from www.foodconsumer.org

Swine flu, H1N1, has killed thirty-six children in U.S. and analysis of CDC data indicates Vitamin D deficient children at higher risk of death.

The CDC did not realize they discovered this. However, anyone familiar with the Vitamin D literature will recognize it.

Almost two-thirds of the dead children had epilepsy, cerebral palsy, or other neurodevelopmental conditions like mental retardation.

All of these neurological conditions are associated with childhood Vitamin D deficiency. Exacerbating the problem further, many of these kids take anticonvulsant drugs, which lower Vitamin D levels.

58 million American children are Vitamin D deficient; 7.6 million are severely deficient.

When researchers looked at more than 6,000 American kids (age one to 21) who were carefully selected to be representative of the average American child. 9 percent of the kids had 25(OH)D levels less than 15 ng/mL and 70 percent had levels less than 30 ng/mL.

What is Vitamin D?

The first thing to understand about Vitamin D is that it is not a vitamin. By definition, a vitamin is a substance that is essential to human health but cannot be produced by the body. Vitamin D, in its most obvious and fundamental function, is essential to the metabolism of calcium and phosphorous in the body and without Vitamin D, we would not have healthy bones. So it is essential to our bodies, but Vitamin D is produced by our bodies when we are exposed to UVB rays of the sun. Because Vitamin D is produced by the body, it does not meet both of these above criteria. Vitamin D is not truly a vitamin.

Vitamin D was named a vitamin in 1920 when a researcher raised dogs without any exposure to sunlight. He fed fish liver oil to dogs and prevented rickets. The researcher assumed that the substance responsible for preventing rickets was in the fish liver oil—and not producible by the body. He named this essential nutrient a vitamin. It was four years later when other researchers found that Vitamin D was produced in the body when exposed to sunlight. So to call Vitamin D a vitamin is a misnomer but for the benefit of public health and nutrition, as well as its name’s long tradition, Vitamin D is still officially called a “vitamin.”

Although the term Vitamin D is used in reference to different substances associated with Vitamin D, there are two main types of Vitamin D. Vitamin D2 is known as ergocalciferol and Vitamin D3 is called cholecalciferol.

For some people, getting their Vitamin D from sunshine alone, feels like the right and natural choice. For others, sun exposure is a scary thing and is avoided at all costs; and you spend more time indoors, wear protective clothing or sunscreen.

How Do we Get our Vitamin D?

Step One—Sun hits your skin It all begins when the skin is exposed to the sun. The UVB light in the sun interfaces with a form of cholesterol in your skin called 7-dehydrocholesterol, and this substance is synthesized into pre-vitamin D3. The pre-vitamin D3 immediately converts into Vitamin D3. This is the Vitamin D that circulates through the body, but it still isn’t empowered into its activated form.

Vitamin D3 is made in large quantities when you are in the sun during peak UV times. In fact it is estimated that 30 minutes in the sun in a bathing suit, midday in summer can make up to 20,000 IU of Vitamin D. If you get too much sun, the skin is able to convert the excess Vitamin D to other inactive molecules. In this way the body does not get overdosed with Vitamin D from sun exposure.

For my patients who don’t get enough sun, I advise them to take Vitamin D as a supplement, in carefully selected dosages.

Step Two—Vitamin D3 becomes 25D The Vitamin D3, either from sun or supplement makes its way to the liver where it undergoes a process (hydroxylation) turning it into 25D to store in your body. Having optimal stores of 25D in your body is very important, as these stores will enhance your body’s ability to make the best use of Vitamin D’s capabilities. If your body does not store enough Vitamin D in the form of 25D, then you will have low or deficient levels of Vitamin D in the blood. Ideally your Vitamin D levels should be optimal.

Step Three—25D becomes 1,25D3 The first priority for the health of your body is to send 25D from your liver to the kidneys where it is transformed into 1,25D3. 1,25D3 is the active and potent form of Vitamin D. As 1,25D3 this form of Vitamin D has the job of circulating in your blood to ensure that you maintain appropriate levels of calcium. This function of 1,25D3 is vital to our health—so much so that scientists didn’t expect it to have other functions.

