Anti Aging Health and Nutrition

Archive for the ‘Anti Aging Health’ Category

In this video, Carole Baggerly of Grassroots Health sits down with Dr. Cedric Garland of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine’s Moore’s Cancer Center, to discuss his breakthrough paper.

Dr. Garland has introduced a revolutionary new screening for cancer that could eliminate as many as 50,000 cases of breast cancer or colon cancer each year. Using a new computer modeling system that can detect cancer based on Vitamin D levels in the blood, this early detection ability means that physicians will no longer have to wait until a tumor is actually formed in order to detect it.

Vitamin D deficiency is a leading cause of these conditions, and can be overcome through nutritional supplements and exposure to the sun.

Sitting down for more than six hours a day increases the risk of mortality, particularly in the case of women. This is one of the key findings in a study conducted by researchers of the American Cancer Society and published on the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The study followed a cohort of over 123 thousand relatively healthy people over a period of 14 years. Researchers say time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level. The study concludes that in order to reduce the risk of mortality, it is not only recommended being physically active but also reducing time spent sitting.

Dr. Alpa Pattel, lead researcher, stated in a press release issued by the American Cancer Society that “Prolonged time spent sitting, independent of physical activity, has been shown to have important metabolic consequences, and may influence things like triglycerides, high density lipoprotein, cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, resting blood pressure, and leptin, which are biomarkers of obesity and cardiovascular and other chronic diseases.”

The study links the sedentary lifestyle followed by many people in the US to the obesity epidemic as well as to all-cause death rates. Greater physical activity, less sedentarism, having a balanced diet, caloric restriction, and proper consumption of nutritional supplements have all been associated with greater longevity.

G. Calabrese of the Department of Human Nutrition at Universita Cattolica in Piacennza, Italy took a close look at the health benefits of moderate red wine consumption as it might impact menopause.

Leading up to this 1999 study, there was a great deal of literature surrounding the health benefits of resveratrol, a polyphenol naturally occurring in many foods and beverages. Its cancer preventative and heart disease preventative characteristics have made resveratrol the focus of many studies. However, Calabrese intended to determine if these health benefits would extend themselves beyond cancer and heart disease and might be an influence on menopause.

Calabrese’s Findings Surrounding Resveratrol

The hypothesis of this study is based on the idea that the structure of resveratrol is so much like that of diethylstilbestrol, a drug prescribed to prevent miscarriages, that it might act as a phytoestrogen in humans.

Calabrese’s team conducted a population study, read literature on resveratrol’s effects on female reproduction, osteoporosis, and cancer, and they conducted various trials of their own.

Conclusion

Their findings concluded that moderate wine consumption appeared to act as a phytoestrogen, a compound in plants that simulates estrogen in humans. Resveratrol boosted the physiological reactions that typically accompany estrogen increases. This activity could effectively moderate the effects and symptoms of menopause in women.

Doctors Philippe Marambaud, Haitian Zhao, and Peter Davies from the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York published a study in 2005 that found that resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, lowers the levels of an Alzheimer’s disease protein.

Several studies show that moderate red wine consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Wine is full of antioxidant compounds that have potential nerve protection characteristics. In this study, resveratrol is shown to lower the levels of a specific protein that clumps in the brain as a result of a gene variation. This protein, called beta amyloid, can lead to memory loss and dementia, which are features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder that leads to the most common form of dementia occurring in aging adults. These findings suggest resveratrol supplements, made from natural compounds, have a therapeutic potential in Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have shown that moderate wine intake reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Resveratrol is suspected to have antioxidant and nerve protection properties. Therefore, resveratrol contributes to the beneficial effect of drinking red wine on the nerve degeneration process associated with aging.

This study also suggests that chemical modifications of resveratrol can be done in the context of improving its potency, stability, and the rate at which resveratrol is absorbed. This can also improve resveratrol’s therapeutic use to fight the effects of aging.

Drs. A.A. Bertelli, L. Giovannini, W. Bemini, M. Migliori, M. Fregoni, L. Bavaresco, and A. Bertelli at the Institute of Anatomy at University of Milan, Italy have evaluated the anti-blood clotting effect of cis-resveratrol, a type of the antiaging compound resveratrol found in red wine.

In 1996, these doctors evaluated the anti-blood clotting activities of cis-resveratrol in a laboratory environment in different concentrations on blood-platelet rich plasma. Cis-resveratrol was able to decrease toxin-induced blood platelet clotting, while trans-resveratrol at the same concentration had a lower efficiency rate. However, both types of resveratrol were observed to cause a decrease in blood clotting, a common condition experienced by aging adults.

In this study, both of these have effective properties in biological fluids, such as blood platelet rich plasma. The evaluation of resveratrol activity in animals and humans takes into account the total amount of both cis- and trans-resveratrol. Cis- and trans-resveratrol, like resveratrol, can be consumed by drinking red wine or taking resveratrol supplements, in the form of tablets, pills or lozenges.

In a 1999 study from the College of Medicine in the Institute of Biochemistry at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, researchers Jen-Hun Lin and Shu-Huei Tsai studied the cancer and heart disease prevention benefits of resveratrol, a red wine ingredient. Resveratrol may have therapeutic potential for acute coronary heart disease, cancer and other heart related health problems, such as clogged arteries.

Resveratrol’s strong antioxidant activities may have positive effects on many diseases and disorders like cancer, aging, vascular disease and various immune complex-mediated diseases. Experiments show that resveratrol has significant antioxidant activity on a molecular level as well as cancer chemopreventative abilities.

Moderate red wine drinking, thus the consumption of resveratrol, is thought to reduce the risk of heart disease by preventing blood platelets from clumping and causing a blood clot. There are many benefits to consuming resveratrol and the basic properties of this natural plant compound are anti-cancer, anti-heart disease, and anti-inflammatory. Resveratrol has been shown to suppress build up on artery walls, which can lead to clogged arteries. Resveratrol can be consumed in ways other than red wine drinking, such as resveratrol supplements in the form of tablets.