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July 2007 vol. 12 no. 7

Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.
- Eddie Rickenbacker


Table of Contents:

Natural Defense Against Alzheimer’s Found

A research team of physicians and scientists at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has discovered naturally occurring antibodies in human blood that possibly defend against Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative illnesses. The antibodies zero in on specific types of proteins that are toxic to brain cells. The antibodies target masses of beta amyloid proteins called oligomers, while ignoring single-molecule forms of the very same proteins. These oligomers have the potential to grow into insoluble fibrils that cluster around brain cells, and are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Lead researcher Dr. Norman Relkin said the team has been testing Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG), which is an antibody-based immunotherapy, as a possible new treatment for Alzheimer’s. Laboratory studies confirmed that IVIG bound very little of the single-molecule protein (monomers) while it indeed bound up the aggregate form (oligomers).

The antibodies apparently recognize the aggregate form by its shape. That was a surprise, because most antibodies work by recognizing some aspect of the chemical structure of their target-not their shape, said study co-author Dr. Paul Szabo. That means that even though beta amyloid monomers and oligomers have the same fundamental chemical makeup, human anti-oligomer antibodies can distinguish between them. The antibodies recognize a particular shape that proteins assume only when they become these toxic aggregates.

Dr. Relkin said the antibodies can also recognize other unhealthy forms of proteins such as those associated with Parkinson’s, Lewy body dementia, and the human form of Mad Cow disease, as well as other illness-causing forms of proteins. While the scientific findings are clear, the relationship of the findings to actual benefits to patients requires much more study, the team concluded. However, experts say that this discovery is a big step forward in our understanding of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.


Post-Exercise Recovery Strategies

Now that winter has passed, the summer sun is finally here and the beach is calling, there is no greater time to take advantage of the outdoors and get into shape. A recent study reveals how to avoid post-exercise injuries and fatigue. Light, active exercises with minimal resistance may be the best post-exercise recovery strategy, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the Academy of Physical Education in Poland investigated the influence of different relaxation modes: stretching (ST), active recovery (AR) and passive recovery (PR) on muscle relaxation after dynamic exercise of the quadriceps femoris, a thigh muscle. In the study, 10 healthy male volunteers between 24 and 38 years of age performed three sets of dynamic leg exercises with 30 seconds of rest between sets. Immediately after completing the leg exercise, one of the relaxation methods was applied, in a randomized order (AR, PR, ST). Then, subjects performed isometric knee extension to the point of fatigue.

The study found that active recovery produced the most significant recovery. The study authors concluded that the most appropriate and effective recovery mode after dynamic muscle fatigue involves light, active exercises, such as cycling with minimal resistance. Spinning, or indoor group stationary cycling, may be a good option. It is a non-impact workout for people of all ages and fitness levels. Spinning may enhance cardiovascular fitness and improve muscle tone. Spinning works various muscle groups, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, hips and abdominal muscles.

Exercising on a regular basis may decrease the risk of developing many illnesses, such as heart disease. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the failure to exercise regularly is a significant precursor to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Exercising on a regular basis is one of the most inexpensive and easiest measures a person can take in order to reduce their risk and/or delay the onset of serious illnesses.

The American Heart Association recommends participating in at least thirty minutes of continuous activity for at least three times a week as a way to help keep blood pressure low and the American Cancer Association recommends exercise to keep cancer at bay.

Integrative therapies with good or unclear scientific evidence for the enhancement of exercise performance include creatine, acupressure, shiatsu, Alexander technique, astaxanthin, astragalus, bee pollen, bovine colostrum, choline, Coenzyme Q10, garcinia, ginkgo, ginseng, Hellerwork, kiwi, l-carnitine, massage, pantothenic acid, physical therapy, Qi gong, tai chi, thiamin, tribulus, vitamin D, yoga and zinc.

For more information on exercise and related activities, please visit Natural Standard’s Health & Wellness database.

To comment on this story, please click here to enter the Natural Standard blog.

References:
1) Mika A, Mika P, Fernhall B, et al. Comparison of recovery strategies on muscle performance after fatiguing exercise. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2007 Jun;86(6):474-81. View Abstract.
2) Natural Standard Research Collaboration: The Authority on Integrative Medicine.

www.naturalstandard.com. Copyright © 2007.


