...Fetal Harm from Maternal Drug Use

Sad statistics regarding fetal harm from maternal drug use

By Robin Wulffson MD on April 27, 2012 - 2:22pm for eMaxHealth


Despite the fact that fetal damage may occur, many women take prescription and illegal drugs during their pregnancy. To evaluate fetal impact from maternal drug use, a large population-based study was conducted. The findings were presented in the May 2012 edition of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The investigators reviewed state-linked birth certificate and hospital discharge (mother and newborn) data from 2000 through 2008 in Washington State. Their focus was to estimate the effect of maternal illegal and prescription drug use on their offspring. The data was used to calculate prenatal drug exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome rates (neonatal abstinence refers to the newborn’s withdrawal from the drugs). The researchers compared state neonatal abstinence syndrome rates with national-level data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. They identified the drugs of exposure, examined predictors of drug exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome, and assessed perinatal (time of birth) outcomes among drug-exposed and neonatal abstinence syndrome-diagnosed neonates compared with unexposed neonates.

The researchers found that drug exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome rates increased significantly between 2000 and 2008; furthermore, the neonatal abstinence syndrome rates in Washington State were consistently higher than national figures (3.3 per 1,000 births vs. 2.8 per 1,000 births in 2008). The percentage of neonatal abstinence syndrome-diagnosed neonates exposed prenatally to opioids (i.e., heroin or codeine) increased from 26.4% in 2000 to 41.7% in 2008. Compared with unexposed newborns, drug-exposed and neonatal abstinence syndrome-diagnosed neonates had a lower average birth weight, longer birth hospitalization, were more likely to be born preterm, experience feeding problems, and have respiratory conditions.

The authors concluded that, in recent years, maternal use of illicit and prescription drugs was associated with considerable neonatal morbidity and significantly higher rates of drug exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome. Their data suggested that opioid analgesics (pain killers) contributed to the increase in prenatal drug exposure and neonatal abstinence syndrome in Washington State. They stressed that, in accordance with current guidelines, their findings indicated the need for healthcare providers to screen pregnant women for illegal and prescription drug use and minimize use of opioid analgesics during pregnancy.

The authors noted that in utero exposure to illegal drugs, including street and prescription drugs used non-medically, as well as methadone prescribed as treatment for opiate addiction can have negative effects on fetal development and potentially on subsequent infant, child, and adult health. Prematurity, fetal growth restriction, and neonatal abstinence syndrome are well-established immediate effects of prenatal exposure to certain drugs. Neonatal abstinence syndrome represents a spectrum of behavioral and physiological signs and symptoms that occur in a newborn exposed to addictive illegal or prescription drugs while in the uterus, and, depending on exposure patterns, may require significant intervention with drug therapy.

Reference: Obstetrics & Gynecology

See Also:
Mom’s smoking causes infant skin disease
Stillbirth risk factors every woman should know

http://www.emaxhealth.com/11306/sad-statistics-regarding-fetal-harm-maternal-drug-use

Why Pistachios May Be Nuts For Your Gut

By Deborah Mitchell on April 27, 2012 - 12:59pm for eMaxHealth


A healthy gut (gastrointestional) environment is essential for good health, and pistachios might just be the nuts for the job. Here’s what the authors of a new study have discovered about why pistachios may be nuts for your gut.

What’s special about pistachios?

If you like pistachios, you already know what’s special about these nuts for you. Besides tasting good, you may also know that one ounce of pistachios (49 kernels) provides 160 calories, 3 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 6.8 grams of healthy fat (monounsaturated), and about 18% of your daily requirement for vitamin B6, copper, and manganese.

Pistachios are not only good food for you to eat, however; they also serve as a meal for the beneficial bacteria that live in your gut. In this latter role, the fiber and phytochemicals in pistachios stay in the gut and are used by the bacteria for growth and to modify the gut environment.

According to Volker Mai, PhD, the lead author of the new study and assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, this is great news for the gut. “Modifying microbiota [gut microbial environment] towards a ‘beneficial’ composition is a promising approach for supporting intestinal health, with potential effects on overall health, and it appears that pistachios may play a role in this modification.”

Here’s why he made this claim. Mai and his team enrolled 16 healthy individuals in a study in which they were randomly assigned to eat an American-style, pre-planned diet that included either 0, 1.5, or 3 ounces of pistachios or almonds daily. (The calories were adjusted to avoid weight loss or gain.)

Throughout the study, the researchers collected and analyzed stool samples of the participants to identify the bacteria. Specifically, they looked for two groups of bacteria that help break down food, so-called “beneficial bacteria”—lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria.

After 19 days of the study, the authors observed the following:

• Volunteers who ate up to 3 ounces of pistachios daily had higher levels of various bacteria in the gut.
• Pistachio eaters also had an increase in potentially beneficial bacteria that produce butyrates, which are important as food for cells that line the colon and so play an important role in maintaining intestinal health.
• The difference in gut microbes was stronger in people who ate pistachios compared with those who ate almonds
• Although both almonds and pistachios improved the gut environment, pistachios provided more benefit.

Studies of pistachios

A number of studies have uncovered health benefits associated with eating pistachios. For example:

• A University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center study reported that a diet containing pistachios may help reduce the risk of lung cancer
• A Turkish study found that pistachio intake significantly reduced triglyceride levels while increasing antioxidant activity
• A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition revealed that daily consumption of pistachios was associated with improved cholesterol levels
• Pistachios have also been credited with helping lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol

In this latest study, which was presented at the 2012 Experimental Biology meeting, the authors concluded that although their work is preliminary, it is “a promising sign that increasing consumption of nuts, specifically pistachios, provides a novel means to modify the number of the gut’s ‘healthy’ microbiota, with potential health benefits.”

And that’s why pistachios may be the nuts for your gut.

SOURCES:
Alturfan AA et al. Consumption of pistachio nuts beneficially affected blood lipis and total antioxidant activity in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. Folia Biol Praha 2009; 55(4): 132-36
Gebauer SK et al. Effects of pistachios on cardiovascular disease risk factors and potential mechanisms of action: a dose-response study. Am J Clin Nutr 2008 Sep; 88(3): 651-59
Ukhanova M et al. Human gut microbiota changes after consumption of almonds or pistachios. Presented at 2012 Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, April 23, 2012

Image: Wikimedia Commons

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/why-pistachios-may-be-nuts-your-gut

Heart muscle repair breakthrough reported

 By Robin Wulffson MD on April 27, 2012 - 12:00pm for eMaxHealth


Following a myocardial infarction (heart attack), a portion of the heart muscle is destroyed because of loss of circulation (ischemia). This damaged area is replaced with scar tissue (fibroblasts); thus, the damaged heart loses pumping efficiency. If the heart is sufficiently damaged, heart failure and death occurs. A new study has reported a method to replace the fibroblasts with working heart muscle. Researchers at Duke University (Durham, NC) published their findings online on April 27 in the journal Circulation Research.

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they can be stimulated to develop into any type of tissue. However, the use of human embryos is controversial on an ethical basis and the possibility of malignant tumors developing from these cells is possible. Research is also ongoing with adult stem cells; however, they have limited capacity to develop into new tissue compared to embryonic stem cells. The Duke researchers took a new approach to growing new heart muscle; they used molecules known as miRNAs (microRNAs) to convert fibroblasts into heart muscle cells in both tissue cultures (in vitro) and in a living mouse (in vitro). The in vitro experiments improved the ability of the heart to pump blood.

