Curcumin supplements prevent type 2 diabetes

By David Liu, PHD

Saturday Aug 4, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating curry or taking curcumin supplements helps reduce risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a new study published in the journal Diabetes Care. Curcumin is an ingredient found in turmeric which is used in curry, a food commonly used in India.

The study showed one of pre-diabetics who took curcumin supplements every day for nine months developed type 2 diabetes mellitus while 16 percent of pre-diabetics who took a dummy pill for the same period developed the disease.

For the study, researchers of Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok recruited 240 people with pre-diabetes who were randomized into two groups with 120 each. One group were given six capsules of curcumin per day and the other  a placebo for nine months.

At the end of the study, 16 percent of placebo users developed type 2 diabetes  mellitus whereas none of the curcumin users developed the disease.  Subjects in the study group but not those in the control group were also found to have lost weight.

The Thai researchers believe turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties that help protect insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas from damage and improve their efficiency.  

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About 24 million people live with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United States alone.  Another 20 million Americans suffer pre-diabetes, a condition in which a person has a problem with controling blood sugar, but not as severely as in the case of type 2 diabetes.

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'Breakthrough' study supports Pycnogenol's vascular benefits

'Breakthrough' study supports Pycnogenol's vascular benefits
By Stephen DANIELLS, Nut 07-Jun-2012

Daily supplements of an extract from French Maritime Pine bark may boost vascular health in people with stable coronary artery disease, according to data from a gold standard randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study from Switzerland.

Eight weeks of supplementation with Pycnogenol were associated with significant improvements in the function of the cells lining blood vessels (endothelial cells), report researchers from the University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich.

Writing in the European Heart Journal, the Switzerland-based scientists report that 200 milligrams per day of the pine bark extract resulted in an increase in flow mediated dilation (FMD) from 5.3 to 7.0, while no such improvements were observed for placebo. FMD is a measure of a blood vessel's healthy ability to relax.

Dr Frank Enseleit, the lead researcher of the study, said: “The results of this study show for the first time that Pycnogenol significantly improves endothelial function and blood flow in patients with coronary heart disease.

“The contribution of Pycnogenol for vascular health can be clearly identified in spite of patients’ complex medication regimen of blood thinners, statins and blood pressure medications.”

Pycnogenol has been the subject of scores of clinical studies suggesting benefits covering everything from cardiovascular, joint, cognitive and eye health to the relief of hay fever, PMS, tinnitus, hemorrhoidal pain and menopause symptoms.

Commenting on the new study, Victor Ferrari, CEO of Horphag, told NutraIngredients-USA that numerous Pycnogenol-containing products targeting circulatory health and heart health are already available in almost all the company’s markets world-wide.

“Early research on Pycnogenol has been performed in the field of venous insufficiency and circulatory support. We are therefore extremely pleased to see these wonderful results in such a high end clinical trial,” he said.

The participants also received statins, anti-hypertensives and blood thinners throughout the study. 

“After Pycnogenol usage, we were able to identify a significant improvement of endothelial function in individuals who depend on medications as a result of their heart disease,” said Dr Enseleit.

“Pycnogenol appears to help restore the body’s own functions in flow-mediated arterial dilatation.”

To read more about this article and the full study click here 

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Study Finds Antioxidant Effective For Autism

Study Finds Antioxidant Effective For Autism

by Sean Wells

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a nutrient well-known specifically for displaying strong antioxidant activity, has been advocated as a valuable asset for purposes related to detoxification. A new study now suggests it may be effective in easing irritability and repetitive behaviors in children with autism–a disorder displaying alarming increases.

The 12-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study involved 33 children, aged 3 to 12, and, reflective of the general characteristic of the disorder, predominantly male (31 of 33). All were diagnosed with an autistic disorder and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) score of 4 or higher.

The children were randomly divided into experimental and placebo groups. The N-acetyl cysteine protocol involved a steady increase in dosage, consisting first of 900 mg of NAC administered daily for four  weeks, followed by 900 mg twice daily for four weeks, followed by 900 mg taken three times daily for a final four weeks.

Follow-up data were available on 14 of the children in the NAC-receiving group and on 15 children in the placebo group. Compared with placebo, NAC treatment was associated with a significant decrease in irritability scores from 13.1 to 7.2 on the Aberrant Behavior Check List (or ABC) irritability subscale. Improvement was observed in week four and continued through weeks eight and 12, according to authors.

The change is not as large as that seen in children taking antipsychotics, according to lead investigator Antonio Hardan, MD, from Stanford University School of Medicine, in Palo Alto, California, “but this is still a potentially valuable tool to have before jumping on these big guns.”

These results lend some support to related observations involving dietary changes in autistic children, particularly so-called “elimination diets”, and collectively these studies serve to strengthen the association believed to exist between certain nutritional “pollutants” and the impaired cognitive function characteristic of autism. Additional research is required to help narrow the focus, but the study above not only reveals more about the causes of autism, but potentially one part of the solution.

Multivitamin supplements boost brain function, say UK researchers

Multivitamin supplements boost brain
function, say UK researchers
By Barbara Diggs, 17-Apr-2012

Taking a multivitamin supplement daily can improve cognitive performance in both children and adults, say UK researchers.

