Natural Choices — Health Food, Organic Produce, Gluten Free, Vitamins, Supplements — Columbus, Bartholomew County, Indiana

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Organic farmers who farm sustainably, or without the use of chemicals, we would like to carry your produce! If interested, call us at Natural Choices at 812-375-1677, as we work together to provide better nutrition for our local community.

• Gamma-linolenic acid, or GLA, is an unusual omega-6 fatty acid with powerful implications for human health.
• Adequate GLA is required to maintain a healthy balance of anti-inflammatory signaling molecules in the body.
• The enzyme that produces GLA from dietary fat decreases in activity with aging and in certain chronic conditions
• Increasing GLA intake overcomes this deficiency and can restore a healthy balance to suppress chronic inflammation.

Maintaining memory function, neuron support, and neuroplasticity, the dynamic capacity to replace damaged neurons and to make new ones, requires phosphatidylserine in order to keep everything running smoothly. Communication between neurons depends on a steady flow of phosphatidylserine and other “smart” nutrients.

In 2003, even the biased FDA granted “qualified health claim” status to phosphatidylserine, allowing supplement manufacturers to state that “consumption of phosphatidylserine may reduce the risk of dementia in elderly” and “consumption of phosphatidylserine may reduce the risk of cognitive dysfunction in the elderly”.

Cognitive Function

• Diets that contain processed foods and those who limit consumption of  high-cholesterol foods, including eggs and meats, may not contain sufficient amounts of the essential nutrients that support cognitive function and membrane structure.
• A growing body of research suggests that a mild cognitive decline is preventable and sometimes reversible through the use of such supplements as phosphatidylcholine and GPC, which are known to support the optimal structure and function of brain cells.
• After the age of 30, we become increasingly vulnerable to brain aging and its consequences, including impaired memory and progressive loss of cognitive function that can lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease ad other forms of dementia.
• Preventing cognitive decline throughout life requires early intervention decades before the onset of the symptoms of cognitive decline.
• A proactive and preventive approach to preserving and enhancing cognitive function using phosphatidylserine and GPC may help protect against mild cognitive decline and may be effective in helping people with senile dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
• Data from animal and human studies that have tested phosphatidylserine and GPC strongly suggest that these neuroprotective and neurotrophic compounds play an essential role in preventing and restoring loss of healthy brain functions as we age.
• Studies show that GPC and phosphatidylserine enjoy a higher safety profile and superior benefit-to-risk profile than drugs prescribed to treat dementia.
• Studies suggest that GPC and phosphatidylserine act on multiple levels and work synergistically to prevent cognitive decline and restore healthy brain function.

Vitamin K2, or menaquinone, has been shown to safely suppress growth and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma, a common, deadly form of liver cancer. It affects the tumors by modifying growth factors and receptor molecules, which makes the cell less able to stimulate tumor growth and progression. The cell cycle is frozen, as to not create any further cells. It also creates programmed cell death through distinctive mechanisms.

Vitamin K’s affect on lung cancers has been largely due to the induction of apoptosis, which creates a “suicide protein”, rapidly suppressing the growth of cancer cells within patients.

Oncosis and autophagy are two mechanisms of vitamin K, which help greatly in the fight against different cancers. Oncosis is a form of stress-activated ischemic cell death of which tumor cells are particularly susceptible. Autophagy happens as cancer cells essentially “eat” themselves away by releasing their own digestive enzymes internally. By combining vitamin K with vitamin C, autoschizis occurs, in which cancer cells split open and spill their contents and are destroyed.

Vitamin K also has three synergistic mechanisms. Vitamin K3 inhibits DNA-building enzymes while vitamin K2 and K3 block new blood vessel formation key to the support of rapid tumor tissue growth, and vitamin K3 disrupts crucial intracellular communications networks composed of microtubules, preventing the cells from proliferating in a coordinated fashion.

Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) is a disorder related to leukemia. What happens in patients with MDS is that the bone marrow begins creating mass amounts of young white blood cells. This can lead to full blown Leukemia. MDS is commonly referred as pre-Leukemia. Vitamin K induces apoptosis (programmed cell death) of the leukemic cells, with the effect more prominent on blast cells rather than on mature white blood cells. It also induces MDS cells to differentiate into healthy white blood cells, even after full-blown leukemia has developed.

Long associated with blood clotting, vitamin K is now known to have effects on tissue throughout the human body, including most of the steps leading up to cancer. Recent discoveries illustrate vitamin K as a tremendous breadth throughout its targets, spanning virtually every phase of cancer’s course. With compelling evidence, vitamin K has been shown to prevent, and in some cases treat, a variety of common and dangerous cancers.

To learn more about Vitamin K and its anti-cancer properties, contact Carolyn at Natural Choices for Healthful Living in Columbus, IN.

Aging adults often require more protein than younger adults — a fact established by clinical studies, yet ignored by our leading health organizations.