The goal of the study was to develop a technique, which identified and evaluated the potential of specific microRNAs capable of inducing reprogramming of cardiac (heart) fibroblasts directly to cardiomyocytes (functioning heart muscle) in vitro and in vivo. The researchers identified a combination of several types miRNAs (1, 133, 208, and 499), which were capable of inducing direct cellular reprogramming of fibroblasts to cardiomyocyte-like cells in vitro. They went on to administer the microRNAs into ischemic mouse myocardium (heart muscle with an inadequate blood supply). They found that the miRNAs converted the cardiac fibroblasts to cardiomyocytes in the mouse heart. They noted that a genetic tracing analysis strongly suggested that induced cells are most likely of fibroblastic origin.

The authors concluded that their findings provided “proof-of-concept that miRNAs have the capability of directly converting fibroblasts to a cardiomyocyte-like phenotype in vitro.” In addition, they noted that another significant result of their study was that it was the first report of direct cardiac reprogramming in vivo. The noted that, in addition to heart muscle regeneration, their approach may have broad and important implications for therapeutic tissue regeneration in general.

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death and premature death in the United States. Risk factors include:

• Age: Aging increases the risk of damaged and narrowed arteries.
• Gender: Men are generally at greater risk of coronary artery disease; however, the risk for women increases after menopause.
• Family history: A family history of heart disease is associated with a higher risk of coronary artery disease, particularly if a close relative developed heart disease at an early age. The risk is highest if one’s father or a brother was diagnosed with heart disease before age 55, or one’s mother or a sister developed it before age 65.
• Smoking: Nicotine constricts your blood vessels, and carbon monoxide can damage their inner lining, making them more susceptible to atherosclerosis.
• Hypertension: Uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure) can result in hardening and thickening of the arteries; thus, the blood flow channel is narrowed.
• High blood cholesterol levels: High cholesterol levels can increase the risk of formation of plaques and atherosclerosis. High cholesterol can be caused by a high level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL; "bad cholesterol”). A low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL; "good cholesterol”) can also promote atherosclerosis.
• Diabetes: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease.
• Obesity: Excess weight commonly aggravates other risk factors.
• Physical inactivity: Lack of exercise is associated with coronary artery disease as well as some of its risk factors.
• High stress: Unrelieved stress in one’s life may damage arteries; furthermore, it can aggravate other risk factors for coronary artery disease.

Reference: Circulation Research

See Also:
New study on minimizing the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease
New Study: Is daily aspirin good for you?
Prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke: start early

http://www.emaxhealth.com/11306/heart-muscle-repair-breakthrough-reported

Why Women Need Berries, and Don't You Forget It

By Deborah Mitchell on April 27, 2012 - 6:01am for eMaxHealth

In 2000, there was a movie entitled “What Women Want,” but according to a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, what women need is berries, and lots of them. Apparently, berries can help put the brakes on cognitive decline among elderly women.

Berries contain brain boosters

You may like strawberries and blueberries for their juicy sweetness and the way they pop in your mouth when you bite into them, but researchers like them for another reason. These berries and others are excellent sources of phytonutrients called flavonoids, especially a subgroup called anthocyanidins, which are potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory substances.

Although everyone could use a good dose of free-radical fighting antioxidants in their lives, various antioxidants have been found to be particularly helpful in different situations. In the case of anthocyanidins, previous investigations have shown they can improve cognitive functions.

Now a research team has reported that older women who eat lots of strawberries and blueberries can delay their cognitive decline by up to 2.5 years. This finding could have a significant impact on the aging population.

Under the guidance of the study’s leader, Dr. Elizabeth Devore, the team evaluated data collected from the Nurses Health Study, focusing on 16,010 who had had their cognitive function assessed between 1995 and 2001 at two-yearly intervals and who were at least 70 years old.

The authors reported that older women who consumed the most blueberries and strawberries had slower cognitive decline compared with women who ate the least. Devore noted that “We provide the first epidemiologic evidence that berries may slow progression of cognitive decline in elderly women.”

Although the researchers did account for multiple factors, they noted that others could have had an impact on their findings. For example, the women who ate more berries could have been more physically active than their peers.

More goodness from berries

Previous studies have uncovered health benefits associated with eating berries. For example:

• A Tufts University study team reported that the phytochemicals in berries may help prevent age-related interference with calcium homeostasis in the brain, and therefore help preserve brain health
• A recent Harvard study found that berry consumption could help reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women
• Two separate studies in California found that blueberry powder reduced breast cancer tumor size in mice by 60% to 75% compared with a control group and also reduced spread of the disease
• A Swedish study found that blueberries could help protect against intestinal disease such as colitis and colorectal cancer
• Strawberries could have a role in preventing esophageal cancer

It appears berries could play an important role in your health. Dr. Devore concluded that “Our findings have significant public health implications as increasing berry intake is a fairly simple dietary modification to test cognition protection in older adults.” That’s why women need berries, and don’t you forget it.

SOURCE:
Devore EE et al. Dietary intakes of berries and flavonoids in relation to cognitive decline. Annals of Neurology 2012 Apr 25. DOI:10.1002/ana.23594

Image: Wikimedia Commons

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/why-women-need-berries-and-dont-you-forget-it

Meditation: Ancient Practice, Scientifically Proven Benefits

Dr. Isaac Eliaz | Apr 27, 2012 | Comments 5

Meditation is like a wonder drug without undesirable side effects. Research shows it can reverse DNA damage, improve brain structure, drop heart disease risk, boost immunity, increase energy and reduce inflammation. A meditative mind may instill immensely improved health.

Regular Meditation

Over the years, published research has demonstrated that the practice of regular meditation can increase brain density, boost connections between neurons, decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety, provide clarity of thought and increase positive mood endorphins. Other published studies have shown meditation can improve physical functioning, decrease chronic disease risks and enhance overall quality of life. These studies demonstrate that regular meditation effectively supports mental, emotional and physical health in numerous tangible ways. In building upon this strong body of evidence, researchers are continuing to deepen our understanding of the profound and inspirational benefits offered by regular meditation practice in everyday life.

UCLA Researchers Uncover Brain Benefits Of Meditation

Most recently, neuroscientists at UCLA have shown another fascinating neural effect of regular meditation: the ability to increase “cortical gyrification” of the brain. Cortical gyrification refers to the folding of the cerebral cortex, a function that allows the brain to process information faster. The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of neural tissue in the brain and serves an important role in controlling memory, consciousness, thought processing, decision making, attention and awareness.

During cortical gyrification, the tissues of the cerebral cortex fold, creating indented fissures and creases called sulci and gyri, which increase neural processing and neurotransmitter communication. Increased gyrification enhances the brain’s capacity for computing information, maintaining focus and attention, creating and retrieving memory, processing logic, forming decisions, and performing other mental tasks.

The neuroscientists at UCLA compared meditators who possessed various levels of experience and frequency of practice to people who never meditated. Among the meditators, they found significant increases in cortical folding across a wide area of the brain responsible for numerous functions beyond rapid information processing and retrieval. Additional areas of the brain that are shown to be markedly affected by meditation involve emotional and mental health capacities, ability to control emotions, heightened awareness, introspection, and more. This finding supports some of the more noticeable results of regular meditation: increased compassion for self and others, enhanced self-awareness and introspection, and greater emotional stability.

