You Can Undo the Ill Effects of Statin Drugs

by Dr. Stephen Sinatra 

Heart Health, Cholesterol 

Last Reviewed 05/22/2012

As many of you know, I firmly believe that the only people who should be taking cholesterol lowering statin drugs—such as Zocor, Lipitor, or the many others—are men over 50 who have coronary artery disease. For everyone else, statins may actually be raising the incidence of heart failure because they deplete the body of CoQ10, a biochemical that’s critical to heart health.

But that said, many doctors prescribe statins every day, and many people suffer their unwanted side-effects—including muscle pain and weakness, generalized soreness, memory loss, and peripheral neuropathy.

The good news is you can turn these ill effects around, here’s how:

1. Consider getting off your statin medication, unless you’re a middle-aged man with heart disease. For more of my information and guidance on cholesterol and statin drugs, you can visit my Cholesterol Health Center. But remember to always contact your physician before stopping your statin drugs.

2. Rebuild your muscles, and your heart with four nutrients I call the “awesome foursome.” You want to take 200 mg of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), 200-600 mg of magnesium, and 2-3 grams of broad spectrum carnitine daily. Plus, you want to take 5 grams of D-Ribose two to three times a day.

3. If you’re suffering from polyneuropathy, which is nerve damage that affects the feet and hands causing weakness, loss of sensation, or burning pain, I recommend taking 100-300 mg of alpha lipoic acid a day.

Finally, be very optimistic. I’ve seen this regimen work again and again over the years. Once you allow the statin drugs to clear from your system, and build up the mitochondrial function in your cells with the awesome foursome, you will not only feel better—you’ll thrive!

No "Magic" bullet - Here are ways to propel you from chubby to chic

No "Magic" bullet: 
Ways to propel you from chubby to chic

With summer just around the corner, the advertisements for weight loss programs are ramping up. But despite what some diet programs promise there is no easy answer or “magic” bullet to quickly propel you from chubby to chic without any hard work on your part—despite what some of the diet programs promise.

But it can be done, over a period of time if you develop the right healthy habits:

1. Eat plenty of foods that are rich in fiber, especially plant-based fiber found in fruits, vegetables, oat bran, lentils, chickpeas, and more. 

2. Increase your intake of healthy-fat foods, including coconut oil, palm oil, and the essential fatty acids found in foods like salmon and sardines. 

3. Drink lots of clean, filtered water—strive for at least eight glasses a day. 

4. Consume large amounts of green foods, including green “superfoods” supplements. 

5. Exercise regularly with activities you really enjoy, like walking, dancing, or swimming. 

6. Get adequate rest and sleep every day. 

7. Maintain a wholesome balance between work, play, and family time. 

8. Strive to reach, and maintain, emotional and spiritual well-being. 

9. Supplement your diet with a good, daily, natural multi-nutrient preparation. 

Now it’s your turn: Which of these healthy habits do you practice?


 

Simple steps to help ensure a longer life span. Rules for Immortality

Simple steps to help ensure a longer life span.

Rules for Immortality 

from Dr. Ronald Klatz and Dr. Robert Goldman: Who Wants to Live to Be 150?

• Drive a big car (2,800 pounds or more)
• Avoid stress and depression.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes daily.
• Sleep seven to eight hours a night.
• Consume little or no alcohol.
• Don’t smoke.
• Try to keep your weight at, or even five percent lower, than the ideal body weight (IBW).
• Maintain optimum antioxidant vitamin blood levels.
• Drink eight to ten glasses of water per day.
• Get blood tests and comprehensive anti-aging physical exams yearly, early detection is key in both heart disease and cancer.
• Limit harmful fats in your diet.
• Think young.
• Do not accept “just getting old”.

And remember the three rules for immortality:

1. DON’T DIE!

2. DON’T GET SICK!

3. DON’T GET OLD BIOLOGICALLY!

Omega-3s tied to lower risk of heart arrhythmia

By Kerry Grens

NEW YORK | Wed Feb 1, 2012 1:17pm EST

(Reuters Health) - In a new study of some 3,000 older adults, those with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood were 30 percent less likely to develop an irregular heartbeat over the next 14 years than peers with the lowest blood levels of omega-3s.

