A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010; 92(3): 634-43) further demonstrates the direct relationship between a high glycemic diet and inflammation. In a study involving 1490 postmenopausal women and 1245 men (baseline average age: 49 years) from a population-based cohort, women consuming a diet with the highest glycemic index (highest tertile) were found to have a 2.9-fold increased risk of inflammatory-disease related death, as compared to women in the lowest tertile of GI diet (multivariate HR=2.89). Increased intakes of foods high in refined sugars or starches and decreasing intake of vegetables other than potatoes as well as cereals and breads was also independently associated with a greater risk. The authors conclude, “These data provide new epidemiologic evidence of a potentially important link between GI and inflammatory disease mortality among older women.”
High Fructose Corn Syrup Tries To Hide Behind Name Change
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/14/high-fructose-corn-syrup-up-for-a-new-name?fb_js_fbu=757915220
Cognitive Impairment and B Vitamins
Daily tablets of large doses of B vitamins can halve the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people with memory problems and may slow their progression toward dementia, data from a recent British trial showed.
Scientists from Oxford University said their two-year clinical trial was the largest to date into the effect of B vitamins on so-called “mild cognitive impairment” — a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Experts commenting on the findings said they were important and called for larger, longer full-scale clinical trials to see if the safety and effectiveness of B vitamins in the prevention of neurodegenerative conditions could be confirmed.
“This is a very dramatic and striking result. It’s much more than we could have predicted,” said David Smith of Oxford’s department of pharmacology, who co-led the trial.
“It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay development of Alzheimer’s in many people who suffer from mild memory problems.”
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects around 16 percent of people aged over 70 worldwide and is characterized by slight problems with memory loss, language or other mental functions.
MCI does not usually interfere with daily life, but around 50 percent of people diagnosed with it go on to develop the far more severe Alzheimer’s disease within five years. Alzheimer’s is a mind-wasting disease for which there are few treatments and no cure, and which affects 26 million people around the world.
Smith and colleagues conducted a two-year trial with 168 volunteers with MCI who were given either a vitamin pill containing very high doses of folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, or a placebo dummy pill.
These B vitamins are known to control levels of an amino acid called homocysteine in the blood, and high blood levels of homocysteine are linked to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Brain scans were taken at the beginning and the end of the trial to monitor the rate of brain shrinkage, or atrophy.
The results, published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) One journal, showed that on average the brains of those taking the vitamin treatment shrank at a rate of 0.76 percent a year, while those taking the dummy pill had an average brain shrinkage of 1.08 percent.
People who had the highest levels of homocysteine at the start of the trial benefited the most from the treatment, with their brains shrinking at half the rate of those on the placebo.
Although the trial was not designed to measure cognitive ability, the researchers found those people who had lowest rates of shrinkage had the highest scores in mental tests.
CT Physicians and Chronic Lyme Disease
According to a recent UConn survey, only about 2% of physicians in the state of Connecticut treat chronic Lyme disease, while barely 50% even believe that it exists! This is a travesty for patients who have suffered for months or years without the appropriate treatment, and is largely due to the stances taken by the American College of Rheumatology, Infectious Diseases Society of American, and other organizations that dissuade physicians from treating chronic Lyme. Fortunately, a group of physicians who are aware of chronic Lyme disease, and how to treat it effectively, have formed their own organization (ILADS).
Weight Gain and Fatty Acids-Born Into Obesity?
For years, the naturopathic profession has emphasized the importance of balancing the ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 intake. The standard American diet is overloaded with omega 6 fatty acids, while being deficient in omega 3, which can lead to a chronic inflammatory state, increasing the risk of cancer and other serious diseases. Now, a new study in the Journal of Lipid Research has found that a high omega 6:omega 3 ratio may not only lead to insulin resistance in individuals, but may actually predispose their offspring to a life-long struggle with obesity.
Dementia and Vitamin E
The July 2010 edition of Archives of Neurology contains a study that demonstrates an inverse relationship between vitamin E intake and dementia risk, including Alzheimer’s. Participants in the study were followed for roughly a decade, and those who had the highest dietary intake of Vitamin E were shown to have the lowest incidence of dementia. Overall, higher vitamin E intake was linked to a 25% reduction in dementia risk.
Heart Disease and Anxiety
The July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry contains a study that demonstrates a 74% increased risk for adverse cardiovascular events (stroke, heart attack, and sudden death) in patients with general anxiety disorder (GAD). While it’s often been speculated that many patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) are also anxious, this study is the first of it’s kind to prove that there is indeed a definitive link between anxiety and heart disease.
