Creative Commons License photo credit: grodt1987

Most people can recall a time when their arm went numb in the middle of the night. You roll over and it’s as if your arm is a heavy log, dead to the world. You have to rub it, slap it and talk to it to get it to wake up.

What’s going on here?

Since the body is a complex mechanism, we can’t say for sure why an arm can go numb, fingers can tingle and toes can get pins and needles sensations. However, we can give it our best guess based on what we know about nerves and circulation.

What to do about it
The first thing you can do is try to think about what you have consumed (eaten and drunk) over the past 24 hours. This may provide a clue to what’s going on. Coffee is one example.

Feed your body nutrients that support increased blood circulation and nutrients that aid in supporting nerve transmission to your extremities.

The two products we offer are VasCor and BFood to accomplish the above. Green Nutrients is an excellent third supplement, providing natural minerals that are known electrical conductors.

BFood contains important B vitamins, which are known to play a role in keeping the “pins and needles” sensation from happening. Stress, coffee, refined foods and drugs deplete B vitamins, so you need to continually replenish your supply of these vitamin B complex-containing foods.

“If it weren’t for the brief respite we give the world with our foolishness, the world would see mass suicide in numbers that compare favorably with the death rate of lemmings.” — Groucho Marx

“‘Having the new tools in medicine to look at some of these stress hormones, we said [to Dr. Fry], ‘Fly down, bring your Laurel and Hardy tapes, let’s sit down, we’ll place an IV in your arm and we’ll draw continuous blood samples while you’re watching the tapes,” Dr. Berk says.”

It’s been said before that laughter is the best medicine. Some people have sworn that having a good attitude and a load of laughs have cured them of their life-threatening illnesses. Is there any scientific validity to this idea of laughing and healing? Chinese doctors have been saying for thousands of years that attitudes affect disease. Anger causes stagnation, which can cause cancer and other tumors, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. So it’s a very ancient idea. But what exactly does laughter do for you, and can it heal you?

Loma Linda University School of Medicine reported back in 1999 that one of its key researchers, Lee Berk, DrPH, MPH, discovered that laughter causes physiological effects that can lead to healing. Not only mind over matter, but really mind affecting matter. It’s no news that stress causes ulcers and heart attacks or that scared people can wet their pants. These are obvious connections between the mind, body and emotions. So what if we were to laugh and be happy — would this have the opposite effects of negative emotions? Chinese medical doctors say yes. Now western medical doctors are starting to agree.

Dr. Berk–associate director for the Center for Neuroimmunology, assistant research professor in the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and assistant clinical professor of health promotion and education in the School of Public Health–believes that because a patient is more than just a disease, it’s important to look at the whole person when providing medical treatment.

Dr. Berk’s research into laughter’s benefits began in the late 1970s, when his studies on exercise showed that it not only boosted the immune system, it also decreased stress hormones in the body.

These findings led Dr. Berk and his colleague Stanley Tan, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Loma Linda University, to look for something else–something universal–that might also have the same effect. They hit upon mirthful laughter as a possibility.

They extended a research invitation to William Fry, MD, then a psychiatrist at Stanford University, who had researched changes in blood pressure and heart rate related to laughter.

Dr. Fry accepted the invitation.
“That was the initiation of everything,” Dr. Berk adds. “We looked at the data and we fell on the floor. It was mind-blowing.”

Since that time Drs. Berk and Tan have conducted controlled scientific experiments that have proven those early results.

They found first of all that laughter increases the immune system’s activity. Here’s how it works:

• Natural killer cells (the cells that attack virus and tumor cells) increase in number and activity.
• More T cells (which wait to be told to do something) are activated than normal.
• The antibody immunoglobulin A (which protects the upper respiratory tract) increases.
• Gamma interferon increases. This cytokine tells different components of the immune system to turn on.
• Immunoglobulin G (the immunoglobulin produced in the greatest quantity) and Complement 3 (which helps antibodies pierce dysfunctional or infected cells) increase both during laughter and the next day.
• The research also showed that in general, stress hormones–which actually constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity–decrease in the body as a result of laughter.1

Norman Cousins, a one-time essayist and editor associated with the Saturday Review, who cured himself of a fatal illness by watching an endless stream of comedy films, said, “Laughter is a form of internal jogging. It moves your internal organs around. It enhances respiration. It is an igniter of great expectations.”

