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

Archive for November, 2010

Aging and diabetes both share two crucial biological processes which destroy the human body: glycation and oxidative stress. Glycation is the result of protein and lipid molecule damage, and oxidative stress is characterized by increased free-radical activity and damage to tissues.

Glycation is the biochemical process in which series of non-enzymatic reactions between proteins and or certain lipids and glucose. The result is the formation of dangerous glycotoxins called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.

Foods within the fat and meat protein group contain twelve and thirty times more AGE content than in the carbohydrate group, while foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts, and unprocessed, unrefined foods have low levels of glycotoxins.

Glycotoxins are also formed in the production and preparation of food as well. Preparation of food with high heat such as broiling, roasting, barbecuing vastly increases the glycotoxicity of said food.

Preparation of food at temperatures lower than 250°F avoids the formation of dietary glycotoxins. Most methods, of lower temperature cooking involve using some type of liquid to cook the food, such as poaching, steaming, braising, stewing, and slow cooking via crockpot cooker.

The damage brought on by glycation can be prevented with specific nutrients. Benfotiamine helps with the prevention of nerve and blood vessel damage, and resulting complications of glycation.

Carnosine (not to be confused with L-Carnitine)  is an antioxidant that acts as a shield against sugar molecules, thus preventing glycation. It also stimulates enzymes and other substances to eliminate damaged, glycated proteins, thus helping to reduce the impact of diabetic complications.

To learn more or if you have questions, be sure to ask for Carolyn at Natural Choices

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.

• Obesity causes male testosterone levels to drop, as aromatase in adipose tissue converts testosterone to estrogen.
• Falling testosterone levels predict and cause the development of obesity and the metabolic syndrome
• Testosterone has a powerful impact on many features of metabolism, most notably glucose, insulin, and fat regulation.
• The decline in testosterone levels with age may explain why so many men at or beyond middle age have trouble shedding weight even through diet and exercise.
• Keeping a good level of testosterone through frequent checks can help be an early indicator of risk for metabolic syndrome.
• Careful testosterone replacement therapy has proven effective in reducing body weight, fat content, and insulin resistance.

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.