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Health Claim Filed for Vitamin D

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The Alliance for Natural Health USA is filing a Qualified Health Claim Petition with the FDA for vitamin D. For years, the FDA held that health claims could only be made if there was Significant Scientific Agreement (SSA) about the claim — a standard almost impossible to reach in science. Following court losses, the Agency finally acknowledged that consumers benefit from more information.
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As a result, the agency has established interim procedures whereby “qualified” health claims can be made, so long as the claims are not misleading.

According to the Alliance for Natural Health:
“It means that if the FDA accepts our petition, producers and sellers of vitamin D will be able to make certain specific claims about its ability to treat certain diseases or conditions.”

In the event you decide to supplement, vitamin D3 is 87 percent more potent at raising vitamin D blood levels than vitamin D2, according to a new study. Vitamin D3 also produces a 2- to 3-fold increase over D2 in the storage of the vitamin.

Scientists gave 33 healthy adults 50,000 International Units (IU) of either vitamin D2 or D3 each week for a total of 12 weeks. About 17 percent of the D3 ingested was stored by the subjects, and the rest was consumed or metabolized.

According to the study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism:

“Given its greater potency and lower cost, D3 should be the preferred treatment option when correcting vitamin D deficiency.”

You should also be aware that if you use strong sunscreen, it can lead to vitamin D deficiency. Take the case of Tyler Attrill, a 12-year-old girl whose condition came to light when she failed to recover properly from surgery.

According to BBC News:
“Tyler Attrill used factor 50 cream which, according to her consultant, could have deprived her of the essential vitamin and caused the bone disease rickets.”

The condition, which is likely shared by many others, caused Tyler pain for a number of years before it was diagnosed.


Reources:
The Alliance for Natural Health January 18, 2011
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism December 22, 2010
BBC News January 19, 2011

Posted By Dr. Mercola.Feb 10. 2011

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New Clue to Fighting Dengue Fever

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The research, published in Science, also explains why those who recover from the virus have much worse symptoms if they catch it again.

Dengue fever is a viral infection spread by a mosquito bite. It is a major cause of illness worldwide, and cases are on the rise.

There is currently no licensed vaccine or drug treatment.

The researchers, based in the UK and Thailand, took blood samples from infected volunteers.

They found antibodies produced in response to the virus do not do a very effective job.

Rather than neutralising the virus, they actually help it infect more cells, springing into action when a person is infected a second time by a different strain of the virus.

Key information

This phenomenon accounts for why a second bout of dengue fever can be more severe and dangerous.

DENGUE FEVER
*Dengue fever is prevalent in sub-tropical and tropical regions including South East Asia and South America

*It is a major cause of illness worldwide, causing about 100 million episodes of feverish illness a year

*Symptoms include high fever, aching in the joints and vomiting

*Complications can rarely prove fatal

*There are four major strains of the virus

It also provides new insight into how to design a vaccine for dengue fever.

The authors of the Science paper say vaccines that steer clear of a key viral protein involved in the immune response should be the most effective.

Professor Gavin Screaton, head of the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, led the study.

He said: “Our new research gives us some key information about what is and what is not likely to work when trying to combat the dengue virus.

“We hope that our findings will bring scientists one step closer to creating an effective vaccine.”

Professor Screaton said one of the major challenges was developing a vaccine for a virus that has four very different strains.

“The need for vaccines is enormous but the challenge is that in this case you need to hit four bugs all at once down a single needle,” he added.

Source: BBC NEWS: May 6. 2010

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‘Green’ Exercise Quickly ‘Boosts Mental Health’

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Just five minutes of exercise in a “green space” such as a park can boost mental health, researchers claim.

There is growing evidence that combining activities such as walking or cycling with nature boosts well-being.

In the latest analysis, UK researchers looked at evidence from 1,250 people in 10 studies and found fast improvements in mood and self-esteem.

The study in the Environmental Science and Technology journal suggested the strongest impact was on young people.

The research looked at many different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail.

The biggest effect was seen within just five minutes.

With longer periods of time exercising in a green environment, the positive effects were clearly apparent but were of a smaller magnitude, the study found.

Looking at men and women of different ages, the researchers found the health changes – physical and mental – were particularly strong in the young and the mentally-ill.

Green and blue

A bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water – such as a lake or river.

Study leader Jules Pretty, a researcher at the University of Essex, said those who were generally inactive, or stressed, or with mental illness would probably benefit the most from “green exercise”.

“We would like to see all doctors considering exercise as a treatment where appropriate”… says
Paul Farmer, Mind.