Cousins, the respected editor of the Saturday Review, had been given six months to live.

He’d been diagnosed suddenly with life-threatening ankylosing spondylitis, a painful, degenerative disease of the spine. Cousins, who was in constant agony and quickly succumbing to paralysis, checked himself out of the hospital, which in his view “was no place for sick people” and into a hotel where under the supervision of a doctor, he began taking extremely high doses of Vitamin C punctuated by a regimen of intense belly laughter.

Why laughter? It was the only thing that seemed to kill the pain. Cousins would start laughing by watching Marx Brothers movies and Candid Camera episodes on a rented projector. After several months, and day after day of laughter, Cousins walked out of the hotel. In the years since then, Vitamin C would be discredited, but laughter, it turns out, is another story.

Cousins’s “laughing cure” was greeted by the medical establishment with derision. How stupid. A man curing a life-threatening disease with laughter. Cousins even wrote a book about his experience, Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient. Although the book helped launch the holistic health movement, decades would pass before medical researchers reopened the curious case of the Laughing Man.

A study by the University of North Carolina published in 2005 says women who are hugged regularly appear to have a lower risk of heart disease. A University of Maryland study shows regular laughter improves blood circulation and may protect against heart attack. Psychiatrist Joseph Richman’s study of depressed and suicidal senior citizens, showed laughter had a significant curative affect. A 2001 University of California study reported members of a choir showed significantly increased levels of immunity-building proteins just prior to performance and even more dramatically afterward. Clinical psychologist Dan Johnston says that simply smiling for no particular reason can have a positive effect on health and attitude. What these have in common is they’re all obvious and none require a prescription. Even AIG, an American insurance company is now running ads on U.S. network TV claiming: “Laughing will add ‘eight years’ to your life” – and as actuaries they should know. Laughing, it appears, did add 26 years to Cousins’s life.2

Apparently, laughter has a lot to do with relaxation responses, explained this way:

Two separate mechanisms cause the relaxation you notice. Muscles not directly participating in the act of laughter tend to relax while you’re laughing. That’s why little kids fall down during fits of laughter. It’s also why you seem to lose your strength when you’re laughing (just try carrying a friend–or any other heavy object–across the room when you’re laughing hard). When you stop laughing, the muscles that had been contracting relax. This is no different from what happens with any other physical activity. When you stop working muscles, their natural tendency is to relax. In combination, these two mechanisms produce a general pattern of muscle relaxation throughout your body.3

And now for more empirical evidence on laughter having healing powers.

One study showed that people using a biofeedback apparatus were able to relax muscles more quickly after watching funny cartoons than after looking at beautiful scenery. The importance of this natural relaxation effect may be seen in the fact that relaxation not only helps reduce stress; it also helps alleviate heart disease, headaches, chronic anxiety and other problems. For patients with rheumatism, neuralgia, or other conditions characterized by a spasm-pain-spasm cycle, the reduced muscle tension that results from laughter disrupts this cycle and reduces the pain experienced.

The limited research on stress-related hormones and humor has shown that laughter reduces at least four neuroendocrine hormones associated with the stress response, including epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone. This is consistent with research showing that various relaxation procedures reduce stress hormones.

The best evidence that humor boosts the immune system comes from studies where immune system measures are taken before and after a particular humorous event–usually a comedy video. But research showing that individuals with a better sense of humor have stronger immune systems is also important, since it shows the importance (for your health) of making the effort to improve your sense of humor.

The greatest amount of research to date has focused on immunoglobulin A, a part of your immune system, which serves to protect you against upper respiratory problems, like colds and the flu. Our saliva contains IgA, and this is often referred to as the body’s first line of defense against upper respiratory viral and bacterial infections.

The studies show that watching as little as 30 or 60 minutes of a comedy video is enough to increase both salivary IgA and blood levels of IgA. This has been shown for both adults and children.

mmunoglobulins M and G have also been shown to be enhanced as a result of humor/laughter. IgM is the antibody that arrives first as part of the humoral immune response. IgG antibodies are present in the greatest amount in the body, and are responsible for producing long-term immunity. When you are immunized for a particular illness, it is the IgG antibodies that are tested to see if the procedure has worked.

