Archive for October, 2008
October 13th, 2008 -- Posted in Super Antioxidant |
Super Antioxidant
What is a super antioxidant?
A super antioxidant or antioxidant is a general name for substances including all of the vitamins, polyphenols, carotenoids and minerals that help protect the body from the harmful effects of free radicals. It is called a super antioxidant because of the nature in which it helps prevent disease in humans. Antioxidants accomplish this by reducing the damaging effects of from oxidation of free radicals.
What are free radicals?
Free radicals originate from oxygen molecules in your body that become electrically charged from natural cellular activity and from outside factors that you’re surrounded by, including radiation from your environment and tobacco smoke as well as many other harmful environmental factors. These free radicals try to steal electrons from molecules in your body like DNA and cells, causing damage as it goes through your body. These dangerous molecules cause a chain reaction of free radicals that damage cells and play a part in the aging process and the development of diseases such as cancer.
How do super antioxidants fight dangerous free radicals?
Antioxidants help to stop the free radical chain-reaction by giving their electrons to the free radicals, thereby neutralizing them so they are unable to cause more oxidative damage to the cells in your body.
How are super antioxidants able to stop this chain-reaction?
Super antioxidants end the chain-reaction by giving up their electrons instead of other molecules giving them up. Super antioxidants are able to do this without being negatively affected because they do not become reactive after losing electrons, effectively stopping free radicals from doing any more damage once they have been neutralized.
What diseases are associated with free radical damage?
Several degenerative diseases are linked with free radical damage, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, cataracts, stroke and cognitive impairment. Aging is also associated with the damage done by free radicals. The nature of super antioxidants makes it possible to reduce the likelihood of occurrence of these diseases.
Where are super antioxidants found?
Super Antioxidants can be obtained easily through safe supplements from NutraYoung as well as through your normal diet. Some of the most well-known antioxidants are:
Vitamin A: carrots, broccoli, kale, spinach, pumpkin, liver, sweet potatoes, collard greens, eggs, apricots, mango, dairy and fish
Vitamin C: bell peppers, red pepper, parsley, guava, kiwi, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, persimmon, papaya, strawberry, orange, lemon, cauliflower, garlic, grapefruit, raspberry, tangerine, spinach, tomato, grape and pineapple
Vitamin E: asparagus, avocado, olives, spinach, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils and fortified cereals
Carotenoids: beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene, carrots, pumpkins, leafy green vegetables, red fruits, tomatoes, fucoxanthin and seaweed
Polyphenols: berries, teas, beer, grapes, olive oil, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, walnuts, peanuts, fruit skins, pomegranates and wine
How does this information help me live healthier?
Now that you know about free radicals and super antioxidants, you have an extra incentive to eat a well balanced diet full of colorful fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Eating healthy will not only help your body gain super antioxidants and fight free radicals, but it can also help you lose weight fast.
October 10th, 2008 -- Posted in Osteoporosis / Bone Health, Physical Health |
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Essential for life in higher animals, vitamin D, once linked to only bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, is now recognized as a major player in contributing to overall human health, emphasizes UC Riverside’s Anthony Norman, an international expert on vitamin D.
In a paper published in the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Norman identifies vitamin D’s potential for contributions to good health in the adaptive and innate immune systems, the secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, the heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity. In addition, access to adequate amounts of vitamin D is believed to be beneficial towards reducing the risk of cancer.
Norman also lists 36 organ tissues in the body whose cells respond biologically to vitamin D. The list includes bone marrow, breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus.
According to Norman, deficiency of vitamin D can impact all 36 organs. Already, vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle strength decrease, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal, prostate and breast and other major cancers.
“It is becoming increasingly clear to researchers in the field that vitamin D is strongly linked to several diseases,” said Norman, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and of biomedical sciences who has worked on vitamin D for more than 45 years. “Its biological sphere of influence is much broader than we originally thought. The nutritional guidelines for vitamin D intake must be carefully reevaluated to determine the adequate intake, balancing sunlight exposure with dietary intake, to achieve good health by involving all 36 target organs.”
Vitamin D is synthesized in the body in a series of steps. First, sunlight’s ultraviolet rays act on a precursor compound in skin. When skin is exposed to sunlight, a sterol present in dermal tissue is converted to vitamin D, which, in turn, is metabolized in the liver and kidneys to form a hormone. It was Norman’s laboratory that discovered, in 1967, that vitamin D is converted into a steroid hormone by the body.
The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old and 600 IU for people over 70 years old. Norman’s recommendation for all adults is to have an average daily intake of at least 2000 IU.
