Elevated Homocysteine Levels + If You Love Salmon This Will Scare You

[Guest guest]

Jan Jenson <vizual

 

 

 

 

 

Elevated Homocysteine Levels

 

May Affect Your Ability to Think

 

Elevated homocysteine levels, which are a risk factor for vascular disease,

are associated with a decrease in cognitive ability among the elderly.

Researchers suggest that lowering homocysteine levels with B-vitamin

supplements may provide some protection against mental decline among this

age group.

 

These findings make sense because elevated homocysteine is a marker for:

 

Vitamin B-12 deficiency

 

Folic acid deficiency

 

A deficiency of both vitamin B-12 and folic acid

 

Homocysteine is also a well-documented risk factor for cardiovascular

disease, which is related to both vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin B-12 is required for a healthy central nervous system, and up to 10

percent of patients with pernicious anemia have prominent mental symptoms,

including memory loss.

 

Both vitamin B-12 and folate are also necessary to ensure adequate

methylation by S-adenosylmethionine in the synthesis of:

 

Neurotransmitters

 

Myelin

 

Phosphatidylcholine

 

Other compounds important to the nervous system

 

Many people routinely take high-dose vitamin supplements, and folic acid is

typically in them. They also have vitamin B-12 in them, but because vitamin

B-12 is such a large molecule it is very poorly absorbed and requires

sublingual (under the tongue), injection therapy or transdermal application

for optimum absorption. Because of this, vitamin B-12 deficiency is more

likely to be a result of elevated homocysteine levels.

 

This is quite consistent with the finding that many vegetarians have

elevated homocysteine levels, since vegetarian diets are often lacking in

vitamin B-12. So one thing you can do is eat plenty of raw vegetables as

they have been shown to reduce homocysteine levels by increasing levels of

folic acid.

 

However, if you are a vegetarian you will certainly want to get very serious

about optimizing your vitamin B-12 levels. Since B-12 is readily available

in most meat, low levels are not a problem for most people until they get

older and lose the ability to make intrinsic factor to help them absorb

vitamin B-12.

 

So be sure to order our incredible Sublingual B-12 with B-6 and Folic Acid

today!

 

 

www.nutronix.com/vizual

click on products or order

 

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No Vigorous Exercise

Needed To Shed Weight

By Ed Edelson

HealthDay Reporter

 

TUESDAY, Sept. 9 (HealthDayNews) -- Studies showing that women who exercise

more and eat less lose weight hardly seem the stuff of big headlines, but

new research puts some fairly precise numbers about physical activity and

calories into the equation.

 

The new study finds women needn't engage in vigorous exercise to reap the

weight-loss benefits, provided they also watch what they eat.

 

" There is currently a controversy over the amount of exercise you need, "

says study leader John M. Jakicic, director of the University of Pittsburgh

Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center. " Some people say

this number, some people say that number. This is the first big clinical

trial to address the issue. "

 

So here are the numbers, as reported in the Sept. 10 issue of the Journal of

the American Medical Association: " If you can get people to exercise 30

minutes a day and reduce calorie intake by 20 percent, you get a reasonable

reduction in weight, " Jakicic says. " If you increase that to 60 minutes a

day, you dramatically increase weight loss. "

 

And while the effects of weight reduction on the risk of conditions such as

heart disease and diabetes are obvious, another report in the journal adds a

less well-known benefit: a lessened risk of breast cancer.

 

For those women who are not exercise-prone, the good news from the

Pittsburgh study is that a brisk 30-minute walk every day fills the bill,

Jakicic says: " While 60 minutes gives better results, 30 minutes is pretty

good. "

 

But here's the catch: Exercise alone doesn't do it. " If you do exercise

without a change in eating habits, you won't see the benefit, " Jakicic says.

 

But there is something of a bright tinge to that finding, he adds. It's the

amount, not the kind, of food you eat that matters: " It's really about the

calories. Anything you do to reduce calories is good. "

 

Those numbers come from a two-year study of 201 non-exercising, chubby

women, average age 37, average body mass index of 32.7, which translates to

a body weight of 192 pounds for someone 5-foot-4.

 

All the women were told to reduce their food intake, to between 1,200 and

1,500 calories a day, with fatty foods only 20 percent to 30 percent of the

diet. Then they had one of four exercise regimens prescribed, from vigorous

intensity/high duration to moderate intensity/moderate intensity, which

translates to a brisk 30-minute walk every day. After a year, the average

weight loss for those who worked hardest was 19.6 pounds, and for those who

did the minimum was 13.9 pounds.

