| Don't miss any of Bottom Line's Daily Health News. Add our address, dailyhealthnews@edhn.bottomlinesecrets.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. February 17, 2011  In This Issue...
 Are Painkillers Killing More Than Just Your Pain? Painkillers do not cure aching hands, inflamed knees or sore backs. What these drugs do is mask the problem, not solve it, and they come with the high price of long-term damage to your health, or in some cases even death! But, there is a breakthrough natural solution being hailed as a joint health miracle. Even the government’s own studies have proven that this alternative is more effective than leading prescription medications. Keep Reading... Your Genes or Your Lifestyle -- Which Matters Most? If you’re searching for a plan to improve your cardiovascular health, then exercise and a healthy diet may be just what the doctor will order... but will it really make a difference if you have a family history of heart attack and stroke? Many people I’ve met over the years don’t think so, citing examples of people they know who don’t watch what they eat and yet have lived a long time, along with examples of other folks who ate healthfully yet died young from heart problems. Meanwhile we hear from health professionals that what you put into your stomach is absolutely a key to your health. So it’s a fair question: Is the diet mightier than the gene, or isn’t it? On this point, I admit that over the years, my opinion has wavered from time to time... but now I’m siding squarely with the health pros. Here’s why: A recent study of adult twins found that those who followed a Mediterranean diet had better heart health than those who did not. Reverse Genetic Risk Genes are only part of our health story, explains Jeffrey S. Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, author of the new book, Genetic Nutritioneering: How You Can Modify Inherited Traits and Live a Longer, Healthier Life. The propensity for certain health conditions that you inherit from your family is not, by a long shot, the sole determinant of whether or not most folks will get sick. Your lifestyle choices have a significant impact, especially when it comes to chronic illnesses such as heart disease. The Mediterranean diet, rich in vegetables, fruits, grains and omega-3 fatty acids, is well known for its protective effects against cardiovascular disease. Researchers at Indiana University set out to ask a different question: Are these cardiovascular benefits independent of genes? To determine the answer, they compared the food diaries of 276 middle-aged male twins (some fraternal and some identical) with the results of their electrocardiograms (ECGs), records of electrical activity of the heart. In particular, they looked at heart rate variability (HRV), the differences in time between heartbeats during daily activities. A higher variability is a sign of better heart function. (For information on heart-rate variability and what it means to your health, see Daily Health News, "Does Your Heart Rate Vary?", August 10, 2009.) The researchers scored the twins’ food questionnaires according to how closely they matched the Mediterranean diet, with close adherence reflected by a high score. They found that higher scores were associated with higher HRVs -- even in the group of identical twins with shared genes and certain shared environmental factors. The authors concluded that "whether or not a person has an adverse genetic background or other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, this person would be likely to have better cardiac autonomic function if he/she follows a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet." In other words, the old excuse for eating that big slice of New York cheesecake -- "Why worry? It’s all in the genes!" -- just doesn’t stand up. Living Healthfully Matters More Researchers have identified many genes implicated in illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, and recent studies demonstrate that our genes are not necessarily our destiny. Just because heart disease or cancer "runs in your family" does not mean that you will fall prey to it. In fact, Dr. Bland told me that "positive environmental stimuli" -- which he defines as a healthful diet... a lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise... sufficient management of stress... and reasonable avoidance of disease-causing microbes and pollutants -- can effectively "turn off" genes that cause disease and "turn on" those that promote wellness. More research is needed to explore the precise relationship between heart disease and underlying genetic susceptibilities. In the meantime, to positively modify your own "gene expression" against heart disease, Dr. Bland recommends...
