We all want to live a long life, but did you know eating these simple foods has been proven scientifically to prevent and in some cases reverse the #1 cause of death in the modern world?
Statistically, atherosclerosis (the progressive clogging of the arteries) is the #1 killer on the planet. A complex process, involving autoimmunity, infection, dietary incompatibilities, and many known and Continue reading →
The first step to naturally lowering your risk of impotence is to step out the door. Exercises like walking three hours per week drop your risk of having erectile dysfunction by 30 percent.1 And along with physical activity, a wide variety of herbs can also boost your sexual life.
The Value of Movement
If you’re an immovable object, your sex life isn’t likely to budge, either. An analysis of 31,742 men age 53 to 90 reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2003 shows that exercise keeps you leaner and fit for sex, as well as mentally more ready for sexual interaction.
The diagnosis of cancer doesn’t always have to necessitate debilitating treatments in a hospital. Available options include in-home protocols that some licensed practicing physicians offer their patients who want to try to beat cancer naturally.
Gerson Therapy Protocol
The German physician, Max B. Gerson, M.D., developed this highly acclaimed protocol. This therapy entails consuming 13 glasses of fresh, raw carrot/apple and green-leaf juices prepared hourly from fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and three full vegetarian meals, freshly prepared from organically grown fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Just recently Dr. Joe Mercola was a guest on The Doctor Oz Show. Dr. Mercola, often called the “alternative health Guru” and Dr. Oz discussed the fact that that many medical doctors don’t believe in alternative medicine in “The Man Your Doctor Doesn’t Want You To Listen To” segment of the show.
Dr. Mercola believes that many medical conditions can be addressed through eating a healthy diet and taking natural supplements rather than taking pharmaceutical medications.
When Dr. Oz pointed out that Dr. Mercola sells supplements on his website Continue reading →
L-arginine is an amino acid that has numerous functions in the body. It helps the body get rid of ammonia (a waste product), is used to make compounds in the body such creatine, L-glutamate, and L-proline, and can be converted to glucose and glycogen if needed.
L-arginine is used to make the nitric oxide, a compound in the body that relaxes blood vessels. Preliminary studies have found that L-arginine may help with conditions that improve when blood vessels are relaxed (called vasodilation), such as atherosclerosis, erectile dysfunction, and intermittent claudication.
L-arginine is also involved in protein formation. In larger amounts, L-arginine stimulates the release of hormones growth hormone and prolactin.
Why Do People Use L-Arginine?
In the body, L-arginine is used to make nitric oxide, which reduces blood vessel stiffness, increases blood flow, and improves blood vessel function.
However, L-arginine should not be used following a heart attack. An study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health examining the use of L-arginine after a heart attack was terminated early after six patients died, a disproportionate number. There were no deaths in the patients who did not receive L-arginine.
The study researchers speculate that L-arginine may aggravate the effects of cardiac shock. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Erectile Dysfunction
L-arginine has been used for erectile dysfunction. Like the drug sildenafil citrate (Viagra), L-arginine is thought to enhance the action of nitric oxide, which relaxes muscles surrounding blood vessels supplying the penis. As a result, blood vessels in the penis dilate, increasing blood flow, which helps maintain an erection. The difference in how they work is that Viagra blocks an enzyme called PDE5 which destroys nitric oxide and L-arginine is used to make nitric oxide.
In one study, 50 men with erectile dysfunction took either 5 grams of L-arginine per day or a placebo. After six weeks, more men in the L-arginine group had an improvement compared to those taking the placebo.
Unlike Viagra, L-arginine must be taken daily.
Wound healing
L-arginine’s possible activity in wound repair may be due to its role in the formation of L-proline, an important amino acid that is essential for the synthesis of collagen.
Other Conditions
L-arginine is also used for high blood pressure, migraines, sexual dysfunction in women, intermittent claudication, and interstitial cystitis.
Sources of L-Arginine
L-arginine is conditionally essential, which means that the body normally has enough. It’s produced in the kidney and to a lesser extent, in the liver.
Food sources of L-arginine include plant and animal proteins, such as dairy products, meat, poultry, fish, and nuts. The ratio of L-arginine to lysine is also important – soy and other plant proteins have more L-arginine than animal sources of protein.
Severe burns, infections, and injuries can deplete the body’s supply of arginine. Under these conditions, L-arginine becomes essential and it is necessary to ensure proper intake to meet the increased demands.
L-arginine is also essential for children with rare genetic disorders that impair the formation of L-arginine.
Side Effects of L-Arginine
L-arginine may lower blood pressure because it is involved in the formation of nitric oxide. It may also result in indigestion, nausea, and headache.
L-arginine should not be used following a heart attack. If you have a history of heart disease, consult your doctor before taking L-arginine.