Researchers also found significant increases in cortical gyrification among more experienced practitioners. In other words, the longer a person had been practicing regular meditation, the greater the beneficial changes in his brain.

Long-Term Health

As a holistic physician and meditation practitioner with more than 25 years of experience, I have always believed strongly in the mental and emotional benefits of regular mindful meditation practice. And the physical payoffs are equally impressive. We all know that reducing stress can dramatically improve health on a number of levels. Regular mindful meditation has been shown to protect against and reverse DNA (telomere) damage, boost immune function, reduce cardiovascular disease risks, decrease inflammation, improve outcomes in cancer, reduce side effects of conventional treatment, increase vital energy and expand physical capacity.

As regular meditation practice becomes better understood and more widely practiced, more and more doctors and health practitioners are recommending these ancient disciplines to their patients. If you’re a health provider, meditation can help you become a better healer and clinician, increasing your diagnostic and therapeutic skills significantly and allowing you to connect in more meaningful ways with your patients and community. And if you are looking for some extra healing energy to improve your own health, regular meditation can provide a powerful solution.

As evidenced by this UCLA study, meditation is most effective when practiced regularly. Even just 10 minutes a day can offer significant and noticeable benefits over a short period of time.

Tips For Getting Started

While there are countless styles of meditation practice, one of the most profound is the ancient Tibetan practice of Shamatha meditation. Shamatha is Sanskrit for “calm abiding.” This form of meditation is intended to help people access a natural state of tranquility and clarity. The technique involves focusing the breath on a specific object and letting go of all other thoughts, as attention is consistently trained on the process of breathing.

Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit, and pick a small object such as a rock to place on the ground in front of you. Focus your eyes and your breathing on the rock. As thoughts inevitably arise, simply acknowledge and then release them, letting them slip away with each out-breath. When your mind wanders off, gently bring your attention back to your breathing and the rock, visualizing each inhalation and exhalation going to and from the rock.

Meditation And Healing Retreat

I frequently teach meditation techniques to health practitioners, patients and the general public, to help expand people’s understandings of these simple yet profound practices. With a strong focus on Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy and practice, these in-depth meditation workshop retreats are approved for 28.5 CEUs for acupuncturists in California and nationwide. For more information about these events, visit www.dreliaz.org/events.

Exponential Benefits

As you become more practiced at meditation, you will likely notice significant improvements in your energy, health and mental/emotional balance. You may find that as distractions and obscurities are peeled away during mindful meditation practice, the space between thoughts becomes greater and more profound. As we slowly turn down the constant chatter of our minds, we can begin to access deeper aspects of consciousness for growth and healing. This peeling process can make room for your true inner nature of love, compassion, peace and tranquility to arise and expand naturally, benefiting yourself and those around you exponentially.

To me, one of the most beautiful and profound aspects of meditation is that this process of growth and unfolding (as well as cortical folding) can continue throughout our lives. After all, we can never have too much love, compassion and clarity.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/meditation-ancient-practice-scientifically-proven-benefits/

Social Butterflies Live Longer

Kellye Copas | Apr 27, 2012 | Comments 0

Humans are gregarious creatures and, instinctually, early humans sought safety in numbers. In contrast, many modern humans are loners. A staggering number of people today forego face-to-face encounters and prefer alone time with their electronic gadgets.

That solitary lifestyle can diminish your life expectancy. According to a review of 148 studies measuring how social relationships influence health, too many solitary days and nights can shorten your life. The analysis shows that a social disconnect can disconnect you from being alive. In one the individual studies that were examined, researchers followed 4,775 participants in San Francisco and found that those who placed low on the social network index were twice as likely to die as the social butterflies.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/social-butterflies-live-longer/

The Lost Art Of Fermentation

 

Bob Livingston | Apr 26, 2012 | Comments 3

Fermentation of food and drink is a lost art. In the old days, fermentation took the place of refrigeration. It preserved food. Fermented food also contains valuable natural substances that boost health.

When bacteria and enzymes in food convert sugar, starches and carbohydrates into the alcohol and organic acids of fermentation such as lactic acid, this preserves food by protecting it against bacteria that causes food to rot.

Modern food processing is based on killing these organic acids of fermentation by heating or pasteurization. In fact, government inspectors use the live enzyme count to condemn milk or foods. This opposes health in favor of shelf life.

They translate live food into money by killing it. What else would we expect them to do?

Fermenting Cabbage

I remember when my mother grew cabbage, cut it up, put it in a churn (heavily salted) and let it set outside to make sauerkraut. Interestingly, this was before the days of widespread stomach and intestinal problems that (you guessed it) magically turned into multibillion-dollar profits for the pharmaceutical companies and doctors.

Without good stomach bacteria and enzymes, of course we have widespread “acid indigestion,” which calls for the very huge trillion-dollar business of antacids. This leads straight to an epidemic of stomach cancer; Americans don’t have a clue about cause and effect. The antacid business is a pharmaceutical industry that feeds the cancer industry, which means billions of dollars more to the pharmaceutical companies for chemotherapy and radiation and to the doctors and hospitals for surgery. Follow the trail of the serpent.

Hard Truth

The hard truth is that the symptom of “acid indigestion” is really a warning that we don’t have enough acid. At the advice of the medical system, we load up on antacids and further lose our good stomach acid.

The alchemists can almost match the money printers at creating vast wealth out of nothing. It’s criminal, but it’s legal.

Fermented foods are pre-digested foods. They magically soothe and heal the stomach and provide more nutrients like B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids. Incidentally, men, fatty acid consumption equals prostate health.

Bill Douglass, M.D., (my doctor at one time) wrote in his Douglass Report of February 2010, “The lactic acid you get from fermented foods produces substances that can kill bacteria like salmonella and Helicobacter pylori.” To subscribe to Dr. Douglass’ Report, go here.

French Paradox

You may have heard of the “French Paradox.” The French people escape cancer and heart disease more often than Americans because they drink more wine. Of course, they must drink their own fermented wine without commercial processing.

There are fermented foods, drinks and additives available on the Internet. Just use Google to find them. Kombucha — an excellent drink — and non-pasteurized yogurt are two of my favorites. I eat the plain yogurt, sweetened with stevia for taste. There are fewer calories in plain versus flavored yogurt.

‘Acid Indigestion’

I personally had “acid indigestion” for many years, along with high blood pressure. I read about Bob Butts’ water and salt cure (for everything) and, after months of delay, decided to try it.

Mind you, doctors have a phobia against the mixture of salt and high blood pressure. I tried it with great reluctance thinking that it would probably kill me. Well, first I made my last will and testament. By now, I must have drunk many pounds of sea salt- not processed table salt. We need sea salt for its very important minerals.

I am still here and in better health with no blood pressure medication and without so-called “acid indigestion.” I put “acid indigestion” in quotes because it is a lie that the pharmaceutical companies have imposed on the public mind to extract money.

Well now, I emphatically do not recommend that you take sea salt if you have high blood pressure, even though I have told you the truth. I know full well how indelible this medical lie has been inscribed, stamped and engraved on our collective minds.

