Insufficient levels of vitamin D puts elderly at increased risk of dying from heart disease

Insufficient levels of vitamin D puts elderly at increased risk of dying from heart disease, based on new study recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) shows vitamin D plays a vital role in reducing the risk of death associated with older age. The research, just published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, evaluated the association between vitamin D levels in the blood and the death rates of those 65 and older. The study found that older adults with insufficient levels of vitamin D die from heart disease at greater rates that those with adequate levels of the vitamin, with approximately 1/3 of seniors considered to be deficient in vitamin D.

Editor’s note: Vitamin D3 is the form best absorbed in a supplement. See more information on nutrients and health conditions.

Retinal Device Helps Some With Retinitis Pigmentosa See

More than thirty blind people can now see thanks to new technology that has restored their vision. To date, thirty-eight subjects from the United States, Mexico and Europe with retinitis pigmentosa have received retinal prostheses. While the degree of success has been variable across subjects the results are encouraging.

More than thirty blind people can now see thanks to new technology that has restored their vision. To date, thirty-eight subjects from the United States, Mexico and Europe with retinitis pigmentosa have received retinal prostheses. While the degree of success has been variable across subjects the results are encouraging.

Procedures currently help individuals with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease responsible for roughly 200,000 cases of blindness in the United States.

The restoration process starts with an image captured by a small camera attached to a pair of glasses. After streaming through a video processor, the data is then transferred back through the glasses to a tiny electrode “sheet” implanted on the retina. These electrodes use electrical impulses to communicate visual information to undamaged retinal tissue (just as healthy rods and cones would have done). The result is some degree of sight.

Currently the devices have only 60 electrodes, compared to more than 2 million in HD televisions, so images are still rough. Researchers from Second Sight will follow project participants for the next three years to track progress. They hope to develop versions with 200 and 1000 electrodes in the future.

Editor’s Notes: Certain nutrients have been researched as helping to preserve vision for those with Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Poor Circulation and Age Related Macular Degeneration Study

A large study found strong evidence that older people who have age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are at increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), although not for stroke. This result adds to mounting evidence that AMD and cardiovascular disease may share some risk factors–smoking, High Blood Pressure, inflammatory indicators such as C-reactive protein (related to inflammation), genetic variants such as complement factor H–and disease mechanisms.

 

A large study found strong evidence that older people who have age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are at increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), although not for stroke. This result adds to mounting evidence that AMD and cardiovascular disease may share some risk factors–smoking, High Blood Pressure, inflammatory indicators such as C-reactive protein (related to inflammation), genetic variants such as complement factor H–and disease mechanisms.

The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) followed 1,786 white or African American participants, who were free of CHD or stroke at the study’s outset, for about seven years. The CHS received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

The incidence of CHD was 25.76 percent in patients with AMD, compared with 18.9 percent in those without AMD. The association between AMD and CHD was somewhat stronger in people age 69 to 78 than age 79 and up. Data were adjusted to counter potentially confounding factors like hypertension, diabetes, and smoking.

Editor’s Notes: It is estimated that the eyes/visual system requires up to 25% of the nutrients we take into our bodies to maintain healthy vision, so this is another study showing the strong correlation between circulation and macular degeneration (and resulting loss of oxygen and nutrients that reach the eyes).

See more information on nutrients for macular support.

Factors Contributing to Women’s Hair Loss

Most female-pattern baldness is inherited. Other causes of hair loss include: illnesses such as diabetes, lupus and thyroid disease, medications, medical treatments, recent severe flu, childbirth, hair treatments or scalp infection.

Most female-pattern baldness is inherited. Other causes of hair loss include:
– illnesses such as diabetes, lupus and thyroid disease
– poor nutrition – Fad diets, crash diets and certain illnesses, such as eating disorders, can cause poor nutrition.
– Medications. Certain drugs used to treat gout, arthritis, depression, heart problems and high blood pressure may cause hair loss in some people. Also, the acne medication Accutane contributes to hair loss. Taking birth control pills also may result in hair loss for some women
– Medical treatments. Undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy may cause you to develop alopecia. After your treatment ends, your hair typically begins to regrow.
– Recent high fever, severe flu or surgery. You may notice you have less hair three to four months after events such as an illness or surgery.
– Childbirth – Some women experience an increase in hair loss several months after delivering a baby. This increased hair loss usually corrects itself.
– Hair treatments. Chemicals used for dyeing, tinting, bleaching, straightening or perming can cause hair to become damaged and break off if they are overused or used incorrectly. Excessive hairstyling or hairstyles that pull your hair too tightly also can cause some hair loss.
– Scalp infection. Infections such as ringworm can invade the hair and skin of your scalp, leading to hair loss. Once infections are treated, hair generally regrows. Ringworm, a fungal infection, can usually be treated with a topical or oral antifungal medication.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Editor’s Notes: From a Chinese medicine perspective, loss of head hair for both men and women can be related to Kidney Qi Deficiency, which can result from excess stress, poor diet and/or chronic lack of sleep for example.

For an excellent Chinese based Kidney tonic (and eye tonic)  see Vision Tone Formula

Vitamin C protects the skin

Research conducted at the University of Leicester in England, reported this year in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms involved in vitamin C’s ability to help heal and protect the skin. The vitamin is an essential cofactor for the synthesis of collagen, the predominant protein in skin and other connective tissue.

Research conducted at the University of Leicester in England, reported this year in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms involved in vitamin C’s ability to help heal and protect the skin. The vitamin is an essential cofactor for the synthesis of collagen, the predominant protein in skin and other connective tissue.

