Monday, March 28, 2011

Diabetes is a major contributor to Erectile Dysfunction

Every month it faithfully arrives - my latest issue of Diabetes Forecast, the official publication of the American Diabetes Association. And every month I read it and get mad! I posted a year or so ago about the hypocrisy in the publication. Basically, following their advice is a sure way to live your life (however long that may be) with the disease. There is never any word on the people who reverse their situation. It is all disease management, no disease prevention. Please note that all my following comments are related to Type II Diabetes - which virtually all agree is a lifestyle issue and preventable by living a healthy lifestyle.


Each month they provide some feature articles and recipes. This particular month had a feature on 30 ways to control yourself. I loved #25 - be smart about mindless munching. "When you're eating things like chips, instead of eating your way through the bag or bowl, take a napkin and count out one portion. So count out 10 chips. Then, when you're done with them, you tear off the edge of the napkin as a reminder." Come on! Perhaps they should tell people not to eat chips, but to eat real food. And that chips are all carbohydrates that will raise their insulin. Or would that make too much sense?


In addition to the feature articles and recipes they provide us with lots of interesting facts about how prevalent diabetes is. Perhaps so its readers don't feel lonely? Here's the latest - 26 million people in the US have diabetes and 7 million of them are undiagnosed per the CDC. This means 8.3% of the population has diabetes. The estimates of people with prediabetes is 79 million and these numbers have increased substantially. In 2010 there were 1.9 million new people diagnosed with diabetes. What is worse is that Type II diabetes is now appearing in our youths and at younger and younger ages. It leads one to think, how much longer until 25% or more of the population is diabetic. Already 27% of US residents over age 65 have diabetes! I'm sure you can only guess what burden this places on our health care system.


And remember - Type II diabetes is preventable and don't tell the American Diabetes Association, but it is also reversible. Not that I'm a big fan of the Nanny State, telling us what to eat and what not to eat, but that is the issue. What we are putting in our mouths and our children's mouths is making us obese and leading to Type II diabetes. Right now 72.5 million Americans are obese, a leading contributor to deaths from heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Annual medical costs associated with obesity are estimated to be as high as $147 billion. Obese people have average annual medical costs that are over $1400 more than people of normal weight people. The latest CDC report finds the number of obese adults increasing, now 26.7% of the population.


I'm concerned. When will we truly begin to care about our health as a society?

Monday, March 14, 2011

Vitamin F - Never Heard of It?

Vitamin F are the essential fatty acids – better known as the “omega” family, featuring the 3’s, 6’s, and 9’s.  These are polyunsaturated fats and whenever we hear the word “essential” in nutrition it means that we must eat these nutrients, as our body does not manufacture them.  We need all the essential fatty acids.  The issue (like much of nutrition) is balance.  For example, Omega 6’s are considered “pro-inflammatory” while Omega 3’s are “anti-inflammatory.”  Our body needs inflammation to survive.  It is part of its normal processes.   However, too much inflammation is not good.  While our body was designed to consume the Omega 3’s and 6’s in relatively equal amounts (you’ll see anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1 Omega 6’s to 3’s in the nutrition literature), the simple fact is that most Americans are in the 20:1 to 50:1 ratio.  Why?  Omega 6’s are found heavily in grains which we eat and feed to our animals.  Omega 3’s are found in cold water wild fish, something not too prevalent in many diets.

An interesting side note here is about beef.  Did you know a cow is supposed to eat grass?  When a cow eats grass it manufactures Omega 3’s in its fat.  When that cow eats what we are feeding it – wheat and corn and other grains – it makes Omega 6’s.  Perhaps it is the Omega 6’s in the meat causing inflammation leading to heart disease?  Just a wild thought!

The essential fatty acids are the precursors to prostaglandins – a form of hormones that support many functions including normal growth and the inflammatory response.  They also assist in blood coagulation and circulatory functions.

Good sources of the essential fatty acids include: black current seed oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed, lecithin, linseed oil, seafood (halibut, salmon, scallops, shrimp, snapper, and tuna), sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, wheat germ, and winter squash.

One more note here about flax seeds.  Beware of the marketing hype! If the flax seed is whole your body can not break it down.  We can only work with flax seed in the form of meal or oil.  If you buy flax seeds grind them up in a coffee grinder and store them in the refrigerator.  As a polyunsaturated fat they go rancid very quickly, so only grind up a small amount.  The ground flax you get in the store likely has preservatives added to keep it “fresh”, but the oils are likely already rancid.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Vitamin E - Good for the Heart and Blood Flow

Vitamin E is one of the major antioxidants that our body requires.  Did you know that Vitamin E is actually several different compounds?  It is made up of alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocopherol; and alpha-, beta-, delta-, and gamma-tocotrienol.  Here again we run into the synthetic versus natural vitamin issue.  Since you likely have a supplement containing Vitamin E (as it is one of the most popular supplements) read what it actually contains.  Most likely it is one of the above synthetic compounds, not the complete Vitamin E as found in nature.  Why is this important?  Well, when you read about the studies that say Vitamin E does not support the heart function read the detail of what they used for Vitamin E.  Hint – it wasn’t complete Vitamin E.  So, of course it isn’t going to work!  And remember our discussion about Selenium? (If not, click here) Selenium is also part of the whole Vitamin E complex.

Vitamin E supports a healthy immune system and proper nerve and muscle function. As mentioned above it is also important to the heart and supports circulation through healthy blood clotting.  It keeps the skin and hair shiny and healthy.  And as an antioxidant, Vitamin E supports tissue regeneration.  It benefits the blood, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, integumentary, nervous, and respiratory systems – looks like almost the whole body!

We can obtain Vitamin E from almonds, leafy greens (collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip greens), olives, papaya, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, and wheat germ oil.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Vitamin D - The Vitamin du Jour

Vitamin D – the “vitamin du jour” as I like to say.  It certainly is in the news almost every day and it even has its very own “council” (The Vitamin D Council).  I don’t think any other vitamin has achieved that status!  Let me cut through the clutter for you – Vitamin D is very important and most of us don’t get enough of it!  It is that simple.  

When we really dive deeper we learn it is a bit more complicated.  There are two points I want to make clear to you.  If you want more details I urge you to go to the Vitamin D Council web site. First, there are different “forms” of Vitamin D – and the form we need, particularly if supplementing or added to food is D3.  The second, Vitamin D is “fat soluble.”  That means you need fat for it to be properly utilized by the body.  I pose a simple question – has the low fat diet contributed to our Vitamin D shortages?  If you take your Vitamin D pill (even if it is D3) with your cereal and skim milk for breakfast are you really getting anything from it?

Here are some of the key actions of Vitamin D.  It helps develop bones and teeth, promotes health bone density, supports healthy muscle tissue and thyroid function.  It also supports the heart and kidneys, and the nervous, integumentary, and immune systems.  Pretty much the whole body.

Where do we get Vitamin D?  The number one source is the Sun.  It is also found in eggs, fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna, and trout), liver, and milk products.