Butts is a totally honest, dedicated person who has spent a huge amount of his own money trying to get the word out that water and sea salt (1/4 teaspoon daily) will reverse most health concerns. So far, the medical establishment has not stopped him because his organization is 100 percent nonprofit.
He takes no money. He wants only to expose the medical fraud that is wrecking America. His site is here.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/the-lost-art-of-fermentation/

Older Men Don’t Need Prostate Tests

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 26, 2012 | Comments 1

When 81-year-old Warren Buffett announced that he had been screened for prostate cancer and was going to be treated, prostate experts groaned. For years, they have been recommending against testing for prostate cancer in men aged 75 years or older.

“PSA (prostate-specific antigen) screening for … men 75 or older is inappropriate,” says Scott Eggener, M.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine. “Selective screening is reasonable to consider for the healthiest men over age 75, but for the large majority of men in this age group, early detection can lead to treatment of a disease that will probably never cause a problem. A substantial proportion of men over 75 with an elevated PSA will die from something else before a prostate cancer interferes with the quality or duration of their life.”

But doctors and their patients aren’t listening to this advice. Since recommendations in 2008 from the United States Preventive Services Task Force against testing for prostate cancer in men aged 75 years or older, almost half of men in that age group continue to get screening tests. And the number keeps going up, not down.

 

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/older-men-dont-need-prostate-tests/

Fast Food And Margarine Marginalize Your IQ, Shrink Your Brain

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 25, 2012 | Comments 1

As you age, your brain may shrink. This shrinkage is linked to reductions in your thinking abilities and mental powers as well as being a sign of an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.

To lower your chances of this disquieting brain development, shun margarine and fast food, and fill your diet with fish, fruits and vegetables. Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland have found that when your diet is high in the omega-3 fatty acids in fish as well as vitamins C, D, E and B, your brain stays healthier as you age. In contrast, people whose meals frequently contain the trans fats in fast food, baked goods, processed food and margarine are more likely to have shrunken brains and poor scores on thinking tests.

The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87 and very few risk factors for memory and thinking problems. Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant. All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. A total of 42 of the participants had MRI scans to measure their brain volume.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/fast-food-and-margarine-marginalize-your-iq-shrink-your-brain/

Overcome Fatigue Naturally

Dr. Mark Wiley | Apr 25, 2012 | Comments 1

Feeling tired or exhausted is a normal sign that it’s time to rest and sleep. But if you are constantly fatigued or excessively tired over time, you’re not healthy. The good news: With simple changes and natural remedies, you can defeat fatigue and live vibrantly.

Often, the American lifestyle is one of too much stress, too much work, too much worry and not enough relaxation or sleep. This makes you fatigued. And when this fatigue is prolonged, or allowed to exist for weeks on end, it can become chronic. Chronic fatigue is one of the most debilitating health issues you can grapple with. It saps your energy and joy for life. Often, it can lead to depression.

The problem is that many people bring prolonged fatigue on themselves through their daily actions and choices. Fatigue-inducing actions include:

• Working too many hours.
• Experiencing too much physical or mental stress at work.
• Taking on too much without the ability to say no.
• Not reducing psychological stress.
• Not getting seven solid hours of sleep per night.
• Using external stimulants like caffeine, sugar or drugs to keep you energized.
• Eating a poor diet high in simple carbohydrates, sugars and fats.
• Not drinking ample amounts of water.
• Wearing down your nervous system with smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.

Banish Fatigue

Suffering chronic fatigue is something most people can vanquish. If you examine the list above, you can see that all of these examples are based on personal actions and behaviors. Change these and you naturally change your energy levels. Here’s what you can do:

• Set a standard sleep and wake schedule, and try not to deviate from it. Recent studies indicate that seven hours of sleep per night is not only ideal but the healthiest.
• Do not consume caffeinated or sugar-laden beverages that dehydrate you while also causing spikes and drops in blood sugar. This leads to fatigue.
• If you experience fatigue in the middle of the day, take a nap (if possible), go for a walk or take a personal day to go home and recharge. One lost day may forestall suffering fatigue for weeks or longer.
• Try to get your work done within the standard eight-hour day. This may mean prioritizing your time, managing your schedule more efficiently or reducing your workload. Learn to say no to extra tasks before you are overwhelmed. Again, this means balancing your health with your work.
• Learn and practice daily stress-management and stress-reduction techniques, like mindful breathing and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) reframing methods. Aromatherapy also helps, as do hot showers and soothing baths at the end of the day.
• Avoid all external stimulants that produce artificial energy. These provide only short energy boosts while dragging your body down. If you need energy, go for a brisk five-minute walk or do some jumping jacks. While it sounds counterintuitive, it takes energy to make energy. The more you exercise or move your body, the more energy your body produces naturally.
• Eat only whole grains when deciding on breads and pastas; they take longer to break down and turn to sugar in your body. They do not cause the same spikes and dips in energy that simple carbs do. Getting your carbohydrates from vegetable sources is even better.
• Try to not overstimulate your sense organs. That means creating work and living environments that are not overly crammed with images, sounds, smells and clutter. Such things tax your nervous system and can lead you to feel fatigue.

Good Health

Energy is the elixir of good health. Fatigue drains you of vibrancy.

Five things lead naturally to optimal energy:

1. Oxygen: Without oxygen you cannot live. Yet most people breathe shallowly, using only a portion of their lung capacity. They do not bring in enough fresh oxygen into the body, nor do they expel enough carbon dioxide. Breathing deeply a few times every hour, as long as the air is fresh, can help energize your body, aid in detoxification and invigorate your cells.
2. Food: Necessary for life, food is your fuel. Eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables while cutting back on sugars and processed foods goes a long way toward creating natural energy and stabilizing sugar crashes.
3. Water: Water is remarkably important for all functions in the body from the elimination of toxins to the moistening of the lungs and other organs to keeping the muscles loose. Drinking water to stay hydrated is a valuable resource for preventing fatigue.
4. Sleep: Sleep allows your body to shut down and begin to repair itself from the stresses of the day. You need this time to regenerate, clean and repair. Without ample sleep on a nightly basis, you will surely experience fatigue and, often, chronic pain.
5. Movement: As mentioned before, it takes the use of energy to create extra energy. The more you can walk, jump or exercise, the more energy your body naturally starts producing. Being sedentary leads only to more sedentary behaviors which, in turn, lead to low energy, tiredness and fatigue. Get up and move.

In addition to these lifestyle changes, there are additional things you can do to prevent and overcome fatigue: Get regular bodywork like massage, acupuncture or chiropractic. Take yoga, Pilates or a spin class. Go to the gym. Hike or bike on a regular basis. Add supplements to your diet like B complex, vitamins E and C, magnesium, zinc, selenium, iron, and ginseng.

On the other hand, be sure to forgo No Doze or pills supposed to pep you up and combat jet lag.

Naturally Tired

Being tired is a natural part of each day, signaling a time to rest. Since fatigue is largely self-induced because of our lifestyles, it is clear that making changes in your daily behaviors, actions and choices can naturally reverse fatigue and prevent its return.

Live a vibrant life full of energy by making the adjustments to your life that can keep fatigue at bay. It may take some effort at first, but routines are easy to maintain after a brief period of introduction.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/overcome-fatigue-naturally/

Olive Oil And Fish Protect Your Pancreas

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 25, 2012 | Comments 0

Your pancreas is a hardworking organ, supplying hormones you need to promote proper digestion.

Pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas, can be an acute or chronic condition that may threaten your health and your life.

If you want to reduce your risk of pancreas damage, the Mediterranean diet, rich in virgin olive oil and fish, may lower the inflammation that can injure pancreatic cells. A study conducted by a research group at the University of Granada has found that oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol (concentrated in virgin olive oil) and omega-3 fats (found in fish) affect the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of acute pancreatitis.

