September, 2007

New Lutein and Zeaxanthin Study Shows Reduced Risk of AMD

Lutein and zeaxanthin have again been linked to lowering the risk of neovascular AMD. Researchers studied 4,519 Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) participants between 60 and 80 years of age. They found that carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, absorb blue light that could damage the macula, by preventing free radicals from damaging eye cells and by strengthening eye cell membranes.

This study, published in Archives of Ophthalmology, concluded that a higher intake of Lutein and zeaxanthin may help lower the risk for AMD.

Reference: Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group. Archives of Ophthalmology. "The Relationship of Dietary Carotenoid and Vitamin A, E and C Intake With Age-Related Macular Degeneration in a Case-Control Study: AREDS Report No. 22." Volume 125:1225-1232. September 2007.

Editor's Note: For the most comprehensive eye multivitamin with lutein and zeaxanthin available.

Combined Supplements Improve Visual Acuity in Subjects with Dry Macular

A controlled double blind study study completed in 2007 shows dry macular degeneration to be responsive to specific nutritional supplementation.

Study Medication and Dosage: Study subjects received retinol (10,000 IU/d), beta-carotene (28,640 IU/d), vitamin C (452 mg/d), vitamin E (200 IU/d), zinc (56 mg/d), copper (1.6 mg/d), taurine (400 mg), EPA (180 mg/d), DHA (120 mg/d), lutein (8 mg/d), and zeaxanthin 400 mcg/d). The control subjects had also received vitamin C (400 mg/d), vitamin E (200 IU), zinc (40 mg), and beta-carotene (300 IU/d), but none of the other supplements.

Key Findings: 77% of subjects receiving the full complement of supplements demonstrated stabilization or improvement of BCVA (Best-Corrected Visual Acuity) at 6-months. These same subjects saw small improvements in visual acuity that achieved statistical significance (p<0.05). As expected, mean visual acuity declined in the control group.

Interestingly, a standard control group was not part of the trial design not due to the cost, but rather because the independent review board determined that evidence supporting nutritional supplementation is now so strong that the standard of care demands some nutritional supplementation.

Reference: Cangemi FE. TOZAL study: an open case control study of an oral antioxidant and omega-3 supplement for dry AMD. BMC Ophthalmol 2007;7:3-12.

Editor's Note: For recommended nutrients and product, read the NaturalEyeCare Complementary Care section.

New Study on Vitamin E and Protecting the Heart

According to a new study by Vanderbilt University researchers, higher doses of vitamin E may help protect the heart. These researchers believe that previous studies that failed to show this relationship used too low of a dosage of Vitamin E for their study.

Vanderbilt's recent research, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, was a two part study. The first study was small, only 8 participants (average age 34) received 3200 IU of vitamin E for 20 weeks. Researchers reported that after 16 weeks the participants had maximum reduction of the oxidative stress. The second study, a double-blind placebo-controlled study, had 35 participants (average age 42) and investigated the effects of different dosages of vitamin E for 16 weeks. They concluded that those participants that took 1600 IU of vitamin E daily lowered their oxidative stress by 35% and dosages of 3200 IU had a 49% reduction.

More studies will be done in the future regarding antioxidants, such as vitamin E, and its potential influences on heart health.

Reference: L.J. Roberts II, J.A. Oates, M.F. Linton, S. Fazio, B.P. Meador, M.D. Gross, Y. Shyr and J.D. Morrow. Free Radical Biology and Medicine (Elsevier). "The relationship between dose of vitamin E and suppression of oxidative stress in humans." Published on-line ahead of print, 4 July 2007.

Editor's Note: Our Food Multi IV Whole Food Multivitamin contains 200IU of vitamin E from a natural food source.

Vitamin E supplementation helps prevent venous thromboembolism

A report published online on September 10, 2007 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association concluded that supplementing with vitamin E may reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) among women. The condition occurs when blood clots form in the veins, which subsequently dislodge and travel through the bloodstream, and is life-threatening when the clots block circulation to the brain, heart or lungs. The current treatment is warfarin, a blood thinner which often has side effects.

"Women who had an event before the study had a much higher event rate during the study, and the vitamin E worked a little better in that population than in the general population, when it came to reducing VTE risk," noted Dr Glynn, who is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "It seems that women who would particularly be interested in a preventive agent actually seemed to have a larger benefit."

Source: American Heart Association

Diets high in Glycemic Index Raise Risk of Early and Late AMD

Studies are now confirming that diets that are high on the Glycemic Index (GI) (the glycemic index (GI) is a scale that ranks carbohydrate-rich foods by how much they raise blood glucose levels compared to a standard food, usually glucose or white bread). High GI foods include sweets, white rice and bread, processed cereals and French fries, while lower GI foods are generally fiber-rich such as beans, whole grain bread, brown rice and oatmeal.

In the study, the higher the GI, the greater the AMD severity. The groups in the 4th and 5th quintiles had a significantly or suggestively higher risk of large drusen, geographic atrophy and neo-vascularization compared to eyes in the 1st quintile. There was a 49% increase in the risk of advanced AMD for persons with a dGI higher than the sex median (women: >77.9; men: >79.3).

Reference: Chiu CJ, et al. Association between dietary glycemic index and ARMD in non-diabetic participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. Am J Clin Nutr 86:180-8, 2007.