“To optimize good health you must have enough vitamin D,” he said. “Vitamin D deficiency is also especially of concern in third world countries that have poor nutritional practices and religious customs that require the body to be covered from head to toe. Ideally, to achieve the widest frequency of good health by population, we need to have 90 percent of the people with adequate amounts of vitamin D.”
About half of the elderly in North America and two-thirds of the rest of the world are not getting enough vitamin D to maintain healthy bone density, lower their risks for fracture and improve tooth attachment.
“There needs to be a sea change by various governmental agencies in terms of the advice they present to citizens about how much vitamin D should be taken,” Norman said. “The tendencies of people to live in cities where tall buildings block adequate sunlight from reaching the ground, to spend most of their time indoors, to use synthetic sunscreens that block ultraviolet rays, and to live in geographical regions of the world that do not receive adequate sunlight all contribute to the inability of the skin to biosynthesize sufficient amounts of vitamin D.”
Found in minute amounts in food, vitamins are organic substances that higher forms of animals need to grow and sustain normal health. Vitamins, however, are not synthesized in sufficient amounts to meet bodily needs. Therefore, the body must acquire them through diet or in the form of supplements.
Because it is found in very few foods naturally, milk and other foods (often orange juice) are fortified with vitamin D.
While deficiency of vitamin D impacts health negatively, ingestion of extremely high doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, a condition in which the blood’s calcium level is above normal. The highest daily ‘safe’ dose of vitamin D is 10,000 IU.
“More than ever we need to increase the amount of research on vitamin D, with more funding from government agencies and pharmaceutical companies, to meet the challenge of preserving or improving the health of everyone on the planet,” Norman said.
Norman is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Ernst Oppenheimer Award from the Endocrine Society; the Mead Johnson Award and the Osborne and Mendel Award from American Institute of Nutrition; and the William F. Neuman Award from the American Society of Bone & Mineral Research. He is a fellow of the American Association Advancement Science as well as the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.
A grant he received in the late 1960s from the National Institutes of Health to study vitamin D has been renewed consecutively for 41 years, totaling more than $9 million.
Source: http://www.info.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1938
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October 5th, 2008 -- Posted in Physical Health, lose weight fast |
What is fucoxanthin?
People lose weight fast with fucoxanthin, an ingredient found in seaweed that naturally reduces fat by increasing your metabolic rate. Fucoxanthin is a compound that is found naturally in red, green and brown seaweed, all of which is commonly used in Asian foods like sushi and miso soup. As you age your metabolism gets slower and normal dieting doesn’t give you the results you expect anymore. Fucoxanthin is an easy way to lose weight fast.
Does fucoxanthin help you lose weight fast?
Although it is known that fucoxanthin studies have shown to be effective for fast weight loss in animal studies, there have been recent studies done on human subjects that also showed this. There have been recent studies in both humans and animals that showed taking fucoxanthin supplements helps to reduce body weight as well as significant losses in visceral fat, decrease in liver and abdominal fat, and an increase in energy expenditure. Subjects taking the fucoxanthin supplements lost an average of 14 pounds, 11 pounds more than the placebo group. There are numerous studies being conducted on both humans and animals to determine the efficacy of fucoxanthin for fast weight loss, but also for its other benefits which includes being a super antioxidant.
What are the other effects of fucoxanthin?
Fucoxanthin, as a carotenoid it helps to protect cells from the damage done by free radicals. Studies have also shown that fucoxanthin promotes the creation of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. Fucoxanthin has been shown to decrease insulin and blood glucose levels, an anti-diabetes effect, in animal studies. Scientists believe that this is because it promotes DHA production. The omega-3 fatty acid DHA is the healthy substance that is found in fish oil and fish like salmon.
Weight-loss tips:
Healthy weight loss should be taken at a conservative pace, with drastic starvation diets and other unhealthy tactics to be avoided. Fucoxanthin can be used to aid healthy fast weight loss in combination with eating a healthy balanced diet and normal exercise.
A good way to keep yourself motivated for fast weight loss is by keeping track of your progress with a weight loss chart.
Everyone wants to lose weight fast, but keeping that weight off should be the ultimate goal. Keeping a regular exercise routine with at least thirty minutes of cardio everyday will help you keep in shape. Using supplements like fucoxanthin can give you that extra bump and motivation to continue eating healthy and working out regularly.
You should also identify unhealthy foods in your diet that you can eliminate in order to maximize long-term results. Choosing less-fatty foods and increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables and fiber in your diet can go a long way. Calorie-counting on a daily basis isn’t entirely necessary, but identifying high-calorie items that are consumed on a regular basis like sodas or juices with your lunch can help you find the reason for that 5 or 10 pound gain in weight. Small changes in your diet and daily habits can result in large losses in fat and weight loss.