Viruses and Infections Cause Heart Attacks

A considerable amount of evidence indicates that atherosclerosis is caused by chronic inflammation, which often begins very early in life.

The dispute among experts is what causes the inflammation. One theory holds that bacteria and viruses may cause this inflammation. In addition, several studies have found a strong relationship between a common bacterium causing gum disease and atherosclerosis. In fact, the same bacterium has been cultured from the crud, or plaque, seen in arteries.

It is the battle between the bacteria/viruses and the immune system, which is in perpetual action to destroy the invaders, that begins the process of atherosclerosis.

When a bacterium or virus invades the body, the immune system sends in its special cells to kill the invaders. One team of special cells, macrophages, does this by releasing a burst of free radicals that destroy the germs long before cholesterol makes its appearance.

As with any infection, especially one that continues for decades, the body tries to seal off the infection. It does this by building a fibrous wall around the battle zone. Over time, this wall can also contain calcium deposits, and as this battle progresses, LDL cholesterol enters the injured blood vessel wall and oxidizes.

The oxidized LDL cholesterol becomes a very irritating substance, causing inflammation. White blood cells attempt to rid the body of the cholesterol by gobbling it up like a Pac-Man, but some of these cells become so stuffed with the oxidized cholesterol that they burst, adding to the inflammation.

Immune cells then secrete a number of caustic chemicals that cause intense inflammation.

Because the immune cells cannot rid the area of the microorganisms, the immune attack continues over decades.

Lead, mercury, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and fluoride can also cause the same set of inflammatory reactions in blood vessels.


Low testosterone linked to long-term risk of death in over-50s

The results of a study presented on June 5, 2007 at The Endocrine Society for publication in their ENDO 07 Research Summaries Book determined that men over 50 whose levels of the hormone testosterone are low had a greater risk of dying within an eighteen year period than men with higher levels.

University of California, San Diego School of Medicine chief of the Division of Epidemiology Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD and colleagues evaluated data from nearly 800 men aged 50 to 91 who enrolled in the Rancho Bernardo Heart and Chronic Disease Study in the 1970s. Twenty-nine percent of the participants had testosterone levels at the lower limit of the normal range for their age at the beginning of the 1980s. These men experienced a 33 percent greater risk of dying from any cause over the ensuing 18 years than men with higher levels. Participants with decreased testosterone had a greater incidence of elevated inflammatory cytokines, as well as greater waist girth and other metabolic syndrome risk factors.

“Conventional wisdom is that women live longer because estrogen is good and testosterone is bad,”Dr Barrett-Connor stated. “We don’t know. Maybe the decline in testosterone is healthy and comes with older age. Maybe the decline is bad and is associated with chronic diseases of aging.” “The new study is only the second report linking deficiency of this sex hormone with increased death from all causes, over time, and the first to do so in relatively healthy men who are living in the community,” announced coauthor Gail Laughlin, PhD, who presented the findings. “We have followed these men for an average of 18 years and our study strongly suggests that the association between testosterone levels and death is not simply due to some acute illness.”


Low Serum levels of Vitamins and Carotenoids in Individuals with a History of Attempted Suicide

In a study involving 6,680 subjects aged 17-39 years, results suggest an association between a history of attempted suicide and low serum levels of antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids. Serum vitamins and carotenoids were measured in participants. The subjects also completed a mental disorder diagnostic interview. The probability of low levels (serum levels below gender-specific first quartile of the population) of alpha-carotene was observed to be 45% higher for subjects with a history of attempted suicide than in subjects with no history of attempted suicide. Similarly, the probability of low levels of beta-cryptoxanthin and total carotenoids were more than two-fold for attempters than in non-attempters. Additionally, after adjusting for potential confounders, attempters showed significantly lower serum levels of beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and total carotenoids, compared to non-attempters. Thus, the authors of this study conclude, “A history of attempted suicide is associated with low levels of antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids. Clinical importance of low antioxidants in attempters and interventional opportunity warrant further examination.”

Reference:
“Serum concentrations of antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids are low in individuals with a history of attempted suicide,” Li Y, Zhang J, Nutr Neurosci, 2007; 10(1-2): 51-8. (Address: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. E-Mail: bvw2@cdc.gov ).