"A 30 percent lower risk of the most common chronic arrhythmia in the United States population is a pretty big effect," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the new report and a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

According to some estimates, up to nine percent of Americans will develop atrial fibrillation, a heart-rhythm abnormality that can lead to stroke and heart failure, by the time they reach their 80s.

There are few treatments for the condition and they largely center on preventing strokes with blood-thinning drugs.

Some previous studies have suggested that people who eat a lot of fish have a lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation to begin with. But others haven't found the same link.

The omega-3 fatty acids measured in the new study -- eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - are found in oily fish and some enriched foods, like eggs, as well as in fish oil supplements.

The earlier studies relied on questionnaires about how much fish people ate, which can only estimate the levels of omega-3s they ingested, Mozaffarian noted.

"Any given fish species can vary in its omega-3s by 10-fold," he told Reuters Health.

To get a more accurate measurement of how much fish oil the people in the study actually ingested, the researchers sampled blood from more than 3,300 adults over age 65.

Over 14 years, they tracked the seniors' health and found that 789 had developed atrial fibrillation.

Those with top-25-percent omega-3 levels in their bloodstreams at the beginning of the study were about 30 percent less likely to end up with the arrhythmia compared to those with bottom-25-percent blood levels of the fatty acids.

The difference in risk isn't huge, but "these are meaningful reductions in risk" said Dr. Alvaro Alonso, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health who was not involved in this study.

A 30 percent reduction in risk would mean that instead of 25 out of every 100 people developing a condition, only about 17 out of every 100 people would get it.

Another study from Finland used the same approach of measuring fatty acids in the blood and found a similar reduction in the risk of atrial fibrillation among those with the highest levels.

Mozaffarian's group tried to tease out which of the omega-3 fats might be responsible for the lower risk, and found that high DHA levels were linked to a 23 percent lower risk for atrial fibrillation while EPA and DPA were not tied to any reduced risk.

DHA is highly concentrated in heart muscle cell membranes, Mozaffarian and his colleagues point out in their report, published in the journal Circulation.

Alonso cautioned that this study doesn't prove eating fish is responsible for the lower rate of atrial fibrillation, but he said there is some idea that the fatty acids found in fish could work by stabilizing the excitability of heart muscle cells.

He said that the results seem promising enough to warrant further studies experimenting with using fish oil as a potential preventive measure against atrial fibrillation.

An earlier study of fish oil pills found that they didn't help the symptoms of atrial fibrillation in people who had already developed the arrhythmia (see Reuters Health story of November 15, 2010).

The American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other groups recommend eating fish at least twice a week.

Mozaffarian said most Americans don't meet those goals.

He said his study "doesn't change current guidelines, but I think this should change people's motivation."

Study unlocks Pycnogenol’s skin health mechanism

A recent study of 20 women between the ages of 55 and 68 shows that taking 75mg of Pycnogenol for 12 weeks improved skin elasticity. 

Twelve weeks of supplementation with the Pycnogenol branded part was related with increases in skin agility and hydration, and an enlarge in the prolongation of hyaluronic acid in skin by 44%, according to commentary published in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology.


Hyaluronic acid is a component of the pattern between cells (extracellular matrix) that occurs of course in the body until the age of about 30, after that levels beginning to decrease. The lessen is accepted to fool around a purpose in the aging process, specific a relapse in the extracellular pattern and an enlarge in the arrangement of wrinkles.

