Category: Immune System

The Secret to Lowering Your Blood Pressure in 15 Minutes

bloodpressure

Uncontrolled high blood pressure is a very serious health concern that can lead to heart disease and increased risk for stroke. The good news is, by optimizing your dietary intake, exercising, and effectively managing your stress, the odds of lowering your blood pressure are greatly in your favor.

If you or someone you love is affected by high blood pressure, then please review and share the guidelines given below. A list of supplementary articles is also included, if you desire further information. Hypertension is actually an easily treated condition, but one that can cause serious damage to your health if ignored.

Your Diet Will Raise or Lower Your Blood Pressure

Are you on a high grain, low fat regimen? If so, I have bad news for you, because this nutritional combination is a prescription for hypertension and can absolutely devastate your health.

Groundbreaking research published in 1998 in the journal Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant (IR) also had high blood pressure, and insulin resistance is directly attributable to a high sugar, high grain diet, especially if accompanied by inadequate exercise. So, chances are that if you have hypertension, you also have poorly controlled blood sugar levels, because these two problems often go hand in hand.

As your insulin level elevates, so does your blood pressure.

As explained by Dr. Rosedale, insulin stores magnesium. If your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can’t store magnesium so it passes out of your body through urination. Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles. If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will constrict rather than relax, which will raise your blood pressure and decrease your energy level. Insulin also affects your blood pressure by causing your body to retain sodium. Sodium retention causes fluid retention. Fluid retention in turn causes high blood pressure and can ultimately lead to congestive heart failure. If your hypertension is the direct result of an out-of-control blood sugar level, then normalizing your blood sugar levels will also lower your blood pressure readings into the healthy range.

Fructose Can Cause Your Blood Pressure to Skyrocket

The first thing you need to do is remove all grains and sugars from your diet, particularly fructose, until both your weight and your blood pressure have normalized. Eating sugars and grains — including any type of bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, or rice — will cause your insulin levels and your blood pressure to remain elevated.

A study1 published earlier this year discovered that those who consumed 74 grams or more per day of fructose (the equivalent of about 2.5 sugary drinks) had a 77 percent greater risk of having blood pressure levels of 160/100 mmHg. (For comparison, a normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg.) Consuming 74 grams or more of fructose daily also increased the risk of a 135/85 blood pressure reading by 26 percent, and 140/90 by 30 percent.

This is significant because the average American now consumes 70 grams of fructose EVERY day!

Fructose breaks down into a variety of waste products that are bad for your body, one being uric acid. Uric acid drives up your blood pressure by inhibiting the nitric oxide in your blood vessels. Nitric oxide helps your vessels maintain their elasticity, so nitric oxide suppression leads to increases in blood pressure. In fact, 17 out of 17 studies demonstrate that elevated uric acid levels lead to hypertension. For more information on the connection between fructose, uric acid, and hypertension, please see this article that explains it in greater depth.

I’ve also interviewed Dr. Richard Johnson, one of the leading medical researchers in this field, about his research into the health dangers of fructose, specifically how fructose causes health problems such as high blood pressure.

My Recommended Fructose Allowance

As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. Since the average 12-ounce can of soda contains 40 grams of sugar, at least half of which is fructose, this can of soda ALONE would exceed your daily allotment.

In addition, most people would be wise to also limit the amount of fructose you get from fruit to 15 grams or less, because you’re virtually guaranteed to consume “hidden” sources of fructose (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) from most beverages and just about any processed food you eat.

Fifteen grams of fructose is not much — it represents two bananas, one-third cup of raisins, or just two Medjool dates. In his book, The Sugar Fix, Dr. Johnson includes detailed tables showing the fructose content in different foods, and I’ve included a sample of these values in the linked article.

Additional Dietary Considerations

  1. Normalize your omega 6:3 ratio — Both omega-3 and omega-6 fats are essential for your health. Most Americans, however, are getting too much omega-6 in their diet and far too little omega-3. Consuming omega-3 fats is one of the best ways to re-sensitize your insulin receptors if you suffer from insulin resistance. Omega-6 fats are found in corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil. If you’re consuming a lot of these oils, you’ll want to avoid or limit them.Omega-3 fats are typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil and fish, with fish being by far the best source. Unfortunately, most fresh fish today contains dangerously high levels of mercury. Your best bet is to find a safe source of fish, or if this proves too difficult, supplement with a high quality krill oil, which has been found to be 48 times more potent than fish oil.
  2. Eliminate caffeine — The connection between caffeine consumption and high blood pressure is not well understood, but there is ample evidence to indicate that if you have hypertension, coffee and other caffeinated drinks and foods can ex­acerbate your condition. Caffeine is a drug, and while it’s entirely legal and widely consumed, it can have a powerful effect on your individual physiology. If you want to eliminate caffeine from your diet, try to do it gradually over a period of days or even weeks in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms like headaches.
  3. Consume Fermented Foods – Differences in gut flora from one person to another appears to have a large effect on whether or not you develop heart disease. If your gut flora is not healthy, your risk is much greater for heart disease, as well as many other chronic health problems. The best way to optimize your gut flora is by including some naturally fermented foods in your diet, such as sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables, yogurt, kefir, and natto. An additional benefit of fermented foods is that some of them are excellent sources of vitamin K2, which is important for preventing arterial plaque buildup and heart disease.

Use Exercise as a Drug

Physical activity is by far one of the most potent “drugs” there is, and its side effects are exactly the kinds you want to experience. Regardless of the primary reason you start an exercise program, your efforts will be rewarded in countless other ways.

A comprehensive exercise regimen, such as my Peak Fitness program, is very important in producing long-term benefits in people with high blood pressure. Nearly every program should incorporate anaerobic sprint or burst-type exercises one to three times a week, as these have been shown to be even more effective than aerobic exercises at reducing your risk of dying from a heart attack.

If you are insulin resistant, you’ll definitely want to include weight training in your exercise program. When you work individual muscle groups, you increase blood flow to those muscles. Good blood flow will increase your insulin sensitivity. Depending on your physical condition when you embark on your exercise program, you may need to consult with a health care professional for help increasing to the intensity required to lower your insulin level. Exercise in combination with the supplement L-arginine has been shown to correct the abnormal functioning of blood vessels seen in people with chronic heart failure. However, I would view this more as a drug approach and not necessarily a supplement you would consider using for optimizing health in general. L-arginine probably works through its interaction with nitric oxide. I would consider it an adjunct, not a replacement, for coenzymeQ10, which is a well-proven therapy for heart failure.

Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels

Believe it or not, the farther you live from the equator, the higher your risk of developing high blood pressure2. And did you know that blood pressure is typically higher in winter months than in summer?

Sunlight actually affects blood pressure in several ways:

  • Sun exposure causes your body to produce vitamin D. Lack of sunlight reduces your vitamin D stores and increases parathyroid hormone production, which increases blood pressure.
  • Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to insulin resistance (IR) and Syndrome X (also known as Metabolic Syndrome), a group of health problems that can include IR, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, obesity, and high blood pressure.
  • Vitamin D is also a negative inhibitor of your body’s renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates blood pressure. If you’re vitamin D deficient, it can cause inappropriate activation of your RAS, which may lead to hypertension.
  • Additionally, exposure to UV rays is thought to cause the release of endorphins, chemicals in your brain that produce feelings of euphoria and pain relief. Endorphins naturally relieve stress, and stress management is an important factor in resolving hypertension.

Exposure to appropriate amounts of sunlight is a basic health requirement that extends far beyond blood pressure normalization. Vitamin D helps systems and organs throughout your body to function properly. Ideally, you’ll want to get your vitamin D through safe exposure to sunshine or a safe tanning bed, but vitamin D3 supplements can also be used. Please do NOT let your doctor give you a “prescription” vitamin D. That is vitamin D2, which is synthetic, and not nearly as beneficial as the real vitamin D, which is D3 (cholecalciferol).

Keep in mind that if you decide to supplement with oral vitamin D3, you must carefully monitor your vitamin D blood levels to avoid overdosing. (This is why it is highly preferable to get your vitamin D through sun exposure, since there is virtually no chance of overdosing.)

To learn much more about vitamin D test values and the best labs to get your tests done, please visit the linked page. I also recommend watching my free one-hour vitamin D lecture for more information about the incredible health benefits of this essential nutrient.

Controlling Your Stress is Crucial


ABC US News | World Newsnbsp;

One in three American adults have high blood pressure (hypertension), and just as many, if not more, battle emotional and mental stress on a day-to-day basis.

Are these two conditions connected?

You bet. As reported by ABC World News on September 16, 20103, one cardiologist believes the connection between stress and hypertension is undeniable, yet still does not receive the emphasis it deserves. In response, Dr. Kennedy developed a stress-relieving technique he calls “The 15 Minute Heart Cure,” a set of breathing and creative visualization techniques that can be done anywhere, anytime. The technique is demonstrated in the ABC World News video above. By teaching your body to slow down and relax when stress hits — essentially short-circuiting your physical stress reaction — you can protect your health.

My preferred method is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), an easy to learn, easy to use technique for releasing negative emotions. EFT combines visualization with calm, relaxed breathing, while employing gentle tapping to “reprogram” deeply seated emotional patterns.

Supplements and Other Alternatives

Although certain supplements may be helpful, it’s important to understand they should never be used as a substitute for basic lifestyle choices that treat the real cause of the problem. Using only supplements without modifying your lifestyle is an allopathic approach not very different from using drugs. In most instances, it is not likely to be effective. Once you have made some beneficial changes to your lifestyle, you can then consider some of the following supplements as a way to further enhance your health:

  • Calcium and magnesium. Daily calcium and magnesium supplementation can be useful in lowering blood pressure, especially if yours is on the high end of high. However, if you avoid sugars and grains and eat for your Nutritional Type™ (see above), it’s unlikely additional calcium or magnesium supplements will be necessary.
  • Vitamins C and E. Studies indicate that these vitamins can be helpful in lowering your blood pressure. Ideally, you’ll want to get the right amount of both these nutrients through diet alone. If you decide you need a supplement, make sure to take a natural (not synthetic) form of vitamin E. You can tell what you’re buying by carefully reading the label. Natural vitamin E is always listed as the “d-” form (d-alpha-tocopherol, d-beta-tocopherol, etc.) Synthetic vitamin E is listed as “dl-” forms.
  • Olive leaf extract. In one 2008 study, supplementing with 1,000 mg of olive leaf extract daily for eight weeks caused a significant dip in both blood pressure and LDL (“bad cholesterol”) in people with borderline hypertension. If you want to incorporate olive leaf extract as a natural adjunct to a nutritionally sound diet, you should look for fresh leaf liquid extracts for maximum synergistic potency. You can also prepare your own olive leaf tea by placing a large teaspoon of dried olive leaves in a tea ball or herb sack. Place it in about two quarts of boiling water and let it steep for three to 10 minutes. The tea should be a medium amber color when done.
  • Electrical acupuncture. Acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation has shown to temporarily lower elevations in blood pressure in animals by as much as 50 percent. It’s currently undergoing testing in humans and could be a promising alternative treatment for controlling blood pressure.
  • Breastfeeding. Studies have shown that babies who are breastfed for more than 12 months have a dramatically lower risk of developing hypertension. Researchers believe long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (the same found in fatty fish) in breast milk provide a protective effect for newborns.
  • Quick tricks. Increasing nitric monoxide in your blood can open constricted blood vessels and lower blood pressure. Methods of increasing the compound include taking a warm bath, breathing in and out through one nostril (close off the other nostril and your mouth), and eating bitter melon, rich in amino acids and vitamin C.

