Your Organs and Tissues Need Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential trace mineral, which operates on a cellular level and accumulates in organs and tissues. It is a cofactor for hundreds of enzymes and therefore involved in more than 300 regulatory and biochemical functions such as energy production; synthesis of essential molecules (DNA, RNA and proteins); hormonal pathways and regulation of other minerals (calcium, copper, zinc, potassium) and vitamin D in the body. Magnesium is also necessary to get calcium into bone matter and plays a structural role in making strong bones and teeth with calcium and vitamin D. This is what contributes to us getting healthier. It is required for temperature regulations, transmission of nerve impulses, detoxification in the liver, and for optimal functioning of all systems in the body such as nervous, muscular, cardiovascular and excretory systems.

Besides, these myriad functions, magnesium is the vitally important mineral that works as an electrolyte and maintain electrical stability of every cell in the body especially the heart, muscles, brain and kidneys. Therefore, magnesium deficiency makes people susceptible to a wide range of clinical and subclinical symptoms:

1. Cardiovascular symptoms: arrhythmia (or abnormal heart rhythms or palpitations), high blood pressure, high serum cholesterol and triglycerides levels, and circulatory disturbances (atherosclerosis, stroke and congestive heart failure)
2. Neurological symptoms: migraine headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety, agitation, irritability or restlessness, ADHD, sensitivity to noise, poor memory, confusion, seizures and depression.
3. Gastro-intestinal disturbances: food allergies, sensitivities, nausea and vomiting, gut disorders, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, constipation and lack of appetite.
4. Muscular symptoms: muscle soreness or weakness, muscle spasms, cramps, back pain, restless legs syndrome (RLS), fibromyalgia, cystic fibrosis, vertigo, tremors and trouble in swallowing
5. Poor bone and teeth health: calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, low vitamin D levels, frequent cavities and poor dental health
6. Kidney disease: kidney stones
7. Diabetes: pancreatitis or insulin resistance  
8. Thyroid issues: hyperthyroidism
9. Insomnia: sleep disturbances
10. Preeclampsia and eclampsia: A sharp rise in blood pressure during the third trimester of pregnancy i.e. preeclampsia. These women may develop seizures, which is then called eclampsia.

Studies suggest that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS) such as bloating, insomnia, leg swelling, weight gain and breast tenderness are often deficient in magnesium. Low levels of magnesium may also increase the risk of developing asthma, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and certain cancer. If you are suffering from more than one of the above symptoms and diseases, you are more likely to be magnesium deficient and can get healthier and benefit by adding this nutrient.  Learn how you can boost your immune system naturally. 

In fact, magnesium is used in the hospitals as a critical “medication” in emergency situations such as life-threatening arrhythmia, pre-term labor, seizures associated with eclampsia or complications from preeclampsia. Several research studies show that intravenous (IV) magnesium and magnesium inhaled through a nebulizer can treat acute attacks of asthma in adults and children.

Magnesium in Drinking Water

Though, magnesium is found abundantly on earth and in natural water sources, modern lifestyle habits may be the reason behind the prevalent magnesium deficiency. Industrial monoculture agricultural practices use massive amount of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides that are absorbed into the soil, making soil depleted and the food produce deficient in natural minerals. Drinking water from municipal supplies is also lacking in minerals that are found in healthy drinking water from natural sources. Fluoride content can hinder magnesium absorption.

Further, consumption of a highly-processed, refined diet (that contains no magnesium) with too much sugar and salt, caffeine, soda, alcohol depletes body’s magnesium stores and lead to leaky gut syndrome which making it difficult to absorb vital nutrients (vitamins and minerals) from your food.  Hectic working schedules and prolonged and intense stress can lead to complete depletion of magnesium stores, as magnesium is required for stress hormone production.

It is important to focus on maintaining a healthy diet.

Magnesium and Medications

Use of some drugs like birth control pills, antacid, antibiotics, diuretics, insulin and hypertension medicine also deplete magnesium levels. In certain conditions (such as pregnancy, recovery from surgery and illnesses, and athletic training) you become more susceptible for magnesium deficiency because of increased requirement.

To treat magnesium deficiency the first step is to strengthen the digestive system and restore gut health by eating magnesium rich foods such as seeds (flax, pumpkin, sun flower, sesame), nuts, green leafy vegetables, legumes especially beans, avocado and whole grains. Other dietary sources of magnesium are bananas, baked potatoes (with skin), okra, blackstrap molasses and cocoa powder. Try magnesium rich seaweeds (Agar), herbs and spices (coriander, celery, sage, mustard, basil, fennel, poppy and cumin seed) to flavor your regular meals. Also, dark chocolate is good source of magnesium. If you are a chocolate lover, go ahead!  

However, for some raising magnesium levels may require additional efforts. It is possible to increase magnesium levels by applying magnesium chloride also known as magnesium oil to your body, or soak in epsom salt bath for better absorption of magnesium through your skin in the blood and tissues of the body. It is possible to greatly improve magnesium deficiency symptoms like swelling, inflammation, and muscle aches and pains. Practicing relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga will further help in reducing your stress levels and the body’s demand for magnesium..

If you are considering magnesium supplementation go for more absorbable forms such as magnesium citrate, glycinate, taurate, or aspartate. Also, it will be a good idea to take a multi-vitamin-mineral formula with magnesium supplement as you need enough vitamin B6, vitamin D and selenium for proper absorption of magnesium into the cells. As a precautionary measure people suffering from kidney disease or severe heart disease should take magnesium supplementation only under a doctor’s supervision.

The post Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

Did nature make a mistake? 

Whole grains and legumes contain a substance called phytic acid, which binds up minerals, especially iron, and escorts them out of the system.  Phytic acid is a seed’s way of storing phosphorus, like a school lunch bucket. It is one of the many ingredients that may help fight against all stages of cancer.

For decades in the later 20th century, nutritionists thought that phytic acid must have been some mistake or “anti-nutrient” in whole grains and legumes, hence providing even more enthusiasm for processing grains down to white flour.  There are some well intentioned authors in the health care field who say that lectins are the main problem for health in Americans.  And yet, lectins are found in the healthiest of plants foods, especially beans.

Helps fight all stages of cancer

In fact, we now find that phytic acid from whole grains is one of the key ingredients in plant food lowering the risk for various cancers including breast cancer and thyroid cancer, kidney stones, heart disease, and liver disease.  Best sources of phytic acid include beans, brown rice, sesame seeds, and corn.

Easy Tips to Boost Your Immune System

Phytic acid is now sold as a nutrition supplement: IP6, inositol hexaphosphate 6.  In a similar vein, protease inhibitors are substances in legumes, especially soybeans, which can inhibit enzymes that break down protein in the gut.  Again, nutritionists thought of protease inhibitors as “anti-nutrients”.  Raw legumes are unhealthy.  Beans must be sprouted or cooked to be a nourishing food.

Part of your anti cancer diet

IP6, or phytic acid, is a promising anti-cancer component of a whole food diet.  However, there is now compelling evidence that these protease inhibitors actually are very therapeutic in fighting all stages of cancer  growth, and even allowing humans to better tolerate radiation without serious side effects.

Protease inhibitor drugs are now the fashionable trend in the pharmaceutical industry in slowing down the growth of viruses, including AIDS.  Nature knows what it is doing.  Do not bet against the wisdom of whole foods.

“Experts agree that our health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, excessive administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud.” National Coalition on Health Care, nchc.org 2009 About Contact Returns Terms Privacy

The post Fight Cancer with Whole Grains appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

Until recently, doctors and scientists assumed that Alzheimer’s disease was a death sentence.  No known cause.  No known cure.  Dale Bredesen, MD and other creative physicians have changed that model with a multifactorial treatment protocol that essentially removes toxins from the brain and supplies the brain with the necessary ingredients to do its job successfully.  Dr. Bredesen has been able to do the impossible: reverse Alzheimer’s.  And there is hope for all mental illnesses.

