Dec
30
2017

Fasting Mimicking Diet

By | autoimmune disease, Cancer, Diabetes, diet, headache, heart attack, High Blood Pressure, immune system, Inflammation, Multiple sclerosis, Stroke, telomeres

The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) was at the center of this year’s anti-aging conference in Las Vegas. This was the 25th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas, Dec. 14-16, 2017. Dr. Valter Longo, PhD reviewed some of the research he had done on longevity in yeast cells, worms and mice.

Fasting mimicking diet relevant in humans

Dr. Longo pointed out that this type of research has relevance in humans. If there was a cure for cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, we would live 13 years longer. But if we stimulated longevity with this pulsed calorie restricted diet, we would live on average 30 years longer. There is a rare genetic abnormality where people are deficient for IGF-1, a growth factor produced in the liver. These genetically IGF-1 deficient people live longer and do not develop cancer. Observations like these and detailed mouse experiments inspired Dr. Longo to develop a new diet plan. Patients would receive a fasting mimicking diet on 5 days per month. The rest of the month would consist of a normal, balanced diet. 5 days of the month the person would consume a low 800-calorie diet. This is enough to ensure adherence to the diet, but low enough to lead to enormous metabolic changes including youth-preserving stem cell stimulation.

Clinical Application of fasting mimicking diet in cardiovascular health

Dr. Joel Kahn, Prof. of Medicine at the Wayne State University School of Medicine lectured later that day. He is also the Director at the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity. His talk was entitled “The Fast Track to Slow Cardiac Aging: Fasting &Targeted Nutrition”. He mentioned that a fasting mimicking diet was a powerful tool in cardiology to prevent heart attacks and hardening of arteries. He explained in detail the complex aging pathways that involve three components, IGF-1, mTOR and PKA. When lifestyle choices stimulate these genetic markers, accelerated aging is a consequence. But with the inhibition of those markers longevity can happen. He added that researchers looked at heart cells, where the same principles apply. Dr. Kahn pointed out that the basic research of Dr. Longo enables clinicians to see positive results in patients who follow caloric restriction for 5 days in a month on a regular basis.

How does the fasting mimicking diet work?

It is best to let one of the users of this diet explain how it works. Once per month you eat calorie-restricted food with only 800 calories per day and you follow this regimen for 5 days. Some patients receive 1100 calories for the first of these 5 days, if they have difficulties switching from normal food to the boxed food. Dt. Longo has developed boxed food, called ProLon (from L-Nutra). ProLon stands for “pro longevity”. Dr. Longo and Dr. LaValle mentioned at the conference that these prepared meals make it a lot easier for patients to stick to the low calorie diet. Three hundred dollars for the boxed food for 5 days are a stiff price, and this may well be out of reach for you.

Alternative way to make your own 800 calorie food at home

Nevertheless, this should not stop you. You can look at the ingredients online and copy the boxed food by creating your own balanced 800 calories per day food at home. It is true: you have to do some research! But counting calories and finding information about the caloric content of food on the Internet is not difficult. And preparing these very, basic, small and simple meals does not require a degree in nutrition. Here is another testimony from a user of the fasting mimicking diet.

Effect of the fasting mimicking diet on the metabolism

In the past it was thought that only ketogenic diets or periods of fasting would trigger longevity genes. But the basic research of Dr. Longo and others has shown that a low calorie diet for only 5 days can achieve the same thing. Longevity genes are activated; the negative aging pathways including IGF-1, mTOR and PKA are suppressed. The immune system gets activated from this. It also  leads to lowering of LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, insulin resistance, and diabetes improves. With the fasting mimicking diet the stomach sees some food, but the cells are fasting. According to Dr. Kahn this combination down regulates the body’s key nutrient-sensing pathways, which activates cellular regeneration and rejuvenation.

Clinical observations

Dr. Khan observed a high compliance rate with 3 cycles of the fasting mimicking diet. 94% of a group of patients were compliant over 3 months. Mild fatigue, mild headaches and mild weakness were present, but improved with each cycle. In addition to the above findings Dr. Khan found that there was weight loss, abdominal fat loss and waist circumference loss. There was also a reduction in IGF-1 levels, a reduction of the C-reactive protein and stimulation of stem cells.

Inflammation reduced, autoimmune diseases improved

The reduction of the C-reactive protein proves that semi-fasting reduces inflammation. The finding of stimulation of stem cells explains that regenerative processes can take place. Pain disappears, people report more energy and are generally feeling better.

There are other clinical findings. The positive effects from following the fasting mimicking diet last for several months. Also, when patients are on chemotherapy for cancer, the FMD will protect the healthy cells from the side effects of chemotherapy.

Dr. Kahn and Dr. LaValle noted that autoimmune disease responded to FMD. This was shown in both animal experiments using mice and in clinical case reports. Dr. LaValle described a 46-year old former Olympic athlete swimmer who had multiple sclerosis. After FMD she lost all of her muscle aches and cured her optic neuritis. This was something conventional medicine could not do for her.

Clinical applications of fasting mimicking diet

Here are some of the conditions that will respond to it.

  • Obesity, because of the weight loss effect
  • Diabetes: insulin resistance becomes lower and blood sugar levels drop.
  • High blood pressure reduced: many patients were able to reduce their medications or discontinue them
  • Prevention of heart attacks and strokes
  • Pain conditions will improve as all kinds of pain disappears, an effect for which at this point is no explanation
  • Autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis improve, likely because of the effect of increased stem cell circulation
  • Prevention of heart attacks because of reduction of LDL, triglycerides and CRP
  • Cancer cure rates improved by protecting normal cells and bone marrow
  • Longevity improved in mice with a 3-fold increase of their life span. Telomere length in humans was increased. Increased stem cells will find defective areas that need repair. This effect will open up a new chapter in medicine.

Maintaining the achievements of the fasting mimicking diet

At this point the implications of this new approach to weight loss and metabolic rejuvenation can only be estimated.

Limiting calories for 5 days triggers a metabolic change, which is permanent. You can experience the full effect of this rejuvenating low calorie treatment. You can do it every month without having to fear vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

Here is another link to the website of Dr. Axe where the fasting mimicking diet is also recommended.

Fasting Mimicking Diet

Fasting Mimicking Diet

Conclusion

The 25th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas, Dec. 14-16, 2017 had a new theme. Several talks dealt with the fasting mimicking diet (FMD). It is a calorie-reduced diet for 5 days in a month that will reset your metabolism. But it will also stimulate your stem cells and can heal autoimmune diseases. If you need chemotherapy for cancer, it protects your bone marrow and improves cancer cure rates. The interesting thing is that the effects of this low calorie treatment persist permanently for many months.

With the help of this diet longevity has been shown in mice; there has been a threefold life expectancy boost. Smaller trials in humans have shown telomere lengthening and stem cell stimulation. It is too early to say what the long-term effects will be for humans. But you can treat yourself with the FMD for 5 days of every month on an ongoing basis. The other days of the month you are eating a normal diet. This will ensure that your metabolism stays in top shape.

A healthier and longer life

Practical applications for the FMD are huge. Patients with obesity, diabetes and pain conditions all benefit from this. High blood pressure drops. There will be prevention of heart attacks, and there is improvement in patients with autoimmune diseases. There is better cancer survival when on the FMD. Finally there is a strong possibility that you will live longer, but also stay healthier on this intermittent calorie restricted diet.

As Dr. LaValle said: it is “fasting with food”, and Dr. Kahn added: “Eat less, live more!”

More info:  Life extension through calorie restriction.

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Dec
23
2017

Birth Control Pill Increases The Risk Of Breast Cancer

By | alcohol, breast cancer, diagnostic X-rays, heart attack, Hormones, Menopause, Stroke

A recent study showed that the birth control pill increases the risk of breast cancer. This publication did research on 1.8 million of women of Denmark who took various forms of contemporary birth control pills (BCP). They were under the age of 50 and the observation of the participants continued for about 11 years.

Risks for breast cancer

When a woman took the BCP for less than one year, the risk of developing breast cancer was 9% higher compared to controls. But this rate increased even more to 38% after the use of the BCP for over 10 years. Women who had used progestin only intrauterine devices had a risk of 21% to develop breast cancer. It did not make a difference whether the BCP was a mix of estrogen and progestin or progestin. Researchers expressed the risk in the following fashion:

  • Less than one-year exposure to BCP: a 1.09-fold risk to develop breast cancer
  • Over 10-years use of BCP: a 1.38% risk to develop breast cancer
  • IUD with progestin in uterus: a 1.21% risk to develop breast cancer

Strokes and Heart attacks from the BCP

At the 86th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society in New Orleans/Louisiana a Canadian delegation presented this data. They had done a meta-analysis of 14 trials regarding side effects of the birth control pill (BCP). These women had taken the BCP on a prolonged basis (Ref. 1). The researchers monitored the risk of heart attacks and strokes. They found an association with the prolonged use of the low dose estrogen BCP. Researchers examined all of the studies between 1980 and October of 2002. 14 independent studies qualified for the meta-analysis.

Metaanalysis of BCP caused heart attacks and strokes

The strength of such a meta-analysis lies in the pooling of data and the fact that the data comes from a much larger patient population, which generally makes the results more reliable. Dr. J. Baillargeon from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Sherbrooke, Quebec/Canada, stated that they found a

  • 85-fold risk for developing heart attacks with long-term use of the BCP and at the same time there was a risk of
  • 54-fold of hemorrhagic strokes with long-term use of the low-dose BCP.

