Americans drink more than 216 liters of carbonated soft drinks each year, a number that continues to increase at an alarming rate. Many people use low-calorie diet soda in a futile effort to lose weight, yet find that these drinks have the opposite effect leading them to be overweight or obese. The high acid content in most carbonated beverages leaches calcium and other critical nutrients from the bone and tissues, significantly increasing disease risk over years of consumption.
Researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Instituteand Harvard University have reported the result of a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the first to examine soda’s affect on stroke risk and vascular diseases. Past studies have linked sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout and coronary artery disease, but current research has implicated diet soft drink consumption with increased disease risk and weight gain due to depletion of essential minerals.
Lead study author Dr. Adam Bernstein noted “Soda remains the largest source of added sugar in the diet… what we’re beginning to understand is that regular intake of these beverages sets off a chain reaction in the body that can potentially lead to many diseases, including stroke.” Researchers analyzed soda consumption among 43,371 men and 84,085 women over a time span of nearly thirty years. During that time, 2,938 strokes were documented in women while 1,416 strokes were documented in men.
Carbonated beverage consumption associated with a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack
This study emphasizes the inherent risks involved with consumption of sugar-sweetened or no-calorie soft drinks. Sweetened drinks contain high levels of glucose that lead to a rapid increase in blood glucose and insulin. Over time, this results in glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. Low and no calorie carbonated beverages contain artificial sweeteners including aspartame, known to overstimulate and excite brain neurons resulting in cellular death.
Further, artificial sweeteners of all types trick our digestive chemistry and hormone balance, leading to weight gain and metabolic instability. Diet soft drinks have also been shown to leach calcium from bones as our body attempts to compensate for the high acidic load delivered from the phosphoric acid content in the drink. The end result is higher risk of osteoporosis, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Despite the millions of dollars spent by soda marketers to instill the virtues of drinking soda, there is nothing healthy about consuming any type of carbonated beverage. Regarding low calorie drinks, researchers concluded “older adults who drank diet soda daily had a 43% increased risk of heart attack or stroke compared to those that never drank diet soda.” The study did note that drinking coffee was associated with a ten percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those drinking sweetened beverages. Substitute carbonated beverage consumption with an antioxidant packed cup of green tea or coffee to significantly reduce stroke and vascular disease risks
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More than half a million Americans received an angioplasty in 2007 (the most recent year for which data is available).
This invasive procedure involves inflating a thin balloon in a narrowed artery to crush deposits; a stent (a wire mesh tube) is often then left behind to keep the vessel open.
When used during a heart attack, an angioplasty can quickly open a blocked artery to lessen the damage to your heart, and when used in this way can be lifesaving.
However, oftentimes heart disease patients receive angioplasties even though they have not had a heart attack — a decision that goes against the latest medical guidelines and the suggestion of a new study, which found people treated using other less-invasive methods fared just as well as those who also underwent angioplasty with stents.
Angioplasty Offers “No Evidence of Benefit” Compared to Less Invasive Treatment
If you have stable heart disease, research shows that your initial treatment should usually be lifestyle changes. But less than half of heart disease patients are treated using lifestyle changes prior to undergoing angioplasty. According to an analysis of eight clinical trials involving over 7,000 people, angioplasty offers no benefit compared to less invasive treatment of heart disease.
The researchers concluded:
“Initial stent implantation for stable CAD [coronary artery disease] shows no evidence of benefit compared with initial medical therapy for prevention of death, nonfatal MI, unplanned revascularization, or angina.”
As an invasive surgery, angioplasty does come with its fair share of risks, however. Among them:
Because angioplasty does absolutely nothing to address the underlying causes of heart disease, you should know that restenosis, or a re-narrowing of your arteries, is common. This occurs in up to 40 percent of angioplasties without stents, but even with a stent the risk is still around 20 percent (or 10 percent for a drug-eluting stent). And, of course, if your artery becomes re-narrowed the surgery was all for nothing.
Along with saving yourself from the potentially life-threatening risks noted above, avoiding angioplasty will save you a hefty chunk of change. As Consumer Reports noted:
“Angioplasty is also more expensive, the authors report. They said that by following current guidelines, 76 percent of patients with stable heart disease would save approximately $9,450 each in lifetime health-care costs. Other researchers have estimated such a shift would save $6 to $8 billion a year.”
Even Drugs Can Often be Avoided for Heart Disease
The alternative treatment to angioplasty noted in the study was a combination of lifestyle changes and drugs.
” … medical guidelines have for several years said that most people who have symptoms of heart problems, such as angina (chest pain on exertion), but have not had a heart attack, should be treated with lifestyle changes and drugs first. Yet less than half of patients in that situation are treated according to these guidelines before undergoing angioplasty, research suggests,” Consumer Reports states.
This may come as a surprise, but many medications commonly prescribed to heart disease patients can also be avoided. This includes statin drugs, which are taken by millions of Americans. The majority of people who use statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are doing so because they believe lowering their cholesterol will prevent heart attacks and strokes. How many of these people do you think would continue to take them if they knew these very same drugs have been linked to decreased heart muscle function and increased risk of stroke, along with hundreds of other serious side effects?
Not very many, right?
Well, you may want to reconsider your use of statins, as a study in Clinical Cardiology found that heart muscle function was “significantly better” in the control group than in those taking statin drugs! Further, keeping your cholesterol levels higher may actually help you to prevent disease, and is not actually linked to heart disease.
For the vast majority of people, statin drugs are an unnecessary health risk you’re better off avoiding — and you definitely want to avoid the trap of taking them to lower your cholesterol. Other common heart disease medications, like high blood pressure drugs and even aspirin, do absolutely nothing to address the underlying causes of the condition.
It is rare when a drug is appropriate for treatment of a chronic condition like heart disease, but that doesn’t stop pharmaceutical companies from creating more of them. Currently, researchers are working on nearly 300 new medications for heart disease and stroke … but you likely have all the tools you need for prevention and treatment at your disposal right now.
If You Have Stable Heart Disease, Lifestyle Changes Should be Your Go-To Treatment
Most chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, are largely preventable with simple lifestyle changes. Imagine the lowered death toll, not to mention costs to the economy, if more people decided to take control of their health … heart disease and cancer alone accounted for 47 percent of deaths in the United States in 2010, and there are many strategies you can implement to lower your risk of these diseases … and most of the leading causes of death in the United States.
In the case of heart disease, the healthy lifestyle strategies that follow are not only effective as prevention; they’re also useful for treatment. So what does a “healthy lifestyle” entail?
Proper Food Choices For a comprehensive guide on which foods to eat and which to avoid, see my nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should be looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, meats, raw dairy, nuts, and so forth) that come from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small organic farm not far from your home.For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw. Personally, I aim to eat about 80-85 percent of my food raw, including raw eggs and humanely raised organic animal products that have not been raised on a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation). Fermented foods are also important, as they are excellent sources of probiotics and vitamin K2, which is important for preventing arterial plaque buildup and heart disease.Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is fructose. Sugar, and especially fructose, act as toxins in and of themselves, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your body.
Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise like Peak Fitness Even if you’re eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including not only core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity interval-type training like Peak Fitness boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production naturally, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor.
Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease — from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), meditation, prayer, social support and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.
Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D Vitamin D is essential for your heart and cardiovascular system. Even if you’re considered generally “healthy,” if you’re deficient in vitamin D, your arteries are likely stiffer than they should be, and your blood pressure may run higher than recommended due to your blood vessels being unable to relax. It’s been repeatedly shown that by increasing your vitamin D levels, you can improve your cardiovascular health and lower your blood pressure. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people are severely deficient in vitamin D. In the United States, the late winter average vitamin D level is only about 15-18 ng/ml, which is considered a very serious deficiency state. Overall, it’s estimated that 85 percent of Americans are deficient, and as much as 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens. The important factor when it comes to vitamin D is your serum level, which should ideally be between 50-70 ng/ml year-round. Sun exposure or a safe tanning bed is the preferred method for optimizing vitamin D levels, but a vitamin D3 supplement can be used as a last resort. Most adults need about 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D a day to achieve serum levels above 40 ng/ml, which is still just below the minimum recommended serum level of 50 ng/ml.
High Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats
Omega-3 fat like that found in krill oil improves endothelial function, a major factor in promoting the growth of new blood vessels, and has beneficial effects on your heart’s electrical system, preventing potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorders.
Omega-3 deficiency may actually be a significant underlying factor in up to 96,000 premature deaths each year, including some of those from coronary heart disease and stroke. Even the FDA allows claims for omega-3 for heart disease; it is one of the few food health claims that the FDA allows — and, yes, I view omega-3 fats not as just another supplement, but as an essential foodyou need to include in your diet.
How to Determine Your Heart Disease Risk…
Before deciding on an angioplasty, it’s important to be able to accurately gauge your heart disease risk – and you should know that your total cholesterol level is just about worthless in determining this risk, unless it is close to 340 or higher.
Instead, one of the most important risk factors will be your HDL to cholesterol ratio.
I have seen a number of people with levels over 250 who actually were at low heart disease risk due to their HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen even more who had cholesterol levels under 200 that were at a very high risk of heart disease based on the following additional tests:
HDL/Cholesterol ratio
Triglyceride/HDL ratios
HDL percentage is a very potent heart disease risk factor. Just divide your HDL level by your cholesterol. That percentage should ideally be above 24 percent. Below 10 percent, it’s a significant indicator of risk for heart disease. You can also do the same thing with your triglycerides and HDL ratio. That percentage should be below 2.
If you have type 2 diabetes, you’re automatically at an increased risk so you can move ahead to my recommendations above. In fact, anyone can use the above recommendations because their only “side effects” are improved health! That’s the beauty of it. Together, these steps can drastically lower your heart disease risk and improve heart health — sometimes quite rapidly. If you’re otherwise healthy and your heart disease is stable, only after exhausting these strategies should more invasive options, like drugs and angioplasty, be considered.
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When the famous master herbalist Dr. John Christopher was bothered by stomach ulcer problems as a student, one of his herbal instructors recommended young John drink a solution of cayenne pepper powder in water daily.
At first, Dr. Christopher thought this was a contradiction. How could something so hot help his ulcers? But he bravely took the advice and to his surprise, it did cure his ulcers. Following that experience, Dr. Christopher become a zealous advocate of cayenne for both heart issues and for boosting the efficacy of some of his other herbal formulas.
Christopher has even documented cases where he helped patients come out of heart attacks using only a teaspoon of cayenne powder in a cup of warm water. He isn’t alone; there are several anecdotes of people recovering from serious heart attacks by downing cayenne teas or tinctures.
One of Dr. Christophers interns, Dr. Richard Schulze, ND, MH, took up the cause proclaiming, “If you only master one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It’s more powerful than any other.” Both Schulze and Christopher recommend taking a half to full teaspoon of cayenne powder in water two to three times daily as an overall health tonic.
