Vitamin B6 Deficit Promotes Inflammation, Heart Disease and Cognitive Decline

As cardiovascular disease continues to take the lives of millions of unsuspecting individuals worldwide, a continual stream of scientific evidence is emerging to show that many who suffer from this illness could be spared by relatively simple dietary and lifestyle interventions. Prior studies have shown that low vitamin B6 (pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PLP)) status are the root cause behind most inflammatory diseases, including cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and diabetes and new research indicates that vitamin B6 and B12 deficiencies are linked to cognitive decline and depression.

Researchers reporting in The Journal of Nutrition from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston have now provided conclusive evidence that low levels of vitamin B6 significantly increases the risk for diseases mediated by systemic inflammation, with special emphasis on the leading cause of mortality in the US, cardiovascular disease. Including natural foods such as leafy greens (spinach and kale), seeds and nuts to your diet may go a long way to cut the risks associated with heart disease, loss of cognition and early death.

Vitamins B6 and B12 are essential to prevent cognitive decline and depression

Researchers examined 2,229 men and women as part of the Framingham Offspring study and found that those individuals with the lowest plasma levels of vitamin B6, experienced the highest rise in circulating inflammatory markers. The study monitored 13 individual inflammatory markers, including interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha and intercellular adhesion molecule-1, each known to be an independent risk factor in increased risk of inflammation and cardiovascular disease in particular.

Additional evidence supporting the importance of B vitamins is presented in The Journal of Nutrition to demonstrate that both vitamin B6 and B12 are essential to prevent cognitive decline and team together to provide natural relief from depression. Prior studies have demonstrated that supplementation with both B vitamins lowers damaging levels of the amino acid homocysteine and are associated with improvements in a range of mental tests including global cognition and spatial memory.

Using questionnaires to assess dietary and health factors, researchers analyzed the data to determine that low vitamin B12 concentrations were associated with higher scores to assess degree of depression and low B6 status related to poor mental status, a measure of cognitive abilities. The full spectrum of B vitamins are essential to energy metabolism in the human body and the latest research confirms that a well-balanced diet and daily supplementation can help prevent a range of chronic, debilitating conditions including heart disease, dementia and depression.

Sources for this article include:

http://jn.nutrition.org
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Prevention/33532
http://jn.nutrition.org
http://www.nutraingredients.com

Gluten Allergy, Celiac Disease and Weight Loss

April is Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness month. One of the conditions associated in some people with IBS is Gluten allergy. It is a highly under-diagnosed condition, therefore worth spreading public awareness about it. Gluten is a Protein, which can be found in Wheat, Barley, and Rye. The disease associated with gluten intolerance or allergy is called Celiac disease.

Celiac disease is an inflammatory condition of the small intestine that affects some people with genetic predisposition. The inflammationi damages the mucosa of the small intestine, which results in a lot of the symptoms and deficiencies associated with gluten allergy. About a third of Caucasians are genetically predisposed to Celiac disease, but not all of them get Celiac disease. Usually avoidance and exclusion of Gluten resolves symptoms of Celiac disease.

Women are twice as likely to be affected and diagnosed with Celiac disease than men. Some autoimmune conditions like Type-1 Diabetesi, Sjogern's disease, lupus, thyroid disease and some adrenal diseases (Addison's disease) are also associated with Celiac disease. People who have Down's syndrome also have a high chance of having Celiac disease.

People classically are present with symptoms of diarrhea, weight loss, iron deficiency anemia, lactose intolerance, frequent constipation, severe abdominal pain and obstruction, vomiting, and infertility. Chronic gluten intolerance results in osteoporosisi and iron deficiency anemia mainly due to poor absorption of minerals and vitamins like Calcium, Vitamin D, and iron from the gut. However, unless gluten is excluded, taking vitamins or minerals won't result in reversing the disease or brittle bones.

Gluten Allergy can be diagnosed through blood tests, endoscopy with biopsy of the duodenal mucosa, and genetic testing. However, if you're already on a gluten free diet, genetic testing is the only test, which will show Gluten allergy.

