...... Continuing from the previous post - I was about to provide the common reason why most multivitamin supplements do not contain 8000 IU of Vitamin D. Becky Jacobs, a worker for the US company NorthStar Nutritionals, offered an explanation: She said that supplement makers like NorthStar often avoid loading up any supplement formulation with too much vitamin D (or any other component) to give customers who take multiple supplements more flexible control over their dosage.
So the best way to get your full measure of D (after some daily direct sunlight exposure, of course) is to take a good quality supplement of D3 — that's the same form of the vitamin that's produced in your skin after exposure to sunlight.
Dr. Wright also recommends a consistent intake of dietary sources that contain vitamin D3, including salmon, sardines, and cod liver oil.
Some topics are just too urgent to let go, so here's an important tip for boosting your personal vitamin D level.By some estimates, 90 per cent of the population is D deficient. But evidence shows you can move yourself closer to the fortunate 10 percent by following one simple habit.
Cleveland Clinic researchers asked a group of 17 subjects to take D supplements with their largest meal of the day.
Results: Over three months, absorption of the vitamin was improved and blood levels of D increased, on average, by more than 55 percent! And that held true for nearly all subjects, whether their intake was just 1,000 IU daily, or 50,000.
So simple, but given the enormous importance of vitamin D in fighting cancer, improving heart health, and preventing type 2 diabetes, depression, and cognitive decline, this little study may prove to be a very big deal. Of course, large scale research is needed, but this looks very promising....
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
- Health Sciences Institute
- Nutrition and Healing Newsletter
-"Not Enough Vitamin D May Boost Depression Risk" Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 5/14/10, nutraingredients- usa.com
Friday 20 May 2011
Wednesday 18 May 2011
How to - and why you should - increase your Vitamin D levels...... (1)
...... to what clinical nutritionist Dr Wright calls the "tropical optimum" ie the amount of Vitamin D you would naturally get via sunlight if you lived in the tropics. He advocates a minimum of 5000 IU a day for those of us in more temperate climes. This is backed up by new research from the University of California, San Diego carried out over a five year period on 3600 adult participants. This involved Vitamin D blood level measurement and completing a questionnaire twice a year detailing their nutritional and supplement intake, sun exposure and general health status. Results showed that adults need 4,000 to 8,000 IU of vitamin D daily to cut their risk of certain cancers and other diseases by half.
Now some people would say that 8000 IU a day is a very high level of intake. But the fact is that with just 30 minutes of full body exposure to sunlight, your body produces at least 10,000 units of vitamin D. So if 8,000 IU were harmful, we'd see lifeguards, gardeners, and football players etc - all those working or playing in the sun - dropping like flies from Vitamin D toxicity - but that is not the case. So why is it that most supplement preparations do not contain these levels, you ask? It is a good question, but read why in my next blog entry....
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
- Health Sciences Institute
- Nutrition and Healing Newsletter
-"Not Enough Vitamin D May Boost Depression Risk" Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 5/14/10, nutraingredients- usa.com
Now some people would say that 8000 IU a day is a very high level of intake. But the fact is that with just 30 minutes of full body exposure to sunlight, your body produces at least 10,000 units of vitamin D. So if 8,000 IU were harmful, we'd see lifeguards, gardeners, and football players etc - all those working or playing in the sun - dropping like flies from Vitamin D toxicity - but that is not the case. So why is it that most supplement preparations do not contain these levels, you ask? It is a good question, but read why in my next blog entry....
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
- Health Sciences Institute
- Nutrition and Healing Newsletter
-"Not Enough Vitamin D May Boost Depression Risk" Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 5/14/10, nutraingredients- usa.com
Saturday 14 May 2011
How to protect your eyesight, kidneys and heart in one fell swoop.....
