Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Diabetes Risk In America

Another 'Quick Hit' posting from Dr. Ray Strand on the growing diabetes problem in America:

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic health condition that develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin, a hormone that regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism. The exact mechanism by which type 2 diabetes occurs is unknown, but a number of correlating risk factors - particularly obesity and physical inactivity - are well-established. Unfortunately, the number of individuals with type 2 diabetes has increased sharply in recent years, with an estimated $174 billion cost to the United States in 2007 alone.
 
A number of papers have attempted to project type 2 diabetes prevalence 5, 10, and 20+ years into the future. Unfortunately, most of these projections have relied on weak or outdated metrics, including old census data, static mortality rates, and overly simple estimations of diabetes incidence. A recent paper from researchers at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion hoped to overcome these weaknesses by utilizing recent census data and a matrix of factors derived from an extensive literature review. 

The researchers describe their results as "a sobering picture of the future growth of diabetes." Their most optimistic values point to 21% of the U.S. adult population having type 2 diabetes in the year 2050. A middle-ground scenario predicts a prevalence of 25%-28%, while high-end data points to a diabetes prevalence of 33%, or 1 in 3 adults. To put these numbers in perspective, approximately 7% of the U.S. adult population had type 2 diabetes in 2007. In 1990, prevalence was below 5%. 

Unlike some chronic diseases, type 2 diabetes risk can be reduced by relatively moderate lifestyle changes. Losing weight (if overweight or obese), improving dietary choices, and regular exercise are all known to reduce risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes. The authors of this paper note that such changes "can help to decrease loss in quality of life and the future cost of providing care for people with diabetes. Indeed, such efforts are essential if we hope to moderate or slow the growth of diabetes prevalence." 

Boyle JP, Thompson TJ, Gregg EW, Barker LE, Williamson DF. Projection of the year 2050 burden of diabetes in the US adult population: dynamic modeling of incidence, mortality, and prediabetes prevalence. 2010. Population Health Metrics 8:29. 

 Scott Huff has been helping people obtain optimal levels of vitamins and minerals through the use of  pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  He is also experienced in helping people create an alternate source of income, simply by educating and helping others with their health.  For more information on this unique opportunity, please watch this short video tour, or send an email with any questions to:  huffster@usana.com.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Losing Weight Requires A Lifestyle Change

Tis the season for diets.  New Years resolutions are full of people vowing to lose weight.  And so many people go on crash diets or fad diets.  They take diet pills or begin to count calories.  But the shocking fact is, many of these people will actually gain the weight back.  A successful diet, one which will lose weight and KEEP it off, requires a lifestyle change.

Lifestyle Change To Lose Weight

Changing your lifestyle is the best, and healthiest, way to lose weight and keep it off.  Is it always the easiest way to lose weight?  Maybe.  It depends upon what your current lifestyle is like.  It may only require slight modifications to what you are used to, or it may entail several changes which can take time.  Suffice to say, a lifestyle change requires only a two simple changes:

1.  Change what you eat and drink
2.  Exercise

That's it.  Yes, it's that simple.

Change What You Eat

The obvious thing to look at here is junk food and fast food.  There are so many calories built into these products, that it doesn't take long to pack on extra pounds.  Contrary to popular belief, eating fewer times does not help much in attaining your goals.  In fact, it is recommended to eat more often, but in smaller portions.  Up to 6 times/day.  A healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner in smaller portions, along with snacks consisting of fruit, veggies, or yogurt.  Staying away from soda, especially diet soda, is also key.

What You Should Eat

Back in August, I wrote a piece entitled, "The Top 4 Secrets To Losing Weight".  In this post, I discussed the Glycemic Index.  I won't go into the details here, but in a nutshell there are certain foods which have a high Glycemic Index, and others with lower index ratings.  Foods with a high glycemic index spike the blood sugar levels in your body.  They also cause your blood sugar levels to come down rapidly, causing those cravings you may experience.  Whereas, foods with a lower index will rise the blood sugar slower and will come down more gradually, thus reducing those cravings.

Some examples of foods which are high glycemic would be:  pretzels, rice cakes, white bread, potatoes, and white rice.  Examples of low glycemic foods are:  most fruits and vegetables, wheat bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and yogurt.  You can find a larger list by visiting this site.

What About Exercise?

If you change your eating habits, cut out soda, and follow the gylcemic index chart your odds are pretty good that you will lose weight.  To improve your chances and increase the amount of weight you lose, exercise becomes very important.  Gaining weight comes down to simple chemistry.  If you consume more calories than you burn off, the excess calories are stored as fat.  It is a basic survival method of the body.

So the secret to losing weight is to burn off more calories than you take in.  Obviously, if you start to eat better you are going to be consuming less calories.  Therefore, if you lead a life where you get very little exercise, you will probably still burn off more calories/day than you take in.  It's just that the difference won't be very large.  However, if you start to exercise you will widen that gap.  Burning off more calories creates a larger difference and will, therefore, result in losing more weight.