If you have celiac disease, lifelong avoidance of gluten is strongly recommended. Also you need to have your levels of vitamins and minerals like Vitamin D, B12, folic acid, zinc and copper checked frequently. There are a lot of support groups for people with Celiac disease and gluten allergy as well as a general public awareness and availability of Gluten free products in a lot of mainstream supermarkets. Visiting a dietitian and/or a physician who has expertise dealing with people with Celiac disease is also highly effective.

If you have any of the symptoms above, please make an appointment to get tested for Gluten sensitivity. If you are not on a Gluten free diet, Celiac disease can be diagnosed through a blood test.

If you are suffering from the symptoms above and find yourself eating less, but still not losing the weight we have 9 tips and suggestions for you.
Here are some Tips to help you out:

1. Get enough Sleep at night.

Sleeping about 5-6 hours per night is necessary to make sure that your metabolism won't slow down due to hormonal imbalance. Also when you are sleepy you crave more food especially sugary ones.

2. Count the protein intake per meal.

Eating salad doesn't give you enough calories, so you will get hungry soon. Or if you stuck up your plate with blue cheese and candied walnut you probably will have as much calorie as a burger with fries.

Make sure to have a 3-4 oz. of lean protein with each meal to prevent your craving for sugar and carbohydrate. Protein digestion will help your body to use the energy and burn some fat.

3. Too much exercise is not the answer.

No.In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3500 calorie which can be very time consuming and ineffective, so we should focus on having a daily regimen of 75% good nutrition and 25% exercise to lose weight properly.

4. Refrain from Eating a lot of high-calorie health nuts?

Just because something is healthy it doesn't mean that you can eat a lot of it. Changing from white bread to whole wheat, Butter to Olive oil, chips to nuts are good, but portion control is important since these are all high-calorie substitutes.

5. Do not eat too early in the evening.

It's good to eat less food in the evening, but if a person eat at 6pm, and go to bed at 11pm they might have to be careful about the calorie intake after dinner. The body might crave food after 3-4 hours. So no matter how late you eat your dinner try to have less than 30% of your calorie intake after 7pm.

6. Eat snacks in between your meals.

To keep your metabolism at its peak you have to take something every 3to 4 hours.

7. Keep a food diary.

Study shows that most of the people who keep diary about their daily food intake will lose weight faster, since they're more aware of what they put in their body.

8. Eat a full, protein rich Breakfast.

Study shows that people who eat breakfast have a healthier weight. When you skip breakfast your body goes to starvation mode, and as a result your metabolism slows down.

9. Put the apron on, and start cooking in your own kitchen.

Restaurant meals have a lot of hidden calories; try to eat half of your order if you must have eat out; otherwise try healthy simple recipe's at home where you can reduce the amount of hidden calories from your meal.

Panthea Shafipour is a general practioner for Wellesley Medical in Los Angeles, CA. We also have nutritionists, nutrition consultants and physicians at our weight loss clinic.

Article by : Panthea Shafipour, Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Panthea_Shafipour

ACL Injuries May be More Common in Men

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite research suggesting women's knees are more prone to ligament injuries, a new Swedish study finds that men in that country have a greater number of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, and surgeries to fix them, than do Swedish women.

The report, published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, is the first to count ACL injuries across the entire Swedish population - not just among players of particular sports, or in certain regions - which may help explain the findings, according to the authors.

"I think the difference is that earlier studies studied at-risk populations. In those studies, women are more prone to get injured. The difference with this study is that we studied the general population," said Dr. Richard Nordenvall, of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

The ACL is the key stabilizing ligament in the knee, and is most often injured during sports that involve quick turns or pivoting movements, like basketball, soccer and skiing. It has been estimated that 80,000 cruciate ligament injuries (the majority, ACL) occur in the U.S. every year, and almost half are surgically repaired.
Data for Sweden was incomplete, so Nordenvall and his colleagues used a nationwide database of patients to see how many Swedes had knee ligament injuries and how many had surgical repairs between 2002 and 2009.

Overall, 56,659 people in Sweden tore a knee ligament during the study period. The researchers say that works out to an average of 78 tears for every 100,000 Swedish citizens.

Men accounted for about 34,000 of those tears, or 60 percent. Men also had 59 percent of the reconstructive surgeries associated with knee ligament injuries.

Swedish women tended to experience ACL injuries at a younger age (between ages 11 and 20, versus 21-30 for men).