In 1970, Vitamin D researcher Michael Holick and his colleagues discovered that the kidneys were not the only place in the body where 25D was metabolized into the potent and vital substance 1,25D3. When your body has enough stores of 25D, and has maintained the proper functioning of calcium levels in the blood, something exciting happens to the “excess” 25D.

It is only in the last ten years that scientists have come to understand this newfound function of the 25D form of Vitamin D. They have discovered that most tissues and cells of the body have the ability to metabolize 25D from the liver and turn it into 1,25D3. When researchers discovered these extra steps in the metabolizing of Vitamin D, they realized that many organs, tissues, and cells in the body have receptors for Vitamin D.

This means that Vitamin D circulates throughout the body and has the ability to land, and affect the cells, tissues, and organs that receive the Vitamin D. It is the only substance of its kind in the body and researchers are finding that Vitamin D has many repair and maintenance functions in most tissues and cells. Vitamin D isn’t just about healthy bones anymore.

It is this new fact about the 1,25D3 form of Vitamin D that has researchers so excited. According to Dr. John Cannell, director of the Vitamin D Council, 1,25D3 affects more than 200 genes in the body and can be found in most tissues in the body. He states on his Website, “This explains why the same substance may have a role in preventing cancer, influenza, autism, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and cardiovascular disease, not just curing rickets and osteomalacia.”

Vitamin D From Food

Some health experts and nutritionists insist that we can get access to sufficient supplies of Vitamin D from eating food rich in Vitamin D.

A plethora of press releases have alerted the world about the health implications of Vitamin D deficiency. Reporters are interpreting the findings, and interviewing doctors, nutritionists and health professionals for their opinions regarding the veracity of the scientific findings. Laypersons are voicing their opinions through their blogs and comments on Websites. While it is interesting to read people’s varying voices of reason, it only creates confusion for the average person who is looking for solid information upon which to base their health decisions

There is much conflicting information about the presence of Vitamin D in food. Some avid proponents of healthy eating cling to the belief that all of our nutrition can come from eating a balanced and healthy diet. While this ideal is admirable, there are a few considerations about diet that remain a fact for most North Americans.

You can’t eat enough fish, eggs or mushrooms to get adequate—let alone optimal Vitamin D

1. If ‘food experts’ don’t know that the Vitamin D content in food is inadequate to reap health benefits, how can the average person be expected to know about the Vitamin D content in food?

2. Most people do not eat healthy balanced diets and will never achieve adequate Vitamin D levels from diet alone.

3. There simply are not enough foods that naturally contain enough Vitamin D to raise your blood levels of Vitamin D to an optimal level.

4. Foods fortified with Vitamin D do not contain uniform amounts of the substance and may not contain the amount of Vitamin D reported on the packaging.

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For more information see

http://www.vitamindrevolution.com

Also known as

Beta vulgaris

Introduction

In ancient times, beets had elongated roots like carrots and the globular red beet we now eat was only hybridized about 300 years ago. Beets have the highest sugar content of all the vegetables and are becoming popularly used as a sweetening substitute. Beet juice and beet powder are used to flavor carrot, celery, and other vegetable juices, and also to color a variety of foods. Beets, or at least the leaves of the beet, have been used since before recorded history. Charred beet roots were found among Neolithic remains at an excavation site in the Netherlands. The Sea beet, the ancestor of the modern cultivated beet, was probably domesticated somewhere along the Mediterranean. Both the roots and leaves have been used in folk medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments since the time of the Romans, who used them for fever and constipation. Hippocrates used the leaves as a binding for wounds. In the Talmud, the rabbis recommended “eating beet root, drinking mead, and bathing in the Euphrates” as part of a prescription for a long and healthy life. During the middle ages, Platina in his De Honesta (1460) noted that beet root was good for bad breath, especially “garlic breath”. Many cultures have used beet roots for their quality as an aphrodisiac, and there were even paintings in brothels in Pompeii that had depictions of beets on them. There is some validity to this claim as beets are a rich source of the mineral boron, which plays a role in the production of the human sex hormones. Although the leaves were consumed for many centuries, the root itself was not widely consumed until French chefs recognized its culinary potential in the early 19th century.

