MEASURED CONCENTRATIONS IN FOOD PRODUCT SUGAR (08-24-09)
Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar
We all have an idea that high fructose corn syrup is bad for us, despite what the commercials and the government tells us. It’s a caloric source with absolutely no nutrition whatsoever–the exact antithesis of what promotes longevity. So that’s bad enough. What if you knew this wonderful substance was also loaded with mercury? Yup. Many patients have asked me how it gets there. Well…HFCS is not actually a natural product, believe it or not. The process may involve corn, but that’s where the relationship ends. It requires a pretty elaborate process that involves an alkali procedure that uses mercury.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF COFFEE CONSUMPTION WITH MORTALITY (05-04-09)
While the idea of a protective mechanism of coffee on chronic disease is not a big surprise given the low calorie and high polyphenol content, the risk reductions for all cause mortality were a little higher than I would have expected and demonstrated somewhat of a parabolic curve, with higher intakes have less protection. In men, greater than 6 cups / day led to a large 20% reduction in death. In women, 4-5 cups / day led to an 26% reduction, while greater than 6 cups / day led to a reduced (but still great) 17% reduction. These are pretty large numbers for something that had been viewed as detrimental for many years. So much for dogma.
AN EARLY DEATH CAN BE PREVENTED EASILY
AN EARLY DEATH CAN BE PREVENTED EASILY… We all know that taking better care of ourselves can have some payback, but few realize just how much.
This study looked at 4 behaviors: smoking, <3 fruits / veggies per day, <2 hours exercise per wk, heavier consumption of alcohol. Keep in mind that these are paltry recommendations. The bare minimum. If you can’t follow these, just hang it up now and contact a pre-need burial service. The results for those who did not meet any of the 4 criteria? 3.5 times the risk of dying. These patients were essentially 12 years older physiologically.
So despite the mistaken notion that “grandpa lived to be 112 and smoke and drank Jack all day so what’s the point of taken better care of myself…” the vast majority of us are susceptible to what we do to our bodies. Your choice. Take care of yourself or play the mortality lotto.
SURGERY? THIS MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE
While having surgery is always a last option, there is a time and place for most surgical procedures. If someone has tried everything and surgery is the only option remaining, we need to consider what can be done to improve the outcome.
With this particular recommendation, however, the audience is far more extensive then just surgical patients and likely extends to anyone owning a human physiology.
You see, one of the most powerful tools for avoiding chronic disease and increasing longevity is calorie restriction without nutrient restriction. This is the ONLY approach in the medical literature that has been shown to extend lifespan consistently in mammals. This means that your 1200 calories / day comes from broccoli, not a Big Mac Value Meal.
Most of the research suggests that the reason this approach is effective is because it increases both the number and the efficiency of our mitochondria. (If you’re scratching your head trying to remember what that dust covered snippet in the back of your brain from high school biology is–the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell–they produce energy for the cell) The better our mitochondrial health and our cells’ ability to produce energy is, the healthier we are. In other words, death begins with poor mitochondrial function.
This may be why we’ve seen insulin-dependent diabetics off their insulin in one week with a very low calorie diet. This is powerful stuff. There are some who think that calorie restriction may be a very powerful adjunct to chemotherapy because normal cells will respond to the calorie restriction by protecting themselves, but the cancerous cells won’t, leaving them more susecptible to the chemo. Pretty cool, huh? (And also why “Boost” is arguably the absolute most toxic thing you could give to a cancer patient….)
So, what does this have to do with surgery?
This particular study looks at hypocaloric parenteral nutrition and it’s effect on surgical outcomes. Parenteral nutrition is nutrition that is put directly into the body via IV (as opposed to enteral nutrition, which is pumped directly into the stomach via a PEG tube). Granted, if someone is on parenteral nutrition already, there are some serious health problems. So what did the researchers find?
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Complications related to infections dropped 40% (in larger trials, this number plummeted to 79%)
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Length of hospitalization was 2.49 days less, 95%CI −3.88 to −1.11, P = 0.0004; I2 = 48%)
This is powerful stuff. But do you notice that we didn’t GIVE anything. Not a drug. Not a vegetable. Not an herb. All that was done was a lowering of the calories in.
As mentioned, this review looked at patients undergoing surgery. Can we make a jump and hypothesize that calorie restriction without nutrient restriction may lower rates of infections and improve health in non-surgical patients? I think, based on the overwhelming evidence, that the answer is a clear yes.
SOURCES OF POWERHOUSES FOR HELPING FIGHT CANCER
Fighting cancer. We all hear the veggies are good for us, but our knowledge is much more specific. There are compounds in cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radishes, etc..) known as I-3-C & DIM that are know to be powerhouses for helping fight cancer.
This article delves deeper into this, finding that these compounds stop new blood vessel formation. Tumors HAVE to have more blood flow to feed their voracious hungers. Stop that, and you stop tumors. A big problem here is that anyone with digestive problems or on acid-blocking drugs may not convert I-3-C to DIM, and thus not get the cancer preventing compounds from their food.
WANT TO LIVE 15 YEARS LONGER?
Certainly if these years were spent in a nursing home having to be wheeled around in a wheelchair the answer for most of us would be “no.” But what about an extra 15 years of life traveling, spending time with grandkids and playing golf and tennis?
There is absolutely no doubt that the way we take care of ourselves has everything to do with how we age. Anyone who falls back on the old “Uncle Jerry smoked and drank Jim Bean until he died in a brothel at 103″ is deluding themselves into thinking that THEY won the genetic lottery and can abuse their genes as much as they like.
