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

Archive for December, 2010

• One in three Americans now suffers from the stealth condition known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD.
• NAFLD may go undetected for years, and may progress to liver inflammation and scarring (cirrhosis) or full-blown liver failure.
• While chiefly driven by poor dietary choices linked to metabolic syndrome and “diabesity,” genetic factors can also play a role in NAFLD’s progress.
• Medical science has proved relatively helpless at preventing or treating NAFLD and NASH, leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to their effects.
• A host of nutritional interventions have proven effective in combating NAFLD, complementing one another as they fight the oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and fat accumulation and abnormal lipid profiles, also known as “lipotoxicity.”
• Vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, and the anti-diabetic weight loss-inducing drug metformin each work by different but complementary mechanisms to improve liver chemistry, ameliorate liver cell damage, and improve blood flow to liver tissues in early NAFLD and even in NASH.

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.