Constituents

Betaine (the same as the nutritional supplement trimethylglycine, not the same as betaine hydrochloride), and also alanine, alantoin, arginine, beta-carotene, calcium, fiber (about 10% by weight), GABA, glycine, histidine, magnesium, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), phosphorous, potassium, selenium, thiamine (vitamin B1), tryptophan, tyrosine, vitamin C, zinc, and, interestingly, although not in nutritionally significant amounts, zirconium.

Parts Used

The dried root, powdered. May be administered directly, whipped into a smoothie or drink, or sprinkled on food

Summary

Beet powder provides a wide range of nutrients, but its most significant phytochemical is betaine. This plant chemical helps the liver and kidneys recycle the amino acid methionine to maintain the body’s stores of s-adenosyl-methionine, more commonly known as SAM-e. Betaine also helps the liver process fat. This prevents the accumulation of fatty tissues in the liver (steatosis), especially in heavy drinkers, and it also prevents excessive triglycerides and LDL cholesterol in the blood. Other antioxidants in beet root prevent the oxidation of LDL into forms that can become plaques. Beet root powder may also be helpful as a food choice for people with the rare disease cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency. Either beet root powder or supplemental trimethylglycine will lower homocysteine levels in this disease, but beet root powder provides a greater range of nutrients. According to the American Heart Association, beet juice can help lower blood pressure and it is also noted that due to the high content of iron in beets, they are good for anemia.

Phytochemicals in apples are found to provide anticancer and anti-oxidant benefits, Cornell researchers show

A combination of plant chemicals, such as flavanoids and polyphenols — collectively known as phytochemicals — found both within the flesh of apple and particularly in the skin — provide the fruit’s anti-oxidant and anti-cancer benefits, say Cornell food scientists.

Their laboratory study, funded by the New York Apple Research Development Program and New York Apple Association, is published in the June 22 issue of the journal Nature.

Although it has long been known that apples provide anti-oxidant and health benefits, “this concept is different,” says Rui Hai Liu, Cornell assistant professor of food science and lead author on the Nature article, “Anti-oxidant activity of fresh apples.”

Says Liu: “Scientists are interested in isolating single compounds — such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene — to see if they exhibit anti-oxidant or anti-cancer benefits. It turns out that none of those works alone to reduce cancer. It’s the combination of flavonoids and polyphenols doing the work.”

An anti-oxidant is one of many chemicals that reduce or prevent oxidation, thus preventing cell and tissue damage from free radicals in the body.

Apple Extract May Combat Breast Cancer

Last Updated: 2009-02-21T15:35:02+05:30

According the researchers of the University of Cornell in Ithaca, the extracts from apple fruit can combat breast cancer. The team of researchers have conducted their study on rats and found that apple extract considerably retarded the growth of adenocarcinomadefine tumors in rats. This type of tumor leads to breast cancer. According to Rui Hai Liu of the University of Cornell, the research showed that the treated rats had lesser tumors.

The research found that of the total number of rats who were given apples extract, only 57 percent developed cancers. On the other hand, cancer developed rapidly in 81 percent of the animals who were not given apples. The researchers conducted the study for 24 weeks. The study also claimed that cancer developed less slowly in those rats which were fed more apple extract.

