Cloves the greatest natural anti-oxidant

The study discovered that cloves have high levels of phenolic compounds, that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-clotting qualities. This was a main factor in labelling cloves the best all-natural antioxidant, but the study found that cloves also have some other helpful properties.

“Out of the five anti-oxidant qualities tested, cloves had the greatest ability to give off hydrogen, reduced lipid peroxidation well, and was the most effective iron reducer,” says Juana Fernandez-Lopez, one of the writers of the research and a researcher at the UMH.

Lipid peroxidation is actually the method in which free radicals acquire electrons from the lipids in cell walls. The end outcome of this progression is usually cellular deterioration. The fact that cloves assist to stop this destructive cycle is one that helped drive them to first position. Furthermore, the capability to reduce iron is yet another profound attribute of cloves.

Iron deficiencies are quite simple to treat with adequate supplementation or nutritional changes, but too much iron within the body can be very challenging to handle. Many people have problems with too much iron in the blood stream, and many of which suffer from hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is actually a serious condition that is a result of untreated iron overload. Hemochromatosis can lead to rheumatoid arthritis, abnormal liver function, diabetes, or even heart failure and is a serious issue for people with Sickle cell.

Another goal of the research is to convince big companies to start introducing cloves to their food products. Cloves are very inexpensive and have been a key part of the Mediterranean eating habits for hundreds of years.

“The final results show that use of the natural anti-oxidants found in spices used in the Mediterranean diet, or their extracts, is a workable option for the food industry, as long as the organoleptic characteristics of the food item are not affected”, adds Juana.

Cloves may be what people are looking for when it comes to getting an inexpensive and useful spice.

Hayfever

Keep healthy, even when the pollen count is high! Nip hayfever in the bud

YOU MAY GENERALLY ASSOCIATE HAYFEVER WITH THE SPRING, but in fact it can occur during Spring, Summer and Autumn, depending on exactly the source of your allergy. From March to May, pollens from trees are the most common cause of hay fever.

From May to July grass and flowers are in pollen, making these the most common cause of hay fever. Some people do get hay fever into the autumn months. However this is rare and is usually caused by weeds such as nettles and docks, late flowering plants, and mould spores.

The symptoms are the same no matter when you experience them and include a runny nose, itchy, watery, bloodshot eyes and repeated sneezing attacks. As with all allergies, the symptoms happen as a result of your immune system overreacting to a normally harmless substance in this case, pollen. When the body comes into contact with pollen, cells in the lining of your nose, mouth and eyes release a chemical called histamine that triggers the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

Starting on an anti-hayfever programme ahead of when the pollen is in the air, makes a lot of sense. Fortunately, nature has provided some of its own remedies…

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Eating Margerine – Results in Low IQ?

The research was conducted by researchers from Auckland University in New Zealand and published in the magazine Intelligence.

Scientists analyzed the nutritional consumption and intelligence results of kids born in the mid-1990s.

“We discovered a number of dietary factors to be considerably associated with intelligence measures, the particular scientists said. “The connection between margarine intake and IQ scores was the most consistent and novel finding.

After adjusting with regard to other reasons which might influence IQ, such as socio-economic level, the researchers discovered that children who ate margarine daily obtained three points lower on IQ assessments by the age of three-and-a-half compared to kids with reduced margarine consumption.

By the age of seven, the typical IQ scores of some margarine eaters were six points below those of their peers. This happened only in children who had been born underweight, suggesting that disadvantaged brains may be far more vulnerable to diet-induced problems.

Because the study was correlational, scientists have been unable to determine what precisely triggered the IQ difference between the two groupings of children. They suspect, however, that the reason may be transfats, also known as partially hydrogenated fats.

Created by introducing hydrogen atoms to unsaturated vegetable fats, transfats have a lengthier shelf life and are more solid at room temperatures compared to natural vegetable oils. In the mid-1990s, margarines had been produced with up to 17 percent transfats. In recent years, however, researchers discovered that not only do transfats have no dietary value, they additionally significantly boost the danger of coronary heart attack and death in individuals who consume them.