Using cayenne as an herbal medicine or tonic
If you use cayenne, ensure it’s organic. Even organic cayenne is inexpensive and the potential benefits are invaluable. The powder comes from various dried and ground chili peppers, all containing capsaicin (cap-say-sin). The amount of capsaicin is indicated by the cayenne powder’s heat levels, measured in Scoville heat units (SHU) or heat units (HU).
The lowest therapeutic level of SHU or heat units is 35,000. You will often find cayenne powder listed at 40,000, 60,000, 90,000 or 100,000 SHU or heat units. Unless you have a fondness for really hot spicy foods, you may want to start at the 40,000 level. Ultimately, moving up the heat line is recommended for optimum efficacy.
Dr. Christopher liked to use warm purified or distilled water to mix in the fine cayenne powder. One-half to a full cup of water can be used for to mix a half or full teaspoon of cayenne that can be quickly gulped. Allowing the heat to permeate is part of cayenne’s therapeutic value, which a reason why Dr. Schulze disdains cayenne capsules.
Dr. Schulze endorses using a homemade tincture in addition to the cayenne tea. A tincture is easy to carry around and may provide an on-the-spot remedy for heart attack to avoid an ER trip when away from home.
Cayenne’s health benefits
Cayenne powder serves as both a general tonic and a medicine. In addition to potentially helping cease the fatal throes of a heart attack, ingesting cayenne daily also clears clogged arteries while strengthening the whole cardiovascular system and the heart.
It is also a valuable aid for digestion and elimination which can ultimately help heal hemorrhoids and ulcers. Both Dr. Christopher and Dr. Schulze assert that ingesting cayenne powder will boost the potency of the other herbs and supplements you’re taking.
In cayenne studies, scientists have demonstrated an 80% reduction with prostate cancers in mice and in human prostate cancer cells in cultures.The capsaicin in cayenne actually creates accelerated cancer cell apoptosis, or cellular self destruction.
Cayenne pepper contains many beneficial phytochemicals, extremely bio-available vitamins C & E, and minerals, including the vital heart-health mineral magnesium. It cleans the blood, allowing hormonal signals to make their way unimpeded through your system and enhancing the immune system.
You can choose to avoid Big Pharma’s expensive toxic “solutions” for heart and other health issues using all natural solutions like this. Inexpensive, non-toxic cayenne goes well beyond culinary applications.
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In my experience, you can have the best diet in the world, have the best exercise program and be free from emotional stress, but if you aren’t sleeping well, for whatever reason, it is virtually impossible to be healthy.
But how much sleep do you need for optimal health?
In this interview, Dr. Rubin Naiman – a clinical psychologist, author, teacher, and the leader in integrative medicine approaches to sleep and dreams—sheds light on this question.
Dr. Naiman earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Alliant University in San Diego.
During the 1990′s, he served as the sleep and dream specialist at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson for 10 years, where he created the first formal sleep laboratory outside of a hospital setting.
Dr. Andrew Weil was also on the staff at that time. Later, he served as director of sleep programs for Miraval Resort. In previous interview, we discussed what sleep actually is, the spiritual dimensions of sleep, the primary causes of insomnia, and why sleeping pills are not the answer. Here, Dr. Naiman delves into several of the most frequently asked questions about sleep, starting with:
How Much Sleep Do You Need?
Over the years, I’ve come to a conclusion that there is no perfect answer to this question because like everything else, the answer depends on a large number of highly individual factors. The general consensus seems to be that most people need somewhere between six and eight hours of sleep each night.
There’s compelling research indicating that sleeping less than six hours may increase your insulin resistance and risk of diabetes. And recent studies show that less than five hours of sleep at night can double your risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke. Interestingly enough, the same appears to be true when you sleep more than nine hours per night.
The question of the ideal amount of sleep is a topic Dr. Naiman has addressed on numerous occasions throughout his career as a sleep expert, and he agrees; people want a number, but this ‘number’ must be as individual as the person asking for it.
“I think asking ‘how many of hours of sleep should I get?’ is like asking, ‘Doctor, how many calories should I eat?’” he says. ”Of course the answer to that depends on who that person is. It’s so individual. It also depends on the quality of those calories. Again, a lot of people are knocking themselves out night after night after night with sleeping pills. They may be getting seven to eight hours, but is it sleep? It looks like sleep. It might feel like sleep, but you know what, it’s not really sleep. That’s part of the question too—the quality of it.”
Insufficient Sleep Puts Your Health at Risk
Dr. Naiman is familiar with the studies showing increased health risks when you sleep more or less than a certain amount, but is still cautious about taking these findings as the final word on the matter.
“There is really interesting data,” he says. “I think the data is very strong showing that if you don’t sleep enough, you’re in trouble.”
However, it’s important to differentiate between occasional lack of sleep, and a chronic pattern. Everyone loses sleep here and there, and your body is typically resilient enough to allow for that. However, when poor sleep becomes a constant, there’s no question your health may be at risk.
“The American Cancer Society did a study of a million American adults, and short sleepers showed a dramatic increase in risk of cancers across the board,” Dr. Naiman says. ”So we know that there is a mountain of data showing if you don’t sleep enough, you’re going to get yourself sick…
The other end of it, I think, is a little more suspicious. When you say people are sleeping too much, questions arise like ‘why?’ It may be that in some of those studies they don’t have frank illnesses. These are people who don’t qualify clinically as having diabetes or heart disease. But they may have metabolic syndrome; they may have very early stage of underlying chronic inflammatory process.”
Potential Causes for Sleeping “Too Much”
One of the first indications that you may be getting sick is that your body tries to rest, as sleeping helps strengthen your immune system. So chronically sleeping longer than the average eight or nine hours could be an early indication that you have an underlying illness your body is trying to recover from.
However, the need for more sleep could also be an individual requirement, or even a sign of your body being in tune with a more natural rhythm…
“The data suggests that if you go back 100 years, people were sleeping an average of nine hours a night,” Dr. Naiman says. “People also had a very different relationship with sleep at that time. Sleep patterns were very different. It was routine that people woke up in the middle of the night for about an hour or two. It was called night watch. Everybody did it. People also slept during the day.
Think of the Yin and Yang; the white wave representing in this case waking; the dark Yin wave representing night and sleep. There is a dark Yin sphere within the white wave. This is a place of rest in the middle of waking consciousness and natural rhythms. In the middle of the dark Yin wave, there is a place of Yang, a white sphere suggesting that there is a place where awareness, a kind of waking, awareness in the middle of the night.
When we lose sight of that, we overreact to two things. We tend to overreact to being sleepy during the day, and we tend to overreact to being awake at night. And overreactions cause anxiety.”
To Nap or Not to Nap…
According to Dr. Naiman, we’re actually biologically programmed to nap during the daytime, typically in the middle of the afternoon. Some European countries still adhere to the daily siesta and close shop for a couple of hours in the middle of the day when the heat is also at its most pressing. Most employers in Western countries, however, do not accommodate daily snoozing, so when the natural tendency to get drowsy sets in, you may try to alleviate it with coffee, or simply fight the urge to take a nap.
The problem is, you’re now training your body to resist the urge to sleep, which can then lead to being unable to easily fall asleep at night.
“Also, in the middle of the night, when we falsely assume that any kind of awareness is pathological inside, people get up and go, “Oh crap, its insomnia.” I’ve asked hundreds and hundreds of people over the years… “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you wake up in the middle of the night?” The most common answer I’ve gotten over the years is, “Oh, sh*t.” People wake up and they curse their wakefulness.”
However, as Dr. Naiman explains, occasional waking in the middle of the night, perhaps as many as five times, is actually completely normal. You may pull up the covers or fluff your pillow, then go back to sleep.
“[But] when we learn this automatic judgmental reaction to wakefulness; as soon as there is a spark of it and we judge it, we spin out,” he says.
Another common reaction is to look at the clock.
“Patients have actually said to me, “Gosh, I wake up, I get exactly 2:20 every morning.” …It’s the first thing people—they want to anchor in waking consciousness. They want a sense of control over this ephemeral night consciousness. This addiction to numbers is the problem.
There are nuances with sleep just as there are with waking. There are so many different ways of being awake, different kinds of experiences. Light sleep is fine. Being half awake and half asleep is fine. In fact, I really believe that in any moment in time during the day and at night, it’s a mixed percentage. Right now, you and I are talking; we’re probably 98 percent awake. I’m just making up a number. There is a restful part of us. We might say we’re 2 percent asleep. Closer to bed time it might be 50/50.
What we call being sleepy is being ‘part of awake, part asleep.’ In the middle of the night when we get up to use the bathroom, we might be 95 percent asleep still and 5 percent awake just to find our way there. We need to allow a mix of these different forms of consciousness.”
Guidelines on Optimal Amount of Sleep
Dr. Naiman’s recommendation is to simply sleep “enough hours so that your energy is sustained through the day without artificial stimulation, with the exception of a daytime nap.” I agree with this functional description rather than trying to come up with a specific numeric range. I would add to that guideline, however, the suggestion to watch out for physical or biological symptoms.
For example, when I push myself and don’t get high quality sleep or enough sleep, I’m predisposed to postprandial hypoglycemia. In other words, I have low insulin resistance so when I sleep poorly, it doesn’t take much sugar or carbs for it to be easily metabolized and drop my blood sugar—which also makes me really sleepy.
When I get enough sleep, I’m far less susceptible to it.
Dr. Naiman also discusses this, stating that there’s solid data showing the connection between insulin resistance and sleep. When participants slept three or four hours less than normal for just a couple of days in a row, they saw a dramatic spike in insulin resistance.
Can You Catch Up on Lost Sleep?
This is another area fraught with confusion. Can you make up for lost sleep by sleeping longer on certain days? According to Dr. Naiman:
“First of all, you can’t really bag sleep any more than you can bag oxygen. We just need to replenish it. If you’re well slept, you’ll be more resilient… If you’ve under slept and you throw in jetlag on top of that, it gets a lot worse.
In terms of making up for sleep, it is a very common pattern in our world that people short sleep during the week and then sleep in [on the weekend]. It’s considered delicious. For me, it’s kind of funny. It’s like starving yourself during the week and then pigging out on the weekend. It’s not the best way to eat, as we know.
You can make up for some lost sleep on the weekend but here is the price: it throws off your circadian rhythm.
Again, the infrastructure of our sleep is this rhythmic drum beat of day and night, of light and darkness, of sun and melatonin and so on. What most people do on the weekend is actually go to bed later and sleep in much later. You really confuse the poor brain. It’s almost like shifting it to another season. It’s almost like a little bit of stationary jetlag. You’re yanking your circadian rhythm around. It’s not something that’s recommended.”
