May 2009

In This Issue:

Grapes Protect the Heart

Considering a Spring Detox

Fish Boosts Teens' Intelligence

Fatty Fish Intake Reduces Heart Failure Risk

Form of a B Vitamin May Treat Eye Disease

The Potential Consequences of Blood Pressure Control
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Grapes Protect the Heart

A grape-enriched diet may help prevent the downhill sequence of heart failure brought on by years of high blood pressure, U.S. researchers suggest.

E. Mitchell Seymour, whose study was part of his doctoral work in nutrition science at Michigan State University, said all the rats his team used were from a research breed that develops high blood pressure when fed a salty diet.

The researchers studied the effect of regular table grapes - a blend of green, red, and black grapes - that were mixed into the rat diet in a powdered form, as part of either a high- or low-salt diet. Comparisons were made between rats consuming the grape powder and rats that received a mild dose of the common blood pressure drug hydrazine.

After 18 weeks, the rats that received the grape-enriched diet powder had lower blood pressure, better heart function and fewer signs of heart muscle damage than rats that ate the same salty diet but didn't receive grapes.

Rats that received the blood pressure medicine, hydrazine, along with a salty diet also had lower blood pressure, but their hearts were not protected from damage as they were in the grape-fed group.

The study was presented at the 2009 Experimental Biology convention in New Orleans.
URL: www.upi.com
Date: April 26, 2009

Grapes+ contains all the goodness of whole grapes

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Considering a Spring detox? Think again!

Your body needs cleansing support every day (yes every day!) and with Genuine Health's convenient Daily Detox formulas, you can do it - safely and naturally.

High levels of environmental toxins have been found in the fat storage (adipose) and urine of over 80% of North American adults. Researchers believe we're exposed to thousands of toxins daily - including those in our air, food, cleaning products and cosmetics.

Is your health at risk? Signs of toxin overload include:

-Frequent headaches
-Problems concentrating or 'brain fog'
-Poor sleep and digestion
-Problem skin and weight gain

To fully clean and protect your body, relying on 'once-a-year formulas' is not enough. Along with causing undesirable side-effects, many fail to target phase I and phase II detox cycles, or fail to address toxins in the liver, GI tract, blood and skin.

Why is this important? In phase I, toxins are transported to the liver where they are transformed into metabolites. During phase II, these metabolites are made water soluble, then attached to a transporter molecule (such as glutathione) and eliminated from the body via urine, stool or sweat as a non-toxic substance.

Many detox formulas do not activate phase II, leaving metabolites (in phase I) still in the body which are extremely toxic! Signs include poor skin, pimples and rashes.

Learn more about the contributors and symptoms of toxic overload, and why daily detoxification is necessary.

Crinion WJ. Environmental medicine, part 4: the human burden of environmental toxins and their common health effects. Altern Med Rev. 2000, oct.;5(5):152.

Graci, Sam. (2005). The Path to Phenomenal Health. Ontario: Wiley. 12: 162.

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Fish Boosts Teens' Intelligence

Posted April 19, 2009

A regular intake of fish appears to boost intelligence scores in teenagers, according to a new Swedish study.

The research suggested that 15-year-old males, who ate fish at least once a week, had "higher cognitive skills at the age of 18 than those who ate it less frequently."
The fish diet appeared to "increase combined, verbal and visuospatial intelligence scores by an average of 6 per cent."

Eating fish more than once a week almost doubled the score, according to the study published in the March issue of Acta Paediatrica said.

The researchers used responses from 3,972 males in the survey with cognitive scores registered in their Swedish military conscription records three years later.

"We found a clear link between frequent fish consumption and higher scores when the teenagers ate fish at least once a week," said Professor Kjell Toren of the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, western Sweden.

Toren said the findings were "significant" since the research was conducted between 15 and 18 years of age "when educational achievements can help to shape the rest of a young man's life."
The researchers said they did not know what mechanism was linked to fish oil consumption and improved cognitive performance.

One theory was the benefits were linked to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish.
The leading author of the study, Dr Maria Aberg from the Centre for Brain Repair and Rehabilitation at the University of Gothenburg, said the team had considered other factors including ethnicity, where the teenagers lived, what level of education their parents had achieved, how often the teenagers exercised, their well-being and weight.

"Having looked very carefully at the wide range of variables explored by this study it was very clear that there was a significant association between regular fish consumption at 15 and improved cognitive performance at 18," Aberg said.

