Health Bits

A recent study has provided interesting outline evidence that suggests that possibly drinking energy drinks can cause significant irregularities within the drinker’s blood pressure. Now it has to be said right at the start that while this is a fairly small survey, the results it provides do make interesting reading and are well worth paying attention to.
Basically the issue is this. “Energy” drinks unlike sports drinks that contain water, sugar and salts are known to contain quite high levels of Caffeine and a substance known as Taurine that is aimed purely at increasing energy and/or “alertness”. Now Taurine, which is an Amino acid and is found in protein foods like fish or meat also has the same properties as Caffeine and hence as has been proved in the past can lead to raised blood pressure.
Now the initial results of this survey and study and I do need to re-emphasize at this particular point in time that it is indeed a small study, have provided us with the results that showed the following:
Basically researchers took 15 healthy young adults, who were volunteers and the group comprised of seven men and eight women whose average age was about 26 years and got them to stop consuming caffeine from other sources two days before also during the duration of the study.
The researchers took the volunteers and at the outset of the study recorded the blood pressure and heart rate and carried out an ECG (electrocardiogram) to assess the heart function of each volunteer. Read the rest of this entry »

After many years of research, scientists have discovered that the foods a man chooses to eat, or not eat, can have a huge impact on the health of his prostate gland. Therefore, prostate cancer may be the most preventable type of cancer (following smoking-related lung cancers). There has recently been a large amount of research and investigation into prostate cancer. These studies examine the use of certain nutrients and their ability to prevent and actually treat prostate cancer. These nutrients include: calcium D-glucarate, selenium, broccoli, green tea, maitake, and lycopene.

The prostate is a gland in the man’s reproduction system which makes and stores seminal fluid to be used in semen. The prostate gland can be found wrapping around the upper part of the urethra. Although early prostate cancer does not often cause any symptoms, many symptoms of prostate cancer are also symptoms of other prostate problems, including infection or benign prostatic hyperplasia (prostate enlargement due to age-related changes). If you or a man you know has any of the following symptoms, see a health care practitioner for evaluation: difficulty starting urination and holding back urine, inability to urinate, painful ejaculation, and/or blood in urine or semen. Age is the biggest factor associated with prostate cancer as most prostate cancers occur in men over the age of 65. If a man’s father or brother has the disease, his risk for developing prostate cancer becomes higher. African-Americans are at a higher risk, along with mechanics, farmers, sheet metal workers, Read the rest of this entry »

High blood pressure, which is also called hypertension, affects about one in three adults. Although there are many causes of hypertension, there are not necessarily any symptoms, with 30% of people having high blood pressure not knowing it. Therefore, just because you don’t have symptoms doesn’t mean you don’t have high blood pressure, which is why it is called “the silent killer.” High blood pressure is very dangerous, being the number one cause of stroke, as well as the cause for heart attack and heart failure. Changing blood pressure numbers depends a great deal on the choices we make every day, such has how much we exercise, the foods we ear, and our overall lifestyle. However, for those times when extra help is needed, there is a new scientifically-studied supplement that will help us lower our blood pressure and give us better overall health.

Blood pressure is divided into two parts, systolic and diastolic. Systolic is the pressure of the heart beating; while diastolic is the pressure of the heart vessels when they are filling. Although a persons blood pressure can vary naturally throughout the day, if numbers are consistently high after many visits to the doctor, it is possible that you have pre-hypertension or high blood pressure. Healthy blood pressure numbers are about 115/75 mm/Hg. Arteries that are kept young through healthy diet and exercise are usually more elastic and unclogged compared to those that have plaque buildup from diets high in saturated fat and sedentary lifestyles. These unclogged arteries are able to transport blood through them easily and without much effort. However, clogged arteries result in faster blood flow, all of the time, which can cause damages to heart tissue, arteries, kidney, and other major organs in the long run.  Read the rest of this entry »

Because more than 40% of all deaths in the U.S. are from cardiovascular disease, one of the most important things people can do to improve their overall health and life expectancy is to improve their heart health. With diet, exercise, and the use of a few dietary supplements, you can improve your heart health drastically. One of the main dietary supplements which are extremely beneficial to heart health is coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). CoQ10, which is ubiquitous and exists everywhere there is life, is vital to Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) production. Even though CoQ10 is produced by the body and exists in some dietary sources, the levels may, at times, be insufficient to meet the body’s requirements. These levels may diminish with age and also has a result of dietary inadequacies or various disease states. Some prescription drugs such as Pravachol, Zocor, and Lipitor, also significantly reduce CoQ10 levels in the body.

CoQ10 is very beneficial in treating and preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as conditions such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, angina, and congestive heart failure (CHF). It is also beneficial for diabetes, immune dysfunction, cancer, periodontal disease, prostate cancer, and neurological disease. CoQ10 is especially important in heart health because it is essential to the heart’s optimum performance. Because the heart requires large amounts of energy, heart cells have Read the rest of this entry »

Folic acid can benefit you in a wide array of areas. It is primarily suggested by doctors and nutritionists for those who are pregnant or could become pregnant. Folic acid has been found to greatly reduce the risks of having children born with certain birth defects, including neural tube defects, cleft palate and cleft lip and spina bifida.

This is a B vitamin and is often found in a ‘B vitamin’ complex. Folic acid by itself is responsible for the replication and maintenance of DNA and RNA, which you can see is essential for a healthy growing fetus. It’s been found that if a woman is taking folic acid regularly when she becomes pregnant and during the pregnancy she can reduce the risks of her baby being born with a serious birth defect by up to fifty percent.

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Camu Camu is a round, red to purple colored fruit that grows abundantly in the Amazon rain forest. Recent research has shown that this fruit contains one of the highest natural vitamin C contents of any food in the world. (1) Camu Camu’s main growing areas are near the Peruvian border with Brazil, and the fruits are the size of lemons. Due to its high vitamin C content, Camu Camu is becoming a widely used ingredient in dietary supplements. Camu Camu also contains calcium, beta-carotene, protein, leucine, thiamin, valine and serine. The Camu Camu fruit contains the highest documented quantity of natural vitamin C on Earth. It has up to three times more vitamin C than Acerola. Compared to oranges, Camu Camu has 30 times more vitamin C, three times more niacin, ten times more iron, double the amount of riboflavin and 50% more phosphorus. Camu Camu also contains 711 mg of potassium per kilogram, and provides a full complement of minerals and amino acids that can improve the absorption of vitamin C. The fruit is also an extremely rich source of anthocyanins, with a particularly high level of cyanidin-3-glucoside.

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