This same study showed that watching a comedy video produced increased levels of a substance called Complement 3, which helps antibodies pierce through defective or infected cells in order to destroy them.3

Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D., (pictured to the right) a pioneer in humor research, developed a program he termed The Laughter Remedy which laid the groundwork for the current interest in the health benefits of humor. After receiving his Ph.D. in developmental psychology in 1968, McGhee spent 22 years conducting basic research on humor and laughter while teaching at the university level. He has published over 50 scientific articles and 13 books on humor. McGhee wrote:

With respect to cellular immunity, watching a one-hour comedy video has been found to produce 1) increased number of B cells (this is not surprising, given the increased levels of IgA, IgG, and IgM, since B cells are responsible for making all the immunoglobulins), 2) increased number of, and activation of, T cells, 3) increased number of Helper T cells (the cells attacked by the AIDS virus), 4) increased ratio of Helper/Suppressor T cells, and 5) increased levels of Gamma Interferon. Gamma Interferon plays an important role in the activation of NK cells. It also contributes to the growth of cytotoxic T cells and the maturation of B cells. It is best thought of as a kind of orchestra leader that regulates the level of cooperation between cells in the immune system, and tells different components of the immune system when to turn on and off.4

Laughter has also been shown to stimulate B cells, natural killer cells (involved in cancer and other diseases) and T cells (immune cells produced in the thymus gland, instrumental in the body’s attempt to fight AIDS).

Humor has also been shown to increase levels of gamma interferon, a complex substance that plays an important role in the maturation of B cells, the growth of cytotoxic T cells, and the activation of NK cells.23 It also tells different components of the immune system when to become more active, and regulates the level of cooperation between cells of the immune system. Given the specific types of immunoenhancement resulting from humor discussed above, this effect on gamma interferon is to be expected.

Taken as a whole, it’s clear that there is something about humor and laughter that causes the immune system to “turn on” metabolically and do more effectively what it is designed to do–promote health and wellness in the face of internal or external threats.3

Sources:

1. Loma Linda University School of Medicine news, 2001 Loma Linda University
2. Nerenberg, Albert, Laughter as a cure for even the most serious illnesses, Canwest News Service, March 14, 2008
3. How Humor Contributes to Physical Health:, Nurses’ Learning Network
4. McGhee, PhD, Paul, The Laughter Remedy

We’re often asked why alfalfa is in NutriPlex’s GreenNutrients, WholeFood Complex and SuperGreens PhytoFood? Alfalfa has been described by many natural health care pioneers as a nutrient-rich food, high in chlorophyll, vitamins and micronutrients.

Alfalfa (scientifically called Medicago) has been around for centuries, and is an often overlooked wonder food, helpful for just about all kinds of health problems caused by nutritional deficiencies. Alfalfa was first discovered centuries ago by Arabian horsemen who, upon feeding it to their livestock, noticed a jump in energy and performance. People who eat alfalfa report similar benefits. But the benefits go deeper. Alfalfa contains protein and vitamins A, B1, B6, C, E, and K. Nutrient analysis demonstrates the presence of calcium, potassium, iron, and zinc. (1999 Healthnotes, Inc.) Alfalfa has more protein than most plant foods. (Davidson)

Alfalfa is well studied by scientific researchers. Animal studies indicate that nutrients within alfalfa can block absorption of cholesterol and prevent the formation of artery plaques. Alfalfa has also been shown beneficial for Hypoestrogen, Menopause, Hot Flashes, Hyperestrogen, Fibrocystic Breasts, PMS, and Breast Cancer.

Because it contains phytoestrogens, one of the most promising uses for alfalfa appears to be in the treatment of hormonal imbalances. Phytoestrogens are not true estrogens, yet they have molecular structures similar enough to estrogen to have balancing effects on hormone-related health issues whether the problem is estrogen levels that are too high or too low.