Brain Health Statistics

• 50% of Americans will experience some mental illness in their lifetime
• 20% of Americans will experience some mental illness this year
• 5.7 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s disease
• 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety
• 34% of Americans have anxiety and/or depression
• Depression is the leading cause of disability among people ages 15-44
• Suicide takes 42,000 American lives annually, with another 250,000 surviving suicide attempts
• Insomnia affects 70 million Americans each year, with women and older people at greater risk

Tips to Improve Memory and Concentration

The human brain is needy yet resilient.  Take away the toxins.  Provide the right nutrients and watch your brain function at Olympic levels.  Among the lifestyle factors that can heal the brain include:

Hormone Replacement

As we age, our hormone production declines.  When exposed to toxins our hormone production declines.  Deficiency of any hormone can lead to mental decline or depression.  DHEA, melatonin, testosterone, estrogen, pregnenolone, and more are among the hormones that can be replaced externally.  Work with your doctor trained in this area of expertise.

Toxin Removal

Americans are exposed to ridiculous levels of pollutants in our air, food, water, and through electro-magnetic fields.  Heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, aluminum, cadmium, and arsenic can affect mental performance.  Volatile organic chemicals, such as found in agriculture and industry can interfere with healthy brain function.  Eat organic when possible.  Make sure that you have a daily bowel movement to keep toxins moving out of your system.  Drink plenty of purified water from a purifier attached to your kitchen tap.  Use a far infrared sauna to help sweat the toxins out of your body.

Stress Reduction

The mind is built to withstand brief moments of stress.  The lion attacks and you “fight or flight.”  Yet, modern humans are exposed to endless sessions of stress.  Financial hardships, problems with the kids, marital issues, problems at work, tough commute, gut wrenching stories on TV news.  All combine to put the adrenals stuck on “emergency” mode.  Continuous flow of adrenaline will cause atrophy of the brain.

Solutions include forgiveness, altruism, meditation, journaling, and means of calming down through nature.  To get more mileage out of your brain, give it a rest.

Restorative Sleep & Rest

Most Americans stagger around in a perpetual state of sleep deprivation.  Researchers have found that anything less than 8 hours of deep restorative sleep ages the body and brain.  Sleep deprived people exhibit elevated levels of inflammation, which is the beginning of most degenerative diseases.  If needed, use melatonin, tryptophan, kava, ashwaganda, and other non-addictive natural remedies to enhance your sleep.  A memory foam topper on your mattress may be the ticket to slumberland paradise.  Your mission is to wake up feeling rested.

Exercise Daily For Improved Focus

Humans are built for activity.  A Stanford professor wrote an article entitled “Are Dis-eases from Dis-use of the Body?”  Indeed, the list of health benefits from exercise boggles the imagination and sends shivers of envy through the drug industry.  Get 30 minutes of some form of exercise daily.  In doing so, you feed your brain and invigorate the body.

Incline Board to Help Nourish the Brain

The brain is at the top of our body and above the heart, which creates a gravity problem for feeding the brain adequate blood and oxygen.  One way to address this design issue is with a slant board.  Lay down on a board that is at a 45 degree angle with your head at the bottom and feet in a bar at the top of the board.  A Total Gym does this and much more.  This process nourishes the brain and strengthens the tiny blood vessels in the brain that will dictate whether you forget your own phone number or can stay mentally alert well into your retirement years.

WARNING.  If you are older or infirmed, then you need your doctor’s permission to use a slant board.  Otherwise tiny fragile capillaries in the brain could burst.

Insulin Resistance

Humans eat too much, too often, and the wrong foods.  The “too much” is easily seen in the 2/3 of Americans who are overweight.  The “wrong foods” shows up as a host of degenerative diseases: heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, renal failure, etc.  The “too often” shows up as insulin resistance.  The constant pounding of blood glucose and insulin at the cell membranes causes the cells to become resistant to insulin, which leads to diabetes (type 2), heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and a grocery list of ailments.

Intermittent Fasting

Humans are built to fast.  Our ancestors experienced frequent and lengthy fasts through the insecurity of our food supply.  Our bodies adapted to this fasting process and become healthier and younger in fasting.

Narrow your feeding window to 8 hours per day, such as only eat between 8 am and 4 pm.  Take one day each week and water fast.  Consume only water or tea.  You will be dazzled at the immediate and long-term benefits of intermittent fasting, including brain preservation.  Americans are literally “cooking” our brains through glycation, which is eating overcooked food while maintaining chronically elevated blood glucose.

Try these foods to fight bad breath

Dance Often

Nearly all human festivals include dancing.  Researchers have found that weekly ballroom dancing reduces the risk for Alzheimer’s by 73%.  Dancing is both exercise and a coordination of the two hemispheres of the brain to stimulate the brain into producing more synapses.  “Use it or lose it” applies to many functions in the body, including the brain.

Mental Stimulation

Researchers performed autopsies on nuns in retirement.  What was surprising is the frequency of blatant signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain, yet many of these nuns were asymptomatic…no indication of disease on the outside.  These nuns kept their brains active with puzzles, word games, and reading.  “Use it or lose it” is an axiom that should take many of us away from the TV and toward something that builds brain power.

Plant Based Diet

You are what you eat.  Our diet plays a powerful role in maintaining a healthy brain.  Eat a plant-based diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, seaweed, mushrooms, and medicinal herbs.  A diet that feeds the 37 trillion cells in your body optimal supplies of each essential nutrient is the diet that will preserve your brain.

Supplements to Boost Memory

There are many specific nutrients that are commonly deficient in the American diet.  There is another list of nutrients that are not commonly found in anyone’s diet and hence merit inclusion as nutrition supplements for optimal brain functioning.

Magnesium, lithium, B-12, B-6, lecithin, choline, iodine, iron, copper, green tea, DHA and EPA (from fish oil), vinpocetine, ginkgo, phosphatidylserine, DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol), blueberry, ashwaganda, ginseng, acetyl-L-carnitine, and more are all individual nutrients that have demonstrated the ability to enhance mental performance.

Vitamins to Help the Immune System

Improve Memory and Concentration with Simple Lifestyle Habits

Each of the above topics could be expanded into a book chapter.  I have spared you the work.  Essentially, the health of your brain and your risk for “old timers disease” is in your hands.  Your lifestyle drives your health and risk for diseases.  As the Framingham study poignantly expressed: “Our way of life is related to our way of death.” Incorporate these lifestyle habits to improve and maintain your brain health.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/4-ways-to-improve-focus-and-memory

Excerpted from 12 Keys to a Healthier Cancer Patient

The post Improve Memory and Concentration appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

88% of Americans are suffering from some metabolic disease, like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, liver and kidney issues, auto-immune disease and more.  Something is seriously wrong with our approach to health.  Experts have called the modern medical system “controlling, disabling, dangerous, overpriced, fraught with fraud.”

Genetics plays a huge role in our lives.  You look something like your ancestors.  Nothing can change that.  Yet there is the new science of epigenetics which shows that our lifestyle can enhance, turn off, or turn on certain genes which makes lifestyle the most powerful medicine on earth.  Experts estimate that 5-10% of diseases are genetically programmed, with the remaining 90-95% created by lifestyle.  Lifestyle vectors include: attitude, nutrition, toxins, energy alignment, microbiome, exercise.  Using these six lifestyle forces could change western medicine into a more efficient, cost-effective, scientific, and humane system of health care.

Vitamin Deficiency

The early science of nutrition seemed so simple.  A severe deficiency of vitamin C would cause scurvy.  Vitamin C cures scurvy.  A severe deficiency of niacin causes pellagra, consisting of diarrhea, dermatitis, and dementia.  Niacin (vitamin B-3) cures pellagra.  In those early days no nutritionist could fathom the limitless shades of gray in between the black and white of health and death.  Yet, there are progressive steps as the body loses nutrient reserves that slowly cause disease, then death.

These are common magnesium deficiency symptoms

Nutrient Deficiency

Sequence in developing nutrient deficiency.

