Friday, July 18, 2008
Analgesic drugs don't reduce ovarian cancer risk (Reuters)
As you know, I am a physician. It's part of my profession to keep abreast of what's happening in medical /health research. Being retired helps, because doctors simply do not generally have the "extra time" to devote to the scientific literature.
But I do. And I love it. I am one of those individuals who really enjoys brace yourselfchemistry. When I'm done here, you should be excited too, especially if you are interested in sports nutrition and antioxidants, though not necessarily in that order.
Sports nutrition is a vast industry with emphasis on optimizing PERFORMANCE. Off hand, I can think of quite a few categories involving sports nutrition:
* sports nutrition and supplements for athletes,
* sports nutrition and athletic performance,
* sports nutrition and body building,
* sports nutrition and endurance training,
* sports nutrition and special diets in a variety of sports,
* sports nutrition and strength training,
* sports nutrition for running, jogging, walking, skiing, swimming
* There's even Rocky Mountain sports nutrition
* the list is endless.
So far, no surprises, huh? Well, here's one for you. Did you know that when you exercise intensively you INCREASE the free radical burden in your body? If you're a serious sports enthusiast, you should know that.
Butthe real news is what science is now finding out about that free radical burden of yours. You should pay close attention here.
Suddenly, chemistry gets real personal.
Everyone of us has, what may be called, our antioxidant protective capacity. That means our bodies normally utilize antioxidants to protect us against the harmful impact of free radicals.
First of all, what are antioxidants? They are molecular substances which offset free radical damage to the body. Antioxidants, "quench" free radicals (for lack of a better metaphor) neutralizing their damaging effects on the cells of the body.
* Antioxidants are found in foods such as cranberries, green tea and even chocolate.
* Antioxidants are found in vitamins such vitamin C and E.
* Antioxidants are found in carotenoids such as beta-carotene.
* Antioxidants are found in many substances supplied by the body such as glutathione.
* Antioxidants are found in many herbs and enzymes.
The impact of antioxidants is boosted by glyconutrients to offset free radicals in your bodyand, as a result of your athletic exertions.
Antioxidant capacity must be provided in your sports nutrition regimen or you could be "robbing Peter to pay Paul" with your workouts. As you will see, without a glyconutrional presence in your sports nutrition, the healthful gains made by your physical workouts will be offset by your own free radical burden.
Free radicals, sports and sports nutrition
Free radicals are those chemical species which contain one or more unpaired electrons, capable of independent existence. They form in the body due to a variety of reasons as offshoots of cellular activity or as products introduced to the body from the outside.
As an analogy, think of running a car engine as the cellular production and the car emissions a the free radical production. The engine produces products which cannot stay inside the car without further damage. They simply must be neutralized and expelled.
Free radicals form and cause damage by reacting with many substances in your body. It is estimated that upwards of 200,000 free radical attacks occur in our bodies daily.
When free radical damage is done, the body can remove the compounds formed by its cellular repair system. However, if the body cannot handle the free radicals (with antioxidants for example), nor remove the compounds, then disease can be the result.
Contrary to popular opinion, free radicals do not circulate throughout the body. The half-life of most free radicals varies in a range of a few nanoseconds to about 7 seconds duration. That means they will react within the "neighborhood" (a few Angstroms or microns near where the increase in free radicals occurred) organs, connective tissue, circulatory or nerve tissue, bone or lymphatic material are all candidates for free radical attack.
Wherever they form, they will damage the surrounding areas, unless prevented by the bodySo the body does NOT have the luxury of just filtering away any circulatory fluids to find the free radicals. The body's defense systems must bewellfairly omnipresent to neutralize the effects of free radicals. The antioxidant protective system must be healthy.
Since they are highly reactive substances, they react with all sorts of cell elements readily. But, when they do react with your body cells, they can damage the cells and even kill them. Often, the damage from free radicals can CHANGE the cellular structure enough to cause DISEASE such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and a host of others.
The type of disease that occurs is dependent upon which of the free radical defenses in the body weren't functioning properly and where the free radical attacks occur.
The body has pretty sophisticated antioxidant defense systems. But, the body CAN get overwhelmed in its antioxidant protections against such free radicals
Indeed, unless antioxidant enhanced sports nutrition (with glyconutrients) are used to offset the increased free radical burden, the BODY will suffer as a result of intensive sports training, stress, and competition.
