Visceral Manipulation for Adhesions & More

I wrote about a recent (short) hospitalization due to old surgeries and a web of scar tissue from them. My naturopath recommended that I get something called "visceral manipulation" from one of her Bastyr University colleagues, Dr. Victoria Sucher.

Visceral manipulation has been practiced since the dawn of medicine and was developed by Dr. Jean-Pierre Barral, an osteopath, who noticed the relationship fascia has to dysfunction in the body. Visceral manipulation is in fact a gentle form of bodywork to release the fascia that surrounds and protects our vital organs or viscera.

When organs cannot move freely within protective facia, circulation becomes restricted and dysfunction and pain can result, often in areas far removed from the source.

In my case, surgical adhesions in the area where my appendix ruptured, at least 2 years before anyone diagnosed me with a ruptured appendix, are apparently particularly bad. I was told that these adhesions were likely contributing to chronic tension in my right leg and were also contributing to my right shoulder being subtly pulled in, toward my rib cage.

The prescription? Visceral manipulation sessions (15-40 minutes in duration) twice a month for several months. Sigh. I'm committed to doing the whole series as prevention but it does take a real investment on my part (no insurance coverage and a fair bit of driving, at least until I find a practitioner who is closer).

My friend, Gino Giglio, who has studied light touch massage therapies such as cranial sacral and visceral manipulation, had this to say:

Visceral manipulation is well worth the effort. I have studied several levels.

All the internals have motion, orbits, paths and some spiral rotation. Your naturopath no doubt explained all this to you. If those glidings of fascial casings are inhibited in any way, eventually such dysfunction will take its toll.

As you must have noticed, the vogue 'tune' now is that 80% of your immune system in in your gut. And there's more to the gut than that, as Dr. Michael Gershon tells us in his The Second Brain.

Good idea to free-up as much inherent movement as possible, so the body is not forced into permanent compensatory movement patterns. The flow gotta go on. Or else.

Wise words. If any of my readers live in South Florida or Manhattan, Gino practices in both cities. He is a gifted bodyworker, very intuitive, and highly-trained (having spent time at the Upledger Institute among others). Drop a line if you want me to introduce you.

Meanwhile, as such a disembodied culture, with ridiculous amounts of stress, bodywork is one of those genuinely kind gifts we can give to ourselves. I hope you get some "time on the table" some time soon!

Factoids from "Metabolic Cardiology" Article

Did you know that the heart consumes more energy per gram than any other organ? Did you know that it takes more energy to fill the heart up with blood than to contract and empty the heart chambers of blood? What about the fact that mitochondria are 25 times more dense in heart cells than in biceps muscle cells?

Where did these factoids about the heart come from? Dr. Stephen Sinatra's article, "Metabolic Cardiology: An Integrative Strategy in the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure," in the May/June 2009 Alternative Therapies journal.

Sinatra covers the basics of cardiac energy metabolism, with a lot of talk about ATP (an energy transfer molecule), ADP and dephosphorylation pathways. He goes on to talk about energy starvation in failing hearts, with energy demand outstripping energy synthesis and heart failure being associated with "overstretched, thickened, and enlarged left ventricle" that "overtaxes the heart muscle with each contraction."

Sigh, I suffer through the charts and chemistry discussions, as I'm not precisely the target audience. My interest is often confined to the overview and summary of such articles, skimming the body for interesting concepts and facts about nutrition and prevention versus absorbing all the details of cellular chemistry and dysfunction.

Given the premise that congestive heart failure (CHF) is due to energy (ATP) deficits, Sinatra goes on to make the case for boosting cellular energy in the heart with three vital nutritional supplements: D-ribose, Coenzyme Q10, and L-Carnitine. He cites many research studies that have validated the use of these nutrients in reducing cardiac death as well as arrhythmia and angina. Sinatra ends his article with some imperatives:

"It is no longer enough that physicians focus on the fluid retention aspects of 'pump failure.' For instance, diuretic therapies target the kidneys indirectly to relieve the dequelae of CHF without addressing the root cause....Metabolic solutions, on the other hand, treat the heart muscle cells directly.'"

"Cardiologists must learn that the heart is all about ATP, and the bottom line in the treatment of any form of cardiovascular disease, especially CHF and cardiomyopathy, is restoration of the heart's energy reserve."