Like obesity, high blood pressure is an epidemic. And like obesity, your best treatment is to evaluate your lifestyle and make the necessary adjustments.

A natural approach to preventing disease and healing yourself when illness strikes is always the better choice. In the case of high blood pressure, lifestyle changes — with particular emphasis on normalizing your insulin levels — can put you on the road to a drug-free, all-natural return to optimal health.

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How To End Sugar Cravings

Not all sugars are created equal, and they’re hidden in most of today’s processed foods. Nutritionist, fitness trainer, and author JJ Virgin has written a new book that helps open your eyes to the way sugars are hidden.
The book also provides practical tips on how to wean yourself from this pernicious ingredient that will decimate your health.

by DR. MERCOLA

In The Sugar Impact Diet: Drop 7 Sugars to Lose Up to 10 Pounds in Just 2 Weeks, she tackles the confusion surrounding sugar. Many health-conscious people are still under the mistaken belief that as long as the sugar is all-natural, it’s fine to eat.
Not so. Agave, natural fruit juice, raw cane sugar, and any number of other natural sugars will still wreak havoc on your health.

“[S]ugar is really public enemy number one,” she says. “That’s why I chose to focus on it. I don’t think added sugar is really the problem; I think it’s what’s in a lot of our food that we don’t recognize [as sugar].

Whether it’s having apple juice (which is worse for you than a soda), or having a yogurt sweetened with fruit juice concentrate, or whether you’re just thinking that fruits are free for all, these are all creating problems.

I wanted to create a structured program that could help someone break free of those sugar cravings, drop the weight forever, and then let them go back and [do a food] challenge… in order to connect the dots between what happens when they drink one of those big fruit smoothies that are supposed to be so healthy.”

 

To End Sugar Cravings, Your Body Needs to Burn Fat as Its Primary Fuel

As JJ notes, whether the sugar comes in the form of a muffin, a fruit juice-sweetened yogurt, or a smoothie, it’s all the same thing to your body. “Food is information,” she says. And she’s right.

 

Once you break free from your body’s constant need for yet another sugar fix (remember, sugar is more addictive than cocaine!), you’ll experience great levels of newfound energy and clarity of mind. But in order to get there, you need to retrain your body to burn fat as its primary form of fuel instead of sugar.

 

This can be a real challenge for many. JJ’s book specifically addresses the gradual process of getting from burning sugar to burning fat as your body’s primary fuel, in order to maximize your chances for success.

 

“There’s got to be a transition period, where you go from sugar burner to getting your body to be able to start to burn fat again,” she explains.

“You have to taper down from where your starting point is, which is what I call a Sneaky Sugar Inventory, of things you would never think about (like sundried tomatoes and marinara sauce) that we’re just using like crazy not realizing how much sugar this is actually adding into our food.”

The Sugar Impact Scales: A New Way of Looking at Sugar

As an initial step, you’ll want to weigh yourself and measure your waist-to-hip ratio, to determine your starting point. Next, you do an initial inventory of all the hidden sugars in your diet.

 

This means reading the labels on all the foods you eat, including items you might never expect to contain sugar, such as that jar of pickles, condiments, sauces, and marinades, and so on. JJ lists all the sneaky places sugars hide in your diet in her book, and by creating what she calls Sugar Impact Scales, she’s created a new way of looking at sugar.

 

“It looks at fructose grams, glycemic load, nutrient density, and fiber. Bad are fructose and glycemic load; good are nutrient density and fiber,” she explains.

“Depending on where the food falls, it can either be low, medium, or high-sugar impact. The reason this was so important to me is I keep looking at programs out there, and they either focus on fructose… glycemic index, or glycemic load.

That can be very confusing because it makes things like agave sweetener look great. It makes milk look great… People go, ‘We should have fructose because fructose is low on the glycemic index.’

 

The difference between fructose and glucose is fructose doesn’t trigger the whole insulin response. Because of that, it doesn’t trigger insulin, leptin, or ghrelin, so it doesn’t tell your body you ate anything. Instead, it just goes to the liver. If there’s no room for it to become glycogen… it starts becoming fat.

You look at that and you go, ‘Okay, food is information. What does fructose say?’ It says, ‘Hey, make fat but don’t tell us we ate. Stay hungry.’ What a nightmare!”

 

So what are the basic symptoms of having high-sugar impact? Gas and bloating are common, as sugar feeds yeast, fungi, and detrimental bacteria in your gut. Other symptoms include joint pain, headaches, fatigue, inability to lose weight or weight loss resistance, and sugar cravings.

 

By grading yourself on those and other symptoms, while tracking your waist, hip, and weight, you’ll get a clearer picture of how sugar impacts your body, and your progress in terms of retraining your body to burn fat instead of sugar as its primary fuel.

 

The Three Cycles of the Sugar Impact Diet

The first cycle is a one to two-week long taper cycle, in which you switch from high sugar impact foods to medium sugar impact foods. As an example, if you typically eat regular pasta, you’d switch over to quinoa pasta.

 

She also recommends scheduling your meals to where you’re not eating every two hours; rather you stretch the time between meals to prevent insulin spikes. This is one form of intermittent fasting. At the end of this taper-down period of one or two weeks, you retest yourself on the sugar impact quiz, to see how you’ve done.

 

If all is going as planned, you should notice a reduction in your symptoms. At that point, you move on to cycle two, in which you’re really resetting your taste buds and reclaiming your sugar sensitivity, meaning your ability to taste how sweet a food really is.

 

“What I’m doing is I’m getting rid of all of the fructose. We’re getting down to five grams or less [per day], just as low as possible because you don’t want your body to be good at processing fructose. One thing we know is that the more fructose you eat, the better you get at handling fructose, which means the faster it goes to your liver, the faster you start making fat, and the more fat you make.

 

If someone’s used to eating fruit, they eat more fruit, they eat more fruit, and they can handle it. If you never eat any fruit, and you ate a bunch of fruit, you’d be bloated, you’d be gassy, and it’d be horrible. I take fruit out altogether except for things like lemons, limes, avocado, tomato, and olives. And we go down to all low-sugar impact foods. But you’re still eating great stuff. You’re eating wild salmon, grass-fed beef, kale, avocado, nuts and seeds, a little quinoa, legumes, and lentils.”

 

Most people can make the shift from burning sugar to burning fat as primary fuel in this second cycle of the program in a couple of weeks, although it may take longer if you’re seriously insulin/leptin resistant. “The reason it can happen so fast is number one, you’ve got to do that initial one-week [taper] period,” she explains. “Whenever you look at a program, you want to jump right into the most intense part, but you can’t because you’ll fail.”

 

In the third cycle of the program, you start to challenge yourself by reintroducing some of the medium or even high sugar impact foods. Most people will now find that they’re overwhelmed by the sweetness, or they’ll feel bloated or downright ill by the high-sugar food. As a result, the psychological grip of sweet foods lessen, as you simply do not want to go back to feeling horrible once you’re feeling really great. Interestingly, sour taste, such as that from cultured vegetables, helps to reduce sweet cravings, too.

 

This is a doubly-beneficial thing, as fermented vegetables also promote gut health. “It’s a sweet tooth strategy,” JJ says. “One of the things that I do in these books is I try to keep it simple and give people simple strategies. But I’m always thinking, “How am I healing their gut with this? How am I improving their gut flora? How are we reducing inflammation?”

 

Healthy Snack Alternatives

Nuts, which are one of my favorite snack foods, are also great for satisfying the occasional hunger pang. Typically, when I’m at home, I only have one meal a day, a very large salad. But I will snack on nuts, specifically macadamia nuts and occasionally pecans, because of two criteria:

1. They’re very high in fat – the good fat, oleic acid, which is similar to olive oil, and

2. They’re low in protein, so you won’t run the risk of eating a whole day’s worth of protein in a few handfuls of nuts (which could be the case if you eat a lot of almonds)

 

That said, as JJ warns, be aware of your food triggers, and if you cannot keep a jar of nuts in your house without polishing off the whole thing in one sitting, you just turned a good thing into something bad. While nuts do contain healthy fats, they also tend to be high in calories, so moderation is in order.

 

“If you know something’s your trigger, don’t bring it into the house. It doesn’t matter if it’s healthy or unhealthy. But I think if you put them into little serving baggies, that’s a perfect way to go with it. I also like that because most people aren’t home all day long, so I say, ‘Put one in your car. Put it in your purse. Put it in your office so that you have them scattered around if you ever get in trouble.’

 

Another healthy snack that is much harder to overdo is dehydrated kale chips. I’m in the process of planting six dozen kale plants on my property to create a surplus for this very reason. That way I can have kale chips year-round. Roasted Brussels sprouts are another alternative that you can’t really “overdose” on.

 

Last But Not Least—The Maintenance Phase

It’s quite rare to find someone who’s not burning sugar as their primary fuel these days. To check yourself, simply observe how frequently you feel hungry. If you’re hungry every two hours or so, you’re burning sugar. You’re craving food because sugar is fast burning, and your hunger is an indication that your body wants to be refueled. Once you’re burning fat as your primary fuel, you can easily go five to six hours or longer without feeling hungry, as fat is a far slower-burning fuel. Sugar cravings are also virtually eliminated once you’re burning fat rather than sugar.

 

Most everyone watching this would benefit from applying a program such as the one JJ has put together. The question is, once you’ve successfully made the switch, how long do you have to continue eating this way? What does maintenance look like?