...... through the ingestion of a nutrient that most doctors have never heard of, much less know it's uses. This was definitely not taught at medical school! Now the average medical practitioner or nutritionist will tell you that the B group of vitamins are water soluble. But as with most things in medicine and life, there are exceptions - in this case the B vitamin benfotiamine, a fat soluble form of thiamine aka vitamin B1. Thiamine is an essential nutrirnt for the maintenace of kidney,heart and eye function, and the fat soluble form remains longer in the body tissues than the water soluble one, due to it's deposition in body fat, rather than it being lost via the urine.
Benfotiamine is also a crucial factor in carbohydrate metabolism, helping to prevent glucose induced oxidative cell damage. For example in vitro studies ie studies outside the body, usually cell and tissue culture based studies - sseem to reveal that benfotiamine protects the cells lining blood vessels from oxidative damage. We know where that could end up - blood vessel and heart disease. So this nutrient is definitely one to consider adding to your shopping list, especially as it is five times better absorbed than thiamine. It is not available in your usual run of the mill multivitamin combo - like I said before, many nutritionists will look at you blankly when asked about it, so what chance do the stack 'em high, bank profits higher (without much or no customer benefit) brigade have? But I say: do your own research on this fat soluble B1 vitamin and come to your own conclusions - your body may be the better for it when taken!
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
^ Yamazaki M (1968), Studies on the absorption of S-benzoylthiamine O-monophosphate : (I) Metabolism in tissue homogenates. Vitamins 38 (1) 12–20.
^ M.L. Volvert, S. Seyen, M. Piette, B. Evrard, M. Gangolf, J.C. Plumier and L. Bettendorff (2008) Benfotiamine, a synthetic S-acyl thiamine derivative, has different mechanisms of action and a different pharmacological profile than lipid-soluble thiamine disulfide derivatives. BMC Pharmacology 8: 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2210-8-10
^ Reducing Glycation Reactions for Better Health and Longer Life
^ J Lin, A Alt, J Liersch, RG Bretzel, M Brownlee (2000 May). "Benfotiamine Inhibits Intracellular Formation of Advanced Glycation End Products in vivo". Diabetes 49 (Suppl1) (A143): 583.
^ Since AGEs are the actual agents productive of diabetic complications, in theory, if diabetic patients could block the action of AGEs completely by benfotiamine, strict blood sugar control, with its disruption of lifestyle and risks to health and life by severe hypoglycemic episodes, could be avoided, with revolutionary implications for the treatment of diabetes. Hammes HP, Du X, Edelstein D, Taguchi T, Matsumura T, Ju Q, Lin J, Bierhaus A, Nawroth P, Hannak D, Neumaier M, Bergfeld R, Giardino I, Brownlee M (2003) Benfotiamine blocks three major pathways of hyperglycemic damage and prevents experimental diabetic retinopathy. Nat Med 9(3):294-299
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2007). "Adiponectin decreases postprandially following a heat-processed meal in individuals with type 2 diabetes: an effect prevented by benfotiamine and cooking method". Diabetes Care 30 (10): 2514–6. doi:10.2337/dc07-0302. PMID 17630265.
^ Stracke H, Hammes HP, Werkmann D, et al. (2001). "Efficacy of benfotiamine versus thiamine on function and glycation products of peripheral nerves in diabetic rats". Exp. Clin. Endocrinol. Diabetes 109 (6): 330–6. doi:10.1055/s-2001-17399. PMID 11571671.
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2006). "Benfotiamine prevents macro- and microvascular endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress following a meal rich in advanced glycation end products in individuals with type 2 diabetes". Diabetes Care 29 (9): 2064–71. doi:10.2337/dc06-0531. PMID 16936154.
^ Babaei-Jadidi R, Karachalias N, Ahmed N, Battah S, Thornalley PJ (2003). "Prevention of incipient diabetic nephropathy by high-dose thiamine and benfotiamine". Diabetes 52 (8): 2110–20. doi:10.2337/diabetes.52.8.2110. PMID 12882930.