"D-ribose, L-carnitine, and CoQ10 act to promote cardiac energy metabolism...(and)...are recommended as adjunctive metabolic therapies in the treatment of heart failure and cardiomyopathy."

"An understanding of this metabolic support for the heart provides the 'missing link' that has been eluding cardiologists for decades. Metabolic cardiology offers hope for the future treatment of CHF, cardiomyopathy, and any other form of cardiovascular disease."

My dear friend, Dr. Hugo Rodier, loves to talk about all diseases being issues of "energy and information" at the cellular level.

Dr. Sinatra is singing from the same hymn book, identifying energy metabolism as a critical "missing link" in treating cardiovascular disease. You can buy the whole article if you want to share it with your cardiologist directly through Alternative Therapies. Just mention that you want "Metabolic Cardiology: An Integrative Strategy in the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure" from the May/June 2009, Vol. 15, No. 3 journal.

While we don't sell D-ribose, we do provide highly affordable CoQ10 (50mg, 150mg) and L-Carnitine, all of which have been validated by an independent laboratory for potency.

Perhaps we should add D-ribose, but we won't know for sure until after our next member survey later this summer. If you don't subscribe to our newsletter, sign up to get notification of our upcoming survey, coupon for completing the survey, and other specials coming this summer.

Vinegar Promotes Less Fat Build Up

Apple cider vinegar has long been promoted as an aid to weight loss or prevention of weight gain. The ancient Egyptians have been credited with some of the earliest uses of apple cider vinegar for weight loss. Traditional concoctions have combined an ounce of vinegar with a teaspoon of honey in water before meals.

Given the widespread interest in weight loss and the many mis-marketed products in the weight loss category, I read the recent findings on ordinary vinegar as a natural fat fighter, published in the June 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, with great interest.

A study I missed in 2005 reported that vinegar is an appetite suppressant that helps dieters reduce food cravings. For reference, the amount of vinegar used in the 2005 Lund University study was 2-3 tablespoons mixed with water as a before-meal drink.

The 2009 findings from Japan take research on vinegar and weight management a step further, identifying vinegar's impact at the genetic level. Vinegar's acetic acid suppressed body fat accumulation by about 10% in rats by genetically "increasing fatty oxidation and thermogenesis in the liver." Interestingly, high doses (a 1.5% solution) and low doses (a .3% solution) of vinegar created the same fat-busting results.

I used to think the vinegar for weight loss story was nothing more than an old wives tale, which handily promoted the infamous placebo response. Not that the placebo response is bad and especially when the agent of action comes without dreadful side effects or great cost.

Now it looks like there's a lot more to the vinegar-for-weight-loss story. Drink up. It costs next to nothing and the only side effect to worry about is balancing the acid with enough alkalizing elements (think: greens and minerals) in your diet!

High Vitamin D Correlated with Better Memory

Can the research get any more positive on the many roles of vitamin D in protecting health?

Immune system, heart, bone, muscular, and cellular health have all been found to improve with higher vitamin D levels, which seem to protect against everything from allergies and cancer to autoimmune diseases (MS, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.).

This year, an English study showed that men with high vitamin D levels performed better on memory and information processing tests. Vitamin D, it seems, is also good for the brain. Of 3,000 men, aged 40-79, those with highest levels of vitamin D performed the best and those with the lowest levels (35 nmol/litre or under) had the worst scores on mental agility.

Researchers are not sure about the mechanism, with theories ranging from vitamin D triggering protective hormonal activity in the brain to boosting antioxidants that detoxify the brain.

What's not up for debate is that seniors are often deficient in vitamin D. If you don't want wrinkles associated with sun exposure, then you'll want to look for vitamin D3, the more bioavailable form, in any supplements you may choose.

We offer an inexpensive Vitamin D3 (only $2.98 for 120 veg capsules/1000IU) that was most recently tested by an independent laboratory in February 2009 to ensure potency.

Wherever you get your vitamin D, you probably need a lot more than you realize though and the minimum of 400 IU is far too low to be optimally protective.

Personally, I try to take between 2,000-10,000 IU daily of vitamin D3 (little capsules, so easy to swallow), as I had much sun damage as a kid and prefer to stay out of the sun with my fair (Irish stock) skin.

Gonna be getting my bloodwork updated this summer and I will look forward to seeing how my vitamin D levels have changed since last year.