 

“The maintenance phase is different from the weight loss phase,” JJ explains. “It’s like dating and marriage. Totally different beasts, right? During the maintenance phase—for weight loss—it’s about setting new goals and doing different fitness activities. The biggest thing that I want someone to do is to connect the dots between what they’re eating and how they feel. It’s to lose that sweet tooth that they had and reclaim their sugar sensitivity so they really say, ‘Oh, wow, that’s how sweet a blueberry really is.’

 

[In the maintenance phase] you’ve got to mix up your exercise; you’ve got to mix up your food… [F]ood is information. You want your food to tell your body to burn fat not sugar, keep steady energy, great focus, and reduce inflammation. It’s the same with exercise. Exercise can be therapeutic or destructive. I do no endurance training at all. I do not believe in endurance training. I did so much endurance training [when I was younger, yet] I was always slightly overweight. I was never lean.”

 

JJ recommends high intensity interval-type exercises over endurance training, and for good reason. Endurance training is actually among the least effective forms of exercise when it comes to weight loss, and research has shown that the benefits of high intensity exercise are not necessarily related to calories burned. Rather, it creates beneficial metabolic changes that promote health and muscle growth while boosting fat burning.

 

These metabolic changes, which include boosting human growth hormone (HGH), do not occur when you’re doing endurance training such as long-distance running.

 

She’s also a big proponent of exercising in a fasted state, as this actually helps repair, restore, and rejuvenate your muscle tissues. A conflicting approach calls for loading up on carbs and protein before and after exercise, to boost performance and muscle building. So which one should you follow? It may be worth taking JJ’s advice, and experiment to determine what works best for you, depending on your fitness and weight loss goals:

“I kind of play with both of them. Because if you eat a little bit before you work out, you can generally work out harder. If you’re doing resistance training, a lot of times you’re better off having a little bit [of food] before. If you’re doing burst training, ideally here’s what you would do: on burst-training days, do it first thing in the morning. It doesn’t take long anyway. It’s 15 minutes at the most. Ideally, do that a couple of mornings a week, two or three mornings a week. You do your resistance training two times a week, have a little bit of food before; have something really good afterwards, and you’re set.”

 

More Information

If you’ve tried cutting calories while still eating foods like gluten, pasteurized dairy, and processed fructose, yet failed to lose weight, the problem lies not in insufficient calorie restriction. Rather, you were still eating the wrong foods, albeit in smaller amounts. Once you start viewing food as information, you can begin to appreciate how certain foods, fructose in particular, instructs your body to store fat and not let any of it go…

 

What you eat makes all the difference, and when it comes to successfully losing weight, a major key is switching your body from burning sugar to burning fat as its primary fuel. In order to do this, you need to cut down on the fructose-laden foods that tell your body to:

-Store the sugar as fat

-Eat more (as fructose doesn’t trigger insulin, leptin, or ghrelin to the same degree as glucose, which means it doesn’t tell your body you just consumed a whole bunch of calories)

by DR. MERCOLA

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Get More Done by Following ‘The Productivity Diet’

Get More Done by Following 'The Productivity Diet' (Infographic)

Image credit: Shutterstock

Your productivity is directly impacted by what you eat. If you want both your mind and body to perform at optimal levels then you need to practice good nutrition.

It sounds great, but what does “good nutrition” mean?

With so much conflicting diet and health information online, it can leave you with more questions than answers most of the time.

What is a good mid-day snack to maintain high energy levels? Not candy bars and Red Bull — unless you want to trigger a blood sugar spike followed by a crash.

What we eat as well as when we eat it contributes to high productivity, and that’s why EBOC teamed up with HubSpot to create the infographic below, highlighting the food types that will help you maintain high energy levels and productivity throughout your day.

Use this as a guide to help you make better food choices, and don’t forget that every person will have different dietary needs — so consult your doctor or healthcare professional.

Jonathan Long – June 25, 2015

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5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Kill You

High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup

IF YOU CAN’T CONVINCE THEM, CONFUSE THEM – Harry Truman

The current media debate about the benefits (or lack of harm) of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in our diet misses the obvious. The average American increased their consumption of HFCS (mostly from sugar sweetened drinks and processed food) from zero to over 60 pounds per person per year.

During that time period, obesity rates have more than tripled and diabetes incidence has increased more than seven fold. Not perhaps the only cause, but a fact that cannot be ignored.

Doubt and confusion are the currency of deception, and they sow the seeds of complacency. These are used skillfully through massive print and television advertising campaigns by the Corn Refiners Association’s attempt to dispel the “myth” that HFCS is harmful and assert through the opinion of “medical and nutrition experts” that it is no different than cane sugar. It is a “natural” product that is a healthy part of our diet when used in moderation.

Except for one problem. When used in moderation it is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay, and more.

Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?

The Lengths the Corn Industry Will Go To

The goal of the corn industry is to call into question any claim of harm from consuming high fructose corn syrup, and to confuse and deflect by calling their product natural “corn sugar”. That’s like calling tobacco in cigarettes natural herbal medicine.

In the ad, the father tells us:

“Like any parent I have questions about the food my daughter eats–-like high fructose corn syrup. So I started looking for answers from medical and nutrition experts, and what I discovered whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar. Knowing that makes me feel better about what she eats and that’s one less thing to worry about.”

Physicians are also targeted directly. I received a 12-page color glossy monograph from the Corn Refiners Association reviewing the “science” that HFCS was safe and no different than cane sugar. I assume the other 700,000 physicians in America received the same propaganda at who knows what cost.

In addition to this, I received a special “personal” letter from the Corn Refiner’s Association outlining every mention of the problems with HFCS in our diet–whether in print, blogs, books, radio, or television. They warned me of the errors of my ways and put me on “notice”. For what I am not sure. To think they are tracking this (and me) that closely gives me an Orwellian chill.

New websites like www.sweetsurprise.com and www.cornsugar.com help “set us straight” about HFCS with quotes from professors of nutrition and medicine and thought leaders from Harvard and other stellar institutions.

Why is the corn industry spending millions on misinformation campaigns to convince consumers and health care professionals of the safety of their product? Could it be that the food industry comprises 17 percent of our economy?

But are these twisted sweet lies or a sweet surprise, as the Corn Refiners Association websites claim?

What the Science Says About HFCS

Let’s examine the science and insert some common sense into the conversation. These facts may indeed come as a sweet surprise. The ads suggest getting your nutrition advice from your doctor (who, unfortunately, probably knows less about nutrition than most grandmothers).

Having studied this for over a decade, and having read, interviewed, or personally talked with most of the “medical and nutrition experts” used to bolster the claim that “corn sugar” and cane sugar are essentially the same, quite a different picture emerges and the role of HFCS in promoting obesity, disease, and death across the globe becomes clear.

Last week over lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames, one of the foremost nutritional scientists in the world, and Dr. Jeffrey Bland, a nutritional biochemist, a student of Linus Pauling, and I reviewed the existing science, and Dr. Ames shared shocking new evidence from his research center on how HFCS can trigger body-wide inflammation and obesity.

Here are 5 reasons you should stay way from any product containing high fructose corn syrup and why it may kill you.  

  1. Sugar in any form causes obesity and disease when consumed in pharmacologic doses.Cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup are indeed both harmful when consumed in pharmacologic doses of 140 pounds per person per year.When one 20 ounce HFCS sweetened soda, sports drink, or tea has 17 teaspoons of sugar (and the average teenager often consumes two drinks a day) we are conducting a largely uncontrolled experiment on the human species.Our hunter gatherer ancestors consumed the equivalent of 20 teaspoons per year, not per day. In this sense, I would agree with the corn industry that sugar is sugar. Quantity matters. But there are some important differences.
  2. HFCS and cane sugar are NOT biochemically identical or processed the same way by the body. High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist Michael Pollan to observe it for his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS. Some basic biochemistry will help you understand this. Regular cane sugar (sucrose) is made of two-sugar molecules bound tightly together– glucose and fructose in equal amounts.The enzymes in your digestive tract must break down the sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body. HFCS also consists of glucose and fructose, not in a 50-50 ratio, but a 55-45 fructose to glucose ratio in an unbound form. Fructose is sweeter than glucose. And HFCS is cheaper than sugar because of the government farm bill corn subsidies. Products with HFCS are sweeter and cheaper than products made with cane sugar. This allowed for the average soda size to balloon from 8 ounces to 20 ounces with little financial costs to manufacturers but great human costs of increased obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease.Now back to biochemistry. Since there is there is no chemical bond between them, no digestion is required so they are more rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol) this is why it is the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver” which affects 70 million people.The rapidly absorbed glucose triggers big spikes in insulin–our body’s major fat storage hormone. Both these features of HFCS lead to increased metabolic disturbances that drive increases in appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and more.

    But there was one more thing I learned during lunch with Dr. Bruce Ames. Research done by his group at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute found that free fructose from HFCS requires more energy to be absorbed by the gut and soaks up two phosphorous molecules from ATP (our body’s energy source).

    This depletes the energy fuel source, or ATP, in our gut required to maintain the integrity of our intestinal lining. Little “tight junctions” cement each intestinal cell together preventing food and bacteria from “leaking” across the intestinal membrane and triggering an immune reaction and body wide inflammation.

    High doses of free fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining allowing nasty byproducts of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your blood stream and trigger the inflammation that we know is at the root of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia, and accelerated aging. Naturally occurring fructose in fruit is part of a complex of nutrients and fiber that doesn’t exhibit the same biological effects as the free high fructose doses found in “corn sugar”.

    The takeaway: Cane sugar and the industrially produced, euphemistically named “corn sugar” are not biochemically or physiologically the same.

  3. HFCS contains contaminants including mercury that are not regulated or measured by the FDA. An FDA researcher asked corn producers to ship a barrel of high fructose corn syrup in order to test for contaminants. Her repeated requests were refused until she claimed she represented a newly created soft drink company. She was then promptly shipped a big vat of HFCS that was used as part of the study that showed that HFCS often contains toxic levels of mercury because of chlor-alkali products used in its manufacturing.(i) Poisoned sugar is certainly not “natural”.When HFCS is run through a chemical analyzer or a chromatograph, strange chemical peaks show up that are not glucose or fructose. What are they? Who knows? This certainly calls into question the purity of this processed form of super sugar. The exact nature, effects, and toxicity of these funny compounds have not been fully explained, but shouldn’t we be protected from the presence of untested chemical compounds in our food supply, especially when the contaminated food product comprises up to 15-20 percent of the average American’s daily calorie intake?  
  4. Independent medical and nutrition experts DO NOT support the use of HFCS in our diet, despite the assertions of the corn industry. The corn industry’s happy looking websites www.cornsugar.com and www.sweetsurprise.com bolster their position that cane sugar and corn sugar are the same by quoting experts, or should we say misquoting … Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has published widely on the dangers of sugar-sweetened drinks and their contribution to the obesity epidemic. In a review of HFCS in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,(ii)he explains the mechanism by which the free fructose may contribute to obesity.He states that: “The digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fructose differ from those of glucose. Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo lipogenesis (production of fat in the liver). In addition, unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and body weight (to control appetite), this suggests that dietary fructose may contribute to increased energy intake and weight gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages may enhance caloric over-consumption.”He states that HFCS is absorbed more rapidly than regular sugar and that it doesn’t stimulate insulin or leptin production. This prevents you from triggering the body’s signals for being full and may lead to over-consumption of total calories. He concludes by saying that:“… the increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in calorically sweetened beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.”

