A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition demonstrated disease-promoting changes in liver function with consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  The authors discuss the dramatic increase in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as a direct effect of HFCS intake.  They describe the following effects on metabolism of 6 days of increased HFCS intake:

• A doubling of VLDL and total triglycerides in the liver
• An increased efficiency of turning fructose into liver fat
• A significant decrease in the ability to break down VLDL triglycerides
• A significant increase in liver fat 

In an editorial on the article the author states "One of the most remarkable medical developments over the past 3 decades is the emergence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as a public health problem in the United States and internationally. When I was a medical resident in the early 1980s, chronic liver disease was almost always due to alcohol intake, viral infection, or hepatobiliary conditions. Now, the leading cause of chronic elevations in liver enzymes in the serum is NAFLD."

HFCS is a major contributor to weight gain, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, and ultimately heart disease and diabetes.  Please note that agave necter--a popular natural sweetener, is higher in fructose than HFCS, and likely has the same effects!  Read the study here.

I've been talking a lot about vitamin D in the past few years.  New data suggests that inflammation is the culprit for the incredibly high incidence of deficiency of this nutrient.  Low levels of vitamin D have been correlated with high incidences of cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, poorly functioning immune systems, and musculoskeletal disorders.

A new study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that 2 days after knee surgery serum levels of vitamin D dropped 40%, and that three months later levels were still 20-30% below presurgery levels.  These researchers showed that this directly correlated with acute inflammation after surgery.  Surprisingly, they also found that the study participants were deficient in vitamin D before the surgery--so deficient that they had secondary hyperparathyroidism!

More research is linking vitamin D to musculoskeletal disorders.  A recent study in Headache shows that headache increases with latitude and during seasons with shorter days.  They correlated this information with evidence that vitamin D has alleviated headaches in some studies to form a hypothesis that Vitamin D deficiency plays a key role in the development of headache in some people.

Another recent study from the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Care  found " a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in patients with non-specific musculoskeletal pain, headache, or fatigue."

Inflammation is likely at the root of many cases of vitamin D deficiency, and all chronic degenerative diseases.  If your D is low, get a test that compares Arachodonic Acid to EPA--this is a sensitive test for inflammation that compares omega-6's to 3's in your body.  If this ration is off it will deplete your vitamin D and erode your health.  For more info on omega-3's in health, search my website.

The moral of the story is, get your D tested!

 For many of us life is hectic, and often the morning is when we don't take the time to do those things we need to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle--a walk, some time to ourselves, and a good breakfast.

A new study shows that skipping breakfast is detrimental to our health in many ways--read the following excerpted from the study:

"participants who skipped breakfast in both childhood and adulthood had a larger waist circumference and higher fasting insulin , total cholesterol , and LDL cholesterol  concentrations than did those who ate breakfast at both time points. Additional adjustments for diet quality and waist circumference attenuated the associations with cardiometabolic variables, but the differences remained significant. Conclusions: Skipping breakfast over a long period may have detrimental effects on cardiometabolic health. Promoting the benefits of eating breakfast could be a simple and important public health message."

Simply put, regularly skipping breakfast can make you fat, make you lose metabolic control, and eventually lead to heart disease and or diabetes.  Take the time to eat a healthy breakfast every morning.  If you're a parent take the time to instill good eating habits in your child by giving them time to enjoy breakfast before rushing out the door.

Read the study here.

A new study shows that Cocoa is beneficial to the flora of your gut.  The daily consumption of cocoa for 4-weeks significantly increased levels of bifidobacterial and lactobacilli in the gut.  These bacteria are the hallmark of healthy gut function and healthy nutrient absorption.  Additionally, high counts of these bacteria have been associated with healthy immune function.  

The researchers also saw a reduction in triglycerides (high triglycerides are associated with heart disease and diabetes), and a decrease in C-reactive protein which is a sensitive marker of inflammation associated with risk of heart attack.  Several other studies in recent years have shown that regular consumption of dark chocolate can lower blood pressure. 

I recommend getting powdered, unprocessed, unsweetened cocoa from your health food store.  It can be easily used in smoothies and sweetened with a banana or berries for a chocolaty, health giving meal!

Read the study here.

A new study demonstrates the detriments of high-heat cooking.  The study compared the effects of 2 diets--one based on "mild steam cooking", and the other on "high-temperature cooking".  The following was observed after only one month:

In comparison with the mild-steam group, the high-heat group had;

Lower insulin sensitivity (the beginning of the type 2 diabetes process)

Lower blood levels of omega-3's (read my omega-3 paper)

Lower blood levels of vitamins C and E

Higher levels of triglycerides

This study demonstrates that in addition to the quality of ingredients that you buy, how you cook your food makes a HUGE difference.  The authors of the study blame the negative effects of high-heat cooking primarily on "MRP's", which are formed as carbohydrates and amino acids interact; "Upon heat treatment of foods, a characteristic browning and taste compounds are generated by the so-called Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is any reaction between a reducing carbohydrate and an amino acid and occurs in foods during storage and heat treatment, with the rate and diversity of chemical reactions accelerating as the temperature increases. Maillard reaction products (MRPs) are chemically highly diverse and comprise taste- and flavor-active molecules and health-beneficial compounds. In contrast, potent carcinogens are also generated, such as acrylamide or heterocyclic amines."

How do you know if you are producing MRP's?  If your food is browning as you cook it, you're creating them!  Consider having a baked potato or mashed potatoes instead of hash browns, chips, and french fries, consider steaming instead of frying your vegetables, and turn your toaster down so that your bread gets warm without turning brown.