Meanwhile, with the sheer volume of positive information on vitamin D, I can just hear my father, now deceased, repeating one of his favorite sayings: "What next? Bringing dead people back to life?!" If only it could be so!

Eye Doctor Impressed - Interested in Iodine Drops

My eye doctor was impressed today. From dry eyes last year (and an opthamologist's prescription for a year's worth of antibiotics, which I opted to ditch) to the fateful tear evaporation test today was quite the journey.

Last year, my tears evaporated in about 2 seconds (no oils from my tear ducts to prevent them from evaporating too quickly). This year, it took over 10 seconds (which my doctor considered "normal"). I told him about the iodine drops I had been taking, recommended by my integrative pharmacist friend, Mike Ciell. I told him about the allergy-elimination diet and supplements my naturopath had prescribed.

My optometrist was quite interested in the iodine, taking notes on where he could send his dry eye patients for these iodine drops. I told him they were available at my naturopath's office, around the corner from his office, at Amazon.com, etc.

Meanwhile, during the vision tests, my eye doctor noted that my minor astigmatism in distance vision had disappeared. Pretty cool!

Mindfulness & Weight Loss Support Group

We published a news item detailing how meditation and mindfulness helped obese women lose weight over the long term. The program helped them change their cortisol levels (that would be the stress chemical that creates all sorts of metabolic mischief) and body fat distribution (less cortisol equals less abdominal body fat).

We decided to check for interest among our members for a "mindfulness for weight loss" support group. We quickly had enough folks interested to make the group a "go."

So, here's the scoop. I'll be leading the group in a series of calls, facilitating mindfulness exercises, assigning readings, encouraging the group to support each other, and, overall, working to cultivate greater integration of mind, body, and emotions in support of weight loss. No silver bullets, just a whole lot of practice within a supportive environment each week! :-)

For those of you who want more information on my background as an coach (certified both as an Integral Coach and a Somatic Leadership Coach), check out my bio on my coaching web site.

If you are interested in participating, drop me a line to get on the list. We'll give an update of this program in our newsletter as well.

Meanwhile, if you're wondering "why all the interest in weight loss" of late, the answer is quite simple. Our mission is not just to sell supplements but to support our community of members, and some of our members are suffering tremendously due to problems with their weight. Other members are the picture of health but their family members need help with weight loss to achieve better health.

We still don't believe in magic pills, and you'll never find Our Health Co-op hyping weight loss fads. However, we've heard the pleas for help so often that we continue to look for meaningful ways to help while staying true to scientifically-grounded approaches to long-term health.

Detecting Digestive Cancers with Improved DNA Stool Test

It's Digestive Disease Week 2009 in Chicago. The wires are rolling with news releases relating to disease diagnosis in all sorts of uncomely organs, including an improved DNA stool test that helps detect wide-ranging digestive tract cancers as well as colon cancer.

Tess and I were just looking at The Human Body Book (from a Body World exhibit) and we were almost unnaturally fascinated with pictures of intestinal villi, cross-sections of the pancreas, diagrams of "liver architecture," layers of the colon wall, and so forth. Once upon a time, both of us would have gladly passed over "news" about a stool test with an "eeew" sound and a pinched brow.

Hmm. That image just transported me back in time. I remember my great-grandmother, Mimi, asking me to slice a thick callus off one of her toes with a razor blade. I was about 13 or 14 years old. She saw my face scrunch up and a sound of revulsion start to emerge and quickly cut me off with a matter-of-fact tone of voice and words: "This is life--and you can't pull back from real life if you want to grow up."

Sheesh. I felt dressed down. I steadied my hand to ensure I didn't cut too deep. I'll never forget that moment in my favorite grandmother's room, overlooking her garden, which was always filled with camelias, fuschia, and bird of paradise flowers in Santa Monica, California.

But I digress. Back to my story of digestive health. The Mayo Clinic announced that they have an improved version of DNA stool testing that supports diagnosis of all sorts of digestive cancers. Here's the deal (excerpts from their press release):

The researchers studied 70 patients with cancers throughout the digestive tract. Besides colon cancer, the study looked at throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreatic, bile duct, gallbladder and small bowel cancers to determine if gene mutations could be detected in stool samples. Using a stool test approach developed at Mayo Clinic, researchers targeted DNA from cells that are shed continuously from the surface of these cancers. Also studied were 70 healthy patients. Stool tests were performed on cancer patients and healthy controls by technicians unaware of sample source. The stool DNA test was positive in nearly 70 percent of digestive cancers but remained negative for all healthy controls, thus demonstrating the approach’s feasibility.

