Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

According to a study published in the December 2008 issue of The Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology there may be a significant link between a lack of vitamin D and cognitive impairment in older adults.

The study included 1,766 participants (708 men and 1,058 women) over the age of 65. The participants all took part in the Health Survey for England (HSE) in the year 2000. The HSE is a national population-based survey conducted annually in the United Kingdom.

For the study, researchers from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and the University of Michigan measured cognitive function using a common screening method called the Abbreviated Mental Test. This test measures important cognitive abilities that can decline with age like attention and time, space, and memory orientation.

The researchers then measured the blood levels of vitamin D among participants. After accounting for outside factors like age, sex and education they found that participants with normal cognitive function had higher levels of vitamin D than those with impaired cognitive function.

Perhaps more importantly, they also identified that participants with the lowest vitamin D levels were four times more likely to be cognitively impaired than those with the highest levels.

The researchers were able to determine a clear relationship between vitamin D levels and cognitive impairment. However, due to the study design they could not establish if low levels of vitamin D actually cause cognitive impairment.

Hopefully these results will trigger future studies that analyze the mechanism behind the relationship between vitamin D and cognitive function to answer this question.

Vitamin D is usually acquired through exposure to sunlight. But as you age your skin becomes less efficient at absorbing and metabolizing the vitamin.

This puts the elderly at particularly high risk of vitamin D deficiency which is associated with higher risk for osteoporosis, common cancers, autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

A good way to avoid a vitamin D deficiency is to eat more foods fortified with the vitamin or to take a high quality nutritional supplement.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

A study to be published in the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Nutrition indicates that drinking green tea may help boost exercise based weight loss.

Researchers from the American Society of Nutrition recruited 132 overweight and obese participants to study the effect of green tea catechins on exercise induced weight loss.

The participants were between the ages of 21 and 65. All were considered healthy (aside from being overweight) and generally inactive with a mean body mass index of 32 kg/m².

To analyze the relationship between catechins and weight loss, researchers split the study participants into two groups. The first was instructed to drink a beverage containing 625 mg of catechins and the second received a control beverage with no catechins.

Catechins are a type of flavonoids which are powerful antioxidants found naturally in plants. They are abundant in green tea and have been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, certain cancers and heart disease. Several studies indicate that they may help promote weight loss as well.

Participants consumed one serving (about 17 ounces) of their respective beverages each day for 12 weeks.

All of the participants committed to 3 hours of moderate intensity exercise per week for the duration of the study and to attend at least three supervised exercise session each week.

Researchers measured body composition and abdominal fat before, and at the conclusion of the study.

They found that while both groups managed to lose weight, the participants who drank the catechin beverage lost an average of 8% more when compared to the control group.

This study seems to support a growing body of evidence that shows tea catechins may help boost weight loss, especially when coupled with exercise.

In addition to drinking green tea there are several other steps you can take to lose weight and keep the pounds off.

Cutting back on sodas and sugary juices, eating a high protein breakfast and maintaining a food diary can all help. Studies have also shown that increasing your calcium and omega-3 consumption may also aid in weight loss.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

Two reviews appearing in the January 2009 issue of The Cochrane Library confirmed that acupuncture therapy is an effective alternative for relieving migraines and tension headaches.

The Cochrane Library is a publication of the respected Cochrane Collaboration, an organization that evaluates the validity of research done on healthcare.

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine which has been used for over 2,000 years. The therapy involves inserting small needles into the skin to open energy channels and allow energy to flow freely throughout the body.

The first of the two reviews analyzed 11 studies evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture compared to painkillers or “fake” therapy, which mimics real acupuncture but doesn’t insert the needles at the correct points.

The reviewers found that acupuncture was at least as effective as painkillers and true acupuncture treatments were slightly more effective than fake therapies.

Two large studies in this review explored acupuncture as a compliment to pain killers and found that 47% of participants using the two together were able to cut their number of headache days in half, compared to just 16% of participants who took painkillers alone.

The second review, which included 22 studies with 4,419 total participants, found similar results with regards to migraine relief. Six studies in this review investigated using acupuncture and painkillers together and found that patients receiving acupuncture had fewer headaches.

This large scale review seems to support that acupuncture can be an effective compliment to painkillers and may be a viable treatment option for people suffering from chronic headaches.

Beyond headache relief, the ancient therapy has also been shown to relieve sinus pressure, decrease post-operative pain, provide relief from menopausal symptoms and reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

According to a group of American and Chinese researchers from Vanderbilt University, the Shanghai Cancer Institute and the Shanghai Center for Disease Prevention, regular consumption of green tea may reduce the risk of breast cancer in women.

The results are published in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

For the study, researchers recruited 3,454 women with breast cancer and 3,474 healthy women controls between the ages of 20 and 74. The participants were all interviewed between 1996 and 2005 about their tea consumption.

The women were asked a series of questions to identify their typical daily consumption of green tea, number of years drinking tea, brewing methods and brew strength.