Finally Science Confirms the Secret Key to Weight Loss

There are over 200 million Americans who are overweight, and collectively they are carrying around an extra 5 BILLION pounds of excess fat.

What the Boston researchers specifically found was that those who secreted high insulin levels had a far more difficult time losing weight than those who secreted low levels of insulin. I am very grateful that these researchers produced this landmark confirmation of insulin truth. Unfortunately, they completely blew the interpretation of what they found. So let me help you sort through the researchers’ confusion.

Like most scientists they want to attribute the problem to your genes. They want you to believe that 200 million Americans are heavy because they have flawed genetics that make them hypersecrete insulin.

The reason 200 million Americans are overweight is not because of flawed genetics that cause them to make excessive insulin. Hypersecretion of insulin is an effect — NOT the cause. The reason 200 million are overweight is because they have impaired insulin receptor sensitivity.

Impaired Insulin Receptor Sensitivity

How do your insulin receptors stop working effectively?

Very simple.

This is a natural consequence that occurs when you don’t exercise and move the way you were designed to. Your body dynamically makes this adjustment because the receptors are not being used. This is very similar to what happens if you lie in bed for a few weeks; your muscles start to atrophy. Some have called this the “use it or lose it” phenomena.

So when your insulin receptors become desensitized the only way your body can adjust is to make MORE insulin. You become an insulin hypersecretor.

Why Is This Important?

Once your body releases insulin it immediately starts to inhibit your fat-burning hormone called hormone-sensitive lipase. This hormone is responsible for releasing fat into your bloodstream to be utilized as fuel. Once this enzyme is inhibited, your body is unable to burn fat and will then begin utilizing amino acids from your muscle and carbohydrates as fuel.

This will cause you to become abnormally hungry, which further feeds this vicious cycle. The key is to have LOW levels of insulin so your body can produce large amounts of hormone-sensitive lipase and burn fat all day so you can look thin and slim.

You might want to pick up the paper edition of this week’s Time magazine as the online version of How the World Eats only shows one of the pictures from Japan, which for the most part is really healthy food. No wonder they live over 80 years. They show a picture of a family from Chad, which is virtually no food, and then a picture of food for a typical U.S. family.

This is one of the most powerful graphic illustrations as to why the United States has an obesity epidemic. Nearly all of the U.S. food (over 90 percent) was highly processed junk food. Of course, if you shop at a grocery store you probably see this all the time. It is shocking what people are putting into their bodies.

Processed junk foods will absolutely impair your insulin receptor sensitivity.

So What Can You Do?

The bottom line is very simple here, folks. Keep your insulin levels low, very low. You can measure this with an inexpensive blood test that nearly any doctor can draw for you. Your level should be about 2 or 3. The way you lower it to these levels is by exercising, avoiding processed foods and refined carbs, and by eating the appropriate amounts of carbs for your nutritional type.

This is NOT rocket science. If you apply these simple principles you will see dramatic and remarkable improvements not only in your ability to achieve your ideal weight but also in just about every other chronic degenerative disease.

Personally, I think it is criminal malpractice that fasting insulin levels are not aggressively monitored in all cases of cancer and heart disease, because they are central to the causes of both of these diseases.

We hope to offer a weight loss coaching program later this year but in the meantime you can use krill oil and fucoTHIN to help support your weight loss efforts.

Time Magazine June 11, 2007
The Journal of the American Medical Association May 16, 2007; 297:2092-2102


Dairy Products Linked to Parkinsons Disease

A new study from the American Journal of Epidemiology shows that the consumption of dairy products is linked to an increased risk for Parkinson’s disease. Researchers investigated the association between dairy products and risk among 388 men and women diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease participating in the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II.

Results showed that as dairy product consumption increased, risk for Parkinson’s also increased.

Specifically, those who consumed the most dairy milk had a 70 percent greater risk for the disease.Chen H, O’Reilly E, McCullough ML, Rodriguez C, et al. Consumption of Dairy Products and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;165:998-1006.


Olive Oil Good as Ibuprofen?

Researchers have found that a chemical in extra-virgin olive oil has anti-inflammatory properties similar to those found in ibuprofen. Even though the chemical called oleocanthal has a different chemistry from the painkiller, its non-steroidal and anti-inflammatory effects are comparable to ibuprofen.