1. Preliminary.  Reduction of tissue stores and depression of urinary excretion.
2. Biochemical.  Reduction of enzyme activity due to insufficient nutrients.
3. Physiological.  Behavioral effects and reduced immunity.
4. Clinical.  Classic nutrition deficiency symptoms as outlined in nutrition textbooks.
5. Terminal.  Severe tissue pathology eventually ending in death.

In the early days of exploring the earth via ships, sailors could be at sea for months with nothing but dried meat and bread to eat.  Lacking vitamin C, these men experienced the awful unwinding of the bodies, with tooth loss, bleeding and eventually death.  Up to half the men aboard the ship might die from scurvy.  We do not see such blatant clinical deficiency symptoms in most of western society.  But we do see stages 2, 3, and 4 as outlined above.

Malnutrition can be defined as too much, too little, or an imbalance of any nutrient.  Add to that eating too often, and you have the trifecta of why 88% of Americans have some metabolic disease.

Magnesium Deficiency

Hypertension costs America $79 billion/yr.  Drug therapies for hypertension cause many side effects including loss of crucial minerals potassium and magnesium, plus vertigo in some people.  Meanwhile there is abundant evidence-based data showing that exercise and weight loss coupled with supplements of magnesium, calcium, and vitamin C can eliminate hypertension.

Anxiety disorders cost America $42 billion/yr.  Identifying food allergies and hypoglycemia, avoiding caffeine, supplementing with magnesium and niacinamide, and exercise can dramatically improve anxiety.  GABA, kava, and tryptophan can help anxiety without side effects.

Asthma costs America $36 billion with much of that due to hospitalization and ER use for severe attacks.  Supplements of magnesium, B6, and C can reduce symptoms of asthma while avoidance of food allergens can eliminate asthma.

Osteoarthritis costs America $80 billion/yr.  The anti-inflammatory drugs that treat this can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding and kidney disease.  Meanwhile, evidence-based science shows that nutrition supplements of fish oil, niacinamide, glucosamine sulfate, curcumin, and chondroitin sulfate can reverse or seriously improve this condition.

Heart failure costs America $30 billion/yr.  As much as 50% of heart failure patients are suffering from iron deficiency.  Supplements of Coenzyme Q and magnesium also can improve heart failure.

Rheumatoid arthritis costs America $34 billion/yr.  Many of the drugs used to subdue the symptoms of arthritis cost $31-72,000/yr and are essentially immune suppressants with multiple complications.  Meanwhile, identifying food allergens can eliminate arthritis in some.  Fish oil, borage oil, and ginger root are proven anti-inflammatory nutrients that can improve arthritis.

Diabetes 2 costs America $111 billion/yr.  Weight loss, intermittent fasting, plant-based diet, elimination of refined carbs can help many of these people.  Chromium supplements alone have been shown to improve type 2 diabetes in humans.

Change the Cause of Diabetes

Alzheimer’s disease costs America $305 billion/yr.  Dale Bredesen, MD has written a compelling book from his work with thousands of Alzheimer’s patients at UCLA showing that nutrients, hormone balancing, stress management, detoxification, etc. can cure Alzheimer’s.  About 20% of dementia patients are merely suffering from a deficiency of folate and B-12.

Cancer costs America $150 billion/yr.  The cost of lost productivity and early death is unfathomable.  Experts agree that one third of cancer is diet driven.

Americans are commonly nutrient deficient in:

• Vitamins: A,D,E,C,B-6,riboflavin, folacin, pantothenic acid
• Minerals: calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, chromium, selenium, iodine, and possibly molybdenum, vanadium, and lithium.
• Macronutrients: fiber, water, plant protein, EPA, GLA, ALA

Essentially, many Americans are digging their own graves with their forks.  We can do better.  Health care expenses are at a breaking point.  While political leaders quarrel over who is going to pay this enormous bill of health care, no one seems to notice that we could reduce our health budget by 75% by adding common sense and nutrition to our health care system.

Again, is it a disease or a deficiency of a nutrient?

Excerpted from Beating Cancer with Nutrition 2021 by Dr. Patrick Quillin, PhD

The post Nutrient Deficiency or Disease? appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

Covid

As of this writing, the Covid plague of 2020/21 has infected 75 million people worldwide with 1.6 million deaths, or 0.02% of global population.  The Center for Disease Control admitted that 94% of the USA “victims” of Covid actually had an average of 3 comorbidities, i.e. heart disease, cancer, diabetes, COPD, etc.  So only 6% of that death rate is actually due to Covid.

The media hails the arrival of the Covid vaccine as if the cavalry is coming to rescue the settlers.  In fact, the pre-vaccine recovery rate from Covid is 99.7%.  The lockdowns imposed were unconstitutional, unwarranted, and unprecedented.  Harvard researchers find that 50% of children who were forced to stay home in front of a computer monitor for the past 8 months are now suffering depression and suicide.  The Great Barrington Declaration has 39,000 physicians and 13,000 scientists worldwide agreeing that the lockdown has created astronomical financial and emotional hardships for billions of people.  Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford experts agree “Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice.”

Vitamins Good for the Immune System

Meanwhile, extremely effective nutrition therapies exist to treat Covid, including vitamin D, zinc, iodine, vitamin A, magnesium, and potassium.  Essentially, Covid has picked off the elderly who are infirmed and malnourished.  Hydroxychloroquine is a safe and effective medicine for Covid.  The cost of Covid has been bearable.  The cost of the Covid lockdown has been unbearable for millions in the USA.

As we age the immune system weakens in many people (aka immune senescence), which is why the vast majority of cancer patients and COVID victims are older.  The state of Pennsylvania found the average age of COVID victims to be 80, with 2/3 occurring in nursing homes.  Underlying conditions of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, medications all increase risk factors for COVID mortality.  Both COVID and cancer strike the weakened immune systems.  In a surprise to the aggressive vaccination community, the flu vaccine increased the risk for COVID infection by 36%.  The purpose of this newsletter is to get your immune system up to the challenge of reversing your cancer.

Essential Vitamins to Help the Immune System

There is an abundance of scientific documentation linking nutrient intake with immune quality and quantity.  This is a very crucial issue for the cancer patient.

Many nutrients taken orally can provide pharmacological changes in immune function in humans.  Protein, arginine, glutamine, omega-6 and omega-3 fats, iron, zinc, vitamins E, C, and A have all been proven to modulate immune functions.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A deficiency causes reduced immune response while beta-carotene supplements stimulate immune responses.  Vitamin A (retinol) improves immune response to fungal infections.  In developing countries, vitamin A deficiency causes the blindness of 250,000 to 500,000 children annually.  Oral doses of vitamin A at 200,000 iu (40 times the Recommended Daily Allowance) lowered measles mortality by 80% in children in developing countries with no side effects.  Vitamin A and synthetic derivatives have been used worldwide to treat and prevent various cancers.

Vitamin B-6

Vitamin B-6 has been used to prevent and treat cancer and as a blood marker that determines outcome in cancer treatment. B-6 supplements (50 mg/day) provided a measurable improvement in immune functions (T3 and T4 lymphocytes) for 11 healthy, well-fed older adults.

Various B vitamins have been linked to the proper functioning of antibody response and cellular immunity.

Folate

Folate deficiency decreases mitogenesis, or the normal division of cells.  Folate deficiency increases the risk for various cancers.

Vitamin C

Deficiency of vitamin C impairs phagocyte functions (immune cells that gobble invaders) and cellular immunity.  Intravenous vitamin C is a viable cancer treatment option.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E deficiency decreases antibody response to T-dependent antigens, all of which gets worse with the addition of a selenium deficiency.  Vitamin E succinate is a viable cancer treatment agent.

Iron

While iron deficiency can blunt immune functions, iron excess can increase the risk for cancer.  Iron presents an interesting case: 1)  because it is one of the most common nutritional deficiency problem worldwide, 2)  because low levels of iron will depress the immune system, and 3) because high levels of iron will stimulate both bacterial and tumor growth.  Iron intake needs to be well regulated…not too much, and not too little.