Benfotiamine is also a crucial factor in carbohydrate metabolism, helping to prevent glucose induced oxidative cell damage. For example in vitro studies ie studies outside the body, usually cell and tissue culture based studies - sseem to reveal that benfotiamine protects the cells lining blood vessels from oxidative damage. We know where that could end up - blood vessel and heart disease. So this nutrient is definitely one to consider adding to your shopping list, especially as it is five times better absorbed than thiamine. It is not available in your usual run of the mill multivitamin combo - like I said before, many nutritionists will look at you blankly when asked about it, so what chance do the stack 'em high, bank profits higher (without much or no customer benefit) brigade have? But I say: do your own research on this fat soluble B1 vitamin and come to your own conclusions - your body may be the better for it when taken!
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert
Sources:
^ Yamazaki M (1968), Studies on the absorption of S-benzoylthiamine O-monophosphate : (I) Metabolism in tissue homogenates. Vitamins 38 (1) 12–20.
^ M.L. Volvert, S. Seyen, M. Piette, B. Evrard, M. Gangolf, J.C. Plumier and L. Bettendorff (2008) Benfotiamine, a synthetic S-acyl thiamine derivative, has different mechanisms of action and a different pharmacological profile than lipid-soluble thiamine disulfide derivatives. BMC Pharmacology 8: 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2210-8-10
^ Reducing Glycation Reactions for Better Health and Longer Life
^ J Lin, A Alt, J Liersch, RG Bretzel, M Brownlee (2000 May). "Benfotiamine Inhibits Intracellular Formation of Advanced Glycation End Products in vivo". Diabetes 49 (Suppl1) (A143): 583.
^ Since AGEs are the actual agents productive of diabetic complications, in theory, if diabetic patients could block the action of AGEs completely by benfotiamine, strict blood sugar control, with its disruption of lifestyle and risks to health and life by severe hypoglycemic episodes, could be avoided, with revolutionary implications for the treatment of diabetes. Hammes HP, Du X, Edelstein D, Taguchi T, Matsumura T, Ju Q, Lin J, Bierhaus A, Nawroth P, Hannak D, Neumaier M, Bergfeld R, Giardino I, Brownlee M (2003) Benfotiamine blocks three major pathways of hyperglycemic damage and prevents experimental diabetic retinopathy. Nat Med 9(3):294-299
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2007). "Adiponectin decreases postprandially following a heat-processed meal in individuals with type 2 diabetes: an effect prevented by benfotiamine and cooking method". Diabetes Care 30 (10): 2514–6. doi:10.2337/dc07-0302. PMID 17630265.
^ Stracke H, Hammes HP, Werkmann D, et al. (2001). "Efficacy of benfotiamine versus thiamine on function and glycation products of peripheral nerves in diabetic rats". Exp. Clin. Endocrinol. Diabetes 109 (6): 330–6. doi:10.1055/s-2001-17399. PMID 11571671.
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2006). "Benfotiamine prevents macro- and microvascular endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress following a meal rich in advanced glycation end products in individuals with type 2 diabetes". Diabetes Care 29 (9): 2064–71. doi:10.2337/dc06-0531. PMID 16936154.
^ Babaei-Jadidi R, Karachalias N, Ahmed N, Battah S, Thornalley PJ (2003). "Prevention of incipient diabetic nephropathy by high-dose thiamine and benfotiamine". Diabetes 52 (8): 2110–20. doi:10.2337/diabetes.52.8.2110. PMID 12882930.
Friday 6 May 2011
Why our overweight children - and adults - will cost us millions....(2)
Continuing from the previous post....
As I posted previously, adequate nutrition and exercise are the mainstays of both prevention and management of overweight and obese children and adults. But what strategies and methods using these in combination were found by the report to be most cost effective? I will discuss these below. But first, the Chair of the Committee remarked that centralized, coordinated, strategic intervention was necessary - in other words a London wide strategy for tackling obesity. This no doubt is true. But I stress again, any strategy that does not take into account the need for proper parental or guardian education, accountability and responsibility is doomed to failure.
