Mothers-to-be can decrease their child's risk of asthma by simply taking fish oil.  In 1990 researchers gave one group of expecting mothers 2.7 grams of omega-3's from fish oil, and gave another group olive oil.  They began giving the oils when the mothers were at 30 weeks duration.  The children were then followed until they were 16 in 2006.  At that time, the rate of asthma was 63% less in the children of the mothers who took fish oil, and the rate of allergic asthma was 87% less!

Most American are deficient in omega-3's.  These beneficial fats form a large part of the structure of our brains and nervous system, benefit out cardiovascular system, our immune system, and are a potent anti-inflammatory.  It is crucial that we supply these necessary cellular component to children in the womb--fully 60% of the dry weight of an infant's brain should be omega-3 fat!  Read more on omega's in this Article, read more on developing a healthy immune system here.  Buy omega-3's for adults here, and for children here.

Read the study here.

I've written in the past about the traditional Chinese supplement, Chinese Red Yeast Rice.  A new study has shown that this natural remedy decreases the risk of "major coronary events" (ie. heart attacks) by 50%! 

The authors stated that "The decrease in these events found in the present study appears to exceed those reported with statin monotherapy in a similar trial of Western patients enrolled in the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events and other statin trials."  In other words, Chinese Red Yeast Rice works better than the statins.  High dose, purified fish oil (available in my store) also works better than statins.

If you are at risk for heart disease, talk to your holistic doctor about using fish oil and red yeast rice--it could save your life! 

Read about the study here. 

You can read more about Red Yeast Rice in my article on the topic—click here. 

You can read more about fish oil and heart disease here.  

Read more on the side effects/down side of statins on my cholesterol page here. 

There has been a huge body of research in the past decade as to the relationship between the circulatory system and depression.  Here's what we know:

• There is a strong relationship between heart disease and depression.
• Inflammation is strongly related to depression.
• Many supplements that are good for circulation/inflammation are also helpful with depression, especially fish oil.

There are two reasons that come to mind for these relationships:

1. A poor circulatory system causes poor blood flow to the brain and more "silent infarcts".  It is actually considered normal now to have many small areas of dead brain tissue on MRI!  I have had several patients bring in brain MRI's showing these multiple infarcts with the explanation "my doctor said it is normal with aging."  The only reason its considered normal is that it happens to most Americans.  This line of reasoning could leave one to believe that being fat, having heart disease, and being depressed is "normal".  When your brain is less active, it becomes less effective at inhibiting, or "turning down" your sympathetic, or "fight or flight" system.  This can lead to chronic stress and depression.
2. A poorly functioning circulatory system and inflammation go hand in hand.  For regular readers, you know that the root of heart disease is inflammation, not cholesterol, and that fish oil (a potent anti-inflammatory) is helpful in the treatment of virtually all degenerative disease (read my article on omega-3's ).  Inflammatory chemicals have receptors in your brain that promote "sickness behavior"--this means lying in bed and being generally cranky.  This occurs so that if you have an injury that is undergoing an inflammatory process you'll engage in behaviors that help you to heal.  With chronic inflammation, however, the end-result is depression.

So here's what you can do with this information:

• Learn to avoid inflammatory foods and use a high dose fish oil like the one in my store (read more on how and why here).
• Exercise--putting demand on your system is necessary to improve your circulatory system--read more on my exercise page.
  
• Use potent brain antioxidants--read my Antioxidant article to find out how to do this safely.
• See your chiropractor--chiropractic adjustments affect your nervous system to produce balance.  It has been show that chiropractic can reduce inflammatory chemicals in your body, reduce blood pressure, and promote balance in your brain.

A new paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that data on antidepressants was grossly manipulated.  The researchers tracked all the studies, published and unpublished, on antidepressants such as prozac and paxil, to find out if outcomes affected publication. 

Prior to this new paper, it appeared that antidepressants held significant advantages over placebo treatments.  It was found however, that 86% of the studies that were negative were never published!  This is contrasted with 94% of the positive studies being published!  The researchers found that when all the results were accounted for, the drugs only held a slight benefit over placebo.

Recall the Marcia Angel, the former editor in chief at the New England Journal of Medicine quit her job and wrote a disturbing book about how drug companies misrepresent the efficacy of their products—the book is called The Truth About the Drug Companies, and I highly recommend you read it!

Here’s what you do with this data:  Remember that for some people antidepressants are effective—the problem is that this population is probably only about 10% of those currently taking them.  Also remember these things:

·        5-HTP, an amino acid precursor to serotonin is very effective for many people, without the side effects of the drug.  It’s available in my store.

·        Exercise is very important in overcoming depression.  The parts of your brain that make serotonin and dopamine (whose balance is essential for healthy mood) receive a great deal of input from you cerebellum—the part of your brain that processes movement.  Regular exercise “fires up” the cerebellum, and the cerebellum in turn helps stimulate healthy levels of serotonin and dopamine.

·        Omega 3’s are essential for healthy brain chemistry—read more in the omega-3 article.  An excellent omega-3 product is available in my store.

·        Stress reduction is vitally important in overcoming and preventing depression—visit my stress reduction page for techniques, inspiration, and information.