Higher doses of arginine can increase stomach acid, so it may worsen heartburn, ulcers, or digestive upset cause by medications. Arginine appears to increase stomach acid by stimulating the production of gastrin, a hormone that increases stomach acid.
L-arginine may also alter potassium levels, especially in people with liver disease. People with kidney disease and those who take ACE inhibitors or potassium sparing diuretics
ROCHESTER – Compounds related to Viagra, already in clinical trials to prevent heart failure, may also counter the disease in a different way, says a new study.
The results hold promise for the design of a new drug class and for its potential use in combination with Viagra or beta blockers.
In heart failure, which affects about 5.7 million Americans, the heart gradually loses the ability to pump with enough force to supply the body with blood.
One reason for lost pumping strength is the mass death of heart muscle cells seen in many heart attacks. Fewer remaining muscle cells must then push around the same amount of blood, and hard working muscles grow.
Unlike the healthy bulging of an athlete’s bicep, abnormal muscle growth (pathogenic hypertrophy) in diseased hearts thickens chamber walls, slows the heartbeat and causes potentially fatal arrhythmias (erratic beats) and heart failure as well.
Recent efforts to reverse hypertrophy included a clinical trial, sponsored by Viagra manufacturer Pfizer, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), where they looked at whether Viagra (sildenafil) can treat moderate heart failure and reduce hypertrophy.
Along with increasing blood flow in arteries, Viagra interferes with phosphodiesterases (PDEs), the enzymes that break down the messenger molecule called cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), which would otherwise restrain heart muscle cell growth.
“Our results suggest that a PDE1a inhibitor alone can shut down abnormal cardiac growth, and when combined with Viagra or beta blockers, may do so in more than one way,” said ChenYan, associate professor cardiology, University of Rochester Medical Centre (URMC) and study co-author, says a Rochester release.
Yan’s lab is focused on revealing the role of various PDE enzymes in atherosclerosis and hypertension as well as in heart failure.
DETROIT – Michigan researchers have developed a powerful new GPS-like tool to identify proteins that are affected by a chemical process that is key to aging and disease development.
The probe, which works like a GPS or navigation system for finding these proteins in cells, could lead to new insights into disease processes and identify new targets for disease treatments, according to the researchers.
KateCarroll and colleagues said that it has long been known that the excess build-up of highly reactive oxygen-containing molecules in cells can contribute to aging, and possibly to disorders like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
It is believed that a diet rich in antioxidants, which are abundant in fruits and vegetables, may help cease this cell-damaging process by blocking the accumulation of these molecules, also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS).
However, to date, scientists have not found any proper tools to study the effects of these molecules in detail.
Thus, the researchers developed a new molecule called DAz-2, which, according to them, functions like a tiny GPS device for quickly finding specific proteins that are affected by ROS.
The molecules do this by chemically “tagging” sulfenic acid, which is formed in cells and indicates that a protein has undergone a type of reaction – called oxidation – caused by ROS.
In lab studies using cultured cells, the scientists identified more than 190 proteins that undergo this reaction.
The researchers said that the study could lead to better strategies for fighting the wide range of diseases that involve these excessive oxidation reactions.
The study will be published in ACS Chemical Biology, a monthly journal
YAOUNDE – Gorillas carry the parasite that causes malignant malaria in humans, a finding that could help in efforts to develop a vaccine for malaria, researchers say.
Malaria is a sometimes fatal disease, usually contracted from mosquitoes, most commonly in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. People who contract malaria typically develop flu-like symptoms with high fevers and chills, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the new study, researchers analyzed fecal samples from 84 gorillas in Cameroon and blood samples from three gorillas in Gabon and found the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which was previously believed to only infect humans. P. falciparum causes 85 percent of malignant malaria infections in humans and nearly all deaths from malaria.
The scientists also found that the gorillas carried two closely related species of malaria parasites: Plasmodium GorA and Plasmodium GorB.
The discovery of P. falciparum in gorillas complicates efforts to eradicate malaria, according to the study published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year toward ridding humans of malignant malaria. But success may be a pyrrhic victory, because we could be re-infected by gorillas — just as we were originally infected by chimps a few thousand years ago,” study co-author Francisco Ayala, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, said in a university news release.
Along with potentially aiding in the development of a malaria vaccine, this finding helps improve understanding of how infectious diseases such as HIV, SARS and bird and swine flu can be transmitted from animals to humans, the researchers noted.
Each year, malaria sickens about 500 million people worldwide and causes 2 million infant deaths. Four kinds of malaria parasites can infect humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae. Infection with P. falciparum, if not promptly treated, may lead to death, according to the CDC.
WASHINGTON – A Northeastern University neurobiologist is collaborating with Harvard University researchers to develop micro flying robots that will emulate the bees’ brain, body and collective behavior.
Biology professor JosephAyers would create robots, called the robobees, which would mimic the communal feeding behavior of bee colonies.