Getting 20-30 minutes of exercise/day is all you need.  Depending upon the TYPE of exercise.  If you are doing something which increases your heart rate, then you are looking at 20-30min.  However, if you are simply walking around the block, your heart rate may not increase very much and you will need to exercise longer.

Making The Change

Now, before you go off changing your lifestyle, you may want to consult with your doctor first.  The last thing you want to do is to to do too much at one time.  An increase in the amount of exercise after leading a fairly sedentary life may cause injury.  So just be cautious.

But if you give this method a try, I think you will be happy with the results.  Not only should you start to see a decrease in your weight, but it is very possible you could see some beneficial side effects.  Things like lowering your blood pressure or cholesterol levels are just some of these benefits.  You will have more energy, you'll be in better shape, and you'll be healthier.  And best of all, you can decrease your risk of certain diseases like diabetes and heart disease.  I can recommend a system which will help you though this lifestyle change, so if you are interested simply send me an email and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

To Your Health.

Scott Huff has been helping people obtain optimal levels of vitamins and minerals through the use of  pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  He is also experienced in helping people create an alternate source of income, simply by educating and helping others with their health.  For more information on this unique opportunity, please watch this short video tour, or send an email with any questions to:  huffster@usana.com.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Best Vitamins: What Is Your Supplement Rating?

You've made the choice to take a supplement.  But what are the best vitamins out there?  Where does your supplement Rate?  The answers may shock you.  As you saw in one of my previous posts, all supplements are not the same.  In fact, the vitamins you take to improve your health may, in fact, be doing absolutely nothing for you.

In this post I'm going to use the "Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements" by Lyle MacWilliam, both the 3rd and 4th editions.  This book came about at the request of Canadian Parliament so as to provide the public with information in order to make good decisions when it came to supplements.

I am going to go through some of the more popular vitamins on the market...vitamins YOU may be taking now...and showing you how they hold up to scientific study.  Are they as good as they say?  Do they actually do anything for you?  You'll find in this top 10 list.

The Top 10

1.  Centrum.  In the 3rd edition, it rates a 3.2 out of 100, and in the 4th edition...0-stars out of 5 possible.  And yes, there are several "versions" of Centrum out there, but they all rate essentially the same:  low.  The reasoning for the low rating comes down to several facts.  First, they do not always use natural ingredients.  For instance, if you have a bottle in the house, take a look at the type of vitamin E they use.  It will be the dl-Alpha Tocopheryl  form.  This is the synthetic form, and as such, it does not absorb as well into the body.  Fillers and additives are also allowed in these types of supplements, meaning if they advertise 60mg of vitamin C on the bottle, you may only be receiving a portion of that.  Suffice to say, these vitamins are not doing much for you and are probably not even breaking down and absorbing into your body.

2.  One-A-Day.  In the 3rd edition, it rates a 5.1 out of 100, and in the 4th edition a mere 1/2 star out of 5.  Again, there are several versions of this supplement, but they are all essentially the same.  And as in the case of Centrum, it runs into the same issues about synthetic ingredients and absorption.

3.  GNC.  Here we run into our first decent supplement, the MegaMan.  However, it still only rates a 21.1 out of 100 in the 3rd edition and a 2.5 out of 5 stars in the 4th edition. 

4.  Nature Made.  Weighing in at 17.9 in the 3rd edition and 0-stars out of 5.  A decent supplement when compared to the "well known" products, but still falls short of acceptable.

5.  Shaklee - Basics With Iron.  Weighing in on our first network marketing supplement, Shaklee comes up with a 30.5 rating in the 3rd edition, but was not rated in the 4th edition.  As you can see, even though the product is a comes from a network marketing company, it is rated higher than the previous store bought supplements available on the market.

6.  Melaleuca Vitality Pack.  Another network marketing company, but it doesn't fare as well as Shaklee.  A 6.2 ranking in the 3rd edition and a 1-star in the 4th edition.

7.  Herbalife - Formula 2.  Again, another network marketing company that falls a little short.  This rates at a 14.8 in the 3rd edition and a 1 star in the 4th edition

8.  Mannatech.  So far, the highest rated network marketing supplement coming in at a rating of 33.1 in the 3rd edition and a 2.5 star rating in the 4th edition.

9.  Nature's Way - Alive.  The highest rated supplement so far, at a 60 in the 3rd edition and 3 stars in the 4th edition.

10.  Pharmanex LifePak.  Rated at a nice 52.7 in the 3rd edition, and a 3 stars out of 5 in the 4th edition.  A fairly decent supplement.

So if these well-known supplements are not rated very well, then what ARE the top rated supplements?  When it comes to "stand alone" products, these are the top 4 according to the 4th edition.  All of these are rated at 5-stars.

1.  Usana Health Sciences (96.1 in the 3rd edition)
2.  Creating Wellness Alliance (not included in the 3rd edition)
3.  Douglas Laboratories (75.1 in the 3rd edition)
4.  TrueStar Health (not included in the 3rd edition)

So as you can see, what you are taking now may not be what you expected.  As I always say, you want to look for a pharmaceutical grade supplement so you can be certain of the ingredients and bioavailability. 