Read the abstract of the study here.

I recently wrote a paper summing up the negative effects of vitamin C supplements.  This morning I read a new study on vitamin C and cataracts.  The study found that women age 65 and up who supplement with vitamin C has a 38% increased risk for developing cataracts!

Eat food!  That is the secret to optimum nutrition.  Supplements should be food based.  Taking labratory produced antioxidants to try and substitute for nature's bounty just doesn't work. 

Read the study here.

There has been a tremendous amount of research on the natural compound icariin in recent years.  The substance is usually isolated from Horny Goat Weed (what a name) also known as yin yang huo.  I'll highlight the research by category here:

Osteoporosis

Several studies indicate that icariin both stimulates the growth of new bone, and slows the destruction of old bone.  As a result a recent 2-year study on menopausal women showed that using the supplement increased bone mass in the hip and low back by 1.6 and 1.3 percent, where as the placebo group lost bone by 1.8 and 2.4 percent.  These percentages make a big difference in fracture risk.  Several other studies in rats have further demonstrated the benefits of icariin.

Alzheimer's

New research in rats shows that icariin improves learning and memory in rat-models of Alzheimer's.  Author's in one of these studies concluded "In the space probing test, icariin increased remarkably the searching time and searching distance in the quadrant where the platform was originally located. All tests indicated icariin improved the ability of spatial learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease model rats."

Stroke

Rats supplemented with icariin and deprived of oxygen have less damage than non-supplemented rats.  Icariin improved blood flow, decreases oxidative "collateral damage" after a stroke, and promotes acetylcholine-- a neurotransmitter tightly linked to memory.  Read the study.

The strong, consistent research on this herb in building bone and protecting the brain, as well as an excellent safety profile, make it worth giving a try for individuals with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

 I recently posted an article on the benefits of vitamin D, and the recent realization that a high percentage of people are deficient.  Research is showing that among other functions, vitamin D has the ability to up-regulate and down-regulate genes.  In other words, when we have suboptimal levels of vitamin D our genes are not turned and off appropriately.  Genes are used to create proteins which are the building blocks of nearly everything in our body--from our structure (bone, ligament, tendon, etc) to neurotransmitters, hormones, blood, etc.  

This wide range of effects translates a host of problems linked to vitamin D deficiency including poor immune function, less vitality, and decreased athletic function.   Specific to athletic function, a recent New York Times article highlighted the following:

"In one of the studies, four Russian sprinters were doused with artificial, ultraviolet light. Another group wasn’t. Both trained identically for the 100-meter dash. The control group lowered their sprint times by 1.7 percent. The radiated runners, in comparison, improved by an impressive 7.4 percent." (**note that ultraviolet light causes the formation of vitamin D).

"when researchers tested the vertical jumping ability of a small group of adolescent athletes, Larson-Meyer says, “they found that those who had the lowest levels of Vitamin D tended not to jump as high,” intimating that too little of the nutrient may impair muscle power. Low levels might also contribute to sports injuries, in part because Vitamin D is so important for bone and muscle health. In a Creighton University study of female naval recruits, stress fractures were reduced significantly after the women started taking supplements of Vitamin D and calcium."

I highly recommend having your vitamin D level checked with your next blood work.  If it is low supplement with 2,000IU of vitamin D for 6 weeks and recheck.  With my family I have everyone supplement with about 1,000IU for about three weeks, then we take about a three week break.  WE also get plenty of sunshine!  If you are local, I have an excellent product in my office.

Vitamin D has been getting a lot of press lately, and rightly so.  If your read my blog you know that supplementing with some vitamins increases your chance of disease--specifically, supplemental vitamin C has been shown to increase cancer and cardiovascular death, vitamin E increases death rates in smokers, and vitamin A is toxic at high levels.  Vitamin D, however, is coming out looking like a gem--supplementation boosts the immune system, builds bone, decreases cancer, gives resistance to the flu, and decreases death rates significantly (read this study).

Further, we now know that vitamin D requirements are higher than we once thought.   New research shows that "the actual observations in both younger and older adults show that to ensure the goal of a vitamin D of 80 nmol/L in almost all adults, 100 mcg/d is required."  This dosage in I.U. (which is how most vitamin D supplements are labled), is 4,000 I.U.

For these reasons I now carry an excellent vitamin D supplement in my office.  In addition to a high dose of emulsified vitamin D, it contains Cod Liver oil, Genistein, and cofactors for absorption.  Check it out!

I was amazed to see an article posing as a study recently titled "Can dietary Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Improve the Health of the Elderly?"  The article makes the case that since MSG excites taste buds and parts of the gut, it will make the elderly eat more and solve their health problems!  It is not a study, but a hypothesis.  My favorite part of the article is the financial disclosure "Supported in part by the Ajinomoto Company, a manufacturer of food and amino acids, including glutamate."  

It amazing me that journals continue to accept such industry sponsored hogwash.  Rather than focusing efforts on publishing manuscripts with the aim of advancing scientific knowledge or decreasing human suffering, scientific journals are bowing to industry.  Remember that whenever you read research that is contrary to reason, read the financial disclosure! 

MSG and aspartame are known to be potent carcinogens and brain toxins.  Additionally, research shows that MSG is bad for the liver--as evidenced by the wonderfully-titled study "Monosodium glutamate (MSG): a villain and promoter of liver inflammation and dysplasia.".

Read the rediculous abstract here.