It is important that women who contemplate going on the BCP know not only about the dangers of developing breast cancer, but also about the dangers of heart attacks and hemorrhagic strokes.

Lessons learnt from the Women’s Health Initiative

The Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 showed that women who were on Premarin and progestin for hormone replacement in menopause came down with breast cancer, heart attacks, stroke, and thromboembolic events. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127562/

They were using the synthetic hormones, namely conjugated equine estrogen and medroxyprogesterone acetate. The reason these women had to suffer these side effects was because their physicians insisted on using “pure hormones that a drug company had manufactured”. But these synthetic hormones were not pure hormones; they were hormones adulterated with side chains so that pharmaceutical companies could patent them.

Misfit of synthetic hormones with hormone receptors

These side chains made the synthetic hormones not fit the body’s hormone receptors. And this is the reason why the synthetic hormones created chaos in the body with breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks. In essence the mix of conjugated equine estrogen and the medroxyprogesterone were functioning like estrogens. So, there was an overdose of estrogenic hormones when taking these hormones and this use resulted in the development of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes. The BCP is very similar to these hormones that are in the medication for hormone replacement therapy in menopause, but the hormone dosage in the BCP is much lower.

Other high-risk settings for women taking the BCP

There are other higher risk subpopulations of women who should avoid the BCP:

  • Had 1st degree relative with breast cancer on one breast :5-fold relative risk ; there is a genetic reason for breast cancer here
  • 1st degree relative with breast cancer on both breasts : 9.5-fold relative risk ; genetic risk more obvious.
  • No relative, but patient had history of breast cancer : 4-fold relative risk ;
  • First child born later than 30 years of age : 1.9-fold relative risk ; in comparison with a woman who has her first child prior to age 20
  • If woman consumes 3 oz. of alcohol per day : 2-fold risk; in comparison with woman not using alcohol or BCP
  • Prior radiation for Hodgkin’s disease (age 10 to 19) : 10- to 75-fold risk; radiation exposure during time of breast development leads to an enormous risk ratio about 15 years later

Mechanism of the BCP

The BCP or OC (oral contraception) utilizes the fact that ovulation (=release of a fertile egg) requires a complex interaction between hormones to occur. The gonadotropin hormones LH and FSH from the pituitary gland must stimulate the ovaries. The right mixture of estrogen and progesterone from the ovaries achieves this. Without that proper hormonal interaction ovulation will not take place leading to an infertile cycle. With contraception scientists were able to suppress ovulation for as long as patients are taking the birth control pill regularly. By giving a small amount of estrogen and progesterone like substance (called “progestin”) in the oral contraceptive form (the birth control pill) ovulation stops, the lining of the uterine cavity becomes stable through estrogen, and the mucous plug in the cervical canal thickens, making it much more difficult for sperm to enter.

Estrogen dominance from the BCP

The Women’s Health Initiative has taught physicians a tough lesson: you cannot mess with nature’s hormones or else you create a risk of strokes (41%), heart attacks (29% more), blood clots (twice as many), breast cancer (26% more), colorectal cancer (37% more) and the patient will have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease (76% more often). This was a trial involving over 16,000 postmenopausal women.

Although the hormones used in these women were slightly different in concentration, structurally they were very similar to the ones used for birth control purposes. What nature seems to tell us is that you cannot mess with hormone receptors, or you set up the body for one of the diseases mentioned.

Hormonal disruption

The truth is that the combination of  synthetic estrogen-like and progesterone-like substances  in the BCP are not bio-identical hormones. They suppress ovulation, which means they are creating progesterone deficiency in the woman who takes these synthetic hormones. The end result is that physicians create estrogen dominance in these women, which according to Dr. Lee is the reason for the above listed complications (Ref.2).

It makes more sense to use less invasive alternatives for birth control methods instead of the BCP. A well-fitted IUD (inserted by a gynecologist) is a good alternative. This will not create havoc with the woman’s hormones and will not create infertility after contraception is no longer needed. Bio-identical progesterone replacement using creams is being used to rebalance the original hormones when the BCP is discontinued.

Birth Control Pill Increases The Risk Of Breast Cancer

Birth Control Pill Increases The Risk Of Breast Cancer

Conclusion

The birth control pill (BCP) is a popular form of contraception. But there are significant risks of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes associated with its use. According to the previous literature the risk of complications associated with the BCP was between 1.3- and 1.6-fold. The present study with smaller concentrations of hormones in the more modern BCP still showed a risk of 1.38-fold regarding breast cancer. It did not mention heart attacks and strokes as additional risk factors. The Danish study was supported by a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo Nordisk is a major producer of BCP’s in Europe and in the world. It would be in their interest to minimize the risks associated with the BCP. Any woman using the BCP should use it only as long as she really needs it. Ultimately she would be better advised to use alternatives like IUD’s and condoms.

References

  1. https://www.askdrray.com/birth-control-pill-increases-strokes-and-heart-attacks/
  2. John R. Lee, David Zava and Virginia Hopkins: “What your doctor may not tell you about breast cancer – How hormone balance can help save your life”, Wellness Central, Hachette Book Group USA, 2005. Page 360 to 374 explains xenohormones.

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Dec
02
2017

Vitamin K For Bones And Arteries

By | heart attack, Mortality, Nutrition, Osteoporosis, Vitamins and supplements

Vitamin K for bones and arteries is gaining a lot of attention as a valuable supplement. Most of all in the blood vessels, but in addition in the heart, lungs and kidneys the matrix GLA protein is a key substance. Vitamin K2 is crucial for removing calcium from these organs, as matrix GLA protein is carboxylated. Carboxylation of the GLA protein functions much as a broom. This removes all superfluous calcium from blood vessels and organ tissues. If there is a lack of vitamin K2 intake, matrix GLA protein is uncarboxylated, which as a result invites vascular calcification. Essentially vitamin K2 has emerged as an important player in the regulation of bone conditions like osteoporosis, but also in the prevention of hardening of arteries. Vitamin K2 removes calcium from blood vessels and deposits calcium in bone preventing osteoporosis. I will review some key publications, which support this.

Arterial stiffness study in postmenopausal women

Aging blood vessels become stiff from calcification. By removing calcium it seems like the arterial wall becomes more flexible again. Dr. Knapen and colleagues from Maastricht University, The Netherlands followed 244 healthy, postmenopausal women for 3 years in this double blind, placebo-controlled 2015 study.

120 women received 180 micrograms of vitamin K2 (as MK-7) once daily. 124 women received placebo pills. Next researchers checked arterial stiffness through two types of tests. First of all, carotid intima-media thickness was evaluated by echo tracking. In addition aortic stiffness was tested by carotid-femoral and carotid-radial pulse wave velocity. After 3 years there was a significant reduction of uncarboxylated matrix GLA by 50%. This was missing in the placebo group. All of the markers for arterial stiffness showed a reversal improving flexibility above the median. This shows that hardening of arteries in postmenopausal women is reversible with the help of vitamin K2.

Bone metabolism study in Japanese men and women

This 2015 Japanese study investigated what the minimum amount of necessary vitamin K2 would be to improve osteocalcin carboxylation.

First of all, study 1 examined the effect of 0, 50, 100, or 200 micrograms of vitamin K2 (=menaquinone-7) daily. A group of 60 postmenopausal women received vitamin K2 for 4 weeks. Only the 200 microgram per day dosage showed an effect of carboxylating osteocalcin.

Second part of study

Furthermore, study 2 consisted of 120 men and women. Measurements involved the ratio between carboxylated and uncarboxylated osteocalcin to demonstrate the effect of vitamin K2. As a result of study 1 only a placebo group, a 100-microgram and a 200-microgram daily vitamin K2 group was part of the investigation. Both, the 100 microgram and the 200 microgram doses, reduced the circulating uncarboxylated osteocalcin fraction. Hence they concluded that vitamin K-2 effectively keeps the calcium in the bones and prevents osteoporosis. The investigators recommended taking more than 100 micrograms of vitamin K-2 per day to improve osteocalcin carboxylation.

You can find more detail regarding the interaction of calcium, vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 in this link.

Trabecular bone structure preserved in postmenopausal women

148 postmenopausal women were participating for 12 months in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial. All these women had osteopenia. All of them received supplements with calcium and vitamin D3. In addition they received 375 micrograms of vitamin K2 or placebo pills. Examination involved tests for bone mineral density with dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Furthermore a high-resolution CAT scanner determined the microarchitecture of the tibia bone.

After 3 months the uncarboxylated osteocalcin decreased by 65.6% rather than the placebo group of only 6.4% decrease. The trabecular number, spacing and thickness in the tibial bone were unchanged in the vitamin K2 group. In contrast to that there was a clear deterioration of the bone structure in the placebo group.

Summary of trabecular bone study

The bone density studies showed no detectable difference between the groups. The deterioration of the trabecular microstructure in the placebo group was consistent with expected age-related changes. On the other hand, the vitamin K2 group clearly demonstrated preservation of the trabecular bone structure in the tibial bone.

Vitamin K2 helps to eliminate toxic effects of calcium

This 2015 publication from Krakow, Poland explains rather well how vitamin K2 is important to reduce calcium from blood vessels.

At the same time the article points out that vitamin K2 is important for depositing calcium into bones to prevent osteoporosis. The removal of calcium from blood vessels occurs by carboxylation of matrix GLA protein. This functions like a shield to protect blood vessels from calcium entering into the arterial wall. This way the arteries are probably safe from calcification, and hardening of the arteries cannot take place. On the other hand calcium is binding to the bone. As explained above the hormone osteocalcin is responsible for this.Vitamin K2 is the main player in the process of carboxylization. As a result vitamin K2 makes it happen that calcium travels into the bone, where it belongs.

