River Soap WebLog

D & Cancer

2010-05-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

Research over the last decade clearly documents that vitamin D is a premier modulator of immune function, helping to protect us from infection and at least 16 types of cancer. For example, recent research documents that white blood cells can convert ordinary vitamin D into an active form that is used to make a protein that kills tuberculosis bacteria. Perhaps more striking, however, is the role vitamin D plays in cancer prevention. As it happens, vitamin D is one of the most potent regulators of cell growth, working to prevent initiation and growth of cancerous cells and tumors. Vitamin D activates the “turn off” switch for many types of cancer cells, preventing uncontrolled growth. In fact, at a recent meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Dr. Edward Giovannucci of Harvard University challenged “...any of his colleagues to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as Vitamin D.” The data, as he notes, are really quite remarkable.

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D & Insulin levels

2010-04-30T07:56:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
What are the mechanisms by which vitamin D helps to prevent diabetes? We now know this nutrient enhances insulin output and insulin sensitivity, and people with a low level of vitamin D have poorly functioning insulin-producing cells and a poor response to insulin, even when their blood sugar levels are normal.

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Even in Italy, D levels are too low

2010-04-24T07:55:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
In the US, the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey NHANES III found that as blood levels of vitamin D rose, the risk for diabetes decreased, and those with the highest vitamin D levels had one quarter the diabetes risks of those with the lowest vitamin D blood levels. In another light, a study by Borissova and colleagues in Bulgaria found that giving vitamin D supplements in the winter to adults with type 2 diabetes improved blood sugar control. Even in sunny Italy, vitamin D blood levels were significantly lower in patients with diabetes.

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D & Diabetes

2010-04-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
Benefits for diabetes and blood sugar control
In this country, diabetes afflicts more than 20 million Americans and is the sixth leading cause of death. As with heart disease and cancer, there is a striking latitudinal association, people who live in sunny climates tend to have lower risk of diabetes. Northern Finns, for example, who experience only two hours of sunlight in December, have the world's highest reported incidence of type 1 diabetes, and vitamin D supplementation is shown to reduce their risk of this disease. In 1966, 12000 Finnish babies were given 2000 IU vitamin D a day from one year of age and watched over the next thirty years. Those taking the vitamin D decreased their risk of developing type 1 diabetes by 80%. This same study showed that those children low in vitamin D at one year of age had a four fold increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

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Calcium & your Muscles

2010-04-04T07:52:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

Benefits for muscles helping to protect bone
Recently it has been discovered that muscle cells, as well as bone and many other cells, have receptors for the active form of vitamin D. It is now clear that vitamin D maintains the function of muscle fibers, thus preserving muscle strength and neuromuscular coordination. This results in stronger muscles, improved muscle function, better balance, and fewer falls among those with an adequate vitamin D level as compared to those who are deficient in this nutrient. Several large studies now show a 20 to 50% reduction in falls with the daily use of 800 IU vitamin D. Preventing falls among the elderly prevents fracture and other injuries. Also, if you have weak muscles and experience bone pain, consider vitamin D. Bone pain and muscle weakness are typical symptoms of vitamin D deficiency.
heart disease, our 1 cause of death, is also strongly influenced by vitamin D. The heart, as other muscles, is weakened by lack of this muscle builder. Further, activated vitamin D works to maintain blood pressure, suppress artery damaging inflammation, and protect the vessels from calcification in a dose dependent manner. As a result, vitamin D is inversely associated with heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, decreased artery protective apolipoprotein A 1, and heart disease deaths.
Sunlight and its biochemical end product, vitamin D, enhance heart health in many ways. Even exposure to tanning beds transmitting vitamin D producing UVB radiation has been found to reduce blood pressure by researchers in both the US and the Netherlands. In addition, while working with heart disease patients, Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University was able to improve heart strength with a program of three weekly exposures to UVB from tanning beds.