The discovery was made by Dr. Gary Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia when he tasted freshly pressed olive oil and realized the particular burning sensation he felt at the back of his throat was the same bitterness and burning he felt when testing liquid ibuprofen in cold medicines.

The moment I felt that burn, I saw the whole picture in my head, he told The New York Times.

There’s a natural analogue of ibuprofen in olive oil, and it could have anti-inflammatory properties, too.

Dr. Beauchamp found that the bitter substance in olive oil was a phenolic chemical which he and his fellow researchers named oleocanthal. Phenols are natural antioxidants which help keep the oil from becoming rancid.

Research showed that oleocanthal is even better than ibuprofen at hindering enzymes in the body that cause inflammation. Although the aromas and flavors of virgin olive oils vary from delicate and fleeting to bitter and peppery, the cough-provoking varieties have the most oleocanthal and thus carry the most powerful medicinal punch.

Researchers speculate that the oleocanthal in olive oils may be one reason that Mediterranean diets are so beneficial.


Omega-3 Reduces Blood Pressure: Study

A diet with liberal servings of fish, nuts and seeds rich in nutrients called omega-3 fatty acids can help lower a person’s blood pressure.

“A large percentage of people between ages 20 and 60 have a rise in blood pressure, and by middle age many have high blood pressure,” said Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, professor emeritus of preventive medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, who worked on the study.

“We’re looking at dietary factors that may help prevent that rise, and omega-3 fatty acids are a small, but important piece of the action,” Stamler said.

The study looked at diet and its relation to blood pressure in 4,680 men and women, ages 40 to 59, who lived in Japan, China, Britain and the United States.

They all provided in-depth details about their diets and alcohol consumption, gave urine samples and had their blood pressure measured twice at each of four study visits.

Researchers then adjusted for 17 variables known to influence blood pressure such as age, gender, weight, salt intake and exercise.

The people who ate diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids had slightly lower blood pressure, on average, than people who ate diets with less of the nutrient, the researchers reported in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation.

“With blood pressure, every millimeter counts. The effect of each nutrient is apparently small but independent, so together they can add up to a substantial impact on blood pressure,” said Dr. Hirotsugu Ueshima of Shiga University of Medical Science in Otsu, Japan.

“If you can reduce blood pressure a few millimeters from eating less salt, losing a few pounds, avoiding heavy drinking, eating more vegetables, whole grains and fruits (for their fiber, minerals, vegetable protein and other nutrients) and getting more omega-3 fatty acids, then you’ve made a big difference,” Ueshima said in a statement.

When it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, not all fish or nuts are equal. Fatty fish such as trout, salmon and mackerel are rich in this crucial group of nutrients.

Walnuts, flaxseed and canola oil are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids and people who got their omega-3s from these sources had just as much benefit as those who get them by eating fish, the study found.

Omega-3 fatty acid intake has also been linked to better brain development and a lower overall risk of cancer and heart disease.

© Reuters 2007.


Low Intake of Vitamin B-6 Is Associated with Increased Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Japanese Men

We investigated the association of dietary intakes of folate, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and methionine with the risk of colorectal cancer in a large prospective cohort study of middle-aged Japanese men and women. A total of 81,184 subjects (38,107 men and 43,077 women) who participated in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study were followed from 1995–1998 to the end of 2002, during which 526 cases of colorectal cancer (335 men, 191 women) were newly identified. Dietary intake of nutrients was calculated using a 138-item self-administered FFQ. We observed a significant inverse association between vitamin B-6 intake and colorectal cancer in men. Compared with the lowest quartile, the multivariate hazard ratio (95% [CI]) in the highest quartile of intake was 0.69 (0.48–0.98) (Ptrend = 0.03). Men who consumed 150 g/wk alcohol or more had twice the risk of colorectal cancer of those who drank less in the lowest quartile of vitamin B-6 intake, but risk due to alcohol intake was not higher in the highest quartile of vitamin B-6 intake.

Selected segments are reproduced from:
Dr. Mercola’s excellent website: http://www.mercola.com/index.htm
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine http://www.pcrm.org
Medaus News newsletter@medaus.com
Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/emailsub.cfm