Rotterdam Study: reduced heart attack rates from vitamin K2

4807 subjects from the Rotterdam Study in the Netherlands were part of a study for considerable time (about 10 years) with no sign of any heart attack in the beginning.

The investigators were interested to correlate the effects of various doses of vitamin K1 and K2. How would this impact the frequency of heart disease, hardening of the aorta and all-cause mortality? Researchers adjusted the data for smoking, age, gender, body mass index, diabetes, education, and dietary factors. Next they compared the middle and upper tertile groups of vitamin K1 and K2 to the lower tertile of vitamin K1 and K2.

Results of Rotterdam Study

Most noteworthy, the relative risk for coronary heart disease was lower for the middle and upper tertile of the vitamin K2 group. They found that the middle tertile vitamin K2 intake lowered heart attacks by 27%. It was especially relevant that the upper tertile of vitamin K2 intake lowered heart attack rates by 57%.

In addition, all-cause mortality also showed a reduction for the middle tertile of vitamin K2 by 9% and for the upper tertile by 26%. Finally, severe aortic calcification was 29% less for the middle tertile of vitamin K2 and even 52% less for the upper tertile. Intake of vitamin K1 (=phylloquinone had no impact on any of the outcomes. The investigators concluded that adequate intake of vitamin K2 (=menaquinone) was crucial for anybody’s health. First of all, vitamin K2 lowers heart attack rates, in addition it reduces hardening of the arteries including the aorta and finally, it lowers all-cause mortality.

Vitamin K For Bones And Arteries

Vitamin K For Bones And Arteries

Conclusion

This review shows evidence that vitamin K2 supplementation is important for the prevention of osteoporosis and heart disease. It prevents heart attacks and hardening of arteries, including the aorta. The dosage necessary to achieve this is only 200 micrograms of vitamin K2 per day. However, in Japan higher doses like 375 micrograms per day are the common protocol for prevention of osteoporosis.

Effect of vitamin K2 for bones and arteries

How does vitamin K2 work? In the blood vessels vitamin K2 carboxylates the matrix GLA protein. Essentially this keeps calcium out of the arterial wall and prevents hardening of the arteries. This reduces heart attacks and significantly lowers mortality from heart attacks as well. The second effect of vitamin K2 is on bones. Vitamin K2 prevents osteoporosis to a large extent. It does so by binding calcium to the bone. The hormone osteocalcin, which is carboxylated by vitamin K2 effectively moves calcium from the bloodstream into the bone and keeps it in the bone. If you take vitamin K for bones and arteries, you double the benefit from this simple vitamin. Remember to take 200 micrograms of vitamin K2 daily. The benefits are certainly remarkable!

 

Nov
18
2017

You May Want To Cut Down Coffee Consumption

By | addiction, coffee, heart attack, Mortality, Stroke

Many people drink too much coffee, so you may want to cut down coffee consumption. With all the good news about the health benefits when drinking coffee, some people went too far. They have overdone what was supposed to be good for them. Recently a study came out that tells you how to cut down coffee consumption.

But first I like to review the issue whether to drink caffeinated or decaf coffee. Next I will tell you how you can switch to decaf coffee.

Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have the same health benefits

  1. Recently a large study showed that coffee, caffeinated or not, has a connection with lower overall mortality.
  2. Coffee has long been a subject of heated discussions. Some praise it, and others condemn it. There are multiple past studies; some showed health benefits, some did not. This is why the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. did a larger study. The purpose was to re-examine the health benefits for both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.

Mortality data regarding people who drank decaf coffee or regular coffee

Researchers assessed mortality among 74,890 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS). Another 93,054 women in the NHS 2 study became part of this. And 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study were also part in this large study. The medium follow-up for all of these three groups was 22.5 years. 19,524 women and 12,432 men died during that time period. Ming Ding is a doctoral student at the Harvard School of Public Health department of nutrition. She was the lead author of this study. She pointed out that in the past there were confounding problems. Many studies had shown that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease. But the results in many studies were blurred. Studies often did not distinguish between smokers and non-smokers. This meant that the cardiovascular risk from smoking wiped out a beneficial effect from coffee drinking.

Confounding and other factors

Ding’s studies took this into account and also other confounding factors like how much sugary soda pop people were drinking and whether or not they were eating well. In addition they normalized for other factors that could interfere like drinking alcohol and eating red meat. Without normalizing for the factors mentioned above the study results were as follows. Study participants who had less than a cup of coffee and three cups a day had a 5% to 9% lower risk of dying than those who drank no coffee. Those who drank more than three cups a day did not see any benefit.

Dose response curve for regular and decaf coffee

After eliminating all the confounding factors researchers compared the various groups again, and the following linear dose-response curve emerged:

  • Less than 1 cup of coffee per day: 6% lower death rates than non-coffee drinkers.
  • 1 cup to 3 cups of coffee per day: 8% lower death rates.
  • 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day: 15% lower death rates.
  • More than 5 cups of coffee per day: 12% lower death rates.

Coffee consumption reduces diabetes and heart disease

Ming’s study connected with another research paper that had shown that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and also less heart disease. She found that both, caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, reduced the risk of getting diabetes later in life. When asked about what would be responsible for the reduced death rates with coffee consumption, she explained: “There are at least two known chemicals in coffee, namely lignans and chlorogenic acid that could reduce inflammation and help control blood sugar, both of which could help reduce the risk of heart disease”. You may want to cut down coffee consumption because you know decaf coffee does the same as regular coffee.

Other details about the caffeinated/decaf coffee study

Although there seems to be a linear response up to 5 cups of coffee consumption, above 5 cups this linear relationship disappeared. It was not explained whether there was a saturation point, whether there was yet another hidden confounding factor or whether there were detrimental effects on the adrenal glands with too much caffeinated coffee consumption.

Another finding was that it did not matter whether the coffee was regular (caffeinated) coffee or decaffeinated coffee. The results were identical.

Many other studies did not have the large numbers to show whether or not decaffeinated coffee was as effective in preventing heart disease as regular coffee.

Suicide rates and coffee consumption

There was another peculiar finding: suicides were down by 20% to 36%, if a person drank at least one cup of coffee per day. If a person consumed less than 1 cup of coffee per day the suicide rate was 36% higher than the control group with no coffee consumption. This is a rather peculiar finding, particularly for the consumption of less than 1 cup of coffee. Other studies also showed a decrease in suicide rates with coffee consumption.

Although previous studies had shown a reduction in liver and prostate cancer, after the removal of confounding factors this study did not show any effects on cancer causation or cancer death rates with coffee consumption.

Discussion

The Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA has excelled in high quality nutritional studies for decades. This study is particularly important, because it is so large, giving it more statistical power. Secondly, the observation time of an average of 22.5 years is longer than most coffee studies in the past. Add to this the removal of the “noise” (called confounding factors) that interfered with the objective of the study, and you end up with a very meaningful result.

Clear results after confounding factors were removed

The important findings were that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have the same effect of saving and extending lives. Perhaps you want to drink not more than 5 cups of coffee per day. That lowers your risk of premature death by 15%. It is most likely that it is the effect of lowering the rate of diabetes and heart attack rates that is responsible for the risk reduction. At least this was the opinion of the chief investigator. Cancer rates were not lowered by coffee consumption.

I sleep better when I drink decaffeinated coffee, so for me the notion that decaffeinated coffee and regular coffee have the same effect was important.

Revisit the statement: “you may want to cut down coffee consumption”

Now we know that there is no difference in benefits whether the coffee is caffeinated or not. Those of you who consume 3 to 5 cups of decaf coffee already enjoy a 15% reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease.

Those of you who take the same amount of regular coffee may get into a caffeine dependency problem. Because every time the caffeine stimulation wears off, you yearn for yet another cup of coffee. You need your fix, and this becomes a dependency problem. You have conditioned your body to that regular dose of caffeine, even though it is the bioflavonoids that are reducing mortality while caffeine is neutral.

My experience of coffee withdrawal

When I came across Ding’s research findings I was glad that now there was clarification about whether decaf coffee was as good as regular coffee. The next step for me was to cut out regular coffee and replace it by decaf coffee. Formerly I had been drinking 5 mugs of coffee daily (translated into 500 mg of caffeine daily). When I decided to quit this habit, I figured I should do it cold turkey from one day to the next. To my surprise this was a much bigger deal than I had thought.

Withdrawal symptoms

I craved the next cup of coffee, and I drank a decaf coffee. It did not help: Still, there was this craving for regular coffee! Yawning, restlessness and tiredness were symptoms that followed me all day long. Then there was irritability, a mild headache and almost flu-like symptoms. Eventually I went to sleep and woke up one hour later feeling a bit more energetic. But two hours later I had to lay down again. I was feeling that bushed. The following few days went better. There was more energy. But I still liked a noonday nap of about 1 hour.

Benefits of getting off regular coffee

This was not like me! Normally I have lots of energy and I don’t need naps. It took me 1-½ weeks to get over my 5-cup a day coffee withdrawal. But it was 100% worth it! Since then my energy is back to normal. I don’t have to chase coffee houses on a trip or ensure there is always a cup of regular coffee available for me at home (work does not apply, because I am retired). If I want I can replace my beloved coffee with another fluid. I love lemon juice sweetened with stevia instead of my decaf coffee. It is liberating that I no longer depend on the caffeine. But I still like the flavor of decaf coffee, and there is something enjoyable about the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee. And so I drink 3 to 4 cups of decaf coffee a day.

How to cut down coffee consumption

Here is a 2016 study from the Johns Hopkins University where 34 patients on 600 mg of caffeine per day received a 1-hour lecture about coffee withdrawal followed by a 6-week diary of their coffee consumption. They were asked to reduce their caffeine consumption down to 50 mg by week 6 of the coffee elimination program. Tests followed with salivary caffeine levels 6, 12 and 26 weeks after coffee cessation. There was also a 1-year follow-up telephone conversation. The results were that there was good compliance. Saliva caffeine levels verified this. The diaries over the first 6 weeks showed that the participants had gradually eliminated caffeine consumption. Perhaps this was a more humane way than my “cold-turkey” approach.

You May Want To Cut Down Coffee Consumption

You May Want To Cut Down Coffee Consumption

Conclusion

Many people are sensitive to too much caffeine consumption in coffee and other caffeinated beverages. But since the Harvard study that I mentioned above there is no need to overdose coffee or tea consumption. Decaf coffee has the same effect on lowering death rates by 15%, as does regular coffee. It pays to avoid caffeine, as you will avoid caffeine dependency. Drink decaf coffee instead!

I also discussed that withdrawal from regular coffee can be done more gently over a 6 week period. I did it from one day to the next and had a 1-½ week long withdrawal reaction. Do it slower or faster, whatever works best for you. The end result will be the same. Then enjoy it that you no longer depend on caffeine!

More info: https://www.askdrray.com/coffee-could-be-a-lifesaver/

Oct
21
2017

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement

By | breast cancer, heart attack, Hormones, Menopause, Mortality, Osteoporosis, Stroke

Recently Medical News Today published an article on bioidentical hormone replacement in the Sept. 19, 2017 edition.

Although it was partially informative, I felt that there was an underlying bias against the use of bioidentical hormone replacement. The article made it sound as if hormone replacement therapy would not be safe. But the opposite is true with bioidentical hormone replacement.

Why are many women afraid of bioidentical hormone replacement?

At the time when there was a lot of confusion about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) the results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) made it even more confusing. After all there was one trial to show once and for all that HRT would be beneficial. The expectation was that HRT prevents osteoporosis, heart attacks and breast cancer. But the results were quite different. Instead the study found a 41% increase in strokes, 29% increase in heart attacks, 26% increase in breast cancer, 22% increase in total cardiovascular disease and a doubling in the risk for blood clots.

Missing information about synthetic hormones

What the authors of the study did not explain was the fact that it was the properties of the synthetic hormones, progestin and Premarin were responsible for the negative effects. Had research insisted to perform the study with bioidentical hormones, the results would have been quite the opposite! With bioidentical hormone replacement we see the prevention of heart attacks and clots; cancer rates are lower than controls, and the prevention of osteoporosis is another benefit. The end result is a reduction in mortality rates. But the horrifying results that are due to the use of synthetic hormones and that the WHI warned about linger on in the minds of many women.

The use of bioidentical hormone replacement

Dr. John Lee pointed out in several of his books that the physician should only replace hormone loss with bioidentical hormones. He also pointed out that physicians should only replace those hormones that are at low levels or missing. This means that the woman should have confirmatory blood tests like FSH, LH, blood estrogen and salivary progesterone. If estrogen and progesterone are missing, the physician usually starts the woman on progesterone cream first. After two months, when laboratory tests show a saturation with progesterone , the addition of estrogen can follow, typically as the Bi-Est cream. This is a mix of estriol and estradiol.

Caution to balance against estrogen dominance

Progesterone is started first to balance against the potential cancer-inducing effect of estradiol. With the addition of progesterone a balance is the result, and estrogen will not cause breast cancer. This is also why Bi-Est is used: it is a mix of estriol and estradiol. Estriol is neutral with regard to causing breast cancer. Estradiol is the main natural estrogen in a woman, so some of it is necessary to make the woman feel normal. This is how the body receptors are functioning. But estradiol alone, when not in balance with progesterone, can cause breast cancer and uterine cancer.

The key is that only women who need bioidentical hormones should receive it. There are some women whose blood tests do not show a lack of estrogen, but only a lack of progesterone. These women should receive replacement with bioidentical progesterone to re-establish the hormone balance between estradiol and progesterone.

Safety of bioidentical hormone replacement products

As I have mentioned before, the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 showed that on Premarin and progestin, two synthetic hormone products women came down with breast cancer, heart attacks, stroke, and thromboembolic events. They were using the synthetic drugs, namely conjugated equine estrogen and medroxyprogesterone acetate. The reason these women had to suffer these side effects was because their physicians insisted in using “pure hormones that a drug company had manufactured”. But these synthetic hormones were not pure hormones; they were adulterated with side chains so that pharmaceutical companies could patent them. These side chains made the synthetic hormones not fit the body’s hormone receptors. And this is the reason why the synthetic hormones created chaos in form of breast cancer, strokes and heart attacks.

Women’s Health Initiative authors whitewashed study results

Instead of admitting their mistakes, the full truth never became public. Instead the authors of the WHI study stated that it would be necessary to limit hormone replacement in menopause to the minimum amount of synthetic hormones to control symptoms, and their use should not exceed more than 5 years. These authors never distinguished between bioidentical hormones that fit the body’s hormone receptors and the synthetic hormones that irritated or blocked the body’s hormone receptors. There are thousands of women in Europe who have been on bioidentical hormones for decades, and they are doing just fine!

Bioidentical hormones in balance have no side effects

The truth is that bioidentical hormones –as long as they are kept in balance-do not have any side effects. Bioidentical hormones are the same that a woman produces in her ovaries before menopause sets in. The production of her bioidentical hormones kept her healthy. But the treating physician needs to carefully watch the balance of the hormones in the woman who is replaced with bioidentical estrogen and progesterone. This means that she needs to get enough progesterone to counterbalance estrogen stimulation. Hormones are constantly changing and if you don’t measure them, you don’t know what you are dealing with.

Dr. Lee said to measure hormone levels

John Lee showed a long time ago that you should measure hormones and identify those women who are truly hormone deficient. These are the ones who need hormone replacement. However, physicians should use only bioidentical hormones to replace what is missing. And they should also replace only as much as necessary to normalize the levels. This is also the level where postmenopausal symptoms disappear. Dr. Lee noted: “A 10-year French study of HRT using a low-dose estradiol patch plus oral progesterone shows no increased risk of breast cancer, strokes or heart attacks”.

How is bioidentical hormone replacement done?

The best method is usually a bioidentical hormone cream application to the forearms or to the chest wall once per day. This avoids the first-pass metabolism where the hormones, if absorbed from a pill in the gut have to pass through the liver. Part of the hormones can get metabolized and some of the hormone effect may disappear. By applying bioidentical Bi-Est cream and progesterone cream to the skin, the hormones get directly absorbed into the blood stream and can do their job without interference. The treating physician can prescribe different amounts of the bioidentical hormones depending on saliva tests or blood tests. 1 or 2 months later repeat blood or saliva tests can follow to verify that the amounts of the replacement hormones and their absorption are adequate for the patient’s need.

What are the side effects of bioidentical hormone replacement?

Normally, when estrogen and progesterone are in balance, there should be no side effect. However, in the beginning of replacement therapy sometimes one of the hormones gets too high. If this happens with estrogen replacement, the woman becomes estrogen-dominant. She would experience symptoms of bloating, fatigue, weight gain, depression, headaches, loss of sex drive. She can also develop uterine fibroids, endometriosis and hypothyroidism. It was Dr. John Lee who first described this (Ref.1). There can also be mood swings, craving for sweets, irritability, and sluggishness in the morning. The key is to cut back on the estrogen dosage; alternatively, if progesterone is low in saliva tests, this hormone may need an increase, which would rebalance estrogen. At the end of fine-tuning of bioidentical hormone replacement the woman will feel normal and have no negative side effects, but the process of fine-tuning may take several months.

Difficulties to measure progesterone levels

Dr. David Zava, PhD gave a talk on breast cancer risks. This was a presentation at the 24th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine (Dec. 9-11, 2016) in Las Vegas that I attended. Dr. Zava, who runs the ZRT laboratory spent some time to explain how to measure progesterone in a physiological way.

Blood (serum) progesterone levels do not adequately reflect what the hormone tissue level is like in a woman’s breasts. On the other hand saliva hormone levels are giving an accurate account of what breast tissue levels are like.

Progesterone blood levels versus progesterone tissues levels

Dr. Zava gave an example of a woman who received an application of 30 mg of topical progesterone. Next, laboratory tests observed hourly progesterone levels in the serum and in the saliva. The serum progesterone levels remained at around 2 ng/ml, while the saliva progesterone levels peaked 3 to 5 hours after the application. It reached 16 ng/ml in saliva, which also represents the breast tissue progesterone level. Dr. Zava said that the important lesson to learn from this is not to trust blood progesterone levels. Too many physicians fall into this trap and order too much progesterone cream based on a misleading blood test. This leads to overdosing progesterone. With salivary progesterone levels you see the physiological tissue levels, with blood tests you don’t. Dr. Zava emphasized that testing blood or urine as progesterone hormone tests will underestimate bio-potency and lead to overdosing the patient.

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement

Conclusion

Bioidentical hormone replacement, properly done, does not cause cancer, does not cause blood clots and prevents heart attacks and strokes. It also prevents osteoporosis and the associated fractures in older women. The key is that the natural hormones fit the body’s own hormone receptors. The reason why menopausal symptoms appear is that natural hormones (estrogen and progesterone) are missing. Physicians treated patients with synthetic hormones during the Women’s Health Initiative. In contrast, hormone replacement for missing hormones in a menopausal woman with bioidentical hormones  has no side effect. Contrary to the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002 there are no breast cancers, no heart attacks and no strokes with bioidentical hormone replacement. What is even better is that these women will live without all the postmenopausal problems, and their life expectancy will be about 10 years longer than without bioidentical hormone replacement.

References

Ref. 1. Dr. John R. Lee: “What your doctor may not tell you about menopause: the breakthrough book on natural hormone balance”. Sept. 2004.

Sep
23
2017

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

By | Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, diet, Drugs, Eye Diseases, heart attack, High Blood Pressure, kidney disease, lifestyle, Mortality, Other neurological conditions, Prevention, Weight loss

 

A 20-year study showed that close diabetes control prolongs life. A study divided 160 people with diabetes into two groups. The one group continued to get standard care. Yet the other group received a multi targeted, aggressive treatment protocol. As a result after 20 years the group with the intensive treatment protocol lived 7.9 years longer than the group with the standard treatment.

Dr. Oluf Pederson was the senior investigator of the physician team that followed the diabetes group. He said that they concentrated on a number of known adverse factors and treated them aggressively. These factors were first of all high blood glucose values and clotting risks, also high blood pressure and high triglycerides and in addition cholesterol values. Behavior modification was the therapeutic method to get people with risk factors to exercise more, adopt a healthy diet and stop smoking. Medication in select cases also played a role.

More details about the study

The intervention of intensive treatment lasted 8 years. After that the patients were still in a follow-up study for 13 years. At the beginning of the study patients were on average 55 years old and were borderline obese.

The investigation team screened for complications of diabetes. This included screening for kidney disease, heart disease and blindness. Dr. Joel Zonszein, the director of the New York Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center said: ”These results are impressive and most patients do not receive the correct treatment, according to national surveys.”

Other studies about diabetes  

Foreign studies

Study from Croatia
  • Another study from Croatia involved 200 patients. It concentrated on patients who did not respond to metformin. Physicians used alternative treatment modalities, and they observed and measured blood sugars and hemoglobin A1C in the following 6 months. The study concluded that those patients who received aggressive treatment of their condition did better than those who did not receive the same vigorous approach.
Study from Japan
  • This Japanese study documented that female patients with type-2 diabetes developed kidney damage earlier than their male counterparts.  Consequently, the investigators pointed out how important it is to treat diabetes aggressively to avoid kidney damage.
Study from Singapore
  • This 2016 study from Singapore analyzed retroactively the impact of diabetes on the long-term survival after coronary bypass grafting (CABG).  5720 consecutive patients had their isolated first CABG surgery between 1982 and 1999. The mean follow-up was 13 years. 34.6% of the patients had diabetes, 51% had high blood pressure and 46.6% had elevated blood lipids. The initial mortality after the CABG surgery was 2.4% in the diabetic group and 1.8% in the non-diabetic group. 20-year survival rates following CABG surgery were 30.9% in diabetics and 49.2% in the non-diabetics, an 18.3% difference. The 20-year freedom from cardiac mortality rates was 56% in diabetics and 68.4% in non-diabetics. Other risk factors that led to cardiac mortality were the following: female gender (1.43-fold risk), diabetes (1.51-fold risk), previous heart attack (1.54-fold risk) and a low left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 35% (2.6-fold risk). The conclusion from this study was that long-term survival in diabetics following CABG surgery was much lower than that of non-diabetic controls. Hence the key to improving long-term survival for diabetics is to treat comorbidities like high blood pressure and elevated lipids aggressively as well as getting blood sugars and hemoglobin A1C values under control.

US studies

  • In this US study 558 youth (age less than 21) between February 2012 to July 2015 received follow-up. Between 40% and 50% of these diabetics needed insulin to improve their diabetes. Unfortunately their diabetes showed poor control, as their high hemoglobin A1C values indicated. Median HbA1C was 6.7%, 8.5%, 9.6%, and 9.7% in those with disease duration less than 1 year, 1-2 years, 2-3 years and less than 4  In other words, the longer the young patients had diabetes, the less seriously they took their treatment. Only 33% treated their high blood pressure and only 11% their elevated blood lipids. Microalbuminuria, an indicator of diabetic kidney disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were present in 5% to 6% of these young diabetic patients. The authors came to the conclusion that there were serious gaps in treating these young diabetics. Further follow-up data of the same group of patients in the coming years will provide further data. In conclusion, the new hemoglobin A1C ranges of 3.8% to 4.9% as the new normal range explains why these youths who do not treat their diabetes properly are at high risk to develop complications from their poorly controlled diabetes.
Heart attacks and erectile dysfunction
  • Heart attacks are more common among patients with uncontrolled diabetes. This US study classified diabetics according to the tightness of their diabetes control. Researchers found examining 606 men and 606 women with diabetes that they could reduce their risk of a heart attack, if they controlled smoking, glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C), systolic blood pressure, and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The control of all these risk factors could contribute to the prevention of heart attacks. 35% of men and 45% of women could prevent having a heart attack. A laxer control still would prevent 36% of heart attacks in men and 38% in women. A very aggressive diabetes control could prevent 51% of heart attacks in men and 61% in women. Most noteworthy: close diabetes control prolongs life.
  • Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a big problem among diabetic men. This study from Seattle shows the investigation of 136, 306 men with erectile dysfunction. 19, 236 of these men had diabetes prior to their ED problem. Over a two-year observation period diabetic men had much worse ED problems. As a result they needed to receive secondary line treatments  like penile suppositories or injectables. Others needed tertiary treatments like penile prostheses. In those whose diabetes control was good, oral agents as first-line therapies were usually sufficient.
More studies about risks and benefits of lifestyle
  • Middle-aged women with diabetes have a 4- to 5-fold higher risk for developing heart attacks while men do not show such a higher risk. It is probably particularly important for women to control diabetes when they are diagnosed with it to reduce the risk of coming down with a heart attack.
  • In 2011 Taylor from Newcastle University showed in a group of diabetes patients that he could cure diabetes permanently with an extremely low calorie diet. The trial was simple: he took overweight or obese patients with diabetes and put them on a starvation diet of 600-700 calories per day for 8 weeks. Consequently 43% of diabetic patients received a permanent cure of their diabetes. More info: http://nethealthbook.com/news/cure-diabetes-permanently/

 

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

Close Diabetes Control Prolongs Life

Conclusion

The new hemoglobin A1C ranges that are desirable are between 3.8% to 4.9%. When diabetics bring their hemoglobin A1C level into this range, they do not get complications from their previously poorly controlled diabetes. Close diabetes control prolongs life. But as can be seen from a brief review of the literature physicians tend to be lax, patients are lax, and diabetes is often not well controlled. This leads to erectile dysfunction in males, to heart attacks and kidney failure in both sexes. Blindness and painful diabetic neuropathy are also common complications of poorly controlled diabetes. Amputations from clogged arteries are also among the complications. “Close diabetes control prolongs life” is the new mantra that everybody with diabetes needs to follow.

Lifestyle changes control diabetes and prolong life

As stated above Dr. Taylor from Great Britain has shown that a brief 600 to 700 calorie diet can cure 43% of diabetic patients permanently. Quit smoking, bring the glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C) into the normal range, control your systolic blood pressure as well as your total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Do all these things, exercise regularly, and your diabetes will be well controlled. Remember: close diabetes control prolongs life!

Sep
02
2017

Resveratrol Effective In Humans

By | Alzheimer’s disease, Anti-aging medicine, Arthritis, Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, diet, heart attack, High Blood Pressure, Inflammation, mitochondria, Mortality, Nutrition, Osteoporosis, Stroke, telomeres

Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant; but is resveratrol effective in humans?

  1. Quack watch says: don’t buy into the hype that resveratrol is effective in humans.
  2. WebMD claims that there would not be enough medical evidence to say that the average person should supplement with resveratrol to receive benefits.

Despite these recommendations the following evidence supports that resveratrol is indeed effective in humans.

Resveratrol effective in humans: high blood pressure patients

First of all, a 2017 study of high blood pressure patients examined resveratrol supplementation with two groups, 46 stage 1 hypertension patients and 51 stage 2 hypertension patients. Stage 1 hypertension had a systolic blood pressure of 140–159 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of 90–99 mmHg. Stage 2 hypertension had a systolic blood pressure of 160–179 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of 100–109 mmHg. Analysts divided both stage 1 and 2 subgroups into two groups, one receiving regular antihypertensive medication, and the other group receiving regular antihypertensive medication plus Evelor. Evelor is a micronized formulation of resveratrol. The trial lasted two years.

Blood pressure lowering effect of resveratrol

The purpose of the trial was to determine the effect of resveratrol.  added to the regular antihypertensive medication (or not) to see whether it had blood pressure lowering effects. The interesting result showed that the resveratrol addition was sufficient to bring the blood pressure down to normal levels with only one antihypertensive drug. The control group without resveratrol needed two or three drugs to get the blood pressure under control. In addition, liver function tests showed that resveratrol normalized negative side effects of the antihypertensive drug on the liver. Both liver enzymes, glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) and gammaglutamyl transferase (Gamma-GT) were normal in the resveratrol group.

Resveratrol effective in humans: diabetes patients

Diabetes patients can get help with resveratrol. Resveratrol, the bioflavonoid from red  wine is a powerful anti-inflammatory. This antioxidant has several other effects, which make it challenging to measure each effect by itself. Another group of investigators managed to simultaneously measure these effects. They found that resveratrol lowered the C-reactive protein by 26% and tumor necrosis factor-alpha by 19.8%. Resveratrol also decreased fasting blood sugar and insulin; in addition it reduced hemoglobin A1C and insulin resistance. The recommended daily dose of resveratrol was 1000 to 5000 mg.

Resveratrol effective in humans: improves bone density

Furthermore, resveratrol improves bone density in men: 66 middle-aged obese men with an average age of 49.3 years and a mean body mass index of 33.7 were recruited for this randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. The purpose was to study whether there would be changes in bone turnover markers (LDH, an enzyme involved in bone turnover), but also whether bone mineral density (BMD) would increase. The researchers gave resveratrol to a high group (1000 mg per day), a low group (150 mg) and the third group received a placebo (fake pills). The end point was an elevation of the bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP). The investigators measured this in the beginning of the study and at 4, 8 and 16 weeks.

Difference between high and low dose resveratrol

The high group of resveratrol had a 16% increase of the BAP throughout the study and a 2.6% in lumbar spine bone density (measured by a trabecular volumetric method). The low resveratrol group showed no bone restoring effect. MJ Ornstrup, MD, the lead investigator said that this was the first time that a clinical team has proven that resveratrol can serve as an anti-osteoporosis drug in humans. She added that resveratrol appears to stimulate bone-forming cells within the body.

Resveratrol effective in humans: anti-aging effects

Finally, the Nurses’ Health Study showed that both a Mediterranean diet and resveratrol can elongate telomeres.

The fact that you can have a longer life with a Mediterranean diet is common knowledge for some time. But now a study has shown that the reason for a longer life is the fact that telomeres get elongated from the Mediterranean diet. Telomeres are the caps at the end of chromosomes, and they get shorter with each cell division. This is the normal aging process.

Important information from the Nurses’ Health Study 

The finding of elongated telomeres comes from the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study that started enrolling subjects in 1976. At that time 121 700 nurses from 11 states enrolled in the study. In 1980 participants filled in diet sheets to determine who was adhering to a Mediterranean diet. The researchers accepted 4676 middle-aged participants in this study. This diet consists of a combination of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, grains and olive oil. They also consumed fish and lean meats. The control group followed a regular diet. Between 1989 and 1990 blood tests were obtained to measure telomere length in white blood cells. It is known that smoking, stress and inflammation shortens telomeres.

Slowed telomere shortening

The lead author Marta Crous-Bou stated that overall healthy eating was responsible for longer telomeres in comparison to the control group. But the strongest association was in women eating a Mediterranean diet in comparison to the controls. For the best diet adherence score there was a 4.5 year longer life expectancy due to slowed telomere shortening.

Resveratrol lengthens telomeres

Longer telomeres associated with the lowest risk to develop chronic diseases and the highest probability of an increase of the life span. I have reviewed the importance of lifestyle factors in this blog where I pointed out that Dr. Chang found a whole host of factors that can elongate telomeres by stimulating telomerase. Research in humans supports the notion that an increase in physical activity elongates telomeres. So did vitamin C, E and vitamin D3 supplementation, resveratrol, a Mediterranean diet and marine omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. In addition higher fiber intake, bioidentical estrogen and progesterone replacement in aging women and testosterone in aging men, as well as relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation are also elongating telomeres.

Aging is due to shortening of telomeres. Elongation of telomeres by resveratrol leads to prolonged life (or anti-aging).

Resveratrol effective in humans: resveratrol and cancer

In addition, this overview shows, it seems that several mechanisms of action give resveratrol the power to be an anticancer agent. Resveratrol is anti-proliferative and has anti-angiogenesis mechanisms. In addition resveratrol stimulates apoptosis, which is programmed cell death. All these actions together help resveratrol to have anticancer properties. Resveratrol is also useful in combination with other cancer treatments, which improves survival figures. As the link above explains, there is a need for more cancer clinical trials with a variety of cancers and larger patient numbers. Many smaller clinical trials have already been very successful showing efficacy of resveratrol as a chemotherapeutic agent.

Resveratrol is anti-inflammatory

Also, in this 2015 publication about malignancies and resveratrol an overview is given about the use of resveratrol and cancer treatment. It summarizes that the development of cancer is a multifactorial process that involves the 3 stages of initiation, promotion and progression. One of the cancer promoting factors is chronic inflammation. Resveratrol has anti-inflammatory qualities. At this point it is not clear how the animal experiments will translate into the human situation. More clinical observations are necessary.

Resveratrol effective in humans: cardiovascular disease

Resveratrol has beneficial effects on preventing hardening of the arteries, diabetes, various cancers and inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease and arthritis. Furthermore,  as this link explains resveratrol also stimulates the antiaging gene SIRT1 by 13-fold. This confirms the anti-aging effect of resveratrol. This 2012 study confirmed that it is resveratrol from red wine that is responsible for the “French paradox” (longer life expectancy despite high saturated fat intake).

Resveratrol effective in humans: polycystic ovarian syndrome 

Similarly, polycystic ovarian syndrome could be significantly healed with resveratrol in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. It involved 30 subjects who completed the trial. Each of the subjects received 1500 mg of resveratrol or placebo daily for 3 months. Measurements showed a decrease of serum total testosterone by 23.1% at the end of 3 months in the experimental group versus the placebo group. There was also a decrease of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate of 22.2%.There was a reduction of the fasting insulin level by 31.8%. At the same time there was an increase of the insulin sensitivity by 66.3%. The authors concluded that resveratrol had significantly reduced ovarian and adrenal gland male hormones (androgens). This may be in part from the drop in insulin levels and the increase of insulin sensitivity.

Resveratrol effective in humans: anti-arteriosclerotic effects in diabetics

Most noteworthy, a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was done on 50 diabetics. Arterial stiffness was determined by the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of resveratrol on the stiffness of arteries in a group of diabetics and compare this to a placebo. Diabetics have premature hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerotic changes). After 12 weeks of taking 100 mg of resveratrol per day there was a significant reduction in arterial stiffness in the experimental group, but not in the placebo group. Blood pressure also decreased by 5 mm mercury (systolic) in the experimental group.

Resveratrol effective in humans: ulcerative colitis patients

Finally, 56 patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis received 500 mg of resveratrol or placebo and were observed for 6 weeks. This was a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled pilot study. The researchers used bowel disease questionnaires to assess the bowel disease activity before and after the treatment. The resveratrol group decreased the disease activity significantly, but it also increased their quality of life. Blood tests showed that this improvement occurred as a result of reducing oxidative stress by resveratrol.

Resveratrol effective in humans: Alzheimer’s disease prevention

Here is a study where 52 Alzheimer’s patients were divided into two groups; one group received 200 mg of resveratrol for a number of weeks, the other group placebo pills. There was a significant improvement in memory tests in the resveratrol group and functional MRI scans showed better functional connectivity in the hippocampi of the subjects. The hippocampus is the seat for short-term memory, which is not functioning normally in Alzheimer’s patients.

Resveratrol Effective In Humans

Resveratrol Effective In Humans

Conclusion

Resveratrol has a long history of showing evidence of improving health. It does so by countering oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which lessens hardening of arteries. This prevents heart attacks and strokes. Resveratrol is also a powerful anti-inflammatory, which helps patients with diabetes, with Crohn’s disease and arthritis. There is even a cancer preventing effect of resveratrol because of anti-proliferative and anti-angiogenesis effects as well as stimulating apoptosis. These combined anticancer properties make resveratrol a chemotherapeutic agent. It is also effective in combination with conventional anticancer drugs.

Resveratrol helps prevent hardening of arteries and cancer

There are enough randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trials in humans to show that resveratrol is effective in preventing and treating several disease conditions. The medical establishment claims that there would not be enough medical evidence to say that the average person should supplement with resveratrol to receive health benefits. After my review outlined above I come to the opposite conclusion. It is quite clear that resveratrol has several important healing properties. It can improve diabetes; prevent hardening of arteries, lower blood pressure, attack osteoporosis and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. I have been taking 500 mg of resveratrol daily for years. It has not harmed me.

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Aug
05
2017

Death From Heartburn Drugs

By | Cardiovascular disease, fractures, Gastrointestinal Disease, heart attack, Mortality, ulcers

A study was recently published showing that death from heartburn drugs can come early, when compared to controls. The study was published in June 2017 in the online British Medical Journal Open. The researchers were located at the Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.

They compared 349, 312 US veterans on proton pump inhibitors (PPI) to an equal amount of veterans on conventional H2 blockers. Over a follow-up period of 5.71 years there was an increased risk of death of 25% when patients took PPI drugs. No matter to what the researchers compared the PPI group to, there were always more deaths in the PPI group versus other control groups.

Causes of death

According to the senior author, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly many deaths were due to kidney disease, dementia, fractures, pneumonia, Clostridium difficile infections and cardiovascular disease. Out of 500 patients who took the PPI drug there was one death within one year. But over the years the deaths increased. Dr. Al-Aly thinks that the PPI drug is interfering in some way with the genetic expression of some genes and suppressing others. These genetic differences may explain the early deaths.

As this was a retrospective study, it can only show an association of PPI drugs with earlier deaths, but this does not prove causation. It would require a prospective random study to prove causation.