The project will draw on the knowledge of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists to construct an electronic nervous system, a supervisory architecture and a high-energy source to power the innovative robots.
“This project will integrate the efforts and expertise of a diverse team of investigators to create a system that far transcends the sum of its parts. We expect substantial advances in basic science at the intersection of these seemingly disparate disciplines to result from this effort,” said Ayers.
Inspired by the biology of the bee and the insect’s colonial behaviour, the project aims to advance miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources.
The project would also spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors that mediate biomimetic control.
In addition, it would refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.
Ayers is widely known for his work in biomimetics- the science of adapting the control systems found in nature to inform design of engineered systems to solve real-world problems-including the development of RoboLobster and RoboLamprey.
The autonomous, biomimetic underwater robotic models emulate the operations of the animals’ nervous systems using an electronic controller based on nonlinear, moving models of neurons and synapses.
“Animals have evolved to occupy every environmental niche where we would hope to operate robots, save outer space. They provide proven solutions to problems that confound even the most sophisticated robots, and our challenge is to capture these performance advantages in engineered devices,” said Ayers.
The Pill Bottle Gets a Cell Phone, to Remind You to Take Your Medicine
CAMBRIDGE – “Hi! This is your aspirin bottle calling. I haven’t seen you in a while. Why don’t you come see me soon? I’m good for the heart, you know.”
That’s the spirit, if not the wording, of the calls that will come from new pill bottle caps that connect to AT&T Inc.’s wireless network.
A Cambridge, Mass.-based startup called Vitality Inc. was set to announce the pill-bottle system Thursday, saying it helps solve one of the biggest problems in medicine: that people don’t consistently take the drugs they’re prescribed.
That costs the U.S. $290 billion in added medical spending each year, according to a study published in August by the New England Healthcare Institute. Mortality rates are twice as high among diabetes and heart disease patients who don’t take their pills properly, it said.
With Vitality’s system, when a pill-bottle cap is opened, it uses a close-range wireless signal to tell a base station in the home. That station, which looks like a night light, essentially has a cell phone inside that can send messages through AT&T’s network.
If the bottle isn’t opened at the appointed time, the cap and night light start blinking to remind the owner to take the medication. If that doesn’t serve as enough of a hint, they start playing jingles as well. If the bottle stays unopened, the night light will send a message to Vitality’s system, which can then place an automated phone call or send a text message with a reminder.
That points to another possibility opened by the wireless bottle cap: making the pill-taking routine more than just a matter between the patient and the bottle. Vitality’s system can be set to alert a relative if someone isn’t taking medicine.
“The social aspect of this is important,” Vitality CEO DavidRose said. “Almost every successful behavior change program, the academics will tell you, involves social dynamics, whether it’s smoking cessation or Weight Watchers.”
A price for the new system hasn’t been disclosed. Vitality hopes insurance and drug companies will get on board with the system and cover the cost.
Vitality has been selling an earlier version of the product in small numbers from its Web site for $99. In that version, the night light doesn’t contain a cell phone. Instead it connects to a third piece of hardware, a “gateway” plugged into a home’s Internet router. But not all homes have routers, and configuring them can be tricky. The AT&T-powered night light simplifies the installation.
BEVERLY HILLS – US Tele-Medicine, the operators of this blog, rarely recommends any product because there are always opposing viewpoints with respect to ingredients, integrity or manufacture.There are no perfect products manufactured by man.There are close exception to that understanding.This is one of them.
Wheat is a mainstay of many peoples and national diets around the world.Wheat itself is quite healthy and beneficial source of carbs and fibers.Wheat becomes less healthywhen we add yeasts, preservatives, enhancers and flavors, in any baked goods.This is not to mention the sugars, syrups, fruits, emulsifiers and binders, added to the wheat by most mass- market commercial bakeries.This is when wheat becomes toxic.
All commercial brands of breads have some other “natural” product added to the wheat, which always disturbs the structure of the beneficial fibers and confuses the body looking for clean carbs.Except one.
In our opinion, the BEST commercial bread is found at Trader Joe’s Markets and branded as “Pain Pascal Organic Demi Miche.” The ingredients: Organic Whole Wheat Flour, Filtered Water, and Sea Salt.
The texture is incredibly soft, dense like a European country bread and very moist.The taste is superb and especially aromatic lathered with some good Irish or Danish butter.It toasts very heartily and the full crispy-on-the-outside, moist- on- the- inside effect is always there.
It is delicious, hearty, attractive, and very healthy for you to eat.Bon appetite.
NEW YORK – Researchers at the NYU School of Medicine say that they have gained significant insights into a mechanism that plays an important role in making human pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis resistant to numerous antibiotics.
Writing about their work in the journal Science, they have said that their study provides evidence that Nitric Oxide (NO) is able to alleviate the oxidative stress in bacteria caused by many antibiotics, and that it also helps to neutralize many antibacterial compounds.