Editor's Note: Diets high in the Glycemic Index also showed higher levels of cataract development.

What is Cholesterol?

Dietary cholesterol increases the amount of cholesterol in the blood. However, dietary fats, particularly saturated fats and trans fats, can raise blood cholesterol levels much more than the cholesterol you consume from food.

Saturated fats come from animal sources, e.g. lard, beef tallow and chicken fat. Trans fats can be found in processed foods containing fats that have been hardened through the addition of hydrogen (a process called hydrogenation).

Cholesterol "travels" through your blood stream in lipoproteins (e.g. low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, and high-density lipoproteins, or HDL).

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is needed by your body to perform functions like making cell walls, digesting food, producing hormones and Vitamin D. Your body makes its own cholesterol (endogenous cholesterol) while also getting some from the foods that you eat (dietary cholesterol).

LDL cholesterol is considered "bad" cholesterol because too much of it, when partially oxidized, causes atherosclerosis - a process where plaque builds up in a blood vessel, narrowing the space inside and restricting blood flow.

If blood flow to your heart is blocked, you will suffer a heart attack; if it's to your brain, you will suffer a stroke. HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, is "good" cholesterol. It removes cholesterol from the blood and delivers them back to the liver to be eliminated from the body.

So, how do people develop high blood cholesterol? Think of your liver as a factory. Its job is to process raw materials (dietary fats) into a useful product (cholesterol).

Let's say you - the owner of this factory - love eating high-fat foods. The more fats you bring into your "factory", the more cholesterol it will produce. The more cholesterol there is in the blood, the harder your liver has to work to eliminate it. This situation, if prolonged, can lead to a condition called hypercholesterolemia, which is high blood cholesterol. Unfortunately, some people can inherit this tendency to develop high blood cholesterol from their parents.

Doctors recommend that you keep your total blood cholesterol (TC) below 5.2mmol/L. Keep the "bad" cholesterol (LDL-C) lower than 2.6 mmol/L and the "good" cholesterol (HDL-C) higher than 1.02 mmol/L for men or greater than 1.3 mmol/L for women.

Editor's Note2: For more information on natural ways to help manage cholesterol levels, visit out website at http://www.naturaleyecare.com/diseases.asp?d_num=50

Editor's Note3: Ways to help manage your cholesterol level include: exercising at least 30 minutes per day or at least 3-4 times per week, avoid transfatty acids (all hydrogenated oils), eat a healthy balance of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and try to avoid refined carbohydrates/sugars.

Editor's Note4: Nutrients/herbs/foods that helps lower cholesterol naturally include oats in one's diet daily, red rice yeast, omega-3 fatty acids, fenugreek (10�30 grams three times per day with meals), garlic, artichoke, green tea. For more information, go to the link below.

Editor's Note4: For an excellent formula for helping to manage cholesterol, see CholestePure

Live Right And Don't Forget to Have Some Oats (re: above article).

AMA journal meta-analysis finds vitamin D supplements linked with reduced risk of dying over a six year period

The September 10, 2007 issue of the American Medical Association journal Archives of Internal Medicine published the results of a meta-analysis conducted by Philippe Autier, MD of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and Sara Gandini, PhD of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, which concluded that men and women given vitamin D supplements had a lower risk of dying from any cause over a 5.7 year average follow-up period.

For the review, Drs Autier and Gandini selected 18 randomized, controlled clinical trials involving vitamin D supplementation published prior to November, 2006. The trials included a total of 57,311 participants. Subjects who received vitamin D were given 300 to 2000 international units (averaging 528 IU). Serum vitamin D levels were measured in half of the studies.

In seeking an explanation for the finding, the authors make note of vitamin D's ability to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, improve blood vessel function, and boost the immune system. They also suggest that the ability shown by statin drugs "to decrease all-cause mortality could partly be due to increases in vitamin D levels they would provoke or through acting as vitamin D analogues on vitamin D receptors."

Editor's Note: See the NaturalEyeCare store for an excellent vitamin D.

September, 2007 Report: Vitamin D's crucial role in cardiovascular protection, by William Davis, MD Archives of Internal Medicine (re: above article).

Hearty Vegetable Soup

1/2 chopped medium size white onion

1/2 tsp grated garlic
2 T. olive oil
2 T. tomato puree
3 cups water or canned stock
5-6 whole black pepper corns (for flavor only)
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper (to garnish)
1 T. fresh grated Parmesan cheese (to garnish)
Salt to taste

1. Chop vegetables into bite size pieces. Wash well.

2. Heat olive oil and saut� chopped onions for 1-2 minutes until translucent but not brown. Add garlic and vegetables and tomato puree. Add stock/water and black pepper corns. Season with salt.

3. Cover and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Slightly mash with a ladle. Remove black pepper corns.

4. Transfer to soup bowls. Garnish with fresh black pepper and Parmesan cheese and serve piping hot with crusty bread.

Note � You can substitute black pepper corns with cloves, bay leaves, rosemary or an herb of your choice each time you make this soup for more variety. You can also add red kidney beans and elbow macaroni for a minestrone taste.

Contributed from the book - Indian Flavors to Savor � The Easy Home Cooked Way