Homocysteine is an amino acid, which can build up in your body and cause problems if you are deficient in folic acid, vitamin B-12, and vitamin B6.
The study reviewed here followed 2009 participants for an average of 11.95 years documenting homocysteine levels and how it affected the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke (Sun Y., et al, 2009).
The results showed that participants with blood levels of homocysteine above 9.47 micromole/L had a 2.3-fold risk for cardiovascular events and participants with homocysteine levels above 11.84 micromole/L had a 2.4-fold risk for death.
Taking a good vitamin B-Complex regularly will in most people reduce homocysteine levels.
There are some people who do not metabolize folic acid properly and would not get the same benefits from regular folic acid. They could however take a vitamin B-Complex, which also contains the metabolism of folic acid and get the benefits.
To read more about the benefits of B-vitamins, click here.
The belief has been that increased fat mass was a protective factor for osteoporosis. This has now been challenged by two studies. One was done in 2007, which included 150 females and 150 males between the ages of 13 and 21 years (Janicka A., et al, 2007).
The conclusion of this study was that the findings provided compelling evidence that despite increased mechanical loading from higher fat mass, adipose (fat) tissue is not beneficial to bone structure.
The other study was just published in July 2009 and included 677 men between the ages of 25 and 45 years (Taes YE., et al, 2009). The results documented that both total and regional fat mass were found to be inversely associated with areal bone mass and size.
The researcher concluded that increased fat mass is associated with smaller bone size, and lean mass was a consistent positive determinant of bone size.
If you follow a low glycemic index diet high in nutrients and exercise regularly, your body fat percentage will adjust to what us normal for you without you having to count calories.
You will learn how to eat that way by reading the book “Effective Nutrition for Effective Healing”, click here for more information.
Even your eyes can get protection from the food you eat.
An interesting study done over eight years and including 2924 participants documented the benefits from eating a low glycemic index diet and the essential fatty acids EPA and DHA (Chiu CJ, et al. 2009). EPA and DHA is the type of fat you find in fish and fish oil supplements. The participants in this study took supplements.
The conclusion of this study was that a lower glycemic index diet with higher intakes of EPA and DHA was associated with reduced progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration.
A low glycemic index diet is a diet that will stabilize the blood sugar at a low level instead of causing high spikes.
Excellent forms of very low glycemic carbohydrates that will stabilize the blood sugar at a good level are beans and lentils. If you want to you know more about the benefits of low glycemic meals read the book “The Food Connection’, click here.
To read more about the benefits of the omega 3 essential fatty acids EFA, DHA, click here.
It has been suggested that prostate cancer might be an aspect of the metabolic syndrome, a co ndition which includes insulin resistance, high blood pressure and weight gain. Insulin resistance means that the insulin is not as effective as it used to be in transferring the blood sugar into the cells where it can be used for energy, due to changes on the receptor sites of the cells.
Diet and exercise have shown to alter factors that slow the growth and induce apoptosis (cell death) of prostate cancer. The research reviewed here investigated why exercise and a diet low in fat and high in fiber would provide anticancer effects (Soliman S. et al. 2009, Barnard RJ. 2007)
The researchers found that the intervention slowed the growth and increased apoptosis (cell death) in prostate cancer cells and the results were associated with a reduction in serum IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor-1).
Exercise and the right diet have a health promoting effect on the growth factor IGF-1.
The researchers concluded that diet and exercise intervention might help prevent prostate cancer as well as aid in the treatment of prostate cancer during the early stages of development.
To learn more about an effective dietary approach read the book “The Food Connection”, click here.
To read original research abstracts click on the references below.
Would you spend 3 minutes, 3 days per week exercising if it gave you the same cardiovascular and metabolic benefits as exercising for 1 hour also 3 times per week?
Maybe you think this sounds too good to be true, but research has really demonstrated that to be possible.
In 2008 three studies were conducted evaluating the effects of extremely low volume high-intensity interval training on cardiovascular and metabolic changes. One study compared two groups of participants where one group did low-volume sprint interval training consisting of four to six 30 second high intensity sprints on a stationary bike, separated with 4.5 minute recovery three days per week for six weeks (Rakobowchuk M, et al, 2008). The other group did 40-60 minutes of continuous cycling of approximately 65% of capacity 5 days per week for six weeks. At completion of the study, the researchers concluded that low volume sprints interval training produced improvement in peripheral vascular structure and function comparable to endurance training.
A similar study compared 30 seconds bicycle sprints repeated four to six times with 4.5 minutes recovery between repeats three times a week with 40-60 minutes continuous cycling at a 65% workload for 5 days a week (Burgomaster KA, et al, 2008). After six weeks, this study found similar changes in mitochondrial markers for skeletal muscle carbohydrate and lipid oxidation for both protocols.
The most recent study done by another research group investigated changes in insulin sensitivity using the same protocol of high intensity interval training (Babray JA, et al 2009).
They found that the insulin sensitivity improved by 23% while aerobic cycling performance improved by 6% in only six sessions over 2 weeks.
Insulin sensitivity relates to the glucose metabolism, the more insulin sensitive you are the better it is.
Insulin resistance (low insulin sensitivity) leads to type 2 diabetes and a variety of other health problems.
Soy food contains substances called isoflavones that has both antiestrogenic and anticarcinogenic properties.
The study reviewed here investigated the association between breast cancer risk and the intake of soy food in adolescents and adults (Lee S.A., et al, 2009). Food frequency questionnaires were used and 73.223 women participated. The follow up was an average of 7.4 years.
The researchers found that adult soy food consumption, measured either by soy protein or isoflavone intake, was inversely associated with the risk of premenopausal breast cancer.
Women who consistently had a high soy food consumption during adolescence and adulthood had a significant reduced risk for breast cancer. This was however not found for postmenopausal breast cancer.
Including soy foods like tofu and roasted soy nuts in your diet seems to be a healthy thing to do. If you are using soy milk be sure it is unsweetened.
Habits that are healthy for the prostate tend to also provide other health benefits and are beneficial for the whole family if implemented.
One of the studies reviewed here investigated the association of plant foods and the impact these nutrients may have on prostate cancer risk and survival (Lewis JE, et al, 2009).
It was found that a higher intake of vegetables and fruit was beneficial. The group of participants without prostate cancer had significantly higher intakes of vegetables and fruit. Lower intake of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, folate, genistein and daidzein were reported by participants in the cancer group.
The other study reviewed here evaluated the impact of omega 3 fatty acids on prostate cancer (Fradet V, et al, 2009).
Omega 3 fatty acids decrease inflammation and the researchers found that increased intake of omega 3 fat was strongly associated with a decreased risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
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