In a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researches found that dietary supplementation with flaxseed oil (Alpha-linolenic acid 8 g/d) for 12 weeks, in 59 men with abnormal concentrations of lipids or lipoproteins in their blood, resulted in significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The researchers noted, “We observed a hypotensive effect of ALA, which may constitute another mechanism accounting in part for the apparent cardioprotective effect of this omega-3 fatty acid.”

Comment: Increased alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) intake from flaxseed offers cardioprotection by lowering blood pressure. The study used a control group who consumed the omega-6 fatty – acid linoleic acid, most commonly found in vegetable oil. The control group had no beneficial change in blood pressure.

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc

Related Product:

Ultra Omega 3-6-9
Lecithin Granules

by Heather Granato
10/29/2007

TUCSON, Ariz.—Higher plasma levels of carotenoids may help reduce oxidative stress in women previously treated for breast cancer (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarker Prev. 2007;16(10):2008–15). Researchers from the University of Arizona and Arizona Cancer Center conducted an ancillary study on 207 postmenopausal breast cancer survivors from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study. Dietary data were analyzed and plasma carotenoids assessed. Correlations between dietary and plasma carotenoids were 0.34 for beta-carotene, 0.46 for alpha-carotene, 0.39 for beta-cryptoxanthin, 0.27 for lycopene, 0.30 for lutein plus zeaxanthin, and 0.30 for total carotenoids. There was a significant inverse association between total plasma carotenoid concentrations and oxidative stress; the protective association was not shown simply from dietary carotenoid intake.

Comment: Brightly colored foods possess the best nutrient profiles with red, orange and yellow vegetables possessing the most abundant levels of carotenoids. Eating a variety of colored fruits and vegetables a day will provide a plethora of health promoting and disease preventing phytonutrients.

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc

Related Products:

Liquid Power
Absolute Goji
Goji Fusion

10/19/2007 – Supplements of vitamin E may counteract complications in type-2 diabetics linked to an increased risk of heart disease, says a new study from Italy.

Daily vitamin E supplements (500 International Units) were found to decrease levels of a protein associated with higher risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and ultimately cardiovascular disease in this study with 37 type-2 diabetics, published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases.

“Vitamin E might therefore be effective in preventing early endothelial damage in type 2 diabetes mellitus, possibly representing a new tool for endothelial protection,” wrote lead author Arianna Vignini from Polytechnic University of Marche in Ancona.

In addition, the production of nitric oxide (NO) – a molecule key for better blood flow – increased by about 50 per cent after ten weeks of vitamin E supplementation.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a molecule used by the endothelium (cells lining the surface of blood vessels) to signal surrounding muscle to relax, leading to a reduction in blood pressure, reduced blood clotting and protection against myocardial infarction and strokes.

Despite the positive results and implications for type-2 diabetics, the authors sounded a note of caution, stating that no control arm with a placebo was used, and the study was not double-blind and randomised.

In terms of vitamin E supplements and heart health for the wider population, a recent study reported that a higher dose – 3200 International Units – of vitamin E is needed to reduce oxidative stress in individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease, and this may be why previous trials using lower doses failed to show any benefits for the vitamin (Free Radical Biology and Medicine, doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2007.06.019).

A number of epidemiological and animal studies have reported that antioxidants like vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene might offer some protection against heart attack in individuals at risk.

There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol (alpha-Toc) is the main source found in supplements and in the European diet, while gamma-tocopherol (gamma-Toc) is the most common form in the American diet.

Source: Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (Elsevier)
Published on-line ahead of print, doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2007.01.002
“A study on the action of vitamin E supplementation on plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 and platelet nitric oxide production in type 2 diabetic patients”
Authors: A. Vignini, L. Nanetti, C. Moroni, R. Testa, C. Sirolla, M. Marra, S. Manfrini, D. Fumelli, F. Marcheselli, L. Mazzanti and R.A. Rabini

Related Products:

Power E Complex

Power C

10-29-2007

A study published in the peer-reviewed Nutrition Journal (October 24, 2007) reveals that people who used multiple supplements for at least 20 years were in overall better health than both non-supplement users and individuals who only consumed a multivitamin/mineral supplement. This first-ever study on long-term users of multiple dietary supplements found them comparatively to have markedly better health as measured by higher blood levels of key nutrients, more optimal levels of key health biomarkers, and lower prevalence of diabetes and elevated blood pressure.

