Bens Herbs Place

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Factors that Lead to Cognitive Decline

Cognition is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Nervous system decline can lead to cognitive impairments, ranging from mild memory loss to dementia.

Recent studies have pointed to various factors that may contribute to the gradual decline of mental acuity as we age. The good news is that these factors are at least somewhat preventable when we apply knowledge, good nutrition and healthy habits.

Some of those factors that can lead to cognitive decline include:

1. Inflammation. Inflammation is a protective process that the body uses to fight off pathogens and to respond to injuries. However the inflammation process can become a chronic condition in which the inflammation process occurs regardless of infection or injury. Chronic inflammation is associated with many health issues from allergies to arthritis. New research also suggests that chronic inflammation can lead to cognitive decline, most likely due to the way inflammation disrupts the integrity of the blood-brain barrier.

2. High blood pressure. Your brain relies on a constant, nourishing blood supply. High blood pressure can narrow and block the arteries supplying blood to the brain, which can lead to cognitive problems. Evidence suggests that high blood pressure occurring as early as middle age can increase the risk of dementia later.

3. Insulin levels. Both high blood glucose levels and high insulin levels have been linked to cognitive dementia.

4. Obesity. Particularly in middle age, obesity is strongly correlated with later dementia. Research conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. found that individuals who were obese (as measured by the body mass index) in their 30s and 40s were 74 percent more likely than those of a healthy weight to develop dementia.

5. Arterial inelasticity can lead to vascular dementia, a term for cognitive impairments associated with impaired blood flow in the brain. Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia, behind Alzheimer’s.

6. Metabolic syndrome is a name given to a cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and accelerated decline in brain health. The symptoms of metabolic syndrome are strongly correlated with obesity, including accumulation of fat concentrated around the waist, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar levels.

7. Anxiety and depression are linked with increased risk of cognitive impairments, possibly as a result of the high levels of cortisol released through chronic psychological distress.

You can develop strategies now to preserve brain function. The maxim, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is good advice.

Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are beneficial to brain health and should be part of a daily health routine. A healthy nervous system is also dependent on keeping blood pressure and body weight in check, avoiding diabetes and its precursor, metabolic syndrome, as well as treating depression and anxiety disorders.

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Drinking in Pregnancy Affects Child's Growth

From MedicineNet.com

Children who had significant prenatal exposure to alcohol may have delayed weight gain during infancy and alcohol-related growth restriction from early infancy until 9 years of age, researchers report.

Weight, height and head circumference are indications of brain growth, the study authors pointed out. Persistent reductions in these measurements among children exposed to alcohol in the womb suggest the effects may be permanent and could affect their mental development, according to the study published online Aug. 15 and in the November print issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Read the entire article.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Gout Myths vs. Facts

From AARP

Gout isn't just for paunchy Pickwickians who overindulge in Stilton cheese and a tawny port. More than 8 million Americans have this painful and potentially disabling form of arthritis, and that number is rising.

Indeed, gout is now the most common type of inflammatory arthritis in men over age 40. The notion that gout is no longer prevalent is just one of the many misconceptions swirling around this age-old malady. Read on to replace several other myths with facts.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Meat On Drugs - 80% of Antibiotics Used on Animals

The declining effectiveness of antibiotics has become a major national public health crisis. according to the national Centers for Disease Control and prevention, 99,000 people died of hospital-acquired infections in 2002, the most recent year for which data are available.

According to the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the vast majority of those infections were caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Such “superbugs”—bacteria resistant to one or more antibiotics—are also showing up in food and causing illness and even death.

The major user of antibiotics in the United States today is not the medical profession, however, but the meat and poultry business. Some 80% of all antibiotics sold in the United States are used not on people but on animals, to make them grow faster or to prevent disease in crowded and unsanitary conditions. Read the Consumer Reports Special Bulletin.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

New Therapy For Plantar Fasciitis

From MedicineNet.com

For people struggling with plantar fasciitis -- a painful and sometimes disabling foot condition -- a small, preliminary study suggests that a new type of therapy is more effective than standard cortisone injections in restoring mobility.