Source(s): Jeffrey S. Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, nutritional biochemist and registered clinical laboratory director, founder, Institute for Functional Medicine, chief science officer, Metagenics, Inc. (www.Metagenics.com), a provider of medical foods and lifestyle medicine programs, based in Gig Harbor, Washington. He is author of Genetic Nutritioneering: How You Can Modify Inherited Traits and Live a Longer, Healthier Life and The 20-Day Rejuvenation Diet Program (both from McGraw-Hill). www.JeffreyBland.com.  Are You or Your Loved Ones Taking Any of These Highly Prescribed Medicines? Cholesterol Drugs... Heart Medications... Bronchodilators... Zantac®, Pepcid® or Tagamet® ... Antidepressants like Prozac®... Aspirin, Tylenol® or Advil®... Antihistamines... Decongestants... Corticosteroids... Antibiotics... Propecia®... Estrogen or HRT Drugs... Blood Thinners. Or any of the following best-selling natural remedies? Calcium... St. John's Wort... Glucosamine... Echinacea... Coenzyme Q10... Saponin... Vitamin B-6... Vitamins C or E... Melatonin... Vitamins A or D... Epigallocatechin Gallate... Chondroitin Sulfate... Diallyl Disulfide... Ginkgo Biloba. Berries to Spring Clean Your Brain Maybe you are the type of person who is perfectly happy just knowing that certain foods (berries, for instance) are really good for you... or maybe you are the type who wants to know exactly how and why. If, like me, you fall into the second group, you’ll enjoy knowing that eating lots of berries is like regularly doing a fresh "spring cleaning" of your brain. Recent research shows that berries activate the brain’s natural "housekeeping" mechanism to clean out toxic proteins that build up over time and cause memory loss and other forms of mental decline. I learned this intriguing bit of information from Shibu Poulose, PhD, a molecular biologist at the USDA’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. With his colleagues at the USDA lab at Tufts, Dr. Poulose studies how blueberries, strawberries, acai and other berries (along with nuts) support brain health. Past research had demonstrated that berries’ high level of polyphenols, especially a class of flavonoids known as anthocyanins, possess powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties thought to protect cognitive function. Now we know more. Mopping Up the Mess The brain regularly consumes huge amounts of oxygen -- 20% of our intake at rest and much more when we are actively thinking. All this activity generates a heavy load of oxidants and toxic proteins that build up in brain cells, damaging and even destroying them, perhaps contributing to neurological illnesses such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Autophagy -- the scientific name for a cell’s natural housekeeping mechanism -- normally breaks down, recycles and removes these waste products, with cells called microglia acting as the housekeepers. But as microglia become less efficient in aging brains, toxic debris accumulates and interferes with mental function. The new research finding: Using cultures of mouse brain cells, Dr. Poulose discovered that berry extracts restore the brain’s natural housekeeping mechanism and prevent age-related brain-cell degeneration by activating genes responsible for toxic protein disposal. In related research, investigators found that walnut extract -- an excellent source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and other antioxidant polyphenols -- also decreases inflammation and encourages good neural housekeeping. Note: Flaxseed oil has the highest concentration of ALA. Dr. Poulose presented these findings at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in August 2010. Another scientist, Barbara Shukitt-Hale, PhD (lead scientist of the Neuroscience Lab at USDA-HNRCA) and colleagues are now initiating a study of berry-containing diets in older men and women, with the ultimate goal of applying their results to human brain health. Meanwhile, to keep your housekeeping cells hard at work and optimize your mental health in later years, Dr. Poulose advises eating plenty of polyphenol-rich, brightly colored fruits and vegetables. Include not just berries (frozen and fresh are both OK) in your diet, but also a variety of produce with deep bluish purple, red and orange hues (eggplant, beets, purple grapes, pomegranates, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.). These colors come from antioxidant anthocyanin pigments. And while you’re at it, enjoy some raw walnuts -- about an ounce a day. They’ll do your brain good! Source(s): Shibu Poulose, PhD, a molecular biologist at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Be well,
Forever Young Getting old can be awful. Aches... pains... illness... constant bouncing from doctor to doctor. We all dread it. You can't stop the clock, but you can banish the miseries that sometimes come with it.
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