Zinc for the Immune System

Zinc exerts a major influence on the immune system.  Lymphocyte function is seriously depressed, and lymphoid tissues undergo general atrophy in zinc-deficient individuals.  The lymphocytes in zinc-deficient animals quickly lose their killing abilities (cytotoxicity) and engulfing talents (phagocytosis) for tumor cells and bacteria.  Natural killer cell and neutrophil activity is also reduced.  Zinc has become a proven therapeutic agent in treating advanced COVID patients.

Health Benefits of Zinc in Your Diet

Copper Can Boost a Depressed Immune System

Copper plays a key role in the production of superoxide dismutase and cytochrome systems in the mitochondria.  Hence, a deficiency of copper is manifested in a depressed immune system, specifically reduced microbicidal activity of granulocytes.

Selenium with Vitamin E

Selenium works in conjunction with vitamin E to shield host cells from lipid peroxidation.  Humoral immune response is depressed in selenium deficient animals.  Selenium and vitamin E deficiencies lead to increased incidence of enteric (intestinal) lesions.  Lymphocyte proliferation (making more warriors) is reduced in selenium deficiency.  The theory is that selenium and vitamin E help to provide the host immune cells with some type of “bullet-proof plating” against the toxins used on foreign cells.  Hence, one immune body can live on to destroy many invaders if enough vitamin E and selenium allow for these critical chemical shields.

Magnesium

In magnesium deficiency, all immunoglobulins (except IgE) are reduced, along with the number of antibody forming cells.  Magnesium is crucial for lymphocyte growth (involvement in protein metabolism) and transformation in response to mitogens.  Prolonged magnesium deficiency in animals leads to the development of lymphomas and leukemia.

Magnesium Deficiencies and How to Resolve Them

Iodine

Iodine plays an important role in the microbicidal activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes.  Activated neutrophils may use the conversion of iodide to iodine to generate free radicals for killing foreign invaders.  Iodine is one of the more common deficiencies worldwide.  Iodine has the unusual role in nature of being essential to humans and lethal to most microbes, but not your friendly gut microbes.

Boron

Boron prevents osteoporosis, yet is still not considered an essential mineral in human nutrition.  Boron deficiency in soil is a worldwide problem with boron soil amendments dramatically enhancing plant growth.  Boron has shown activity in preventing and reversing cancer.  In a human study, the more boron in the diet, the lower the risk for prostate cancer.

Toxic Trace Minerals

Toxic trace minerals, like mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead all blunt the immune system.

The quality and quantity of fat in the diet play a major role in dictating the health of the immune system.  Since fat directly affects prostaglandin pathways, and prostaglandins (depending on the pathway) can either depress or enhance immune function, fat intake is crucial in encouraging a healthy immune system.

There are many foods and supplements that can have a favorable impact on the immune system.  Beating Cancer with Nutrition is dedicated to reinforcing your immune system to recognize and destroy your cancer using nutrition as a key modality.

Your Health, Vitality and Longevity

Your health, vitality, longevity, and ability to prevent and reverse cancer or infections is directly tied to the ability of your immune system to recognize “self” from “non-self”, which is heavily dependent on your nutritional status.

What to Eat to Help the Immune System?

Follow a plant based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, mushrooms, medicinal spices and seaweed with a sprinkling of animal based foods, such as grass fed meat, wild caught fish, free range chicken and eggs, yogurt, and cheese.  Avoid junk food.  If it will not rot or sprout, then throw the food out.  If you can’t read the label on the package then don’t buy it.

Take supplements in reasonable dosages.  Due to poor food selections, stress, soils depleted of essential minerals, drugs and alcohol, many people are deficient in many nutrients.  Consider ImmunoPower Gold as a “one stop shopping” supplement in pure powder form for those who cannot or will not take pills.

Feed your immune system with the appropriate quantity and quality of precursor nutrients and your cabin in the woods will become a fortress against cancer and disease. Nutrients and vitamins can be very beneficial and help the immune system.

Excerpted from Beating Cancer with Nutrition

The post Vitamins to Help the Immune System appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

And drugs are often the best therapeutic choice, especially for pain management.  88% of Americans suffer from a metabolic disease, including heart disease, cancer, autoimmune, liver or kidney disease, etc.  For many metabolic diseases, lifestyle medicine, including the once banned “alternative therapies” become the most rational and effective therapies.

Fortunately, mass appeal and common sense has allowed the survival of these “alternative therapies”, more appropriately labeled: integrative, rational, holistic, lifestyle, complementary, functional.

Today we generally consider alternative medicine as a practice that has evolved with indigenous people and later accepted by others, largely as a result of emigration. We consider methods utilized in the western world and developed over the past couple hundred years as western medicine.

What is Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is also referred to as “integrative” or “complementary” medicine and are often used to describe medical practices used in the western world that are an alternative to western-based medical methods.

Alternative medicine therapies are based on the all-inclusive approach, covering the mind, body and emotional well-being of the individual. A number of healing techniques are incorporated into this type of medicine. Doctors are now more aware and more willing to advise patients of the benefits of alternative therapies and are now recommending therapies such as nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathy, energy healing and others.

According to a study in the International Journal of Health Sciences, complimentary medicine refers to therapies that complement traditional western (allopathic) medicine and alternative medicine refers to approaches taken in place of traditional medicine. Integrative medicine refers to combining complementary treatments with convention care. The basic philosophy of complementary and alternative medicine include holistic are, which focuses on treatment a human being as a whole person.

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

We have an extensive network of protective factors that circulate throughout our bodies to kill any bacteria, virus, yeast or cancer cells and fall under the umbrella of alternative therapies.  Think of these 20 trillion immune cells as both your Department of Defense and your waste disposal company. Cells in your body are duplicating all day every day at a blinding pace.  This process of growth is fraught with peril.  When cells are not copied exactly as they should be, then an emergency call goes out to the immune system to find and destroy this abnormal saboteur cell.  This process occurs frequently in most people throughout their lives.

Nearly half, or 42% of Americans can expect to develop cancer in their lifetime, yet most experts agree that everyone gets cancer about 6 times per lifetime.  Same with infections.  We are constantly bombarded with pathogens from our air, food, and water; yet it is the surveillance of an alert and capable immune system that defends most of us from cancer, infections, and premature aging.

What are Some Examples of Alternative Medicine?

Nutrition

There are many reasons why nutrition should be considered front line therapy:

1) Basic Nutrition

You are what you eat. Your body is composed of nutrients consumed over your lifetime. Your body is built from, repaired by, regulated by, and fueled by the nutrients in your diet. There are basic macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber, water) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) that are taught in all approved nutrition courses around the world. But there is more to nutrition than this basic need.

2) Beyond Nutritional Deficiencies

While 10 mg/day of vitamin C will prevent scurvy in most adults, 90 mg/day will lower the risk for various cancers by 50%, and 1000 mg/day will help to reduce bleeding and bruising in older adults. Beyond deficiencies demonstrates that many nutrients take on meta-nutrient functions when provided at beyond survival dosages. Bruce Ames, PhD at the University of California Berkeley has shown that long term low intake of various nutrients creates fragile DNA, which eventually leads to cancer and/or premature aging. There is a huge difference between surviving and thriving financially, emotionally, physically, and nutritionally.

3) Quasi Nutrients

There are conditionally essential nutrients found throughout our food supply that are not considered essential for survival but have been shown to be incredibly useful at preventing or reversing common ailments. Coenzyme Q, lipoic acid, EPA and DHA from fish oil, sulforaphane and DIM from broccoli,

Bioflavonoids and carotenoids in abundance from fresh fruits and vegetables, ellagic acid in dark berries, lycopenes in tomatoes. And on it goes. In order to survive long enough to have two children and keep your DNA in the gene pool, you can eat almost anything that keeps you alive. If you want to thrive beyond those 20 years, then you need to be more cautious about your nutrient intake.

