Showing posts with label halt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label halt. Show all posts
Altering Lifestyle Habits Halt Brain Shrinkage and Cognitive Decline
Saturday, February 15, 2014
The result of a new study published in the journalNeurology (the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology) has found that poor lifestyle habits and related health disorders such as smoking, overweight and obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure cause brain shrinkage and cognitive decline.
Researchers determined that these conditions when present during middle age predicated lower brain volume and precursor markers for dementia up to a decade later. Identifying and controlling these risk factors early is a critical step in preventing loss of cognitive function and memory in later life.
Detrimental Lifestyle Practices Directly Impact Brain Health
To conduct the study, researchers examined a cohortof 1,352 people with an average age of 54 from the Framingham Offspring Study. The participants were weighed and body mass index and waist circumference were established along with blood pressure and cholesterol tests and blood glucose readings to detect for diabetes. Additionally, MRI brain scans were completed over the course of a decade with the first test performed seven years after the original biomarker benchmark.
Researchers found that those participants with high blood pressure developed a condition identified as `white matter `hyperintensities` or small areas of damage to the delicate vessel structure of the brain. Hypertensive participants were much more likely to demonstrate worsening scores on tests of executive function compared to those with normal blood pressure readings. The study authors found that this single factor negatively affected planning and decision making processes and corresponded with five to eight years of premature chronological brain aging.
Smoking Cessation and Controlling Diabetes and Obesity Key to Improved Cognition
Diabetes in middle age was associated with loss of brain volume in the memory-forming hippocampus region at a much faster rate than non-diabetics. Smokers were found to experience both accelerated brain volume shrinkage and white matter hyperintensities at a much faster rate than non-diabetic participants that did not smoke. Obese individuals were in the top quarter of those most likely to display loss of executive function and rapid rate of cognitive decline.
The lead study author, Dr. Charles DeCarli concluded that the four studiedrisk factors “provide evidence that identifying these risk factors early in people of middle age could be useful in screening people for at-risk dementia and encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle before it`s too late”. Poor lifestyle choices are well known to contribute to a host of potentially lethal conditions and this body of research continues to add to the existing evidence. Health-conscious individuals will insist on a well balanced reduced calorie, low-ined carbohydrate diet along with regular physical activity to prevent obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cognitive decay.
Vitamin E Tocotrienols Work to Halt Chronic Diseases and Extend Lifespan
Saturday, January 25, 2014
The result of several new research bodies have been published that all point to the powerful effect of vitamin E tocotrienols to prevent stomach cancer, reduce fatty liver disease incidence and prevent disease mechanisms that can extend natural lifespan in humans. Over the past decade, many studies have highlighted the importance of the most common vitamin E isomer known as alpha-tocopherol. While this form of the vitamin is important to lower risk of heart disease, a plethora of new evidential studies have come forth recently to show that all four of the tocotrienols must be present to provide maximum protection against illness and extend healthy lifespan.
A growing body of evidence suggests that tocotrienols possess potent biological activity and accumulate in body tissues to affect disease initiation and progression at a perential rate compared to the mirror-image tocopherols. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Nutrition explain that vitamin E tocotrienols accumulate at elevated levels in adipose tissue, the brain, heart, and liver to help prevent over weight and obesity, dementia, cardiovascular disease and fatty liver.
A growing body of evidence suggests that tocotrienols possess potent biological activity and accumulate in body tissues to affect disease initiation and progression at a perential rate compared to the mirror-image tocopherols. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Nutrition explain that vitamin E tocotrienols accumulate at elevated levels in adipose tissue, the brain, heart, and liver to help prevent over weight and obesity, dementia, cardiovascular disease and fatty liver.
Vitamin E Tocotrienols Help Prevent Stroke and Extend Cellular Life Cycle
Researchers examined blood and skin samples from 80 individuals, some healthy and others in poor health. Using high performance liquid chromatography, the scientists were able to measure the degree of vitamin E tocotrienol absorption into different organs after oral supplementation. They found that critical metabolic organ structures including fat tissue, heart, liver and brain selectively concentrated both the alpha and gamma forms of the vitamin.
Researchers examined blood and skin samples from 80 individuals, some healthy and others in poor health. Using high performance liquid chromatography, the scientists were able to measure the degree of vitamin E tocotrienol absorption into different organs after oral supplementation. They found that critical metabolic organ structures including fat tissue, heart, liver and brain selectively concentrated both the alpha and gamma forms of the vitamin.
This is an important finding, as the alpha isomer of vitamin E crosses the blood-brain barrier at levels that have been shown to offer neuroprotective benefits and help prevent the occurrence of stroke. The gamma form provides a protective shield to the heart muscle and can aid liver health by preventing fatty liver disease and liver cancer.
Supplement with a Full Spectrum Vitamin E Gelcap Daily to Prevent Illness
The most compelling research to date is published in the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. Scientists have demonstrated that the full spectrum of vitamin E tocotrienols yield a powerful anti-aging effect as the vitamin is shown to extend the length of telomeres while preventing damage to DNA. Telomeres are the tiny zipper-like structures that regulate cellular division and signal the end of a life cycle for each individual cell. Any mechanism that can naturally extend telomere length will slow the aging process and help prevent disease.
The most compelling research to date is published in the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. Scientists have demonstrated that the full spectrum of vitamin E tocotrienols yield a powerful anti-aging effect as the vitamin is shown to extend the length of telomeres while preventing damage to DNA. Telomeres are the tiny zipper-like structures that regulate cellular division and signal the end of a life cycle for each individual cell. Any mechanism that can naturally extend telomere length will slow the aging process and help prevent disease.
Vitamin E and all associated tocotrienols are readily available from a diet filled with nuts, seeds, spinach and leafy greens and certain oils such as wheat germ, sesame and olive oil. Nutrition advisors recommend consuming natural dietary sources of the vitamin daily, though some may also choose to supplement with the full spectrum of tocotrienols and tocopherols (200 – 400 mg daily spread across all isomers) to prevent chronic disease, extend telomere length and increase lifespan.
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