This research is particularly relevant for skin disease due to sun damage, and that scientists now believe that the free radical theory of disease also applies to the aging of the skin. Free radicals are unstable small molecules generated by an oxygen environment which require stabilization by the body’s antioxidant system.

Editor’s Note: Numerous peer review research studies show the benefits of vitamin C for anti-aging, strengthening the immune system and preventing eye disease. For more information on overall body and eye health through a healthy diet and lifestyle, go to Natural Eye Care for Better Vision and Overall Health.

Can Eating Dark Chocolate Lower the Risk of Fatal Heart Attacks?

Researchers in Sweden have recently published a study assessing the long-term effects of chocolate consumption on patients with established coronary heart disease.

In the study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, researchers followed 1169 non-diabetic patients hospitalized with a confirmed first heart attack between 1992 and 1994 in Stockholm County, Sweden. Participants completed a questionnaire on their usual chocolate consumption over the preceding 12 months and underwent a health examination 3 months after discharge. Participants were followed for 8 years.

Participants who consumed chocolate twice a week or more were almost 70% less likely to die from future heart attacks than those who rarely ate it. This affect was not found with other sweets.

Study authors noted that this affect is found with only with dark chocolate, high in flavonoids and polyphenols, rather than milk or white chocolate.

SOURCE: Chocolate consumption and mortality following a first acute myocardial infarction: the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program, Janszky, et al, Journal of Internal Medicine, Volume 266 Issue 3, Pages 248 – 257

Retinal Implants Can Restore Some Lost Vision

MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness.
The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness.

The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

The chip would not restore normal vision but could help blind people more easily navigate a room or walk down a sidewalk. “Anything that could help them see a little better and let them identify objects and move around a room would be an enormous help,” says Shawn Kelly, a researcher in MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics and member of the Boston Retinal Implant Project.

Patients who received the implant would wear a pair of glasses with a camera that sends images to a microchip attached to the eyeball. The glasses also contain a coil that wirelessly transmits power to receiving coils surrounding the eyeball. When the microchip receives visual information, it activates electrodes that stimulate nerve cells in the areas of the retina corresponding to the features of the visual scene. The electrodes directly activate optical nerves that carry signals to the brain, bypassing the damaged layers of retina.

The research team, led by John Wyatt, MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science, recently reported a new prototype that they hope to start testing in blind patients within the next three years, after some safety refinements are made. Once human trials begin and blind patients can offer feedback on what they’re seeing, the researchers will learn much more about how to configure the algorithm implemented by the chip to produce useful vision.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
See more information on the latest research on nutrition and vision.

New Study Shows Role of Role of Reactive Oxygen in the Spreading of Cancer

Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California say they’ve discovered reactive oxygen plays a key role in cancer metastasis.

The researchers, led by Professor Sara Courtneidge, said they determined reactive species, such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, help form invadopodia which are cellular protrusions implicated in cancer cell migration. They found inhibiting reactive oxygen reduces invadopodia formation, thereby limiting cancer cell invasion.

Editor’s Notes: In aerobic organisms like humans, oxygen is converted to water at the end of the respiratory chain in the mitochondria. Mitochondria are the “power plants” in our cells that provide the energy needed to maintain normal body function and metabolism. However, in this same mitochondria respiratory chain, oxygen is “partially reduced” to form superoxide.

Antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C and E, superoxide dismutase, and carotenoids such as alpha and betacarotene, lutein and zeaxanthin help protect us by neutralizing reactive oxygen molecules and other free radicals.

For more information on natural approaches for helping preserve overall health and vision, go to www.naturaleyecare.com

A Step Towards a Cure for Color-Blindness

Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Florida have used gene therapy to cure two monkeys of color blindness. 

An article published online in the journal Nature discusses the potential for this type of gene therapy to treat adult vision disorders involving cone cells, including color blindness and other retinal diseases.

Color blindness is an inherited disorder caused by a single defective or absent gene.  Jay Neitz, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Washington (U.W.) School of Medicine and senior study author and his wife Maureen Neitz, also in the U.W. ophthalmology department, have identified this particular gene and developed a working virus vector to carry a functional copy of it.

Researchers injected the gene-carrying virus into the monkeys’ eyes. In about 20 weeks the monkeys attained full color vision and have shown no harmful side effects.

Color-blindness is a common genetic disorder, affecting more than 3.5 people in the United States, including about 8% of Caucasian men, leaving them unable to distinguish between red and green hues.

The research team hopes to be able to translate the findings into clinical trials for humans. The team used human genetic material in the monkeys in the interest of expediting future research.

SOURCE:  Colour blindness corrected by gene therapy, Nature doi:10.1038/news.2009.921

New Recommendations for Daily Sugar Consumption

How much sugar can you safely eat in a day?

The answer is probably less than you think.

Although Americans are used to eating more than 22.2 teaspoons (or 355 calories) of added sugar a day, the recommended limit is 10 teaspoons, or 100 calories a day. A new study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA) gives consumers detailed guidance on sugar consumption by recommending an upper limit on added-sugars intake.

Added sugars are sugars and syrups added to foods during processing or preparation as well as those added at the table. This does not include naturally sweet foods such as fruit.

Excessive consumption of sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions, as well as with a lack of essential nutrients.

The AHA report also noted:

  • An upper limit for added sugars should be no more than half your discretionary calories.
  • Most American women should consume no more than 100 calories of added sugars per day; most men, no more than 150 calories. That’s about 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 for men.
  • Soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the No. 1 source of added sugars in the American diet. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories and 8 teaspoons of sugar.

The AHA recommends a diet that is rich in fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, high-fiber whole grains, lean meat, poultry and fish in order to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease.