Turning back time: ageing reversed in mice

Aging…No longer inevitable, for mice (Image: Design Pics Inc/Rex)

New Scientist: Imagine if we could turn back time. A team that has identified a new way in which cells age has also reversed the process in old mice whose bodies appear younger in several ways. The discovery has implications for understanding age-related diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and diabetes.

One way all mammalian cells produce energy is via aerobic respiration, in which large molecules are broken down into smaller ones, releasing energy in the process. This mainly occurs in the mitochondria – the "powerhouses" of cells. Mitochondria carry their own genomes, but some of the cellular components needed for respiration are produced partly by the nucleus, so the two must coordinate their activities.

As we age, mitochondrial function declines, which can lead to conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. To investigate why this decline occurs, Ana Gomes at Harvard Medical School and her colleagues compared the levels of messenger RNA (mRNA) – molecules that convey genetic information around a cell – for the cellular components needed for respiration in the skeletal muscle of 6 and 22-month-old mice.

They found that the level of the mRNA in the nucleus did not change much between the young and old mice, whereas those from the mitochondria appeared to decline with age.

Similar changes were seen in mice that lacked a protein called SIRT1 – high levels of which are associated with calorie restriction and an increased lifespan. These mice also had higher levels of a protein produced by the nucleus called hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α).

What was going on? It appears that communication between the nucleus and the mitochondria depends on a cascade of events involving HIF-1α and SIRT1. As long as SIRT1 levels remain high and the two genomes communicate well, ageing is kept at bay. But another molecule called NAD+ keeps SIRT1 on the job; crucially, the amount of NAD+ present in the cell declines with age, though no one knows why, leading to a breakdown in communication.

Turning back time

The team wondered if this aspect of ageing could be reversed by increasing the amount of SIRT1 in the cells. To find out if that was possible, they injected 22-month-old mice twice daily for a week with nicotinamide mono nucleotide (NMN) – a molecule known to increase levels of NAD.

At the end of the week, markers of muscular atrophy and inflammation had dropped and the mice had even developed a different muscle type more common in younger mice. Together, these features were characteristic of 6-month-old mice.

"We found that modulating this pathway can improve mitochondrial function and age-associated pathologies in old mice, and therefore it gives a new pathway to target that can reverse some aspects of ageing," says Gomes.

"This paper clearly demonstrates that NAD+ production is a sort of 'Achilles' heel', [a lack of which] significantly contributes to ageing, and also that this problem can be ameliorated by boosting NAD+ production with key intermediates, such as NMN," says Shin-Ichiro Imai, at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri.

Journal reference: Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.037

Made These Seniors' Brains an Average of 11 Years Younger in Only 40 Hours

Story at-a-glance

• Research into brain plasticity has proven that your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity, which means that cognitive function can be improved, regardless of your age, and cognitive decline can be reversed
• A key factor or ingredient necessary for improving brain function or reversing functional decline is the seriousness of purpose with which you engage in a task. In other words, the task must be important to you, or somehow meaningful or interesting
• There are computer-based brain fitness programs designed to help improve cognitive function in six different areas in about 40 hours, and can be used by any age group
• To optimize your brain fitness, the following lifestyle factors can help: daily physical exercise, focusing on your body movements and your environment, engaging in new learning throughout your life, staying socially active, and practicing “mindfulness”

How Innate ‘Plasticity’ of Your Brain Allows You to Improve Cognitive Performance and Prevent Age-Related Decline

Video: Dr. Mercola and Dr. Merzenich on Innate Brain Plasticity

Dr. Mercola:

It was once thought that any brain function lost was irretrievable. Today, research into what's referred to as "brain plasticity" has proven that this is not the case. On the contrary, your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity.

Aside from toxicity, our modern lifestyle plays a part in cognitive decline, as described by Dr. Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus at the University of California, who has pioneered research in brain plasticity for more than 30 years.

He founded Scientific Learning Corporation in Oakland, California, and Posit Science in San Francisco; both specialize in science research into brain training software.

Dr. Merzenich's career arose from an interest in philosophy, and a fascination with the nature and origin of the human persona and individuality, and how brain processes might account for the evolution of our individual abilities. He believed that in those who have learning disabilities or develop psychiatric illnesses, the natural progressions of these brain processes must have encountered errors.

Use It or Lose It — the Principles of Brain Plasticity

The inherent plasticity of the brain was discovered some 30 years ago, and not long thereafter, animal models demonstrated that brain deterioration and aging were in fact reversible, provided the appropriate brain engagement. Dr. Merzenich describes brain plasticity as follows:

"The basic concept is simple. The brain changes physically, functionally, and chemically, as you acquire any ability or skill. You know this instinctively. Something must be changing as your abilities improve, or as new abilities emerge. You are actually remodeling your brain machinery by 'practicing' the skill; those physical changes account for your learning.

Actually what the brain is doing is changing its local wiring, changing the details of how the machinery controlling your behavior is connected. It's also changing itself in other physical, chemical, and functional ways. Collectively, those changes account for the improvement or acquisition of any human ability.

You probably haven't realizd it, but as you acquire an ability – for example, the ability to read – you have actually created a system in the brain that does not exist, that's not in place, in the non-reader. It [the ability; the brain system that controls the ability] actually evolves in you as it has been acquired through experience or learning."

As Dr. Merzenich explains, your brain is designed and constructed to be stimulated and challenged, and to carefully examine, resolve and interpret your environment. During the early days of mankind's development, keeping track of the details of immediate human environments was imperative for survival.

Today, however, we tend to try to remove ourselves from the details of life. For example, instead of keeping track of appointments and to-do lists in our head, we use electronic gadgets with reminder features. Our streets are paved and lit, requiring virtually no attention to navigate from one location to another. And if you don't sufficiently challenge your brain with new, surprising information, it eventually begins to deteriorate.

"Generally, by the third or fourth decade in life, you're in decline," Dr. Merzenich says. "One of the things that happens across this period is that you go from a period of the acquisition of abilities to largely using abilities that have been acquired earlier in life. By that I mean to say, most of the fundamental skills that you apply in your profession or in your everyday life are things you have mastered at a young age, and you're now doing them in 'automatic pilot' mode.

To a large extent, you're operating most of your day without really being consciously engaged in the things you're doing. You're substantially disengaged: 'sleepwalking through life.'

This inattention to detail is substantially a product of modern culture. Modern culture is all about minimizing environmental challenges and surprises... about enabling brainless stereotypy in our basic actions so that our brains can be engaged at more abstract levels of operations. We're no longer interested in the details of things in our world. Because our brains are highly dependent in their functional operations in recording information in detail, they slowly deteriorate. Without that recorded detail, memory and brain speed are compromised."

Contributing Factors to Cognitive Decline, and How to Counteract it

With age, brain researchers have found that there's an increase in "chatter" in your brain. Dr. Merzenich explains:

"Your brain becomes less precise in how it's resolving information as you're operating and listening in language, as you're operating in vision, or as you're operating in controlling your actions. We actually record these 'noisier' processes within the brain as you age. In fact, we can correlate the growing 'chatter' quite directly with the slowing down of your processing.

You know, every older person is slower in their actions, slower in their decisions, and less fluent in their operations than when they're younger. They're slower because the brain basically is dealing with information that is represented in its machinery in a fuzzier, more degraded form."

What research into brain plasticity shows us is that by providing your brain with appropriate stimulation, you can counteract this degeneration. A key factor or ingredient necessary for improving brain function or reversing functional decline is the seriousness of purpose with which you engage in a task. In other words, the task must be important to you, or somehow meaningful or interesting — it must hold your attention. Rote memorization of nonsensical or unimportant items or even heavy work at non-challenging tasks will not stimulate your brain to create new connections or neurons.

Dr. Merzenich has been instrumental in the development of a kind of "brain gym" environment — a computer-based brain training program that can help you sharpen a range of skills, from reading and comprehension to improved memorization and more. The program is called Brain HQ.¹

"There are some very useful exercises at www.BrainHQ.com that are free, and using them can give a person a better understanding of how exercising your brain can drive it in a rejuvenating direction. Using exercises at BrainHQ, most people, of any age, can drive sharp improvements in brain speed and accuracy, and thereby rewire the brain so that it again represents information in detail," he says.

"Basically, what you're doing is reducing the chatter -- the 'noisiness' -- of the processes in your brain. That impacts your capacity, for example, to record and remember that information. When the information the brain is shipping around in its machinery is in a degraded form, when it's fuzzy, when it's imprecise, all of the uses that it makes of it are also degraded. When you rejuvenate those elementary abilities, you significantly recover your 'higher' brain powers."

Who Can Benefit from a "Brain Gym"?

Everybody's brain is plastic, including yours, so no matter what your age or current level of brain function, your brain can improve to some degree or another. Dr. Merzenich and his colleagues have specialized in training children, primarily those with learning disabilities or impairments, using similar approaches. More than 4 million struggling kids have been trained so far. But seniors and adults of all ages are also using these programs at BrainHQ.com in increasing numbers. Individuals in all age groups have been found to reap significant rewards.

Children operating in the 10th to 20th percentile of academic performance are commonly able to improve their scores to the middle or average level with 20-30 hours of intensive computer-based training.

"That's a big difference for the child," he says. "It carries most children who are near the bottom of the class, on the average, to be somewhere in the middle or above average in the class. And that gives struggling children a chance to really succeed and in many cases excel in school."

Careful controlled studies in seniors have also been reported in scientific journals. After 40 hours of computer-based training, the average improvement in cognitive performance across the board was 14 years. On average, if you were 70 years old when you underwent the training after 40 hours of brain training, your cognitive abilities operated like that of a 56-year old. Equally strong or even greater effects were seen in 40 to 50 year olds using the program. Individuals who worked on the BrainHQ exercises at home did just as well as those who completed training in a clinic or research center.

How to Implement a Brain Training Program

So, how does such a training program work, and what's the optimal way to implement it in order to maximize the benefits?

"One of the great advantages that we have is that there's a very large body of scientific information that informs us about the optimum brain training approach," Dr. Merzenich says. "It comes from understanding, on a scientific level, the basis of what controls brain change. We know how the machine operates to control its own remodeling. We know that you have to be engaged attentively, and in a sense that the more attentively focused you are on the training tasks, the greater the positive benefits of training.

We know that rewards have to occur, or information or feedback about how you're doing have to occur, in a specific and timely way to drive the optimum changes in the brain. The way difficulties change in the task are also crucial for driving changes with highest proficiency.

One simple thing we do is to [continually] adjust the difficulty level of the task, so that every trainee is at a level in which they get most things correct but they're still capable of error. Because only when you're in this demanding situation, only when it matters to the brain, does the machinery turn on to change the brain. We actually regulate this, and as the person progresses session by session, day by day, they notch up their performance to higher and higher and higher and higher and higher levels."

Ideally, it would be wise to invest at least 20 minutes a day. But no more than five to seven minutes is to be spent on a specific task. When you spend longer amounts of time on a task, the benefits weaken. According to Dr. Merzenich, the primary benefits occur in the first five or six minutes of the task.

You can typically improve yourself to the highest practical or possible level in anywhere between five to a dozen brief sessions of seven or eight minutes each. Again, having a sense of purpose is crucial.

"When it matters to you, you are going to drive changes in your brain," he explains. "That's something always to keep in mind. If what you're doing seems senseless, meaningless, if it does not matter to you, then you're gaining less from it."

Dr. Merzenich developed a website, Brain HQ.com, to help take advantage of the brain's ability to repair.The Brain HQ website has many different exercises designed to improve brain function and it also allows you to track and monitor your progress over time. While there are many similar sites on the web, Brain HQ is one of the oldest and most widely used, and its programs are supported by dozens of published science studies and the most complete confirmation of behavioral benefits and brain rejuvenation.

How Your Daily Lifestyle Can Improve Your Brain Function

Aside from engaging in a computer-based brain exercise program, Dr. Merzenich lists several things you can do on a daily basis, as part of your day-to-day lifestyle, to help maintain optimal brain fitness:

• Get 15-30 minutes of physical exercise each day, and when exercising, think about using your brain to control your actions. That means, skip the iPod and instead take in the details of your environment.

  "Reconstruct the environment you're walking through in your mind. Basically, we are constructed to take in the details of our physical environments, and to interpret and reconstruct them. That's a critical form of exercise for us basically to refine our navigational skills and abilities in this sense – to basically look at the landmarks, to look at the details, to record them in detail," he says.

  Secondly, look for and take note of surprises in your environment. "If you walk across the landscape and are paying attention, you cannot take a walk for 15, 20, or 30 minutes without being surprised or delighted many times," he says. "And the brain loves surprises, because surprises mean that they must be engaged to interpret what they mean."

  Lastly, pay attention to your physical body. "You should feel yourself again. When's the last time you actually thought about the feelings of your body in motion?"

• Spend about five minutes every day working on the refinement of a specific, small domain of your physical body. Dr. Merzenich explains:

  "That is to say, move in a very variable and controlled way – variable in speed, variable to reach a target, for example, with your big toe or your little finger or the small of your back or the motion of your jaw. Pick a specific refinement target to work on, every day. I do that in a systematic way, because I'm trying to maintain the fidelity of the neurological control movement. I know that I'm very much thinking about the feeling in my movements as I do that."

• Find ways to engage yourself in new learning as a continuous aspect of your life, such as taking on new hobbies or learning new skills.
• Stay socially engaged.
• Practice "mindfulness," in which you're attentively focusing on the world around you again, as if you're seeing it for the first time.

  "Look at the wonder in the flower. Look with curiosity again at the movements of the lizard. Engage in the details of the world and in life. Associate what you hear with what you feel on your skin," he suggests. "It's incredibly important that you engage the brain and all of its details of how it's drinking in information, because this again relates to the fidelity with which it will represent it for all of its operations."

Nutrition and Brain Health

Another factor that cannot be overlooked is your diet. Foods have an immense impact on your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan will best support your mental and physical health. Just like exercise, avoiding sugar (particularly fructose) and grains will help normalize your insulin levels.

This is an important aspect, as sugar causes chronic inflammation that disrupts your body's normal immune function and can wreak havoc on your brain. But sugar also suppresses BDNF, which is important for proper memory function, and appears to play a significant role in depression as well. At least we know that BDNF levels tend to be critically low in people with depression, and some animal models have suggested low BDNF levels may actually be causative.

The medical literature is also showing that coconut oil can be of particular benefit for brain health, and anecdotal evidence suggests it could be very beneficial in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Ketone bodies have been found to feed your brain and prevent brain atrophy. It may even restore and renew neuron and nerve function in your brain after damage has set in. Ketones are what your body produces when it converts fat (as opposed to glucose) into energy, and a primary source of ketone bodies are the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) found in coconut oil. Other dietary recommendations to preserve and improve your brain health include the following:

1. Optimize your vitamin D levels through safe sun exposure, a safe tanning bed and/or vitamin D3 supplements.
2. Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat. I recommend consuming high quality krill oil to meet the optimal amount of omega-3 fats needed to achieve good health and fight cognitive decline.
3. Avoid processed foods and sugars, especially fructose – Excessive sugar and grain consumption are the driving factors behind insulin resistance, and the strategies that protect your brain are very similar to those for avoiding diabetes. There is simply no question that insulin resistance is one of the most pervasive influences on brain damage, as it contributes massively to inflammation, which will prematurely degenerate your brain.

   Ideally, you'll want to restrict your total fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day. This includes refraining from eating too many fruits, if you normally eat a lot of them. If you consume more than 25 grams a day of fructose you can damage your cells by creating insulin and leptin resistance and raising your uric acid levels.

4. Avoid grains – Even whole, organic grains will convert to sugar in your body and spike your insulin levels.
5. Avoid artificial sweeteners – Aspartame, for example, is an excitotoxin that can literally destroy your brain cells. There are many studies showing the dangers of aspartame. For example, one study published in 2000 found that aspartame shortens the memory response, impairs memory retention and damages hypothalamic neurons in mice.
6. Avoid soy – Unfermented soy products are another common food that should be avoided if you want to maintain healthy brain function.

   One well-designed epidemiological study linked tofu consumption with exaggerated brain aging. Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age. What's more, higher midlife tofu consumption was also associated with low brain weight. Shrinkage does occur naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu showed an exaggeration of the usual patterns you typically see in aging.

   Dr. Kaayla Daniel has written an excellent book, The Whole Soy Story, which covers the health dangers of soy in great depth and I highly recommend it to anyone still under the illusion that soy is a health food.

Technorati Tags: seniors,anti-aging,brain function,brain skills,brain plasticity,soy,aspartame,exercise,exercise your brain,Dr. Mercola

Top Anti-aging Foods from Around the World

From exotic juices to cans of cocktail peanuts, more and more edibles in the supermarket are being dubbed "antiaging" by some marketer or media pundit. The real deal about munchies that keep you youthful? They come from the earth, not a vacuum pack.

We're not the only ones who are saying that. Take a look at what the longest-lived people in the world are eating (if you know us, this list will look familiar, but with a few twists). Then, put their favorites on your own table.

Costa Rica: Beans for Breakfast
Residents of Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula are four times more likely than most North Americans to live past age 90. One reason may be dishes like gallo pinto, a tasty mix of black beans and rice flavored with onion, red peppers, garlic, olive oil, cilantro, and a salsa lizano -- a condiment a little like Worcestershire sauce. The Oz part of this team learned on a trip to Nicoya that big breakfasts that begin with beans rule there. But don't limit yourself; this dish is great at any meal. Find out what makes black beans the most nutritious.

Nova Scotia: Wild Blueberry "Grunt"
Some of Nova Scotia's picturesque villages are home to Canada's highest percentages of centenarians -- people who've lived for at least 100 years. One reason may be polyphenol-packed wild blueberries produced by the millions of tons on this island. Luckily, you can find frozen wild blueberries in your supermarket. Use 'em to make a traditional "grunt"-- lightly cooked blueberries (skip the sweetener that's usually in the recipe; the berries are sweet enough!) served over a biscuit (but please, make it whole grain, or skip the biscuit altogether). It's also known as a slump, a fungy, a buckle, or a bang belly. Here's another healthy berry-filled treat: Whole-Wheat Blueberry Bars.

France: Wine
In this country, local red wine is king. And for good reason. Moderate drinking (1 glass for women, up to 2 for men) with a meal a day seems to explain some of the "French Paradox"-- low rates of heart disease despite a penchant for artery-clogging goodies like cheese. It may help explain why the French tie the Italians (another nation with a healthy love of wine) as Western Europe's longest-living people. Wine's magic seems to come from a few components: ethanol, which boosts levels of healthy HDL cholesterol; resveratrol, which new research suggests can mimic the life-extending effects of cutting calories; and polyphenols, which rev up the body's own cell-protecting antioxidants. Why not try a red wine from a vineyard near you, or head for a heart-healthy zinfandel, syrah, pinot noir, or cabernet sauvignon? Here's a little wine-and-food pairing that makes drinking wine healthier for you.

Greece: Lots of Veggies, Little Meat
On some Greek islands, one-third of the residents have already celebrated their 90th birthdays. Their longevity secret? The famed Mediterranean diet. When researchers quizzed 23,349 Greek women and men about what's on their plates, they found that death rates were lowest for those who ate the most fruit, vegetables, beans, and olive oil. The occasional glass of wine helped, too. So did fish, seafood, whole grains, and dairy products. What wasn't on their plates also mattered. Those who ate red meat just a few times a month lived longer than those who indulged more frequently. Find out why eating less red meat is good for your eyes, too.

Eating lots of vegetables accounted for 16% of the youth-power of Mediterranean eating. Drizzle on a little olive oil and top with a scattering of walnuts and you can more than double the impact. Not only will it be delicious, the good fats pamper your heart and help your body absorb more of the carotenoids and other nutrients in cooked veggies and in salad greens.

Japan: Tofu
Tofu's on sale in the produce department of nearly every supermarket. Good news, because on the Japanese island of Okinawa, it may be why residents age gracefully to 100+ more often than anywhere else on earth. Researchers credit this mild-tasting soy curd's low fat content and high levels of good-for-you saponins and isoflavones. Chunk up some extra-firm tofu instead of chicken or pork in a stir-fry, or use soy crumbles in place of ground meat in a hearty spaghetti sauce. Marinate first to heighten flavor; we love it with ginger, garlic, and low-sodium soy sauce. Or, trying giving a classic Italian dish a meatless makeover: Tofu Parmigiana.

So instead of falling for an antiaging additive pitch, steer yourself toward these flavorful, health-giving goodies. You'll see what these cultures have known for years: When it comes to the tastiest antiaging foods, Mother Nature makes the best.

February 28, 2010 12:00 AM by Mehmet C. Oz, MD, and Michael F. Roizen, MD | 14 comments

And then wash it down with the Italian staple, a glass of red wine.

Slow Down Aging by Cooking with Lemon Juice

Whatever you put in your pan for dinner tonight, make sure you add a few squeezes of this: lemon juice.

A new study shows that marinating meats in lemon juice -- or vinegar -- can help greatly reduce the production of harmful compounds linked to aging and chronic disease.

Cooking Compounds
All foods -- but especially ones derived from animals -- contain varying levels of compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). These compounds are known to cause inflammation and may open the door to faster aging. Cooking -- especially high-heat methods -- increases formation of AGEs. But now new research suggests that marinating foods in an acidic, low-pH liquid -- like lemon juice or vinegar -- may help slow that formation down significantly. AGEs in beef were cut in half after marinating for an hour -- but shorter amounts of time may help, too. (Find out what spice may help prevent the production of HCA, another harmful cooking compound.)

How AGEs Age
Meats and full-fat cheeses contain the most AGEs, followed by pork, fish, and eggs -- although even fruit, vegetables, and whole grains may contain small amounts. Marinating your food is one way to minimize AGEs. Another option: Cook over low, moist heat. Boiling, poaching, steaming, and stewing are all great choices. (Learn more about AGE compounds from the RealAge docs -- and why they're such a big health deal.)

Here's another tasty way to slow aging with the foods you eat: go international.

Media Blasts Oprah for Supporting Alternative Medicine

This is just a preview of what is to come in the world of government-run healthcare overseen by the ‘Health Czar’. Have you ever seen a scarier more unflattering photo of Oprah?? Even being Obama’s Muse hasn’t helped her from attacks in this arena which brings us to the obvious question… how will they treat the rest of us????

In January of this year, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to talk about health tips. The 62-year-old actress uses bio-identical estrogen cream and progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month.

According to Somers, the bio-identical hormones are identical to the ones created by the human body, unlike conventional hormones, which are made from mare’s urine.

The result has been a media firestorm condemning both Somers and Oprah, including the hit piece in Newsweek linked below. The authors of the piece, Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert, argue that bio-identical hormones are just as synthetic as conventional hormones -- although they don’t much discuss the fact that conventional hormones are actually different from the 17-beta-estradiol made by your body, while the bio-identical hormones are 17-beta-estradiol itself.

The real reason for the attacks on bio-identical hormones?
As Somers points out, many doctors, scientists and media figures make a good deal of money off of the pharmaceutical industry.
And one thing you won’t see mentioned in the Newsweek article is the fact that Pat Wingert is the co-author of a pharmaceutically biased book on hormones and menopause, and that Newsweek is heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies.

This resembles an incident a few years ago when the cattle industry actually sued Oprah Winfrey just for talking about Mad Cow Disease.

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Dr. Mercola's Comments:

The authors of this Newsweek article clearly had a bone to pick with alternative medicine of all kinds. Newsweek does not just ridicule Suzanne Somers for her endorsement of bioidentical hormones, they blast Jenny McCarthy’s stance on vaccine adjuvants being a culprit in causing autism, and even criticize Dr. Christiane Northrup for warning Oprah’s audience of the HPV vaccine and recommending dietary and lifestyle changes to enhance their natural immunity instead. In their article they counter this advice with the statement,

“It is true that of the millions of women who have received the vaccine, 32 have died in the days or weeks afterward. But in each case, the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration investigated the deaths and found that they were coincidental and were not related to the shot.”

This is the kind of blanket dismissal one could only expect from those who have not bothered to do any serious investigations of their own on a topic.

And as for the idea that your thoughts and beliefs may have the slightest to do with your physical health? Ridiculous, according to these two authors.

Apparently they’ve never heard of epigenetics.

Dr. Bruce Lipton, a forerunner in the field of epigenetics and The New Biology, has carefully documented how emotions are one of the most important factors in your health. According to his research, the controlling factor in deciding what your genes express -- in deciding how your future health will play out -- is not your genes, your family history or even the strength of your immune system. It is YOUR MIND.

These are the kind of myopic viewpoints you have to contend with when dealing with conventional medicine, big pharma, and their mouthpieces. But that doesn’t mean they’re any more right, or any less ridiculous, than the people and alternative strategies they try to dismiss with little more than parroted catch-phrases.

Is an Organized Smear Campaign Underway?

Now, Oprah has been targeted by big industries before, such as when she dared talk about Mad Cow disease on her show – a topic that brought her a lawsuit by the meat industry.

But Oprah is not the only one in the crosshairs of what can only be described as an organized smear campaign against alternative medicine.

There’s a disturbing trend taking shape, with a recent onslaught of media articles seeking to put a bad spin on various complementary, alternative medicine and natural medicine options. The misinformation campaign is shifting into higher gear. Is it a very deliberate and concerted media strategy?

Could there be any coincidence that this is all occurring just as the government is preparing health care reform? What would happen If much of alternative medicine was determined illegal?
Robert Zieve, MD, who gave me many of these links, believes that it smells like a witch hunt.

Recent headlines include:

• Contaminants lurk in many ‘natural’ products. Tests find some herbal supplements may be doing more harm than good.

• Cancer patients turning to alternative remedies. 60 percent seek natural ‘cures’ despite warnings from doctors.

• Doctors eager to try ‘mystical mumbo jumbo’. Alternative remedies gain acceptance despite lack of evidence.

• Many ‘natural’ products make dubious claims. A product with "natural" ingredients may be no better for you than one with artificial ingredients, but a lot of us still trust advertisements that suggest as much.

• Reality check on supplements, remedies. Americans increasingly turn to alternative medicine. But does it really help?

• $2.5 Billion spent, no alternative cures found. Big government-funded studies show most work no better than placebos.

• Alternative heart disease treatment probed. Government investigating whether patients were told enough about risks.

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Dr. Deepak Chopra responded to the Oprah bashing with this Alternet article, where he states,

"The criticism the medical establishment is directing at Oprah through this article only exposes their own frustration in having squandered their credibility with the public. They hope that if they can successfully attack Oprah's immense credibility, then they can magically get some of that credibility back for themselves. However, if people still trusted the health care industry to act in their best interest the way they did decades ago, then it would be unnecessary to brand Oprah for "crazy talk" simply because she occasionally provides a forum for ideas outside of mainstream medicine.
The medical profession is burdened with a host of problems that Oprah addresses with more candor and force than the AMA. She promotes wellness and prevention, two areas that drastically need improvement. She brings up creative solutions to problems that medical science is baffled by, such as the healing response itself and the role of subjectivity in patient response. These are issues that few M.D.s are willing to explore, yet she has done so for decades.
... What this tells me is that medicine needs Oprah and other patient advocates who are demanding that official medicine heal itself. To accuse them of lacking medical credibility is a red herring. Patients aren't supposed to know more than their physicians. The fact that they often do, at least insofar as alternative treatment goes, is both a sign of hope and cause for distress."

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Is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Dangerous?

It has been overwhelmingly proven that conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which science, as little as ten years ago, massively touted, has now been shown to be very dangerous. So there’s no argument there.

Studies looking at the long-term usage of synthetic estrogen have revealed many negative side effects, including heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, high blood pressure and vaginal bleeding. But perhaps most strikingly, just one year after millions of women quit taking hormone replacement therapy, incidents of breast cancer fell dramatically—by 7 percent!

The following prescriptions now carry black box warnings and need to be avoided:

1. Premarin. Premarin is an estrogen extracted from Pregnant Mare’s Urine. We now know it is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

2. Estrogen Therapy. Estrogen, which is extracted from Premarin, was effective in combating some menopausal symptoms but proved to have serious, negative side effects, such as the increased risk of breast cancer and an increase in insulin levels.

3. Provera. This drug is a progestin or a synthetic form of progesterone, which probably makes it even more toxic than Premarin. Its well-documented, negative side effects include blood clotting.

But to lump bioidentical hormones in with the rest, and attributing the same dangers to them as their synthetic versions is likely unjustified.

The Truth About Bioidentical Hormones

Bioidenticals, unlike synthetic hormones or natural ones from animals, are natural hormones that are bioidentical to your own.

The bioidentical hormone that is prescribed 80 percent of the time is estriol. It’s natural -- not a drug -- and you get it at compounding pharmacies.

And, although the article above states there are no conclusive clinical studies showing that bioidenticals are any less risky than synthetic hormones, the FDA also admits it’s unaware of any adverse effects of bioidentical hormones.

The fact is that estriol has been used safely for decades, and I believe it’s particularly useful when your ovaries have been removed or you’ve had a hysterectomy. Dr. Johathan Wright, who I’ve interviewed for my Expert Inner Circle program, is a pioneer in bioidenticals, and you can see what he has to say about their value in this short video.

The crux is that natural estriol can’t be patented, so there are no major profits to be made, and hence it gets little attention.

The FDA Effectively “Banned” Estriol, But May Approve an Unsafe Prescription Instead

Although not an FDA-approved drug, the FDA has proposed to allow estriol-containing prescriptions to be filled if they’re accompanied by an Investigational New Drug (IND) application, if and when a physician believes it’s in his patient’s best interest.
However, the IND places a significant financial burden on physicians, most notably by requiring them to submit applications to an Institutional Review Boards (IRB).
This process effectively bans most prescriptions for estriol.

Meanwhile, the FDA is in the process of considering the approval of Trimesta, a knock-off of natural estriol. Clearly, the FDA has never been concerned with estriol being used in an unsafe manner -- they were concerned that their drug-company buddies were not getting their fair share of the profits.
Aside from the obvious bias, this is even more troubling because Trimesta may not be a safe version of natural estriol.
According to Dr. Jonathan Wright, the problem with Trimesta is that it’s taken in pill form. Taking this hormone orally is known to be a greater risk factor for endometrial cancer than taking the hormone transdermally (through your skin).
As Dr. Wright said:

"...When the inevitable findings of excessive endometrial cancer are ultimately disclosed, you can bet the blame will fall on the bio-identical hormone itself -- and not on the oral route of administration, which is known to be more risky."

Do You Need Hormone Replacement?

The issue of hormone replacement generally does not come up until the classic symptoms of menopause strike. Menopause occurs when you stop producing estrogen and progesterone, and your periods cease. This can occur naturally, or be induced by a hysterectomy or by having your ovaries removed.

Typical menopausal symptoms include:

• Hot Flashes

• Vaginal Dryness

• Menstrual Irregularities

• Depression

• Mood Swings

• Weight Gain

Short- and long-term strategies can help you control these symptoms. The best approaches are preventive and involve diet and exercise. But in some cases where diet and lifestyle changes are not enough to counteract the more troublesome symptoms of menopause, bioidentical hormones may be able to help.

However, you’ll want to make sure you get your hormonal levels checked properly before embarking on any kind of hormone supplementation program.

I recommend you review Michael Borkin’s article, Women’s Hormones, for more in-depth information about the many variables involved in your sexual and overall health.

Oftentimes the cumulative physiological effects of stress can cause disruption of the natural rhythms and balancing mechanisms of your hormones, which can compromise your overall health as well as your sexual and reproductive health.

Both estrogen and progesterone are necessary in the female cycle, and their balance is key for optimal health. Many women have an imbalance of these hormones, regardless of their age. And if you have insufficient levels of progesterone to counter excessive estrogen, this imbalance can be further exacerbated by chronic stress.

So your answer might not necessarily lie in using hormones, but rather addressing your stress levels so that your body can normalize your hormone levels naturally.

Alternatives to Hormone Replacement

Prevention is always the best cure, and diet and exercise are as powerful in the prevention of future menopausal symptoms as for most other health concerns. Eating right for your nutritional type and exercising regularly can go a long way to keeping your hormones balanced as you age.

Consuming plenty of phytoestrogens (plant-estrogens) such as licorice and alfalfa before menopause can also help moderate your day-to-day estrogen levels so that when menopause comes, the drop won’t be so dramatic.

Beware, however, that soy is not a good option. In fact, non-fermented soy products are likely to damage your health even further.

You’ll also want to make sure your vitamin D levels are optimized. Vitamin D has gotten the short shrift, thanks to fears abouttanning and skin cancer, but Vitamin D is a must for gene regulation and optimal health. For more information, I recommend you watch my one-hour video lecture on this essential nutrient.

As for supplements, these have been shown to be beneficial in tempering symptoms of menopause:

• Polyphenols. Certain polyphenols have been shown to have some HRT-like benefits without the drawbacks, and are associated with a lowered risk of heart disease. Royal Macha seems to be an amazing adaptogenic herbal solution for menopause that has helped many women. Be sure to avoid the inexpensive ones, as they typically don’t work. Get the real deal from Peru.

• Omega 3 fats. You’ll also want to get plenty of omega-3 fats. A high quality animal-based omega-3 supplement, such as krill oil, can be far more effective and beneficial than fish oil.

• Black Cohosh may help regulate body temperature and hot flashes.

Implementing these lifestyle changes will help control symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, without resorting to hormone replacement.

Source: Mercola.com

I myself have gone to Suzanne Somers’ Doctor’s Clinic and used the bio-identical hormones. I never felt better and there are no side affects. And for anyone who has doubts… I would say just look at Suzanne and compare her to just about any other 62-year-old woman. If the positive affects aren’t obvious… get glasses! -Ask Marion~

Posted: Ask Marion – True Health Is True Wealth

Related Resources:

• Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones
• Newsweek Attacks Oprah Winfrey and BioIdentical Hormones
• Why Does the FDA Maintain a Conspiracy of Silence about the Health Benefits
• The Drug Story
• Western Medicine - Forbidden Cures
• The Neglected Nutritional Research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS
• Sanoviv Medical Center
• Big Red Juice
• Act (Natural) Energy Drink & Suzanne Somers’ Sip of Sunshine

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Knowledge is Power When It Comes to Your Health

Alberto Peña, MD, has worked with Sanoviv Medical Institute for years as a doctor and consultant. Through his work at Sanoviv, he has treated many patients using the best of Western medicine and the most advanced complementary therapies from around the world. At the core of Dr. Peña’s philosophy is the belief that the body has the power to heal itself when provided with the proper environment and is relieved of its accumulated toxic burden. It’s a remarkable approach that challenges conventional medicine, all the while respecting science and the wisdom of the human body.

The following article is an excerpt from a recent interview regarding “How to Predict and Prevent Disease.”

Interviewer:
I’ve heard people say that they don’t want to do genetic testing because they don’t really want to know when they’re going to die. They say, “I want to live while I’m living and not worry about something that might happen down the road.” What would you tell someone who says something like that?

Dr. Peña:
I would tell them that genetic testing is not really about predicting what you’re going to die from because we also find people who have genetic strengths. The fact that you have a certain gene doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily going to suffer from that. These are just the tendencies, so, on the contrary, we want to know what our tendencies are, so we can prevent a problem from occurring to begin with. Information is power and, in this case, we have the information to keep ourselves healthy. This is not about being condemned, because remember, many of the SNP’s have developed to protect us. In other words, genetic differences have developed over generations in order to protect us from a specific environmental problem. For example certain populations that were in high malaria areas or endemic areas for malaria developed sickle cell anemia because the plasmodium, which is the bug that gives us malaria, cannot reproduce in a person with sickle cell anemia. This is just one classic example of how genetics help us adapt to our environment. So, when we do a genetic test, it’s not really about knowing what we’re going to die from, but instead, knowing how we can avoid dying from a particular cause. What I recommend for all people who want to know their current state of health is to go through Sanoviv’s program, which is what we call the complete health assessment program. The genetic testing will tell me what might happen, but how do I know if what you’re doing right now is really serving the purpose for your health? If we find you have a predisposition for cholesterol LDL production, I really want to know what you’re cholesterol level is right now.

Interviewer:
I know that the Mayo Health Clinic, for example, is well known for having verycomprehensive health assessments, but it’s very expensive - much more expensive than Sanoviv. Sanoviv prides itself in having a very comprehensive health test. How may tests approximately does Sanoviv go through, and how does that compare to the Mayo Clinic’s program?

Dr. Peña:
Well, we could go through every test that we do, but it would just take us too long. We do about 35 different tests to start.

Interviewer:
And how does Sanoviv’s Complete Health Assessment compare to the Mayo Clinic’s program?

Dr. Peña:
Well, we do all the same tests that Mayo does, and some additional ones. For example we test for food allergies. You might be doing everything right for your health, but if your in poor health or you have an inflammation of the intestinal tract and it’s not related to an infection, it could be that you have an undetected food allergy — you’re just not eating the right type of food for your system. So, everybody who comes into our program, for example, we conduct a test which tells us if they have antibodies against a specific food, and I’m not talking about the typical food allergy that we all know where you get hives, and…

Interviewer:
Let’s say, lactose intolerance, or whatever?

Dr. Peña:
Right. Or, let’s say, shrimp or your allergic to peanuts, etc. and you break out or you develop an angioedema and then you can’t breathe. That is what we call an immune globulent E allergy. What I’m talking about is something called IGG or Immune Globulent G Food Sensitivity Test, and what happens when a person eats a specific type of food is they develop a longer-term inflammatory condition in their intestine and their immune system gets challenged. Some people eat a specific food and they don’t notice it, but they feel tired a few hours after, or they sneeze, develop asthma or itching. We have found that many people who have specific diseases have an underlying food allergy. Unlike the Mayo Clinic, we run a series of functional tests to be able to know how the body is doing. For example, we test for Ph levels of the blood.

Interviewer:
And why is that important?

Dr. Peña:
It’s very important because most people today eat a very acidic diet. Acidosis or what we call the presence of acid or too much acid condition in the body is connected to the appearance of many degenerative diseases. Another very important assessment that Sanoviv emphasizes heavily is dental health. Most hospitals do not assess your dental health and yet it is of supreme importance. Modern medicine tends to look at the body as being one thing and the mouth being something separate. But it’s at our own peril that we do so. Dental health and the dental assessment we do is very comprehensive.

Interviewer:
And why is that important?

Dr. Peña:
Well, it’s important because a lot of people have underlying problems in their jaw like an ischemia or not enough oxygenation or blood flow. Certain treatments like root canals will damage their circulation and they produce toxins that could be a source of the problem in their overall health.

Interviewer:
What could happen if this isn’t checked? Is this very unusual that dental tests are done during a medical test like this?

Dr. Peña:
It’s very unusual. Most people, when they have a general health check up never get a dental checkup. Western medicine knows that gum disease can put an individual at risk for a heart attack, yet rarely is this assessed in a general physical. Often all these cardiac tests are done but no one looks in your mouth!

Interviewer:
So, if an individual is having continuous heart problems, Sanoviv might be able to help them find the true source of the issue rather than just putting them on a bunch of medication that will mask the true source of the problem?

Dr. Peña:
Exactly. You want to go to the source of the problem.

Interviewer:
What other kinds of diseases could be detected or checked by examining the mouth?

Dr. Peña:
Well, let’s talk about mercury. We know that mercury is the most toxic, non-radioactive substance in the world. Enough mercury is contained in one amalgam of filling to contaminate a small lake, so we are forbidden from dumping mercury into the environment, into the water, into our soil, but we put it in people’s mouths. Often we find that amalgam fillings are a a major source of toxicity that affects the person’s immune system and their capacity to produce energy from their cells.

Interviewer:
Is this truly detectable? I know that there is certainly a lot of controversy about mercury amalgams and that Dr. Wentz is very committed to getting this information out there through his book A Mouth Full of Poison. Is this something that’s measurable and detectable?

Dr. Peña:
Yes. This is something that is very measurable and detectable. Certain states now prohibit dentists from placing mercury in people’s mouths. Ironically, they didn’t pass that law because of the risks to put it in the person, but instead because of the environmental risks of having mercury disposed of improperly from dental offices. So, you can imagine the irony of that, it is a very toxic substance, and it’s very easy to detect. Most people have it. Every time you brush your teeth, you can detect it with a mercury vapor detector. We’re able to see how the mercury vapor increases in the person’s mouth, and this is something called methyl mercury which is very toxic, it goes to the brain, it does not let brain cells develop, and it affects people’s lives.

Interviewer:
And, what diseases have been connected with mercury poisoning?

Dr. Peña:
Well, everything from Parkinson’s disease to ADHD in children and it has even been implicated in autism or was suggested that the mercury contained in vaccines, which is even minimal compared to the amount in the amalgams, can affect a child’s developing brain. During the health assessment, our patients undergo what we call a psycho-spiritual or psycho-emotional evaluation. Many of the times the causes of a person getting high blood pressure, for example, or getting an allergic reaction is related to their emotions, their toxic emotions, or they cannot handle stress, or they’ve had a past issue that they haven’t been able to completely resolve that is affecting their health. Unlike many or most health assessments, we want to look at the “whole” person to get the complete picture of what could be impacting their health. We teach them how to manage their stress, how to do relaxation exercises, so that they can get out of the cycle of anxiety and live a happy life. As we know, it’s more likely for happy people to be healthy. It sounds sort of Utopic, but you release more adrenaline when you’re angry. This changes your whole circulatory system. It makes your arteries contract. It raises blood pressure. It decreases oxygenation to certain tissues, for example, your intestine, then you can’t digest etc., etc.

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Related Resources:

• The Drug Story
• Western Medicine - Forbidden Cures
• The Neglected Nutritional Research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS
• Big Red Juice
• Sanoviv Medical Center

Eat According To Your Nutritional Type - Part 1

Modify Your Diet So You Feel Terrific

Generally speaking, eating a meal that is right for your Nutritional Type™ should produce marked and lasting improvement in your energy, your mental capacities, your emotional well-being, and leave you feeling well-satisfied for several hours.

If you are already feeling good, eating should, at the very least, help to maintain your energy level. But if you feel worse in some way an hour or so after eating, such as:

• You still feel hungry even though you are physically full
• You develop a sweet craving
• Your energy level drops
• You feel hyper, nervous, angry or irritable
• You feel depressed

... then it might be due to an improper combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates at your last meal. You might be eating the perfect foods for your metabolism, but having too much of one type of food in place of another can easily produce the symptoms listed above.

Everyone Has Their Own Unique Nutritional Type™

Many people come to my office eating very high-quality nutritious foods and are still quite sick. They haven't touched sugar or junk food in ages and still suffer with many health problems. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the major physical ones is related to the fact that they are not eating appropriate foods for their Nutritional Type™.

If you are interested in truly optimizing your health, your weight, and your energy -- and in avoiding premature aging -- one of the most important steps you should take is to learn your Nutritional Type™ and eat according to it. What may be very healthy for others is not necessarily as healthy for you, and vice-versa, and eating according to your Nutritional Type™ is really the only way to ascertain what is really good for you.

To get full details on this essential principle and to assess your nutritional type, I highly encourage you to read my new book, Take Control of Your Health book. It is geared toward your nutritional type, the book includes the means to learn and understand your own Nutritional Type™ and gear your diet precisely toward the foods that are right for you (and that also satisfy you!).

You will learn the right (and wrong) foods to fight and prevent disease and improve the way you feel--physically and emotionally -- and that help you prevent disease. To get more of a general idea of Nutritional Typing™, though, consider the following analogy.

Simple Fuel Analogy

Just as food is fuel for our bodies, gas is food for our cars. Imagine for a moment that you have pulled into an exclusive gas station that has secured the highest quality gasoline from one of the world's leading refineries ... gas that has been screened carefully and shown to be free of anything that would possibly harm your car's engine.

It would seem reasonable to believe that your car is going to thrive on that high-quality gas once you put it in your tank. But what if you were driving a diesel-powered vehicle? If that were the case, in a few minutes your car would stop running, and you would have a very expensive repair job ahead of you.

The fact that the car stopped running does not imply that the gas wasn't any good or that your car was defective. It was simply the wrong type of fuel for your car.

Like your car, your body was designed for a certain correct type of fuel ... that is, a certain correct blend of the right food types. The further you deviate from this ideal, the more health problems are likely. That is why some of the sickest people I see in my practice are those who are "designed" to be eating high-proteins foods but have decided to be vegetarians. Conversely, carb types who choose to eat high amounts of meats also don't do very well.

Different Nutritional Types™

You will learn that you belong to one of three general types:

• Protein
• Carb
• Mixed

The The Metabolic Typing Diet^, by one of the pioneers of metabolic typing, William Wolcott. This work served as a basis for our modification for what we now call Nutritional Typing™

We currently use a new version of the Nutritional Typing™ test on nearly all of our patients here at The Optimal Wellness Center. Our staff nutritionists take about one hour to review the results with our patients to help them understand and carefully apply it. The test has been one of the most profoundly effective tools I have ever encountered at helping us accurately establish the optimal foods people were designed to improve their health with.

Different Nutritional Types™

Protein types do better on low-carbohydrate, high-protein and high-fat diets. A typical ratio might be 40 percent protein and 30 percent each of fats and carbohydrates, but the amounts could easily shift to 50 percent fats and as little as 10 percent carbohydrates depending on individual genetic requirements.

Carb types normally feel best when the majority of their food is carbohydrate. However, just as we only have one word for snow while the Eskimos have many more, we only have one word for carbs while there are actually different types. There is a major difference between vegetables and grains and yet they are both referenced as "carbs."

Not All Carbs are Created Equal

While this is technically correct, if one doesn't understand the practical distinction between grains and vegetables, one is likely headed for a health disaster. It is important to remember that over two-thirds of Americans are either obese or overweight, and nearly every one of these individuals needs to lower their insulin levels.
Additionally, most people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes also struggle with elevated insulin levels that respond quite well to grain restriction.

So what nearly all of these people--likely over 85 percent of the U.S. population--will benefit from is not a low-carb diet (the Atkins Diet), but the grain-free diet outlined in detail in my new book.

So if you are a Carb Nutritional Type™ you will require about 60 percent of your food as carbs, 25 percent protein and 15 percent fat, but this type may need as little as 10 percent fat and as high as 80 percent carbs in exceptional times. If you followed an Atkins Diet you might improve initially but eventually your system would break down because it required far more carbohydrate.

Once a person attains a normal weight and does not struggle with other insulin related disorders, it is actually possible to consume some grains and remain perfectly healthy. Carb types actually can do quite well with grains, but remember this is likely to only be about 15 percent of the population at best.

If your Nutritional Type™ is mixed, your requirements are between the carb and protein types. This is actually the most challenging type to have as ultimately you will have to rely quite heavily on developing your own feedback by answering the questions after every meal.

Don't stress out about the percentages; they are only rough guidelines. Even if they needed to be precise, you wouldn't take the time or make the effort to eat exact percentages of foods every single time you ate, especially for the rest of your life.

Additionally, your activity and stress levels will affect and alter the quantity of food, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, you need to feel your best.

Last, there is also a circadian rhythm to account for. Your biochemistry moves through various phases throughout the day. These rhythms involve your hormonal output, your acid/alkaline shifts, your waking/sleeping times and many other time-based variables. While some people will have a need for the same ratios of protein, fat and carbs at each meal, others will discover that they need very different ratios at the different meals in order to derive optimum energy, well being and performance.

What is the Solution?

Well, you will find the program, outlined in detail in my new book, is really quite simple and straightforward. In general, you first start by eating the proportions of proteins, fats and carbs according to your taste and appetite.

Next, analyze your reactions to your meal and discover how well you did in selecting the right ratios for yourself. A table to help you do this is provided below so you can take a look, and this table is also included in the book.

Finally, if you did not react optimally to your meal, change the ratios the next time you eat that meal and again analyze your reactions. In this way you can fine-tune each meal to the ratios of proteins, fats and carbs that are just right for you.

As an example of how the ratios can make a difference, I used to have a salad with some meat in it for lunch. However, several hours later I would feel absolutely famished, and I could not make it through the afternoon without strong food cravings. Then I realized I needed far more fat in my diet, in my case about 40 percent. Once I increased my fat intake my cravings disappeared.

Remember that you should feel terrific one hour after you eat. If you are still having food cravings or your energy level is lower, these are giant clues that you are likely not eating appropriately for your Nutritional Type™.

Related Resources:

• To Succeed at Any Diet, You Must Know Your Nutritional Type™
• "I am Eating Healthy Organic Foods, So Why am I Still Feeling Miserable?" Finally, A Solid Answer!
• Native Climate May Influence Your Ability to Burn Calories
• The Metabolic Typing Diet
• Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
• Smear Campaign Aimed Against Anti-Aging Proponents
  

Waltz Into a Healthy Old Age

The answer to staying healthy and happy as you age may be as close as the nearest dance floor, according to a chorus of studies.

Dancing offers mental, physical, and social benefits, while perhaps reducing the risk of illness and even counteracting the ravages of aging, a study at Queen’s University Belfast found.

“It alleviates social isolation and quite literally helps take away the aches and pains associated with older age,” said researcher Dr. Jonathan Skinner.

Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that ballroom dancing helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Another study found that older people who danced had better balance and gait than non-dancers.

In the dementia study, volunteers were studied over a 20-year period. They answered questions on how often they engaged in six hobbies that stimulate the brain, including reading, writing, and doing puzzles. They also detailed how often they participated in 11 physical activities, including bicycling, swimming, team sports, and ballroom dance.

Those who took part in brain-stimulating activities lowered their risk of dementia as much as 47 percent. But the researchers found no reduction in rates of dementia for physical activities — except for ballroom dancing, which lowered the risk by an amazing 76 percent.

“Dancing is a complex activity,” said Dr. Joe Verghese of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City. There’s an intellectual aspect to dancing. When you dance, you have to remember the steps and how to dance them, you have to move in time with the music and you have to adapt to the actions of your partner. All are mentally demanding.” 

Source:  NewsMax Health

Posted: TrueHealthIsTrueWealth

Related Articles and Information:

• Blood Test Predicts Dementia Risk
  
• Super Spice Secrets
• Drinking Coffee Slashes Risks of Alzheimer's
• Pet Therapy
• Tuna and Egg Keep Your Brain Big
• Goji Health Stories - Dementia and Alzheimer's
• Big Red Juice - Goji and Go-Chi

Chocolate - Dark Is The Key!

Think chocolate is one of the worst things for your skin? Think again. 

Skin expert, Dr. Amy Wechsler, has a recipe for hot chocolate that can make your skinglow. 

Dark Is Key
In one study, just 6 weeks of a daily dose of cocoa made skin smoother, better hydrated, and less sun sensitive. And 12 weeks did even more. All thanks to the skin-boosting antioxidants in cocoa, called flavonols. But it’s got to be dark chocolate, according to Wechsler. "Skip cocoa mixes, which don't have the same flavonol levels, and go for the real thing: dark, unadulterated cacao powder that contains 70 percent or more cacao," she writes in her new book,

Super Simple, Healthy Hot Cocoa
The secret to this easy recipe? Heat it slowly. Slow heat helps release the antioxidants. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder with 70% or more cacao (such as Scharffen Berger natural cocoa powder or Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa)
2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup skim or low-fat milk

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently (do not let it boil), stirring frequently, until cocoa is just beginning to steam. Pour into a mug and enjoy. 

Getting the right amount of antioxidants through diet or supplements can make your RealAge 6 years younger. 

Some Healthy Food Choices for Your Skin and Body Choose Nutrients Supplied Vegetables  Spinach, leaf lettuce, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes Vitamin A (carotenoids) Tomatoes, bell peppers Vitamin C Fruits  Papayas, mangoes, cantaloupe Vitamin A (carotenoids) Oranges, grapefruits Vitamin C Other Foods  Fortified whole-grain cereals (check label) Vitamins B, D, zinc, selenium Nuts, sunflower seeds Vitamin E, zinc Salmon, tuna Vitamins D, E, calcium, omega-3 oils, selenium, protein Vegetable oil Vitamins D, E Low-fat milk Vitamin A (retinol), calcium, zinc, selenium Eggs Vitamins A (retinol), E, B, zinc Legumes, dried beans Vitamins B, zinc

Also:  FreeLife's Himalayan Goji Juice or Go-Chi

Source:  RealAge

Protect Yourself From Killer Hospitals - Part 4

The greatest protection from killer hospitals or in any situation is knowledge!  Be aware.  Do your homework. Checkout the alternatives to surgery and prescription drugs!

There are a growing number of alternative health clinics around the world.  One I can recommend personally is Sanoviv Medical Center in Rosarito, Mexico... founded by Dr. Myron Wentz.

 

Alternative Healthcare:

Sanoviv Medical Institute 
"I invite you to experience the innovative medical diagnostics and therapies, detoxification, nutrition and serenity that Sanoviv offers - and to partner with us in helping you achieve true health." …Myron Wentz, Sanoviv Founder, Ph.D., Microbiology and Immunology

Other protective means are:

• Taking high quality nutritionals and other proven natural health products
  
• Get enough sleep
• Exercise regularly
• Drink lots of water
• Try alternative health treatments before surgery and drugs like:  acupuncture, chiropractic care, reflexology, natural herbs, etc
• Cut out or down on red meat, sugar and white flower products
• Don't smoke
• Limit alcohol intake
• Colonics and Colon Cleansing
• Learn and practice relaxation exercises
• Think positively

USANA Nutritionals
Himalayan Goji Juice
FreeLife Nutritionals
CanineCare by FreeLife for Dogs

ACT Natural Energy Drink