There was no shortage of proposed cures for scurvy, all of them turning up unsuccessful as more and more sailor’s lives were taken. Finally, after much wasted time, it was determined that citrus would keep sailors healthy while on long sea voyages.

Scurvy all but disappeared after the late 18th century, but surprisingly it is still seen. Teens who struggle with eating disorders, older people and alcoholics who have lost their ability to absorb vitamin C are prone to this deficiency-related disease.

Unlike most animals, humans do not have the ability to manufacture vitamin C making us dependent on outside sources. The only way to keep this nasty disease at bay is to eat enough vitamin C rich foods or take a supplement.

Neurological Stress

A recent study conducted at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that mice who were deprived of their ability to make vitamin C, exhibited interesting behavioral patterns. Depressive and submissive behavior, as well as a drive for glucose laden food were observed. After a subsequent deprivation period, it was noted that the mice had decreased blood glucose levels and neurological damage caused by oxidative stress.

It should be noted that orthomolecular doctors have used mega-dose minerals and vitamins including vitamin C to resolve major psychological and physiological problems.

Other Signs of Dangerously Low Levels of Vitamin C

The body gives several warning signs when vitamin C deficiency has reached dangerous levels. Paying attention to these sings could save your life.

• Bleeding gums, gingivitis or loose teeth. Vitamin C is necessary for collagen which builds and maintains tissue.

• Lack of energy or depression. People with vitamin C deficiency may lose weight and suffer extreme fatigue. Depression is common.

• Mood swings. Irritability and rapid changes in mood may indicate a severe deficiency.

• Chronic joint pain. Serious deficiencies will lead to bleeding in the joints causing constant pain.

• Suppressed immune system. People who seem to be sick all the time are often lacking in immune-boosting vitamin C.

• Slow wound healing and bruising. Without adequate vitamin C bruising occurs easily and wounds take a long time to heal.

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Results of a recent study indicate that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is lower in places where a great deal of black tea is consumed. For the study, researchers analyzed data on black tea consumption from fifty countries. They also analyzed data provided by the World Health Organization on the prevalence of a number of disease, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, and of course, diabetes. In the end, they concluded that diabetes was the only ailment that seemed to have a definite connection to black tea consumption.

Previous studies on black tea have also discovered a positive link between reduced risk of diabetes and obesity with regular tea consumption. These studies found that both green and black tea contain special flavonoids known as catechins which are thought to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer. Catechins improve communication between insulin and glucose control, and in the process, protect the body from the damaging effects of excess sugar in the blood.

“These original study results are consistent with previous biological, physiological, and ecological studies conducted on the potential of [black tea] on diabetes and obesity”…and they provide “valuable additional scientific information at the global level,” the authors wrote.

Health Benefits of Flavonoids

Flavonoids, which can be found in black tea, are phytochemicals found in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, chocolate, and tea. They protect plants from toxins in the environment and help to repair any damage caused to the plant. When we consume foods rich in flavonoids we gain some of that protective quality. These antioxidants are great for slowing aging, protecting the body from free radical damage, and preventing cancer.

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The Orgasmic Diet notes that women who increase their levels of omega-3 while paying attention to a few other dietary factors will see great improvements. A word of warning to men; this same regime may backfire, causing premature ejaculation.

Fish Oil Quantities

It is best for women to slowly increase their omega-3 fatty acids consumption, increasing both EPA and DHA – 2 different omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. Women who weigh 130 pounds need about 1700 mg of EPA and 1300 mg of DHA each day. Similarly, women weighing in at 170 lbs should take 2500 mg of EPA and 2000 mg of DHA daily. For women who are 230 pounds or heavier, 3400 mg of EPA and 2600 mg of DHA should be taken. Amounts should be increased gradually over two weeks. It is best to take only high quality omega-3 fats.

Along with an increase in omega-3s, avoid polyunsaturated fats such as cottonseed, safflower, soybeanm and corn. These often GM oils are best replaced with healthy saturated and monounsaturated fats including olive oil, coconut oil and butter. Stay clear of soy, caffeine, processed foods and all starchy foods as these disrupt hormones.