    The corn industry takes his comments out of context to support their position. “All sugar you eat is the same.”

    True pharmacologic doses of any kind of sugar are harmful, but the biochemistry of different kinds of sugar and their respective effects on absorption, appetite, and metabolism are different, and Dr. Popkin knows that.

    David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and a personal friend, has published extensively on the dangers and the obesogenic properties of sugar-sweetened beverages.

    He was quoted as saying that “high fructose corn syrup is one of the most misunderstood products in the food industry.” When I asked him why he supported the corn industry, he told me he didn’t and that his comments were taken totally out of context.

    Misrepresenting science is one thing, misrepresenting scientists who have been at the forefront of the fight against obesity and high fructose sugar sweetened beverages is quite another.

  5. HFCS is almost always a marker of poor-quality, nutrient-poor disease-creating industrial food products or “food-like substances”. The last reason to avoid products that contain HFCS is that they are a marker for poor-quality, nutritionally-depleted, processed industrial food full of empty calories and artificial ingredients. If you find “high fructose corn syrup” on the label you can be sure it is not a whole, real, fresh food full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. Stay away if you want to stay healthy. We still must reduce our overall consumption of sugar, but with this one simple dietary change you can radically reduce your health risks and improve your health.While debate may rage about the biochemistry and physiology of cane sugar versus corn sugar, this is in fact beside the point (despite the finer points of my scientific analysis above). The conversation has been diverted to a simple assertion that cane sugar and corn sugar are not different.

The real issues are only two.

  • We are consuming HFCS and sugar in pharmacologic quantities never before experienced in human history–140 pounds a year versus 20 teaspoons a year 10,000 years ago.
  • High fructose corn syrup is always found in very poor-quality foods that are nutritionally vacuous and filled with all sorts of other disease promoting compounds, fats, salt, chemicals, and even mercury.

These critical ideas should be the heart of the national conversation, not the meaningless confusing ads and statements by the corn industry in the media and online that attempt to assure the public that the biochemistry of real sugar and industrially produced sugar from corn are the same.

Now I’d like to hear from you …

Do you think there is an association between the introduction of HFCS in our diet and the obesity epidemic?

What reason do you think the Corn Refiners Association has for running such ads and publishing websites like those listed in this article?

What do you think of the science presented here and the general effects of HFCS on the American diet?

Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below—but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health!

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

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Categories: Disease & Prevention Eating Healthy Food General Health High Fructose Corn Syrup Immune System Information Organic Food Personal Health Sugars

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Why You Should Avoid Heinz Ketchup

heinz-ingredients-toxic-mercury
The general public is becoming more aware that processed food is toxic and full of chemicals. We’re understanding that organic is a better option and it’s better to make something at home with fresh, organic ingredients than to buy it from the store. There are certain store bought little things though that we may not think much about making ourselves because they seem simple, i’m talking about condiments like mustard, sauces, dressings and ketchup. Whether you’re a meat eater or a vegan you may still love that ketchup taste and use it on a variety of foods or to dip foods into. Recently I was doing some research on high fructose corn syrup and what I found shocked me.I’ll get to that more in a minute, but first I want to share with you why you should read and understand the heinz ketchup ingredient label. At first glance you may think that there are a few questionable ingredients but by digging deeper you’ll actually find it’s not only not healthy but extremely toxic and in my personal opinion quite dangerous to consume over time.

Here’s the heinz “ketchup” ingredient label:
heinz-ingredients-toxic-mercury

If you aren’t already familiar with how ingredient labels work, the label lists ingredients in order from most to least in the product, meaning that tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes is what is in this ketchup most, followed secondly by distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup etc. Onion powder and natural flavoring are a small percentage of the overall content of this bottle. Now that you understand this I want to share with you what is actually in heinz ketchup served at mostly every restaurant, fast food or not in America and in many other countries.

Here’s the full ingredient list:

1. Tomato Concentrate

2. Distilled Vinegar

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup

4. Corn Syrup

5. Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Natural Flavor etc.

When I first read this label I laughed to myself because Heinz is already trying to trick you, the consumer into thinking it’s a healthy condiment by labeling two of the ingredients differently even though they are the exact same ingredient. Can you guess which two? It’s quite obvious right? High fructose corn syrup and corn syrup are the same exact thing, they are both ‘high fructose corn syrup’ but they are going with adding a second corn syrup name to try to trick you into thinking there are more ingredients than there really are for two reasons.

First, they probably want you to think that corn syrup is healthier than high fructose corn syrup so they separate the two. They also want you to think there is a difference, which there is not and lastly they most likely did this because consumers are becoming aware of the higher the ingredient on the ingredient list the more there is contained in the product. So if they just took “High Fructose Corn Syrup” and put that on the label with no ‘corn syrup’ that would probably be much higher on the list. The ingredient label may look more like this:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup

2. Tomato Concentrate

3. Distilled Vinegar

4. Salt, Spices etc.

Their label would be ruined! It would create transparency and show you that you’re buying and eating more corn syrup from GMO corn than ACTUAL tomato based ketchup. This is just the start too, wait until you understand the rest of the label. This is already a tomato-red flag in my opinion though. They are already using the labeling system to try to deceive you. The second issue I have with heinz ketchup and another reason why I will not consume it is that they use distilled vinegar. Guess where most vinegar comes from? Genetically Modified Corn.

With the high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and distilled vinegar we already have three corn based ingredients in what should be tomato tasting ketchup, but wait! there’s more.

The label goes on to say ‘salt, spice, onion powder, natural flavoring’ at the end. The salt they use is the cheapest form of salt that can be bought which is the type of salt that causes high blood pressure, toxicity in the body and mineral imbalances (high sodium in the blood) which leads to many health challenges if consumed too frequently. They go on the label to say ‘natural flavors’ and what they mean by that? Only God knows.  If we look at the rest of the heinz label (as you can see below) you’ll notice that there is no fiber or protein but there is sodium and sugar. Where does the sugar come from? Maybe ‘natural flavor’ is sugar. You’ll see that 1 tbsp is 7% of your daily sugar value so each spoonful of ketchup you consume on anything you increase your sodium daily value by 7%, count away… 7-14-21-28. Do you see how quick that adds up? you could consume a large chunk of your daily sodium value with just a condiment, let alone the food you eat along with it.

heinz-daily-value-ingredients

There are multiple reasons to avoid heinz ketchup for the sake of your health and well-being but i’ll sum it up in 3 solid reasons why you should avoid heinz ketchup like the plague and why i’ll be doing so also.

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup: Heinz Ketchup is LOADED with high fructose corn syrup. I wonder if that would be the number one ingredient in the ketchup if they didn’t play this “list the ingredient twice under two names” trick on us. High fructose corn syrup is extremely unhealthy and toxic. It acts like a sugar in the body when it’s metabolized, somewhat… only worse! because it comes from genetically modified corn it is even more toxic. It spikes your blood sugar levels and will damage the liver over time. High fructose corn syrup can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, a weakend immune system and so much more. You may already know this but what frightened me even more was what I read from Dr. Mark Hyman’s website recently.  He noted that an FDA researcher contacted the corn producers to send her a barrel of high fructose corn syrup for testing, they wouldn’t send her a barrel even though she attempted to receive one multiple times. Finally, she changed her approach and asked a new beverage company on the market for a barrel. They sent her one gladly. After doing the testing she found that high fructose corn syrup contains high levels of Mercury, an extremely toxic heavy metal. This information and research comes from an FDA researcher! Mercury affects the brain, nervous system, can lead to autism and it really harms children. I highly recommend avoiding heinz ketchup or ANY other food containing high fructose corn syrup with your children.

Remember, Heinz decided to list high fructose corn syrup and ‘corn syrup’ as separate so they actually have a higher level of high fructose corn syrup in ketchup than you’d think, meaning higher levels of mercury also if their corn syrup correlates with corn syrup that has been tested thus far.

Not only has high fructose corn syrup been proven to be unhealthy and toxic, genetically modified foods have also, this is both a GMO food and a toxic poisonous sweetener.

2. Distilled Vinegar & Sugar: Heinz ketchup contains distilled vinegar as another ingredient and on their label they list 4 grams of sugar per serving which is each tablespoon. Distilled vinegar is created from genetically modified corn which is grown with toxic pesticides and chemicals. Ingesting this in the form of vinegar is not beneficial in any way to your health, it’s only toxic. They list ‘natural flavors’ on the ingredients and list 4 grams of sugar above it. This leads me to believe they not only added high fructose corn syrup in a all to generous amount but they added sugar also and labeled it as ‘natural flavors’ on the label. Most sugar in mass produces products come from GMO sources. GMO beet sugar is the most common used. If the toxic high fructose corn syrup wasn’t bad enough for your pancreas, liver, metabolism, immune system, nervous system and brain the super generous Heinz Corporations decided to add some more chemicals, gmo’s and sugar into your ketchup to add fuel to the fire for you!

This much sugar without any fiber or anything else has been shown to spike blood sugar levels and begins to weigh on your pancreas and your liver.

3. No Nutritional Value Whatsoever: Heinz has NO fiber and NO protein and NO nutrition in their ketchup. The miniscule amount of ‘tomato paste’ may contain a very very small amount of cooked lycopene that won’t even be available by your body to absorb. This ketchup is a chemical shit storm of genetically modified ingredients, sugar and toxic sugar like substances. It’s void of any nutrition yet full of GMO’s, sugar, and chemicals and even possibly mercury, a heavy metal that is extremely toxic to the body.

If you care about your health and well-being, and the health and well-being of your family you’ll avoid this ketchup and opt for a healthier organic non-gmo ketchup, there are plenty of options on the market. Another option is to simply click here to learn how to make your own organic ketchup, it only takes two minutes to make!

