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Resveratrol: Anti-Aging; Live 20% Longer!

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Resveratrol is one of the most remarkable scientific discoveries of the last 10 years for your healh and wellness.

If Dr. Oz touts it on the Opera Winfrey show, you’d better believe something’s shaking. And Mike over at naturalnews.com calls it, “The Miracle Nutrient for Cancer, cholesterol and Longevity.” He also offers the fascinating fact that “The Chinese medicine herb hu zhang is also loaded with resveratrol.”

Resveratrol is of a class of polyphenols called phytoalexins, which is from the Greek word “alexi” or “protect.”

Anti-Aging and Longevity: Life Extension

Very rarely has a natural substance ever been discovered that actually extends our youthful life span and allows us to live significantly longer. Resveratrol is a wonderful gift from nature (and for the ladies, helps keep skin smooth and free of wrinkles).

As reported by a National Institute on Aging/Harvard Medical School joint study, it was found that resveratrol enhances the anti-aging systems in the body, duplicating the anti aging health effects of calorie-restricted diets, as well as improves our general quality of life.

Researchers in Denmark examined 25,000 people to discover what drinking alcohol does to longevity, and found that wine drinkers lowered their [...]

Acai Berry: Super Fruit | Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants, Fiber

Goji, blueberries, strawberries and Noni are all very popular berries, but what if you discovered that there was another berry that may be much more powerful in its health and wellness properties? What if it could help prevent disease – including cancer – improve energy, help you lose weight, aid in digestion and digestive problems, and increase mental concentration?

Acai juice is a increasingly popular diet and nutritional health supplement and has acquired its outstanding reputation because of its healing and astounding nutritional qualities. For example, the ORAC rating of acai berry – which means how much antioxidant power it has – is an astonishing 167, while blueberries are a 44 and apples only a 14, by comparison.

Although limited scientific research has been done because they are natural foods and cannot be patented by pharmaceutical companies, thousands of people have given testimonial to their nutritional powers. As another example, in preleminary scientific studies (in culture, not on humans), acai berry destroyed cancer cells 86% of the time. This will probably prove to have similar benefits in human experiments.

All of these natural fruit berries – goji, noni and acai berry- have a long history of healing and [...]

Red Meat and Dietary Health: Another Somewhat Ambiguous Study

In Paying A Price For Loving Red Meat (New York Times by Jane Brody, April 27, 2009), a new report published in the March 23 issue of  The Archives of Internal Medicine examined the results of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, Directed by Rashmi Sinha, a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute.

The study finds that “men and women who consumed the most red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, especially from one of our two leading killers, heart disease and cancer, than people who consumed much smaller amounts of these foods . . . the increase in mortality risk tied to the higher levels of meat consumption was described as “modest,” ranging from about 20 percent to nearly 40 percent.”

The problem with this study is that it seems there is no clear distinction made between red, processed and organic meats. Was the red meat that was studied organically grown, free of pesticides and antiobotics? Would this have made a difference in the outcome of the study?

Isn’t there an important distinction to be made between fresh, organically grown* beef free of artificial coloring and chemical preservatives and meats that have been [...]

Vitamin K

Vitamins are an essential part of nutrition and vital for the proper functioning of our bodies. Vitamins play an important role in most body processes and other essential molecules and nutrients are derived from vitamins or produced by using them. Vitamin K is one of the most important vitamins in the body, and it is necessary to get adequate quantities through our diet and supplementation.

Vitamin K was discovered by Henrik Dam in 1929 when he realized that a compound in cholesterol could prevent bleeding. Vitamin K is “fat soluble”, which means that it is better absorbed when ingested with fat. The “K” is derived from the German word “koagulation.” Coagulation refers to the process of blood clot formation. While a normal healthy body can produce vitamin K, supplementation is advised for those with poor diets or as a general insurance.

When vitamin K deficiency does occur, it is most likely to happen in newborns, especially if they are premature, breastfed, or their mother was taking anticoagulant medication. Babies are born with sterile intestines; therefore, there’s no bacteria in the gut to produce vitamin K2, making them more susceptible to vitamin K deficiency if their diet has inadequate amounts.

Deficiency [...]

Vitamin E Helps Fight Lung Cancer

Great news for you vitamin lovers.

A new study published in the International Journal of Cancer by researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found that higher levels of the alpha-tocopherol form of Vitamin E resulted in a 53% reduction in lung cancer. Cancer of the lung is the most common and deadliest form, from which more people die than any other type.  Only 25% of people diagnosed with lung cancer live for more than a year.

There are two main groups of vitamin E – tocopherols and tocotreinols – both of which contain the 4 varieties alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta. This study examined the tocopherol group. Unlike alpha-tocoferol, the beta-, gamma- and delta-tocopherol forms of vitamin E failed to show significant benefits when considered by themselves.

This is thought to be the first study of its kind to distinguish between the different forms of Vitamin E with respect to lung cancer.  This is important as most people don’t realize there are so many different forms of vitamins, including natural vs. synthetic. Many studies of vitamin E, for example, may only use one of the sub-optimal or synthetic forms and then generalize the results to all [...]