Other studies regarding the risk of PPI drugs

An Icelandic study from May 2017 showed that there was a 30% increased risk of fractures in males and females following PPI drugs when observed over 10 years. Opiates had a risk of almost 50%, sedatives a 40% risk of increased fractures. Control groups of NSAIDs, statins and beta-blockers showed no increased fracture risk, nor did histamine H2-antagonists.

Side effects of PPI’s

An article from March 2017 is a critical review of the safety of PPI drugs. It notices that with long-term use there are adverse effects like fractures of the long bones, enteric infections and hypomagnesemia. PPI’s can increase the risk for heart attacks and can cause kidney disease and dementia. One of the problems is that gastroesophageal reflux usually dictates the long term use of anti acid drugs like PPI’s, but the longer patients are taking these drugs, the higher the death rate and side-effect rate. The physician should only use PPI drugs initially and after a few weeks switch to the less potent histamine H2-antagonists (like ranitidine).

Listeriosis as side effect of PPI’s

A Danish study from April 2017 noted an increased risk for listeriosis in patients who were on PPI drugs. Over 5 years there was a 2.81-fold higher risk of developing listeriosis in patients on PPI’s compared to a control group. If patients were on corticosteroids and a PPI the risk was even higher, namely 4.61-fold increase to develop listeriosis. In contrast, using histamine H2-antagonists had a risk of only 1.82-fold of developing listeriosis.

Poor prescribing habits for PPI’s

A Dec. 2016 study from Dublin, Ireland with patients older than 65 examined their PPI drug use. The comparison of data occurred between 1997 and for 2012. The researchers noted that the maximal PPI dose for long-term use was 0.8% of individuals in 1997 and 23.6% in 2012. The risk of prescribing high dose PPI drugs in 2012 was 6.3-fold in comparison to the risk in 1997. Examination of the health records showed that the indication for prescribing PPI drugs had no correlation with significant gastrointestinal bleeding risk factors. The study concluded that there was definitely room for improving prescribing habits.

Triple therapy

This January 2016 paper describes the standard treatment of H. pylori and gastric and duodenal ulcer treatment, which involves the triple therapy consisting of a PPI and two antibiotics. It pointed out that this treatment protocol “improves healing and prevents complications and recurrences”.

PPI’s causing risk for fractures

A paper from Leipzig, Germany dated July 2016 reviews the usage of PPIs. It mentions that there has been a significant increase of prescriptions in the past 25 years. Patients on PPI’ are at a greater risk for fractures. There is also a risk of low B12 levels from malabsorption of B12. The physician should check this from time to time, and if necessary give B12 injections.

Clostridium difficile infections

A Canadian study from May 2015 found that Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) were linked to chronic antibiotic use or to prolonged use of high doses of PPI drugs. There was a 1.5-fold risk of recurrent CDI in patients older than 75 years who were taking PPI drugs continuously. There was a 1.3-fold recurrence of CDI after antibiotic re-exposure.

Alternative remedies for heartburn

  • Dr. Weil recommends the use of deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) for heartburn or early ulcers.
  • Here is a clinical study with 56 patients with duodenal and gastric ulcers that was published in 1968. Both radiographic evidence as well as clinical findings showed that the ulcers healed and that stomach spasms subsided with DGL treatment. Nobody knew at that time that DGL had antibacterial effects and that often chronic heartburn, stomach and duodenal ulcers can be due to H. pylori infections that are simultaneously present.
  • A December 2016 study showed that probiotics could be a valuable adjunct in triple therapy for H. pylori infection. The study also points out that H. pylori is present in about 50% of the world’s population.

Antibacterial effects of DGL

  • A paper of December of 2012 shows that an important tooth decay bacterium responds to DGL.
  • In a 1989 study 20 patients with aphthous mouth ulcers were followed. DGL mouthwash led to a 50 to 75% improvement in 15 patients within one day of treatment and by the 3rd day there was complete resolution.
  • Here is a suggestion of a four-step approach against H. pylori.
  • DGL has been shown to be useful in gut regeneration in patients with Clostridium difficile infection.

Discussion

I started with a review of a recent paper that pointed out the side effects of PPI drugs. PPI’s are common medications for acid reflux disease, stomach and duodenal ulcers, either alone or as part of the triple therapy. Chronic infection of H. pylori is often the cause of these problems. I reviewed the literature surrounding deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL), a natural antacid remedy. It turns out that DGL can be quite useful either as a parallel treatment or instead of the triple therapy.

The problem over the past 25 years is that physicians have been treating acid problems with higher and higher doses of PPI’s. They are also using ASA prophylaxis against heart attacks and strokes more often. This has caused gastric erosions that are bleeding, which in turn caused physicians to prescribe more PPI’s. The side effects of PPI’s belongs to the iatrogenic (doctor- induced) diseases. This is an artificial disease that occurs from the side effects of overprescribed medicine. PPI’s are a very useful short-term anti-acid medication. However, do not use this medication for more than 4 to 8 weeks. But as patients receive years and years of this medication, serious problems like heart attacks, fractures, kidney disease, dementia, and pneumonia as well as Clostridium difficile infections become the consequence. Overall there was an increase of the death rate of 25%.

It sounds quite reasonable that doctors should return to a more conservative approach as the FDA has suggested. This includes alternative natural methods including DGL and probiotics.

Death From Heartburn Drugs

Death From Heartburn Drugs

Conclusion

A recent study from the online British Medical Journal Open has pointed out a high death rate among long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug users. The se drugs are used to suppress acid formation in the stomach. They are helpful, if there are significant gastrointestinal bleeding risk factors present. But prolonged use of PPIs causes severe side effects as described, including a chronic persistent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) of the gut that can become resistant to antibiotic therapy. In cases of recurrent CDI one important step is to discontinue PPIs. The physician should consider switching to one of the conventional histamine H2-antagonist drugs (like ranitidine). Overusing PPIs in an older population is not responsible, as this leads to disease that is caused by a physician! There is no need for this to happen.

Avoiding toxic drug levels of PPI’s

The prescribing physician has to exercise caution and restraint and the patients, and their loved ones need to be aware of multidrug interactions. PPIs belong to the drugs that are eliminated in the liver through the cytochrome P450 enzyme system (CYP2C19). But this enzyme system interfering with the drug elimination process may also eliminate other drugs taken by the patient. The end results can be toxic drug levels of PPIs. It can potentiate the side effects and become responsible for the 25% increased risk of death when the patient takes PPI drugs chronically. Even though PPIs are the newer medication, newer does not always mean better.

Jul
29
2017

Some Drink Milk, Others Are Lactose Intolerant

By | Abdominal Pain, autoimmune disease, breast cancer, diet, exercise, heart attack, Hormones, milk

Some drink milk, others are lactose intolerant; this is the fact about drinking milk.

For a long time the dairy marketing board advertised with the slogan: “Got milk?”. But dairy milk consumption has declined over the past decades.

Why this is has been reviewed in this article. I like to review the problem of lactose intolerance, milk as a source of calcium to prevent osteoporosis and offer alternatives to milk consumption.

Lactose intolerance

Milk cows have been around in Europe for about 6000 years. But not everybody can tolerate milk products. Most of the Europeans, North Americans and Australians have adjusted the digestive enzymes in their duodenum to produce enzymes, called lactase that digest milk sugar (lactose) into glucose and galactose. But up to 75% of the world population (Africa, South America, Asia) is lactase deficient; they cannot tolerate dairy products. They get abdominal cramping, intestinal gas, bloating, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting from drinking a glass of dairy milk. This link explains why goat milk is better than cow’s milk for those who cannot tolerate cow’s milk.

It is also interesting that many people who are lactase deficient can tolerate cheeses, yogurt and other fermented milk products as the fermenting bacteria have digested the lactose.

Other problems with dairy products

Problems with mass production of dairy items are the following:

  • Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) are responsible for the majority of milk products on grocery market shelves. This means that the animals are fed unnatural corn, which leads to deficiencies and omega-6 fatty acids in the milk products.
  • Herds of animals receive antibiotics to prevent infections.
  • Farmers are administering bovine growth hormone (bST, bovine somatotropin) to stimulate more milk production. The antibiotics lead to superbugs in humans, the bST may be causing autoimmune diseases and breast cancer in humans. The healthiest milk is milk from grass-fed cows. It is high in omega-3 fatty acids. All of the milk products derived from this type of milk are also healthy.

Milk as a source of calcium

One key advertising slogan of the dairy industry used to be that milk would be such a good source of calcium, which would prevent osteoporosis. But milk also has a lot of animal protein in it, which acidifies blood. This means that the kidneys use calcium to neutralize acidic blood and excrete calcium. The net result is that there is more calcium leaving the body. Some of the calcium from the bone serves to keep the balance between acidity and alkalinity neutral.

This 12 year long Harvard Nurses’ Health Study involving 77, 761 women between the ages of 34 to 59 showed that a higher consumption of milk did not protect against hip and wrist fractures.

The myth that full fat milk causes heart attacks and strokes

There is another myth floating around, namely that full fat milk would be bad for the heart because of increased saturated fatty acids. But an Australian study showed that full fat milk is healthier for you than milk with less fat.

After 14.4 years of follow-up the group that consumed the most milk compared to the lowest fat intake group had a 69% lower death rate from cardiovascular disease!

A 2016 study showed that consumption of plain yogurt was associated with better health outcomes on the long term. Be more concerned about the sugar content than the fat content of yogurt!