Related : 5 Reasons High Fructose Corn Syrup Can Kill You

By David Benjamin – June 30

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Categories: Cleansing Disease & Prevention Eating Healthy Folklore General Health High Fructose Corn Syrup Hydroponic Growing Immune System Organic Foods Personal Health Sugars

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10 Serious Reasons to Avoid Soy At All Costs

soy not a healthIn the twentieth century the soybean was one of the two major new crops introduced into the U.S. (the other crop being canola). It has now become the number one export crop and one of the second largest crops for cash sales. Most soybean products are processed into oil (shortening, margarine, cooking oil & salad dressings) and meal. For example, you may have noticed (or may start noticing) the popular ingredient “Soy Lecithin” in many of your foods and household items. There was a time when soy was praised a superfood, from combating cancer and high cholesterol. However, new evidence has emerged with soy’s negative impact on health (and the environment). Read on to discover the deceptions and dangers of soy.

 

Health Dangers of Soy:

1. Impaired immune system
Soy contains endocrine disrupting chemicals called phytoestrogens (specifically Genistein and daidzein) (1, 2, 3). They influence the reproductive organs as well as the immune system. In one study they found that mice treated with genistein (soy isoflavone) had less interferon (IFN)-gamma in culture supernatants (4) compared to mice treated with oil. Interferon-gamma is a cytokine that is crucial in innate and adaptive immunity against viral and bacterial infections and tumour control. Decreased levels of this molecule mean decreased immunity and decreased tumour control.

2. Impaired Fertility
Soy isoflavones as seen in point 1 (above), are structurally similar to endogenous estrogens and display both estrogenic and weak anti-estrogenic activities (5). Impaired fertility and reproductive tract disorders can be a result of said activities. In female rats exposed to high doses of isoflavones their fertility decreased (6, 7) and had altered estrous cycling (8) – it also led to increased uterine weight and epithelial cell height which may contribute to ovarian cysts. Studies done with male rats had no found effects on sexual maturity, preputial separation, fertility, sperm count or testosterone levels (8).

 

3. Thyroid Disorders
Soy-containing foods and their isoflavones may adversely affect thyroid function. In one study they investigated whether breast and soy-containing formula feedings in infants were associated with development of autoimmune thyroid disease in the children (9). “There was no difference in the frequency and duration of breast feeding in early life among the three groups of children. However, the frequency of feedings with soy-based milk formulas in early life was significantly higher in children with autoimmune thyroid disease (prevalence 31%) as compared with their siblings (prevalence 12%; chi 2 = 7.22 with continuity factor; p less than 0.01), and healthy nonrelated control children (prevalence 13%, chi 2 = 5.03 with continuity factor; p less than 0.02)” (9). This suggests that feeding infants soy formula is associated with autoimmune thyroid disease in the early years.

 

Another study found that compounds in acidic methanol extracts of soybeans inhibit thyroid peroxidase- (TPO) catalyzed reactions required for normal thyroid hormone synthesis (10). Inhibition of thyroid hormone synthesis can lead to goiter and thyroid neoplasia.

 

4. Brain Damage
In major study including 3,734 elderly Japanese-American men, those who consumed most soy during their midlife had a 2.4 times higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in their life (11, 12). These men consumed tofu at least twice a week and had more cognitive impairment than those who never ate or only sporadically consumed tofu.

 

These researchers also found that high consumption of tofu during midlife was associated with lower brain weight. 574 of the men were assessed for brain atrophy using an MRI machine, and although brain shrinkage naturally occurs with age, those men who ate more tofu had “an exaggeration of the usual patterns we see in aging” (11, 12).

 

5. Infant Abnormalities
Problems regarding infants and soy is an important topic, especially for mothers who choose to use soy-infant formulas instead of breast feeding. According to Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., “the amount of phytoestrogens that are in a day’s worth of soy infant formula equals 5 birth control pills.”

 

Soy-infant formulas contain high levels of isoflavones, and exposing infants to this daily intake equivocates to a 6-11 fold higher isoflavone exposure (based on bodyweight) than the dose that creates hormonal changes in adults consuming soy foods. When infants were tested for isoflavone concentrations circulating in the blood, the levels were 13,000-22,000 times higher than natural estrogen concentrations in the early years (13, 14).

 

Biggest Problems Surrounding Soy:

1. Genetic Modification (GMOs)
Did you know that up to 91% of soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified (GM)? The soybeans are specially selected so that they will resist the toxic herbicide Roundup. This means that the soybeans themselves are loaded with this toxic pesticide. In addition, genes from bacteria that produce a protein foreign to the human food supply are also inserted into the genes of the soybean plant, making this food item an un-natural food supply.

 

2. Contains Toxins: “anti-nutrients”; hemagglutinin; goitrogens; phytates
Anti-nutritional factors like saponins, soyatoxin, phytates, protease inhibitors, oxalates, goitrogens and estrogens all interfere with our protein-digesting enzymes and result in poor digestion and thus poor health.

 

Soybeans also contain hemagglutinins which act as clot-inducing substances (causes red blood cells to stick together). This makes our red blood cells unable to absorb oxygen and distribute it throughout the body.

 

Goitrogens are a category of foods that promote formation of goiter (enlarged thyroid) – and soy foods fall in that category. They block thyroid hormone synthesis and obstruct iodine metabolism.

 

The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume. Phytates prevent the absorption of minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc by binding to the metal ions and preventing them from entering the cells of your body. As many vegans consume soybean products, and depend on them for absorption of these exact minerals, they may be doing just the opposite.

 

3. Contains Isoflavones
Soy contains the isoflavones genistein (as seen previously) and daidzein. Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen which resemble the human compound called estrogen. Phytoestrogens have been found to block the hormone estrogen and can have serious effects on human tissues such as disrupting endocrine function, causing infertility, and promoting breast cancer in women.

 

4. Toxic Levels of Aluminum & Manganese
Aluminum tanks are used to process and acid-wash soybeans before consumption. Aluminum particles from the tanks are directly absorbed into the soybean, and result in high aluminum concentrations in the bean. Soy infant formula also contains manganese levels 80 times higher than that found in human breast milk (15, 16).

 

5. Soy Infant Formula Concerns
The isoflavones in soy infant formula is of great concern to new and expecting parents who choose to bottle-feed instead of breast-feed. Nearly 20% of U.S. infants are bottle-fed soy formula. As seen throughout this article, it is clear that the isoflavones in soy formula can negatively impact your child’s health (impairing sexual development and reproductive health).

 

Soy Products That Are Good For You
Choose fermented soy products such as:
1. Tempeh – fermented soybean cake that is firm and has a nutty, mushroom-like flavor
2. Miso – fermented soybean paste that is quite salty and commonly used in miso soup
3. Natto – sticky fermented soybeans with a strong, cheesy flavor
4. Soy Sauce – fermented soybeans, salt & enzymes

 

Soy Products To Avoid:
– Tofu
– TVP (texturized vegetable protein) or soy protein isolate
– Soybean oil
– Soymilk
– Soy cheese, soy ice cream, soy yogurt
– Soy “meat”
– Soy protein
– Edamame
– Soy infant formula
– Avoid ALL processed foods, and purchase only whole foods prepared by yourself! Many packaged food products contain soy.

 

What Should You Eat Instead Of Soy?
Many vegans consume “mock meat” typically made out of soybeans that are not fermented. As an alternative to the above list you can eat:

 

– Tofu – Instead, eat tempeh (it is similar, just more dense)
– Soybean oil – Instead, use olive oil, hemp seed oil, coconut oil, etc.
– Soymilk – Instead, drink hemp, rice, almond, coconut or oat milk
– Soy cheese, soy ice cream, soy yogurt – Instead eat Daiya cheese (much better than soy cheese), and coconut or banana ice cream (you can use bananas as a yogurt too if you wanted – just mash them up!)
– Soy “meat” – Instead, eat tempeh
– Soy protein – Instead, eat heart-healthy, amino-acid packed hemp protein
– Soy infant formula – Instead, use infant formulas that are soy-free

 

by CARLY FRASER

Sources:

(1) Colborn, T., Vom Saal, F., & Soto, A. (1993) Developmental effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wildlife and humans. Environmental Health Perspectives, 101, 378-384.
(2) Poon, B., Leung, C., Wong, C., & Wong, M. (2005) Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in human adipose tissue and breast milk collected in Hong Kong. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 49, 274-282.
(3) Irvine, C., Shand, N., Fitzpatrick, M., & Alexander, S. (1998). Daily intake and urinary excretion of genistein and daidzein by infants fed soy- or dairy-based infant formulas. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 68, 1462-1465.
(4) Calemine, J., Zalenka, J., Karpuzoglu, E., Ward, D., Lengi, A., & Ahmed, S. (2003) The immune system of geriatric mice is modulated by estrogenic endocrine disruptors (diethylstillbestrol, alpha-zearalanol, and genistein): effects on interferon-gamma. Toxicology, 194, 115-128.
(5) Mitchell, J., Cawood, E., Kinniburgh, D., Provan, A., Collins, A., & Irvine, S. (2001) Effect of a phytoestrogen food supplement on reproductive health in normal males. Clinical Science, 100, 613-618.
(6) Jefferson, W., Padilla-Banks, E., & Newbold, R. (2005) Adverse effects on female development and reproduction in CD-1 mice following neonatal exposure to the phytoestrogen genistein at environmentally relevant doses. Biology of Reproduction, 73, 798-806.
(7) Jefferson, W., Padilla-Banks, E., Goulding, E., Lao, S., Newbold, R., & Williams, C. (2009) Neonatal exposure to genistein disrupts ability of female mouse reproductive tract to support preimplantation embryo development and implantation. Biology of Reproduction, 80, 425-431.
(8) Dinsdale, E., & Ward, W. (2010) Early exposure to soy isoflavones and effects on reproductive health: a review of human and animal studies. Nutrients, 2, 1156-1187.
(9) Fort, P., Moses, N., Fasano, M., Goldberg, T., & Lifshitz, F. (1990) Breast and soy-formula feedings in early infancy and the prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease in children. Journal of The American College of Nutrition, 9, 164-167.
(10) Divi, R., Chang, H., & Doerge, D. (1997) Anti-thyroid isoflavones from soybean: isolation, characterization and mechanisms of action. Biochemical Pharmacology, 54, 1087-1096.
(11) White, L., Petrovich, H., Ross, G., & Masaki, K. (1996) Association of mid-life consumption of tofu with late life cognitive impairment and dementia: the Honolulu-Asia aging study. Fifth International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, 487.
(12) White, L., Petrovich, H., Ross, G., Masaki, K., Hardman, J., Nelson, J., Davis, D., & Markesbery, W. (2000) Brain, aging and midlife tofu consumption. Journal of The American College of Nutrition, 19, 242-255.
(13) Cassidy, A., Bingham, S., & Setchell, K. (1994) Biological effects of a diet of soy protein rich in isoflavones on the menstrual cycle of premenopausal women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 60, 333-40.
(14) Setchell, K., Zimmer-Nechemias, L., Cai, J., & Heubi, J. (1997) Exposure of infants to phyto-estrogens from soy-based infant formula. Lancet, 350, 23-27.
(15) McGraw, M., Bishop, N., Jameson, R., Robinson, M., O’Hara, M., Hewitt, C., & Day, J. (1986) Aluminum content of milk formulae and intravenous fluids used in infants. Lancet, 1, 157.
(16) Dabeka, R., & McKenzie, A. (1987) Lead, cadmium, and fluoride levels in market milk and infant formulas in Canada. J Assoc Off Anal Chem, 70, 754-57.