According to the researchers, apple contains a kind of phytochemicals called phenolics or flavonoid which improves ones health. The researchers urged people to consume more fruits and vegetables containing phenolics. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer with nearly 125 women diagnosed

Acai berry is a small type of berry found to only grow in Central and South America. It is about the size of a grape and contains a large pit in the center. The pit is not edible, but the juicy pulp that surrounds it may be one of the world’s most nutritious foods. You see, this small berry has more antioxidant power than blueberries and pomegranate. In addition, it has the ability to help aid in weight loss (if combined with a proper diet and exercise plan), and it contains heart-healthy nutrients like omega 3 fatty acids. How can one small berry do so much?

A Bit Of History Of The Acai Berry

The acai berry, until recently, was relatively unknown to most of the modern world. However, people living in Brazil’s rainforest have used this berry as a constant supply of nutrition for centuries. There is even an old tale of how this single berry helped to save a starving native group living deep within the rainforest. Whether this is true or not, science is giving people a much more thorough look at what this berry is and what benefits and nutrients it contains.

Why Is It So Important?

The acai berry comes from the acai palm tree, or Euterpe Oleracea. The berry is no more than an inch long and has a red to purple coloring to it. Scientists are learning more about this unique berry through various studies being conducted, but what they have found is that it contains two particular substances known to be incredibly helpful to overall health. These are called anthocyanins and flavonoids.

Anythocyanins are what helps to make some fruits turn a blue, purple, or red color. Any fruit, vegetable or even flowers, that contain this coloring will be rich in this nutrient. The stronger the coloring is, the more anythocyanins is present in the food. Both flavonoids and anthocyanins are able to benefit the body, because they are powerful antioxidants, which help to fight off bad chemicals known as free radicals that are found in the body.

Free radicals are the byproducts produced by the body, or ingested in other ways. They line the arteries of the heart and clog cells. Because of this, the body is unable to work at maximum potential and sometimes these free radicals hinder the cell protection system. Antioxidant-rich diets help to flush away free radicals by neutralizing them.

Serious illness can be caused by free radicals, especially when large amounts of them are present in the body. However, antioxidant-rich foods like acai berry fruit are able to give an important boost to your body’s health. Antioxidants play a key role in attacking these free-radicals that we have in our bodies. This process also helps to improve overall health and some people believe that it slows the effects of aging, but research is still too early to tell.

The 1st in a series of posts about the Ingredients in Genewize Lifemap products.

Cat’s Claw is a tropical vine that grows in rainforest and jungle areas in South America and Asia. Some cultures refer to the plant as the “Sacred Herb of the Rain Forest”.

This vine gets its name from the small thorns at the base of the leaves, which looks like a cat’s claw. These enable the vine to attach itself around trees climbing to a heights up to 100 feet.

The plant is considered a valuable medicinal resource and is protected in Peru. Although scientific research has just recently begun to explore its benefits, many cultures native to the South American rain forest areas have used this herb for hundreds of years.

Current studies show it may have positive effects on, and can boost the body’s immune system. With recent fear of HIV, studies have started to move quickly.

The active substances are alkaloids, tannins and several other phytochemicals. Some of the alkaloids have been proven to boost the immune system. The major alkaloid rhynchophylline has anti-hypertensive effects and may reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack by lowering blood pressure, increasing circulation, reducing heart rate and controlling cholesterol.

Other constituents contribute anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer properties. Many treatments combine the herb with different plants and natural products to increase the absorption and bioavailability.

It has long been used as a homeopathic treatment for intestinal ailments. Uses include: Crohn’s disease, gastric ulcers and tumors, parasites, colitis, gastritis, diverticulitis and leaky bowel syndrome. By stimulating the immune system, it can also improve response to viral and respiratory infections.

European clinical studies have used the extract from the bark in combination with AZT in the treatment of AIDS. It is also used in the treatment and prevention of arthritis and rheumatism, as well as diabetes, PMS, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and prostate conditions.

Part Used: Inner bark and root. Capsules, tea and extract.

Common Use: Extracts are used in treatments for a variety of conditions, mostly gastrointestinal. Immuno-stimulant properties help the body fight off infections and protect against degenerative diseases.

dannylambert.com