Stool DNA testing detected cancers at each organ site, including 65 percent of esophageal cancers, 62 percent of pancreatic cancers, and 75 percent of bile duct and gallbladder cancers. In this series, 100 percent of both stomach and colorectal cancers were detected. Importantly, stool test results did not differ by cancer stage; early-stage cancers were just as likely to be detected as late-stage cancers.

"It’s very exciting to see this level of sensitivity for digestive cancer detection in our first look at this test application,” says Dr. Ahlquist, “Historically, we’ve approached cancer screening one organ at a time. Stool DNA testing could shift the strategy of cancer screening to multi-organ, whole-patient testing and could also open the door to early detection of cancers above the colon which are currently not screened. The potential impact of this evolution could be enormous.”

Shifting cancer screening to a more holistic approach that supports earlier detection of digestive diseases (and earlier interventions--whether with pharmaceuticals, nutritional regimes, or integrative protocols) is really quite good news.

If you are over 50, check out some of the Mayo videos (high-speed Internet helps) and also consider asking your physician about the new and improved DNA stool testing. It could save your life!

Inflammation in the Gut = DNA Damage that Affects Whole Body

Inflammation bad. Protection of the gut good.

If you read my blog regularly, follow Dr. Rodier's work, or subscribe to our newsletter, you've gotten the spiel many times before.

Now, pathology, toxicology, and oncology researchers are getting hip to this concept. UCLA researchers just published in Cancer Research their findings that "local intestinal inflammation induced DNA damage to lymphocytes of the peripheral blood circulating throughout the body. This means that chromosome damage was not limited to the intestine, but involved tissues of the body distant from the site of inflammation." Research confirmed that the severity of colitis in the mice being studied correlated to levels of chromosome damage in the blood.

Alas, I know a little more than the average person about intestinal issues, from first-hand experience as well as through family members with first-hand experience.

I found the quote by Dr. Jonathan Braun, professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA and one of the study's authors compelling:

"Patients come to us with abdominal complaints and we can’t tell if they are inflammatory, obstructive or a bacterial overgrowth. At present, the only way to diagnose the patients is to do full endoscopic examinations, which are both invasive and expensive.” Braun went on to say that a "biomarker blood test could replace the invasive endoscopic exam and allow physicians to identify smoldering inflammatory disease before it becomes full blown."

Why was I so drawn to this piece of research today? I just had a scare of my own, with a couple of days in the hospital from late last Thursday through Saturday afternoon. No need to worry, I'm back at work and feisty as ever after a couple of days on IVs and no food to allow a bowel obstruction to release (phew, escaped surgery, thank heavens!).

Although I've talked a lot about my autoimmune/leaky gut diagnosis last year and my dad's intestinal issues, I don't think I've ever told my readers about a bad surgery I had at age 18 that has caused no end of havoc with extensive surgical adhesions (including a miscarriage and two ecotopic pregnancies--I've been told there's a bit of a spider web of adhesions in my belly).

Besides my personal interest in intestinal health, I always love to see research with a bent toward prevention, especially prevention of cancer.

Even if conventional docs will use the new testing to prescribe anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals, integrative docs will have a new diagnostic to convince their sometimes-reluctant patients to change their lifestyles, diets, and environmental exposures to reduce intestinal inflammation, post-haste! A lot more is at stake than annoying irritation of the bowel.

Gluten Sensitivities: Malabsorption of Nutrients Contribute to Issues of "Aging"

Since my 30's, I knew I was sensitive to gluten. It makes me sneeze within less than a half hour after eating offending foods.

What I never knew is how much eating wheat (and others foods containing gluten) affects absorption of essential nutrients. Eating bread, pizza, or pasta seemed like a trivial sin with a small price to pay, namely some sneezing and a slow start the following morning.

With an autoimmune diagnosis last fall, I've been on a gluten-free diet for close to six months, and I've continued to learn more about gluten intolerance and gluten-free living, even though I am not a celiac disease patient.

Turns out the seemingly minor sin of eating foods with gluten exacts a much higher price with malabsorption issues when one is sensitive to gluten. When tiny, finger-like villi responsible for absorbing nutrients in the small intestines become inflamed, due to immune system reactivity to gluten, nutritional uptake decreases.