This particular study just confirms this further and quantifies the benefits a little more. Basically, participants were given a score based on 4 factors: adherence to a Mediterranean diet, nonsmoking, normal weight [BMI (in kg/m2): 18.5 to <25], and regular physical activity.
Those women with the lowest scores had 4 TIMES the risk of dying in the next decade compared to those with the highest scores. In men the number was 2.6 times higher. This translated into 15 more years of life in women and 8.4 years in men. THAT, readers, is a lot of life to live.
These aren’t difficult guidelines to adhere to. Non smoking is a no brainer and no one today would look you in the eye and tell you they’re improving their health by smoking. Regular physical activity. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is something most people find very pleasant and compliance is high because of this. And, the Med diet, when combined with calorie restriction, will likely aid in maintaining an ideal body weight.
So if you’re not there, are you willing to make these changes for 15 more years of life??? If you are NOT, then how do you value your own life and happiness when it’s not worth some simple changes?
A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH IN A PILL?
Subscribe to any internet supplement website or senior oriented publication and you will have your fair share of “articles” and advertisements on supplements that will reportedly turn back the hands of time. There is only surefire approach documented in the medical literature to extend lifespan in mammals.
Calorie restriction without nutrient restriction is, without a doubt, the most powerful tool to slow again. But by what method does this occur? Most of the evidence suggests that this approach increases the efficiency and number of the mitochondria in our cells. Regular readers know that the mitochondria, the little tiny factories inside of cells that generate ATP energy for the cell, are my favorite organelles and that I believe that preservation and support of the mitochondria is the holy grail of longevity.
Short of calorie restriction without nutrient restriction, there are many other ways to support the health and number of our mitochondria. One such method is to increase the body’s production of an antioxidant called glutathione.
Glutathione not only acts as an antioxidant, but also supports the detoxification of many of the heavy metals that enter our system. Taken orally, glutathione is not well absorbed, although in the form of reduced glutathione, it has been shown to increase levels of glutathione in the cells.
Another method is to increase the intake of the precursors that the body uses to make glutathione. The amino acids cysteine and glycine are known to do this. This particular study takes this concept further.
The authors evaluated the levels of glutathione in the red blood cells of elderly and young subjects and found that the elderly subjects had much lower levels of glutathione, lower levels of the precursors cysteine and glycine in addition to higher levels of oxidative stress (as measured by F2-isoprostanes).
After 2 weeks of supplementation with cysteine and glycine, the elderly subjects had almost double the levels of glutathione in their red blood cells and the cells’ production of glutathione increased by 230%, all in the context of lower levels of oxidative stress. Certainly a good thing.
So what does this mean? In our office we recommend a drink mix that is not only high in phytonutrients to protect our cells, but has whey protein. Whey protein is high in cysteine and has been shown to increase intracellular glutathione levels. We feel that the combination of these two aspects into a drink mix is a great combination to offer our patients.
SIMPLE ACTION TO CONTROL APPETITE AND AVOID DIABETES
While many prediabetics and diabetics have a long list of lifestyle changes to make (otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are at…), they all need to start somewhere. Many of these changes can be very simple and basic.
Avoiding BPA in plastic water bottles and switching to unsweetened tea. Avoiding ALL artificial sweeteners. Starting a combination of resistance and aerobic exercise (as little as 5 mins per day!). But how about chewing more?
This is not the first time that we’ve seen a study with some very powerful effects from merely chewing more. A study maybe a year ago called “Mastication of Almonds” showed strong effects on the hormone release of GLP-1. This is the pathway effected by some of the more powerful diabetic drugs on the market now like Januvia and Byetta.
In this study, the increase in chews from 15 to 40 had massive effects. 12% lower caloric intake. Better ghrelin, GLP-1 and CCK (a hormone related to gallbladder function) release. Interestingly, the obese subjects in this study took the same size bites as the lean subjects, but they had a higher ingestion rate and chewed less times.
With at least two studies confirming the benefits of slowing down and chewing less, and given the relative safety (can’t really think of any downsides, other than looking like a cow chewing your cud…), it is something that everyone should implement starting RIGHT NOW. If you’re not eating a meal as you read this, then start at the next meal.
Slow down, enjoy your food and reap the health benefits.
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION?
Need I say more? You’d think that this problem, above almost any other besides kidney stones, would drive a male to change their lifestyle. Unfortunately, I think that there is, once again, an education gap in society today.
Erectile dysfunction IS heart disease (or rather, vascular disease…). How is that? Healthy blood flow is required for an erection. When the blood vessels begin to plaque up, you will have reduced blood flow and inability to maintain an erection. So if the blood vessels are plaquing, it is only a matter of time before a heart attack or stroke occurs.
This article refers to ED as the “canary” of cardiovascular health. I love this! I just wish I had coined it myself, but alas…I’m merely the messenger.
So the use of meds like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra do nothing to fix the problem. Ironically, these meds can’t be used by a patient currently under treatment for heart disease, which is arguably the reason the ED is present in the first place.
So what does one with ED do? And, before you ladies shut out the recommendations, decreased libido could arguably be put into the same category…so pay attention.
Once again, lifestyle changes to lower your risk of diabetes and heart disease will help with ED. That means avoidance of refined carbs, hydrogenated oils and processed foods as well as no drinking our calories. Increased intake of healthy fats, whole grains, fruits and veggies, tea and exercise. All on top of a calorie reduced diet. The list is long to help in this process…