After reviewing the data and adjusting for outside influences like age, smoking and alcohol consumption. The researchers found that regular green tea consumption was associated with a 12% decrease in breast cancer risk.

The results of this study are likely due to the anti cancer properties of polyphenols in tea. Polyphenols are antioxidant rich compounds found naturally in plants. There are four main types of polyphenols in tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epicatechin (EC).

The most popular, EGCG, has been shown to decrease the risk of certain cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and help balance blood sugar levels. A study published in the February 2008 issue of Cancer Epidemimology, Biomarkers and Prevention found that ECG may reduce the risk of stomach cancer by 75%.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

A new large scale national study has shown that almost 75% of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had cholesterol levels that would indicate they were not at risk.

According to the current national guidelines, LDL (bad) cholesterol levels below 100-130 mg/dL are considered acceptable for most people. However, previous research has shown that LDL levels above 40-60 mg/dL can significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular events.

To explore this gap, researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA used a national database sponsored by the American Heart Association. The database houses information on patients from 541 hospitals across the nation.

The researchers reviewed data from 136,905 patients that had been hospitalized for a heart attack between 2000 and 2006. They found that among patients with no prior history of heart disease or diabetes, 72% had LDL levels less than 130 mg/dL.

Based on this information – and the current guidelines – 3 out of every 4 patients would not have been considered at risk. So it’s very possible these patients wouldn’t have been targeted for preventative treatment.

The researchers also found that more than half of patients with a history of heart disease had LDL levels below 100 mg/L. Almost 18% had LDL levels below 70 mg/dL.

Additionally, the study identified that HDL (good) cholesterol levels seem to have dropped in recent years. In fact, over 50% of patients had HDL levels under 40 mg/dL. The current national guidelines for HDL levels is over 45 mg/dL (the higher the better).

Based on the findings from this study a few conclusions could be drawn. It’s possible that the current cholesterol guidelines are not effective in predicting the risk of cardiac events. Or, contrary to popular belief, perhaps cholesterol is not a good indicator of heart attack risk.

Either way, hopefully these results will serve as the catalyst for a new look cholesterol’s role in cardiac events and a thorough review of national cholesterol guidelines.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

A study published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that drinking three to four cups of coffee per day during midlife may significantly decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

As you know, coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. But despite its popularity, coffee’s long-term impact on the central nervous system remains largely an unknown.

To explore this mystery, researchers from the University of Kuopio in Finland, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Finland’s National Public Health Institute set out to study the association between coffee and tea consumption at midlife and dementia risk later in life.

Starting in 1972 and ending in 1987, the researchers surveyed 1,409 individuals between 65 and 79 years old about their daily coffee and tea consumption.

Based on the information they received, researchers split the coffee drinkers into three groups: low (0-2 cups daily), moderate (3-5 cups) and high consumption (greater than 5 cups). Tea consumption was categorized as those drank tea (1 cup or more daily) and those who did not.

In 1998 the study participants were re-examined and 61 cases of dementia were identified. Over 75% of them were Alzheimer’s.

The researchers found that drinking 3-5 cups of coffee per day during mid life was associated with a 65% decrease in dementia risk when compared to those who drank little or no coffee. There did not appear to be any link between tea consumption and dementia risk.

This study adds to a growing body of evidence linking coffee consumption with better cognitive health.

For instance, a previous study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking 10 cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by 74%.

Although drinking 10 cups a day may be a bit extreme, these results may help open the door for new dietary interventions to reduce the risk of dementia.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

      According to a recent study conducted by researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah, non-sexual affection between couples lowers stress and enhances health. The results were published in the December 2008 issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

      For the study, researchers recruited 34 healthy, married couples between the ages of 20 and 39 years old. The couples had been married for at least six months.

      Each couple was randomly assigned to either a “couple contact enhancement” group or a “monitoring only” control group for a period of four weeks.

      The contact enhancement group was taught a massage method called “listening touch”. This is a form of neck, shoulder and head massage which aims to help increase awareness of your partner’s mood and stress levels. The couples performed the technique on each other for 30 minutes, three times a week.

      The researchers measured the participant’s blood pressure, oxytocin and alpha amylase levels before, during, and after the intervention.

      Oxytocin (often referred to as the “love hormone”) is naturally released in our bodies when we form emotional or physical connections with others. Alpha amylase is an indicator for stress.

      The participants in the warm touch group showed higher levels of oxytocin than the control group in the first week of the study. They maintained higher levels throughout the four week study period.

      Additionally, levels of alpha amylase were notably lower in the warm touch group by the end of the study and blood pressure dropped significantly among male participants in the group.

      We all know how important emotional support is for mental and physical health, but this study provides some empirical evidence to back up that common knowledge.

      Stress can have extremely detrimental effects on your health. In fact, some estimates show that around 75% of doctor visits are stress related.

