Long Term Coffee Drinkers Reduce Alzheimer's Risk

Carole Carson--

A decade or two ago, memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were inevitable clouds threatening to darken the senior years for many. But recently, a number of studies have challenged the notion that mental deterioration is an inevitable part of aging.

Just as we learned that the physical deterioration we associated with aging is in large part a function of lifestyle, we’ve learned that the amount and kind of mental deterioration associated with aging is also related to lifestyle.

Memory loss is not inevitable, and the risk of Parkinson’s disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced through the daily choices we make, particularly with regard to exercise.

With increasing consistency, researchers assert that regular aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking at least three days a week for 45 minutes, improves the odds of maintaining memory and executive control functions, such as planning, scheduling and multitasking.

Researchers have also confirmed that learning new skills and playing games that require concentration, spatial learning, memory and processing speed also help maintain brain health.

And those of us who love coffee get an added boost. Researchers assert that caffeine improves mental processing and memory skills. Longterm coffee drinkers also have a lower incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Adding mental and physical exercise to one’s routine, along with drinking a few cups of coffee each day, are positive steps we can take. What do we need to avoid?

First, we need to avoid being overweight. Surplus weight can lead to diabetes, which affects memory and other mental functions.

Second, we need to keep our blood pressure in the normal range. Researchers can’t explain why hypertension results in memory loss or mental deterioration. But even if we don’t understand the mechanics, the conclusions remain clear. If necessary, we need to treat hypertension as part of a program to maintain brain health.

Here’s the bottom line if you want to preserve your memory, protect yourself from dementia or simply stay sharp:

• Exercise 30 to 60 minutes each day
• Maintain a normal weight
• Keep your blood pressure under control
• Enjoy coffee (if it doesn’t overstimulate you)
• Challenge yourself through learning and staying engaged

The essence of who we are is dependent upon the functioning of our brain, and the implications of these research results are clear. Although we cannot keep the days from passing or change our genetic inheritance, we can adopt healthy habits today that will improve the odds of maintaining a healthy and normally functioning brain tomorrow.

Dubbed “An Apostle for Fitness” by the Wall Street Journal, Carole Carson was the inspiration behind the Nevada County Meltdown, where more than 1,000 people lost nearly 8,000 pounds. Carole is the author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction and serves as the national coach for the AARP Fat to Fit Community Challenge, a free weight-loss program welcoming all ages.

AARP ONLINE COMMUNITY CHALLENGE SETS GOAL TO LOSE 20 TONS

Americans Need To Lose 7 Billion Pounds

Copyright © 2006-2009, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

Asparagus Is Good Medicine

Suzy Cohen--

Dear Pharmacist,

My grandfather moved in with us last year. He is 86 years old and relatively healthy. He does not take any medication but says that eating asparagus is his “medicine.” He asks my wife to cook some every day but this is rather annoying. I know some foods have health benefits, does asparagus? --C.Y. Nashville, Tennessee

Answer: Grandpa and I agree on this one; asparagus is good medicine. It contains folic acid (vitamin B9) and studies have repeatedly shown that folic acid can reduce levels of an inflammatory substance called homocysteine; high levels of this amino acid are linked with heart disease. One serving of asparagus (5 spears) provides over 60 % of the recommended daily intake so it’s a terrific natural source of a powerful heart-healthy nutrient.

Asparagus also contains vitamins A, B6, C, K, and thiamine. This tasty veggie also has some beta carotene, potassium, zinc and fiber. Here are other reasons to fall in love with asparagus:

1. It has no fat, contains no cholesterol and is low in sodium.

2. It may improve the health of your digestive tract by sparking production of friendly flora (like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria).

3. It could improve your mood because it provides vitamin C and folic acid, which spark production of the “happy” brain chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine.

4. Asparagus contains plant chemicals that are anti-fungal and anti-viral and are generally helpful in boosting immune function.

5. Asparagus contains a very strong antioxidant called glutathione, which has been shown to have properties that could be preventive against cancer.

6. Asparagus is a diuretic and increases kidney function; this may also help you reduce water retention, blood pressure and urinary tract infections.

7. A special anti-inflammatory plant chemical in asparagus may ease arthritic pain.

8. Asparagus are part of a healthy diet for pregnant women, as folic acid is known to prevent birth defects. Asparagus should not replace prenatal vitamins, which are often prescribed for their folic acid.

9. Asparagus has sulfur-containing amino acids that might help slow or stop the spread of warts.

10. It is one of the richest sources of rutin, a compound which strengthens capillary walls.

11. It tastes delish when it’s sauteed in olive oil with fresh garlic, sea salt and feta cheese. I am seriously getting a craving now!