Indeed, the hunger bellow remove was moreover related with a 3% shrinking in skin wrinkles, according to researchers from Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine (IUF) in Dusseldorf, Germany and Horphag Research, the firm at the back the ingredient.
“The present investigate confirms at a molecular turn the profitable belongings Pycnogenol supplementation might supply to human skin,” wrote the researchers. 
Read more here:
Study unlocks Pycnogenol’s skin health mechanism

Isotonix OPC-3 (OPC-3) contains the only isotonic form of Pycnogenol(r) in the world. Pycnogenol is a natural plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree and the most clinically researched and potent bioflavonoid.* Isotonic, which means; same pressure & bears the same chemical resemblance of the body & blood, plasma and tears.  All fluids in the body have a certain concentration, referred to as osmotic pressure. The body & common osmotic pressure, which is isotonic, allows a consistent maintenance of body tissues. In order for a substance to be absorbed and used in the body & metabolism, it must be transported in an isotonic state. Isotonix(r) dietary supplements are delivered in an isotonic solution. This means that the body has less work to do to in obtaining maximum absorption. The isotonic state of the suspension allows nutrients to pass directly into the small intestine and be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream. With Isotonix products, little nutritive value is lost, making the absorption of nutrients highly efficient while delivering maximum results.

Isotonix®: Shop Your Favorite Brands at SHOP.COM

The Science and

Advantage of Isotonix

Healthy supplementation is about more than just ingredients; it’s about delivery and absorption. by Dr. Jim Wilmer

The Advantage

When we eat food, drink a beverage, or ingest most nutritional supplements, the stomach must secrete diluting juices, enzymes, hydrochloric acid and at least one vitamin-binding protein to begin the process of digestion. This process requires both energy and time — about 40 minutes or more, depending on the size of the meal. Isotonix products are delivered into the small intestine nutritionally concentrated, maximizing the opportunity for absorption of nutrients across cell membranes.

What Is Isotonic?
Isotonix® is a word, and that’s all to a lot of people. What does it mean? Broken down to its roots, “iso” means “the same” and “tonic” means “pressure” or “tone.” When isotonic is used to describe solutions for human consumption, it means having the same fluid pressure as body fluids. Tears, blood, plasma, lymph and other body fluids are all isotonic.

When we ingest food, gastric (or stomach) juice is secreted onto the food and muscular contractions of the stomach mix the contents until a reasonably uniform solution is achieved. The solutions of food (or chyme) that enter the small intestine for absorption are made isotonic by the action of the stomach in a time-consuming process. The fluid pressure of food or isotonic solutions across semi-permeable membranes, such as the walls of the small intestine, is generally referred to as having a particular osmolarity or tonicity. It can be said that when solutions on opposite sides of the membrane have the same osmolarity, they are iso-osmotic or iso-tonic. Normal human blood serum (the fluid portion without cells and platelets) has an osmolarity of 288mOs/kg, as do most other fl uids in the body. Therefore, in physiological terms, when a solution’s osmolarity is the same, or nearly the same, as that of normal human blood serum, it is referred to as isotonic.

Gastric Emptying Time

Why is gastric emptying so important? The answer is simply this: the longer the supplements stay in the stomach, the longer the time before absorption can begin, because no appreciable absorption occurs from the stomach.  Why is gastric emptying time stressed when talking about Isotonix?  Because the fastest emptying time occurs when isotonic solutions enter the stomach.  When the biological sensors in the gastrointestinal tract detect that the ingested solution is isotonic and at a correct pH, the pyloric or duodenal valve at the lower end of the stomach remains open and the solution is squirted into the small intestine. Absorption of the nutrients by the intestinal mucosa then starts to occur.

Concentration and Absorption

Concentration and absorption are factors that go hand in hand for the proper use of nutritional supplements.  Concentration, the amount of nutrient dissolved in a given amount of solution, is directly related to the efficiency of nutritional absorption. It is known that the greater the concentration (as milligrams of nutrient per milliliter of solution at the absorption site), the greater

the rate and amount of absorption. Because Isotonix solutions experience little dilution in the gastrointestinal tract, they arrive at the absorption sites in high concentration to assure effi cient absorption.  Isotonix®

Jim L. Wilmer, Ph. D. is Chief Science Officer at Market America and has been employed by the company for over 15 years. He earned a doctorate from Cornell University in environmental toxicology (1991), a master of science in biolog y from East Tennessee State University (1974), and a bachelor of science from Wofford College (1972). Dr. Wilmer has 44 peer-reviewed publications in journals, including Cancer Research, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Mutation Research, Environmental Mutagenesis, Cell Biology and Toxicology, Cytogenetics and Cell Genetics, Angiology, and Phytotherapy Research.