Additional sources:

– http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/18/soy-can-damage-your-health.aspx
– http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/09/17/soy-brain.aspx

 

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Categories: Depression Disease & Prevention Eating Healthy Fertility Folklore Food General Health Immune System Personal Health Soy Soybean Suicide Your Memory

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Insomnia What Does it Effect

insom sqInsufficient sleep not only can affect your memory and daily performance, but studies have now shown that lack of sleep can impair your ability to drive an automobile.

 

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that drowsiness, including nodding off while driving, is responsible for 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries each year.

When the Center for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 75,000 drivers in 12 states, results declared that 35 percent slept less than seven hours in a night, 48 percent snored, and nearly 38 percent had fallen asleep at least once during the day, while nearly 5 percent admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel.
Results also proved drivers ages 25 to 35 are more prone to nodding off while driving and men are more prone to falling asleep while driving than women. According to ABC News, Dr. Allan Pack, director of the Center for Sleep at University of Pennsylvania reports:

“Most of us believe that there are a lot more fall asleep crashes than reported… [I]t’s probably not reported accurately because a number of states don’t even having a ‘falling asleep while driving’ tick in the box when reporting a car crash… [P]eople believe that if they cut back on their sleep there is no real consequence. Everyone knows the dangers of alcohol, but I don’t think people understand the dangers of drowsy driving.”

In related news, USA Today reports that people who are sleep-deprived eat close to 300 calories a day more than they do when they are well-rested. Ice cream is one of the most common foods people eat when tired.

So perhaps it’s not surprising an additional study also showed that you can double your chances of reaching your target weight if you get the proper amount of sleep each night — between six and eight hours. According to the Telegraph, the study found that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach their goal if they had lower stress levels and got the right amount of sleep.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that over 35 percent of Americans reported getting less than seven hours of sleep on average during a 24-hour period. There is some controversy over what the ideal amount of sleep actually is, but research seems to be accumulating that sleeping less than eight hours a night has significant cumulative consequences.

Case in point, the CDC analysis found that people who slept fewer than seven hours were more likely to report unintentionally falling asleep during the day — including nodding off or falling asleep while driving. This is easily one of the most significant and potentially deadly risks of too little sleep, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving results in 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and more than 100,000 accidents each year. But there are other, more insidious, risks to too little sleep as well, and chief among them is the impact on your weight.

 

Lack of Sleep Could be Making You Fat

Two recent studies added to the evidence showing that your sleeping habits influence both your ability to lose weight and your tendency to eat more:

 

    • People trying to lose weight were more likely to lose 10 pounds when they slept between six and eight hours a night, according to research in the International Journal of Obesity.&
      nbsp;

 

  • People ate an average of nearly 300 calories more when they were sleep-deprived compared to when they were well rested, research presented at an American Heart Association revealed. And the calories overwhelmingly came from junk foods like ice cream and fast food.&
    nbsp;

Other research found that among adults younger than 40, those who typically slept for five hours or less each night had a greater accumulation of belly fat, and yet another study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found dieters who slept for 8.5 hours lost 55 percent more body fat than dieters who only got 5.5 hours of shut-eye.

This is only scratching the surface of the research linking your sleeping habits with your body weight — so what’s this connection all about?  It is likely the effect of altered metabolism, because when you’re sleep deprived, leptin (the hormone that signals satiety) falls, while ghrelin (which signals hunger) rises. In one study, researchers found that people who received only four hours of sleep a night for two nights experienced:

    • 18 percent reduction in leptin
    • 28 percent increase in ghrelin

 

This combination leads to an increase in appetite. Additionally, sleep-deprived people tend to eat more sweet and starchy foods, as opposed to vegetables and proteins. For instance, in the study mentioned above where people ate 300 extra calories when they were sleep-deprived.
The lead researcher told USA Today:

“Ice cream stood out as the preferred food during the sleep-deprived state.”

 

These sugar cravings may stem from the fact that your brain is fueled by glucose (blood sugar); therefore, when lack of sleep occurs, your brain starts searching for carbohydrates to keep going. If you’re chronically sleep deprived, consistently giving in to these sugar cravings will virtually guarantee you’ll gain weight.

 

More Consequences of Too Little Shut-Eye

 

I would easily rank a sound night’s sleep as high as proper diet and exercise in terms of its influence on optimal health. One of the explanations for why the health effects of sleep deprivation and sleep disruption are so numerous is that the circadian system “drives” the rhythms of biological activity at the cellular level. Hence disruptions tend to cascade outward throughout your entire body.
Among some of the consequences of too little sleep are:

      • High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes
      • Accelerated aging
      • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
      • Depression
      • Increased risk of cancer

 

 

And according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), lack of sleep can further exacerbate other serious and chronic diseases , such as:

 

Parkinson disease (PD) Alzheimer disease (AD) Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Gastrointestinal tract disorders Kidney disease Behavioral problems in children

 

According to another study, people with chronic insomnia also have a three times greater risk of dying from any cause.  Sleep deprivation can even caus changes in your brain activity similar to those experienced by people with psychiatric disorders, and your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.

 

How do You Know You’re Getting Enough Sleep?

 

Obviously if you feel well-rested and are able to wake up in the morning with no problem, you’re probably doing just fine in the sleep department. But if you’re fatigued, nodding off or yawning throughout the day, and just want to go back to bed when your alarm clock goes off in the morning, your sleep schedule may need some tweaking.

Generally speaking, adults need between six and eight hours of sleep every night. However, there are plenty of exceptions. Some people feel fine on as little as five hours a night, while others need as much as nine or 10 in order to feel at their best.

The amount of sleep you need can also drastically change depending on circumstances. For example, most people need more sleep when feeling ill, or during emotionally stressful times. Pregnant women also typically need more sleep than usual during the first trimester.

So my advice is to carefully and sensitively listen to your body and respond accordingly. And don’t think you’re going to meet all of your sleep needs by sleeping in for one morning on the weekend.  Chronic lack of sleep has a cumulative effect when it comes to disrupting your health. You cannot skimp on sleep on weekdays, thinking you’ll “catch up” over the weekend. What’s needed is consistency, and when it comes to sleep, routine is the word.

Creating a Healthy Sleep Routine

 

If you’re a parent, you probably automatically adopted such a routine for your kids — perhaps winding down with quiet activities for an hour or two before bedtime, then getting into pajamas and reading a book.
Why are bedtime routines so important for kids?

Because they work— and they can work for you too. So if you’re staying up late watching TV, surfing the Web or working, it’s time to set some limits. Determine a set bedtime for yourself, just as you do for your children, and avoid watching TV or using electronics for about an hour prior to going to bed. It is too stimulating to your brain, making it more difficult to “shut down” and fall asleep.

Instead, try spending this wind-down time doing something that soothes and relaxes your mind. You may want to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea, washing your face, or reading a calming or spiritual book.

I also recommend getting to bed as early as possible. Your bodily systems, particularly your adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., so you should definitely try to be asleep during those hours. From there, make sure your bedroom is ideally suited for sleep, as this can also go a long way to ensure restful and uninterrupted sleep:

    • Cover your windows with blackout shades or drapes to ensure complete darkness. Even the tiniest bit of light in the room can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland’s production of melatonin and serotonin. Even the faint glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep.Also close your bedroom door, get rid of night-lights, and refrain from turning on any light during the night, even when getting up to go to the bathroom. If you have to use a light, install “low blue” light bulbs in your bedroom and bathroom. These emit an amber light that will not suppress melatonin production.
    • Keep the temperature in your bedroom at or below 70 degrees F (21 degrees Celcius). Many people keep their homes and particularly their upstairs bedrooms too warm. Studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 to 68 degrees F (15.5 to 20 C). Keeping your room cooler or hotter can lead to restless sleep.When you sleep, your body’s internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body’s natural temperature drop.

You can find my comprehensive recommendations and guidelines to help improve your sleep in my article 33 Secrets to a Good Night’s Sleep. If you’re having trouble sleeping, this is the place to look to get your sleep back on track.

SourceImages:deviantART/pajaaa & Wikimedia/Mikael Häggström

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The 15 Most Effective Natural Remedies For Anxiety

Herbal-Remedies-For-Anxiety

Herbal therapies are astoundingly popular and their interest is growing as the dangers of pharmaceuticals become widely known and accepted. In 2008 statistician Patricia M. Barnes of the National Center for Health Statistics and her colleagues reported that almost 20 percent of children and adults in the U.S. had used an herbal medicine during the past year. That percentage according to some experts has doubled. A team led by physician David M. Eisenberg of Harvard Medical School determined that use of herbs for physical and mental problems including anxiety had risen 380 percent in seven years.

The use of plants as treatments dates to at least 3000 b.c. although some theories propose humans have been using plants has medicine for as long as we’ve existed. Today this practice is part of a broader movement that has been fueled by the high ineffectiveness of prescription drugs, their side effects and the fact that these drugs do not work for everyone. Natural remedies come with little to no risk and if you find the right one for your condition, you can use it for life. That being said, always consult with a Naturopathic Doctor before initiating any herbal treatments for diagnosed conditions, especially if you are already taking medication.

 

1. Cannabis

Cannabis has very powerful neuroprotective properties with an incredible ability to regulate emotional behavior and may be the most reliable medicinal plant available as a therapeutic target for the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders. A study conducted with mice suggests that beta-caryophyllene may be useful in treating anxiety and depression. The findings were published online in the journal Physiology & Behavior.


2. Valerian

Valerian root (valeriana officinalis) is derived from a plant native to Europe and Asia and has been used for thousands of years as a remedy for various ailments. It is believed that valerian root has an impact on the availability of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system that is responsible for regulating and specifically for inhibiting the activity of the brain’s neurons. Extra GABA in your system promotes relaxation and lowers stress levels. For this reason, valerian root is known as a sedative. Valerian is very effective at relieving stress itself and insomnia caused by stress.

