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Diet and Natural Health
Written and researched by Bob Murray, PhD
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Maybe Antioxidants Are Bad For You
August 22, 2001
Antioxidant supplements, whose ability to improve cardiac health has been subject to much recent scientific skepticism, actually interfered with cholesterol-lowering drugs in a new study from the University of Washington.
Certain substances have been found to slow the chemical process, called oxidation, that causes narrowing of the arteries. In recent years such antioxidants have become widely used, even as a number of large studies failed to show any significant protective effect.
In the new study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, researchers compared the effects of two proven cholesterol fighters, simvastin and niacin, with those of a mix of vitamins rich in antioxidants, vitamins E and C, beta carotene and selenium, and with a combination of the two groups.
The antioxidants did not appear to add any benefit to the simvastatin-niacin mix in lowering levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, and by themselves lowered LDL. only slightly. And patients who added the vitamins had a far lower increase in levels of "good" cholesterol, HDL, than those who took the heart medications alone.
The study's senior author, Dr B. Greg Brown, said the results might explain in part "why antioxidants don't add protection: they do a good thing, with LDL, but they also do a bad thing, with HDL."
Read more in The New York Times
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What? Not A Glass of Wine For Thy Stomach's Sake?
August 22, 2001
For some few years now there has been a raging debate in health circles on the subject of wine, especially red wine: Is a glass or two good for you and is wine better than beer?
Study after study have seemed to show that wine drinkers are healthier, but a new, wider study from Denmark suggests that this is because wine drinkers have a higher social standing and healthier personality traits than others.
A second study, this time from Spain, taking socio-economic factors into account finds no health differences between wine and beer drinkers.
"It is very difficult to say what is a direct physical effect of wine-drinking and what is due to social and psychological differences," says Erik Mortensen of the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen, leader of the Danish study. "We're not saying that wine isn't good for your health, but that it's hard to know exactly how good it is for your health."
The idea that wine promotes health has been around ever since researchers noted the 'French paradox' in the early 1990s. French people have a much lower risk of heart attack than Americans, despite having similar levels of fat in their diet. The apparent health benefits are thought to stem from antioxidant compounds in the skin of red grapes.
Future studies may well prove that wine offers benefits that other alcoholic beverages do not. In the meantime, says Mortensen, those who are happy drinking beer should probably continue to do so. "Switching to wine isn't going to change your social status or psychological profile," he says.
Read more in Nature
The Institute of Preventative Medicine study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine
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Liquorice Raises Blood Pressure
August 22, 2001
New research from Iceland, reported in the Journal of Human Hypertension, shows that even a few chews of liquorice can raise your blood pressure significantly.
Affecting up to 20% of the UK and 25% of the North and South American population, hypertension -- blood pressure over 140/90 -- increases risk of a heart attack or stroke. Complex genetic and lifestyle factors play a part too, so weight loss, increased exercise, good diet and reduced salt are key steps to cutting risk.
Though on the list, liquorice's role is not always looked into. "Maybe it should be part of our routine enquiry," suggests kidney specialist Robert Unwin at Middlesex Hospital in London, recalling a hypertensive case resulting from over-indulgence in the liquorice sweets called Pontefract cakes. "The concept that you have to be eating vast quantities of Liquorice Allsorts is not necessarily true," he agrees.
Besides sweets, liquorice is added in varying quantities to chewing tobacco, gum, teas, infusions and oils. A long-standing staple of Chinese medicine, raw liquorice is extracted from the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra. Its actions on the steroid system are traditionally exploited to treat conditions from inflammation to bronchitis.
Read more in Nature
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Even Good Fat Can Be Bad for You
July 30, 2001
According to research published in the journal Thorax, a diet high in polyunsaturated fats seems to double the risk of asthma. Curiously enough, the same research shows that being breastfed as a baby and having three or more older siblings seemed to protect against the development of asthma.
The research, which involved over 1000 children between the ages of 3 and 5, was carried out in two rural towns in Australia. One town had a humid coastal climate and the other a dry inland climate, to reflect the different types of prevalent allergens.