Omega 3s and ADHD: What You Need to Know

Omega 3s and ADHD: What You Need to Know

Author: James Moffat from Isotonix Blog

The potential health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids aren’t just limited to adults. More and more, research is finding that children could reap significant benefits from receiving more omega 3 fatty acids – especially EPA and DHA – in their diets. Over the next few weeks, the Isotonix Blog will examine research related to omega 3s and children.

The little kid who won’t sit still. The middle school student who has a hard time concentrating in class. The teenager who acts out.
While some of these characterizations might seem like mere growing pains, more and more researchers look at these as signs to a much larger – and much more preventable – problem: Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.
What is ADHD?
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common developmental and behavioral disorder characterized by poor concentration, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness that are inappropriate for the child’s age.
Children and adults with ADHD are easily distracted by sights and sounds in their environment, cannot concentrate for long periods of time, are restless and impulsive, or have a tendency to daydream and be slow to complete tasks.
While ADHD has long been associated with children’s academic progress, the issues are more far-reaching. Researchers at the University of California, Berkley found that girls dealing with ADHD are “at greater risk” of abusing drugs and alcohol and having emotional problems, in addition to academic difficulties.
“The cumulative picture is that girls with ADHD are at risk for a lot of problems,” said psychologist Stephen P. Hinshaw, lead author of the study and chairman of the psychology department at Berkeley.
Children living with the disorder cope with the stigma of being labeled as hyper, lazy, unmotivated and unfocused by adults who don’t understand the problems these children must deal with. Worse yet, many of these children and their parents are told their only solution – their only chance to regain some normalcy – is to take medication on a daily basis.
The Omega 3 Connection
Research continues to suggest that omega 3 fatty acids – those essential building blocks that doctors have been recommending to adults for years – can help curb the onset and development of this disorder in children.
The connection between omega-3 fatty acid deficiency and ADHD has been confirmed by studies in which youngsters with ADHD, when compared with non-ADHD children, had much lower blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid necessary for normal function of the eyes and the cerebral cortex (the brain region that handles higher functions such as reasoning and memory).
One such study, conducted at the University of South Australia, called the use of omega 3s more effective than the commonly-prescribed ADHD drug Ritalin.
“Supplementation with [omega-3 fatty acids] resulted in significant improvements … of core ADHD-related behavioural and cognitive difficulties, namely inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, with medium to large effect sizes, and also in ratings of oppositional behaviour,” the report stated. “There is no known evidence that medication provides any benefits beyond four weeks, whereas in the present trial symptoms continued to improve after 15 weeks of supplementation.”
It is estimated that as many as 10% of U.S. children have attention-deficit problems, which includes ADHD and hyperactivity. Despite this, most people get just one-fifth the amount of omega 3s – either from oily fish or other sources – recommended.
So what should parents do? First, pregnant women should make sure they are receiving enough omega 3s to help with the development of their unborn child. Post-pregnancy, parents should make sure their child receives adequate amounts of omega 3s, whether from natural sources (fish, walnuts, etc.) or from supplementation.

Omega III Fish Oil with Vitamin E

Benefits of Heart Health™ Essential Omega III Fish Oil with Vitamin E *: 

• Helps maintain normal cholesterol levels
• Promotes healthy blood pressure levels
• Helps maintain normal blood flow
• Helps maintain normal triglyceride levels in the blood
• Promotes overall cardiovascular health
• Helps maintain healthy levels of C-reactive protein
• Promotes a healthy complexion
• Helps enhance mood
• Promotes healthy lubrication of the eye
• Promotes normal tear production and volume
• Helps promote healthy blood flow to the eye
• May help to retain low-light visual acuity