The majority of margarines now comprise around 1 percent transfats.

Sian Porter associated with the British Dietetic Association noted that whilst margarine appears to be more healthy compared to butter, dietary consumption of both should be minimised.
Sources for this story include: www.dailymail.co.uk.

Icebergs

Just as I heard on this mornings news about a massive iceberg that has broken free from the Antarctic ice shelf I saw this report about the decline in sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. For more details about the Antarctic problem please take a look at these pictures

The Arctic could be ice-free in just three years – Sea ice in Canada’s fragile Arctic is melting faster than anyone expected, the lead investigator in Canada’s largest climate-change study yet said Friday — raising the possibility that the Arctic could, in a worst-case scenario, be ice-free in about three years. Professor David Barber, the lead investigator of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study, said the rapid decay of thick Arctic Sea ice highlights the rapid pace of climate change in the North and foreshadows what will come in the South.

Exercise Your Brain

The human brain works best with suitable physical exercise, diet, sleep

Dependent upon what technology prevailed supreme at the moment, the human mind has been compared to a telegraph, a Television and a computer.

But it really is additionally a three-pound, flesh-and-blood human organ, and along with One hundred billion neurons, a very challenging one at that. Even though it contains only 2 percent of the body’s weight, it utilizes 20 % of its oxygen and a most of its blood sugar.

It makes sense that a biochemical factory that complicated will probably work best with correct care and nourishing, even in young and healthy university students.

The brain begins out with some built-in advantages. Not only is it encased in a sturdy skull, but a set of cells regarded as the blood-brain barrier keeps many bacteria and other dangerous chemicals out of the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord.

The brain additionally gets first call on a lot of vitamins and nutrients, says Simon Evans, a University of Michigan neuroscientist who authored the book “BrainFit for Life: A User’s Guide to Life-Long Brain Health and Fitness”.

Even so, college students however will need to pay particular attention to their own diets, exercises and sleep habits, most of which play important roles in basic brain wellness, Dr. Evans says.

In reality, taking care of your mind when you are in your late teens and early 20s will probably pay lifelong benefits, he and some other professionals say.

The human brain continues to form new internal connections throughout youth, adolescence and early adulthood, they say. While the peak demand for brain-boosting nutrition is from 4 to 8 years of age, the process continues into the college years, says Robert Clark, a brain researcher and chief of paediatric critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

“There is an idea out there that if you produce a lot of new neurons when you’re young, that once they are there, they are there for good,” adds Henriette Van Praag, a brain researcher with the National Institute on Aging.

Sleep is one commodity that university scholars often short-change, and that not only can impact their thinking ability, but their memory, their development and even their weight, Dr. Evans says.

Research has shown that sleep is when the actual day’s memories tend to be consolidated in the mind. It is additionally when the body secretes most of its growth hormone, which is why kids that don’t get enough sleep tend to be smaller than average, he says. Sleep is also a time when the entire body uses energy from body fat cells, which is one explanation of why too little sleep is linked with obesity, Dr. Evans says.

Exercise doesn’t just build muscles, burn off fat and increase heart and lung capacity. It additionally makes the brain smarter.

That’s one result of studies done by Dr. Van Praag and others on rodents which use treadmills and carry out learning tasks.

After training mice to press their noses against icons on a pc screen to obtain a sugar pellet, her team separated them into two communities — one that was inactive and the other which got plenty of treadmill exercises.

The mice that worked out were not just much better at pressing the right symbols and learning to negotiate a labyrinth, but were faster to adjust when researchers altered the image which gave the reward, she says.

When the researchers analysed the mice brains later, they discovered that the populations which worked out had developed brand-new neurons within a crucial area of the hippocampus, a brain region engaged in memory and learning, and that the number of new neurons correlated perfectly with how well the mice executed the tests.