Calcium and folate absorption suffers when gluten damage affects the upper part of the small intestine. Absorption of macronutrients-- like protein, carbohydrates, and fats--along with fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K becomes a problem when damage from gluten progresses further in the small intestinal tract.

Many conditions associated with aging start with some level of gluten intolerance, unbeknownst to those who suffer or their health care practitioners. For example, dyspepsia is twice as likely in celiac patients over the general population. Women with celiac disease have been found to have significantly lower bone calcium content than control subjects without celiac disease. Most people don't know that "osteoporosis is considered a relatively frequent atypical presentation of CD" (celiac disease). It makes sense though: an inflamed small intestine cannot absorb enough calcium or vitamin D to build bones effectively.

Dermatitis herpetiformis is clinically a form of celiac disease and is often misdiagnosed as eczema, contact dermatitis, or psoriasis, skin conditions which present as a rash on the elbows, knees, buttocks, and also on the neck, upper back, scalp, and hairline. I know, not a pretty picture, but many people you know could be helped by identifying gluten as the root cause of their itchy, inflamed skin.

Meanwhile, it's a vicious cycle story when malabsorption is in play. Supplementation may not even be so helpful when the small intestines have been damaged. Only healing the gut with a gluten-free diet will remedy long-standing nutritional deficiencies. Improvements can start within days with healing taking from 6 months to 2 years, depending on severity of damage.

It's not easy to go gluten free but it is getting easier with increased choices within the gluten-free foods category. If you decide to go gluten-free to improve your own uptake of nutrients, I am here to cheer you on, as I've found my own efforts quite rewarding!

DNA Damage Happens in as Few as 3 Days from Air Pollution

It's a not-so-well-known fact that Salt Lake City has really bad, polluted air. The worst cities for short-term particle pollution included Salt Lake City (#6) and Logan, Utah, a city to the north (at #8). Pittsburgh, PA (#1), Fresno, CA (#2), Bakersfield, CA (#3), Los Angeles, CA (#4), and Birmingham, AL (#5) were the cities with worse air than Salt Lake City.

Why such bad air in a state known for pristine snowpack (think: winter Olympics) and the haven of outdoorsy folks of all kinds?

Alas, nasty particulates from from the state's many coal-burning power plants (which release loads of mercury), the Kennecott Copper Mine and Refinery (which ranks among the dirtiest plants with respect to total environmental and cancer risk releases), along with sundry West Coast pollution (blown in and trapped by the Wasatch Mountains) all contribute to the bad air.

So, what does "short-term particle pollution" actually mean? According to ABC.com reporting:

"Communities ranking high on this list have short-term spikes in particle pollution that can last anywhere from a few hours to several days. And it's these short-term spikes that increase the number of emergency room visits for asthma and other respiratory diseases, along with upping the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and early death among residents."

And, why is this so important to consider, especially if you don't live in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, or Salt Lake City?

When I read today that environmental toxins can damage cellular DNA in a little as three days, I gasped (yes, a deep breath of contaminated air here in Salt Lake City). Reports of bouts of allergies may, in fact, have a lot more to do with toxic particles in the air than pollen. And, short-term exposures, even in normally cleaner air communities, can be quite damaging.

According to research out of the University of Milan, after only three days of exposure to high levels of pollution, negative changes occurred in four genes that have been linked to tumor suppression.

It's crazy hard to keep up with what's affecting our poor bodies (soils depleted of trace minerals, foods contaminated with pesticides, air pollution, toxic fumes from carpets and glues off-gassin, and on and on).

My take these days (and my dear friend, Dr. Hugo Rodier's long-held view) is that our bodies need all the help they can get with detoxification. Simple things help--like drinking lots of water, eating lots of fiber, and eating cruciferous veggies (with I3C, a potent detoxifier) help. Saunas help, a lot!

And, supplementing with well-studied detoxifiers found in our Constant Health formula, like milk thistle, glycine, glutamine, n-acetyl-cysteine, curcumin, calcium-d-glucarate (another source of I3C), and soluble fibers like apple pectin and guar gum all support detoxifying the body.

New research on reversing DNA damage will inevitably focus on developing cancer drugs. That will take a long time and a lot of money and side effects will be unknown. Until then, consider protecting your cells against damage through nutritional early interventions.