Which brings up the issue of shift work. How does working nights, or worse, alternating between night- and day-shifts affect your health and well-being?
How Shift Work Affects Your Health
The data is quite clear on this point: Engaging in shift work dramatically increases mortality. According to Dr. Naiman, shift work can decrease your lifespan by about seven years on average! Gastrointestinal disorders are also more common among shift workers.
“The yanking back and forth of the circadian rhythm confuses the body about when to eat, when to digest. Those are some of the early signs,” Dr. Naiman warns. ”We see dramatic increases in depression among shift workers and then we see a slew of other diseases that are associated with compromised immunity. So if you can, avoid it all.
There are things you can do if you need to do shift work. One is stay on the same shift for a stretch of time. It’s much harder to yank back and forth. You can create a prosthetic environment. You’re basically turning day and night upside down.”
According to Dr. Naiman, preliminary data shows that if you increase your melatonin levels during your night shift—effectively turning it into an artificial day—you can minimize some of the detrimental effects of working during the night. You can find melatonin supplements, either in pill or spray form, in virtually every health food store.
“So you make your night into day and your day into night. When you’re driving home from work, you put on a pair of sunglasses. You don’t want that light telling you it’s time to get up. You cover your windows with aluminum foil and you create an artificial night. You disconnect the phone. You do anything and everything to recreate night so that you can sleep. You use melatonin again at that time. You try not to shift back and forth.”
Sleep Timing—Does it Matter?
A common natural health understanding is that every hour of sleep before midnight is equal to two hours after midnight. But is that true? According to Dr. Naiman, this notion is likely more metaphoric than factual.
“[R]oughly the first third to first half of sleep is when we get most of our true deep sleep,” he says. “… We spend most of the first part of the night truly sleeping, most of the latter part of the night dreaming… In Chinese medicine, they say the best time to get to sleep is roughly 9:00 or 9:30 pm… roughly a couple of hours after sunset, when there have been enough melatonin raised in our brains that will naturally put us out… [But] I’ve never seen really hard scientific data. I’ve seen a lot of anecdotal experience. And there is data that suggests that there is a window of heightened opportunity for falling asleep, which can vary depending on your personal circadian rhythm.”
The most important aspect of sleep timing appears to be the consistency of going to bed at the same time every night.
More Information
Dr. Naiman covers a lot of ground in this interview, so to learn more, please listen to the interview in its entirety, or read through the transcript. He also has a great website, www.DrNaiman.com, where you can read more about all things sleep related. You can also find information about his lectures, which is a wonderful way to learn more about the mystery of sleep, and the most effective solutions.
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The November 2011 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that most emergency hospital visits for the elderly are caused by side effects and overdosing from taking blood thinners to prevent strokes and blood clots. Conventional doctors wait until you’re at risk of a stroke or have had your first stroke to prescribe blood thinners in hopes of preventing additional strokes. What they don’t warn you about are the serious possible side effects from these drugs including internal bleeding, stomach ulcers, muscle aches and pains, headaches with dizziness, kidney failure and a boat load of other negatives that can destroy your health. However, there are several natural substances that possess powerful anti-inflammatory properties and also help to thin the blood. These herbs can also produce their own side effects and should not be taken in combination with pharmaceutical drugs. Don’t take any unfamiliar medicinal herb unless supervised by a well-trained herbalist or natural health practitioner.
Turmeric
Used in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years, the richly golden spice turmeric is hailed for it’s ability to reduce pain and inflammation. Recent studies have revealed that its pain-killing properties compare with those of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs; however, turmeric does not cause the internal bleeding and digestive upset or toxicity to the liver that is found in some cases of individuals taking NSAIDs.
Bromelain
Bromelain is an enzyme found in pineapples that also has anti-inflammatory properties and is especially helpful in reducing pain and stiffness associated with arthritis when taken on an empty stomach. Its action is enhanced when taken in combination with turmeric and ginger. Additionally, bromelain is a wonderful digestive enzyme when taken with meals and helps break down proteins, protecting against the formation of uric acid crystals, which are responsible for causing gout and certain types of kidney stones.
Ginger
Ginger is one of the royal ancient spices of India, China and Japan whose action works to reduce inflammation of the joints and muscles as well as strengthening the immune system and reducing digestive upsets and vomiting. Ginger has been used medicinally for thousands of years and is most effective when used raw in a hot tea; however, it is also helpful when taken in powdered supplements.
Garlic
A favorite spice for many people — and a popular healing agent around the world — garlic is not only a potent anti-inflammatory herb, but has proven antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral properties. Eating garlic raw or lightly cooked, or making garlic tea are several of the most effective methods for its medicinal use. Odorless, freeze-dried supplements are available for those who prefer to avoid the strong scent on their breath.
Water
Simple, plain and life’s staple, water is perhaps one of the best blood thinners available. Allowing yourself to become dehydrated thickens the blood, causing it to clump together and form clots. Drinking enough clear, clean water each day helps keep the blood running smoothly through your circulatory and cardiovascular system, maintaining good health. The ideal daily intake for each individual is 1/2 ounce of water for each pound of body weight; in other words, if you weight 150 pounds, you should ideally drink 75 ounces of water daily.
All of these substances have the power to thin the blood. There are other foods as well, such as vitamins B-6, D and E, omega-3 fatty acids, apple cider vinegar and strawberries that act as blood-thinning agents; and when used judiciously under the supervision of your health practitioner, may keep you healthy longer, prevent strokes and blood clots and help keep you off drugs and out of the hospital.
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Did you know that working out just 20 minutes using interval exercise may provide many of the same benefits of much longer workouts done in conventional “long-duration” style?
A growing body of research shows you may not need to spend as much time exercising as you think — provided that you are willing to truly put in some effort when you do.
Most recently, a Canadian research team recently gathered several groups of volunteers, including sedentary but generally healthy middle-aged men and women, and patients of a similar age who had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
The participants were asked to undertake a program of cycling intervals — repeated short bursts of strenuous activity, divided by rest periods.
According to the New York Times:
“Most of us have heard of intervals, or repeated, short, sharp bursts of strenuous activity, interspersed with rest periods.
Almost all competitive athletes strategically employ a session or two of interval training every week to improve their speed and endurance.
But the Canadian researchers were not asking their volunteers to sprinkle a few interval sessions into exercise routines.
Instead, the researchers wanted the groups to exercise exclusively with intervals.”
After several weeks on the program, both the unfit volunteers and the cardiac patients showed significant improvements in their health and fitness. Most remarkably, the cardiac patients showed “significant improvements” in both heart and blood vessel functioning. And, contrary to what popular belief might dictate, the intense exercises did not cause any heart problems for any of the cardiac patients. The belief is that the brevity of the exercise helps insulate your heart from the intensity.
How Intense is “High Intensity” Training?
The key to make interval training work is intensity. The cycling program developed for the out of shape and ill patients in the featured study was a gentler version of the interval training typically used, when you really go all out to reach your maximum heart rate. In this modified routine, the participants did one minute of strenuous effort, raising their heart rate to about 90 percent of their maximum, followed by one minute of recovery.
These intervals were repeated 10 times for a 20 minute long workout.
Your maximum heart rate can be roughly calculated as 220 minus your age. However, to measure the intensity of your effort, you really need a heart rate monitor. It’s nearly impossible to accurately measure your heart rate manually when it is above 150. And accuracy is important. There’s a big difference between a heart rate of 170 and 174 (or 160 and 164 if you are over 50). Once you reach your maximum heart rate you may feel a bit light headed and, of course, VERY short of breath. But your body catches up quite rapidly and in about 30-60 seconds you will start to feel much better. Most people feel tired but great once they’re done.
For the past couple of years, I’ve heavily promoted high intensity interval training as a key strategy for improving your health, boosting weight loss, promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, and improving strength and stamina. I’ve been doing it myself since April 2010, after meeting fitness expert Phil Campbell (author of Ready Set Go), so I can also vouch for its effectiveness from personal experience.
Summary of my Interval Training Program
The interval program created by Phil Campbell also takes about 20 minutes, but here you’ll want to push your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold during the exertion portion. The silver lining is that the actual sprinting totals a mere 4 minutes instead of 10! Here’s a summary of what a typical interval routine might look like (for a full demonstration, see the video below):
Warm up for three minutes
Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds
Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance
Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times, for a total of 8 repetitions
By the end of your 30 second period you will want to reach these markers:
It will be relatively hard to breathe and talk because you are in oxygen debt
You will start to sweat. Typically this occurs in the second or third repetition unless you have a thyroid issue and don’t sweat much normally.
Your body temperature will rise
Lactic acid increases and you will feel a muscle “burn”
While you may need to slowly work your way up to this point, ultimately you want to exercise vigorously enough to reach your anaerobic threshold as this is where the “magic” happens that will trigger your growth hormone (HGH) release. HGH, also known as “the fitness hormone,” accounts for many of the health benefits of interval training.
But be mindful of your current fitness level and don’t overdo it when you first start out. Also keep in mind that there’s no “magical” speed here. It’s entirely individual, based on your current level of fitness. Some may reach their anabolic threshold by walking at a quick pace, while others may need to perform a mad-dash to get the same effect.
The Many Health Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training
Once you engage in these high-int ensity exercises two to three times a week, most people notice the following benefits:
The remarkable effectiveness of interval training makes logical sense when you consider that this type of exertion mimics how our ancestors lived. This is also how animals and young children behave naturally (long-duration exercise really isn’t “natural”). By exercising in short bursts, followed by periods of recovery, you recreate exactly what your body needs for optimum health, and that includes the production of growth hormones, the burning of excess body fat, and improved cardiovascular health and stamina.
More Supporting Evidence
In a 2008 study published in the Journal of Physiology, Canadian researchers compared the effects of steady versus interval cycling. Active but untrained young men and women were divided into two groups:
The interval training group performed four to six repeats of 30-second all-out effort, with 4 ½ minutes of recovery between repeats, three days a week
The conventional cardio group cycled continuously for 40-60 minutes, five days a week
After six weeks, the leg muscles of those in the interval training group exhibited similar physiological changes as seen in those who performed multiple, hour-long sessions each week of steady cycling. The main difference? Those performing interval training spent just 1.5 hours per week in the gym, compared to about 4.5-5 hours for the conventional group.
Researchers have also concluded that interval training has a significantly beneficial impact on insulin sensitivity. In a study published last year, unfit but otherwise healthy middle-aged adults were able to improve their insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation after just two weeks of interval training (three sessions per week). A follow-up study of the featured study also found that interval training positively impacted insulin sensitivity. In fact, the study involved people with full-blown type 2 diabetes, and just ONE interval training session was able to improve blood sugar regulation for the next 24 hours.
