Dark Chocolate is heart healthy

Chocolate is good for the heart.  Not any kind of chocolate but dark chocolate with 70% cacao or more.  Cacao is loaded with polyphenols that have beneficial effects on your blood vessels, it lowers your blood pressure, lowers your cholesterol is heart healthy.  Similar polyphenols are found in grapes and red wine.  This is why red wine is also good for your heart.  You only need 1 ounce of dark chocolate a day to get the beneficial effects.  Milk chocolate unfortunately does not have enough polyphenols,  and it has more sugar and fat.  It is not as healthy. White chocolate is not chocolate because it does not contain cacao.  So enjoy some dark chocolate,  your heart will thank you.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213153957.htm

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amount of sugar in a cola

Researchers at USCF think so. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241061.php

What is wrong with a little sugar or some dessert now and then.  Sugar has not been in our diets for very long.  It was introduced 40 00-5000 years ago, but its use in food was rare until recently.  At the turn of the last century, sugar was very expensive and was not added to foods unless you were very rich.  The average American ate 1 pound of sugar a year.  How much sugar do we eat now?  The average American eats 1/2 pound or more sugar EVERY day!  That is over 180 pounds of sugar each year in the form of added sugars in foods and drinks.  One 12 ounce soda has 10 teaspoons of sugar, a 36 ounce drink has 1/4 pound of sugar, so you can see how easy it is to eat 1/2 pound a day. 

So what is the problem with being so sweet?  First of all, sugar has a very high glycemic index.  It causes the blood sugar to rise followed by insulin levels.  This causes the glucose in the blood to be converted to fat but obesity is not the only problem.  Sugar not only increases our weight but leads to metabolic syndrome, the precursor to diabetes and heart disease.  It causes people to be overweight, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, it causes inflammation in the blood which leads to damage of the blood vessels and heart, and increases the risk of cancer. 

So why don’t people just stop eating sugar?  It is not always that easy.  Sugar causes the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain.  This causes pleasure and an increased drive to get more sugar.  It causes addictive behavior in animals and humans.  All in all, this sweet subject becomes very sour for hour health.

What to do?  The researchers suggest societal controls like those for tobacco and alcohol.  I think this is a step in the right direction.  There does not need to be an end to sweets, but we are now consuming 180 times more sugar now than 100 years ago and we can see the results.  Natural sugars in fruits or low glycemic index sweeteners like agave juice would be substitutes to help curb the problem.  What are your thoughts?

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Blood glucose spike after two different foods

This article is very important.  It is the reason behind much of the chronic diseases in this country.  Glycemic index is a measure of how much a particular carbohydrate rasises your blood sugar.  The higher the glycemic index the higher the glucose.  Higher glucose leads to higher insulin levels.  The insulin then drives the sugar into your cells to use as energy, or is more often the case, the insulin turns the sugar into fat for storage.  When a carbohydrate is digested quickly, the sugar spikes higher in the blood.  When the carbohydrate is absorbed more slowly, the sugar does not rise as fast or high, and the insulin level does not spike either.  This study demonstrates that low glycemic foods are less inflammatory.  The C-reactive protein level dropped 22% after a low glycemic index meal.  The CRP is an important marker of inflammation that can be measured in the blood. It is the inflammation that causes damage to blood vessels, proteins, and cholesterol leading to heart disease and strokes.  This is the basic mechanism behind these complications in diabetics. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111154043.htm

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Sun exposure improves vitamin D levels

Low vitamin D levels have been found to be linked to depression.  This study performed by UT Southwestern psychiatrists and published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings revealed people with low vitamin D levels had an increased risk of depression.  Conversely, people with normal vitamin D levels had a lower risk of depression.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239992.php

Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone.  It is vital for bone health, along with vitamin K, but vitamin D has roles throughout the body.  We know this because vitamin D receptors are present on multiple organs including the brain. 

This research especially makes sense in light of syndromes like seasonal affective disorder.  This is seasonal depression which occurs in the winter months.  In the winter, there  is very little sun, and vitamin D levels tend to drop.  During the summer, there is more sun, and more vitamin D production. 

If you can’t get in the sun, you can eat fatty fish like salmon, or cod.  Sardines have vitamin D as does cod liver oil.  Or you can buy vitamin D at the store.  Many people require 4000 to 5000 units daily to get an adequate level of vitamin D.  You may want your blood level checked to confirm you are getting enough.

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MRI scan showing brain shrinkage in Alzeimer's disease

This study again confirms the finding of other studies that a diet high in vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D will help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.  This particular study looked at brain shrinkage, or atrophy, which is a key finding in dementia as we age.  People that ate a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil), vitamin D, and vitamins C, D, E, and B which are found in fruits and vegetables.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/239750.php

Similar findings were found years ago at Rush Presbyterian Hospital’s Alzheimer’s unit.  There it was found that a diet high in vegetables actually slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.  So there is a natural way to protect your brain.

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This study is a wake-up call to all of us.  Today’s children are heavier than ever.  They are developing metabolic syndrome at an early age.  Metabolic syndrome consists of obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and insulin resistance.  It leads to diabetes and heart disease.  If you remember, heart disease is the number one killer in the United States.  More than 1/2 million people die each year of heart disease.  This is very unfortunate since heart disease is largely preventable with good diet and exercise.  This is what today’s teens are not getting.  Their diet is calorie rich and nutrient deficient and they do not exercise.  Even if they do exercise, the oxidation produced damages their bodies because they are not getting enough antioxidants.  We all need to make an effort to eat better and exercise.

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Benefits of acupuncture were seen as soon as three weeks into radiation therapy and the benefit increased by the end of radiation.  A follow up 1 month after radiation therapy still showed benefit of .  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/237520.php

The mechanism is unclear and hopefully will be the subject of future studies.  Studies like these are very important because they improve the quality of life of cancer patients.  I look forward to more studies.

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