My_Dana

Top Nutrients of 2009: A Year in Review
By Dr. Allen S. Josephs
Co-Founder & Director, Vitacost.com
Thursday, January 07, 2010 -

Vitamin D continues to lead the pack. Recent studies suggest low vitamin D levels may affect mortality. Other studies have shown that vitamin D helps maintain healthy blood sugar and insulin levels already within normal range.

Next on my list of favorite nutrients is fish oil. Fish oil has two major components: EPA and DHA, both known as omega-3 essential fatty acids.

The third nutrient on my top list of 2009 is actually billions of nutrients bundled together: probiotics. Your intestinal system is filled with these friendly bacteria, which play an important role in helping maintain overall health.

The next nutrient to mention is resveratrol. I've written about resveratrol often over the years and continue to be fascinated by previous studies and constantly emerging medical data.

More on Vitamin D..

By Dr. Allen S. Josephs
Co-Founder & Director, Vitacost.com

Thursday, October 15, 2009 - According to the National Center for Health Statistics, up to 36% of the adult population in this country is vitamin D deficient. That's about one out of three Americans, and you could be one of them. Why the concern? Maintaining adequate vitamin D levels is vital to sustaining overall wellness, including breast, immune, heart and cellular health. Continue reading online >>>
http://www.vitacost.com/Are-You-Vitamin-D-Deficient?csrc=EM-FYH20091015:main

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Reduce Homocysteine in Diabetics
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/health-library/articles/cardiovascular-health/omega-3-fatty-acids-reduce-homocysteine-in-diabetics.html

Daily supplements of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce levels of a compound in the blood of diabetics that is linked to heart disease, says a new study from Iran.

According to findings published in the peer-reviewed Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, daily omega-3 supplements cut levels of homocysteine by 22%, compared to less than one percent in the placebo group.

"We found that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids (three grams per day) for two months decreases the production of homocysteine in diabetic patients, which can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease," wrote the researchers from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases Published online ahead of print.

I find your posts about all of the supplements that may help our type 1 kids fascinating. I'm ready to run out and buy some ALA today for my son after I read that it has also been used for lymphoma (which my son is in remission from). Do you mind telling me about the supplement regimen you use for Dana?

Natural Health News

Interesting info here...
http://www.mercola.com/

Flu Shot?

Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot and taking vitamin D instead. According to Dr. Miller, “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

Health officials say that every winter 36,000 people will die from it. But the National Vital Statistics Reports compiled by the CDC show that only 1,138 deaths a year occur due to influenza alone -- more than 34,000 of the “36,000″ flu deaths are actually pneumonia and cardiovascular deaths.

There is also a lack of evidence that young children benefit from flu shots. In fact, a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo. But there is also a risk of harm from the flu vaccine itself, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde it contains.
Sources:

* Eco Child’s Play November 18, 2008

Blueberry, sea buckthorn may help type 1 diabetes children

A study published in the Dec 2008 issue of Acta physiologica Hungarica suggests that blueberry and sea buckthorn may benefit children with type 1 diabetes.

They found the erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity and the activity of whole blood glutathione peroxidase increased. C peptide concentration was also significantly higher after two months of treatment.

They concluded that "These results suggest that treatment with this dietary supplement has a beneficial effect in the treatment of type 1 diabetic children and it should be considered.

Antioxidants that neutralize free radicals which can damage cells are believed to be beneficial to people with diabetes.

Diabetes Action - A way to directly fund Dr. Faustman and other important research.
http://www.diabetesaction.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research

Islet Autoreactive CD8 T-cells in Type 1 Diabetes
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/57/5/1156

Selective Killing of Autoimmune Cells Suggests Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/tb/10656
Dr. Faustman's work..

Some sites worth a look..
www.earthclinic.com - Natural remedies for just about anything with feedback from those who tried.

www.naturalnews.com - General health related stories.

http://thedoctorwithin.com/chapters.php - Looking at health and longevity from a natural perspective.

C-Peptide info...we need to get this into insulin!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=16799398&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google
CONCLUSIONS: C-peptide administration in replacement dose to streptozotocin diabetic rats induces weight gain regardless hyperglycaemia or glycosuria. Diabetic animals supplemented with C-peptide exhibit better renal function resulting in reduced urinary sodium waste and protein excretion together with reduction of the diabetes-induced glomerular hyperfiltration.


http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/86/8602sci1.html
...Spence and coworkers stumbled upon the metal connection. When they reconstituted commercial C-peptide, its activity would disappear after a day. Spence took a vial of fresh C-peptide to his colleague Gavin E. Reid, a mass spectrometrist at Michigan State, who told him that the C-peptide had Fe2+ in it. They suspect that the iron was a trace impurity from the manufacturing process.

Spence has already turned his attention to zinc as the most likely metal for C-peptide to bind to under physiological conditions. "In the beta cells, where the C-peptide and insulin are produced, the concentration of zinc is millimolar," he says. "There's a rich pool of zinc right where the C-peptide is produced."