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Back to D

2010-03-27T08:51:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
Benefits for bone health
Vitamin D, and specifically the hormone our body produces from vitamin D, is the body's most important regulator of calcium absorption. Indeed, scientists now know that people low in vitamin D absorb 65% less calcium than those with adequate levels of this vitamin. Subsequently, needless osteoporotic fractures are much more common in folks with low levels of vitamin D, and the incidence of fractures can be dramatically reduced with vitamin D supplementation. For example, a recent study in the United Kingdom found that 95% of those suffering a hip fracture were deficient in vitamin D, while other research in the UK and the US documents that simple daily supplementation with 800 IU vitamin D3 with some calcium can often reduce hip fracture incidence by 33 to 50%. For a review of the literature on vitamin D and fracture reduction, see my article in the March 2008 Alternative Medicine Review
Even more, three major vitamin D researchers now suggest that with adequate vitamin D supplementation, we could prevent 50 to 60% of all osteoporotic fractures.

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A new thought about calcium

2010-03-20T08:49:00.001-07:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

When it comes to whole body health, there are few silver bullets, and calcium is'’t one, either, though it is undeniably important. Historically and throughout the world today, there are many cultures whose bones remain strong throughout the lifespan, without the overemphasis on dairy foods commonplace in America today. By thinking of calcium as only part of a well rounded, alkalizing diet and lifestyle, you, too, can create better bones, and a better body!
Known for almost a century as the sunshine vitamin for bone health, new research reveals that vitamin D is good for more than bone much, much more. In fact, current research from around the world documents that not just osteoporosis, but an astonishing number of diseases, are caused or worsened by insufficient vitamin D. Further, studies show that attaining optimum vitamin D blood levels provides protection from these disorders and aids in their healing.

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A balanced approach on calcium

2010-03-12T07:48:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
A balanced approach, how to make calcium work for your bones and your body
Here are some guidelines for making calcium work to strengthen your bones;
Rebalance your calcium intake. There are many calcium rich vegetables that do double duty for the bones by alkalizing the system. Beans and other legumes, such as soy, as well as fish, seeds, and nuts offer additional choices.
Let the sun shine in! Our bodies were meant to be exposed to sunshine, but do this in a way that is health-enhancing, not harmful. This will allow your body to make adequate amounts of vitamin D3 .
Supplement with vitamin D. For maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D, 1000 to 2000 IU per day is safe and adequate. If you think you could be vitamin D deficient, as are some billion people worldwide, ask your healthcare provider for vitamin D testing, then supplement accordingly.
Increase your intake of vitamin K. Most people get some, but not enough vitamin K from their diet, from green leafy vegetables and fermented foods like aged cheese. As a whole, however, we consume suboptimal amounts of this key bone nutrient. For optimum bone health, supplementation with vitamin K2 is recommended for nearly everyone. Exceptions include those using the blood-thinning drug Coumadin warfarin, as this vitamin can interfere with the action of blood-thinner drugs.

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The diary dilemna

2010-03-06T07:46:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
The dairy dilemma
Here in America, the popular wisdom solution to our calcium needs is to eat lots of dairy products. Milk products are high in calcium, as everyone who has seen the ubiquitous milk mustache posters knows, so it seems to make sense to drink plenty of milk or eat yogurt, cheese, and ice cream.
There are two problems with this logic; first, there are many people who are lactose intolerant or otherwise sensitive to proteins in milk, which means that they have trouble digesting it and aren’t necessarily absorbing all that calcium. And second, dairy products are generally acid forming foods, which means that taken in excess, and without counterbalancing alkalizing foods, they tend to promote a pH imbalance in the body that leads to further calcium loss from the bones. So while dairy products do contain a great deal of calcium, dairy alone does not provide the quick fix to bone health many Americans assume it does, and if you rely solely on dairy’s calcium for bone health, you could be in for a letdown!

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It matters what kind of calcium you get

2010-02-28T07:45:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

It matters what kind of calcium you get
Calcium comes in many different forms. Even with the other nutrients needed for its absorption, some forms are not as readily absorbed as others. With all the different kinds of calcium supplements available, how do you choose, and how should you take them? Use the following points as a guide:
Calcium citrate is a highly absorbable calcium compound. This form does not require the hydrochloric acid HC1 in the stomach to be absorbed. Thus, calcium citrate is very readily absorbed or bioavailable, and a good choice for people with low stomach acid.
Calcium ascorbate and calcium carbonate are generally not as easily absorbed as the citrate forms if HCl is low. However, they are absorbed quite readily when taken with food.
Generally speaking, all types of calcium are absorbed more easily if taken with meals, no matter what form you choose.