Nearly half of all adults run the risk of developing sarcopenia, a serious age-related loss of muscle mass. Age-related muscle loss is a leading cause of preventable disability and loss of functional capacity in older adults.

All people can benefit from using proteins from peas and other plants, branched chain amino acids, prebiotics, and cholesterol-lowering oat beta-glucans. These components work in unity to maximize protein utilization, while controlling the postprandial glycemic response that inflicts so much damage to cells after every high-calorie meal we eat.

To learn more about age-related muscle loss and what steps you can take to stop it in its tracks, come in to Natural Choices for Healthful Living and ask for Carolyn.

As we age, we are unaware of the magnitude of excess calorie ingestion throughout our daily lives. Most of us believe that we are only eating a little bit more than we are supposed to.

In reality, we consume more calories than our bodies can utilize for the production of energy, which our body needs to function normally. The end result is an accumulation of unsightly fat masses which release deadly pro-inflammatory cytokines into the body along with the inability to maintain glucose control and healthy blood lipid levels.

With nutritional compounds that:

1. impede dietary fat and carbohydrate absorption

2. manage regulators of fat storage like leptin

3. boost resting metabolic rate

aging humans can realistically expect to start shedding excess pounds and inches in a safe, sustainable manner.

The task for us to remember is that excess calories are poison. By either avoiding the poison through reducing calorie intake, or using nutritional compounds before large meals to lessen the effect of the ingested calories (i.e., how many are absorbed versus how many are converted into body fat) a happy medium can be reached for most people.

Doctors of the South Florida Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Institute are buzzing about the new findings relative to bone marrow stem cells and finding a cure for cancer. The new process involves transplanting clean stem cells, ones that are extracted from the bone marrow and cleaned, or through healthy bone marrow of a matching donor.  Chemotherapy is used to clean the bone marrow of any cancer, which is found there. Then the clean stem cells, from the original patient or from a healthy donor, are transplanted back into the bone marrow, thus relieving the bone marrow of the cancer. When the stem cells return into the system, the immune system resets and immediately starts to attack any leftover cancer cells. This process has greatly improved the immune system’s ability to fight off infection. The studies only include mice up to this point, but in the future, they hope to begin human testing. It is a great step forward in the search for a cure for cancer.

For more information, contact Carolyn at Natural Choices, or by phone @ 812-375-1677.

Compulsive behaviors stem from neurological issues in the brain. Low serotonin levels are the leading cause for the development of compulsive behaviors. Disorders such as eating, depression, and anxiety are all the result of low serotonin levels within the brain. Researchers found that the compulsive eating disorder is due to a common gene variant in the molecule that transports serotonin. Serotonin is the primary mood regulator for the human mind. In adults low serotonin levels do not disrupt daily life as it does in teens when under stress. This applies to people carrying the gene variant, but can occur in people without it through unsatisfactory care of the body. I.e. getting enough rest, eating right, not using harsh chemicals.

Doctors have found in a 2010 study that saffron extract has shown to reduce the impulses, which drive the need to eat in between meals. What we can infer from the study is that the levels of serotonin are boosted safely and efficiently, which also are reducing depression, anxiety, and stress related to compulsive eating. It is also as effective, if not more than, as streamline pharmaceutical drugs without the side affects. Through targeting the root of the neurological disorder, we are able to achieve new forms of safe, effective weight loss.

B-complex vitamins have been scrutinized for not reducing the risk of heart attack in clinical studies. The fact to remember is not the type of nutrient, hormone, or drug which determine clinical outcomes. Achieved blood levels which occur in response to taking a compound for reducing risk.

Recent studies have compared the levels of homocysteine and C-reactive protein of heart attack patients with the levels in non symptom of heart attack patients. The results were astounding.

• 32% MORE heart attack patients had homocysteine level above 10 mmol/L
• 500% more heart attack patients had homocysteine levels above 15 mmol/L
• 572% more heart attack patients had C-reactive protein levels above 3.00 mg/L

The study has proven why it is of the utmost importance to keep homocysteine levels below 10 mmol/L, and C-reactive protein levels as low as possible, therefore reducing the risk for heart attack in both men and women.

Vitamin D plays a key role in the formation and upkeep of healthy bone structure and function. It is the main absorber of phosphorous and calcium which are crucial in bone mineralization. A severe deficiency can lead to rickets, a disease which involves the deformity of the larger, longer bones in the body. It also has a strong cardiovascular function in which it inhibits vascular calcification by blocking inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules, which keep vascular walls soft and smooth. Vitamin D deficiency is also associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease including hypertension, diabetes, increased carotid artery intima-media thickness, heart attack, and stroke. Replenishment of Vitamin D levels is key in reversing these risks.

Vitamin K is responsible for the proper mineralization of bone. Without it the phosphorous and calcium are not properly synthesized together to create a strong bond for a healthy bone composition. It has been proven to stimulate new bone formation along with reducing the occurrence of vertebrae fractures.