SUBJECT: Reading notes for Oct 2014
Lots of highlights from additional reading I have done in the past 2 months:
I. Journal of the American Aging Association, October 2014
1. Exercise improves cognition – Different exercise programs targeting physical fitness and/or gross motor skills may lead to equivalent improvement in cognition in healthy older adults.
2. Melatonin is anti-inflammatory – These findings support the potential therapeutic role of melatonin and oestradiol as protective anti-inflammatory agents for the central nervous system during menopause.
3. Reservatrol benefits the heart – Resveratrol treatment improves the beneficial effects of exercise training in aging rat hearts.
4. Curcumin improves your energy – Curcumin can not only correct a key step in the citric acid cycle and help in the release of additional energy but also permanently correct developmental and morphogenetic processes.
II. From AARP Oct 2014 Health Shots
1. Eat fish, not fried – Healthy older adults who ate baked or broiled fish, but not fried, in a 10 year study had more gray matter for memory and cognition.
2 . Take vitamin D for your brain – Among 1,700 adults over 65 followed 6 years, those with the lowest vitamin D had a 53% increased risk for dementia and a 70% high risk of Alzheimer’s.
3. Take daily baby or triweekly adult aspirin to reduce risk of cancer – Adults age 50 to 65 who have taken a daily aspirin for 5 years have much lower risks of colon, stomach, or esophageal cancer.
4. Lone star tick bite enforces No Fours Diet – Now there’s the lone star tick that injects a sugar which causes severe swelling of the tongue if you eat red meat!
III. From Sci Am Mind pg73; Nov.Dec 2014 – Online tests offered by Luminosity do not improve brain function.
IV. Reader questions:
1. Soy concern – Reader: Most of your cited nutrition studies are OK, but Soy has many down sides in female mimic hormones and I rarely recommend it. Better to drink whole or raw milk.
Roc’s reply: Soy has been quite controversial. But all I do in Nutrition Investigator is report the latest research reports. There is also substantial disagreement within the research community about the pros and cons of soy. From my readings, the majority is now clearly pro soy, that soy users have much lower risk of breast cancer. You might check out my soy webpage with details.
2. Unclear if one should use chondroitin, glucosamine, and cartilage supplements for arthritis – Reader: There are a few products and/or regimes out there which anecdotally are said to regenerate cartilage, even in the knee. The Univera line is one such regime. My question is, what can you say about Univera; and what do you have to say about the possibility of regenerating cartilage? I’d heard about 30 yrs ago that natural Vit E may also do that. Thank you and good wishes to you!
Dear Reader, I was associated with Rush Medical School biochem dept for decades, and it is the top cartilage/arthritis department on earth – Chair Klaus Kuettner edited annual updates on cartilage book for everyone. My former student was top researcher at the Dept. spinoff trying to solve cartilage damage. Current major hope is stem cell therapy.
Here’s the Univera advertisement. RegeniCARE®is a powerful combo of therapeutic ingred. formulated to restore total joint health.Promotes joint comfort (Protectin™)Helps joint lubrication (Chondroitin & MSM) Aids in regenerating & renewing cartilage (Glucosamine sulfate)includes an award-winning,internationally patented compound Protectin that has been shown in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials to significantly improve joint comfort & flexibility.
I searched award-winning,internationally patented compound Protectin, found nothing but advertisements.
MY RESEARCH: Glucosamine and chrondroitin can be purchased from many suppliers, are themselves somewhat expensive. Though there is no biochemical basis for believing they will work, because your body makes them readily without supplements, nonetheless clinical trials show that about 50% of people who use them for a month report some benefit. For those individuals, it may be worthwhile. If within a month there is no benefit, further use does not help.
1. My website arthritis comments
2. glucosamine appears to be safe – Glucosamine Supplementation Accelerates Early but Not Late Atherosclerosis in LDL Receptor–Deficient Mice J. Nutr. 2006 -” Glucosamine, commonly consumed for the treatment of osteoarthritis, is classified as a nutritional supplement; however, there are few data regarding its metabolic or vascular effects. Glucosamine is a component of the hexosamine pathway, which has been implicated in the development of insulin resistance. ..Thus, glucosamine supplementation appears to be safe, with no adverse vascular consequences.”
– Roc, Nutrition Investigator
*To be added or removed from the nutrition research Email List . *To review the disclaimer. *To ask Roc a question. Seeing the interdependent nature of the rest of the universe, Siddhartha saw the empty nature of all phenomena-that all things are empty of a separate, isolated self. – Old Path, White Clouds