While she is wary about extrapolating her results to humans, Dr. Van Praag says that the exercise-induced brain development in mice seems to be connected to substances that flow into the brain in the bloodstream, specifically one called insulin-like growth factor.

On the dietary front, college students’ bodies are fairly good at supplying energy to the brain. “Anybody who can take an Extra Value Meal at McDonald’s and convert it into something useful has a pretty sophisticated digestive system,” says Dr. Clark.

That does not mean a balanced diet is pointless, though, the experts say.

Like the remainder of the body, the brain benefits when a person’s eating habits offers a correct proportion of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Americans tend to eat too much Omega-6, which is common in vegetable oils and can shrink blood vessels and cause inflammation, Dr. Evans says, while Omega-3, found most famously in fish oil, is anti-inflammatory.

Dr. Clark has discovered in his personal investigation that when the brain is deprived of nutrition, it starts to consume itself to survive, a process recognized as autophagy.

The identical thing happens in the course of starvation in the remainder of the body, he says, but the effects are not as serious. If you’re sick and don’t eat, you will lose muscle mass, he says, “but after a couple of weeks you’ll be returning to your previous self. But if that occurs to the brain it can be kind of catastrophic, and can kill off neurons.

That sort of brain stress doesn’t happen easily with college students, he remarks, but it is possible, in particular with students that drink too much.

“It used to be thought that alcoholic beverages will kill brain cells because of its chemical nature, Dr. Clark states, “but it’s likely it has much more to do with swapping alcohol for other nutrition.

“To maximize your educational potential, he adds, “you want to possess a balanced diet. In general, it is pretty tough to be malnourished in America, but if you include an additional stress — you’re anorexic or most of your calories are arising by alcohol or you get sick — that’s when the brain is very susceptible to nutritional errors.

Exercise, eating habits and sleep are not simply about preserving neurons — they also increase the wellness of the remainder of the human brain, the cells known as white matter.

They get that title from the fatty myelin sheaths that safeguard neurons linking one brain area to another. Just like the insulation on an electric cable, myelin can hasten up brain transmissions a hundredfold, says R. Douglas Fields, a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health and author of a new book, “The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries About the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science.”

White matter in the brain doesn’t just help link together brain regions, he says. Emerging research shows it additionally helps the brain fight off infections, regulates the chemical substances that the neurons use to function and can also stimulate the development of brand new neurons and blood vessels within the brain.

One study showing the significance of white matter was the evaluation of autopsy slices from Albert Einstein’s brain, he says. Much to the scientists’ surprise, the famous physicist did not have any more gray matter neurons than other people, but his brain did have a much denser network of white matter.

There is one other thing to keep in mind, says Michigan’s Dr. Evans. Whether it’s gray matter or white matter, all those cells are active all the time.

“The brain is an electrochemical organ, he says, “and it’s always on. Even when you’re sleeping it’s re-charging hormones which have been depleted during the day. The brain is at constant, almost full tilt.”

Multivitamins for Children

A good diet, plenty of fresh air and exercise plus lots of love and attention will generally keep your child healthy, bright and happy. But a good diet isn’t always easy to maintain in a child and assumes that your child enjoys eating leafy green foods and oily fish on a regular basis.

No-one would suggest that stuffing your child full of vitamin pills is the solution either, but a balanced diet topped up with a good quality multivitamin and essential fatty acids can give reassurance to parents that their children are avoiding any obvious nutritional deficiencies.

There is a no-nonsense, no-nasties multivitamin complex which contain the Government recommended levels of nutrients for children, without the unnecessary additives contained in many other children’s vitamin products. These are also genuinely sugar-free with no hidden extras, no aspartame, saccharine or other sweeteners – not even fructose, just the vitamins and minerals your child needs each day in a tiny, easy-to-swallow, all-vegetarian/vegan capsule.

The multivitamin complex is seriously formulated for long-term daily intake during the early years, the all-important pre- and post-pubescent transition and onwards into adulthood.