Folate's Role in Regulating Inflammation & Allergies

Our customers have long gotten the value of folic acid (also known as folate), B6, and B12 for reducing homocysteine levels and protecting heart health, as our B-Trio Chewable formula is a consistent top seller.

It was interesting to read this morning that Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers tracked the effect of folate levels on respiratory and allergic symptoms and on levels of IgE antibodies, immune system markers that rise in response to an allergen.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins believe their research supports growing evidence that folate regulates inflammation in the body. They found that people with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing, and lower likelihood of asthma. They also found that:

• People with the lowest folate levels (below 8 nanograms per milliliter) had 40 percent higher risk of wheezing than people with the highest folate levels (above 18 ng/ml).
• People with the lowest folate levels had a 30 percent higher risk than those with the highest folate levels of having elevated IgE antibodies, markers of allergy predisposition.
• Those with the lowest folate levels had 31 percent higher risk of atopy (allergic symptoms) than people with the highest folate levels.
• Those with lowest folate levels had 16 percent higher risk of having asthma than people with the highest folate levels.

There's pollen in the air and more to come as climates keep warming up. For those of you with allergies who want to start taking supplemental folate, it's important to know that high intake of folic acid can mask vitamin B12 deficiencies, thus you'll want to consider the value of taking these two water-soluble vitamins together.

Swine Flu & Immune System Protection

It's not difficult to recognize that familiar New Jersey accented voice that greeted me at the other end of the line this morning.

I was interviewing Mike Ciell, a registered pharmacist, who prefers to go by "clinical biochemist" and has the formal title of "Chief Science Officer"at his new company, Ideal Protein of America. In an upcoming newsletter, we'll be featuring my interview, which focuses primarily on how Mike's diet program helps people achieve healthy insulin levels, lose weight, and gain muscle mass. I won't spill the proverbial beans before the interview goes live but there is one thing I've been reflecting on since Mike and I talked.

When asked about the current swine flu, Mike noted that everyone is looking for a silver bullet but the real silver bullet is a healthy immune system. He said, "There is no man-made defense more sophisticated than the immune system."

Mike went on to talk about the standard American diet as being "crummy for the immune system" by creating too much insulin, too much sugar that binds to proteins, making the glommed proteins targets for unnecessary immune system responses. Alas, too many pro-inflammatory signals create a cascade of "friendly fire" and damage to tissues, organs, and cellular function.

When truly pathogenic organisms show up, the immune system is already overextended. Hence the importance of ditching the sugar (and that means carbs, as morning bagels or hashbrowns, sushi rice, orange juice, apples, beer and wine, and other carbohydrates convert directly into sugar).

It's valuable to remember a few statistics about pandemic influenza viruses (infectious diseases that spread widely across populations):

• The Spanish flu of 1918-1919 killed up to 5% of the entire human population, while one in five people around the world were infected with the virus.
  
• Almost 700,000 people died in the United States; some 17 million are believed to have died in India; while up to 100 million died worldwide.
• The Spanish flu was identified as an H1N1 virus as has the current swine flu virus.
• The Spanish flu was so virulent because it overstimulated the immune system (causing a "cytokine storm" and consequent damage to organs and tissues in the lungs).

Personally, I'm not so much of an alarmist. As a writer, I am simply addressing a topic that is in the news and that has already created a whole lot of anxiety.

Here's the bottom line. You can tune up you immune system. Harmful inflammatory cascades can be controlled by reducing your sugar intake (and reducing exposure to any allergens, which can trigger autoimmune responses and thus weaken your system in the face of pathogens).

Antioxidants help out further by scavenging free radicals, those highly reactive entities that wreak havoc by stealing electrons. My subscribers tend to know a whole lot about antioxidants, as many of our top products are antioxidants (Heart Plus, Green Tea Extract, Coenzyme Q-10, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Constant Health, Immune Health, and so forth).

A commonly overlooked member of the immune system is the lymph system, which essentially "takes out the trash," filtering lymph fluid of bacteria, cancer cells, and antigens of all kinds (real and imagined). Lymph fluid also transports white blood cells (lymphocytes) to help fight infection (think: swollen lymph nodes) and macrophages in the lymph nodes themselves devour foreign particles.

Exercise, jumping around, even flailing around, anything that gets lymph fluids moving helps your immune system function more effectively. Stalled lymphatic fluids are like fetid swamps in nature (just say eeew!).