Is there another you are currently taking which was not included in the ranking above?  Add a comment or send me an email and I will provide you with the ranking of what you are taking.

Scott Huff has been helping people obtain optimal levels of vitamins and minerals through the use of  pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  He is also experienced in helping people create an alternate source of income, simply by educating and helping others with their health.  For more information on this unique opportunity, please watch this short video tour, or send an email with any questions to:  huffster@usana.com.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Grape Seed Extract Benefits

There are two questions here.  First, what is grape seed extract, and second, what sort of benefits can you hope to receive.

Suffice to say, the answer to the first question is fairly straightforward.  Grape seed extract is simply an extract of grape seeds.  This extract unlocks the powerful antioxidants from the grape.

As far as the benefits go, this is not as easy of a question to answer.  For the benefits are many.  Cancer prevention and cardiovascular disease protection are just two of these benefits.

This is a substance which is 20x more powerful than vitamin C and 50x more powerful than vitamin E.  Suffice to say, its use as an immune system boost is well documented.  However, studies also suggest that grape seed extract leads to apoptosis, or self destruction, of cancer cells.  Is this a cure for cancer?  No.  However, cancer cells are created within the body every day.  Normally, your body is able to fight off and destroy these cancer cells on it's own.  The problem is when your body is not able to fend off these cancer cells.  Grape seed extract simply helps the body perform its normal function.

Another study was conducted to look at the effects of grape seed extract and reducing blood pressure.  Within 4wks of this study, the group receiving the grape seed saw their blood pressure reduced; whereas the blood pressure in the placebo group did not change at all.

Perhaps you have heard of the French Paradox.  In a nutshell, researchers noticed the fact that the French tend to eat fatty foods, such as cheese, but their risk of cardiovascular disease remains low.  Interestingly enough, they also tend to consume red wine on a regular basis.  Therefore, studies focuses on the affect of red wine on cardiovascular disease.  From there, it was narrowed down to the grape seed extract...not nearly as fun to consume, but it does the job in much smaller quantities.

If you have high blood pressure, concerns about cardiovascular disease, or even a history of cancer in your family, you may want to consider beginning a regiment of grape seed extract to help your body confront these issues.  Again, this should not be looked upon as a solution, but rather a helping hand for your body's immune system.

Scott Huff has been helping people obtain optimal levels of vitamins and minerals through the use of  pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  He is also experienced in helping people create an alternate source of income, simply by educating and helping others with their health.  For more information on this unique opportunity, please watch this short video tour, or send an email with any questions to:  huffster@usana.com.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Latest Vitamin D Recommendations From The IOM

You may or may not have heard the Institute of Medicine (IOM) changed their recommendations for vitamin D earlier this week.  This is the same organization responsible for the RDA values you see on product labels.

Previously, the recommended amount of vitamin D had been set at 200IU/day.  However, they have just raised that amount to 600IU/day.  Which is a step in the right direction.


However, the IOM goes on to say that you should not go over this amount. 
This is absolute bunk.  As you hopefully saw in my last post on vitamin D, the studies show levels above 600IU/day are safe.  And not only are they safe, but they have incredible health benefits.  Especially, when you are getting 4000IU or more/day.

People are deficient in Vitamin D.
I also covered this in great detail during the 3-part series I just finished up.  The fact that a majority of the United States (anyone north of Atlanta, GA) gets absolutely no vitamin D production from sunlight for over half of the year is one reason.  Another reason is, during the summer, when you can get about 15,000IU from the sun, many people are stuck in a building working.  So you are missing the opportune time to receive vitamin D from the sun:  between 10am and 3pm.

Others are doubting the results as well.
I am not the only one calling shenanigans on the IOM.  Natural News goes so far as to say it is a deliberate attempt to keep the public deficient in vitamin D.  Afterall, with the studies showing significant decreases in the risk of everything from cancer to MS to diabetes to the flu with adequate levels of vitamin D in the blood, it does seem odd they would not have increased the recommendations further.  Or at least to say it is safe at higher levels.  As is the case with most things, one only needs to follow the money.  And who stands to profit from the public continuing to become ill?  The pharmaceutical companies.

A well known nutritional supplement company also voiced their disappointment at the latest recommendations.  They cited studies they had conducted themselves, which show the decreased levels of vitamin D blood levels.

Suffice to say, if you have any doubts or concerns I would recommend discussing the topic with your physician.  Bring along the studies which I have cited on this blog.  Or, fill out the form at the top of the page and I will send you a free copy of the recent presentation Dr. Whitcomb just gave on vitamin D.  Why is it free?  Surely there must be a catch?  There isn't.  It is important to get this information out to people.

Scott Huff has been helping people obtain optimal levels of vitamins and minerals through the use of  pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements.  He is also experienced in helping people create an alternate source of income, simply by educating and helping others with their health.  For more information on this unique opportunity, please watch this short video tour, or send an email with any questions to:  huffster@usana.com.