Additional Tips for a Healthy Libido

Women interested in increasing their libido should also consider a calcium, magnesium and zinc daily supplement. High-quality chocolate with at least 70% cacao and 3000 mg of root vegetable maca daily in capsule form are also great libido-lifters.  Three doses of 300 mg ashwaghanda, an Indian herb, is also thought to keep the love fire burning.

Lastly, make sure you’re getting optimal sleep (about 7-8 hours each night) and maintain a healthy weight – these two things can also affect sex hormones and sexual appetite.

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The vitamin D and weight loss connection has been found before, but even newer research is drawing a link. According to a new study, obese mothers are passing along extremely low levels of vitamin D to their unborn child. It is possible that vitamin D becomes trapped inside the fat tissue so that there is less available to circulate through the body.

Previous research has found that either that being obese causes lower levels of vitamin D, or low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of weight gain. But this study focused on both lean and overweight mom’s, finding that lean women transferred more vitamin D to their offspring than the obese women.

“Nearly all of mothers in this study reported taking prenatal vitamins, which may be the reason why their own vitamin D levels were sufficient, but the babies born to the obese mothers had reduced levels of vitamin D,” said Jami L. Josefson, M.D., first author of the study. “It’s possible that vitamin D may get sequestered in excess fat and not transferred sufficiently from an obese pregnant woman to her baby.”

For the study, 61 women had their levels of vitamin D were measured at 36 to 38 weeks gestation. Further umbilical cord blood was tested from babies after birth. Body fat, weight and volume of the babies were also measured. Interestingly enough, obese women who took prenatal vitamins during their pregnancy may have had plenty of vitamin D exposure, but their children were still deficient. This finding supports the theory that the vitamin D may get trapped in fat.

“The range of body fat of the babies in this study was similar to other studies reporting neonatal body fat,” Josefson said. “What was novel about this study was that we found babies born with higher vitamin D levels had more body fat. That’s in contrast to studies in children and adults who have an inverse relationship between levels of vitamin D and body fat, where the higher their vitamin D, the lower their fat.”

These findings are in line with another study that has now indicated women who start their pregnancy with an insufficient amount of vitamin D may pass this deficiency on to their children.

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays and incredibly important role in the body. Some sources of vitamin D include foods such as egg, fish, cod liver oil and fortified dairy (dairy is not a recommended source), but the best place to go for a vitamin D boost is the sun. A mere 10-15 minutes minutes daily in the sun (during peak UV hours) could be enough to keep deficiencies at bay. Through optimizing your vitamin d levels, you will be keeping your bones strong, and protecting yourself from numerous conditions including osteoporosis, cancer, hypertension, and autoimmune diseases.

While more research is presently being conducted, it is possible that obese women may need a larger amount of vitamin D supplementation in order to provide sufficient levels to their developing children. Alternatively, the best solution would be for the mothers to lose weight for the baby’s health.

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Parasite Exposure

The most common point of contact between humans and this nasty parasite is in poorly cooked meat. The CDC reports that toxoplasmosis is the leading cause of death from foodborne illness. People can also become infected by touching cat feces when cleaning the litter.

Symptoms

If you have a strong immune system, it is unlikely that you will ever know that you have been exposed to the parasite. However, infection can cause mild like flu symptoms before heading into a symptomless dormant stage. The real concern is with people who have a stressed immune system or those that are pregnant. The parasite can enter the brain of fetuses and people whose bodies are too weak to put up a defense.

Risky Behavior and Toxoplasmosis

Although toxoplasmosis appears to go dormant in healthy subjects, researchers are now concerned that perhaps there is more going on behind this symptomless facade.

Some studies have found that people who have toxoplasmosis have a higher rate of depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. This information coupled with the fact that infected laboratory rats are not afraid of cats and may even be attracted to them. They become easy prey and scientists feel that this is how the parasite assures its survival. The cats consume the infected rats and more parasites turn up in their feces that will infect more rats.

Once the parasite is in the brain it appears to hijack the chemical messengers responsible for passing signals to different parts of the brain to secure their propagation. Isolated research done on infected cells indicates that the parasite causes immune cells to secrete a chemical messenger known as GABA. People with mental illnesses such as bipolar disease, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia  all show disturbances with GABA systems.