Parents completed a questionnaire which included questions on asthma diagnosis, symptoms, and medicine in the preceding year for their children, the number of children in the family, whether the child was breastfed, and consumption of dietary polyunsaturated fats.
Six hundred and fifty of these children also took an allergen (skin prick) test to assess their response to common allergens including dust mite, egg, cow's milk and rye grass. About 20% of the children had asthma.
A child with an allergic response to one or more components of the skin prick tests was almost 2.5 times as likely to have recent asthma as children with a negative test. A parent with asthma doubled the risk and a serious respiratory infection before the age of 2 increased the risk by 93 per cent.
But a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, consisting of, for example, the use of margarine, on bread and foods regularly fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils more than doubled the risk.
The authors suggest that high polyunsaturated fat consumption increases the levels of omega-6 fatty acid, which promotes the production of chemicals involved in inflammation. An increase in omega-6 means less omega-3 fatty acid, which inhibits inflammation.
The authors suggest that breastfeeding and polyunsaturated fat in the diet are modifiable factors, which, if changed, might make a substantial difference to the rising number of asthma cases.
Reported in Uniscience
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Diet Can Switch on Genes
July 2, 2001
Scientists have created genetically modified mice who can be either black or white, depending on what they eat. Every time the pure white mice drink water laced with certain chemicals their coats turn dark. Once the supplement is removed, they revert to their original color. The team from the University of Virginia that has put the mice through this process of pigment confusion reported their work in the journal Genes and Development.
What this research proves, according to Professor Chris Goodnow of the Australian National University, is that genes are not static during the lifetime of the animal. They are repeatedly switched on and off in different parts of the body at different times of development.
We have said for some time that genes were environmentally triggered, this research merely proves our point. I believe that genes (where there are such genes) which control psychological problems act in the same way. A genetic propensity, say, to depression or bi-polar disorder (manic depression) may be triggered by abuse or ill treatment in childhood or some devastating life occurrence, such as the death of a spouse. This same gene may be controlled by diet and explain why fatty fish, such as salmon, and other foods have been seen as antidepressants. BM
Published in Genes and Development
Also reported in the Sydney Morning Herald
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Coffee is Good For You
May 22, 2001
More and more scientists are focussing on what we eat as the key to disease prevention. Oily fish and chocolate (but only expensive chocolate) combat depression, apples guard against lung disease, nuts prevent heart disease and so forth. Now it's the turn of the humble coffee bean.
Two stories highlight this new appreciation of the morning java.
Professor Peter Martin, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA, claims that chemicals found in coffee could be used to manufacture new drugs for heart disease and insomnia. His team of researchers are focussing their efforts on substances called chlorogenic acids. It is believed that these compounds offset the effect of another ingredient of coffee, caffeine. Caffeine is a well-known stimulant that can set the heart racing, and prevent sleep.
The scientists believe that chlorogenic acids could provide the basis for treating conditions such as tachycardia -- normally fast heart rate -- and angina. They believe the compounds also have potential for treating epilepsy, hyperactivity and sleep problems.
According to Professor Martin, "some of these chlorogenic acids appear to counteract the action of caffeine, and may be helpful in fighting diseases which feature low adenosine. Add their antioxidant effect, and you can immediately see the potential."
The researchers found that roasting coffee beans raised their antioxidant content to four times the level found in tea.
Another group of researchers has found that coffee protects against Parkinson's disease. A team at Massachusetts General Hospital has found evidence that caffeine blocks key receptors on cells in the part of the brain affected by the disease. The study does not prove that caffeine can prevent or treat the symptoms of Parkinson's, says researcher Jiang-Fan Chen. "But the epidemiological research has shown a clear relationship between moderate caffeine consumption and a reduced risk of Parkinson's. Now our findings clearly favor the idea that caffeine has a neuroprotective effect," he told the New Scientist.
Parkinson's is caused when brain cells that produce dopamine mysteriously die. The team gave mice a chemical that kills dopamine-producing cells. But mice that were also given the equivalent of one or two cups of coffee per day retained near normal dopamine levels. They also had far fewer Parkinson's-like symptoms. The team found that caffeine blocked the binding site of A2A receptors. These receptors are on cells in the substantia nigra, and are targeted by dopamine. However, Chen says the team does not yet understand how blocking the receptors prevents the loss of cells that produce dopamine.
