November Newsletter

 Thanksgiving

I want to thank all of my customers for their patience with the transfer of the business from Auburn to Roseburg over the last year. I recently read two books that made me thankful that I was born in the United States. My mother Lucille saw videos of the concentration camps in Germany after World War II and was ever grateful that she was privileged to grown up in this wonderful country. The two books I read that gave me the same feeling of gratitude were:

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park. This is the story of a young girl who suffers many privations growing up in North Korea. She escapes North Korea and gets caught up in human trafficking in China before braving the Mongolian desert and escaping to South Korea.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. This book was a National Book Award Finalist. Demick was a reporter living in South Korea. The book tells the story of the lives of six North Korean citizens over a period of 15 years. The title is derived from a song they sing in North Korea about how they have nothing to envy because their lives are so much better than living in the capitalist world.

Online talks are available for both of these writers. I don't think you would be disappointed reading either of these books. They say a lot about the strength of the human spirit and the struggles that many people face in other parts of the world. Good thoughts for developing a spirit of Thanksgiving.

Something to Ponder

Cells can use two types of fuel-- fats and carbohydrates. Fats can be utilized without the production of a lot of free radicals. Carbohydrates, the preferred fuel of the body, on the other hand, release a large number of free radicals when they are metabolized. The wisdom of nature is revealed in the fact that carbohydrate foods like fruits and vegetables are almost always loaded with huge quantities of phytonutrients that act as antioxidants. These antioxidants neutralize free radicals in the mitochondria where they are broken down to produce energy to run the body. Unfortunately, man is fond of processing his foods to remove many of these antioxidants. The result is excessive production of free radicals when food is broken down speeding the aging process and making people susceptible to illness. Eat fresh whole foods to avoid this problem. If you are consuming products made from processed grains or sugars be sure to supplement with vitamin C, carotenoids, and flavonoids so the body does not get overwhelmed by free radicals.

EMF

There is a lot we do not know about the dangers of the technology we live with every day. I have been reading some of the early studies on how electromagnetic fields similar to those in cell phones today were shown to cause chromosome breaks in cells and in the bodies of laboratory animals. They also appeared to damage the blood-brain barrier allowing substances into the brain that were not meant to be there. The link below is a good source of information about the invisible exposures we all experience. Here is a summary warning:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2022— The Environmental Health Trust is advising consumers to pay attention to the fine print warnings on wireless devices and toys which say that devices should not be touching the body. Wireless devices expose people to a type of radiation called radiofrequency, or RF.

References:

Main website for Environmental Health Trust: https://ehtrust.org/about/

Video story of Sheilah Mitchell, wife of the sixth man to walk on the moon. https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell-phoneswireless/cell-phone-survivors/

EMF and Oxidative Damage

 Electromagnetic fields can cause serious damage to tissues, especially body tissues rich in lipids like the brain and nervous system. Vitamin E and Carotenoids are fat-soluble antioxidants which can provide some measure of protection against the massive exposure to EMF's people are experiencing today. Note the importance of antioxidants in the following quote from an article on the oxidative damage EMF's can cause in biological tissue.

"In brief, EMF exposure has been shown to cause high oxidative stress-induced biological damage, manifested by a substantial increase of peroxidized lipids, oxidized proteins and fragmented/nicked DNA. Substantial decrease has been also documented in the antioxidant defense mechanisms, i.e., in the activity of crucial antioxidant enzymes and in the concentration of endogenous antioxidants. Exogenous antioxidants and inhibitors of certain ROS/RNS-producing enzymes reversed all these effects, which is another strong evidence for the causative relation between oxidative stress and EMF exposure. EMF-induced oxidative stress.

References:

Georgiou, Christos, Oxidative stress-induced biological damage by low-level EMFs: mechanism of free radical pair electron spin-polarization and biochemical amplification, Eur. J. Oncol. Library, vol. 5 63. In Non-thermal effects and mechanisms of interaction between electromagnetic fields and living matter.  

 