The author of the study, María Belén López Millán, says: “…there is increasing evidence that there are oxidative-inflammatory processes involved in the origin of chronic diseases and that diet plays an important role in such processes. The antioxidant (phenolic compounds) and antiinflammatory (omega-3 fatty acids) effects of diet components (nutrients and bioactive compounds) prevent… the pathological incidence of oxidative-inflammatory processes.”

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/olive-oil-and-fish-protect-your-pancreas/

Gluten, The Weird Protein That Nobody Digests

Carl Lowe | Apr 24, 2012 | Comments 13

You need protein to live. The body uses the protein it digests from food to build its tissues. But there’s a unique form of protein that never gets completely digested by anyone: gluten. Alarmingly, if your immune system reacts to gluten, it doesn’t attack this unusual protein. It attacks the body. That can lead to serious illness and death.

It’s A Gluten-Filled World

Every loaf of bread, bagel or cookie in the supermarket should come with a warning label: “This isn’t made with your grandparents’ wheat.” These loaves of bread, thick cookies, bagels and other wheat foods we consume have been baked with a grain bred to be rich in gluten, the sticky protein that gives them extra elasticity. Wheat from decades ago was much lower in this problematic protein.

All that gluten we’re swallowing (it’s also in barley and rye) is leading to a huge health problem. The 3 million Americans with undiagnosed celiac, those whose immune systems are silently destroying their bodies, are at quadruple risk of an early death. Another 20 million Americans are gluten-sensitive, made miserable by gluten. In these sensitive folks, gluten can cause stomachaches, memory loss, depression, headaches, lethargy, mental fog, eczema, infertility, joint pain and irritability.

For an unknown reason, the celiac rate among Americans has climbed 400 percent in recent decades.

When Gluten Escapes The Gut

In many of us, gluten stimulates a significant release of a molecule called zonulin, an evildoer that makes the walls of the intestinal tract much more permeable to large molecules. That allows gluten and other undesirables to penetrate the gut and have access to the rest of the body. When the immune system senses that these invaders have entered the circulation, it ramps up its attack on the body. It’s as though the body were a disabled spaceship in a science fiction movie and a crazed crew member has hit the auto-destruct button. But your body doesn’t blow up immediately. Instead, the immune system goes haywire looking for things to take apart. It may destroy the villi in the intestines (where nutrients are absorbed) or attack other parts of the body like the nerves or brain.

When zonulin levels climb to unmanageable levels, the intestinal tract gets extremely leaky, allowing passage to all kinds of large molecules from food that cause further havoc in the body. This can make you more vulnerable to diabetes, multiple sclerosis and a range of discomforting allergies. Zonulin may even make the blood-brain barrier deteriorate in people who have brain cancer.

Gluten-Free Diet

Lately, as more and more people try eating gluten-free to see if it improves their health, there’s been a backlash among naysayers who insist the gluten brouhaha is overblown. Kara Rowe, for example, director of outreach for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, is currently going on a gluten-free diet for a month (and blogging about it). She says she is doing this to better understand the implications of a gluten-free diet, but you can’t help but wonder if she’s looking for talking points to use against the idea of going gluten-free.

Rowe seems a little obsessed over planning her diet too carefully. She notes after one day that “I am a bit off on the ideal breakdown of calories. Am also going to have to work at getting about another 100 calories in and more water. Body feels fine…” She figures she ate 30 percent carbohydrates, 46 percent fat and 24 percent protein that day.

Which makes me wonder: If her body feels fine, why get bent out of shape worrying about a few carbs here or there? And since she lives on a wheat farm, it’s hard to believe she’ll come out in favor of a diet that omits wheat.

Walking In The Park

Of course, if you’re considering going on a gluten-free diet, only you can decide if you want to try it as an experiment to see if it improves how you feel. As Alessio Fasano, director of the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine notes, in an interview with the website Living Without, “… the gluten-free diet isn’t a walk in the park.” He also adds, “If you’re gluten sensitive, you’ll see quick improvement on the diet, in a matter of days or weeks at the most.”

I know that when my memory was being destroyed by gluten, a gluten-free diet improved it noticeably within 10 days. On the other hand, I’ve been off gluten for more than five years, and I feel that it has taken all that time for some aspects of my digestion to improve significantly.

Meanwhile, researchers are continuing to search for the physiological mechanics that make so many people vulnerable to celiac and gluten sensitivity. As Fasano points out, “… if we can understand what the heck is going on with celiac disease, it could lead to huge, huge changes in preventive medicine.”

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/gluten-the-weird-protein-that-nobody-digests/

Sugary Soft Drinks Supersize Your Chances Of Stroke

Kellye Copas | Apr 24, 2012 | Comments 1

Americans are hooked on soft drinks, downing an astounding 216 liters per person, per year. Unfortunately, all those bubbly supersized sweet drinks could have us leading the world in the number of strokes per person if we don’t get those straws out of our mouths.

A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that consumption of sugar-sweetened and low-calorie sodas is associated with a higher risk of stroke.

The research demonstrates that the sugar load you ingest when drinking sugar-sweetened soda leads to rapid increase in blood glucose and insulin which, over time, may lead to glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and inflammation. These physiologic changes impact atherosclerosis, plaque stability and thrombosis — the top three risk factors for ischemic stroke.

“Soda remains the largest source of added sugar in the diet,” says Adam Bernstein, M.D., Sc.D., study author and Research Director at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. “What we’re beginning to understand is that regular intake of these beverages sets off a chain reaction in the body that can potentially lead to many diseases — including stroke.”

This most recent study was conducted by researchers from the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute and Harvard University. On the other hand, if you drink coffee that may lower your risk of stroke.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine

Some Forms Of Vitamin E Lower Cancer Risk

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 24, 2012 | Comments 0

Vitamin E is a complex substance that comes in many different forms. Not all of those forms may be equally beneficial. According to researchers at Rutgers, the types of vitamin E generally found in nuts and vegetable oil, known as gamma- and delta-tocopherols, may lower your risk of colon, lung, breast and prostate cancer. However, alpha-tocopherol, found in many vitamin E supplements, does not have the same benefits.

“There are studies suggesting that vitamin E actually increases the risk of cancer and decreases bone density,” says Chung S. Yang, director of the Center for Cancer Prevention Research at Rutgers. “Our message is that the vitamin E form of gamma-tocopherols, the most abundant form of vitamin E in the American diet, and delta-tocopherols, also found in vegetable oils, are beneficial in preventing cancers while the form of vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol, the most commonly used in vitamin E supplements, has no such benefit.”

“For people who think that they need to take vitamin E supplements,” Yang says, “taking a mixture of vitamin E that resembles what is in our diet would be the most prudent supplement to take.”

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/some-forms-of-vitamin-e-lower-cancer-risk/

Coping With Panic Attacks

What Doctors Won’t Tell You About The Drugs For Panic Disorder

Ryan Rivera | Apr 23, 2012 | Comments 0

In the mental health world, there are no cures. Mental health medicine offers only temporary relief. But you can learn to deal with things like panic attacks without using drugs.