4) Herbal Nutrition

Herbal remedies are considered gentle on the system, effective to a large extent and without the potentially damaging side effects caused by prescriptions. For example, herbs such as sarsaparilla are used to detoxify the blood and cleanse it. Herbs such as yarrow maybe used as an anti-inflammatory for muscle and joint pain. Natural ingredients such as turmeric are used to treat the symptoms of autoimmune disorders and is widely accepted in helping getting healthier after cancer treatment.

Scientists have proven beyond argument that medicinal spices could become front line therapies in the near future. Use these spices often liberally. For more details on the efficacy of these spices, see HEALING SPICES by Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD.

5) Intermittent Fasting

There is abundant data showing the mental and physical benefits of intermittent fasting. For 2 million years of adaptation, humans faced chronic food scarcity. These cave dwellers were physically fit enough to catch and kill an animal or the human died. They consumed abundant plant food with naturally occurring pesticides that eventually became protective against aging and cancer. We now eat too much and too often. We are obese and unfit, and avoid any food that does not taste like ice cream or soda. And that lifestyle is killing advanced civilizations by the millions.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to lower the risk for Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline, and increase lifespan. Intermittent fasting gives the digestive tract a break, allowing for regeneration of cells. IF offers a wealth of benefits with zero cost.

Mind-body Harmony

Many ancient cultures assumed that the mind exerts powerful influences on bodily functions and vice versa. Attempts to reassert proper harmony between these bodily systems led to the development of mind-body medicine, an array of approaches that incorporate spiritual, meditative, and relaxation techniques.

Meditation

Alternative systems of medicine often utilize multiple approaches. For example, traditional Chinese medicine incorporates acupuncture, herbal medicines, special diets, and meditative exercises such as tai chi. An eight week study conducted by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) determined that meditation literally rebuilds the brains grey matter in just eight weeks. It’s the very first study to document that meditation produces changes over time in the brain’s grey matter. (1)

Creative Visualization

Picture your body the way you want it to be. Crowd out the disease with visions of health. Focus on that image for at least 30 minutes daily. Feel the feelings of being healthy, alive, alert, vibrant, and eager to address each new day. Since your mind is working all the time anyway, you might as well direct your mind toward thoughts of peace and healing as opposed to “awefulizing” about today and tomorrow.

Body-Based Approaches

Chiropractic

This includes methods such as massage which have long been recognized in certain cultures. In the 19th century, additional formal manipulative disciplines emerged in the United States: this includes chiropractic and osteopathic medicine which are widely accepted in the alternative medicine world. Both these approaches attempt to relieve structural forces on vertebrae and spinal nerve roots. This relief can help release stresses that are possibly evoking a panoply of illnesses beyond mere musculoskeletal pain.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been used in Asian cultures for centuries as they believed that good health depends on the balance and flow of energy throughout the body. The ancient Greeks believed that health requires a balance of vital humors. Acupuncture, replaces vital energy flow by placing needles at critical body points.

Results from a number of studies suggest that acupuncture may help ease types of pain that are often chronic such as low-back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis/knee pain. It also may help reduce the frequency of tension headaches and prevent migraine headaches. (3)

Reiki

The Reiki is an energy healing approach that originated in Japan and Tibet. Reiki involves the use of energy—either biofield- or bioelectromagnetic-based interventions. Reiki aims to realign and strengthen healthful energies through the intervention of energies radiating from the hands of a master healer. The practitioner does not use their own energy but serves as a channel and directs the energy towards the receiver. Reiki can bring overall balance to the body.

Light Energy

Some therapists use light therapy to heal. There are over 50,000 peer reviewed articles on the therapeutic application of laser therapy, as encapsulated in the academically affiliated textbook by Harvard professor Michael Hamblin in PHOTOBIOMODULATION. Since sunlight is the beginning of life on earth
via photosynthesis, it seems obvious that there is healing potential in selective use of the light spectrum. Babies born with jaundice are exposed to a particular light therapy that induces oxidation of the bilirubin, thus curing the jaundice.

Homeopathy

Allopathic medicine is based on concentration of active ingredients. Homeopathy takes the exact opposite approach, the more you dilute the substance, the more potent it becomes. These two sciences cannot peacefully co-exist, until you bring in the science of energy medicine. Homeopathic preparations have nothing more than the “fingerprint” of the original atom or molecule, which is why they work. Energy medicine with no toxicity.

Lifestyle Factors for Improved Wellness

Lifestyle factors effecting health vary in strength and direction.  For instance, a small plane flying at 100 miles per hour north into a head wind at 120 mph has a ground speed of -20 mph.  Progress is seriously impaired by the opposing force of the wind.

All lifestyle factors are vectors which either move you toward illness or wellness.  Consider the person who is smoking (-80 mph), eats a low fat diet (+60 mph), takes vitamin supplements (+40 mph), has a stressful attitude (-100 mph), and eats a high sugar diet (-80).  The overwhelming direction for this person is toward illness, even though he or she is doing some things right.  Health is a sum total of vectors.  For optimal health, take a look at alternative medicine and get all lifestyle factors heading in a favorable direction.

Why Broccoli Sprouts Can Fight Cancer

Alternative Medicine to Fight Disease

Disease and illnesses arise when the body’s immune system revolts against body tissues or results in changes to an organ’s regular functions, causing a range of terrible symptoms and in extreme cases resulting in death. Over 80 autoimmune illnesses have been found that commonly affect the blood cells, blood vessels, thyroid, pancreas, joints, muscles, connective tissues and skin. Many illnesses exhibit similar symptoms such as inflammation, sleep disorders, digestion problems, headaches, depression, fatigue, joint and muscle pain and fevers.

While there are not many known cures for various diseases, natural remedies have proven to be effective in helping to soothe and in some cases restore the natural balance of an over-active immune system. Natural anti-inflammatories can work to repair and restore a body’s self-healing mechanism.

Why Alternative Medicine is Better?

What if meditation could reverse mild to moderate depression, anxiety, and insomnia without medication? What if intermittent fasting could reverse most cases of type 2 diabetes and obesity? What if a couple thousand dollars invested in lifestyle reprogramming could prevent the need for patients institutionalized with stroke or heart disease? What if improved nutrition could prevent and reverse many common ailments? What if a healthy lifestyle could prevent and reverse most degenerative diseases. These are not hypothetical dreams for the future. These are therapies awaiting you right now. They work. They have little or no side effects. They are dramatically cheaper than drugs and surgeries. Let the future of health care begin.

(as excerpted from 12 Keys to a Healthier Cancer Patient)

https://www.nih.gov/

The post Alternative Medicine appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

According to Charles Mueller, clinical assistant professor of nutrition at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, “Cocoa beans are not unlike red peppers, green peppers and broccoli and stuff like that. They are full of phytochemicals that are good for you.”

Dark chocolate can help in lowering your Body Mass Index (a measure of obesity) through the following mechanisms:

Reduce Sugar Spikes With Dark Chocolate

Cacao rich, dark chocolate is more like a whole food, which supplies carbohydrate, protein, fiber and heart-healthy fat to your body. The nutritional composition (fats, fiber, and protein) and antioxidants content of cacao has an influence on your body’s metabolism. So, when you eat dark chocolate it reduces digestion and absorption of fats and carbohydrates, and in turn lowers chances of sugar spikes inside your body. As a result you experience a feeling of fullness for longer period of time and lesser food cravings for unhealthy (sweet, salty or fatty) snack foods between meals.  

Foods to improve eye health

Food contains known essential vitamins, minerals, and “sub-nutrients” along with some very intriguing conditionally essential nutrients (like lycopenes and ellagic acid) that can bring us beyond surviving a life of chronic illness into thriving with optimal health and vitality.

Dark Chocolate Helps Controls Appetite

Ghrelin is a hormone produced inside your body to increase your appetite. Even the smell of dark chocolate can cause a reduction in ghrelin.

Some studies suggest cacao has monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors (MAO) and coumarin that work as appetite suppressants. Dark chocolate also contains saturated fat but those are not bad for you. In fact, you need healthy fats when you are trying to lose weight, as these keep you full for longer and help in controlling your appetite.