The objective of the study was to describe the dietary supplement usage patterns, health, and the nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users, and to make appropriate comparisons to matched single multivitamin supplement users and nonusers of supplements. Using a cross-sectional design, information was obtained from online questionnaires and on-site physical examinations from a sample of long-term users of multiple dietary supplements from a single dietary supplement supplier (Shaklee).

The group of 278 long-term multiple dietary supplement users consumed a broad array of vitamin/mineral, herbal, and condition-specific dietary supplements on a daily basis for at least 20 years. As a group, they were 73% less likely to have diabetes and 39% less likely to have elevated blood pressure than non-users. Also, this group was less likely to have suboptimal blood nutrient concentrations, and more likely to have favorable levels of key biomarkers, including serum homocysteine, C-reactive protein, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL’s), and triglycerides than either non-users or multivitamin/mineral users.

“The study results were very impressive and support the potential benefits of long-term use of dietary supplements,” said Gladys Block, PhD, nutrition researcher and Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition at the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Block helped lead the research team in its efforts to conduct the first-of-its-kind study on this unique population of long-term users of a broad array of a single brand of dietary supplements.

Related Products:

Full product Catalog

By Mike Adams

The latest round in conventional medicine’s ongoing attempts to discredit (and ultimately outlaw) nutritional supplements is found in a highly questionable study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which claims that vitamins actually increase the risk of death. Want to read more? (Go Here)

Small Red Berry from Tibet Is Attracting a Lot of Attention

By BRITTANY OAT

July 14, 2006 – Although Ponce de Leon never found what he was looking for, the human quest for longevity continued.

Now nutritionist Earl Mindell, author of the bestselling book “The New Vitamin Bible,” believes he has discovered an anti-aging secret in the juice of a tiny, red berry called goji.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Mindell said.

Despite the fact that goji has only been tested on humans in one published study, a simple Internet search reveals hundreds of websites selling goji juice, dried goji berries and even goji plants.

Goji is now available in products on your supermarket shelves and has recently become the subject of some experimental cancer treatments. But does it work?

“We Are A Sick Nation”

Mindell said he learned about the medicinal properties of goji, also known as Lycium Barbarum, from an Asian healer he met on a visit to the Himalayan Mountains in 1996.

For more than 6,000 years, herbalists in China, Tibet and India have used goji because they believe it helps them regulate their blood pressure, prevent cancer, balance blood sugar levels and protect their body from premature aging, he said.

“In that part of the world it is not unusual for people to live to be 100 years old, Mindell said.

In Bapan Village, a remote town in Bama County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, seven of its 515 residents are centenarians, according to China’s 2000 census -  that’s 1.4 percent of the population. As comparison, only about two-hundredths of a percent of Americans become centenarians, according to Census figures.

“We’re not dying of old age in this country, we’re dying of degenerative diseases,” Mindell said. “Wake up America: We are a sick nation.”

A 1994 study in the Chinese Journal of Oncology found that 79 cancer patients responded better to their cancer treatments when goji was added to their regimen.

Dr. Victor Marcial-Vega, an oncologist from Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, said that he agrees with those findings, and has been using goji to ease the side effects chemotherapy and radiation is his own cancer patients.

In his 2005 study, which has not been published, 80 percent of his patients who took goji while undergoing cancer treatment maintained a healthy blood count, and 87 percent experienced changes that indicated their immune systems may have improved, he said. “The results are so dramatic that the doctors will never go back to saying never use antioxidants with chemotherapy,” he said.

Commentary: I agree with Dr. Mindell 100%, I have never seen anything like it either. The testimonials we receive from happy customers are phenomenal. Since we [California Academy of Health] added camu-camu fruit to the juice the phones won’t stop ringing with orders for the juice. Consumers are becoming more educated about the health products available to them and that’s a good thing. “C.A.O.H. offers a superior goji juice product that today’s educated consumer is looking for, at an affordable price.” Dr. Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc.

The Daily Telegraph, United Kingdom

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 01/07/2006)

The bottles of pomegranate juice flown to Germany to stop England’s football players wilting in the stifling heat could have other health benefits, according to a study published today that suggests the juice can combat prostate cancer.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a protein that the prostate produces. A rising PSA level may indicate prostate cancer, which kills 10,000 men every year in the UK.

A team from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that drinking an eight ounce glass of pomegranate juice daily increased, by nearly four times, the period during which PSA levels in men treated for prostate cancer remained stable.

The three-year study published in Clinical Cancer Research by Dr Allan Pantuck and colleagues involved 50 men who had undergone surgery or radiation but quickly experienced increases in PSA.

Pomegranate juice is known to have anti-inflammatory effects and has high levels of anti-oxidants, which are believed to protect the body from free-radical damage.