 

Jakicic looks at that last number as encouraging. " It is realistic to get

overweight, sedentary women to do 30 minutes of exercise a day, " he says. On

the eating front, the recipe is simple: " Put what you normally put on your

plate, and then reduce that by 20 percent. "

 

The benefit of exercise in reduced risk of breast cancer is outlined in a

study by Dr. Anne McTiernan and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer

Research Center in Seattle. It is a big study, looking at exercise patterns

of more than 74,000 women.

 

Again, a good benchmark was a daily brisk walk, adding up to between 75 and

150 minutes a week. Women who walked that much lowered their breast cancer

risk by 18 percent, compared to women who did no exercise. More vigorous

exertion, up to 10 hours of walking a week, reduced the risk slightly more.

Starting exercise early in life gave the most benefit, but women of all ages

benefited -- and the greatest benefits were found in the thinnest women.

 

This is not startling news, says Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, associate

director of the National Cancer Institute applied research program, because

a review published last year found more than two dozen studies showing

" convincing evidence that physical activity protects against breast cancer. "

 

But one reason why this new study is important is that it provides evidence

that exercise at any age is good, she says: " Many women between the ages of

50 and 79 saw benefits. "

 

The mechanisms of protection appear clear, says Dr. I-Min Lee, an associate

professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who wrote an accompanying

editorial.

 

" Weight reduction favorably alters estrogen levels in the body, " Lee says.

" It also affects insulin and growth factor levels. "

 

 

Eating and exercising are inextricably intertwined, she adds: " If you are

willing to cut your food intake a bit more, you may not have to exercise

more. "

 

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If You Love Salmon This Will Scare You

 

 

Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, salmon is one of the healthiest foods you

can eat. Or is it? The Environmental Working Group has issued a scary report

indicating that farm-raised salmon--but not the kind that is fished out of

streams and rivers--is contaminated with high levels of cancer-causing

chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls, more commonly known as PCBs,

report Reuters and The New York Times.

 

EWG purchased and tested salmon filets from 10 different grocery stores in

Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. Seven of the 10

filets contained high levels of PCBs. " These first-ever tests of farmed

salmon from U.S. grocery stores show that farmed salmon are likely the most

PCB-contaminated protein source in the U.S. food supply, " the non-profit

environmental investigative group said in a prepared statement.

 

We eat a lot of salmon. About one-quarter of all adult Americans--that would

be 52 million people--eat salmon and about 23 million of those eat it more

than once a month. " Based on these data we estimate that 800,000 people face

an excess lifetime cancer risk...from eating farmed salmon. "

 

EWG found that farmed salmon had 16 times the PCBs found in wild salmon,

four times the levels in beef, and 3.4 times the levels found in other

seafood. The New York Times notes that while the PCB levels in salmon are

high, they do not exceed those set in 1984 by the FDA for commercially sold

fish; however, they do exceed the guidelines set by the Environmental

Protection Agency in 1999 for recreationally caught fish. Although this

study by EWG has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal, the findings

are supported by other studies done in Canada, Ireland, and Britain--all of

which has forced the hand of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which

will now review the problem.

 

What are PCBs? They come from hydraulic fluids and oils, electrical

capacitors, and transformers. They are carcinogenic because they are

endocrine disrupters, which are chemicals that mimic hormones. PCBs can also

cause infertility and other sexual changes. Because of this, PCBs have been

banned in the United States since 1976 except when they are used in

completely enclosed areas. Still, they persist in the environment and animal

fat. Farmed salmon are raised in high-density fish pens in what may be a

pristine environment, but they are fed fishmeal from around the world. And

that fishmeal is contaminated with PCBs. While the omega-3 fatty acids in

salmon are healthy for us, they also provide a place for the PCBs to build

up.

 

What do the salmon farmers think of all this? An organization called Salmon

of the Americas represents 80 salmon farmers in the United States, Canada,

and Chile. Its spokesman says that until the farmers hear differently,

they'll continue to follow the FDA regulations, rather than the more strict

EPA regulations. " We assume they know what they are doing, and the

regulations and levels they have promulgated mean that the food, including

farmed salmon, is safe, wholesome, and nutritious. EPA and FDA should work

their differences out, " Alex Trent, acting director of Salmon of the

Americas told the Times. " When and if the FDA changes its limits, we will be

the first to comply. Someone is yelling fire in a theater to help make their

point, and they haven't proven this point to the FDA yet. If they had, they

would change their standards. "

 

Based on the results of this study and EPA recommendations, the New York

Times advises consumers to eat farmed salmon no more than once a month.