Better Regulation of Blood Glucose

When blood sugar rises inside your body, pancreas secretes insulin to escort extra blood glucose into the fat cells. However, repeated release of insulin due to consumption of high carbohydrate and sugary diet can cause insulin resistance in your cells. Insulin-resistance make people lose the ability to feel full, as these nutrition deprived cells keep on sending signals to get more food.

Additionally, high insulin levels in the blood also turn off the fat-burning mechanisms of your body, which also leads to weight gain. Various nutrients found in cacao significantly increase the insulin sensitivity of your cells. So, when you eat dark chocolate it reduces serum insulin levels and helps in better regulation of your blood glucose levels.

Dark Chocolate May Reduce Emotional Overeating

On psychological level when people feel stressed their body triggers release of cortisol. This hormone causes their body to secrete more insulin, which leads to overeating and a tendency to increase abdominal fat. Cacao has antioxidants polyphenols and other chemicals (phenylethylamine (PEA), anandamide and theobromine) that boost your mood naturally by stimulating your brain to release natural pain and stress relieving chemicals. This feeling of euphoria promotes an overall sense of well-being and alleviates depression.

It’s heartening to know that a moderate amount of dark chocolate can be very healthy for you!

Consistent consumption of moderate amount of dark chocolate also found helpful in reducing excretion of cortisol. So, when you eat dark chocolate you feel more peaceful and contended, which in turn reduce your chances to seek and eat unhealthy (sweet, salty or fatty) comfort foods.

A study in the Journal of Proteome Research looked at the effects of eating 1.4 ounces (40 grams) of dark chocolate every day for two weeks on blood and urine measures of stress in 30 healthy adults. The results showed that eating dark chocolate daily reduced stress hormone levels in those who had high anxiety levels.

Dark Chocolate Stimulates the Mind and Body

Studies show that dark chocolate also have a stimulating effect on your body that makes you more likely to move and burn more calories in the process.

Lower Body Mass Index (BMI)

Research has also shown that people who regularly consume dark chocolate tend to be slimmer. In one study when a Pennsylvania State University researcher looked at the diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) of healthy adult women and men of all ages, people who ate dark chocolate a few times per week were, on average, had lower BMI than those who ate it occasionally. This study suggests that chocolate contains antioxidant compounds especially catechins that have metabolism-boosting benefits. So, when you eat dark chocolate these compounds help you improve your lean muscle mass and favor weight loss rather than fat synthesis.

In another study researchers have found a group of compounds called oligomeric procyanidins (PCs) in dark chocolate that is most effective for preventing weight gain and obesity. In this study mice, who were fed oligomeric PCs had the lowest fat mass, lowest body weight and were least likely to develop impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance, despite eating a high-fat diet.

Nutrient Deficiency or Disease?

Other Reasons Why Dark Chocolate Should be in Your Diet

Dark chocolate is a good addition to your healthy diet plan to lose weight.  “Eat dark chocolate, not white chocolate,” says researcher Mee Young Hong, PhD, associate professor at San Diego State University. She compared dark and white chocolate, looking at health effects, such as improving cholesterol. Dark chocolate was the clear winner, she says.

Exposure to pollution, unhealthy foods and stress release free radical activity inside your body which can cause serious damage in the form of premature aging and chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Cocoa in dark chocolate has one of the highest levels of polyphenols that exhibit excellent antioxidant capacity to cease this free radical damage.

These antioxidants in dark chocolate help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by reducing inflammation and plaque formation in the arteries, improving circulation and blood flow to the heart and lowering of blood pressure. Antioxidants in dark chocolate also helps in promoting healthy heart and brain function, slowing down the effects of aging on your skin, improving your vision and may aid in cancer prevention.

So, don’t feel guilty when you indulge in your cravings for this delicious treat. However, moderation is the key to improving and maintain health and receiving the maximum health benefit from dark chocolate. Stick to dark chocolate that contains at least 70 percent cacao and consume it in moderation (an ounce) three days a week and beware of the sugar.

The post Dark Chocolate Health Benefits appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

LaValley got his first experience with traditional acupuncture and Chinese medicine ancient practices in 1982 when he took part in an exchange program with People’s Republic of China.

Curcumin, a natural product has been researched to all possible extents and research found that it has multiple applications in helping us during and after cancer treatment and when seeking relief from many diseases.

“One of the important messages that I learned there was that natural products, natural molecules, from plants and animals that are already available in nature, have been used by the Chinese for at least hundreds, probably thousands of years. That deeply changed my perspective in the world of medicine,” says Dr. LaValley. 

“I came back to medical school, and thereafter, looked at how I could integrate the perspective of conventional pharmaceutical administration as well as natural extract, natural product administration.”

Having devoted over 30 years of my own career to nutrition and specifically beating cancer with nutrition, I cannot advocate enough the beneficial research that has been done in identifying the  biochemical ways nutrition can support our health and help us get healthier.

Curcumin Has Potent Anti-Cancer Activity

In order to deeply involve himself in the molecular biology science, more concretely the cancer molecular biology, Dr.LaValley took sabbatical for 75% of his time during 2005. He spent between 9000 and 9500 hours of his time building a database which shows relations from the literature on the PubMed related to cancer molecular biology.

By understanding molecular biology, you can apply it through the wide range of symptoms and conditions which are documented in scientific literature. One can apply this knowledge by searching PubMed and similar databases and searching for the involvement of significant molecular pathways.

These foods can also help fight against cancer.

“In learning the molecular biology of cancer pathways, and in learning that what the evidence actually shows for the effect of natural product extracts on various relevant molecular targets in various cancers, we see that there’s actually quite a large amount of evidence that supports using various molecules, natural products, and pharmaceuticals that are already approved and that have been around for a long time to affect anti-cancer activity along that pathway at that target. That’s called molecularly targeted anti-cancer treatment, and it’s widely practiced in oncology today.

What’s not widely practiced is the use of the natural products for the molecularly targeted anti-cancer activity. I provide that for my patients because the evidence base suggests and supports the use of these treatment recommendations.”

Vitamins to help the immune system fight coronavirus

Curcumin – A ‘Universal’ Cancer Treatment?

One really odd thing about curcumin is that it seems to be uniquely useful for almost all types of cancer, which is strange since wide range of molecular pathologies are involved in cancer. It’s hard to believe that one plant would work for almost all types. Dr. LaValley summarizes how he concluded this:

“I went back to the literature and looked at how I can support the decision-making process and the recommendations that I’m making for treatment from the scientific literature, including literature that goes from the treatment of humans with oral products like pharmaceuticals or natural products.

This is where I learned about this molecule called curcumin, all the way down to its use in animals and then its use in test tubes or petri dish… One of the amazing things about curcumin is that this molecule has some profound anti-inflammatory activity and has activity in many molecular targets.

There are molecules that are in the cells, and those molecules interact with each other along certain pathways or tracks. The traffic of that interaction, the signals that are transferred in that trafficking of information in the molecules, presents many different targets or molecular-specific complexes.”

Why is Curcumin Successful in Cancer Treatment

Curcumin Targets Cancer Cells

Whether the curcumin molecule acts by increasing the activity of its special molecular focus point, or shows a inhibition or decrease in activity, repeated studies have shown that the ultimate result of these actions are very strong anti-cancer actions. To add to this, healthy cells are in no way affected by curcumin, which would suggest that it directly targets only the cancer-affected cells. There is also research which suggests that curcumin works in synergy with some chemotherapy medications, speeding up the process of removing of cancerous cells and we can then focus on getting healthier particularly after cancer and chemotherapy.  

Curcumin Destroys Cancer

Compared to other nutrients, except maybe vitamin D, the majority of evidence found in literature supports the use of curcumin for fighting cancer. What is also interesting is the fact that other metabolites and derivatives of curcumin also show anti-cancerous properties.

