Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
The number of children diagnosed with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, continues to increase. According to the CDC, in 2003, the rate of children with ADHD was 7.8%. Just eight years later, in 2011, the rate had increased to 11%. Though the disorder is …
The field of nutrigenomics is a subfield of epigenetics. These are big words but their concepts are relatively simple. Epigenetics is the study of the behavior of genetic material (RNA and DNA) through variations in the cellular environment. Epigenetics’ fundamental principle states that the cellular …
Very often, when healthy hormone balance is highlighted, the focus tends to be on women’s hormones. Healthy hormone balance is just as important for men but little attention gets paid until there is a problem. Men’s hormones impact everything – prostate health, sex drive, muscle strength, energy levels, mood, sleep and even hair loss. Men’s hormones (especially as they get older) tend to greatly affect the prostate. The health of the prostate can be very revealing about a man’s health in general, as it is also dependent on healthy hormone balance, proper intake of several important nutrients, exposure to plastics and other synthetic hormones and even lifestyle factors like stress. It is never too early or too late to support the health of the prostate and making the effort to balance hormones is an essential step.
It is important that men maintain the delicate balance of testosterone. Testosterone levels usually peak before they turn 30 and then slowly decrease from there. But why is it so important? Testosterone is the primary male hormone and it is fairly sensitive to be converted into other hormones. Free testosterone can be converted into estradiol (a type of estrogen) though an enzyme called aromatase. What has substantial effects on the prostate is the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
DHT as an overactive form of testosterone and, while it serves an important purpose, too much DHT after puberty is not a healthy thing. During puberty, DHT helps the prostate grow and reach a mature size, which is normal. However, when too much testosterone gets converted into DHT, there can be negative consequences for prostate health. As DHT is responsible for contributing to prostate growth, when the body loses its ability to regulate DHT, it can be stimulated to excessively grow. Like all hormones, DHT must be kept in balance. Without DHT, the prostate would not be able to heal and repair itself, so some is necessary and even helpful. However, excess DHT has been implicated in conditions like BHP, which is benign prostatic hyperplasia.
BPH is a benign, or noncancerous, condition characterized by an enlarged prostate. BPH is a very common condition that affects half of all men in their 50s and 80% of men in their 80s. Approximately 8.4 million men over age 50 in the United States, including 3 million age 50 to 59, 2.6 million age 60 to 69 and 2.8 million age 70 to 79.i BPH tends to effect urination, specifically frequent, often-urgent need to urinate, especially at night, the need to strain to get urine out, the inability to completely empty the bladder, “dribbling” or leaking after urination or even a weak urine stream often are the result of BPH. These symptoms can really affect sleep quality and overall quality of life.
Urination issues are usually the biggest complaint among men with poor prostate health, but the good news is you can restore the health of your prostate and maybe even sleep the night through again. BPH also tends to be effected by excess inflammation. A two-pronged holistic approach of modulating inflammation and balancing hormones is a powerful combination for prostate wellness.
As one of the most common cancers in the United States, skin cancer can be caused by many different factors. While anyone concerned about their risk of skin cancer should consult a dermatologist, there are certain factors that can somebody more likely to develop cancer. …
Coconut oil is an amazing superfood that has a long list of benefits. It is one of the richest sources of saturated fats out there and is very rich is Lauric Acid. But what exactly can coconut oil help you with? According to Walter C. …
The collective expression of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, systemic inflammation and Type 2 diabetes is now commonly referred to by the term diabesity. This multi-faceted condition is predicted to be the single most pervasive global health epidemic of our time with as many as 366 million people affected worldwide by 2030[1]. Most will experience an estimated 8 to 10 year reduction in life expectancy[2]. Accordingly, it is hard to overstate diabesity’s impact. It is already the leading cause of heart disease, stroke, dementia, cancer and premature death. Unlike most prior epidemics, however, it is almost always precipitated by lifestyle as well as environmental factors[3].
Diabesity damage commonly begins long before full-blown diabetes manifests or is clinically diagnosed. During what is now diagnosed as pre-diabetes the stage is being set for the later, devastating ‘side effects’ of full-blown diabetes. These effects also include high blood pressure, fatty liver, depression, nervous system damage (which may lead to amputation of limbs), sexual dysfunction, retinopathy (blindness caused by damage to tiny blood vessels inside the retina of the eye), periodental and gum disease and heart disease. Accordingly, a clinical diagnosis of pre-diabetes should be treated as seriously as a diagnosis of diabetes.