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Calcium & Magnesium

2010-02-20T07:43:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
Calcium and magnesium
Overall, and through many mechanisms, magnesium is needed for calcium absorption and bone formation. Magnesium is an essential cofactor in 80% of all cellular enzymes including the thyroid hormone calcitonin, which regulates bone turnover. Magnesium is also needed by the liver enzymes that convert vitamin D into its active form, known as calcitriol. Recall that vitamin D is needed for proper calcium absorption and magnesium deficiency can lead to a syndrome known as vitamin D resistance. The activity of another critical enzyme for bone formation, alkaline phosphatase, also depends on magnesium. This enzyme is needed to solidify calcium and other soluble factors into bone. In fact, much of the body's magnesium is stored in the bone, and it is released into the blood when it is needed by other tissues. Magnesium deficiency is known to impair parathyroid hormone secretion and action, and contributes to the development of osteopenia and bone fragility.
While it is extremely important to maintain an adequate magnesium intake, most US adults consume less than 68% of the daily requirement of this mineral. With all the roles magnesium plays in bone formation, it is not surprising that even a mild deficiency is considered to be a leading risk factor for osteoporosis.

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Calcium & K

2010-02-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
Calcium and vitamin K
We have recently learned that vitamin K is critical for calcium utilization and regulation. Vitamin K helps proteins bind to calcium and transports them to where they are needed in bones, organs, and other tissues. Vitamin K is also needed in the bone to produce a protein called osteocalcin, which, as the name suggests, helps bind calcium to the bone.
Low vitamin K status is associated with higher levels of bone turnover and increased fracture risk, while adequate levels of vitamin K have been shown to protect from a loss of calcium in the urine. French researchers have noted in their studies that low vitamin K status predicts the subsequent risk of hip fracture. So, without adequate vitamin K, more bone is lost and fracture risk increases. While vitamin K deficiency is common among all ages, studies show that younger adults and postmenopausal women tend to have particularly low levels of vitamin K.

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Calcium & D

2010-02-06T07:41:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

Calcium and vitamin D
The last few years have witnessed a virtual explosion of research on vitamin D. We now know that this sunshine vitamin plays a key role in the prevention of many chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune disease and osteoporosis. When it comes to bone, we now know that vitamin D is the key to calcium absorption. To paraphrase noted vitamin D researcher Dr. Michael Holick, you can swim in calcium and it will do no good unless you have adequate vitamin D. Specifically, without vitamin D your body can only absorb 10 to 15% of dietary calcium, so even if calcium is present, the body can’t use it! When vitamin D is added, the absorption of dietary calcium increases to 30 to 40%. So, both calcium and vitamin D are necessary to prevent osteoporosis, including postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Most Americans don't get enough vitamin D, especially during the winter months, when there is less sunlight. Certain people may also be at a high risk for vitamin D deficiency, including the elderly, the obese, dark-skinned individuals, teenage girls, those who spend little time outdoors, and those who regularly use sunscreens. Because it is a fat soluble vitamin, vitamin D deficiencies also occur in people with fat malabsorption syndromes such as in celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

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Low Calcium

2010-01-31T07:39:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

When blood levels of calcium drop too low and dietary calcium intake is insufficient, the body will obtain calcium by extracting it from the bones. Ideally, calcium that is taken from the bones will be replaced when calcium levels are replenished. But, before you reach for that glass of milk, realize that to replace the calcium in your bones an intricate process involving intake, metabolism and utilization must take place.
This is the crux of the myth, while calcium is clearly important, there are at least 19 other key nutrients that each play a vital role in the structural integrity and overall health of our bones. To put the larger picture in context, I find it is sometimes useful to think of bone as a brick wall where the bricks are made of calcium and the other key nutrients make up the mortar. Without mortar, the wall is unstable. Bricks may fall out, making the wall even weaker. Just like a brick wall without mortar, bone without vitamin D, vitamin K, and magnesium will lose its calcium.