Alfalfa also appears to lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoproteins, (LDL) and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) while not significantly lowering desirable HDL . This leads to a significant reduction of the total cholesterol/HDL ratios, one of the major predictors of cardiovascular risk. This action appears to be due to the reduced intestinal absorption of both endogenous and exogenous cholesterol. (Reilly)

Alfalfa leaves contain approximately 2–3% saponins.3 Animal studies suggest that these constituents block absorption of cholesterol and prevent the formation of atherosclerotic plaques.4 One small human trial found that 120 grams per day of heat-treated alfalfa seeds for eight weeks led to a modest reduction in cholesterol.5 However, consuming the large amounts of alfalfa seeds (80–120 grams per day) needed to supply high amounts of these saponins may potentially cause damage to red blood cells in the body.6 Herbalists also claim that alfalfa may be helpful for people with diabetes. But while high amounts of a water extract of the leaves led to increased insulin release in animal studies, there is no evidence that alfalfa would be useful for the treatment of diabetes in humans.7

Alfalfa leaves also contain flavones, isoflavones, sterols, and coumarin derivatives. The isoflavones are thought to be responsible for the estrogen-like effects seen in animal studies.8 Although this has not been confirmed with human trials, alfalfa is sometimes used to treat menopause symptoms.

Alfalfa contains protein and vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Nutrient analysis demonstrates the presence of calcium, potassium, iron, and zinc.

References:

1. Briggs C. Alfalfa. Canadian Pharm J 1994;Mar:84–5, 115.
2. Castleman M. The Healing Herbs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1991, 37–9.
3. Leung AY, Foster S. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics, 2d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996, 13–5.
4. Story JA. Alfalfa saponins and cholesterol interactions. Am J Clin Nutr 1984;39:917–29.
5. Molgaard J, von Schenck H, Olsson AG. Alfalfa seeds lower low density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B concentrations in patients with type II hyperlipoproteinemia. Atherosclerosis 1987;65:173–9.
6. Malinow MR, Bardana EJ, Goodnight SH. Pancytopenia during ingestion of alfalfa seeds. Lancet 1981;1(8220 Pt 1):615.
7. Foster S, Tyler VE. Tyler’s Honest Herbal. New York: Haworth Press, 1999, 23–5.
8. Shemesh M, Lindrer HR, Ayalon N. Affinity of rabbit uterine oestradiol receptor for phyto-oestragens and its use in competitive protein-binding radioassay for plasma coumestrol. J Reprod Fertil 1972;29:1–9.
9. Foster S. Herbs for Your Health. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press, 1996, 2–3.
10. Malinow MR, Bardana EJ, Profsky B, et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus-like syndrome in monkeys fed alfalfa sprouts: Role of a nonprotein amino acid. Science 1982;216:415–7.
11. Roberts JL, Hayashi JA. Exacerbation of SLE associated with alfalfa ingestion. New Engl J Med 1983;308:1361.

Additional Sources:

• Healthnotes, 1999.
• Reilly, ND, Paul, Clinical Application: Medicago sativa extracts, Volume 1, Number 1, 1999
• Davidson, Tish, Alfalfa, Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine , 2007

Fish is supposed to be good for us, right? What if it contains mercury, one of the deadliest heavy metals? A New York Times article reported, “Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sushi from 5 of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration could take legal action to remove the fish from the market. The sushi was bought by The New York Times in October.”

The problem is bigger than it seems. We’re talking about the mass pollution of our oceans. And the bigger the fish the bigger the mercury problem because of the way the food chain works. Bigger fish eat smaller ones and bigger fish than the bigger ones eat the bigger ones. So by the time we end up with this chain of events, tuna, one of the biggest fish in the sea, is also one of the most polluted. You can blame industry and you can blame irresponsibility.

“No one should eat a meal of tuna with mercury levels like those found in the restaurant samples more than about once every three weeks,” said Dr. Michael Gochfeld, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. Says the New York Times, “Dr. Gochfeld analyzed the sushi for The Times with Dr. Joanna Burger, professor of life sciences at Rutgers University. He is a former chairman of the New Jersey Mercury Task Force and also treats patients with mercury poisoning.”

“The owner of a restaurant whose tuna sushi had particularly high mercury concentrations said he was shocked by the findings. “I’m startled by this,” said the owner, Drew Nieporent, a managing partner of Nobu Next Door. ‘Anything that might endanger any customer of ours, we’d be inclined to take off the menu immediately and get to the bottom of it.’”Although the samples were gathered in New York City, experts believe similar results would be observed elsewhere.