It's spring. Throw out the excuses for not moving and help ward off infection by ditching refined sugar, adding supplemental antioxidants, and moving a whole lot more to get your lymph system in gear.

Lycopene Gets Plug for Combating Metabolic Syndrome

It's that time of year when lycopene's rosey blush should indeed get prime time attention. I just wrote about grapefruit juice and lycopene and drug efficacy.

As a refresher, lycopene helps the body (along with plants and algae) to synthesize other carotenoids, including beta carotene. Lycopene gets transported around the body by lipoproteins and accumulates in the liver, adrenal glands, and testes.

Many people don't know that lycopene is fat-soluble and is not water soluble. For supplements, this means that it takes solvents and oil to dissolve lycopene (and, as I've said before, lycopene is unstable in formulation, so best to get lycopene from dietary sources).

Back to carotenoids in the news for helping combat metabolic syndrome. Dutch scientists reported in the Journal of Nutrition that middle-aged and elderly men with the highest average intake of carotenoids overall had a 58% lower incidence of metabolic syndrome, while the highest intake of lycopene was associated with a 45% lower incidence of metabolic syndrome.

The findings were based on data from a population-based, cross-sectional study involving 374 men aged between 40 and 80, 22 per cent of whom had metabolic syndrome. Intakes of the carotenoids, including alpha- and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).

In the Dutch study, lycopene and beta carotene trumped other carotenoids in combatting metabolic syndrome, which translates into smaller waistlines and fat mass along with lower levels of triglycerides in the blood stream of folks ingesting these carotenoids.

Remember, spring and summer are ideal times to boost your own levels of disease-fighting carotenoids, especially lycopene, which is found in tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, pink guava, red bell pepper, and even some green leafy vegetables. However, as a fat-soluble nutrient, lycopene is more bioavailable after cooking tomatoes and when served in oil-rich tomato sauces than in raw veggies (a bonus for those of you who prefer cooked over raw foods).

Saliva Test for Detecting Diabetes

I never have liked needles. My mom says I had one broken off in my arm when I was a kid (either I was a little high strung at the doctor's office or they were totally incompetent). I don't remember the experience but I've never liked needles.

Come to think of it, my dad was a real baby when it came to having blood drawn and my mom follows suit when it comes to needles, so I guess it runs in our family.

Anyway, when I saw that there's a new saliva test for assessing pre-diabetes and diabetes, well, I thought everyone should know about it. The research will be shared at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 18th annual meeting in Houston, Texas on May 15th. The AACE folks are also going to be looking at the "wide-ranging impact of vitamin D on the human body."

Kudos on both fronts: a needle-less test for detecting diabetes and publicity for all the compelling research of late on vitamin D.

Curcumin & Weight Loss

A common curry spice -- known as "turmeric" as well as "curcumin" and part of the ginger family -- has been found to help mice on a high fat diet remain svelte as well as keep their cholesterol down.

Curcumin is known for its anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant value, and now it is being heralded for reducing angiogenesis (i.e., the blood vessel formation required to create new fatty tissues) as well as lowering cholesterol. Gotta love this bright orange spice, used in Ayurvedic medicine for 1000 years, for all the good press it keeps getting!

Folks who take our Arthro 3 product--which has 300mg each of curcumin, boswellia, and MSM--are devoted enough that when prices for curcumin rose substantially for a period of time (based on all the promising research on this botanical), the clamor was loud to bring Arthro 3 back ASAP! The anti-inflammatory value of this product seems to be quite strong indeed.

While I haven't heard anyone taking Arthro 3 bragging about inexplicable weight loss, I have heard tales of weight loss from taking Constant Health, which does have 250mg of turmeric (curcumin) in every scoop, along with 15g of protein and 5g of fiber, some better-known allies of healthy blood sugar levels and thus weight management.

One of my dear friends, Lynda St. Dennis, is a big fan of our Constant Health, drinking a shake every morning. Lynda finds that her mid-morning cravings disappear and that she can easily go until lunch with no more than a Constant Health shake for breakfast (she drinks it plain, no rice or soy milk, in just water, by the way).

The mouse studies on the relationship between curcumin and weight management have not yet been duplicated in humans; however, with weight loss being the biggest category in both foods and dietary supplements, you can count on more studies getting funded to explore this relationship. Meanwhile, my readers can "weigh in!" :-)