Pill Dependency

If it often seems like there’s a pill for everything, it’s because there is. Nearly every disease and every disorder has some type of medicine marketed to it, and if you go to the doctor for any reason — even something as mild as a slight cough — chances are the doctor will prescribe you some type of medicine with the claim that it will solve the problem. Whether it works or it doesn’t is not the issue (even though many of them don’t work or have safer alternatives). What matters is that there are cures available for just about everything.

Drugs And Mental Health

In the mental health world, however, it’s not quite that simple. There are no “cures” for mental health problems. There’s no medicine you can take to stop schizophrenia forever or a pill that will permanently prevent all depression. Mental health medicine represents only a temporary relief. As long as you take the medicine, then supposedly your symptoms will go away.

The problem is that the way they go away isn’t what most people are looking for. Mental health medications:

• Change your personality.
• Cause listlessness or depression.
• Make it hard to feel feelings or sit still.

Mental health medicine changes who you are, so that while you may experience a decrease in symptoms, you’ll also experience a decrease in satisfaction and in what makes you unique. There’s a reason that natural and medicine-free treatments are preferred over these pharmaceutical medications. The pharmaceuticals don’t provide you with the relief you need.

In fact, in the case of one mental health disorder, they may actually cause you more problems than if you never took the medicine at all. That disorder is known as panic disorder.

What Makes Medicine So Problematic For Panic Disorder

Panic disorder occurs when you have regular, persistent panic attacks. Panic attacks are a physical response to mental stimuli. They occur because the mind is too focused on how the body reacts to everyday events. The mind becomes so focused that it becomes oversensitive. Panic disorders go through a cycle:

• Person suffers from panic attack.
• Person worries that they’ll have another panic attack.
• Person gets anxiety that they may get a panic attack.
• Anxiety increases the person’s heart rate.
• Person feels the heart rate increase and thinks he is having a panic attack.
• Person suffers from a panic attack.

Worrying About Panic

Indeed, the worry that you’ll get a panic attack is one of the main things that lead to panic. There’s a reason it’s such a vicious cycle.

Panic attacks can be so intense that many people go to the hospital thinking that something is physically wrong with them. While at the hospital, doctors prescribe the standard drugs for panic attacks: heavy tranquilizers and anti-anxiety medication. Both of these drastically alter your energy and your personality. You cannot take either of them for very long. But to be fair to modern medicine, they do have the ability to decrease the frequency of your panic attacks.

The problem isn’t just the side effects of the drugs. The problem is what happens when you start weaning off the drugs. People who start to get off the drugs worry that they’ll experience another panic attack again, causing hypersensitivity. In addition, the body has been under the influence of tranquilizers for so long that patients often experience more anxiety and physical disturbances than before they were on the drugs. Those two factors often mean that those with panic disorder will actually experience more frequent and intense panic attacks than before they ever took the drugs. In other words, the drugs provided temporarily relief, only to make the panic attacks worse.

Drug-Free Coping Methods

It’s tempting to want to depend on pharmaceutical medications for temporary relief, especially because panic attacks often feel so severe. But the truth is that the time you spend on the drugs will not provide you with more happiness. Once you get off them, your panic attack cycle will most likely increase, or at the very least go back to how it was before you took the drugs.

You need to learn drug-free ways to cope with your panic attacks. The best way is to stop fighting them. Recognize you have a panic attack problem and start expecting them. If you find that your panic attacks often occur in a certain area, don’t avoid that area. Go there, let yourself have a panic attack, and go about your day. The more you expect and experience a panic attack the less fearful an experience it becomes.

Herbal supplements can be quite effective as well. Some of the most common include:

• Kava: Kava is perhaps the most well-researched and documented herbal relief supplement for anxiety. There are no side effects (provided you don’t take it with alcohol) and no addiction. It simply relieves some of your anxiety so that you can relax, ultimately reducing some of the pressure you put upon yourself to avoid anxiety symptoms. You should avoid kava if you have liver problems.
• Passionflower: Passionflower is like kava, but is more suited for mild anxiety. Still, when it comes to panic attacks, any relief from anxiety helps. Passionflower is a good idea if you don’t trust kava’s interactions or are worried about your liver health.

Relaxation

Learning relaxation exercises, like deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation, also helps. When you’re experiencing a panic attack, these activities may not be that helpful; but usually you can anticipate a panic attack’s approach when you start growing anxious. When this occurs, these natural relaxation exercises can be a tremendous help in heading off or blunting the attack.

Finally, find a friend to call who understands that you experience panic attacks and is willing to take your call whenever you need help. The reason for this: Panic attacks are exacerbated by the feeling that something is seriously wrong and you can’t do anything about it. If you have someone on the phone with you, you subconsciously accept that someone is available to immediately get help if something is amiss. You’ll feel calmer as a result, and the panic attacks will be less pronounced.

Still, whatever you do, try to avoid today’s pharmaceutical medicines for panic attacks. They’re simply not that beneficial, won’t provide you with the relief you need and may increase the frequency of your panic attacks in the future.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/what-doctors-wont-tell-you-about-the-drugs-for-panic-disorder/

Walk Away From Smoking

Bryan Nash | Apr 23, 2012 | Comments 0

Quitting smoking isn’t a walk in the park. But taking a walk in the park may help you quit smoking.

A study presented Friday at the World Congress of Cardiology suggests that exercise can help you quit smoking and increase the chances you won’t resume your tobacco habit.

In this research, smokers who stayed active were found to be 55 percent more likely to quit smoking and 43 percent more likely to stay smoke-free.

Taking drags on cigarettes and being sedentary drags down your life expectancy. In contrast, ex-smokers who exercise can, on average, live five years longer.

“Exercise can help smokers to quit and quitting smoking has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of developing CVD (heart disease) and that must be the goal of all smokers,” says Dr. C.P. Wen of the National Health Research Institute, Taiwan. “If smokers can continue to exercise (and stay off cigarettes) they can reduce their mortality …”

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/

A Workout At The Beach Has The Most Benefits

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 20, 2012 | Comments 1

Exercise isn’t just for your body; it’s designed to improve your mind and emotions. And if you’re looking to intensify your exercise high, your best bet is to work out on a sandy beach.

Researchers at the University of Plymouth have found that all outdoor locations are associated with positive feelings (enjoyment, calmness, refreshment), but that exercise at the coast is most beneficial.

The environs of urban parks were not as satisfactory. Though, they add, an outdoor urban workout is still better than staying chained to a desk all day.

“There is a lot of work on the beneficial effects of visiting natural environments, but our findings suggest it is time to move beyond a simple urban versus rural debate and start looking at the effect that different natural environments have on people’s health and well-being,” says researcher Mathew White.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine

Reduce Your Chance Of Heart Attack By 50 Percent

Bryan Nash | Apr 20, 2012 | Comments 1

Optimistically seeing your glass as half full may determine your heart health and keep your arteries empty of health-threatening plaque. Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that viewing the world through rose-colored glasses reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke by up to 50 percent.

Researchers found that optimism protects against cardiovascular disease. They discovered that those who drink life from half-full glasses are more likely to eat right, sleep well and exercise often.

“We found that factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with reduced risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease) regardless of such factors as a person’s age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, or body weight. For example, the most optimistic individuals had an approximately 50 percent reduced risk of experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic peers,” says researcher Julia Boehm.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine

Disease Is Living In Your Sink Drain

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 18, 2012 | Comments 6

 
Many people worry about getting sick after being sneezed or coughed on by somebody who is ill. But you may be exposed to a source of illness every day as soon as you get up in the morning and visit the bathroom. Researchers at Penn State have found that sink drains harbor a fungus called Fusarium that is frequently associated with human infections.