“Mercury levels in bluefin are likely to be very high regardless of location,” said Tim Fitzgerald, a marine scientist for Environmental Defense, an advocacy group that works to protect the environment and improve human health.

Are we being protected? No way. Industry rules. The FDA is big on warning people of this or that, but does nothing to protect us from industrial dumping. Further, the Bush administration has the worst record for industrial pollution of all times. The end result is that when you go out with friends to a sushi bar, you need to be prepared for a little heavy metal that causes neurological and brain damage as well as increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

In 2004 the Food and Drug Administration joined with the Environmental Protection Agency to warn women who might become pregnant and children to limit their consumption of certain varieties of canned tuna because the mercury it contained might damage the developing nervous system. Fresh tuna was not included in the advisory. Most of the tuna sushi in the Times samples contained far more mercury than is typically found in canned tuna.

No government agency regularly tests seafood for mercury.

Source: High Mercury Levels are Found in Tuna Sushi, Marian Burros, The New York Times, January 23, 2008

Studies have shown that fish oil may well be the closest thing to a cure-all the world of nutrition has to offer. It lowers triglyceride levels and blood pressure, normalizes heart rhythm, prevents heart disease and sudden cardiac death, reduces inflammation and treats chronic inflammatory conditions such as allergies and autoimmune diseases, and prevents some cancers.

The eyes, like other parts of the body, are vulnerable to the effects of chronic inflammation. Age-related degeneration of the macula, an area in the back of the eye that is critical to proper vision, might be one of the results of chronic eye inflammation. Macular degeneration is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

A number of studies have linked macular degeneration to damage caused by harmful free radicals, which are combated by antioxidants such as vitamins C, E, and A, beta carotene, zinc, and selenium. Other research has found that the balance of fatty acids in the eye can influence macular degeneration risk, possibly by affecting the degree of inflammation.

Both saturated fatty acids (from animal fats) and monounsaturated fatty acids (from olive and other oils) have been found to slightly increase macular degeneration risk, while higher amounts of polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids from fish, which are anti-inflammatory, appear to slightly decrease risk. The new study, published in Archives of Ophthalmology, included 4,519 people between 60 and 80 years old. After completing eye exams, the people were divided into four groups depending on the severity of macular degeneration. The results of dietary questionnaires were analyzed within each group.

People who reported eating more than one serving of baked or broiled fish per week were 35% less likely to have advanced macular degeneration than those who ate less than one serving of fish per month. The people with the highest intake of omega-3 fatty acids were found to be 40% less likely to be in the advanced macular degeneration group than those with the lowest intake. Of the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid, one of the primary fatty acids from fish) gave the strongest protection.

While eating fats from fish seemed to protect against macular degeneration, eating high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids from animal fat seemed to increase the likelihood of having macular degeneration. “It is important to consider the balance and composition of dietary [fats] from the omega-3 and omega-6 families,” the study’s authors point out in their conclusion. “These results and those from other [studies] suggest that modifying the diet to include more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids could results in a reduction in the risk of having [advanced] age-related macular degeneration.”

(Arch Ophthalmol 2007;125:671–9)

Read more on FISH OILS HERE.

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FDA says unmoved by aspartame/ cancer report

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. consumer group called for an urgent Food and Drug Administration review of the safety of aspartame on Monday, but the FDA said there was no immediate need to do so despite a new study showing the sweetener may cause cancer.

Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame — widely used in soft drinks — might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats.

“This is the second study by the same lab showing that aspartame causes cancer in rats,” Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director Michael Jacobson said in a telephone interview.

Aspartame is used mostly in soft drinks but is also sold in packets to use in coffee, tea or on food. “People can easily avoid products using Nutrasweet or Equal and keep these products away from kids,” Jacobson added.

Morando Soffritti of the Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, Italy and colleagues tested aspartame in rats, which they allowed to live until they died naturally.

Their study of more than 4,000 rats showed a lifetime of eating high doses of the sweetener raised the likelihood of several types of cancer.

“On the basis of the present findings, we believe that a review of the current regulations governing the use of aspartame cannot be delayed,” Soffritti’s team wrote in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, which is published by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“This review is particularly urgent with regard to aspartame-containing beverages, heavily consumed by children.”

FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said the agency had not yet reviewed the study.

“However, the conclusions from this second European Ramazzini Foundation are not consistent with those from the large number of studies on aspartame that have been evaluated by FDA, including five previously conducted negative chronic carcinogenicity studies,” Herndon said in an e-mail.

“Therefore, at this time, FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food.”

LETTING RATS LIVE

Jacobson said researchers in previous studies all killed rats at the age of two years. Allowing the rats to live longer may have been a better way to assess the natural risk of cancer, he said.

The CSPI said the Acceptable Daily Intake of aspartame in the United States is 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to a 50-pound (20 kg) child drinking 2.5 cans of diet soda a day, or a 150-pound (68 kilogram) adult drinking about 7.5 cans a day.

The Italian researchers found a cancer risk at the very highest doses — double the U.S. Acceptable Daily Intake.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola was not immediately available for comment.

Merisant, which makes Equal, has this statement on its Web site: “The safety of aspartame has been confirmed by regulatory authorities in more than 100 countries, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, and the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Food, as well as by experts with the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization.”

Jacobson said people should avoid the product for now.

“People shouldn’t panic, but they should stop buying beverages and foods containing aspartame,” he advised.

By Jeremy Appleton, ND, CNS

Healthnotes Newswire (June 14, 2007)—Fish oil supplements and regular exercise both reduce body fat and improve cardiovascular health. Could combining the two work better than either one alone?

“Only two studies have previously investigated these two interventions in combination,” said Professor Peter R.C. Howe, director of the Nutritional Physiology Research Center, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, and supervising author of the new study. But because of the study design it wasn’t clear whether this combined intervention effectively reduced cardiovascular risk and improved body composition in overweight participants.

In the new study, overweight volunteers with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high triglycerides were randomly assigned to one of the following interventions:

• fish oil,

• fish oil and exercise,

• sunflower oil (placebo), or

• sunflower oil and exercise.

They took 6 grams of tuna fish oil per day (providing 1.9 grams of omega-3 fatty acids) or 6 grams of sunflower oil per day. The exercise groups walked three days per week for 45 minutes at 75% of their maximal heart rate.

People who supplemented with fish oil experienced lowered triglycerides, increased HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and improved blood vessel function. Exercise alone improved some measures of artery health. Both fish oil and exercise independently reduced body fat. Though regular, moderate-intensity exercise, either alone or combined with fish oil supplementation, had no effect on triglycerides or cholesterol, researchers still came away from the study concluding that fish oil plus exercise was a winning combination.

In addition to obesity itself being a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, obese people often have other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in a condition known as the metabolic syndrome. So it’s helpful when interventions for obesity target multiple cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors.

Several studies have found that taking omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil results in fewer deaths from coronary artery disease. Supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil may lessen several cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure and triglycerides. In addition, some, but not all, clinical studies show that supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids can reduce body fat.

Most studies find that physical activity alone leads to relatively minor weight loss. While the lost pounds may be few, it is nevertheless clear that physical activity prevents weight gain. But it can take as much as 60 to 90 minutes per day of moderate-intensity physical exercise to maintain body weight in the absence of other interventions, such as diet modification or supplementation. Exercise, with and without weight loss, independently improves several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including lowering blood pressure, favorably altering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and improving the function of blood vessels.

“Increasing intake of omega-3 fatty acids could be a useful adjunct to exercise programs,” concludes Professor Howe, “because both therapies improve body composition and decrease cardiovascular disease risk.”

(Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1267–74)

Copyright © 2007 Healthnotes, Inc.

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FISH OILS: FOUR A DAY REALLY HELPS.
VASCOR COMPLEX: FOR ADDITIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR SUPPORT DURING EXERCISE

ANSWER:
As with most health questions, yours can be due to a number of possibilities, including but not limited to:

• a structural problem or injury that is affecting the nerves running down your arm and to your fingers. This kind of injury or impairment can exist in your back, your neck, your shoulder, your elbow or any combination thereof
• a circulation problem related to your heart
• a chemical/biochemical imbalance caused by something you are eating (coffee can cause this)
• a nerve problem
• an illness affecting the nerves of the extremities

The only way to be more definite would be to go to your medical doctor for some basic tests, which would be our advice.