By enhancing healthy cellular functions and by eliminating cancerous cells, curcumin has shown the power to affect both genetic activities and genetic expression. Curcumin also helps in anti-angiogenesis, which means it can help in the developing of blood supply needed for cancerous cells to grow. Once the curcumin gets into the cell, it has effect on over 100 molecular pathways. To be more specific, it’s been proven that curcumin can destroy cancer in many ways:

• prevents the tumor cells proliferation
• prevents normal cells from transforming to tumorous cells
• helps your immune system destroy cancerous cells
• reduces spread of cancer cells in the body
• slows down inflammation
• prevents the proteins essential for tumor formation from synthesizing
• inhibits the formation of blood supply essential to growth of cancer cells

The post Curcumin in Cancer Treatment appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

Medicinal use of apple cider vinegar can be traced back to Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, who used it to treat wounds. In the 10th century, Sung Tse, the founder of forensic medicine, recommended use of apple cider vinegar, also known as ACV, together with sulfur to protect from infection when conducting autopsies. In recent times, popularity of ACV has been on the rise. [1]

Origins of Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apples for several weeks or months. The sugar in apples is first fermented to alcohol and later to acetic acid, the main active ingredient in apple cider vinegar. During the second phase of fermentation, acetic acid bacteria, also known as acetobacter and some beneficial yeast grow in numbers and accumulate to form a non-toxic layer of slime on the surface of the vinegar. This layer of slime is called mother due to its richness in nutrients and health benefits.

In ACV, we find the concentrated essence of the best of apples coupled with limitless by-products of bacterial fermentation, including acetic acid. Vinegar was probably first discovered over 10,000 years ago, when our ancient ancestors found that some foods  ferment into alcohol, with the next fermentation step creating vinegar. Vinegar was first mentioned for its medicinal value in Babylonia around 7000 years ago.

Vinegar holds a rich place in history and is mentioned often throughout the Bible. It has been said that God is always trying to make vinegar and it’s the winemaker’s job to interrupt the process at wine.

How Acidic is Apple Cider Vinegar

The word acid is derived from acetum (Latin, “vinegar”). Bases were substances that were usually soapy to the touch and that could react with acids in water to form neutral salts. Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, one is a common base or alkaline agent in your kitchen. Vinegar or lemon juice is a common acid used in the kitchen.

Easy herbal medicines to improve your health

pH (potential hydrogen atoms) ranges from one to 14. One is a very strong acid. 14 is a very strong base. Water is neutral at pH 7. Human blood is slightly acidic at 7.41. Vinegar is a strongly acidic solution with a pH of around two, which is why Cleopatra was able to dissolve a pearl in glass of vinegar. I have not tried this experiment.

What Can Apple Cider Vinegar Do

Several studies in animals and humans have found that acetic acid and apple cider vinegar may promote fat burning and weight loss, decrease blood sugar levels, increase insulin sensitivity, and improve cholesterol levels externally for all kinds of cosmetic and disinfectant purposes, and can be used in so many jobs around the house that it merits the name: “panacea”.

What is in Apple Cider Vinegar

A substance known as ‘the mother’ (or vinegar mother) forms during the vinegar-making process. The vinegar mother is made up of proteins, enzymes and ‘good’ bacteria – all things good for you. It may look like strands or cobwebs in the vinegar or it may be like a gelatinous blob. This gives ACV its cloudy-brown appearance. ‘The mother’ can be used to kick-start further batches of ACV because it triggers the fermentation process. ‘The mother’ is recognized as being the primary substance that’s responsible for the health benefits of apple cider vinegar.

Apple cider vinegar is filled with many nutritional elements. While not high in vitamins or minerals good quality products contain additional amino acids and antioxidants.

• Pectin
• Vitamins B1, B2, B6
• Biotin
• Folic Acid
• Niacin
• Panthonthenic acid
• Vitamin C
• Potassium
• Calcium
• Polyphenol
• Amino Acids

How Does Apple Cider Vinegar Work?

The very important but confusing aspect of eating an acidic food, like vinegar or lemon juice, is that it creates an alkaline environment in the body. What happens is the acid gets to the small intestines, where the pancreas detects acid in the gut, then releases a bicarbonate buffer into the bloodstream. The bloodstream of a healthy adult has a pH which is mildly alkaline, about 7.41.

Benefits of “Post Biotics”

Take milk as the “prebiotic”. Add lactobacillus as the “probiotic”. The the resulting fermented milk is yogurt, which is rich in metabolic byproducts of fermentation, aka “post biotics”. Same thing happens with cabbage to sauerkraut. Same thing happens when we eat plant fiber, aka resistant starches, and feed our friendly bacteria in the gut, who then produce a bewildering array of useful/essential post biotics, such as butyrate and hydrogen.

Unpasteurized vinegar not only contains these post biotics in abundance, but a rich assortment of probiotics, primarily concentrated in the “mother”. All of which is good for the gut, digestion, the microbiome, blood glucose, and metabolic pH. Remember “death begins in the gut”. Keep your gut healthy as a frontline defense against diseases and premature aging.

Gut Microbiome For Better Health

Science backed benefits of apple cider vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar is becoming increasing popular as a home remedy and a one-stop medicinal aid. There are many reasons to include it in your daily routine and research shows ACV has many healthful properties.

Known for its ability to control blood sugar

One of the most studied benefits of ACV is its ability to regulate blood sugars for both diabetics and those without diabetes. Some researchers believe that high blood sugar levels are a major cause of aging and chronic disease. A recent study showed vinegar consumption to have a glucose-lowering effect in patients with glucose abnormalities. A mixture of vinegar and olive oil is a common salad dressing used in the Mediterranean diet. The main constituent of vinegar is acetic acid, which gives vinegar its characteristic taste and smell. The consumption of vinegar with meals was used as a folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes before any pharmacologic glucose-lowering therapy [1, 2] Additionally, vinegar ingestion at bedtime has been shown to decrease fasting glucose levels in humans with type 2 diabetes. Apple cider vinegar helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. It also reduces the glycemic index of food. It has been suggested that ACV works similarly to metformin, a drug used by diabetics to control blood sugar level. But because apple cider vinegar is more of a food than a drug, it doesn’t pose the side effects posed by drugs like metformin. [4]According to this study [5], taking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at bedtime can reduce fasting glucose levels by 4-6 percent.

This study [6] found that eating breakfast containing vinegar can decrease blood glucose levels by up to 55 percent.

May reduce blood pressure

A study in 2001 found that the acetic acid itself, the main component of vinegar, significantly reduced both blood pressure and renin activity compared to controls given no acetic acid or vinegar. The same study reported a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (approximately 20 mm Hg) in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats fed a standard laboratory diet mixed with either vinegar or an acetic acid solution as compared with SHR rats fed the same diet mixed with deionized water.

Anti-tumor activity

One of the less known benefits of apple cider vinegar is its potential in fighting cancer. According to a number of studies, consumption of apple cider vinegar could help in the prevention and treatment for cancer.

This study [2] found that acetic acid, the main ingredient in apple cider vinegar, kills stomach cancer cells. While the study involved the application of acetic acid to stomach cancer cells in test tubes, the study seriously suggests that apple cider vinegar has potential as a treatment for some types of stomach cancers.

Additionally, there are other studies that suggest that consumption of vinegar could offer some level of prevention from esophageal cancer [3]

At 40 days post-inoculation, vinegar-fed mice in both experimental groups had significantly smaller tumor volumes when compared with their control counterparts. Vinegars are also a dietary source of polyphenols, compounds synthesized by plants to defend against oxidative stress. Ingestion of polyphenols in humans enhances in vivo antioxidant protection and reduces cancer risk.

It is worth to note that cancerous cells produce lactic acid as they grow. It is also worth noting that the ideal blood pH ranges between 7.35 – 7.45. Deviation from this pH range can negatively impact many functions in the body. In general, the body has mechanisms to tightly control blood pH. Actually, some acid foods, like lemon juice and vinegar, have an “alkaline tide” from their potassium content that helps to stabilize blood pH.

Kills harmful bacteria

Vinegar can help kill pathogens, including bacteria. Vinegar is a food preservative and can inhibit E. coli in foods. ACV has a history of use as a disinfectant.