So-called "platelet-rich plasma" therapy is injected directly into the foot. It harnesses two main ingredients found in blood -- plasma and platelets -- to promote inflammation, connective-tissue growth and vascular healing. This contrasts with cortisone injections, which are designed to reduce inflammation.

"The focus here is on very difficult patients for whom well-recognized nonsurgical and surgical approaches are not effective," said study author Dr. Raymond Monto, an orthopedic surgeon with Nantucket Cottage Hospital in Nantucket, Mass. "Because while 90 percent of patients usually get better with standard treatment, about 10 percent don't. Read the entire article.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Does Open-Heart Surgery Really Work?

Having trouble walking up stairs and experiencing tightness in your chest? If the arteries around your heart are clogged, your doctor will try to remove the blockage by performing an angioplasty. If that doesn’t help, the only remaining option is open-heart surgery.

But does open-heart surgery really work?

According to Nortin Hadler, a University of North Carolina professor and the author of The Last Well Person, the procedure doesn’t prolong life or prevent heart attacks except in a minority of patients with severely blocked arteries.

What’s more, there’s a risk the patient won’t survive the operation (between 1 and 2 percent don’t) and patients undergoing the operation also have a 40% chance of suffering side effects.

Los Angeles cardiologist Fouad Ghaly uses an alternative treatment: Enhanced External Counterpulsation Therapy (EECP). The patient undergoes daily one- to two-hour treatments for four to seven weeks at a cost of $5,000 to $6,000. In patients who have had the treatment, Ghaly found that overall physical condition and oxygen uptake increase, the heart pumps harder, and the condition of blood vessels improves. Read the entire article.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Weight Loss and Thermogenesis

The Science Behind Nature's Sunshine Weight-loss Products

By Dr. William J. Keller with Darlyn Britt

What Is Thermogenesis?

A lot of people define this as fat burning, which is a pretty apt description. But let’s take it a step further. Thermogenesis is the generation of heat in the mitochondria (the cell’s energy factory) due to an uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation.

What does this mean? When food is metabolized in your body, a lot of electrons are produced. As these electrons are processed in the mitochondria, the energy liberated is trapped to form ATP—the cell’s energy currency.

Normally electron processing and ATP formation are coupled, and the ATP produced provides needed cellular energy. When uncoupling occurs, very little ATP is formed. Most of the energy is released as heat.

Free fatty acids from fat cells activate uncoupling and the thermogenic mechanism. Lipolysis, or the breakdown of fat, liberates free fatty acids (hence the name fat burning). The fat disappears and a lot of heat is produced.

Working Together For a Goal

The following natural components of MetaboMax Plus combine to synergistically affect lipolysis, which gives the free fatty acids that spark thermogenesis.

• Synephrine from bitter orange stimulates the release of noradrenaline (or norepinephrine) that binds to receptors on fat cells, causing lipolysis.

• EGCG, the main catechin from green tea, enhances noradrenaline action because it inhibits an enzyme that normally breaks down noradrenaline. • Natural caffeine from guarana and yerba mate interferes with the breakdown of a key mediator in the lipolytic process.

• The other ingredients act together to cause lipolysis and weight loss.

From this we understand that the free fatty acids from lipolysis stimulate uncoupling. This uncoupling results in thermogenesis. So, fat breaks down, the fatty acids cause uncoupling, and foods are oxidized to give only heat, which is dissipated and not used by the body as an energy source. Remember, this process continues at a fairly fast rate as long as the ATP levels are low.

Additional MetaboMax Plus ingredients benefit weight loss by different mechanisms.

• Capsaicin from red pepper decreases appetite through sensory stimulation, as well as binding to the so-called vanilloid receptor. This receptor is important in body temperature regulation.

• Guggulsterones increase the conversion of T4 to the more potent thyroid hormone T3, which is known to stimulate thermogenesis.

• Chickweed interferes with fat absorption from the gastrointestinal tract.

A solid weight loss program should also include a sensible diet and a reasonable exercise program. And of course, determination is a key component.

Read more about MetaboMax Plus.

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