“With about two-thirds of sinks found to harbor Fusarium, it’s clear that those buildings’ inhabitants are exposed to these fungi on a regular basis,” says lead investigator Dylan Short. “This strongly supports the hypothesis that plumbing-surface biofilms serve as reservoirs for human pathogenic fusaria.”

Some species of Fusarium cause opportunistic and sometimes fatal infections in humans, typically entering the body through wounds or trauma, via catheters and intravenous devices or by introduction of a biofilm to the eye. While relatively rare, Fusarium infections can be difficult to treat because of the organism’s resistance to many antifungal drugs. Those most at risk are individuals with weak or compromised immune systems.

In one high-profile case, Fusarium was found to have caused a widely publicized 2005-06 outbreak of fungal keratitis — infection of the cornea — among contact-lens wearers.

“In the recent outbreaks of fungal keratitis in Southeast Asia and North America connected to contact-lens use, plumbing systems were the main environmental sources of the most frequent Fusarium species and sequence types associated with eye infections,” Short says.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/disease-is-living-in-your-sink-drain/
  

Help For Urinary Incontinence

Bob Livingston | Apr 19, 2012 | Comments 2

Too often, urinary incontinence sufferers settle for wearing an adult diaper to cover up their urine problems. But for the one in six Americans who endure urinary incontinence, there are natural solutions to this troublesome difficulty.

The Incontinence Dilemma

While doing some research recently, I came across this statement in a mainstream health publication: “Incontinence is a problem that affects millions of people all over the world. In recent times, the adult diaper has emerged as one of the best solutions to this problem. This is a far better solution than many traditional remedies, such as a catheter or frequent clothing changes.”

While using an adult diaper can help save you from an embarrassing situation, wearing one does not solve the problem of urinary incontinence.

Some studies show that as many as one in three women over age 60 experience urinary incontinence. It stems from weakened muscles caused by childbirth, hormonal imbalances resulting from menopause and loss of muscle tone due to aging. For men, incontinence can be traced to prostate problems, low levels of testosterone and aging.

In the United States, as many as one in six suffer from incontinence. Those experiencing it suffer from an overactive bladder that can chain them to the bathroom or give them the unexpected surprise of a sudden wetting episode that occurs while laughing, exercising, coughing or sneezing. It’s certainly not pleasant, and wearing an adult diaper is not a solution.

Widespread Annoyance

Urinary incontinence falls into four categories:

1. Stress incontinence: Mostly affects women after childbirth or menopause, but occasionally men who have had prostate surgery. It manifests as a leak of urine when you exercise, laugh, cough, sneeze or lift a heavy object.
2. Urge incontinence: Affects people over age 60. This is what you have if you experience sudden, involuntary contractions that make you feel the need to urinate even if you just left the bathroom.
3. Mixed incontinence: This combination of a leaky bladder and the urge to urinate primarily affects women.
4. Overflow incontinence: A rarer form of incontinence that occurs if the bladder becomes too full due to an inability to completely empty it. This can affect a man with an enlarged prostate or someone who has suffered an injury, blockage or infection.

Pumpkin Patch

American Indians used pumpkin seeds to treat their urinary problems. But science has done them one better by creating a special blend of pumpkin seed extract that can help eliminate bladder problems. It’s called EFLA® 940 and it contains a complete spectrum of specialized pumpkin seed extract to give you the best nutrients from the whole seed.

Soy isoflavones are natural plant estrogens called phytoestrogens that can help the body naturally rebalance estrogen levels.

Researchers have found that a combination of pumpkin seed extract and soy isoflavones can inhibit the aromatase enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen. Testosterone helps to maintain the strength of the pelvic floor muscles that help to hold urine. Plus, testosterone helps you relax those muscles allowing for complete emptying of the bladder.

By inhibiting the aromatase enzyme, your body has more available testosterone. This is key to maintaining the muscle tone of the urinary tract and ensuring complete voiding of the bladder.

Many natural supplement manufacturers sell products containing EFLA® 940. Look for it at health food stores and online.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine

Get This Blood Test Before It’s Too Late

Dr. Isaac Eliaz | Apr 20, 2012 | Comments 3

If you want to know what your health future looks like, you have to know how your blood sugar behaves. A persistently elevated blood sugar imbalance can sour wellness. That’s why a simple blood test may help you avoid type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, chronic inflammation, hyper-obesity, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, hormonal imbalances, immune dysfunction, organ and tissue degradation, premature aging, and even cancer.

Dangerous Sugar

Various lifestyle factors can contribute to dangerous blood sugar levels. Predominant causes include a diet high in refined sugars, processed foods and simple carbohydrates; excess levels of toxins in the body; ongoing use of specific pharmaceutical drugs; chronic stress or sleep deprivation; and other imbalances. Consider that the number of type 2 diabetes cases that are diagnosed each year continues to break records. This steady climb in new cases is particularly disturbing among teenagers and children, since type 2 diabetes among this vulnerable population was almost unheard of before the 21st century.

It’s clear from these troubling statistics that our society faces a skyrocketing epidemic linked to modern lifestyles and environments. The good news: Metabolic conditions like type 2 diabetes can be successfully avoided or addressed using the right natural approaches.

Early Diagnosis Possible With The A1C Test

Early detection plays a critical role in preventing and reversing serious metabolic health issues and related chronic conditions. The sooner that blood glucose abnormalities are detected, the easier it is to correct them. A simple and accurate way to test long-term blood sugar imbalance is the A1C blood test. Precise and informational, an A1C test can detect chronically elevated blood glucose levels that are often missed with the standard fasting blood glucose test which reads only current blood sugar levels.

The A1C is unique: It shows where blood sugar levels have been during the past two to three months, providing an accurate picture of blood glucose over time.

An international committee of experts from the American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the International Diabetes Federation, recommends that the A1C test be the primary test used to diagnose pre-diabetes, type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Clinically, however, doctors have been using the A1C only for diabetic patients or for patients they think already have diabetes.

But this simple test could save many more lives if it were included as part of routine screening exams.

As a practicing integrative physician, I’ve observed that merely taking one isolated reading using the standard fasting blood sugar test does not give an accurate determination of how an individual is handling blood sugar over the long term. As a result, doctor and patient may fail to detect harmful blood sugar trends early on, opening the door to serious chronic conditions down the road.

A1C Test Details

The A1C test is also called the hemoglobin A1C test or HgA1C. Hemoglobin is a protein found within red blood cells that retains a record of blood sugar levels. When blood glucose reacts with hemoglobin, the hemoglobin becomes glycated and remains in that state. During the 120 days that red blood cells stay in the blood before being replaced (and during the lifespan of the red blood cell), the hemoglobin preserves an imprinted memory of the body’s blood sugar levels. By measuring this glycated hemoglobin, the A1C test shows how blood sugar levels have behaved over the past two to three months and can detect a chronic imbalance with great accuracy and insight.

Lifestyle: The Benefits Of Diet And Exercise

The most important way to maintain a healthy blood sugar level is to stick to a strictly low glycemic-index diet emphasizing low-sugar foods that sustain and nourish blood glucose. Otherwise, when you eat highly sweetened and processed foods, you spike and crash blood sugar. The second most important factor is regular exercise, which triggers numerous hormonal and biological effects critical for metabolic health and glucose balance.