More information about asparagus and some recipes can be found at www.asparagus.org. Don’t overcook asparagus, steam it only until it’s bright green and somewhat crisp, as this retains the healthy nutrients inside. Don’t worry if your urine has a greenish hue or if it smells weird after you eat asparagus – that’s normal. If you don’t like the veggie and only want to reap its health benefits, try a dietary supplement. I’ve purchased “Asparagus Extract” from two reputable sources, ‘Enzymatic Therapy’ and ‘Chi’s Enterprise,’ sold online and at some health food stores.

Did You Know?

German customs authorities have smashed a ring of online pharmacy dealers that were selling counterfeit Viagra sex pills to consumers over the Internet.

Suzy Cohen, R. Ph., is a licensed pharmacist with nearly 20 years of clinical experience. The author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist (HarperCollins, July '07) and Drug Muggers; she is "America's Most Trusted Pharmacist," and has helped millions of patients in various clinical settings, such as retail, hospital, nursing home pharmacies, and through her nationally syndicated column, "Dear Pharmacist." A former spokesperson for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Suzy Cohen is a member of the Institute of Functional Medicine, The Association of Natural Medicine Pharmacists and The American Pharmacists Association. You can subscribe to Suzy's free weekly newsletter or ask her a question at her DearPharmacist website.

Cretans 20% Less Likely to Develop Coronary Artery Disease

Copyright © 2006-2009, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

Brain Tumor Risk Rises With Gene Variations

Variations in Five Genes Raise Risk for Most Common Brain Tumors
Genomewide study finds first genetic factors in development of gliomas

HOUSTON – Common genetic variations spread across five genes raise a person’s risk of developing the most frequent type of brain tumor, an international research team reports online in Nature Genetics.

Genetic risk factors identified by the research team, led by scientists at The University of Texas M.D.Anderson Cancer Center and the Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom, also are the first glioma risk factors of any type identified in a large study.

Melissa Bondy, Ph.D. and Sanjay Shete, Ph.D.“This is a ground-breaking study because it’s the first time we’ve had a large enough sample to understand the genetic risk factors related to glioma, which opens the door to understanding a possible cause of these brain tumors,” said co-senior author Melissa Bondy, Ph.D., professor in M.D.Anderson’s Department of Epidemiology.

Bondy and colleagues expect their findings eventually to help identify people most at risk for the disease and to provide potential targets for treatment or prevention.

Gliomas, deadly tumors that form in the supportive tissue of the brain and spine, account for about 80 percent of all primary malignant brain tumors, with about 22,000 new cases annually in the United States and 13,000 deaths. They include astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas and glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive, deadly and common glioma in adults.

Risk rises with each variation

The top variations in each of the five genes individually raise a person’s glioma risk by 18, 24, 27, 28 and 36 percent over someone without the variations. The team found the effects are independent of one another, so risk escalates with the number of genes involved. People with eight or more of the 14 risk variations discovered on the five genes have a three-fold risk of developing glioma.

Even though this is the largest genetic study of a rare cancer, and thus provides a high degree of statistical confidence in the findings, co-first author Sanjay Shete, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at M.D.Anderson, cautions that it’s too early to screen people for risk using these variations alone.

Additional research is needed on the genes involved and how variation affects their function and contributes to development of gliomas. And the disease is not solely genetic. A more comprehensive model that includes demographic and behavioral factors and environmental exposures will be needed to identify those at risk.

Bondy will be principal investigator on a multi-center research project that will examine the complex interplay of all of those factors in 6,000 glioma patients and 6,000 controls beginning next year. “We will be able to look at all of the potential risk and protective factors we’ve identified in much smaller studies over the years, such as exposure to ionizing radiation, allergies, infections, and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, in a much larger study that will include the genes involved,” Bondy said.

Combing through 521,571 variations to find 14

Researchers from M. D. Anderson and the Institute of Cancer Research analyzed 521,571 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) – points in the genome known to commonly vary from person to person – in 1,878 glioma patients and 3,670 controls. They discovered 34 SNPS with evidence of association with glioma.

These 34 were then analyzed in independent case-control studies in Germany, France and Sweden that examined 2,545 cases of glioma and 2,973 controls. The combined analysis winnowed the candidates down to 14 SNPS that mapped to five addresses in the genome.