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Dairy-free Sources of Dietary Calcium

2010-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

GOOD DAIRY-FREE SOURCES OF DIETARY CALCIUM
• Whole wheat products
• Vegetables in the brassica family:
broccoli, kale, cabbage, bok choy
• Dark leafy greens, e.g., collards, kale, turnip greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, beet greens
• Canned fish/crustaceans with bones, e.g., sardines, pink salmon, shrimp
• Beans/legumes, e.g., edamame, tofu; tempeh, black-eyed peas, black beans, dried beans
• Okra
• Nuts and seeds, e.g., almonds, sesame seeds
• Mineral water
• Herbal teas and infusions, e.g., oatstraw, nettle, red clover

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Calcium’s role in bone health

2010-01-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD

Calcium’s role in bone health
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body and has several important functions. Two percent of our total body weight is made of calcium, and more than 99% of total body calcium is stored in the bones and teeth where it supports their structure. The body gets the calcium it needs for everyday, minute-to-minute physiological functioning in two ways. One way is from the intake of calcium-rich foods. Yes, these include dairy products, which have a high concentration per serving of highly absorbable calcium, but also many, many other foods, such as dark, leafy greens, nuts, beans, and seeds, which have varying amounts of highly absorbable calcium.

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The calcium myth

2010-01-10T07:36:00.001-08:00

The calcium myth
by Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
For many years, a popular chorus of wisdom about calcium and bone health has been playing. Its refrain goes something like this, Calcium is essential to bone health. Variations on this theme are also heard. Drink your milk for healthy bones Take a calcium-based antacid, and it will help your bones while it soothes your stomach… Look, this food, or that one, is fortified with calcium for healthier bones! In the well-known Got Milk? campaign, one ad has Superman promising bones of steel if you drink milk!
This focus on calcium as the silver bullet for bone health is not entirely restricted to mass media marketing messages. You’ll see calcium emphasized in osteoporosis web sites and pamphlets, research reports, and even in the Surgeon General’s bone health recommendations. In our society, where calcium is so widely available and its benefits are so widely known bone disorders like osteoporosis (fragile bones) and osteopenia (reduced bone mineral density) are still prevalent. Why is this?
The reasons for this paradox fly in the face of popular understanding: bone loss is not caused by low calcium intake. Furthermore, calcium by itself will neither prevent bone loss nor needless osteoporotic fractures.
Bone health depends not so much on calcium intake, but rather on its metabolism and utilization. The major players in this regard are vitamin D, vitamin K, and magnesium, which are woefully under-publicized in the campaign against osteoporosis. This article will discuss these nutrients, and help you understand how critical they are for maintaining bone health.

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Can Touching Your Toes Test Your Arteries?

2010-01-04T07:31:00.001-08:00

December 23, 2009, NYTimes
Phys Ed: Can Touching Your Toes Test Your Arteries?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

A provocative new study published this year in the journal Heart and Circulatory Physiology suggests, however, that there may be a novel way to test at least one element of your heart's health right in your own living room, right in the middle of the holidays. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched straight out in front of you, toes pointing up. Reach forward from the hips. Are you flexible enough to touch your toes? If so, then your cardiac arteries probably are also flexible.
What is surprising are some early indications that increasing your flexibility might somehow loosen up your arteries, too. That was the accidental and, as yet unreplicated finding of a small 2008 study at the University of Texas at Austin. The study was designed to examine whether weight lifting increased arterial stiffness. (It didn't, at least on this occasion.) The control group consisted of people who stretched. They were not expected to show any change in cardiac function, but over the course of 13 weeks they in fact increased the pliability of their arteries by more than 20 percent.

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Fat Friends, Fat You. There is a connection

2009-12-15T07:47:00.001-08:00

Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
By CLIVE THOMPSON
Published: September 10, 2009
an excerpt

As friends around us become heavier, we gradually change our mental picture of what obese looks like and give ourselves tacit permission to add pounds. With happiness, the two argue that the contagion may be even more deeply subconscious, the spread of good or bad feelings, they say, might be driven partly by mirror neurons in the brain that automatically mimic what we see in the faces of those around us, which is why looking at photographs of smiling people can itself often lift your mood.