When Nordenvall and his colleagues looked just at the age groups with the highest injury rates, men still had far more knee troubles. The numbers worked out to about 144 tears per 100,000 women between 11 and 20 years old, and 225 tears per 100,000 men aged 21-30.

Darin Padua, director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he was not surprised by the findings.

The evidence that women are more prone to ACL injuries is fairly specific to sports, not to the general population, explained Padua, who was not involved in the new research.

No one can say for certain why women seem to tear their knee ligaments earlier in life compared to men, Padua added, but he said it probably has to do with the body's development and movement patterns.

What was uniform among both men and women in the Swedish study was the number who had surgery to reconstruct their ligaments. About 36 percent of men and women opted for reconstruction.

Those who chose surgery, however, tended to be younger - about 27 years old, on average - than those who didn't and whose average age was 35.

Padua said that's to be expected since not everyone needs their knee ligament repaired. He told Reuters Health that people who need surgery are the ones who will likely play sports - like basketball or tennis - in the future.

Typically, the cost of surgical repair on an ACL ranges between $6,000 and $8,000 in the Unites States.

For Nordenvall, the next step is to see what happens in those who have surgery.

"I am right now studying if reconstruction of the cruciate ligament prevents development of osteoarthritis," he told Reuters Health.

But he said it's important for people to know how common the injury is.

"It's a common injury and it's more common than what has been thought of earlier," he said.

Padua noted this study also helps to illustrate the point that both men and women should be taking part in injury prevention programs, many of which are accessible online, including one available for free on the University of North Carolina's Web site (http://bit.ly/PeLO29).

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MXMvbC American Journal of Sports Medicine, online June 8, 2012.

Smoking Tied to One Type of Skin Cancer

Smoking may not only cause wrinkles and sagging skin, it might also increase your risk of one type of skin cancer, researchers suggest in a new report.

Studies have linked smoking to a long list of health effects, including heart disease and lung cancer, but the evidence has been mixed for skin cancer.

More than 3.5 million cases of the disease are found every year in the U.S., making it the most common of all cancers. While the two main forms -- basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma -- are rarely deadly, researchers say they are on the rise.

In a new study, Fiona Bath-Hextall of the University of Nottingham in England and colleagues pooled the available evidence on the link between tobacco and basal and squamous cell cancers, which start in the outer layer of the skin.

Based on 14 previous studies, smokers didn't appear to have higher rates of basal cell cancer. But they did have a 52-percent increase in their risk of squamous cell cancer, based on six studies that varied in size, duration and design.

That extra risk is similar to that of ultraviolet radiation, the most well-known risk factor for squamous cell cancer, according to a commentary published along with the new results in the Archives of Dermatology.
But the commentary, by Dr. Joris Verkouteren and Dr. Tamar Nijsten at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, also warns that the six studies were relatively small and were not necessarily comparable.

Because all of the studies are based on observations, it's impossible to say for certain whether smoking caused the increase in skin cancer risk. While current smokers had a higher risk than former smokers, there was no link with the number of cigarettes smoked per day or how long a person had been smoking.

NO HIGHER RISK OF MELANOMA

Still, the researchers believe it's likely that tobacco causes basal cell skin cancer, and Bath-Hextall called the findings "another good reason to give up smoking."

In an email to Reuters Health, she said people should regularly check their skin for early skin cancer. She added that doctors should "actively survey" people at high risk of squamous cell cancer such as smokers.

Oddly, smokers don't seem to be at increased risk for melanoma. In fact, some studies have suggested they might even have a smaller chance of getting the disease -- although scientists are still trying to figure out if that's really true.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed expert panel, says there is too little data to balance the harms and benefits of skin cancer screening.

However, the task force recommends counseling fair-skinned children and young adults aged 10 to 24 years about cutting back on ultraviolet radiation -- whether from the sun or indoor tanning -- to reduce their risk of skin cancer.

While squamous and basal cell carcinomas are the most common skin cancer, melanoma is the deadliest, accounting for nearly 9,000 of the 12,000 or so skin cancer deaths each year in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/KxPfPY and http://bit.ly/KRAG6D Archives of Dermatology, online June 18, 2012.