Other research, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, came to similar conclusions as far as mental status being compromised. Looking at 45,000 women in Denmark, the researchers found that those infected with T. gondii were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than those unaffected.

“The fact that a parasite can get into an organism, target its brain, stay there without killing the host and alter the circuitry of the brain— we’ve seen this in insects and fungi, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it in a mammalian host,” said Stanford University’s Patrick House.

Although humans have lived with parasites since the beginning of time, these studies warrant further investigation into the role of this parasite and potential mental illnesses in our society.

Tip: Always wash your hands after changing the kitty litter, stay clear of littler if you are pregnant, and cook all your meat well.

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The study involved almost 6,000 people over age 60, all of which were interviewed by the researchers. It was found that 10% of them had severe dementia syndromes.

Types of Secondhand Smoke

There are two different types of secondhand – environmental and passive smoke. The first is known as sidestream smoke, which comes from the lit part of a pipe, cigar or cigarette. The second type, mainstream smoke is exhaled smoke. Sidestream smoke has the highest amount of cancer causing particles. While both types are bad, sidestream smoke has the highest amount of cancer causing particles that make their way into the body easily. According to the CDC, secondhand smoke contains over 7000 chemicals. Hundreds of these chemicals are toxic approximately 70 are carcinogenic. No wonder the harmful effects of smoking are so prevalent.

Tobacco Use in China

China ranks number one as the largest consumer of tobacco products in the world and has over 350 million smokers. Officials in China have actively pursued, since 2006, the implementation of no smoking laws in public places such as schools, hospitals, public transportation and other public places. However, there are still a number of places where implementation has not taken place. Over 50% of people are exposed to passive smoke daily in China where the highest numbers of dementia sufferers in the world can be found. With their aging population, it is believed that dementia will continue to put tremendous pressures on families and society in general.

Smoke-Free Laws

According to the World Health Organization, over 80 percent of the people who smoke live in areas where tobacco-related health problems including death is the highest. A mere 11 percent of the world’s population are protected by laws that regulate secondhand smoke.

Whether or not you believe in smoking laws, it’s important to recognize how smoking affects yourself, children, and society as a whole.

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Berries are full of flavor and health promoting properties.

New Study Results Just In

An eighteen-year study that started in 1989 followed almost 100,000 women aged 25 to 42 who filled out information pertaining to their diet during the study period. Just over 400 participants experienced a heart attack while the study was going on. When the data was analyzed, researchers concluded that women who ate berries regularly cut their risk of heart attack by one-third compared to the women who consumed berries one time per month or fewer.

These figures were constant even after other variables such as family history, exercise, body mass, and caffeine and alcohol use were considered. The study also found that other flavonoid-rich foods did not reduce the risk of heart attack in the same way that the berries did, indicating that anthocyanins in the berries played significantly roles in risk reduction.

“We have shown that even at an early age, eating more of these fruits [strawberries and blueberries] may reduce risk of a heart attack later in life, ” said lead author Aedín Cassidy, head of the Department of Nutrition at Norwich Medical School within the UEA.

Related Read: Health Benefits of Strawberries

Prevention is the Best Medicine

There is no doubt that prevention is the best medicine. Making even one simple dietary change like eating more foods rich in anthocyanins (grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, eggplant) can even keep cardiovascular disease at bay.

Berries are easy to incorporate into a healthy diet and should be eaten at least three times a week for best results. Try some berries on your cereal or in a delicious fruit smoothie. Remember to buy organic to bypass pesticide residue and support organic farmers.

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Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation in the body can cause a number of serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, arthritis, and cognitive impairment. Additionally, reactivation of the latent herpes virus is relative to stress indicating that loneliness acts like a stress trigger resulting in a stressed immune system. This is why herpes seems to reactive very often during old age.

The Study

Researchers examined two groups of people: a “healthy” group of middle-aged, overweight adults and a group that had survived breast cancer. Loneliness in each group was measured using a loneliness questionnaire. The assessment also included blood samples that measured immune system behavior. Participants were put in a stressful circumstance where they had to speak and perform a mental math task in front of a video camera and three assessors. After this, researchers triggered an immune system response using a compound found in bacterial cell walls.