NOTE: This information is not intended to replace the guidance of a health practitioner. Consult your doctor if your child is already taking medication. Do not alter medication without the strict guidance of a doctor or qualified practitioner.

Daily Dose of Nuts Reduces Cancer Risk

Daily Dose of Nuts Reduces Cancer Risk

December 10, 2009

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A diet that incorporates a daily dose of pistachios may help reduce the risk of lung and other cancers.

“It is known that vitamin E provides a degree of protection against certain forms of cancer,” Ladia M. Hernandez, M.S., R.D., L.D., senior research dietitian in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, was quoted as saying. Higher intakes of gamma-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, may reduce the risk of lung cancer.

“Pistachios are a good source of gamma-tocopherol,” said Hernandez. “Eating them increases intake of gamma-tocopherol so pistachios may help to decrease lung cancer risk.”

Pistachios are known to be heart-healthy. They have a cholesterol-lowering effect and provide the antioxidants typically found in food products of plant origin. Hernandez and colleagues conducted a six-week, controlled clinical trial to determine whether the consumption of pistachios would increase serum levels of gamma-tocopherol.

“Because epidemiologic studies suggest gamma-tocopherol is protective against prostate cancer, pistachio intake may help,” she said. “Other food sources that are a rich source of gamma-tocopherol include nuts such as peanuts, pecans, walnuts, soybean and corn oils.”

The study, conducted at Texas Woman’s University — Houston Center, included 36 healthy participants who were randomized into either a control group or the intervention group, which ate a pistachio diet. After an initial baseline period, the intervention group was given about 2 ounces of pistachios per day. The control group continued with their normal diet.

Hernandez and colleagues found a significant increase in energy-adjusted dietary intake of gamma-tocopherol at weeks three and four in those on the pistachio diet. For those on the pistachio diet, cholesterol-adjusted serum gamma-tocopherol was significantly higher at the end of the intervention period.

“Pistachios are one of those ‘good-for-you’ nuts, and 2 ounces per day could be incorporated into dietary strategies designed to reduce the risk of lung cancer without significant changes in body mass index,” said Hernandez.

SOURCE: Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, Houston, TX, December 6-9, 2009

Reference: http://ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=23047

Prostate Cancer and Stress

Although more men may be saved from dying of prostate cancer due to advances in screening and treatment, a new study suggests that emotional stress (which causes an increase of metabolic acid in the blood and then tissues) from being diagnosed with the disease carries deadly risks. A study of more than four million Swedish men over the age of 30 found that the diagnosis of prostate cancer, which occurred in more than 168,000 of them during the study period, amplified the risk of fatal heart problems and suicide.

In men who were diagnosed before 1987, the risk of a fatal heart attack during the week following diagnosis increased 11-fold, and the risk of suicide increased 800 percent. After 1987, the risks of suffering a non-fatal heart attack during the first week of diagnosis fell to 300 percent. But the risk of suicide, although small, held steady. During the year following diagnosis, the risk of both heart attacks and suicide diminished but did not disappear.

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Children’s Multi Vitamin and Mineral products

There is a whole load of controversy around giving children a multi vitamin and mineral supplement. I remember as a child being given a small orange coloured and orange flavour tablet – haliborange from memory (it is a very different product today and not one we’d recommend) because that’s what my parents chose for us.

Today (50 years later) the world we live in and the food we eat is very different. We didn’t have supermarkets and we bought our fruit and vegetables from a green grocer who probably sourced produce from a local wholesale market – the food we ate was way better then than now. So good supplementation is even more critical.

We hope to provide some guidance on what to look for and we will make a couple of suggestions based upon our own research into the best products for your children. So what should you look for:

• the best multi vitamin products don’t come from high street stores
• mail order companies like Solgar and Viridian have a range of well formulated children’s products.
• a one a day tablet is unlikely to make the grade as the necessary components at the levels required mean that a one a day tablet is too big to swallow.
• a chewable form is often available – but taste is critical
• don’t expect them to be cheap – £7/months supply for a 3 year old is about the minimum we would suggest as a cut off.
• the larger the child the more they will need – for example a 5 year old will probably need double the amount a 3 year old will.