Supports the immune function

Apple cider vinegar has powerful detoxifying properties including liver detoxification and toning the lymphatic system. Additionally, ACV is rich in antioxidants which help reduce free radicals in the body and ultimately reduce oxidative stress. Detoxification and reduction in free radicals help to improve homeostatic balance. [7, 8]

Studies have also shown that ACV is antimicrobial. This means that ACV can be a healthier alternative to chemical medications. And because it is a food product, it can help keep away various microbes and therefore minimize infections. For instance, ACV can kill mycobacterium tuberculosis which is otherwise resistant to most disinfectants. [9]

ACV can therefore support the immune function by preventing various infections. This is especially helpful in people with compromised immunity.

Helps to reduce weight

Regular consumption of apple cider vinegar can help in losing excess weight. ACV is believed to work by regulating appetite and satiety. [10]

According to a number of studies [11, 12, 13] ACV interferes with the working of some enzymes involved in synthesis of carbohydrates and thereby controls blood glucose levels. ACV also helps the liver to better deal with lipogenesis and synthesis of fatty acids. This leads to healthier cholesterol levels. ACV also helps in detoxification which improves liver functions. All these play a part in supporting weight loss and overall health.

Regulates the body’s pH

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, cross-over research studied tested the efficacy of the organic apple cider vinegar on alleviation of the heartburn symptom related to Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Can prevent heart disease

Studies show that apple cider vinegar can help improve cardiovascular health in a number of ways. Regular consumption of ACV helps to lower cholesterol levels in blood. This leads to a lower incidence of high blood pressure and ultimately heart disease. [14, 15, 16]

Most of the available studies have been conducted on laboratory animals. However, there are human studies that have shown that ACV can control blood sugar levels and therefore help manage diabetes. Diabetes complications can lead to high blood pressure and ultimately, heart disease. Another human study conducted on women subjects found that, eating salads containing vinegar led to a significant reduction in the risk of developing heart disease. [17]

Preserves food

Apple cider vinegar has been used successfully to preserve foods for ages. This method of food preservation is making a serious comeback. And while distilled vinegar is used in conventional home pickling, use of apple cider vinegar has been growing steadily especially with health conscious individuals. The only downside is that ACV can discolor fruits and veggies. [18]

Besides preserving food, the antimicrobial properties of ACV also come in handy when it is used to wash fruits and vegetables. Even the FDA has confirmed that vinegar, besides lemon juice, are readily available, effective household sanitizers. [19]

Reduce pain for insect bite, stinging nettle, poison ivy, jelly fish

Immediate vinegar application at the site of jellyfish stings is practiced at various coastal locations around the world because vinegar deactivates the nematocysts.

Other apple cider vinegar  benefits

While there aren’t reliable scientific studies proving it, according to folklore apple cider vinegar has many more health benefits. From various reports, ACV can help treat heartburn, dandruff, warts, relieve sore throat and cough, and soothe sunburn.

Side Effects of Apple Cider Vinegar

ACV mixed with water, juice, or another liquid is safe to drink, and it’s fine to use it on food. However, with a pH between 2.4 and 3.3, vinegar is acidic enough to erode tooth enamel, inflame the esophagus and stomach, and trigger nausea and acid reflux.

It may also interfere with some medicines, including diabetes medicines and diuretics (fluid tablets). Always check with your doctor before starting any new supplements, especially if you take regular medicines.

Should I Use Apple Cider Vinegar

Vinegar is one of the most versatile, tasty, and health additions to any kitchen. Because of its acid content, vinegar is able to tenderize, meats, add tartness to flavors, curdle milk, and preserve foods· from bacterial infection. Regular consumption and use is good, but don’t expect it to cure all ailments. Always consult with your health professional.

Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe

You can buy apple cider vinegar, but it’s also easy to make from scratch. It costs next to nothing since apple scraps are typically discarded when using apple in other recipes.

Ingredients

• Apple peelings or cores
• Sugar (1 tablespoon per one cup of water
• Filtered/Non-Chlorinated Water
• Glass jar (a quart is a great place to start, but you can definitely make larger quantities, too, in which case, use a half gallon jar.)

Directions

1. Submerge apple scraps in water and mix in a little sugar.
2. Cover jar with paper towel or coffee filter.
3. Allows to sit for 2-3 weeks.
4. After 2-3 weeks, strain. Remove apples.
5. Allow vinegar to sit at room temperature for 1 month.
6. When fermenting is complete, store vinegar in airtight container at room temperature.
7. Can keep for 6 months. May deteriorate if left longer at 6-12 months.

The post Is Apple Cider Vinegar Healthy appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.

“I have been wrong. The bacteria is nothing. The terrain is everything.” Louis Pasteur 1822-1895

Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) was an Austrian physician who found that washing hands with a dilute chlorine solution before delivering a baby would cut down the incidence of infections (puerperal fever) and mortality in the mother and newborn infant. His successes in his clinic in the 1840s were profoundly better than other physicians, who would go straight from the autopsy room without washing their hands to delivering an infant. Dr. Semmelweis had a logical, non-toxic, inexpensive, clinically-proven solution to a horrible problem of that era. His technique reduced mortality in mothers and newborns to 1.3% which was a 90% reduction from his colleagues’ results of 11% mortality.

Unfortunately, his simple solution was rejected because his critics asked: “So, Dr. Semmelweis, what is causing these women to die?” “I don’t know.” replied Semmelweis. “And are we to suspect that ‘spooks’ are involved?” they laughingly chided. When Louis Pasteur peered into a microscope and cooked (pasteurized) bacteria to death, he presented his data to his colleagues: “I have found Dr. Semmelweis’s spooks.”

Semmelweis died a broken man, yet many hospitals in Europe are named after this brilliant and courageous physician. How many people died because critics of Semmelweis refused to accept his solution? How many cancer patients die because we are stuck in a half-century battle with cancer using outdated methods and theories? Many cancers are probably infections, with the infectious organism (fungi, virus, bacteria) becoming an intracellular pathogen, creating a hybrid DNA from the weaving of the pathogen with host human DNA.

What Causes Cancer

Let’s look at the facts.

• The most conservative estimates show that 10% of all cancers are caused by infections.
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with at least 80% of all cervical cancer. Virus is a piece of DNA or RNA that is wrapped in protein and invisible to standard microscopes.
• The bacteria Helicobacter pylori is a major risk factor for stomach cancer.
• Infection with the AIDS virus often leads to the cancer lymphoma. Infection with Epstein-Barr virus often leads to Burkitt lymphoma.
• Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus usually leads to liver cancer.[iv] Any exposure to the fungal poison aflatoxin or extensive exposure to the fungal by-product alcohol will often cause liver cancer.
• Researchers have long known that C-reactive protein (CRP) is a marker in the blood that detects heart disease and probably diabetes. Now researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have found that CRP is a valuable marker for the progression of cancer.
• CRP measures inflammation as a by-product of infection. A National Science Foundation grant winner, Professor David Hess, has written a fascinating book linking infections as the underlying cause of many cancers.
• Ketoconazole is an anti-fungal drug that is commonly used to treat prostate cancer.
• While researchers speculate that ketoconazole works against prostate cancer through a hormonal pathway, it may work by killing fungal cells disguised as cancer cells.
• Researchers in Taiwan have found that Griseofulvin, an antifungal drug, killed human colon cancer cells in a culture dish by inducing apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
• Milton White, MD found evidence that cancer is a blend (hybrid) of human DNA with spores of plant bacterial conidia.

How to Boost Your Immune System

Yeast Infection Symptoms

I have seen many an end-stage cancer patient with an opportunistic yeast infection, like a bully picking on a person who is already down on the pavement. Many patients told me of their thrush (oral candidiasis, coating of white yeast on the tongue) and incredible bloating in the intestinal region, not unlike a brewery where yeast ferments any reasonable carbohydrate into gas and alcohol.

The post What Causes Cancer appeared first on ImmunoPower Nutrition.