This is borne out by the findings of those who compiled the report. The most cost effective strategies were those that combined nutritional advice and physical activity. No real surprises there! However, a key point here is that people need to be regularly motivated to continue to make the right choices and take appropriate action - and this is where the the support of an experienced, dedicated and inspirational health coach becomes invaluable, the missing link, so to speak....
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.
Sources:
Edmonton Advertiser and Herald
Tipping the Scales: Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee.
As I posted previously, adequate nutrition and exercise are the mainstays of both prevention and management of overweight and obese children and adults. But what strategies and methods using these in combination were found by the report to be most cost effective? I will discuss these below. But first, the Chair of the Committee remarked that centralized, coordinated, strategic intervention was necessary - in other words a London wide strategy for tackling obesity. This no doubt is true. But I stress again, any strategy that does not take into account the need for proper parental or guardian education, accountability and responsibility is doomed to failure.
This is borne out by the findings of those who compiled the report. The most cost effective strategies were those that combined nutritional advice and physical activity. No real surprises there! However, a key point here is that people need to be regularly motivated to continue to make the right choices and take appropriate action - and this is where the the support of an experienced, dedicated and inspirational health coach becomes invaluable, the missing link, so to speak....
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.
Sources:
Edmonton Advertiser and Herald
Tipping the Scales: Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee.
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Why our overweight children - and adults - will cost us millions.... (1)
..... That is the shocking message from a report into childhood obesity in London, UK by the London Assembly's Health and Public Service Committee called Tipping the Scales. This report reveals that childhood obesity costs Londoners an eye watering 7.1 million pounds a year. Even worse, if this obesity trend is not reversed, these same children are projected to cost a staggering 111 million pounds a year on attaining adulthood. London has become the obese child capital of Britain - twenty per cent of London children are clinically obese, with the borough of Westminister -yes, where the Royal Wedding took place - worst hit (28 per cent) and leafy Richmond - Wimbledon country - least (12 per cent).
But obese adults cost London even more - a mind blowing 883.6 million pounds a year, according to the same report. No wonder James Claverly, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee said "Childhood obesity is a major problem with serious health and economic consequences for London". No kidding! I wonder what the figures are like where you live? Why not do little research and find out? I will be interested to hear from you!
The cold hard truth is that this is a problem that is easily avoided. Proper nutrition, proper exercise are the mainstay, we know that. So why these staggering levels of obesity? This report offers a partial answer, at least in London - lack of focus of exercise initiatives ie not geared exclusively towards obesity reduction and poor coordination of these available initiatives. Maybe, but I believe the answer lies closer to home - that is, in families. I am going to be blunt - it is time for parents and guardians to be actually that - parents and guardians! If you cannot cope, seek expert help early - there will be less heart ache and cost for both you and your child in the long run. This scandal must come to an end - starting NOW. Our children's very lives depend on it, not just in London, but also elsewhere, especially in most advanced countries!
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.
Sources:
-Edmonton Advertiser and Herald
-Tipping the Scales:Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee
But obese adults cost London even more - a mind blowing 883.6 million pounds a year, according to the same report. No wonder James Claverly, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee said "Childhood obesity is a major problem with serious health and economic consequences for London". No kidding! I wonder what the figures are like where you live? Why not do little research and find out? I will be interested to hear from you!
The cold hard truth is that this is a problem that is easily avoided. Proper nutrition, proper exercise are the mainstay, we know that. So why these staggering levels of obesity? This report offers a partial answer, at least in London - lack of focus of exercise initiatives ie not geared exclusively towards obesity reduction and poor coordination of these available initiatives. Maybe, but I believe the answer lies closer to home - that is, in families. I am going to be blunt - it is time for parents and guardians to be actually that - parents and guardians! If you cannot cope, seek expert help early - there will be less heart ache and cost for both you and your child in the long run. This scandal must come to an end - starting NOW. Our children's very lives depend on it, not just in London, but also elsewhere, especially in most advanced countries!
To your abundant excellent health,
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.
Sources:
-Edmonton Advertiser and Herald
-Tipping the Scales:Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee
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