About RDA

The RDA is a bit of a misnomer. Required Daily Allowance suggests that that’s all you need to take. The RDA levels are based upon the amount of a particular vitamin to prevent vitamin deficiency disease. For example Scurvy is a disease of Vitamin C deficiency – the RDA for vitamin C is based upon the amount needed  to ward off scurvy. To be truly healthy much higher levels are often (not always beneficial) helpful. We would always suggest that you follow the instructions on the bottles and if you wish to increase beyond that level either see a qualified specialist who can advise or do your own research.

Are Supplements really needed

This is a good question and one that often comes up.

• The old mantra ‘you can get all you need from a varied diet’ is not strictly true any longer. If you look at the nutritional content of a peach 30 years ago you’d need to eat 3 peaches a day to get the Vitamin C you’d need. Taking the same fruit today you’d need to eat roughly 50 a day to get the same amount of vitamin C. So while the purists are correct in one way it is actually impractical in most cases.

• the UK’s pesticide and residue committee has concluded that most fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed before being eaten. Thorough washing means soaking broccoli florets for at least an hour before eating to reduce the chemicals ingested. Most people I know don’t have the time to wash every bit of fruit and vegetable they eat. As we eat fruit and vegetables we actually are consuming more and more chemicals. That’s not good.

• Organic fruit and vegetables is OK isn’t it. Yes and no. Yes organic fruit and vegetables are going to contain fewer chemicals but they are still sprayed its just controlled more closely and they use safer chemicals. Even if they used no chemicals at all the rain still washes chemical pollutants out of the air and the plants end up absorbing them – just not quite as much as when they spray them. For more reading around this subject I suggest Dr Steve Nugent’s book – how to survive on a  toxic planet?

What we recommend:

Viridian ViridiKid Multi mini capsules – 90 Veg Caps

Multi Vitamins – How do you select one?

Does my multivitamin meet my needs?

Few people eat as nutritiously as they should for lasting wellness. Nutritionists recommend eating five to nine servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day to support health, but relatively few people meet this goal. Also, modern agricultural practices have reduced the nutritional value of many forms of produce from their nutritional content of only a few decades ago.

Do you know where your minerals come from? Some minerals are derived from rocks, others are taken from salts, the best are plant-sourced, making it easy for your body to absorb them.

New research suggests that natural, plant-sourced minerals may be absorbed better by your body-so it makes sense to get them from natural forms, like plants.

So ask yourself: Am I giving my body the natural nutrition it needs? Probably not.

These are some of the things to look for:

Appearance:

• Is the product labelled as food form/food matrix
• is it of uniform colour – probably coated – not good in many cases – bright colours also signify synthetic
• if the vitamin tablet you are looking at is small and of the one a day variety it is more likely that it contains synthetics
• any worthwhile multi vitamin/mineral tablet is likely to be on the large side and you may even have to take upto 4 a day

Content from the label:

• Vitamin A- derived from mixed carotenoids- to support bones and vision.
• Vitamin C- derived from tropical acerola cherries, with 30 times more vitamin C per gram than an orange-to provide enhanced immune support.
• Is the Vitamin D₃ or cholecalciferol present – the amounts should be 500IU or more
• there should be at least 10 additional essential vitamins- including a complete B-vitamin complex (the best comes from from natural yeast sources- to provide a great source of energy)
• How many of the additional vitamins are plant sourced – if the label doesn’t say it is from a plant then it will be synthetic – any your body doesn’t like synthesised vitamins
• are the ingredients standardised – if no then the quality can and will vary from batch to batch
• To ensure the vitamins and minerals work well together standardized phytonutrients – derived from foods such as broccoli, aloe vera, cranberry juice and grape extract are helpful.