Interval Training is Part of a Balanced Exercise Routine
Exercise is one of the most important tools that you can implement to gain optimal health, but as great as it is, it’s still important to include a variety of activities. Otherwise, your body will quickly adapt to your program, and whenever exercise becomes easy to complete, it’s a sign you need to work a little harder and give your body a new challenge. So when you’re planning your exercise routine, make sure to incorporates the following types of exercise:
Aerobic: Jogging, using an elliptical machine, and walking fast are all examples of aerobic exercise. As you get your heart pumping, the amount of oxygen in your blood improves, and endorphins, which act as natural painkillers, increase. Meanwhile, aerobic exercise activates your immune system, helps your heart pump blood more efficiently, and increases your stamina over time.
Interval (Anaerobic) Training: Again, this is when you alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods.
Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you’re really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program.
Here you also have the option of including Super Slow Weight Training, which will give you many of the same health benefits as interval training on a recumbent bike, for example. The only difference is you’re doing it with weights. For more information about this, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff. Another benefit of super-slow weight training that makes it ideal for virtually everyone, regardless of age or fitness level, is its safety, as it actively prevents you from accidentally harming your joints or suffering repetitive use injury.
Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.
You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
Exercise programs like Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.
Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) developed by Aaron Mattes. With AIS, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body’s natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity.
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For many decades now, U.S. policy makers have been attempting to get Americans to eat less salt. But the drive to do this has little basis in science.
In fact, a recent meta-analysis by the Cochrane Review involving a total of 6,250 subjects found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death.
Another study published last year found that lower salt consumption actually increased your risk of death from heart disease.
A review of the available research reveals that much of the science behind the supposed link between salt and high blood pressure is dubious at best.
According to Scientific American:
“Intersalt, a large study published in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood pressure in subjects from 52 international research centers and found no relationship between sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension.
In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day…
Studies that have explored the direct relationship between salt and heart disease have not fared much better… For every study that suggests that salt is unhealthy, another does not.”
The Tenuous Link Between Salt and Heart Disease
Melinda Moyer, writing for Scientific American, points out that the evidence linking salt to high blood pressure and heart disease has always been on the flimsy side, stating:
“Fears over salt first surfaced more than a century ago. In 1904 French doctors reported that six of their subjects who had high blood pressure—a known risk factor for heart disease—were salt fiends. Worries escalated in the 1970s when Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Lewis Dahl claimed that he had “unequivocal” evidence that salt causes hypertension: he induced high blood pressure in rats by feeding them the human equivalent of 500 grams of sodium a day. (Today the average American consumes 3.4 grams of sodium, or 8.5 grams of salt, a day.)
Dahl also discovered population trends that continue to be cited as strong evidence of a link between salt intake and high blood pressure. People living in countries with a high salt consumption—such as Japan—also tend to have high blood pressure and more strokes.
But as a paper pointed out several years later in the American Journal of Hypertension, scientists had little luck finding such associations when they compared sodium intakes within populations, which suggested that genetics or other cultural factors might be the culprit. Nevertheless, in 1977 the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs released a report recommending that Americans cut their salt intake by 50 to 85 percent, based largely on Dahl’s work.”
This is certainly not the first time a stubborn dogmatic belief has grown out of a hypothesis that later turned out to be incorrect. The same applies to the saturated-fat-is-bad-for-your-heart myth, which is based on cherry-picked data… Since the days of Lewis Dahl, a long list of studies has failed to prove ANY benefits of a low-salt diet, and in fact many tend to show the opposite. In addition to the ones already mentioned above, the following studies also came up with negative results:
A 2004 meta analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration reviewed 11 salt-reduction trials and found that, in otherwise healthy people, over the long-term, low-salt diets decreased systolic blood pressure by 1.1 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure by 0.6 mmHg. That equates to reducing your blood pressure from 120/80 to 119/79. In conclusion, the authors stated that:“Intensive interventions, unsuited to primary care or population prevention programs, provide only minimal reductions in blood pressure during long-term trials.”
A 2003 Cochrane review of 57 short-term studies concluded that “there is little evidence for long-term benefit from reducing salt intake.”
A 2006 study in the American Journal of Medicine study compared the reported daily sodium intakes of 78 million Americans to their risk of dying from heart disease over the course of 14 years. The study concluded that lower sodium diets led to HIGHER mortality rates among those with cardiovascular disease, which “raised questions regarding the likelihood of a survival advantage accompanying a lower sodium diet.”
For an even more comprehensive list of research, please see this previous article.
Not All Salt is Created Equal
Not only is salt relatively benign, it’s actually a nutritional goldmine, IF you consume the right kind. Modern table salt has very little in common with natural, unrefined salt. The first will damage you health while the latter is profoundly healing. Here’s a quick break-down of their basic ingredients:
Natural salt: 84 percent sodium chloride, 16 percent naturally-occurring trace minerals, including silicon, phosphorous and vanadium
Processed (table) salt: 97.5 percent sodium chloride, 2.5 percent man-made chemicals, such as moisture absorbents and flow agents. These are dangerous chemicals like ferrocyanide and aluminosilicate. A small amount of iodine may also be added(Some European countries, where water fluoridation is not practiced, also add fluoride to table salt. In France, 35 percent of table salt sold contains either sodium fluoride or potassium fluoride and use of fluoridated salt is widespread in South America)
The processing also radically alters the structure of the salt. Refined table salt is dried above 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and this excessive heat alters the natural chemical structure of the salt.
The Healing Benefits of Unrefined Natural Salt
Unrefined natural salt is important to many biological processes, however, for every gram of excess sodium chloride that your body has to neutralize, it uses up 23 grams of cellular water. Hence, eating too much common processed salt will cause fluid to accumulate in your tissues, which may contribute to:
Unsightly cellulite
Rheumatism, arthritis and gout
Kidney and gall bladder stones
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
The Importance of Maintaining Optimal Sodium-Potassium Ratio
While natural unprocessed salt has many health benefits and is indeed essential for life, that does not mean you should ingest it with impunity. Another important factor is the potassium to sodium ratio of your diet. Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:
The easiest way to achieve this imbalance is by consuming a diet of processed foods, which are notoriously low in potassium while high in sodium… According to a 1985 article in The New England Journal of Medicine, titled “Paleolithic Nutrition,” our ancient ancestors got about 11,000 mg of potassium a day, and about 700 mg of sodium. This equates to a potassium over sodium factor of nearly 16. Compare that to today’s modern diet where daily potassium consumption averages about 2,500 mg (the RDA is 4,700 mg/day), along with 4,000 mg of sodium… If you eat a diet of processed foods, you can be virtually guaranteed that your potassium-sodium ratio is upside-down.
This may also explain why high-sodium diets appear to affect some people but not others. According to a recent federal study into sodium and potassium intake, those at greatest risk of cardiovascular disease were those who got too much sodium along with too little potassium. The research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in July of last year, was one of the first and largest U.S. studies to evaluate the relationship of salt, potassium and heart disease deaths.
Mike Stobbe reported on the study in an article for the Huffington Post:
“If you have too much sodium and too little potassium, it’s worse than either one on its own,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City’s health commissioner, who has led efforts to get the public to eat less salt… “Potassium may neutralize the heart-damaging effects of salt,” said Dr. Elena Kuklina, one of the study’s authors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… The research found people who eat a lot of salt and very little potassium were more than twice as likely to die from a heart attack as those who ate about equal amounts of both nutrients. Such a dietary imbalance posed a greater risk than simply eating too much salt, according to the study.”
So, how do you ensure you get these two important nutrients in more appropriate ratios? Ditch processed foods, which are very high in processed salt and low in potassium and other essential nutrients, and eat a diet of whole, unprocessed foods, ideally organically-grown to ensure optimal nutrient content. This type of diet will naturally provide much larger amounts of potassium in relation to sodium.
About 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods and more than 75 percent of the sodium in the U.S. diet comes from processed foods, so it’s easy to see how this kind of diet can lead to lopsided sodium-potassium ratios. Emerging evidence suggests that this ratio is actually crucial for improving health, and the way to optimize potassium intake is by increasing consumption of vegetables, which are the highest sources of potassium.
Why You Need Potassium…
Your body needs potassium to maintain proper pH levels in your body fluids, and it also plays an integral role in helping regulate your blood pressure. It is possible that potassium deficiency may be more responsible for hypertension, rather than excess sodium, as it also affects your:
Bone mass
Nervous system
Muscle function
Heart and kidney function
Adrenal functions
Potassium deficiency can lead to electrolyte imbalance, and can result in a condition called hypokalemia. Symptoms include:
Water retention
Raised blood pressure and hypertension
Heart irregularities/arrhythmias
Muscular weakness and muscle cramps
Continual thirst
Constipation
Potassium-Rich Foods
I do not advise taking potassium supplements to correct a sodium-potassium imbalance. Instead, it is best to alter your diet and incorporate more potassium-rich whole foods. Some of the richest sources in potassium are:
Baked potato (1081 mg per potato) But limit as has high levels of starchy carbohydrate which can increase your insulin and leptin resistance
Lima beans (955 mg/cup)
Winter squash (896 mg/cup)
Cooked spinach (839 mg/cup)
Other potassium-rich fruits and vegetables include:
Fruits: papayas, prunes, cantaloupe, and bananas. (But be careful of bananas as they are high in sugar and have half the potassium that an equivalent of amount of green vegetables. It is an old wives tale that you are getting loads of potassium from bananas, the potassium is twice as high in green vegetables.)
Vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, avocados, asparagus, and pumpkin
Fructose—a Far More Likely Culprit in Hypertension and Heart Disease
Avoiding processed foods will also help you avoid another primary risk factor for high blood pressure and heart disease, namely fructose. If you check the labels, you will find that virtually every single food and beverage you contemplate buying contains fructose, either in the form of high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, or some other version. The amounts of salt Americans consume pales in comparison to the amount of fructose eaten on a daily basis, and I’m convinced that it’s the sugar/fructose consumption that is the major driving force behind our skyrocketing hypertension rates, not excess salt.
The connecting link between fructose consumption and hypertension lies in the uric acid produced. Uric acid is a byproduct of fructose metabolism, and increased uric acid levels effectively drive up your blood pressure.
The more you can move toward a diet of whole organic foods in their natural state, the healthier you’ll be. And given that salt is essential to good health, I recommend switching to a pure, unrefined salt. My favorite is an all-natural sea salt from the Himalayas.
Himalayan salt is completely pure, having spent many thousands of years maturing under extreme tectonic pressure, far away from impurities, so it isn’t polluted with the heavy metals and industrial toxins of today. It’s hand-mined, hand-washed, and minimally processed, and contains some 84 different trace minerals. It’s likely to be the most delicious salt you’ll ever find, which is why it’s so popular among gourmet chefs.