 

3. Honey

The nutrients in honey produce a calming effect, especially when taken in significant amounts. Honey can also be mixed with a suitable beverage for a good night’s sleep!

4. Lemon Balm

A large amount of published data has emerged on the benefits of lemon balm for alleviating anxiety and mood disorders in humans. In the past five years alone, the powerful relaxing effects of lemon balm extracts have been documented by scientists around the world. These studies confirm what herbal practitioners have long known–that lemon balm in combination with other herbal agents is effective in addressing conditions related to stress and anxiety. In one study of healthy volunteers, those who took standardized lemon balm extracts (600 mg) were more calm and alert than those who took a placebo.

5. Passionflower

Passion Flower

Natural sedative relieves occasional anxiety and mild panic attacks. Passion Flower is a woody vine that bears small berry-like fruit called grandilla. The brightly colored flowers and above-ground portions of the Passion Flower vine are used to derive medicinal compounds that relax the central nervous system and promote emotional balance. In the United States, Passion Flower is classified as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the Food and Drug Administration. Substances that receive a GRAS classification have maintained a long, safe history of common use in foods or have been determined to be safe based on proven scientific research.

6. Winter Cherry

Relieves nervous tension, occasional anxiety and mental fatigue. Winter Cherry, or Ashwagandha Root, is among the most prominent herbal preparations used in Ayurveda, a holistic system of medicine that originated in India. The root of this small evergreen shrub is primarily recognized for its adaptogenic properties, meaning it naturally increases the body’s resistance to physical and emotional stress. Practitioners of Ayurveda traditionally prescribe Winter Cherry to promote gentle relaxation and emotional balance. Research has shown that Winter Cherry is a safe, natural sedative that produces the most noticeable benefits following daily use for two to six weeks.

 

7. Lavender  

Lavender is a common herb used in aromatherapy for mental health and mood. Lavender is a part of aromatherapy for headaches and depression. Lavender is a part of several scented products like perfumes soaps, shampoos and sachets. The plant is usually extracted into an oil and used in aromatherapy for mood, stress and anxiety. Lavender should be used with the recommendation of a physician, because it can interact with other medications. In one German study, a specially formulated lavender pill was shown to reduce anxiety symptoms in people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) as effectively as lorazepam (brand name: Ativan), an anti-anxiety medication in the same class as Valium.

 

8. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb from the roots of Withania somnifera, a plant in the nightshade family. It has long been prized for hundreds of years for its ability to help the body deal with stress. It has also been used to boost the immune system, improve memory, and to promote overall wellness.

9. L-theanine (or green tea)

Research shows that L-theanine helps curb a rising heart rate and blood pressure, and human studies have found that it reduces anxiety. In one study, anxiety-prone subjects were calmer and more focused during a test if they took 200 milligrams of L-theanine beforehand. Astonishingly, even extremely short-term use of theanine had remarkable effects on manifestations of anxiety.

10. Rhodiola Rosea (Arctic Root)

Relieves occasional anxiety and positively supports the body during periods of stress. Arctic Root is a plant indigenous to Siberia, where it thrives in high altitudes and dry arctic climate. The primary medicinal compounds of Arctic Root are derived from the root of the plant.
In Russia, Scandinavia and much of Europe, Arctic Root has been traditionally recognized for its adaptogenic properties. An adaptogen is a physiological agent that naturally increases the body’s resistance to physical and emotional stress. Rhodiola Rosea has been clinically shown to stimulate Serotonin, Norepinephrine and Dopamine activity, and may help to support healthy neurotransmitter balance.

11. St. Johns Wort

Natural reuptake inhibitor that supports a healthy neurotransmitter balance. St. John’s Wort is an aromatic perennial herb with an abundance of golden-yellow flowers. Tiny perforations filled with phytochemical-rich oils cover the aerial (above- ground) portions of St. John’s Wort and yield an extract that gives the plant its primary health benefits. Current usage statistics indicate that millions of Americans supplement their daily diets with St. John’s Wort to promote positive mood balance. The medicinal components of St. John’s Wort, which include Hypericin and Hyperforin, have been clinically shown to promote a healthy neurotransmitter balance, which can help to provide positive mood support following two to six weeks of continued use.

12. Chamomile

There is good evidence that chamomile possesses anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) properties and can be used to treat stress, anxiety and insomnia. In one study at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in Philadelphia, patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who took chamomile supplements for eight weeks had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms compared to patients taking placebo.

13. Skullcap

Skullcap is the anxiety remedy for people who experience anxiety along with restlessness, muscle tension, and jaw clenching. If you tend to toss and turn in bed, or if you feel like you can only relax when you’re out walking (but sitting still makes you want to jump out of your skin), or if you feel like “climbing the walls” when you’re stuck inside during a bout of anxiety, skullcap can help you to unwind not only your anxiety, but also the accompanying muscular tension and restlessness. Skullcap is effective in tea or tincture (a tincture is an herb extracted in alcohol) form, but if you can tolerate small amounts of alcohol I think 20-40 drops of the tincture (for a 150-pound person) is the most effective form.

14. Kava Kava

The known active ingredients in kava are phytochemicals called kavalactones. Kava Kava is best-known as a ceremonial South Pacific beverage. Six major kavalactones are used to identify the chemotype of variety as they represent greater than 90 percent of the total amount of kavalactones within the kava specimen. These kavalactones give kava its stress fighting, muscle relaxing, anxiety reducing effects. The are also very effective for depression and sleeplessness.

15. Licorice Root

contains a natural hormone alternative to cortisone, which can help the body handle stressful situations, and can help to normalize blood sugar levels as well as your adrenal glands, providing you with the energy necessary to deal with the stressful situation at hand. Some claim licorice stimulates cranial and cerebrospinal fluid, thereby calming the mind.

Neurotransmitter Support is one of the best formulations on the market for brain energy metabolism. It is a feast for brains in need of restoration, providing the optimum combination to facilitate the transport of vital nutrients into brain cells, and assist in re-establishment of neuronal function. And it’s a healthy snack for an aging brain, as well, giving it all the essentials necessary to support our mood, memory, and cognitive abilities, which tend to slow down as the years pass by.

by DAVE MIHALOVIC

 

Dave Mihalovic is a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in vaccine research, cancer prevention and a natural approach to treatment.

 

Sources:
vtherbcenter.org
preventdisease.com
care2.com
life-choice.net
about.com

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The Health Truth about Coffee

Liver CoffeeThe health effects of coffee are quite controversial. Depending on who you ask, it is either a super healthy beverage or incredibly harmful. But despite what you may have heard, there are actually plenty of good things to be said about coffee. For example, it is high in antioxidants and linked to a reduced risk of many diseases. However, it also contains caffeine, a stimulant that can cause problems in some people and disrupt sleep. This article takes a detailed look at coffee and its health effects, examining both the pros and cons.

 

Coffee Contains Some Essential Nutrients and is Extremely High in Antioxidants

Coffee is more than just dark brown water… many of the nutrients in the coffee beans do make it into the drink.

A typical 8oz (240 ml) cup of coffee contains (1):

•Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 11% of the RDA.

•Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 6% of the RDA.

•Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): 2% of the RDA.

•Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 2% of the RDA.

•Folate: 1% of the RDA.

•Manganese: 3% of the RDA.

•Potassium: 3% of the RDA.

•Magnesium: 2% of the RDA.

•Phosphorus: 1% of the RDA.

This may not seem like a lot, but try multiplying with 3, 4, or however many cups you drink per day. It can add up to a significant portion of your daily nutrient intake.

But where coffee really shines is in its high content of antioxidants.

The average person who eats a typical Western diet actually gets more antioxidants from coffee than fruits and vegetables… combined (2, 3).

Bottom Line: Coffee contains a small amount of some vitamins and minerals, which add up if you drink many cups per day. It is also high in antioxidants.

Coffee Contains Caffeine, A Stimulant That Can Enhance Brain Function and Boost Metabolism

Caffeine is the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world (4).

coffee punch

 

Soft drinks, tea and chocolate all contain caffeine, but coffee is the biggest source.

The caffeine content of a single cup can range from 30-300 mg, but the average cup is somewhere around 90-100 mg.

Caffeine is a known stimulant. In the brain, it blocks the function of an inhibitory neurotransmitter (brain hormone) called Adenosine.

By blocking adenosine, caffeine actually increases activity in the brain and the release of other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine. This reduces tiredness and makes us feel more alert (5, 6).

There are numerous studies showing that caffeine can lead to a short-term boost in brain function… including improved mood, reaction time, vigilance and general cognitive function (7, 8).

Caffeine can also boost metabolism (calories burned) by 3-11% and even increase exercise performance by 11-12%, on average (9, 10, 11, 12).

However… some of these effects are likely to be short-term. If you drink coffee every day, then you will build a tolerance to it and the effects will be less powerful (13).

There are also some downsides to caffeine, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Bottom Line: The main active compound in coffee is the stimulant caffeine. It can cause a short-term boost in energy levels, brain function, metabolic rate and exercise performance.

Coffee May Help Protect Your Brain in Old Age, Leading to Reduced Risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

 

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease and a leading cause of dementia.

Studies have shown that coffee drinkers have up to a 65% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (14, 15, 16).

Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and caused by the death of dopamine-generating neurons in the brain.

Coffee drinkers have a 32-60% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. The more coffee people drink, the lower the risk (17, 18, 19, 20).

Bottom Line: Several studies show that coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease in old age.

 

Coffee Drinkers Have a Much Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by elevated blood sugars due to resistance to the effects of insulin.

This is a very common disease… it has increased 10-fold in a few decades and now afflicts over 300 million people.

Interestingly, coffee drinkers appear to have a significantly reduced risk of developing this disease, some studies showing that coffee drinkers are up to 23-67% less likely to become diabetic (21, 22, 23, 24).

In one large review study that looked at 18 studies with 457,922 individuals, each daily cup of coffee was linked to a 7% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes (25).

Bottom Line: Numerous studies have shown that coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Coffee Drinkers Have a Lower Risk of Liver Diseases

The liver is an incredibly important organ that has hundreds of different functions in the body.coffee liver

 

It is very sensitive to modern insults like excess alcohol and fructose intake.

The end stage of liver damage is called Cirrhosis, and involves most of the liver being replaced with scar tissue.

Coffee drinkers have up to an 84% lower risk of developing cirrhosis, with the strongest effect for those who drink 4 or more cups per day (26, 27, 28).