      Practicing techniques like the “listening touch” appear to be effective, inexpensive and enjoyable ways to reduce stress levels. As an added bonus, becoming more in tune with your partners general mood and stress levels may serve to strengthen your connection.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

A recent study from researchers at Tufts University, Hebrew SeniorLife and Boston University found that carotenoids may help prevent bone loss in older adults.

The results are published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Carotenoids are organic pigments found in plants. Their main purpose is to absorb light for photosynthesis. There are several different types and many have been associated with specific health benefits.

For instance, lutein has been associated with vision health. Astaxanthin has been associated with better digestion and lycopene has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol.

For the study, researchers reviewed data from 213 men and 390 women over the age of 75. All of them had taken part in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study, during which they were followed for four years.

Using food frequency questionnaires filled out by participants, researchers measured the intake of several different carotenoids including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and lutein.

After adjusting for outside influences like age, body mass, physical activity and smoking, researchers analyzed how the carotenoids affected participant’s hips, spine and forearms.

Lycopene was shown to protect against the loss of bone mineral density (BMD) in the spine for women, and in the hips for men.

The reason for these results could be the antioxidant properties of carotenoids, which have been shown to protect against bone resorption. This is the process in which bones are broken down and dissolved into minerals like calcium, phosphates and salts.

Bone resorption is natural, but can be thrown out of balance as you age. Too much can lead to fractures and osteoporosis.

In addition to increasing your carotenoid intake there are several other steps you can take to protect your bones. Maintaining balanced acid-alkaline levels and consuming more calcium and vitamin D have all been shown to support healthy bones.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

According to a study published in the January 2009 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition low levels of selenium may increase the risk of anemia in older adults.

Anemia is a common blood disorder characterized by a lack of hemoglobin in red blood cells. Hemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygen from your lungs to tissues throughout your body.

For the study, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and the National Institute on Aging analyzed data from 2,092 adults taking part in the third National Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). All those studied were over the age of 65.

Blood samples were used to identify selenium levels and the rate of anemia among participants. According the World Health Organization, anemia is defined as less than 12 grams of hemoglobin per deciliter (g/dL) of blood for women and 13 g/dL for men.

The researchers found that participants with the lowest levels of selenium were over 11% more likely to be anemic when compared to those with the highest levels. They also found that participants with anemia had lower levels of selenium than those without the disorder.

This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that selenium may have far ranging health benefits.

Just last month a study published in the American Heart Journal showed that selenium may provide cardiovascular benefits by boosting levels of a key antioxidant. Another study, published in the November 2008 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that selenium may decrease the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Previous studies have also linked Selenium to lower risk of age-related cognitive decline and better immune system function.

Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

A randomized, double-blind trial comparing two different forms of CoQ10 recently found that the reduced form – called ubiquinol – delivered in a soft gel capsule is much more bioavailable (able to be absorbed by your body) than the traditional form in a hard gel.

Researchers from a Canadian clinical research company called KGK Synergize recruited 10 participants with an average age of 67 for their study. The results are published in the first issue (January 2009) of newly launched Journal of Functional Foods.

Each participant was assigned to receive either 100mg of traditional CoQ10 delivered in a hard gel capsule or 100mg of ubiquinol CoQ10 in a soft gel.

Using blood samples taken from participants, researchers were able to identify that blood concentrations of CoQ10 were higher in the ubiquinol CoQ10 group at five, six, eight, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after taking the supplement.

In fact, the amount of CoQ10 in participants’ blood was 430% higher in the group that took ubiquinol compared to those who took the traditional form.

CoQ10 is literally the spark of life. It provides the energy your body needs to function properly. A body without CoQ10 is like a car with no gas: it just won’t go.

Until recently, the only CoQ10 available in a supplement was the ubiquinone form. However, about 90% of the CoQ10 your body needs and uses is not ubiquinone, but the reduced form of CoQ10 called ubiquinol.

Your body can convert ubiquinone from a supplement into ubiquinol, but a lot of potency is lost during this process.

Between this conversion, and the different processing methods used to make CoQ10 supplements, bioavailability among CoQ10 products can vary greatly.

For instance, in many traditional CoQ10 products, crystals form around the molecules processing. This makes it more difficult for your body to absorb. The CoQ10 form and delivery method also make a big difference.

Powder and oil-suspended forms have consistently shown to be less absorbable that liquid forms. And soft gel capsules have shown to be more absorbable than hard gels.

Recently there have been some breakthroughs in CoQ10 formulation. A Japanese company called Kaneka figured out how to stabilized the reduced form of CoQ10 (ubiquinol) in a supplement.

They also established a processing method that limits the formation of crystals and use a soft gel capsule for delivery. All of these steps are meant to increase the bioavailability of CoQ10 inside humans.

The results of this study seem to support that the ubiquinol form of CoQ10, processed using crystal-free technology and delivered as a liquid inside a soft-gel is much more absorbable by your body than traditional forms.

CoQ10 has been linked to many significant health benefits. The nutrient has been shown to strengthen your heart, protect your brain against neuro-degenerative diseases, prevent oxidation and is also a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize dangerous free radicals.