Sunday, September 16, 2012

Vitamin D research update

Vitamin D and Parkinson'sA study from Finland suggested that higher vitamin D status provides protection against Parkinson's disease. People with the highest vitamin D levels (above 20 ng/mL) had a 65% lower risk of developing Parkinson disease than those with the lowest vitamin D levels (below 10 ng/mL).  

 Vitamin D and Alzheimer's
A study in France among women 75 years of age and older found those with higher intakes of vitamin D from their diets least likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease over a seven-year study period.43 Women consuming more than 3,108 IU of vitamin per week (444 IU per day) were 77% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those with lower vitamin D intake. There was, however, no association between vitamin D intake and the risk of developing other types of dementia. The study excluded women who had taken vitamin D supplements.

Vitamin D and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Low levels of vitamin D are also associated with a higher risk in women of developing rheumatoid arthritis. There is conflicting evidence about whether vitamin D helps reduce the overall risk of dying from cancer, although studies have consistently shown that higher vitamin D serum levels were associated with decreased risk of death from gastrointestinal cancers.

Vitamin D and Diabetes
Vitamin D appears to reduce the risk of insulin resistance in obese individuals. Obesity itself is a major risk factor for insulin resistance, but too little vitamin D may increase the risk. A study found that obese individuals with vitamin D blood levels below 20 ng/mL were 12 times more likely to be insulin resistant than obese individuals with sufficient levels of vitamin D.41 The researchers suggest that insulin resistance in obese individuals may be reduced by making improvements in vitamin D levels.

Having insulin resistance increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. So it is not surprising that a review of studies found that daily vitamin D intake over 500 IU decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 13% compared with intake of less than 200 IU. Similarly, individuals with vitamin D levels over 25 ng/mL had a 43% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with levels under 14 ng/mL. However, vitamin D supplementation has not been shown to affect glucose tolerance among people with established type 2 diabetes.23

There is preliminary evidence that giving vitamin D supplements to infants might decrease the risk of type 1 diabetes later in life.

23 Mitri, et al, Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review, Eur J Clin Nutr, 2011, 1-11

41 Kabadi  Joint Effects of Obesity and Vitamin D Insufficiency on Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes: Results from the NHANES 2001-2006. ,  2012

Friday, September 7, 2012

It's Not the Red Wine, It's the Nitric Oxide!


It's Not the Red Wine, It's the Nitric Oxide!

This article inadvertently let the secret slip.  Blood pressure goes down as Nitric Oxide increases.  Take a look at the chart below.  But why does Nitric Oxide increase with red wine?  For one thing Resveratrol is made from red grape skin and is a major anti-oxidant.  Oxidation is a major scavenger of Nitric Oxide in the blood stream.  The more anti-oxidants you take the more Nitric Oxide you have available.  That's why there is Resveratrol and Pomegranate in ProArgi-9+.   

Notice that alcoholic Red Wine reduces Nitric Oxide while nonalcoholic wine increases NO.  That's because of the alcohol.  Drinking red wine to lower your blood pressure is an advertising lie.   



From Heartwire

Nonalcoholic Red Wine Reduces Blood Pressure

Sue Hughes
September 7, 2012 (Barcelona, Spain) — Nonalcoholic red wine was associated with a greater reduction in blood pressure than regular red wine in a new study [1].
The researchers, led by Dr Gemma Chiva-Blanch (University of Barcelona, Spain), conclude that the polyphenols found in red wine are the likely mediators of the blood-pressure reduction and that alcohol appears to weaken their antihypertensive effect.
They suggest that daily consumption of nonalcoholic red wine may be useful for the prevention of mild to moderate hypertension.
For the study, published online in Circulation Research on September 6, 2012, 67 men at high cardiovascular risk were randomized into three four-week treatment periods in a crossover clinical trial. Each participant followed a common background diet and also drank red wine (30 g alcohol/day), the equivalent amount of dealcoholized red wine, or gin (30 g alcohol/day). Blood pressure and plasma nitric-oxide (NO) concentration were measured at baseline and between each intervention. The men were moderate alcohol consumers before the study, but they abstained from drinking any alcohol for a two-week run-in period at the start of the study.
Results showed that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly after the dealcoholized red wine intervention, and these changes correlated with increases in plasma NO. During the red-wine phase, the men had a small reduction in blood pressure and a small increase in NO, while there was no change in blood pressure and a small reduction in NO while drinking gin.
Changes in blood pressure and nitric oxide with the different beverages
Change in BP/NORed wineNonalcoholic red wineGin
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)-2.3-5.8-0.8
Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)-1.0-2.3-0.1
Nitric oxide (µmol/L)+0.6+4.1-1.4

The researchers note that although the blood-pressure reduction associated with nonalcoholic red wine was modest, reductions of this magnitude have been associated with a 14% decrease in coronary heart disease and 20% reduction in stroke risk.