The researchers are now set to investigate whether the results were affected by the kind of fish eaten.
Date: Mar 23, 2009

Copyright 2009 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

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Fatty Fish Intake Reduces Heart Failure Risk

Eating salmon or other fatty fish once a week may help reduce men's risk of heart failure, but eating it more frequently wasn't helpful, U.S. researchers found.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center said heart failure is usually caused by existing cardiac conditions, including high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

First author Emily Levitan and colleagues tracked 39,367 Swedish men ages 45-79 from 1998 to 2004. During the study period, 597 men developed heart failure and 34 men died.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, found men who ate fatty fish - herring, mackerel, salmon, whitefish and char - once a week were 12 percent less likely to develop heart failure, compared with men who ate no fatty fish.

The researchers divided the men into five groups based on their intake of fatty fish. They found that while the middle group, who ate one serving per week, had a 12 percent reduced risk of heart failure, the next two groups, who ate either two servings a week or three or more servings a week, had nearly the same heart failure risk as the men who ate no fish at all.

The men who ate more fish may already be in poor health, and may be trying to improve their health through fish consumption, Levitan said.

Date: April 22, 2009 URL: www.upi.com

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Form of a B Vitamin May Treat Eye Disease

Posted April 30, 2009

U.S. researchers say there may be a low cost, easily absorbed treatment for uveitis - a cause of blindness - that has few side effects.

Uveitis - an inflammation just below the outer surface of the eyeball which causes 10 percent to 15 percent of U.S. blindness and even higher rates of blindness globally - is usually treated with antibiotics or steroid eye drops.

In animal studies, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found benfotiamene - a form of vitamin B1 that is fat soluble - fed to laboratory rats with bacterial toxins that ordinarily produce a reaction mimicking uveitis, failed to develop any signs of the inflammatory disorder.

"Benfotiamene strongly suppresses this eye-damaging condition and the biochemical markers we associate with it," study senior author Kota Ramana says in a statement. "We're optimistic that this simple supplementation with vitamin B1 has great potential as a new therapy for this widespread eye disease."

The study, published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, found benfotiamene works by suppressing the activation of a crucial signaling molecule called NF-kappa B, which is normally triggered by the stress caused by infection.

Shutting down NF-kappa B, the researchers say, prevents the runaway production of inflammatory proteins that generates uveitis.

Date: April 26, 2009 URL: www.upi.com


Copyright 2009 by United Press International

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The Potential Consequences of Blood Pressure Control

Usually, we think of sugary treats and white bread as playing a role in the development of diabetes. But research is beginning to unveil another possible culprit in blood sugar issues. And this factor has nothing to do with what you eat.

Blood pressure medications have helped a lot of people reduce a condition that can damage their cardiovascular systems. However, researchers are now discovering that these same blood pressure medications may encourage the development of diabetes.1

Take thiazide diuretics, for example. Though they’re one of the drugs of choice when it comes to battling hypertension, the clinical benefits they deliver come at a price. Not only do they disturb the balance of several key electrolytesâ€"including potassium, sodium, and magnesiumâ€"but evidence also suggests that they may increase your risk of diabetes... by as much at 45 percent.2

What’s worse, thiazide diuretics aren’t the only blood pressure drugs that studies have associated with this serious diseaseâ€"calcium-channel blockers and ACE inhibitors have also been shown to increase mean blood sugar levels within five years of use.3 Another long-term study showed that as many as 20.4 percent of patients treated with blood-pressure medications will develop diabetesâ€"which in turn poses a greater risk of stroke, heart attack, and death.4

Hypertension can have serious consequences and patients should never stop taking their blood-pressure lowering drugs without a doctor’s guidance. However, for individuals who want to explore other options, there are a number of natural approaches.

PRESSURE-fX - a patented blend of shark cartilage and Cordycepsâ€"is one proven example. Clinical studies have shown that 88 percent of patients supplementing with this product significantly reduced their blood pressureâ€"and that 75 percent were able to maintain healthy blood pressure without using prescription medications.5

Another powerful option is Circutrol BP, which contains grape seed extract, blueberry extract and vitamin K2. Grape seed extract is shown to increase your body’s nitric oxide productionâ€"thereby relaxing your blood vessels. 6-7 Clinical research shows that, in as little as 8 weeks, this potent antioxidant ingredient reduced average systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels by 8.3 mm Hg and 5.7 mm Hg, respectively.8

Blueberry extract has delivered similar results in animal studies, lowering blood pressure by as much as 30 percent in stroke-prone ratsâ€"in just six weeks. What’s even more promising: Blueberry also decreased insulin resistance among the same group, which showed a 48 percent improvement over controls.9

Finally, vitamin K2 (menaquinone) is an essential nutrient that acts to support healthy blood pressure levelsâ€"which is why it’s combined with both extracts above in Circutrol BP. Human studies have revealed that increased intake of this important nutrient will keep calcium from building up in your arteries, helping to keep them flexible and unobstructed.