In a series of studies published in the British Journal of Nutrition, Psychopharmacology, and Human Psychopharmacology, teams of British neuroscientists investigated the effects of multivitamin supplementation on mood and cognitive function.
The researchers monitored groups of healthy children, men and women who took commercially-available vitamins and mineral supplements daily for 4 to 12 weeks, and tested their cognitive performance through tasks requiring attention, memory, accuracy and/or multitasking ability. The mood or stress levels of participants were also assessed.
Their findings indicated that vitamin and mineral supplementation improved cognitive performance after only a few weeks of supplementation.
Men taking high dose B-complex vitamins showed improved performance on cognitive tasks, were less mentally tired and showed improved vigor. Women taking multivitamin/mineral supplements were demonstrated to have increased accuracy and speed on multitasking batteries. Children, aged 8 – 14, showed increased accuracy in attention-based tasks.
“There’s been a huge research effort into the effects of one or two vitamins on cognitive function, not the effects of many,” said professor David Kennedy of the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Center at Northumbria University, and co-author of the studies.

Bridging the vitamin gap
These findings add to solid evidence indicating that multivitamin supplements offer significant and varied benefits. According to the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey, the general population in the UK has vitamin deficiencies or insufficiencies across most vitamin groups.
“A vitamin deficiency predisposes you to diseases related to having too little of that vitamin,” said Dr Kennedy.
“The optimum level of a vitamin must be way above what you need to avoid disease. [The survey indicates that] there are people out there deficient in each vitamin group.But since most people don’t know which vitamins they’re missing...you should take multivitamins to bridge the gap and patch up whatever you’re deficient in.”

Omega-3s & cerebral blood flow, function
Multivitamin supplements aren’t the only nutrients to impact brain activity. In a study, published in Biological Psychology, Dr Kennedy and his colleagues studied whether omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have impact on cognitive function. The research team found that healthy adults supplementing their diet daily with 1 -2 grams of fish oil containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) did not have improved cognitive functioning.
Nonetheless, through brain imaging techniques, they discovered that daily supplementation with the fish oil was associated with increased cerebral blood flow while subjects were engaged in cognitive tasks. “These results lend support to an emerging body of evidence which suggests that dietary DHA is influencing brain function in physiological terms,” Kennedy and his colleagues wrote.
That DHA may effect changes in blood flow that has implications for aging healthily and dementia, added Kennedy.

Professor Kennedy will be speaking about these findings and other issues relating to essential nutrients and cognitive function at the Vitafoods Europe expo and conference in Geneva on May 23.
To see the research and more associated with this article click here

Pine bark extract shows brain health benefits: Study

A daily dose of the branded ingredient Pycnogenol for eight weeks was associated with improvements in alertness, memory and mood, according to findings published in the PubMed-listed journal Panminerva Medica.
Reserarchers from Pescara University propose that the extrac's benefits may be linked to improvements in blood flow to the brain. Read More here

Vitamin D Found To Stimulate A Protein That Inhibits The Growth Of Breast Cancer Cells

Vitamin D Found To Stimulate A Protein That Inhibits The Growth Of Breast Cancer Cells

Science News

Vitamin D Found To Stimulate A Protein That Inhibits The Growth Of Breast Cancer Cells

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2009) — Calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, has been found to induce a tumor suppressing protein that can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, according to a study by researcher Sylvia Chistakos, Ph.D., of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

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Chistakos, a professor of biochemistry, has published extensively on the multiple roles of vitamin D, including inhibition of the growth of malignant cells found in breast cancer. Her current findings on the vitamin D induced protein that inhibits breast cancer growth are published in a recent issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Previous research had determined that increased serum levels of vitamin D are associated with an improved diagnosis in patients with breast cancer. Prior to the current study, little was known about the factors that determine the effect of calcitrol on inhibiting breast cancer growth, she said.
During the study, Christakos and co-author Puneet Dhawan, Ph.D., examined the protein involved in the action that can reduce the growth of vitamin D in breast cancer cells. “These results provide an important process in which the active form of vitamin D may work to reduce growth of breast cancer cells,” said Christakos. “These studies provide a basis for the design of new anticancer agents that can target the protein as a candidate for breast cancer treatment.”

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Fish oil gives statins a boost

The March 31, 2007 issue of The Lancet published the finding of the Japan EPA Lipid Intervention Study (JELIS) that the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) found in fish oil could be used in addition to statin drugs to provide additional protection against coronary artery disease. The study is the first major long-term interventional trial to evaluate this effect.
Mitsuhiro Yokoyama of Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine and colleagues randomized 18,645 men and women with a total cholesterol of at least 6.5 micromoles per liter to receive 1800 milligrams EPA with a statin drug, or a statin drug only for a five year period during which major coronary events were noted. Serum cholesterol levels were measured at the beginning and conclusion of the trial.
At the end of an average 4.6 years of follow up, LDL cholesterol concentrations had decreased by an average of 25% in both groups. A 19 percent reduction in major coronary events occurred in the group that received EPA compared to those that received a statin only. Unstable angina and nonfatal events were similarly reduced.
“This study shows that EPA, at a dose of 1800 mg per day, is a very promising regimen for prevention of major coronary events, especially since EPA seems to act through several biological mechanisms," the authors conclude. "We need to investigate whether EPA is effective for prevention of major coronary events in hypercholesterolemic patients without or with coronary artery disease in other countries”.
“Compared with drugs, invasive procedures, and devices, modest dietary changes are low risk, inexpensive, and widely available," Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard wrote in an accompanying commentary."The JELIS investigators should be commended, and their efforts should inspire additional clinical trials of the effects of fish oil and other dietary factors and habits on cardiovascular health”.
—D Dye