Lead researcher Evgeny A. Nudler, The Julie Wilson Anderson Professor of Biochemistry at NYU Langone Medical Center, says in the report that eliminating this NO-mediated bacterial defence renders existing antibiotics more potent at lower, less toxic, doses. he researcher further says that the study’s findings pave the way for new ways of combating bacteria that have become antibiotic resistant.
A study Nudler led a few years ago had shown that bacteria mobilize NO to defend against the oxidative stress.
The new study supports the radical idea that many antibiotics cause the oxidative stress in bacteria, often resulting in their death, whereas NO counters this effect.
Based on this work, the researchers have come to the conclusion that scientists may use commercially available inhibitors of NO-synthase, an enzyme producing NO in bacteria and humans, to make antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA and ANTHRAX more sensitive to available drugs during acute infection.
“Developing new medications to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA is a huge hurdle, associated with great cost and countless safety issues. Here, we have a short cut, where we don’t have to invent new antibiotics. Instead, we can enhance the activity of well established ones, making them more effective at lower doses,” says Nudler.
“We are very excited about the potential impact of this research in terms of continuing to push the boundaries of research in the area of infectious diseases,” said Dr. Vivian S. Lee, vice dean for science, senior vice president and chief scientific officer of NYU Langone Medical Center.
“With the emergence of drug resistant bacteria, it’s imperative that researchers strive to find conceptually new approaches to fight these pathogens,” Lee added.
MIAMI – Eating large amounts of red and processed meats may be linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The authors followed 175,343 men in the United States who were 50-71 years old from 1995 until 2003. They recorded the participants’ meat consumption, including the type of meat they ate and how they cooked it, and monitored their iron levels, nitrite/nitrate intake and the number of prostate cancer diagnoses.
By the end of the study, 10,313 developed prostate cancer, of which 419 died.
After adjusting for various factors known to increase the risk of prostate cancer, the authors found that men who ate the most red meat were 12 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer and 33 percent more likely to develop advanced prostate cancer than those who ate the least amount.
Processed meat was also linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer. However, the authors noted that red processed meats (like hot dogs and bacon) were linked to a greater cancer risk than white processed meats (like turkey sandwich meat).
Grilling was the only cooking method that was linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer. It has been suggested that cancer risk may be increased by compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are formed when meat (especially red meat) is cooked at high temperatures. When heated, the amino acids, sugars and creatinine are converted into HCAs and PAHs, which have been linked to various cancers, including stomach, colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancers, in humans.
Nitrate intake was also correlated with an increased risk of the disease. Nitrates are preservatives that are added to processed and cured meats such as cold cuts and bacon. The preservatives have been associated with cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines.
This study supports growing evidence that too much meat may be unhealthy. Earlier studies suggest that red or processed meat may increase the risk of colon cancer and death (particularly from cancer and heart disease) and may be linked to age-related macular degeneration. Red meat also contains high amounts of saturated fats, which have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease.
Some other dietary changes may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. For instance, eating fewer dairy products that are high in fat (like ice cream, cheese and sour cream) may be beneficial. Also, cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower) have been reported to contain cancer-fighting phytochemicals that may decrease the chances of developing prostate cancer.
The American Urological Association (AUA) encourages men who are in good health to have annual PSA testing starting at age 50, or at age 40 if they are in high-risk groups, such as African American men or those with histories of the disease.
PARIS – It sounds painful, but shockwave therapy may be an effective treatment for men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a small study showcased here at the European Society for Sexual Medicine.
Focused shockwaves, generated by a special machine, is an established method of breaking up kidney stones. In patients with heart disease, shockwave therapy is being increasingly used to grow blood vessels.
“If the therapy can work in the small vessels of the heart, we felt that it might work in the penis because most patients with erectile dysfunction have vascular (blood vessel) problems,” Dr.YoramVardi, from Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, told Reuters Health.
Vardi and colleagues tested their low-intensity shockwave protocol in 20 men with mild or moderate ED caused by reduced blood flow in the penis.
All of the men underwent a three-week course of two weekly treatment sessions and a second identical round of shockwave therapy starting three weeks later. During each treatment session, low-energy shockwave therapy was applied to different areas of the penis for a few minutes.
Erectile function, assessed at the time of enrollment and four weeks after the end of treatment, improved significantly in 15 of the men, Vardi and colleagues found.
There were no side effects related to the treatment.
Although not presented at the meeting, six-month follow-up data show that 12 of the 15 patients who significantly improved with treatment said they no longer needed to use Viagra or a similar agent to treat their ED.
While drugs like Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis are “extremely effective at treating ED, they only provide functional improvement,” Vardi noted. Shockwave therapy “could potentially be useful to most ED patients,” the researcher said.
GEMS doctors often recommend the amino acid L-Arginine as a natural remedy for ED.