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Happy Friends, Happy You-There is a Connection

2009-12-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

Are Your Friends Making You Fat?
By CLIVE THOMPSON
Published: September 10, 2009
an excerpt
Happiness is more contagious than unhappiness. According to their statistical analysis from the Framingham Data, which followed since 1948 more than 15,000 Framingham residents and their descendants, found each additional happy friend boosts your good cheer by 9 percent, while each additional unhappy friend drags you down by only 7 percent. So by this logic, adding more links to your network should — mathematically — add to your store of happiness.

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Dry clothes another way

2009-11-30T07:29:00.000-08:00

Sure it's hard to live without a clothes dryer and some cities even ban clothes lines as unsightly but I love the look of clothes hanging off a line. And for me, I hang my clothes to keep them nice longer, no more shrunken jeans or faded t-shirts.
One friend lays her clothes over her lavender bush to dry- double duty- they dry and smell good. What could be better?

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Clothes Dryer?

2009-11-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

Alexander P. Lee is executive director of Project Laundry List.
The tumble dryer is the second largest energy-consuming appliance and the leading cause of house fires among appliances. There is no such sense as an Energy Star dryer; these machines are inherently inefficient, using natural gas or electricity to heat air.
Look to Italy and Denmark for guidance.
In Italy, only about three or four percent of households own a dryer. In Denmark, newly constructed student housing included space for indoor drying. In China, the bamboo shaft is still a ubiquitous clothesline. In the United States, approximately 80 percent of households own a dryer. Project Laundry List believes, from anecdotal evidence, that the vast majority of families can see a 10 to 20 percent savings on their electric bill by going cold turkey and setting up a clothesline or drying rack.

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Reduce your risk for breast cancer

2009-11-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

Research has found that the association between frequently eating cabbage and a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer is only seen with raw and short-cooked cabbage foods (steamed cabbage and sauerkraut)
To promote the production of the most glucosinolates, slice or chop your cabbage and let sit for 5-10 minutes before cooking, and cook lightly, steaming or sautéing for 5 minutes or less.

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Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies

2009-11-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed Columnist
Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 7, 2009

Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It’s a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies — to the tune of six pounds per American per year. That’s a lot of estrogen.
More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it — though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike.

Now it turns out it’s in our food.

Consumer Reports magazine tested an array of brand-name canned foods for a report in its December issue and found BPA in almost all of them. The magazine says that relatively high levels turned up, for example, in Progresso vegetable soup, Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup, and Del Monte Blue Lake cut green beans.

The magazine also says it found BPA in the canned liquid version of Similac Advance infant formula (but not in the powdered version) and in canned Nestlé Juicy Juice (but not in the juice boxes). The BPA in the food probably came from an interior coating used in many cans.

Published journal articles have found that BPA given to pregnant rats or mice can cause malformed genitals in their offspring, as well as reduced sperm count among males. For example, a European journal found that male mice exposed to BPA were less likely to make females pregnant, and the Journal of Occupational Health found that male rats administered BPA had less sperm production and lower testicular weight.

This year, the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that pregnant mice exposed to BPA had babies with abnormalities in the cervix, uterus and vagina. Reproductive Toxicology found that even low-level exposure to BPA led to the mouse equivalent of early puberty for females. And an array of animal studies link prenatal BPA exposure to breast cancer and prostate cancer.

While most of the studies are on animals, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported last year that humans with higher levels of BPA in their blood have “an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.” Another published study found that women with higher levels of BPA in their blood had more miscarriages.
Bottom line: stay away from canned food if you can!

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Help the planet, paint your roofs white.

2009-11-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

Simply painting roofs white in warm climates decreases air conditioning bills for those buildings by 20 percent. That's one reason why California has required all new buildings to have white roofs for the past few years.
This new study says that if the 100 biggest cities painted all their roofs white, and switched their road materials to lighter colors (concrete instead of asphalt) it would reflect enough light and heat back into space to entirely offset the warming of the last few decades.

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