“Employers, for example, could encourage staff in stressful workplaces to take a short walk at lunchtime in the nearest park to improve mental health.”

He also said exercise programmes outdoors could benefit youth offenders.

“A challenge for policy makers is that policy recommendations on physical activity are easily stated but rarely adopted widely.”

Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said the research is yet further evidence that even a short period of green exercise can provide a low cost and drug-free therapy to help improve mental wellbeing.

“It’s important that people experiencing depression can be given the option of a range of treatments, and we would like to see all doctors considering exercise as a treatment where appropriate.”

Mind runs a grant scheme for local environmental projects to help people with mental illness get involved in outdoor activities.

You may click to see :->
Green spaces ‘improve health’
Green spaces ‘reduce health gap’
Tree-lined streets ‘cut asthma’
Putting a spring in your step
Urban planning needs green rethink


Source BBC NEWS: May 1st. 2010

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Healthy Tips

Pick the Right Veg’ for Health

Obvious choices of fruit and vegetables are not necessarily the healthiest, say researchers.
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According to US experts, making simple swaps like eating sweet potatoes instead of carrots and papaya rather than oranges could make a difference.

Foods, like raspberries, watercress and kale, are richer in phytonutrients which may help prevent disease, they told a US meeting.

UK nutritionists said a balanced diet is essential to good health.

The British Nutrition Foundation warned that relying on eating a few select food types to boost health was ill-advised and said there was no such thing as a “superfood”.

Experts recommend five portions a day of fruit and veg in a healthy diet.

Plant foods are known to contain “phytonutrient” chemicals that can protect the heart and arteries and prevent cancers.

But the most popular varieties may not be the best, according to US researchers.

They analysed data from US health surveys of people’s dietary habits to look at the most common sources of phytonutrients.

They found that for 10 of the 14 phytonutrients studied, a single food type accounted for two-thirds or more of an individual’s consumption, regardless of how much fruit and veg they ate overall.

Carrots were the most common source of beta-carotene, oranges and orange juice the most common source of beta-cryptoxanthin, spinach the most common source of lutein/zeaxanthin, strawberries the most common source of ellagic acid and mustard the biggest provider of isothiocyanates.

However, for each of these phytonutrients there was a richer food source available.

Richer foods:-

Switching from carrots to sweet potatoes would nearly double beta-carotene intake, say the researchers.

Similarly papaya contains 15 times more beta-cryptoxanthin than oranges, while kale has three times more lutein/zeaxanthin than spinach.

Raspberries have three times more ellagic acid than strawberries and one cup of watercress contains as much isothiocyanate as four teaspoonfuls of mustard.

Study leader Keith Randolph, who is a technology strategist for the supplement company Nutrilite, said: “These data highlight the importance of not only the quantity but also the significant impact the quality and variety of the fruits and vegetables you eat can have on your health.”

Dr Emma Williams of the British Nutrition Foundation said: “They are right that some foods are richer sources of phytonutrients.

“But at the end of the day, to be healthy you need to make sure you have a varied and balanced diet.

“No one food can give you everything you need.”

The findings were presented at the 2010 Experimental Biology conference in Anaheim, California.

Source: BBC NEWS: April 27. 2010
http://www.healthyreader.com/2008/05/13/12-most-contaminated-fruits-and-vegetables/

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Green Tea Helps Fight Eye Diseases

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Scientists have discovered that green tea can help prevent glaucoma and other eye diseases.

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They have found that the healthful substances found in green tea — renowned for their powerful antioxidant and disease-fighting properties — do penetrate into tissues of the eye.

The new study has documented how the lens, retina, and other eye tissues absorb these substances.

Chi Pui Pang and colleagues pointed out that so-called green tea ‘catechins’ have been among a number of antioxidants thought capable of protecting the eye.

Those include vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and zeaxanthin. Until now, however, nobody knew if the catechins in green tea actually passed from the stomach and gastrointestinal tract into the tissues of the eye.

The researchers resolved that uncertainty in experiments with laboratory rats that drank green tea. Analysis of eye tissues showed beyond a doubt that eye structures absorbed significant amounts of individual catechins.

The retina, for example, absorbed the highest levels of gallocatechin, while the aqueous humor tended to absorb epigallocatechin. The effects of green tea catechins in reducing harmful oxidative stress in the eye lasted for up to 20 hours.

“Our results indicate that green tea consumption could benefit the eye against oxidative stress,” the study concluded.

The study appears in ACS’ bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Source : BBC NEWS

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