Nutrition and Cholesterol Tre-en-en NeoLife Tre-en-en is packed with phytosterols from wheat, rice, and soybeans. Phytosterols are natural compounds derived from plants that play an important role in the cell membrane, and are analogous to that of cholesterol in animals. Phytosterols displace cholesterol in the small intestine reducing total cholesterol absorption. Even a modest consumption of phytosterols has been show to reduce cholesterol levels by 10%. B Vitamins Vitamin B3 in the form of niacin has been shown to be highly effective in lowering cholesterol. Unfortunately, this form of the vitamin creates flushing and skin itching which about half of those who use it find uncomfortable or intolerable. Several B vitamins play a role in proper metabolism of homocysteine. Lack of these B vitamins results in heart disease among other health problems. Homocysteine damages the circulatory system. Adequate intake of the B vitamin Complex protects from heart disease. Antioxidants All early studies on cholesterol were done on oxidized cholesterol. Later studies done with cholesterol which was not oxidized showed that the oxidized cholesterol was 500 times more atherogenic than non-oxidized cholesterol. Thus simply reducing total cholesterol levels may not be as effective in reducing risk of heart disease as preventing exposure to the oxidized product. Reduced exposure to oxidized cholesterol can be achieved by avoiding highly heated and junk foods which tend to be loaded with oxidized cholesterol. Cholesterol can also oxidize within the body if intake of antioxidants is insufficient. Thus supplementing with vitamin C, E, and carotenoids can be protective. A study on NeoLife Carotenoid Complex showed an increase of antioxidants in cholesterol which was five-fold. The Basel Prospective Study found that low levels of carotenoids and vitamin C resulted in significantly greater risk of death from heart disease over a period of 12 years. Other studies have shown reduced risk by supplementing with both vitamin C and vitamin E. NeoLife Super C is unique in the fact that it releases over a prolonged period of time due to the fact that the vitamin C is locked in a protein mesh and is only released as the protein is digested. This is important because the half-life of vitamin C at higher doses is only about 30 minutes. NeoLife vitamin E is superior because it is derived from wheat germ and contains all 8 members of the vitamin E family rather than just one. The truth is that all of these major antioxidants probably protect from death from heart disease by reducing the risk of excessive exposure to oxidized cholesterol within the circulatory system. All Cause Mortality Studies that find reductions in "all cause mortality" are very encouraging to me because that means there is a reduction in all kinds of death. It is not very helpful to reduce risk of heart disease but increase deaths from cancer. The best bet for reduction in all cause mortality of chain of life nutrient supplementation. References Wong NCW, The Beneficial Effects of Plant Sterols on Serum Cholesterol, Can J Cardiol, June 2001;17(6):715-721. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Jones30/publication/14053422_Dietary_phytosterols_as_cholesterol-lowering_agents_in_humans/links/0c96051a378c492918000000/Dietary-phytosterols-as-cholesterol-lowering-agents-in-humans.pdf https://cardiovascularnews.com/heart-disease-risk-may-come-from-little-known-type-of-cholesterol/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00210955 https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/64/2/190/4650406

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 Vegetable Oils and Antioxidants

     In the 1950's people were told by their doctors that saturated fats were bad and that they should be replaced by unsaturated vegetable oils. Medical authorities are now questioning this advice. Studies show that while unsaturated vegetable oils lower cholesterol, they do not decrease risk of heart attack or death from all causes (all cause mortality).

     Processing of vegetable oils robs them of antioxidants while heating and exposure to oxygen can alter structure and function of the oils. Dr. Catherine Shanahan, a family physician based in Denver, believes that these oils are the "brain's worst enemy." Unsaturated oils promote oxidative damage to brain cells. Short term results of excessive unsaturated oils in her view include lethargy and trouble concentrating. Longer term intake can contribute to migraines. 

     Recent research on palm oil, considered by many to be healthy, led to a warning from the European Food Safety Authority warning that this oil can act as a carcinogen. Heating sunflower and corn oils produces aldehydes which are known causes of heart disease and cancer.

     Excessive poor quality oils in the diet or excessive fat in general may also interfere with proper insulin function leading to or aggravating a diabetic condition. The amount of triglyceride in skeletal muscle is inversely related to insulin activity. It is wise to avoid excessive consumption of oils separated from the foods in which they are found as they are often oxidized and gum up carbohydrate metabolism.

     Always remember that the greater the intake of refined oils into the diet the more important it is to supplement with fat soluble antioxidants like Vitamin E, CoQ10, and Carotenoids as refined oils have been stripped of these important nutrients.

Cancer and Antioxidants

I recently returned from the yearly gathering of the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists in Baltimore, Maryland. The topic was aging. I was impressed with one of the major points of emphasis at the meeting. Dr. Steve Haltiwanger spoke on the mechanisms involved with how we get cancer and how it grows in the body. His research led him to the conclusion that priority nutrients for cancer prevention include green tea, fish oils, flavonoids, resveratrol, garlic, antioxidants such as vitamins C, E, and carotenoids, and enzymes. The reason he emphasized these compounds is because they are all powerful inflammation fighters and inflammatory activity is at the heart of cancer development. GNLD provides a rich supply of all these protective factors in such supplements as Tre, Flavonoid Complex, Allium Complex, Salmon Oil Plus, and Betagard. I will be sharing other pearls from this excellent conference in the months ahead.