“One reason this type of research is important is to understand how loneliness and relationships broadly affect health. The more we understand about the process, the more potential there is to counter those negative effects – to perhaps intervene. If we don’t know the physiological processes, what are we going to do to change them,” said Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University and lead author of the research.

The Results

Lonely participants in each group demonstrated higher levels of inflammation than those that were socially connected. Even in the breast cancer survivor group, participants who were lonelier had more inflammation than those who were not lonely. The results indicate that it is healthy to be socially engaged and being alone is not necessarily the best option when it comes to preventing disease.

“It is clear from previous research that poor-quality relationships are linked to a number of health problems, including premature mortality and all sorts of other very serious health conditions. And people who are lonely clearly feel like they are in poor-quality relationships.”

Seeing as previous research found that dementia risk is cut by nearly 70% in those who are highly social, it is no surprise to see that loneliness could have such a negative effect on the body.

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Actually, the power of grape seed extract seems quite remarkable in this research. Molly Derry, a doctoral candidate in the lab of Rajesh Agarwal, PhD, and investigator at the CU Cancer Center and her team saw that while doses of chemotherapy only increase with more severe cancer cases, such as a stage IV instead of stage II, the amount of grape seed extract required actually decreased.

Derry explained:

“It required less than half the concentration of GSE to suppress cell growth and kill 50 percent of stage IV cells than it did to achieve similar results in the stage II cells.”

“We’ve known for quite a while that the bioactive compounds in grape seed extract selectively target many types of cancer cells. This study shows that many of the same mutations that allow colorectal cancer cells to metastasize and survive traditional therapies make them especially sensitive to treatment with GSE.”

Amazing Grapes

One of many berry types, grapes were introduced to America over 300 years ago. There are over 8,000 grape varieties with the main types being American and European. With only 100 calories per cup, grapes are a great source of vitamins K and C and are loaded with antioxidants.

Grape seed extract is made from the seed of the grape and is beneficial for a number of cardiovascular conditions such as poor circulation and high cholesterol. The extract has also been found useful in the treatment of diabetes-related eye disease, loss of vision due to aging, and swelling associated with injury. Currently, GSE is being studied in the treatment of leukemia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Interestingly, past research also points to berries as a solution for colorectal cancer and many other cancers. In one study, the growth of new tumors in mice fed black raspberry decreased by 45 percent and the total number of tumors went down 60 percent. Other research found that foods rich in flavanols (berries, grapes, apples) also reduces the risk of colon cancer.

Advanced Cancer and Grape Seed Extract

The bioactive compounds in grape seed extract selectively target many types of cancer cells. With an increase in colorectal cancer, the findings of this study are timely. By the time most people are diagnosed with the disease, it is in the advanced stages. But thankfully, as mentioned, researchers found that it required less grape seed extract to kill advanced cancer cells than it did cells in the early stage. It is thought that the extract kills cancer cells by a process of oxidative stress.

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Feeling Full

When we hurry through our meal, our body has precious little time to release hormones that help make us feel full. Without that feeling of satiety, we are much more likely to overeat. When scientists gave a dish of ice cream to a study group that took 30 minutes to consume the treat and also to a group that took 5 minutes, it was discovered that those that ate quickly released far less of the “feeling full” compound than those who took 30 minutes to eat. This of course leads to the consumption of even more food, or in this case, probably ice cream.

Participants’ hormonal levels and insulin levels were measured before, during, and after eating. With the slower eating group, individuals saw an increase in glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide YY – two hormones that signal the feeling of fullness.

To add to the relationship between eating speed and weight, another study found that eating more slowly results in 10% fewer calories being consumed.

It appears as though rushing thorough ones meal actually causes weight gain. This fact has tremendous implications on our society where we rarely make time for a relaxed meal. Even taking as little as 30 minutes to enjoy a meal seems to be long enough to allow hormones to kick in and the body to respond, alleviating excessive overeating.

Other Solutions

There truly are countless ways to lose weight, with many of the tips and ‘tricks’ being basics. Eating slowly is just one basic weight-loss tip to utilize. For easy weight loss, you could also:

• Stop drinking soda
• Exercise
• Eat more of these 7 foods for weight loss
• Drink green tea
• Drink more water
• Add more spicy foods to your diet
• Perform multiple body cleanses

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