Prevention of osteoporosis

For years numerous sources have indoctrinated us to accept a false concept. It is the concept of increasing milk consumption (“Got milk?”) for increased calcium intake and possible osteoporosis prevention. The sales mantra went like this: Milk-calcium-osteoporosis prevention. Now we know the real truth. Milk provides protein and calcium.  But  absorption of calcium is poor and the acidified blood is alkalinized through calcium from milk and from the bone leaking calcium into the blood and into the urine. The end result is a net loss of calcium from the bone, as it is more important to the body to keep the blood’s acid/base stable than to increase the calcium level in the bone. Sadly all the high consumers of milk from the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study ended up having fractures from osteoporotic bones.

Prevention of osteoporosis requires intake of vitamin D3, vitamin K2 and calcium (supplement or diet) as I have reviewed in this blog. In addition regular exercise is also very beneficial as is bioidentical sex-hormone replacement. It is interesting that a large clinical trial that I mentioned in this blog showed after 7 years that there were 35% to 38% less fractures of the hip than in the placebo group. Vitamin K2 is essential to keep calcium in the bones and to keep calcium out of the blood vessel walls. Vitamin D3 is important for calcium absorption through the gut wall and to deposit calcium into bone. Without all of these ingredients it is not possible to prevent osteoporosis.

Alternatives to cow’s milk consumption

  1. One obvious step is to replace cow’s milk by goat milk. As you can see from this link, there are many advantages to goat milk. What I find important is the fact that those with lactase deficiency often can tolerate goat milk while they would otherwise react to cow’s milk. There are also many goat milk products like cheese and yogurt, all of which are very healthy. They do not contain any antibiotics or bovine growth hormone (bST), the use of which is confined to cows. Goat milk products are also an excellent source of protein.
  2. You can eat a more vegetable-based diet. A lot of vegetables and fruit have calcium and protein in them.
  3. You can consume almond milk instead of cow’s milk. The downside to know is the fact that almond milk is not a significant source of protein. It has the advantage of being slightly alkaline; this will ensure that the calcium absorbed in the gut will reach the bones as long as you also supplement with vitamin D3 and vitamin K2. The many “fake milk” products such as rice milk, coconut milk and hemp milk are also poor protein sources. The only product higher in protein is soymilk. But soy has its own problems: over 90 % of the crop in North America is genetically engineered, and soy is a known allergen. As of recent, another product based on pea protein is available, and the protein content is excellent, so it is worth looking for it (It is called “Ripple”).
Some Drink Milk, Others Are Lactose Intolerant

Some Drink Milk, Others Are Lactose Intolerant

Conclusion

Drinking milk as a source of protein and calcium has become an obsession a few decades back. In the meantime it turned out that drinking milk tips the acid-base balance in the direction of acidity. This causes osteoporosis, as the kidneys excrete all of the calcium from milk that is absorbed. On top of that even more calcium is taken out from bones to recalibrate the acid-base balance.

Up to 75% of the world population is lactose intolerant. They get sick from drinking cow’s milk. But they usually tolerate goat milk quite well. Considering the fact that antibiotics are used in cow milk production and recombinant bovine growth hormone as well, I have joined the crowd that prefers goat milk instead of cow’s milk. I take the supplements I mentioned for bone maintenance (vitamin D3 and K2) and I get lots of calcium also from vegetables and salads. I have no lactose intolerance, but that’s my take on milk.

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Jul
01
2017

Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs)

By | AGEs, Alzheimer’s disease, Anti-aging medicine, Cancer, Diabetes, heart attack, Inflammation, mitochondria, Nutrition, Stroke

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) form through cooking food at high temperatures. Sugar molecules react with proteins crosslinking them and changing how they function. It prevents proteins from doing their job. Glycation also causes inflammation, which damages mitochondria, the power packages inside cells that provide the body with energy. Overall AGEs lead to premature aging, which comes from the toxic protein reactions. Advanced glycation end products accumulate as glycated proteins in the tissues of the body. This leads to mitochondrial dysfunction.

Effect of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on the body

The toxic effects of AGEs frequently occur in the following tissues.

  • The accumulation of AGEs can cause kidney disease and kidney failure (renal failure). In this case the kidneys no longer filter the blood to excrete waste. Hemodialysis may be necessary.
  • AGEs damager joint cartilage, so it can no longer handle stress and joint stiffness sets in. AGEs are now recognized as a major cause of osteoarthritis.
  • Cross-linked proteins from AGEs can cause Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Damaged proteins accumulate in brain cells that disable and kill them eventually.
  • Glycation of LDL particles is an important cause of increasing the plaque formation in arteries by LDL. Glycated LDL is much more susceptible to oxidation than regular LDL. Oxidized LDL causes damage to the lining of the arteries and destroys endothelial nitric oxide synthase. This is a critical enzyme that maintains vasodilatation and blood flow. When glycation of LDL has set in, LDL receptors can no longer recognize it. This means that glycated LDL continues to circulate in the bloodstream where it contributes to the atherosclerotic process. It forms a plaque which becomes a reason for heart attacks and strokes. Glycation of LDL is particularly common in patients with diabetes.
  • Glycation of the skin sensitizes the skin to UV light damage. It triggers oxidative stress that increases the risk of skin cancer.
  • Glycation damages our eyes. It causes clouding of the lens (cataracts) and it damages the retina. Macular degeneration can ultimately cause blindness.
  • When glycation affects the discs in the spinal cord, this can cause disc protrusions and disc herniations. Injuries to the nearby spinal nerves can happen causing limping and leg or arm weakness.

Nutrients to counter AGEs

There are nutrients that can slow down the rate of glycation and as a result will halt the aging process.

Benfotiamine

Benfotiamine is a fat-soluble form of the water-soluble vitamin B1 (thiamine). It can reverse glycation in cell cultures and in humans.

As a result the damage to the cells that are lining arteries is reduced. Benfotiamine also counters diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy.

Pyridoxal 5’-phosphate

Pyridoxal 5’-phosphate is a metabolite of vitamin B6. It is similar to benfotiamine in that it counters glycation and dissolves deposited AGEs. It is particularly useful to stop fat and protein glycation. In diabetic patients lipid glycation is often a problem as these authors have shown. Pyridoxal 5’-phosphate traps glucose breakdown products before they become part of glycation reactions.

Carnosine

Carnosine is a dipeptide, made up of the amino acids histidine and beta-alanine. It is found in higher concentration in muscle and brain tissue. Carnosine scavenges for free radicals and prevents AGE formation. This prevents both lipid glycation and protein glycation. This publication states that carnosine can play a role in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. Carnosine prevents protein crosslinking. The result is that tangled protein clumps cannot accumulate and cause Alzheimer’s disease.

Carnosine also reduces blood lipid levels and stabilizes atherosclerotic plaques. This reduces the risk of plaque rupture, which can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Carnosine also has a mitochondria stabilizing function resisting the destructive effects of oxidative stresses.

Luteolin

Many plants contain luteolin, which is a bioflavonoid. It has anti-inflammatory effects and works by suppressing the master inflammatory complex, called NF-kB.  NF-kB triggers the production of multiple cytokines and is the cause of many cancers, chronic diseases, autoimmune diseases and septic shock. Kotanidou et al. did an experiment where they injected mice with Salmonella enteritis toxin, either with or without luteolin protection. Without luteolin only 4.1% of the mice survived on day 7. With luteolin protection 48% were alive on day 7.

Luteolin has been shown to be effective as an anti-inflammatory in the brain, the blood vessel lining, intestines, skin, lungs, bone and gums.

All these four supplements are available in the health food store. They work together and would be recommendable in diabetic patients where glycation is most prominent. But these supplements are also useful for older people who want to slow down the aging process in general.

Nutrients to slow down mitochondrial aging

Glycation causes mitochondrial deterioration and dysfunction. It accelerates aging in every aspect. AGEs (advanced glycation end products) crosslink proteins, lipids, but also damage enzymes and DNA. Glycation causes a slow down of mitochondrial energy production. The end result is a lack of energy and slower repair processes, which all depend on mitochondrial energy production. The following supplements have shown some merit in reversing this process.

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)

PPQ is a supplement that is known to produce new mitochondria in cells. This helps the energy metabolism of aging cells to recover.

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that occurs abundantly in heart and skeletal muscles cells, brain cells and cells of the retina. These are areas in the body with high metabolic rates that can burn out mitochondria. Taurine regulates enzymes in mitochondria that harvest energy from food substances. In patients who experience accelerated aging, a lack of taurine can produce an energy crisis. But supplementation with taurine can rescue the cells by reducing oxidative stress and restoring the function of mitochondria in cells that are aging. Brain cells were putting out new shoots, called neurites when taurine was given as a supplement. This helps to improve brain connection, and preserves memory and cognition.

R-lipoic acid

R-lipoic acid helps to extract energy from foods and support mitochondrial function. When R-lipoic acid is given to aging animals, their metabolic function improves, the mitochondria become healthier and there are less oxidative stress-inducing byproducts. It protects their liver, heart and brain cells from oxidative stress in their mitochondria. It is becoming known as an energy-giving supplement.

Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs)

Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs)

Conclusion

Sugar overconsumption and overcooking food cause advanced glycation end products (AGEs) through lipid and proteins cross-linking. This leads to premature loss of organ function. The mitochondria are also slowed down. This creates premature aging. Fortunately there are a few supplements like benfotiamine, pyridoxal 5’-phosphate, carnosine and luteolin. They protect against glycation. Mitochondria can also be protected by PPQ, taurine and R-lipoic acid. Although we cannot stop the aging process, avoiding sugar and stopping to consume overcooked food, such as barbecued meats and deep fried food is a sensible step in prevention. Aging can slow down significantly with this approach and some supplements.

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