These lifestyle changes have been shown to be as effective as drug therapy for normalizing blood sugar levels over a short period of time. Furthermore, studies and clinical evidence suggest that over the long term, a healthy lifestyle with proper diet and exercise is the only sustainable solution to keep your blood sugar levels stable and protect overall health.

Recently, a research meta-analysis was published that helped identify the benefits of two different kinds of exercise training programs: combining aerobic exercise with weight lifting or merely taking part in aerobic exercise. The results demonstrate that a combined program of resistance exercise along with aerobic workouts improves blood sugar control beyond just doing aerobics alone. The average effect of the training programs was similar to that of long-term diet and insulin therapy.

Natural Supplements

In addition to diet and exercise, a number of herbs, botanical compounds and nutrients have been shown to help prevent and even reverse metabolic conditions over time. These targeted natural solutions work to:

• Re-sensitize insulin receptors.
• Prevent blood glucose spikes.
• Improve metabolism of fats and sugars.
• Increase antioxidant activity.
• Decrease inflammation.
• Prevent excess blood glucose from wreaking havoc on proteins, cells, tissues and organs.

Some top recommended supplements for metabolic health include:

• Berberis.
• Bitter melon.
• Gymnema leaf.
• Cinnamon.
• Jambolan seed.
• Fenugreek.
• Holy basil.
• Siberian ginseng.
• Astragalus.
• Integrative Metabolic Formula.
• Medicinal mushrooms.
• Alpha lipoic acid.
• Sodium alginates.
• Chromium polynicotinate.

Don’t Let This Silent Culprit Progress Undetected

Ask your health care provider to order the A1C test as part of your annual health exam. With this easy and advanced diagnostic tool, you can catch possible blood sugar problems at an early stage, in time to address them with simple diet, supplement and lifestyle adjuncts, which help reverse unhealthy trends. Even if you eat well and take good care of yourself, you may find that metabolic issues are developing silently as you age.

The A1C test is a good way to gain clear insight into your overall wellness, helping to protect and promote health and vitality throughout your life. For more practical information on all-natural remedies, visit http://www.dreliaz.org/.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine

Cholesterol Drug Can Harm Your Kidneys

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 19, 2012 | Comments 0

If you take a kind of drug known as a fibrate to control your cholesterol or triglycerides (blood fats), make sure your doctor tests your kidneys. A study of these drugs, (brand names Lopid, Tricor and Trilipix), shows they frequently cause kidney damage, especially in older people.

Recent evidence from clinical trials and case reports suggests fibrates can cause an increase in serum creatinine, an indicator of kidney health measured by a blood test, which indicates a loss of kidney health. Scientists at the Lawson Health Research Institute and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), found that at least one in 10 fibrate users over the age of 65 experienced a 50 percent increase in their serum creatinine.

“When a physician decides to start a fibrate in a new patient, especially an older patient, given the information we have today they should start the patient on a dose that’s appropriate, closely monitor their kidney function, and, if the kidney function goes off, either lower the dose or discontinue the drug,” says researcher Amit Garg, M.D.

Meanwhile, other scientists doubt that fibrates do much good. The drugs often are prescribed to diabetes patients as an add-on to statins, drugs that lower LDL cholesterol. Annual sales in the U.S. for the three fibrates now approved by the Food and Drug Administration — gemfibrozil (Lopid), fenofibrate (Tricor) and fenofibric acid (Trilipix) — amount to billions of dollars.

“There have been few studies regarding the clinical outcome efficacy of fibrates,” says Sanjay Kaul, M.D., director of the Cardiology Fellowship Training Program at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. “Thousands and thousands of Americans take fibrates every day but, so far, there are no long-term studies showing that fibrates lower cardiovascular risk or improve survival among diabetes patients who are also on statins.”

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com

A Sunbath May Wash Away A Heart Attack

Easy Health Options Staff | Apr 27, 2012 | Comments 0

If you suffer a heart attack, modern medicine’s arsenal for combating heart attacks include CPR, aspirin, clot-busting drugs and surgical interventions.

Soon, another weapon may be added: intense light.

“(Our research) suggests that strong light, or even just daylight, might ease the risk of having a heart attack or suffering damage from one,” says Tobias Eckle, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of anesthesiology, cardiology, and cell and developmental biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “For patients, this could mean that daylight exposure inside of the hospital could reduce the damage that is caused by a heart attack.”

The key to light’s effectiveness lies in the circadian rhythm, the body’s clock that is linked to light and dark. The circadian clock is regulated by proteins in the brain. But the proteins are in other organs as well, including the heart.

Eckle and Holger Eltzschig, M.D., a CU professor of anesthesiology, found that one of those proteins, called Period 2, plays a crucial role in fending off damage from a heart attack.

During a heart attack, little or no oxygen reaches the heart. Without oxygen, the heart has to switch from its usual fuel — fat — to glucose. Without that change in heart metabolism cells die and the heart is damaged. The study showed that the Period 2 protein is vital for that change in fuel from fat to glucose and, therefore, could make heart metabolism more efficient. In fact, strong daylight activated Period 2 in animals and minimized damage from a heart attack.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com

Vegetables ward off Alzheimer's

Tuesday, 18 February, 2003, 01:11 GMT

 

A healthy diet may help reduce Alzheimer's risk

 

Eating a diet rich in vegetables may be one way to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, research suggests.

 

US scientists found that a diet high in unsaturated, unhydrogenated fats - found in vegetables and some oils - may help lower risk.

However, a separate study found antioxidant vitamins - widely touted as good for general health - offer no such protective effect against Alzheimer's.

In the first study, scientists from Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, examined 815 people aged 65 and older over a four year period.

There are studies to suggest that a diet high in unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat may raise levels of good cholesterol and lower levels of bad cholesterol in the blood Dr Martha Clare Morris

At the start of the study none of the volunteers had Alzheimer's, but by its end 131 had developed symptoms.

 

The researchers found that the risk of developing the disease was highest among those who consumed the highest levels of saturated fat - found in meat and dairy products.

People who consumed a lot of saturated fat were 2.3 times more likely to develop symptoms than those whose diet was low in these fats.u

Conversely, people whose diet contained high levels of unsaturated fat were up to 80% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those who consumed low levels of unsaturated fats.

Lead researcher Dr Martha Clare Morris told BBC NewsOnline more research was needed to confirm the findings.

But she said: "There are studies to suggest that a diet high in unsaturated fat and low in saturated fat may raise levels of good cholesterol and lower levels of bad cholesterol in the blood."

It is thought that low-density lipoprotein, or bad, cholesterol may play a role in the formation of the amyloid plaques found in the brain of Alzheimer's patients.

Dr Morris said people should consider a switch to such a diet - if only because of abundant evidence that it helped to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Vitamins

In a second study researchers at Columbia University in New York concluded that carotenes and vitamins C and E obtained from diet or through supplements are not associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's.

It was suspected that these antioxidant vitamins may have a protective effect because they mimimise the damage to the body's tissues caused by charged particles known as free radicals.

Some suspect that Alzheimer's is caused in part by damage to brain cells caused by free radicals.

The Columbia researchers examined 980 people, of which 242 developed Alzheimer's symptoms during the four year study.

There was no evidence that those people who consumed carotenes or vitamins A and E were any less likely to develop the disease.

Both studies were published in the journal Archives of Neurology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2772499.stm