If the problem is nutritionally-oriented, you could take this regimen which would not hurt and would actually help you regardless:

1. VasCor: 5 tablets a day
2. SuperGreens PhytoFood: 8 tablets a day
3. BFood Complex: 8 tablets a day
4. Fish Oil capsules: 4 a day

The above provides nutrition for the heart, supplies food nutrients of B vitamins, provides electrolytes (nerve transmitting nutrients) and essential fatty acids (needed for nerve transmission).

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is one of the most notable “new” diagnoses of the last 20 years. But since it’s “new,” shouldn’t we be asking how a “disease” could crop up almost overnight? Maybe there’s a good reason; one that has to do with current eating and lifestyle habits, as well as other factors.

Adjunctive Nutritional Schedule*
BFood Complex tablets: 10 a day
FlaxSeed oil: 1 teasp a day
GreenNutrients tablets: 8 a day

For extra support, add
WholeFood Complex tablets: 6 a day
Wheat Germ Oil: 2 capsules a day

Of all the substances in the modern diet, refined sugar is the worst. Sugar affects the nervous system mainly because it depletes vitamin B complex and certain minerals which are needed to prevent hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, nervousness, anxiety, depression, etc. If your child has ADD, get the sugar out of his/her life. Other offending foods include bad oils (fried, hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, etc.) all junk food (chips, pretzels, cheese puffs, etc.), MSG and all other synthetic/artificial chemicals within foods (real labels carefully to avoid these), refined flour and soda.

One of the most supportive nutrients is the vitamin B complex found in nature’s foods (as opposed to vitamin pills). (See BFood Complex). With a deficiency in the vitamin B complex, a child cannot sit still, pay attention and “behave.” Mineral deficiencies only add to this problem (See GreenNutrients). Essential fatty acids are also in great need by the hyperactive child (See FlaxSeed Oil).

Nutritional deficiencies are caused by eating all the wrong foods MOST of the time, with an inadequate supply of fresh, raw, organic vegetables and vitamin B containing foods, ranging from brown rice to nutritional yeast to raw nuts and seeds.

* Adjunctive Nutritional Schedules are not meant to treat or cure disease, but rather to offer the body a variety of food nutrients that can be used for health support.

A:
You’re on the right track in working with your friend’s diet. Here are some basic things to think about when it comes to MS patients. First, because there is a problem with low energy, due mostly to problems with nerve supply, MS patients tend to crave sweets. However, sugars make the problem worse, because sugars deplete the body of much-needed nutrients like calcium and the vitamin B complex, which are very much needed for nerve transmission.

Here are the most offensive (problem-causing) foods (and nonfoods) that should be eliminated from any MS patient (in addition to ruling out gluten problems):
1. all sugars (brown sugar, white sugar, corn syrup, fructose, glucose, mannitol, etc.)
2. all artificial ingredients
3. caffeinated coffee (because it depletes B vitamins, calcium and it creates blood sugar imbalances)
4. all bad fats, including margarine, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, fried oils and fake fats (olestra, spray oils, etc.)

Here are the supplements we use to support the body with energy, calcium, nerve transmission, etc:
CalMag Balance: 8 per day
BFood Complex: 10 per day
FlaxSeed Oil: 1T per day
CodLiver Oil capsules: 4 per day
Organic Coconut Butter: 2-3T per day (can be spread on foods)

Also, you mentioned raw foods. Wherein raw foods are generally good, people with MS may have digestive difficulties, so steaming vegetables or lightly cooking them is a good idea.

Generally speaking, MS is a problem with the myelin sheath which covers the nerve cells. One of the major problems with the myelin sheath in MS is an insufficiency (not enough) of good fats. Fats keep myelin cells healthy.

Lastly, you mentioned lab results. Soon we will publish on the nutritionresearchcenter.org website more than 30 blood test results and their meanings. However, reading lab reports and blood tests is a complex issue because there are so many variables that need to be considered. A good medical doctor would be ideal to have explain lab results to you. There should be no problem with your friend’s MD helping out with this and there should be no objection to having you present with your friend so you can understand as well.