Last, if you would like to read a scary book about side-effects of antidepressants written by a Harvard psychiatrist, check out Glenmullen’s Prozac Backlash.

Link to the study here. 

Link to a write up in the New York Times here. 

Another study touts the benefits of pregnant mothers supplementing with omega-3’s.  The study compared the cognitive abilities of children whose mothers either did or did not supplement with omega-3’s while pregnant.  At 9 months of age, the children whose mother’s supplemented with omega-3’s were much better problem solvers than the children whose mothers did not.

Remember that the dry weight of a healthy newborn’s brain is 60% DHA—an omega-3 fatty acid.  Most mothers are deficient in omega-3’s, and their babies’ brains are at a disadvantage before they are even born.  In addition, the mother is further depleted of her omega-3’s by the time the baby is born—a circumstance that may play a role in post-partum depression.

Read more about omega-3’s here.   Purchase an excellent omega-3 product here.

Read the study here.

Recent research shows that curcumin, a component of turmeric, may benefit people who suffer from scleroderma.  Scleroderma is a disorder where the body produces excessive amounts of connective tissue called collagen.  This fibrous tissue builds up in the skin and other organs and can disrupt their function.  Researchers in South Carolina found that curcumin causes cell death in scleroderma lung fibroblasts--the cells that produce too much collagen in the lungs, but not in normal fibroblasts.  This means that the herb interferes with the "bad" fibroblasts, but not the normal ones.

The researchers concluded "curcumin may have therapeutic value in treating scleroderma".  This is especially appealing as a treatment modality because curcumin is extremely non-toxic and is beneficial for a host of other disorders including many cancers, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

Many people with scleroderma also suffer from Raynaud's syndrome, and can greatly benefit from taking a high quality omega-3 supplement--read more on Raynaud's and omega-3's here. 

Read the study here.
 

More and more research is showing that depression may be an inflammatory illness.  We know that chronic pain creates changes in the brain, that low levels of omega-3 fats are associated with depression, and that inflammatory chemicals called cytokines have receptors in the brain that can create depression.  What all of these have in common is inflammation.  Inflammation is basically a response of the immune system.  The immune system, when creating inflammation, sends signals to the brain that cause "sickness behavior"--in other words, behavior that makes you want to hide away and heal--in short, depression.

This response makes sense if we are having an inflammatory response due to a serious injury or an infection.  If we are living a lifestyle that creates chronic inflammation, however, it can result in long term depression.  Here is a link to an excellent commentary on the subject that just came out.

Here are the 4 basic things you can do to lower systemic inflammation:

1.  See a chiropractor--follow this linkto see how chiropractic rapidly lowers inflammatory cytokines.

2.  Begin taking a high quality omega-3 product--here's the best one I know of.

3.  Begin a moderate, regular exercise program--here are some tips on how.

4   Eat right!  Use the tools here to learn how.

I am constantly amazed at the power of these simple steps in eliminating depression.  If these alone don't work for you, try 5-HTP--learn more here. (NOTE: We sell a great 5-HTP product in our store.)

A new study reports that keeping your omega-3 consumption high decreases your risk of macular degeneration by over 40%!  The study, published in this month's Archives of Neurology, also found that high arachidonic acid intake increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration.  Arachidonic acid comes from eating animal products.  The problem with arachidonic acid is that the body can use it to create inflammatory compounds called eicosanoids.  Omega-3 fats from fish oil, on the other hand, are used to make anti-inflammatory compounds.  Lower levels of inflammation mean better blood flow and oxygen delivery, and that means better health for the delicate blood vessels in the eyes.  Read more about how omega-3's benefit your health in my omega-3 article.  You'll find the highest quality omega-3 products in my web store.

Read the study here. 

Regular use of fish oil greatly reduces risk of heart disease-related death.  Death is the first symptom in 1/3 of those who experience heart attack.  Fish oil not only reduces your risk of experiencing a heart attack, it greatly reduces your risk of sudden death in the event that you do suffer an attack.

Researchers recently shed more light on how fish oil decreases risk of death in the event of a heart attack.  The scientists designed a study using patients scheduled for voluntary heart surgery.  The patients either received no fish oil, 6 grams of omega-3’s form fish oil per day, flaxseed oil, or olive oil.  At the time of surgery the actual heart tissue was sampled so that the researchers could see how the muscle cells had changed.  They found that in those taking fish oil, a large amount of inflammatory fats (arachidonic acid) were replaced by healthier anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats.  Flaxseed oil yielded a much smaller increase in omega-3’s and a smaller decrease in inflammatory fats, and olive oil did not create a change.

The moral is---take your fish oil!  The very best product I have found is available in my web store and at my clinic.  Flaxseed oil will not provide the same benefits.  Olive oil is a very healthy oil, but is not a substitute for fish oil.

Read more about omega-3’s here

Read the study here.  

Getting your omega-3's is protective against breast cancer, researcher's say.  The study, done at Oregon Health and Science University, compared blood levels of fatty acids from 322 women with breast cancer to that of 1030 women without breast cancer.  They found that women without breast cancer had significantly higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA (eicosapentanoic acid).

If you would like to know know more about omega-3's, click here.

To read the abstract of the study, click here.