The team now plans to study people with Parkinson's, to examine whether the disease progresses more slowly in patients that drink more coffee.
OK, let me get this straight: I should drink decaffinated coffee for my heart and the real stuff to prevent Parkinson's. BM
Read more on BBC News
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Fatty Diet Leads to Flabby Thinking
February 28, 2001
For some time researchers have noted the steady decline in the IQ levels of American children -- something discussed in the controversial book "The Bell Curve" by Herrnstein and Murray (1994).
Various theories have been put forward to account for the phenomenon. Now a new study by Gordon Winocur and Carol Greenwood of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto, Canada, has thrown new light on the problem.
Part of the cause of the mental decline may lie in the amount of fat that children take in from fast foods such as hamburgers, fries and so forth.
Studies on young rats demonstrated the dramatic effects that a high-fat diet can have. In the experiments one group of rats was fed a normal rat diet and another was fed a diet in which the ratlings received 40% of their calories from fat. By the time they reached rat adolescence they were given mental learning tests. The fatty rats failed miserably. Says Winocur: "High-fat diets impair performance on virtually all our measures. It's remarkable how impaired these animals are."
Winocur believes that the excess fat stops the brain taking up all the glucose energy it needs to develop properly, and that the developing brain may be more susceptible than the adult brain. High fat diets in childhood are also blamed -- alongside a couch-potato lifestyle -- for producing an epidemic of childhood obesity in the Western world.
Read more on BBC News
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Mashed Potatoes Improve Memory!
January 25, 2001
As reported in Psychology Today researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that eating common carbohydrates such as mashed potatoes can improve your memory for up to an hour after eating them. Pity we usually eat them at night before we sit down to remember the latest episode of NYPD Blue. Maybe breakfast cereals also help? Well barley is actually best. The study participants' memory improved 37% after eating barley, 32% after mashed potatoes and 8% after drinking something with glucose in it.
"We think it may have something to do with signals that gut peptides transmitted to the brain," lead author Randall J. Kaplan says. The study's long-term aim is to find food-based treatments for reducing memory loss in Alzheimer's and diabetes patients.
Really shows you that the brain/body connection is.....
(now where's the remains of last night's mashed potatoes?)
Reported in Psychology Today
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At Last, a Way to Beat the Period Blues!
January 20, 2001
An item reported the British Medical Journal on January 19 caught our eye. German researcher Rued Schellenberg from the Institute of Care and Science, has discovered that the extract of agnus castus fruit taken over three months can greatly help women who suffer from mood swings, anger, headaches and sore breasts associated with the menstrual cycle.
More than half of the 86 women given the extract had an improvement in their condition and the side effects were few and mild. The fruits of the plant, also known as the "chaste tree" because it was thought to promote chastity by reducing libido, is made up of compounds similar in structure to the sex hormones.
Why is it that scientists are always coming up with treatments that reduce women's libido (antidepressants are a case in point)? Are they all men?
Read the full report on the agnus castus fruit trials in the British Medical Journal
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St John's Wort & Depression
According to a recent review of 23 trials involving 1,757 people, by Jerry Cott, PhD, chief, Adult Psychopharmacology Research Program, Adult and Geriatric Treatment and Prevention Branch, National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), St John's Wort (hypericum) is very effective in treating mild to moderately severe depression with far fewer side-effects. St. John's Wort achieved a 64% success rate compared to the 58% success rate achieved by a variety of standard antidepressants. What's more two of the most worrying side-effects of most antidepressants -- female hair loss and loss of libido -- seem to be absent from those taking the hypericum.
Reported on BBC News
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About the Author
Dr Bob Murray is a widely published psychologist and expert on emotional health and optimal relationships. Together with his wife and long-term collaborator Alicia Fortinberry, he is founder of the highly successful Uplift Program, and author of Raising an Optimistic Child (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and Creating Optimism (McGraw-Hill, 2004).
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