Relax, and Salt to Taste…
In the featured article Melinda Moyers writes:
“… unless we have clear data, evangelical anti-salt campaigns are not just based on shaky science; they are ultimately unfair. “A great number of promises are being made to the public with regard to this enormous benefit and lives saved,” Cohen says. But it is “based on wild extrapolations.” “
I agree, and based on the evidence available, I think it’s safe to just relax and salt your food to taste—provided you use a natural unrefined salt.
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Salt has long been a treasured staple for humans across the globe.
In ancient times, salt was literally worth its weight in gold, as African and European explorers would trade an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold.
Roman soldiers were also paid in salt, hence the modern word “salary” (sal is the Latin word for salt) and the expression “worth his salt” or “earning his salt.”
Far from being harmful, high-quality salt is actually essential for life, but in the United States and many other developed countries salt has been vilified as a primary cause of high blood pressure and heart disease.
These latter claims have failed to be proven conclusively, as have the purported benefits of a low-salt diet.
Now the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) is trying to set the record straight, and has warned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that further plans for salt restriction pose a serious threat to human health.
FDA’s Salt Restriction Plans Could Harm Your Health
In a recently released document titled “Approaches to Reducing Sodium Consumption,”the FDA and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) cite recommendations to reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg, with a further reduction to 1,500 mg (just over one-half teaspoon) for people who are age 51 and older, African American, or who have hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease (this encompasses about half of the U.S. population).
But as WAPF pointed out, the title of the document implies a determination has already been made that Americans sodium consumption should be reduced, a move that is contrary to scientific evidence.
Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, stated:
“A study from 1991 indicates that people need about one and one-half teaspoons of salt per day. Anything less triggers a cascade of hormones to recuperate sodium from the waste stream, hormones that make people vulnerable to heart disease and kidney problems. This is proven biochemistry. Yet, FDA as well as USDA want to mandate drastically restricted sodium consumption at about one-half teaspoon per day.”
The truth of the matter is that oftentimes sensible advice gets taken to the extreme and ends up being more harmful than helpful. Health officials misguided advice to shun the sun comes to mind, as now we are facing epidemic levels of vitamin D deficiency (the advice should be to avoid sunburn, but regular sun exposure is healthy). Likewise, health agencies’ advice to severely restrict salt may actually cause significant health problems …
Why Your Body Needs Salt
Unrefined natural salt provides two elements – sodium and chloride – that are essential for life. Your body cannot make these elements on its own; you must get them from your diet. Some of the many biological processes for which salt is crucial include:
Being a major component of your blood plasma, lymphatic fluid, extracellular fluid, and even amniotic fluid
Carrying nutrients into and out of your cells
Maintaining and regulating blood pressure
Supporting healthy glial cell populations in your brain, which are essential for forming the protective coating known as myelin that surrounds the portion of the neuron that conducts electrical impulses, as well as other vital neurological functions
Helping your brain communicate with your muscles, so that you can move on demand via sodium-potassium ion exchange
What else is salt good for? WAPF’s commentary to the FDA further breaks down the importance of both sodium and chloride for body function:
“Sodium plays a critical role in body physiology. It controls the volume of fluid in the body and helps maintain the acid-base level. About 40 percent of the body’s sodium is contained in bone, some is found within other organs and cells, and the remaining 55 percent is in blood plasma and extracellular fluids. Sodium is important in proper nerve conduction, in aiding the passage of various nutrients into cells, and in the maintenance of blood pressure.
Sodium-dependent enzymes are required for carbohydrate digestion, to break down complex carbohydrates and sugars into monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose and galactose; sodium is also involved in transporting these monosaccharides across the intestinal wall. Although salt is the most common dietary source for these essential elements, sodium is also available from various foods that contain sodium naturally.
Chloride ions also help maintain proper blood volume, blood pressure, and pH of body fluids. Chloride is the major extracellular anion and contributes to many body functions including the maintenance of blood pressure, acid-base balance, muscular activity, and the movement of water between fluid compartments. Chloride is the major component of hydrochloric acid, which is needed for protein digestion.
Symptoms of hypochlorhydria (low hydrochloric acid) include bloating, acne, iron deficiency, belching, indigestion, diarrhea and multiple food allergies. Chloride is available in very few foods, and adequate chloride must be obtained from salt.”
Did Salt Get the Blame When Fructose Was Really at Fault?
Many of you have likely heard of the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and which is very low in salt, consisting largely of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean protein, whole grains, and low-fat dairy. This is the diet used in the DASH-sodium study – the ONE study that was conducted to determine whether or not a low-salt diet would control hypertension.
People on DASH diets did show reduced hypertension, but researchers were so eager and personally invested in proving their salt theory that they completely overlooked other factors – like the fact that the DASH diet is also very low in sugar, including fructose.
Hypertension is actually promoted far more by excess fructose than excess salt, and the amount of salt Americans eat pales in comparison to the amount of fructose they consume on a daily basis. I’m convinced that sugar/fructose—rather than salt—is the major driving force behind our skyrocketing hypertension rates. (If you’re struggling with hypertension, you can read my full recommendations for normalizing your blood pressure). Blood pressure drops as much in low-sugar studies as it did in the DASH-sodium study, but this fact has been conveniently ignored.
Is Salt Really Linked to Heart Disease?
Last year a meta-analysis of seven studies involving more than 6,000 people found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death. In fact, it was salt restriction that actually increased the risk of death in those with heart failure.
Furthermore, research in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that the less sodium excreted in the urine (a marker of salt consumption), the greater the risk of dying from heart disease. The study followed 3,681 middle-aged healthy Europeans for eight years. The participants were divided into three groups: low salt, moderate salt, and high salt consumption. Researchers tracked mortality rates for the three groups, with the following results:
Low-salt group: 50 people died
Moderate salt group: 24 people died
High-salt group: 10 people died
The risk for heart disease was 56 percent higher for the low-salt group than for the group who ate the most salt! Some studies have shown a modest benefit to salt restriction among some people with high blood pressure, but the evidence does not extend to the rest of the population.
WAPF notes:
“While excess sodium consumption does increase blood pressure in certain sensitive individuals, increased salt intake does not raise blood pressure in most people. In an average population when salt intakes are reduced, about 30 percent will experience a small drop in blood pressure (between one and four mm Hg), while about 20 percent will experience a similar increase in blood pressure.
The remaining 50 percent of the population will show no effect at all of salt intake reduction. In most people, even a significant increase in salt consumption does not raise blood pressure. … While salt restriction may benefit a small percentage of people with high blood pressure, the science shows no health benefits – and significant health problems – due to salt restriction in the majority of the population.”
Dangers of a Low-Salt Diet
The simple truth is, there are very real risks from eating too little salt, and population-wide recommendations to restrict salt intake to very low levels could in fact increase rates of a wide range of diseases. WAPF explains, as reported by Globe Newswire:
“Recent studies show a correlation of salt restriction with increased heart failure and with insulin resistance leading to diabetes. Studies show that even modest reductions in salt cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Higher incidence of inflammatory markers and altered lipoproteins are also found by researchers evaluating those on salt-reduced diets. These factors are precursors to metabolic syndrome, which predicts heart problems and diabetes.”
In one study by Harvard researchers, a low-salt diet lead to an increase in insulin resistance, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes — and the change occurred in just seven days! Other research has found salt restriction may play a role in:
Increased death rates among people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Increased falls and broken hips, and decreased cognitive abilities, among the elderly
Giving birth to babies of low birth weight
Poor neurodevelopmental function in infants
There is also a condition in which you have too little sodium. This is known as hyponatremia, where your body’s fluid levels rise and your cells begin to swell. This swelling can cause a number of health problems, from mild to severe. At its worst, hyponatremia can be life threatening, leading to brain swelling, coma and death. But mild to moderate hyponatremia has more subtle effects that you or your health care provider may not even connect with a sodium-deficiency problem, including:
There are other dangers to salt restriction, too, which WAPF outlined in their report — dangers that many are apt to overlook:
Chemical salt alternatives: As food manufacturers seek to lower salt levels in their foods, salt substitutes like Senomyx are on the rise. Along with potential dangers from Senomyx itself (which does not require extensive testing and, as WAPF states, “would seem to be nothing more or less than a neurotrophic drug”), it’s possible that eating foods that taste salty but actually do not satisfy our sodium requirements may trigger us to keep eating more and more until these requirements are met … a recipe for obesity in the making.
A loss of nutrient-dense foods: Certain nutritious foods, such as raw milk cheese and lacto-fermented vegetables, depend on high levels of salt for production. If salt becomes increasingly restricted, it could harm the production of these nutrient-dense foods.
Some Types of Salt Are More Dangerous
When you add salt to your diet, the type matters greatly. Today’s table salt has practically nothing in common with natural salt. One is health damaging, and the other is healing. Natural salt is 84 percent sodium chloride, and processed salt is 98 percent. So, what comprises the rest?
The remaining 16 percent of natural salt consists of other naturally occurring minerals, including trace minerals like silicon, phosphorous and vanadium. But the remaining two percent of processed salt is comprised of man-made chemicals, such as moisture absorbents, and a little added iodine.
You might be tempted to think “salt is salt,” but even the structure of processed salt has been radically altered in the refining process. Refined salt is dried above 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and this excessive heat alone alters the natural chemical structure of the salt. What remains after ordinary table salt is chemically “cleaned” is sodium chloride.
The processed salt is not pure sodium chloride but is only 97.5 percent sodium chloride and anticaking and flow agents are added to compromise about 2.5 percent. These are dangerous chemicals like ferrocyanide and aluminosilicate.
Some European countries, where water fluoridation is not practiced, also add fluoride to table salt. In France, 35 percent of table salt sold contains either sodium fluoride or potassium fluoride and use of fluoridated salt is widespread in South America.
More than 80 percent of the salt most people consume is from processed foods. Indeed, there is far too much sodium in processed foods. But you shouldn’t be eating those foods anyway—sodium is just one of MANY ingredients in packaged foods that will adversely affect your health. The salt added to these convenience foods is bleached out, trace mineral deficient and mostly sodium—as opposed to natural salt, which is much lower in sodium.
The more you can move toward a diet of whole organic foods in their natural state, the healthier you’ll be—whether it’s veggies, meat, dairy products, or salt.
Given that salt is absolutely essential to good health, I recommend limiting processed foods (most of which are high in processed salt) and processed salt and switching to a pure, unrefined salt. My favorite is an ancient, all-natural sea salt from the Himalayas. So, generally speaking, it is perfectly fine to salt your food to taste, provided the salt you’re using is natural and unrefined. If you are exercising heavily, or in the middle of a heat wave, you may require more salt than on a cool day when you’re relaxing.
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Dr. Stephanie Seneff is a senior scientist at MIT where she’s conducted research for over three decades, and has published hundreds of papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
She also has an undergraduate degree in biology from MIT, and a minor in food and nutrition.