The five genes identified, listed in descending order by their strongest effect, are:

• CCDC26, located on chromosome 8, modulates retinoic acid, which in turn increases programmed cell death in glioblastoma cells and reduces telomerase activity (see next).
• TERT, found on chromosome 5, is essential for telomerase activity that preserves telomeres, which are found on the ends of chromosomes and prevent them from unraveling. TERT expression in tumors has been associated with tumor grade and prognosis.
• CDKN2A, located on chromosome 9, regulates p14, which activates the tumor-suppressor p53. It also regulates cyclin-dependent kinases vital to the cell cycle. At least one copy of the gene is deleted in half of brain tumors, and loss of CDKN2A expression is associated with poor prognosis.
• RTEL1, found on chromosome 20, maintains genomic stability. Its chromosomal address is amplified in 30 percent of gliomas.
• PHLDB1, on chromosome 11, is commonly deleted in neuroblastoma but there is no evidence to date of a role for the gene in glioma.

The fact that four of the genetic variations found in a person’s genome point to a gene that has been associated in some way with the genome of the tumors is an encouraging sign, Shete said.

“I’ve been collecting families and case studies since the early 90s,” Bondy said. “We have only just begun to understand the causes of brain tumors. Our findings give reasons for hope for those who might be affected and an incentive for a more comprehensive investigation of what has been a mysterious disorder.”

The Wellcome Trust provided principal funding for the study. Additional sources include Cancer Research UK, the European Union, grants from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the American Brain Tumor Association and the National Brain Tumor Society.

Co-authors with Bondy and Shete are co-senior author Richard Houlston and co-first author Fay Hoskings, Lindsay B Robertson, Sara E Dobbins, and Amy Price, all of Section of Cancer Genetics, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey. U.K.; Georgina Armstrong, Yanhong Liu, and Xiangjun Gu of M. D. Anderson’s Department of Epidemiology; Marc Sanson, Yannick Marie, Blandine Boisselier, Jean-Yves Delattre, Khe Hoang-Xuan, Soufiane El Hallani and Ahmed Idbaih, all of Service de Neurologie Mazarin et INSERM, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris; Beatrice Malmer, Ulrika Andersson and Roger Henriksson, of Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Sweden; Matthias Simon and Johannes Schramm of Neurochirurgische Universitätsklinik, Bonn, Germany; Diana Zelenika and Mark Lathrop of Centre National de Génotypage, Evry Cedex, France; Lathrop also is affiliated with Foundation Jean Dausett-CEPH, Paris; A Tommy Bergenheim, and Anders Ahlbom of Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Umeå University, Sweden; Maria Feychting of Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Stefan Lönn of the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Michael Linnebank of the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland; Kari Hemminki and Rajiv Kumar both of the Division of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; Sarah Hepworth of Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, UK; Kenneth Muir of the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK; Minouk Schoemaker Section of Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK; and Ching Lau of Texas Children’s Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

About M.D.Anderson
The University of Texas M.D.Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. M.D.Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For four of the past six years, including 2008, M.D.Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in “America's Best Hospitals,” a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.

(c)2009 The University of Texas M.D.Anderson Cancer Center

Book Review: Anticancer: A New Way of Life (Viking, 2008) by David Servan-Schreiber

Research Shows The Anticancer Diet Works by David Servan-Schreiber

Caffeine Affects Children With ADD

Joanna Dolgoff--

Children today drink twice as much soda as they did 20 years ago, averaging as much as 20 ounces a day! A large soda not only provides tons of calories and sugar but it also includes at least 100 mg of caffeine. Many parents wouldn’t dream of giving their kids a cup of coffee yet routinely offer them soda, which contains caffeine as well. We also see many families hitting the local café or Starbucks for a café latte or mocha frappuccino loaded with the burst of ‘energy’ we call caffeine.

The truth is, caffeine is everywhere but it is wise to keep kids’ consumption of caffeine to a minimum.

How caffeine affects kids:

Caffeine is a stimulant and a drug that is naturally produced in the leaves and seeds of many plants. Caffeine can also be made artificially. Caffeine is considered a drug because it stimulates the central nervous system. The routine side is a feeling of alertness, but when taken in excess side effects may include:

1) Headaches

2) Difficulty concentrating

3) Jitteriness

4) Nervousness

5) Upset stomach

6) Difficulty sleeping

7) Increased heart rate

8) Increased blood pressure

9) Slight dehydration

10) Anxiety

11) Irritability

12) Muscle tremors

13) Nausea

14) Diarrhea

15) Shortened attention span

16) Increased risk of heart problems

Because caffeine’s effects are dependent on body weight, it does not take a lot of caffeine to produce side effects, especially for younger children. Younger kids are more also sensitive to caffeine because they haven’t been exposed to it as much as older kids or adults and have not yet developed a tolerance to its effects.

