tend to follow a healthy lifestyle and have a higher intake of micronutrients, which sometimes makes it difficult to interpret epidemiologic observations on multivitamin use,” research leader Dr. Honglei Chen wrote in the study report. “Further investigations would be needed to understand the role of multivitamin use and telomere length and its implication in the etiology of chronic diseases.”
About 35 percent of all adults in the United States take multivitamins regularly, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 89, No. 6, June 2009, p. 1857-63
Protect Your Over-Stressed BrainDr. Joseph Blaylock
It is an accepted fact that humans live in a stressed-out world. One study showed that 75 percent of the people surveyed felt severe stress at least once a week. You, like most people, probably experience stress on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
Stress of any kind directly affects your brain. It can actually cause cells in your brain to shrink and die! Studies show that stress of any type dramatically increases free radical and lipid peroxidation damage to a number of areas in the brain, especially the hippocampus. Over time, this damage can produce severe problems with learning, memory, muscle strength- and it can even set the stage for serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. To find out more about stress and how stress endured even as children can affect us, go here for my report “Anxiety, Panic Disorder & Migraines: Fight Back Using Nature’s Elixirs.”
A recent study found that acute stress activated the brain’s protective antioxidant enzymes -such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase -but that chronic stress could exhaust this protection, leaving the brain vulnerable to harm. Several studies have shown that antioxidants can protect the brain from the harmful stress-induced effects.
It is important to understand that our diet should supply us with all the antioxidants and building material for antioxidant enzymes. If we’re not getting those, we need to add some supplements.
Most important are:
Vitamin C (as magnesium or calcium Ascorbate)
Vitamin E
Multivitamin/mineral without iron June 2006
Riboflavin
Curcumin
Quercetin
Fish oil
Additionally, regular moderately strenuous exercise is important. Many studies show that it strengthens the antioxidant systems and releases endorphins (a morphine-like compound) from the brain, which calms the mood and reduces depression. However, excessive exercise will increase free radicals and can be harmful. Also, exercising in the late evening can cause insomnia.
Faith is also extremely important. A study at the University Of Mississippi School Of Medicine found that African-Americans deeply engaged in their religion experienced significantly lower blood pressure than those who weren’t involved regularly in religious activities. A strong belief in God can remove a lot of stress.
www.pcrm.org www.mercola.com