I’ve previously published two articles detailing Dr. Seneff’s groundbreaking views on sulfur andcholesterol—both of which are important in relation to the discussion in this segment about statin drugs.
If you missed the previous two segments, I highly recommend reviewing them now in order to get a more complete picture of how vitamin D, dietary cholesterol, and statin drugs work in tandem to affect your health, for better or worse.
What makes Dr. Seneff uniquely qualified to talk about statins is not clinical experience but rather her expertise in mining and evaluating the available research to reach conclusions about health.
Why it’s So Difficult to Learn the Truth about Statin Drugs…
One of the papers Dr. Seneff wrote was on the detrimental impact of low cholesterol and statin drugs on Alzheimer’s disease.
“I was very interested in the connection between Alzheimer’s and low cholesterol… and statins in particular because they lower cholesterol, [which is] going to make that problem worse,” she says.
Her paper was summarily rejected.
“Part of the grounds of rejection had to do with the mention of statins,” Dr. Seneff explains. “So we took out all the mentions of statins and resubmitted the paper to a different journal, and then it got accepted. You can read this paper in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.”
This is a classic example of what’s wrong with the current paradigm. The pharmaceutical industry effectively controls the entire health care system, from research to publication to education.
“I think many people are aware that they cannot get their paper published in one of the high end journals if it mentions something negative about statins,” Dr. Seneff says. “It’s extremely difficult to get such papers accepted by these journals because of the influence of the statin industry on the journal. I think that’s a very serious problem.”
Many Doctors are Shockingly Ill- or Misinformed about Statin Risks
Shockingly, one in four Americans over the age of 45 is now taking these drugs, and few are properly warned about the related health risks. Part of the problem is that many doctors are not even aware of all the risks. Needless to say, this is not entirely surprising when you consider how difficult it is for any researcher to publish negative findings about this class of drugs!
A study published last spring highlighted this dilemma.
Most disturbingly, the researchers found that physicians were lacking in awareness of the teratogenic risks (ability to cause fetal malformations) of statins and other cardiovascular drugs they prescribed for their pregnant patients. The study followed an earlier report, which had concluded statins should be avoided in early pregnancy due to their teratogenic capability. An even earlier 2003 study had already established that cholesterol plays an essential role in embryonic development, and that statins could play a part in embryonic mutations or even death…
Indeed, it’s difficult to look at these facts and not reach the conclusion that the pharmaceutical industry is quite willing to sacrifice human lives for profit. Statins are in fact classified as a “pregnancy Category X medication”, meaning, it causes serious birth defects, and should NEVER be used by a woman who is pregnant or planning a pregnancy.
“It disturbs me greatly that they are prescribing statins to women in their reproductive years and the doctor doesn’t even bother to tell the woman that statins are class X for pregnancy, just like thalidomide,” Dr. Seneff says. “[Statin drugs] cause severe damage to the neural tube in the embryo—likely leading to a miscarriage if you’re lucky, because otherwise you’ll have an extremely disabled child. I don’t understand why they’re not making this clear to women!”
Cholesterol is Essential for a Healthy Pregnancy
Besides the direct harm caused by the drug, it’s also important to understand that cholesterol sulfate is essential for babies in utero, and this is one of the reasons Dr. Seneff states that you do not want your cholesterol levels to be too low.
A woman has about 1.5 units of cholesterol sulfate normally in her blood. When she gets pregnant, her blood levels of cholesterol sulfate steadily rise, and it also begins to accumulate in the villi in the placenta—which is where nutrients are transferred from the placenta to the baby. At the end of pregnancy the cholesterol sulfate in the villi rises to levels of about 24 units—a dramatic rise! This is also why it’s especially important to get plenty of sun exposure before and during pregnancy, to make sure you’re optimizing not only your vitamin D levels, but also your sulfur levels, as the two are connected.
Did You Know? Statins Can Also Cause Diabetes and Heart Failure…
Another discovery is that statins can cause diabetes. One of the most recent pieces of evidence for this came from a meta-analysis published in September last year.v The analysis looked at 72 trials which together involved close to 160,000 patients. It found that statin treatments significantly increased the rate of diabetes and liver damage.
But that’s not all. Dr. Seneff also points out that statins make you age faster in general, causing muscle weakness, arthritis, mental decline, and even heart failure. It’s worth noting that “heart failure” is a different disease category from “cardiovascular disease,” despite the fact that both involve your heart.
“That’s why I think they keep talking about cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Seneff says. “They’re careful to use that term… which is very convenient because then people don’t realize it’s the statins that are causing the heart failure!”
Indeed. Few would assume that a drug taken to prevent cardiovascular disease would be a major cause of heart failure, but that’s exactly what appears to be happening. Considering the fact that conventional medicine has been telling us that heart disease is due to elevated cholesterol and recommends lowering cholesterol levels as much as possible, Dr. Seneff’s claims may come as a complete shock:
“Heart disease, I think, is a cholesterol deficiency problem, and in particular a cholesterol sulfate deficiency problem,” she says.
Heart Disease More Likely Caused by Cholesterol Deficiency Rather than Excess!
Through her research, Dr. Seneff has developed a theory in which the mechanism we call “cardiovascular disease” (of which arterial plaque is a hallmark) is actually your body’s way to compensate for not having enough cholesterol sulfate. To understand how this works, you have to understand the interrelated workings of cholesterol, sulfur, and vitamin D from sun exposure.
Cholesterol sulfate is produced in large amounts in your skin when it is exposed to sunshine. When you are deficient in cholesterol sulfate from lack of sun exposure, your body employs another mechanism to increase it, as it is essential for optimal heart- and brain function. It does this by taking damaged LDL and turning it into plaque. Within the plaque, your blood platelets separate out the beneficial HDL cholesterol, and through a process involving homocysteine as a source of sulfate, the platelets go on to produce the cholesterol sulfate your heart and brain needs. However, this plaque also causes the unfortunate side effect of increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease.
So how do you get out of this detrimental cycle?
Dr. Seneff believes that high serum cholesterol and low serum cholesterol sulfate go hand-in-hand, and that the ideal way to bring down your LDL (so-called “bad” cholesterol, which is associated with cardiovascular disease) is to get appropriate amounts of sunlight exposure on your skin.
She explains:
“In this way, your skin will produce cholesterol sulfate, which will then flow freely through the blood—not packaged up inside LDL—and therefore your liver doesn’t have to make so much LDL. So the LDL goes down. In fact… there is a complete inverse relationship between sunlight and cardiovascular disease – the more sunlight, the less cardiovascular disease.”
What this also means is that when you artificially lower your cholesterol with a statin drug, which effectively reduces the bioavailability of cholesterol to that plaque but doesn’t address the root problem, your body is not able to create the cholesterol sulfate your heart needs anymore, and as a result you end up with acute heart failure…Backing up this theory is the fact that in the first decade statin drugs were on the market, from 1980 to 1990, the incidence of heart failure doubled. And heart failure keeps going up right along with the increased use of statins…
“It is very clear to me that statins are causing heart failure,” Dr. Seneff says.
Statins Impair Numerous Biological Functions
Statin drugs also interfere with other biological functions, including an early step in the mevalonate pathway, which is the central pathway for the steroid management in your body. Products of this pathway that are negatively affected by statins include:
All sterols, including cholesterol and vitamin D (which is similar to cholesterol and is produced from cholesterol in your skin)
All your sex hormones
Cortisone
The dolichols, which are involved in keeping the membranes inside your cells healthy
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is critical to the energy generation in the Krebs cycle in the cell
Why You MUST Take a CoQ10 Supplement if You’re on Statin Therapy
The depletion of CoQ10 is particularly troublesome, and may be one of the primary driving mechanisms behind many of the more horrific side effects of statins. CoQ10 is used by every cell in your body, but especially your heart cells. Cardiac muscle cells have up to 200 times more mitochondria, and hence 200 times higher CoQ10 requirements, than skeletal muscle. So if you take a statin drug, taking a CoQ10 or ubiquinol (the reduced version) supplement is absolutely imperative in order to limit the damage. As mentioned by Dr. Seneff, premature aging is a side effect of statin drugs, and it’s also a primary side effect of having too little CoQ10. Deficiency in this nutrient also accelerates DNA damage, and because CoQ10 is beneficial to heart health and muscle function this depletion leads to fatigue, muscle weakness, soreness and, again, heart failure.
As for dosage, Dr. Graveline, a family doctor and former astronaut, made the following recommendation in a previous interview on statins and CoQ10:
If you have symptoms of statin damage such as muscle pain, take anywhere from 200 to 500 mg
If you just want to use it preventively, 200 mg or less should be sufficient
In my view it is medical malpractice to prescribe a statin drug without recommending one take CoQ10, or better yet ubiquinol. Unfortunately, many doctors fail to inform their patients of this fact.
If You’re Over 25, the Reduced Form of CoQ10 May be Better
If you’re under 25 years old your body is capable of converting CoQ10 from the oxidized to the reduced form. However, as you age, your body becomes more and more challenged to convert the oxidized CoQ10 to ubiquinol. Aside from aging, numerous other factors can also impact this conversion process, including:
If you’re over 40, I would highly recommend taking the reduced form of coenzyme Q10 because it’s far more effectively absorbed by your body. Some reports say your CoQ10 level decline becomes apparent as early as your 20′s, however, so I generally recommend it from age 25 and beyond. If you’re younger than 25, your body should absorb regular CoQ10 just fine.
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Dying from a broken heart may seem more like a scene from a Shakespearean drama than reality, but extreme grief really can “break” your heart.
In the days after losing someone close to you, your risk of suffering from a heart attack goes through the roof — increasing by up to 21 times!
If You Lose a Loved One, You’re at Serious Risk of Having a Heart Attack
It’s well known that psychological stress exacts a great physical toll on your health, but new research reveals just how extreme that toll can be.
In comparing how grief affects your heart disease risk within a period of time, researchers found that losing a significant person in your life raises your risk of having a heart attack the next day by 21 times, and in the following week by 6 times.
The risk of heart attacks began to decline after about a month had passed, perhaps as levels of stress hormones begin to level out.
The study did not get into the causes of the abrupt increase in risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack, but it’s likely related to the flood of stress hormones your body is exposed to following extreme stress.
For instance, adrenaline increases your blood pressure and your heart rate, and it’s been suggested it may lead to narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to your heart, or even bind directly to heart cells allowing large amounts of calcium to enter and render the cells temporarily unable to function properly.
Interestingly, while your risk of heart attack increases following severe stress, so does your risk of what’s known as stress cardiomyopathy — or “broken heart syndrome” — which is basically a “temporary” heart attack that occurs due to stress.
Did Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno Die from a “Broken Heart”?