Perhaps the single greatest driver of Type 2 diabetes is obesity. Simply put, as your waistline increases (elevated waist circumference is considered to be greater than 40 inches for men and greater than 35 inches for women) your risk of death from heart disease, cancer and so many other diseases increases as well. By making wise lifestyle changes that incorporate dietary modification, exercise and stress management, as well as targeted and high quality supplementation, effective weight loss can be achieved. Moreover, it is possible to limit or even completely reverse the effects caused by diabesity. Commonly lacking in people with Type 2 diabetes[4] as well as obese people in general are several minerals critical to maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Chromium helps blood sugar enter the cells by supporting the natural function of insulin at the cell membrane. It assists in maintaining healthy glucose, insulin, cholesterol and HA1c[5] (a protein found in the body that is an indication of how well blood sugar has performed over the last three months) levels.
Vanadium, a mineral with insulin-like properties[6], promotes better blood sugar metabolism in both the muscle and the liver[7]. Magnesium, a critically important mineral, improves insulin sensitivity and helps lower HA1c levels in Type 2 diabetics and in non-diabetic adults.[8],[9] Not surprisingly these minerals are deficient or even missing in most American diets. Our diets provide the nutritional information our body translates into instructions for the genes that will either keep us healthy or make us sick[10]. Clearly, a healthful diet is critical for appropriate gene programming. In addition to eating a wide variety of real and whole foods, it is advisable to add a high-quality vitamin and mineral supplement to fill the gaps in our diet as well as to provide some of the minerals that may be lacking in our soil due to current agricultural practices.There are many widely studied nutraceuticals that have been shown to help precipitate good health and protect against the ravages of diabesity. Resveratrol, notably found in red wine and the skin of red grapes, activates the SIRT1 gene which turns on other genes that directly influence insulin and fat burning[11], and may be helpful for diabetics[12]. It decreases inflammation in fat cells and boosts adiponectin[13] (a hormone produced and secreted exclusively by adipocytes or fat cells that regulate the metabolism of lipids and glucose).
Green coffee berries contain polyphenols and chlorogenic acid which helps the liver metabolize sugar effectively by modulating the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase[14], an enzyme that plays a key role in the homeostatic regulation of blood glucose levels. They have been shown to improve glucose tolerance, decrease cholesterol and triglycerides[15] and may also be effective in controlling mildly elevated blood pressure[16] which is common in diabetics. DHA (part of omega 3 fatty acids) decreases the inflammation[17] associated with blood sugar and insulin problems and directly boosts the production of adiponectin[18]. Diabetics tend to have high levels of AGEs or Advanced Glycation End-products. Damaging AGEs are formed by the cross-linking of certain proteins and sugars. The amino acid L-Carnosine may be effective in inhibiting AGEs formation. It may protect kidney cells from the effects of high glucose levels, helping to decrease the risk of diabetic kidney disease or nephropathy.[19],[20] It may also decrease protein cross-linking in the lens of the eye and help reduce the risk of cataract formation, a common diabetic complication[21].
The damage from chronic inflammation is well documented and people with diabesity tend to have extremely high inflammation levels. Fat cells generate inflammatory cytokines, chemicals that disrupt the body’s response to insulin, and leptin (a “satiety” hormone made by fat cells that is involved in the regulation of body fat), thus disabling their ability to properly metabolize sugars, fats, and protein[22]. A powerful spice, turmeric, and specifically its active ingredient curcumin, is very effective in quelling inflammation at the cellular level. Curcumin can improve blood sugar levels by increasing sugar uptake from the blood, decreasing new glucose formation and thus increasing insulin’s effectiveness. Curcumin also reduces dangerous inflammatory markers such as IL6 and TNF-Alpha that are generally elevated in diabetics and may also help to protect nerve and brain cells. As noted, by adopting meaningful lifestyle changes it is possible to stop, or even reverse the ravages of diabesity. With effective diet, supplements, exercise and stress management we can anticipate lives of extended health and wellness rather than fear an inevitable decline into the life-altering changes and ravages of diabesity.
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