Glyconutrients VITAL to sports nutrition
Studies comparing marathon runners who did and did not take glyconutritional sports nutrition supplements were undertaken. The results were reported by the Proceedings of the Fisher Institute For Medical Research ( August 2003, vol.3, no.1). The results "demonstrated strikingly different patterns." Antioxidant protection appeared to be powerfully enhanced against free radicals with glyconutritional supplementation. Thus, the body was protected for several days after the marathon run.
However, when glyconutritional sports nutrition was NOT used, the damaging effects of the free radical burden appeared to remain in the body for about five days. Thus, the subject "consistently excreted higher concentrations of free radical byproducts" as compared to that of the glyconutritional subject. It should be emphasized that the subject studied WAS TAKING other antioxidants, though not glyconutrition. Despite that fact, the above cited results were obtained.
That's another way of saying that when glyconutritional supplements were not used, the free radical burden upon the body was not lifted. Antioxidant protection does appear to be (significantly) strengthened with glyconutritional sports nutrition. Such antioxidant protection appears to be of benefit for athletes overall, including training, stress, competition and dietary issues.
The glyconutrional revolution in sports nutrition and therapy is just beginning. More studies are being done. More results are coming in concerning free radicals and the capacity of the glyconutrients to boost antioxidant affect against free radicals.
Sports nutrition is about to see a new revolution
Better still. I believe that it is quite probable that, with glyconutrition, sports PERFORMANCE is about to see a revolution in al fields.
Dr. Robert Gamble is retired from a very successful Cardio-Thoracic surgical career spanning three decades. He is now active in researching medical issues such as glyconutrition and offers his insights for public benefit. For information about Glyconutrition: Go to http://www.glycoshare.com or write NetPublish@Direcway.com Call Toll Free: 1866.735.5871
Medicare vote over HMO cuts to move in Senate (Reuters)
Eating health food has become a trend in the past couple decades, but while it's good for your body, many are put off by the high prices on health foods one finds when shopping in one's local grocery store. Although it may have a good effect on your body, the exorbitant prices of organic food items at supermarkets can have a nasty effect on your wallet. There must be a way to eat healthy for a lower price, you think. Well, there is.
The first necessity is to stay away from the supermarket. Stores that specialize in health food are lower priced, better stocked, and the employees usually know more information about health food than would your typical supermarket clerk, leaving them able to guide you in the direction best suited for your health situation. Farmers' markets, gourmet delis, and community agricultural programs are d calcium pantothenate other excellent ways to find cheaper prices on food that's good for both your body and your taste buds.
A few simple tips can lead you in the right direction when deciding where and when to purchase healthy, organic food.
1. Shop at farmers' markets. Why should you eat fruit that's been boxed and tossed inside of truck to be driven across country, when you can buy fresh products just harvested by farmers in your own area?
2. Research! You have more options than you realize. Simply type 'health food' into a search engine and you will be inundated with countless directories of health food stores, specialty stores, organic food markets and so on, and can easily locate the one or more that are located nearest you.
3. Buy a share or half-share in a community supported agriculture program, or CSA. For around $350, you can receive boxes of fresh fruit weekly for the 25 week growing seasonsome freshly picked the morning you receive it! How tempting is that?
4. The best prices are in-season. But what to do when the growing season is over? Freeze the produce! It stays yummy and can be pulled out and thawed for consumption year round, and it's much cheaper than forking over the higher prices for organic food when the pickings are slim.
5. Buy in bulk. Do the math. For things like nuts and lentils, buying in bulk can be a great way to save. So long as you have a dry, cool area to store them in, just buy a bunch that can last you for months rather than buying individual batches at a much higher cost. But always calculate the pricesometimes, the savings aren't worth the hassle.
6. Join your local co-op. A food co-op is a business owned by members which provides products such as groceries to its members at a discount. Joining one is usually pretty easyjust sign on and pay your dues, and if you volunteer for the co-op you can get even more discounts. Most of the food from co-ops is organic, from local family farms.
Now that you're on your way to purchasing health foods at a price closer to reasonable (although health food prices rarely come within pennies of conventional food prices outside of California), make sure you have a diet plan and know which health foods you should eat to best compliment your body. A little bit of planning can go a long way in terms of how you feel.
Need help finding a Health Food Store near you. Learn about Vitamins and Minerals and Natural Sources for Vitamins.