Beware of withdrawal:

If you decide to cut caffeine out of your diet all together don’t be surprised if you feel withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches, and irritability, especially if you are used to consuming a lot. When I was in medical school, I relied on coffee to get me through my exams. Every vacation, I wound up in bed with severe headaches. I finally realized that I was suffering from caffeine withdrawal because I didn’t need the caffeine to give me energy to study and so I wasn’t drinking my usual amount of caffeine! I gave up caffeine and my headaches never returned.

Caffeine takes up to 6 hours to be excreted from the body through the urine, so side effects may last until removed from the body.

More reasons to limit kids’ caffeine consumption:

• Obesity: Kids who consume one or more 12-ounce sweetened soft drink per day are 60% more likely to be obese.
• Lack of nutrients: Most caffeinated drinks are loaded with empty calories and are high in sugar, but lack the nutrients kids need when growing. More kids are choosing soda over milk now days and are missing out on calcium which helps build bones and teeth.
• Tooth Decay: Drinking unhealthy drinks like sweetened beverages can lead to dental cavities from the high sugar content and can lead to erosion of the enamel from the high acidity content.
• ADHD: Large doses of caffeine can impact the attention span for children, especially for those diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Recommendations:

The United States has not developed guidelines for caffeine intake because many experts believe because there is not enough data to make any conclusive recommendations. The Canadian guidelines recommend that children 6 and under have no more than 45 milligrams of caffeine per day; 10 to 12 year olds have no more than 85 milligrams per day and adults have no more than 300 milligrams per day.

Foods and Beverages with Caffeine

ITEM	AMOUNT	CAFFEINE CONTENT
BREWED COFFEE	5 OUNCES	115 mg
COCA BEVERAGE	5 OUNCES	4 mg
COCA-COLA	12 OUNCES	34 mg
COFFEE	8 OUNCES	115 mg
COLD RELIEF MEDICINE	1 TABLET	30 mg
CHOCOLATE MILK	8 OUNCES	5 mg
DARK CHOCOLATE	1 OUNCES	20 mg
DECAF COFFEE	6 OUNCES	3-5 mg
DIET COKE	12 OUNCES	45 mg
DUNKIN DONUTS	16 OUNCE	206 mg
ESPRESSO	2 OUNCES	100 mg
ICED TEA	12 OUNCES	70 mg
JOLT SOFT DRINK	12 OUNCES	71.2 mg
MILK CHOCOLATE	1 OUNCE	6 mg
MOUNTAIN DEW	12 OUNCES	55 mg
NO-DOZ	1 TABLET	100 mg
RED BULL	8.3 OUNCES	80 mg
SNICKERS	1 BAR	60 mg
STARBUCKS COFFEE	16 OUNCE	320 mg
STARBUCKS CHAI TEA LATTE	16 OUNCE	100 mg
TEA, BLACK	6 OUNCES	70 mg
TEA, GREEN	6 OUNCES	35 mg
7-UP	12 OUNCES	0 mg

There is no reason for children to drink or consume caffeinated products. One of the best ways to cut caffeine out of the diet is by not offering it at all. Eliminate soda all together and instead offer water, skim milk, or flavored seltzer. For an occasional treat try offering soda or tea but make sure it is decaffeinated.

Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. is a pediatrician whose practice solely deals with child and adolescent weight management. A graduate of Princeton University, she completed her education at NYU School of Medicine and finished her Pediatric Residency training at Columbia Presbyterian's Children's Hospital of New York. She has previously worked as a private practice pediatrician, helping children reach their weight loss goals. A Board Certified Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Dolgoff is also the proud mother of two children. Click here to learn more about Dr. Dolgoff's Weigh Child and Adolescent Weight Management Program.

Sunmaid Yogurt Raisins Versus Raisinets

Copyright © 2006-2009, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

Robert Ferguson Hosts Radio Show

FRIDAY, July 3, 2009

 The show begins at 9:00 AM PST and 12:00 PM EST!

This week's radio show covers Food Lovers for Life, 
which includes both reducing the waistline and never 
being concerned with gaining the weight back. The focal 
point of this show is how to eat Holiday foods (e.g., 
July 4th, Thanksgiving, New Years) - traditional foods 
without getting off track of achieving your weight loss 
goals. In this show Robert hosts guests: 
Jason Love who is a master at keeping humor as part of 
our daily habits and Dawn McCarthy of Your Health Connection 
magazine. 

You can call in at (805) 639-0008 if you have questions. 
Live show goes from: 
9:00 AM to 10:00 AM Pacific and 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM Eastern. 

Following the live radio show you will be able to listen to our
replay/podcast.

Click Here to listen live on Fat Loss Friday!

Oprah: The War On Her Weight

Copyright © 2006-2009, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.