Joe Paterno, the beloved former head football coach at Penn State University, died just 74 days after he was fired from his position in the wake of a sex abuse scandal. It was last November that child sex allegations were brought up against Jerry Sandusky, Paterno’s assistant at Penn State, and many blamed Paterno for not doing more to protect the boys.
Paterno had been quoted as saying the incident was “one of the great sorrows in my life,” and noted he was “absolutely devastated” by the allegations against Sandusky. This undoubtedly placed great stress on Paterno, and in combination with also losing his position at Penn State, may very well have contributed to his demise.
While it’s officially said that Paterno died from complications from lung cancer, stress, grief and a broken heart would be hard to rule out as contributing factors.
Broken Heart Syndrome Often Mimics a Heart Attack
The symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome are very similar to those of a typical heart attack — chest pain, shortness of breath, low blood pressure and even congestive heart failure can occur. There are some important differences, however.
In broken heart syndrome, the symptoms occur shortly after an extremely stressful event, such as a death in the family, serious financial loss, extreme anger, domestic abuse, a serious medical diagnosis, or a car accident or other trauma. This stress and the subsequent release of stress hormones are thought to “stun” or “shock” the heart, leading to sudden heart muscle weakness.
This condition can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention, however it is often a temporary condition that leaves no permanent damage. In most cases a typical heart attack occurs due to blockages in the coronary arteries that stop blood flow and cause heart cells to die, leading to irreversible damage. But people with broken heart syndrome often have normal arteries without significant blockages. The symptoms occur due to the emotional stress, so when the stress begins to die down, the heart is able to recover.
Stress Impacts Far More than Your Heart…
The fact is, you can’t separate your health from your emotions. Every feeling you have affects some part of your body. And stress can wreak havoc even if you’re doing everything else “right.”
Extreme, sudden stress like the examples noted above can obviously have near-immediate impacts on your health, but so can lingering everyday stressors that we all juggle, particularly when they’re not dealt with over time. This causes your body to remain in “fight or flight” mode for far too long — much longer than was ever intended from a biological standpoint.
One of the most common consequences of this scenario is that your adrenal glands, faced with excessive stress and burden, become overworked and fatigued. This can lead to a number of related health conditions, including fatigue, autoimmune disorders, skin problems and more. Stress has also been linked to cancer by acting as a pathway between cancerous mutations, potentially triggering the growth of tumors. In fact, stress, and by proxy your emotional health, is a leading factor in virtually any disease or illness you can think of.
Are There Any Proven Ways to Deal With Grief?
Getting back to the original study, the grief experienced following the loss of a loved one is easily one of the most devastating experiences a person can face. So what can you do to get through it?
Generally speaking, the emotional intensity of feelings of grief will recede over time, but the grieving process itself will be unique to you. You might feel denial and anger, but you might not. You might feel depressed or a yearning for your loved one, or you might not. It’s important to open your mind to the notion that whatever you feel during your grieving process is OK, and likely exactly what you need.
While grief can feel insurmountable and become understandably all-consuming, take comfort in the fact that virtually everyone is able to move past the dark feelings. Typically within six months, you’ll begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
During the grieving process, be gentle with yourself and take steps to support positive mental health. Exercise is very helpful for thisaspect. Other common stress reduction tools with a high success rate include prayer, meditation and yoga. The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is another option; it’s a psychological acupressure technique, one I highly recommend to manage stress and optimize your emotional health.
Also, please remember that both your mind and mood are significantly affected by your diet, so don’t dismiss that part. While it may not be a miracle cure in and of itself, it can be extremely difficult to achieve sound mental health without the proper foundation of a sound diet and exercise plan.
Sound sleep is another critical issue. You can have the best diet and exercise program possible but if you aren’t sleeping well your mental health can suffer and it is difficult to make healing progress. You can find 33 tips to help improve your sleep habits here.
Remember, left untended, emotional trauma like losing a loved one can lead to serious health problems down the road — anything from heart attacks to depression and cancer is possible. If you’ve been dealing with debilitating feelings of grief that last for a year or more, professional help, including counseling or working with an EFT professional, may be warranted.
As an aside, many of these same tips, particularly my nutrition plan for proper diet along with regular exercise and attention to reducing emotional stress will drastically lower your heart disease and heart attack risk from any cause, so it’s wise to implement them into your lifestyle whether you’re experiencing grief or not.
One final tip… low levels of vitamin D in your blood have long been correlated with higher risk of heart disease and heart attacks, as well as problems with emotional health, such as depression. So I recommend you optimize your vitamin D levels for the sake of both your heart health and your emotional health.
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Spending on cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins increased by $160 million in 2010, for a total spending of nearly $19 billion in the U.S., the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics reported in their Use of Medicines in the United States: Review of 2010.
In all, more than 255 million prescriptions were dispensed for these drugs in 2010, making them the most commonly prescribed type of medication in the United States.
Unfortunately, this excessive use is an artifact of a medical system that regards prescribing pills to lower cholesterol as a valid way to protect one’s heart health — even though the low “target” cholesterol levels have not been proven to be healthy … and cholesterol is actually NOT the underlying culprit in heart disease.
Worse still, these drugs, which are clearly not necessary for the vast majority of people who take them, are proven to cause serious and significant side effects, including, as new research shows, definite nerve damage.
Are You Taking Drugs You Don’t Need … and Getting Nerve Damage as a Result?
It must be understood that any time you take a drug there is a risk of side effects.
Oftentimes, these risks are not fully understood, especially when multiple drugs enter the equation, and appear only after a drug has already been taken by millions of people.
Even once a drug has been FDA-approved, you are depending on a limited number of clinical trials to dictate a drug’s safety … but it’s impossible to predict how a drug will react when introduced into your system, in a real-world setting.
Not to mention, the accuracy of medical research is dubious at best.
In many ways, any time you take a drug YOU are the guinea pig, and unforeseen side effects are the rule, rather than the exception. In terms of statin drugs, side effects are already clearly apparent; at GreenMedInfo.com you can see 304 conditions that may be associated with the use of these drugs, and this is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Among one of the more well-known risks is harm to your muscles and peripheral nervous system with long-term use. Indeed, new research on 42 patients confirmed that:
” … long-term treatment with statins caused a clinically silent but still definite damage to peripheral nerves when the treatment lasts longer than 2 years.”
If You Take Statins for Two Years or More, Nerve Damage Appears to be the Rule
What does it mean when you sustain damage to peripheral nerves? As reported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS):
“Symptoms are related to the type of affected nerve and may be seen over a period of days, weeks, or years. Muscle weakness is the most common symptom of motor nerve damage. Other symptoms may include painful cramps and fasciculations (uncontrolled muscle twitching visible under the skin), muscle loss, bone degeneration, and changes in the skin, hair, and nails.”
At GreenMedInfo.com you can see 88 studies on statin-induced neurotoxicity (nerve damage), with 12 studies further statin drugs directly to neuropathy, including chronic peripheral neuropathy. As explained by NINDS:
“Peripheral neuropathy describes damage to the peripheral nervous system, the vast communications network that transmits information from the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) to every other part of the body. Peripheral nerves also send sensory information back to the brain and spinal cord, such as a message that the feet are cold or a finger is burned. Damage to the peripheral nervous system interferes with these vital connections. Like static on a telephone line, peripheral neuropathy distorts and sometimes interrupts messages between the brain and the rest of the body.
Because every peripheral nerve has a highly specialized function in a specific part of the body, a wide array of symptoms can occur when nerves are damaged.
Some people may experience temporary numbness, tingling, and pricking sensations (paresthesia), sensitivity to touch, or muscle weakness. Others may suffer more extreme symptoms, including burning pain (especially at night), muscle wasting, paralysis, or organ or gland dysfunction. People may become unable to digest food easily, maintain safe levels of blood pressure, sweat normally, or experience normal sexual function. In the most extreme cases, breathing may become difficult or organ failure may occur.
Some forms of neuropathy involve damage to only one nerve and are called mononeuropathies. More often though, multiple nerves affecting all limbs are affected-called polyneuropathy.”
One of the more disturbing implications of this finding is that since statins damage the peripheral nerves, it is also highly likely that they damage the central nervous system (which includes the brain), as well. One study published in the journal Pharmacology in 2009, found statin-induced cognitive impairment to be a common occurrence, with 90% reporting improvement after drug discontinuation. There are, in fact, at least 12 studies linking memory problems with statin drug use in the biomedical literature, indicating just how widespread and serious a side effect statin-induced neurological damage really is.
Lower Your Cholesterol and Increase Your Diabetes Risk by Nearly 50%
As mentioned, neurological damage is only one potential risk of statins. They are also being increasingly associated with increased risk of developing diabetes.
Most recently, a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed statins increase the risk of diabetes for postmenopausal women by 48 percent! Statins appear to provoke diabetes through a few different mechanisms, the primary one being by increasing your insulin levels, which can be extremely harmful to your health. Chronically elevated insulin levels cause inflammation in your body, which is the hallmark of most chronic disease. In fact, elevated insulin levels lead to heart disease, which, ironically, prevention of is the primary reason for taking a statin drug in the first place!
As written on GreenMedInfo:
“The profound irony here is that most of the morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes is due to cardiovascular complications. High blood sugar and its oxidation (glycation) contribute to damage to the blood vessels, particularly the arteries, resulting in endothelial dysfunction and associated neuropathies due to lack of blood flow to the nerves. Statin drugs, which are purported to reduce cardiovascular disease risk through lipid suppression, insofar as they contribute to insulin resistance, elevated blood sugar, and full-blown diabetes, are not only diabetogenic but cardiotoxic, as well.”
A separate meta-analysis has also confirmed that statin drugs are indeed associated with increased risk of developing diabetes. The researchers evaluated five different clinical trials that together examined more than 32,000 people. They found that the higher the dosage of statin drugs being taken, the greater the diabetes risk. The “number needed to harm” for intensive-dose statin therapy was 498 for new-onset diabetes — that’s the number of people who need to take the drug in order for one person to develop diabetes.
In even simpler terms, one out of every 498 people who are on a high-dose statin regimen will develop diabetes. (The lower the “number needed to harm,” the greater the risk factor is. As a side note, the “number needed to treat” per year for intensive-dose statins was 155 for cardiovascular events. This means that 155 people have to take the drug in order to prevent one person from having a cardiovascular event.)
The following scientific reviews also reached the conclusion that statin use is associated with increased incidence of new-onset diabetes:
A 2010 meta-analysis of 13 statin trials, consisting of 91,140 participants, found that statin therapy was associated with a 9 percent increased risk for incident diabetes. Here, the number needed to harm was 255 over four years, meaning for every 255 people on the drug, one developed diabetes as a result of the drug in that period of time.