Liver cancer is also common… it is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Coffee drinkers have up to a 40% lower risk of liver cancer (29, 30).

Bottom Line: Coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer. The more coffee they drink, the lower the risk.

 

People Who Drink Coffee Are at a Much Lower Risk of Depression and Suicide

Depression is an incredibly common problem.

It is the world’s most common mental disorder and leads to a significantly reduced quality of life.

In one Harvard study from 2011, people who drank the most coffee had a 20% lower risk of becoming depressed (31).

In one review of 3 studies, people who drank 4 or more cups of coffee per day were 53% less likely to commit suicide (32).

Bottom Line: Studies have shown that people who drink coffee have a lower risk of becoming depressed and are significantly less likely to commit suicide.

 

Some Studies Show That Coffee Drinkers Live Longer

Given that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of many common, deadly diseases (and suicide), it makes sense that coffee could help you live longer.

There is actually some good evidence to support this.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012 looked at the habits of 402,260 individuals between 50 and 71 years of age (33).

In this study, people who drank coffee had a much lower risk of dying over the 12-13 year study period:coffee death

 

The sweet spot seems to be at 4-5 cups per day, with men having a 12% reduced risk and women a 16% reduced risk.

You can read more about it in this article on how coffee can make you live longer.

Bottom Line: Some studies have shown that coffee drinkers live longer, which makes perfect sense given that they have a lower risk of many diseases. The strongest effect is seen for 4-5 cups per day.

 

Caffeine Can Cause Anxiety and Disrupt Sleep

It wouldn’t be right to only talk about the good stuff without mentioning the bad.

The truth is… there are some important negative aspects to coffee as well (although this depends on the individual).

Consuming too much caffeine can lead to jitteriness, anxiety, heart palpitations and may even exacerbate panic attacks (34).

If you are sensitive to caffeine and tend to become overstimulated, then perhaps you shouldn’t be drinking coffee.

Another unwanted side effect is that it can disrupt sleep (35). If coffee reduces the quality of your sleep, then try avoiding coffee late in the day, such as after 2pm.

Caffeine can also have some diuretic and blood pressure raising effects, but this usually goes away with regular use. However, an increase in blood pressure of 1-2 mm/Hg may persist (36, 37, 38).

Bottom Line: Caffeine can have various negative effects, such as causing anxiety and disrupting sleep, but this depends greatly on the individual.

 

Caffeine is Addictive and Missing a Few Cups Can Lead to Withdrawal

One issue with caffeine, is that it can lead to addiction in many people.

When people consume caffeine regularly, they become tolerant to it. It either stops working as it used to, or a larger dose is needed to get the same effects (39).

When people abstain from caffeine, they get withdrawal symptoms like headache, tiredness, brain fog and irritability. This can last for a few days (40, 41).

Tolerance and withdrawal are the hallmarks of physical addiction.

A lot of people (understandably) don’t like the idea of being literally dependant on a chemical substance in order to function properly.

Bottom Line: Caffeine is an addictive substance. It can lead to tolerance and well documented withdrawal symptoms like headache, tiredness and irritability.

 

The Difference Between Regular and Decaf

Some people opt for decaffeinated coffee instead of regular.

The way decaffeinated coffee is usually made, is by rinsing the coffee beans with solvent chemicals.

Each time this is done, some percentage of the caffeine dissolves in the solvent and this process is repeated until most of the caffeine has been removed.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that even decaffeinated coffee does contain some caffeine, just much less than regular coffee.

Unfortunately, not all of the health benefits of regular coffee apply to decaffeinated coffee. For example, some studies show no reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s or liver diseases for people who drink decaffeinated coffee.

Bottom Line: Decaffeinated coffee is made by extracting caffeine from the coffee beans using solvents. Decaf does not have all of the same health benefits as regular coffee.

 

Things to Keep in Mind in Order to Maximize The Health Benefitscoffee benefits

 

There are some things you can do in order to maximize the beneficial health effects you get from coffee.

The most important is to NOT add anything unhealthy to it. This includes sugar and any sort of artificial, chemical-laden creamer.

Another important thing is to brew coffee with a paper filter. Unfiltered coffee (such as Turkish or French press) contains cafestol, a substance that can increase cholesterol levels (42, 43).

Also keep in mind that some of the coffee drinks at places like Starbucks can contain hundreds of calories and a whole bunch of sugar. These drinks are NOT healthy.

There are some more tips in this article on 8 ways to make your coffee super healthy.

Bottom Line: It is important not to put sugar or a chemical-laden creamer in your coffee. Brewing with a paper filter can get rid of a cholesterol-raising compound called Cafestol.

 

Should You be Drinking Coffee?

There are some people who would definitely want to avoid or severely limit coffee consumption, especially pregnant women.

People with anxiety issues, high blood pressure or insomnia might also want to try limiting coffee for a while to see if it helps.

There is also some evidence that people who metabolize caffeine slowly have an increased risk of heart attacks from drinking coffee (44).

All that being said… it does seem clear that for the average person, coffee can have important beneficial effects on health.

If you don’t already drink coffee, then I don’t think these benefits are a compelling reason to start doing it. There are downsides as well.

But if you already drink coffee and you enjoy it, then the benefits appear to far outweigh the negatives.

I personally drink coffee, every day… about 4-5 cups (sometimes more). My health has never been better.

Take Home Message

It’s important to keep in mind that many of the studies in the article are observational studies, which can not prove that coffee caused the beneficial effects.

But given that the effects are strong and consistent among studies, it is a fairly strong indicator that coffee does in fact play a role.

Despite having been demonized in the past, the evidence points to coffee being very healthy… at least for the majority of people.

If anything, coffee belongs in the same category as healthy beverages like green tea.

by KRIS GUNNARS

Source: Authority Nutrition

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15 Foods That Contain The Mother Of All Antioxidants

 glutathione_benefits-300x217We have all heard of antioxidants, but have we heard of the mother of all antioxidants? One that is the secret to prevent cancer, heart disease, aging, neurological issues and more? This single antioxidant has been studied in great depth yet most of us know nothing about it and  many doctors have no idea how to address the epidemic of its deficiency in humans.

We are of course talking about Glutathione (pronounced “gloota-thigh-own.”) This is a powerful detoxifier and immune booster and is crucial to a healthy life. Although the body does make some of its own Glutathione, poor food quality, pollution, toxic environments, stress, infections and radiation are all depleting out bodies glutathione.

 

What is Glutathione?

Glutathione is a simple molecule produced naturally in the body at all times. It’s a combination of three building blocks of protein or amino acids — cysteine, glycine and glutamine.

The best part of glutathione is that is contains sulfur chemical groups that work to trap all the bad things like free radicals and toxins such as mercury and heavy metals in our body then flush them out. This is especially important in our current world of heavy metal bombardment.

 

Where Can You Get Glutathione?

The body makes it, but it’s often not enough in our strenuous environment. Here are some food sources that either contain glutathione or its precursors to help the body produce more.

-Broccoli
-Brussels sprouts
-Cabbage
-Cauliflower
-Avocados
-Peaches
-Watermelon
-Cinnamon
-Cardamom
-Turmeric (Curcumin)
-Tomatoes
-Peas
-Garlic
-Onions
-Red peppers

Notice they are all healthy foods we often don’t get enough of? This is another big issue with our diets. We consume a lot of junk, meat, dairy and processed foods, items that clinically have been proven to be the number one causes of heart disease and illness yet we consume  them in huge quantities. The key is to limit these and eat a lot of fresh, lively foods that provide nutrients and don’t ask the body to perform a mega job to digest.

 

You can also increase your exercise as glutathione production increases when you exercise. Breathing and sweating are also great ways to get rid of toxins in the body.

 

Glutathione Protects Against Chronic Illness

What makes glutathione so important and powerful is that it recycles antioxidants. When your body is dealing with free radicals, it is essentially passing them from one molecule to another. They might go from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then to glutathione where they are cooled off. Antioxidants are recycled at this point and the body can now regenerate another glutathione molecule to go back at it again.

 

Glutathione is crucial for helping your immune system fight chronic illness as it acts as the carrier of toxins out of your body. Like a fly trap, toxins stick to glutathione and they are carried to the bile into the stools and out of the body. Glutathione is also powerful enough that it has been shown to help in the treatment of AIDS greatly. The body is going to get in touch with oxidants and toxins, the more we can deal with those the better our body will be at staying strong, this is why glutathione is so important.

 

9 Final Tips

Dr. Mark Hyman has given 9 tips to increase your Glutathione levels. Check them out!

 

1. Consume sulfur-rich foods. The main ones in the diet are garlic, onions and the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, etc.).

 

2. Try bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis. As you know, I am not a big fan of dairy, but this is an exception — with a few warnings. The whey protein MUST be bioactive and made from non-denatured proteins (“denaturing” refers to the breakdown of the normal protein structure). Choose non-pasteurized and non-industrially produced milk that contains no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Immunocal is a prescription bioactive non-denatured whey protein that is even listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference.

 

3. Exercise boosts your glutathione levels and thereby helps boost your immune system, improve detoxification and enhance your body’s own antioxidant defenses. Start slow and build up to 30 minutes a day of vigorous aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, or play various sports. Strength training for 20 minutes 3 times a week is also helpful.

 

One would think it would be easy just to take glutathione as a pill, but the body digests protein — so you wouldn’t get the benefits if you did it this way. However, the production and recycling of glutathione in the body requires many different nutrients and you CAN take these. Here are the main supplements that need to be taken consistently to boost glutathione. Besides taking a multivitamin and fish oil, supporting my glutathione levels with these supplements is the most important thing I do every day for my personal health.

 

4. N-acetyl-cysteine. This has been used for years to help treat asthma and lung disease and to treat people with life-threatening liver failure from Tylenol overdose. In fact, I first learned about it in medical school while working in the emergency room. It is even given to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.

 

5. Alpha lipoic acid. This is a close second to glutathione in importance in our cells and is involved in energy production, blood sugar control, brain health and detoxification. The body usually makes it, but given all the stresses we are under, we often become depleted.

 

6. Methylation nutrients (folate and vitamins B6 and B12). These are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione. Methylation and the production and recycling of glutathione are the two most important biochemical functions in your body. Take folate (especially in the active form of 5 methyltetrahydrofolate), B6 (in active form of P5P) and B12 (in the active form of methylcobalamin).

 

7. Selenium. This important mineral helps the body recycle and produce more glutathione.

 

8. A family of antioxidants including vitamins C and E (in the form of mixed tocopherols), work together to recycle glutathione.

 

9. Milk thistle (silymarin) has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels.

by JOE MARTINO

Credit: Collective Evolution

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