In a 2009 study, statin use was associated with a rise of fasting plasma glucose in patients with and without diabetes, independently of other factors such as age, and use of aspirin or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. The study included data from more than 345,400 patients over a period of two years. On average, statins increased fasting plasma glucose in non-diabetic statin users by 7 mg/dL, and in diabetics, statins increased glucose levels by 39 mg/dL.
Side Effects Often Don’t Show Up Immediately …
Often times statins do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective at lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This makes it appear as though they’re benefiting your health, and health problems that develop later on are frequently misinterpreted as brand new, separate health problems.
Again, the vast majority of people do not need statin drugs, and if you are one of them, taking them is only going to expose you to serious, unnecessary risks!
If your physician is urging you to check your total cholesterol, please be aware that this test will tell you virtually nothing about your risk of heart disease, unless it is 330 or higher. HDL percentage is a far more potent indicator for heart disease risk. Here are the two ratios you should pay attention to:
HDL/Total Cholesterol Ratio: Should ideally be above 24 percent. If below 10 percent, you have a significantly elevated risk for heart disease.
Triglyceride/HDL Ratio: Should be below 2.
To understand why most people don’t need a statin drug, you first need to realize that cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease. Your body NEEDS cholesterol — it is important in the production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function. For more information about cholesterol, and why conventional advice to reduce your cholesterol to ridiculously low levels is foolhardy, please listen to this interview with Dr. Stephanie Seneff.
Urgent Information: If You Take Statins You Need CoQ10
It’s extremely important to understand that taking a statin drug without also taking CoQ10 puts your health in serious jeopardy. Unfortunately, this describes the majority of people who take them in the United States.
CoQ10 is a cofactor (co-enzyme) that is essential for the creation of ATP molecules, primarily in your mitochondria, which you need for cellular energy production. Organs such as your heart have higher energy requirements, and therefore require more CoQ10 to function properly (cardiac muscle cells have up to 200 times more mitochondria, and hence 200 times higher CoQ10 requirements, than skeletal muscle). Statins deplete your body of CoQ10, which can have devastating results.
As your body gets more and more depleted of CoQ10, you may suffer from fatigue, muscle weakness and soreness, and eventually heart failure. Interestingly, heart failure, not heart attacks, is now the leading cause of death due to cardiovascular diseases. Coenzyme Q10 is also very important in the process of neutralizing free radicals. So when your CoQ10 is depleted, you enter a vicious cycle of increased free radicals, loss of cellular energy, and damaged mitochondrial DNA.
If you decide to take a CoQ10 supplement and are over the age of 40, it’s important to choose the “reduced” version, called ubiquinol. The reduced form is electron-rich and therefore can donate electrons to quench free radicals, i.e. function as an antioxidant, and is much more absorbable, as nutrients must donate electrons in order to pass through membrane of cells. In other words, ubiquinol is a FAR more effective form — I personally take 200 mg a day since it has such far-ranging benefits, including compelling studies suggesting improvement in lifespan.
How to Optimize (Not Necessarily Lower) Your Cholesterol Without Drugs
Seventy-five percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol! By modifying your diet and lifestyle in the following ways, you can safely modify your cholesterol without risking your health by taking statin drugs:
Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars in your diet, replacing them with mostly whole, fresh vegetable carbs. Also try to consume a good portion of your food raw.
The average American consumes 50% of their diet as carbs. Most would benefit by lowering their carb intake to 25% and replacing those carbs with high quality fats.
Make sure you are getting enough high quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil.
Other heart-healthy foods include olive oil, palm and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats, as described in my nutrition plan.
Exercise daily.
Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
Be sure to get plenty of good, restorative sleep.
The goal of the tips above is not to necessarily lower your cholesterol as low as it can go; the goal is to optimize your levels so they’re working in the proper balance with your body.
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Adolescents who consume foods and beverages containing high fructose corn syrup already have, present in their blood, evidence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes according to a recent study. The results of the new study, to be published in February 2012 in The Journal of Nutrition, provide strong scientific evidence of the negative health consequences of fructose on the human body.
Health consequences of HCFS show up early
An investigation by scientists from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) at Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) followed 559 children ages 14-18. The study subjects’ dietary habits were measured; their blood analyzed and blood pressure, body fat and other health measurements taken. The researchers found a correlation between high-fructose diets and markers for heart and vascular disease such as higher blood pressure, fasting glucose, insulin resistance, levels of C – reactive protein, related to inflammation.
Teens whose diets included more HFCS also had lower levels of HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) and of the fat burning hormone adiponectin. In addition, study subjects who often consumed the industrial sweetener were more likely to have midsection fat, referred to as visceral adiposity, another known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. More generalized fat distribution does not appear to have a link to HFCS or the other health risk factors.
Norman Pollock, assistant professor of pediatrics at GHSU and co-lead author of the study said that “There is not much data in children and adolescents,” although “adolescents consume the most fructose so it’s really important to not only measure the levels of fructose but to look at what it might be doing to their bodies currently and, hopefully, to look at cardiovascular disease outcomes as they grow.”
Re-shaping teen diets
Dr. Vanessa Bundy, a pediatric resident at MCG as well as co-lead author of the study, stated “It is so very important to provide a healthy balance of high-quality food to our children and to really pay close attention to the fructose and sucrose they are consuming at their home or anyone else’s. The nutrition that caregivers provide their children will either contribute to their overall health and development or potentially contribute to cardiovascular disease at an early age,” Bundy also pointed out that parents can help their teens by modeling good health habits, including both nutritious dietary choices and regular exercise.
Bundy also remarked on a truth that alternative health experts have long known but official medical science and health regulatory agencies have been slow to acknowledge: “Fructose itself is metabolized differently than other sugars and has some byproducts that are believed to be bad for us. The overall amount of fructose that is in high fructose corn syrup is not much different than the amount in table sugar but it’s believed there’s something in the syrup processing that plays a role in the bad byproducts of metabolism.”
Previous studies involving animals have had similar results to the Georgia study, but evidence of a direct health link among children between HCFS and health problems may finally spur action to limit adolescent consumption of the sweetener. Pollock noted “Ultimately we want to use this paper and other papers to kind of change politically how food is distributed into the schools, and the types of foods, to cut down on these specific types of foods with high fructose corn syrup in them.”
Pollock also pointed out that the study he and his team conducted was unusual in its focus on the total amount of fructose consumed in the diet. “A unique aspect of our study design is that we took into account the fructose released from sucrose during digestion along with the fructose found in foods and beverages. Because sucrose is broken down into fructose and glucose before it arrives at the liver for metabolism, it is important to consider the additional fructose from sucrose when determining the overall health effect of fructose.”
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Bisphenol A overrides the natural heartbeat signal causing female heart cells to misfire, according to a recent study. Given how pervasive BPA is these days, this could mean heart problems, possibly even fatal ones, for millions of women.
BPA is everywhere
BPA is ubiquitous in the industrial world: in clear plastic containers, in the epoxy lining of canned foods, in dental sealants, and even coating many store receipts. Studies in the past five years have shown that nearly everyone living in the industrial world encounters at least trace amounts of this compound.
Yet industries using plastics for packaging, as well as some mainstream medical experts, have long assured the public that small concentrations of BPA do not pose a serious health hazard. FDA efforts in reference to BPA have so far been limited to supporting industry self-limitation such as eliminating the compound from products specifically designed for infants and children.
Yet mounting evidence shows that BPA is a health hazard for adults as well as children. Previous studies have demonstrated that adults whose urine reveals high levels of BPA also have higher risk for cardiovascular disease.
New research on BPA and estrogen
In new research, which will be published in the February 2012 issue of Endocrinology, now finds that even low concentrations of BPA can cause heart problems for women because of the way the compound mimics estrogen’s effect on the heart.
Researchers, led by Hong-Sheng Wang of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, exposed female heart tissue to levels of BPA similar to what has been reported in humans. The study found that parts-per-trillion concentrations of BPA caused heart-muscle cells to shift their beat from that of the body’s central pacemaker. The unsynchronized beating can cause arrhythmia, and possibly trigger sudden cardiac death, says Wang.
In laboratory studies, the researchers observed that both estrogen and BPA cause female heart cells to leak calcium. The research team traces this gender-specific effect to cell-surface the estrogen sensors in the heart. Estrogen sensors seem to operate differently in heart tissue than elsewhere in the body, with changes in cell contraction occurring within two minutes. Wang’s team found that both estrogen and BPA can cause arrhythmia even at a dose as low as 0.2 parts per billion. Delivering equal doses of estrogen and BPA together increases the cardiac effect more than a double dose of either substance on its own.
Laura Vandenberg of Tufts University emphasizes the importance Wang’s study in demonstrating the dangers of even low levels of BPA. Vandenberg, whose own research has shown that the US population has higher concentrations of BPA levels than Canadians, states that “We need to start pushing for chemical reform,” she states.
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For years we’ve been told to lower our salt intake for our health. Individuals at risk for heart attack are especially admonished to drop their salt intake as low as possible. As it turns out, this seemingly harmless recommendation is actually putting us at a higher risk for conditions like heart disease and stroke. Although salt has been construed as a vial substance responsible for ruining our heart health, new research says too little salt may be just as harmful as too much.
Salt Your Food… in Moderation
Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario looked at data from drug trials involving nearly 30,000 individuals who already had heart disease or diabetes. Participants in these trials had their sodium intake measured through urine analysis and were followed for an average of four to five years to record the incidence of heart-related hospitalizations and deaths.
After adjusting for factors like medications, weight, smoking and cholesterol levels, researchers found that too little salt is doing harm instead of good. Those who consumed between 4,000 and 6,000 milligrams of sodium per day–more than double the current recommendations–were at the least risk for heart disease and stroke.
People who ate a diet lower in salt didn’t experience less risk, but more. Researchers found that people who consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of sodium per day were actually 20 percent more likely to experience death or hospitalization related to heart conditions, compared to those consuming between 4,000 and 6,000 mg daily.
But don’t take this as advice that salt intake should be completely unlimited. Moderation appears to be key because consuming too much salt puts you at even higher risk. Those who consumed more than 8,000 mg of sodium per day were 50 to 70 percent more likely to have a stroke or heart attack, or to be hospitalized or die from heart disease.
Results from this study indicate that people who already consume a moderate amount of sodium do not benefit from lowering their salt intake. In fact, it may even harm them.
Dr. Martin O’Donnell, lead author of the study and associate clinical professor of medicine at McMaster University, says, “When you take people at more moderate intake levels, there is emerging uncertainty as to whether there are long-term benefits of reducing sodium intake further.”
The new report, published in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, contradicts what many of us have been told about salt. The research team involved urges officials to recommend a safer range of sodium intake rather than to set a single rigid limit.
Even better, of course, would be a recommendation to choose a natural salt like sea salt instead of highly refined commercial salt, which often contains harmful additives and lacks a balanced mineral profile.
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