Omega-3s and Your Kids

Author: kerriwhatley
Dr. Andrew Stoll of Harvard Medical School calls omega-3 fatty acids “wellness molecules.” And no wonder. Studies show that omega-3 fatty acids are not only great for the heart, but they also may support a child’s memory, focus, and learning.

What are Omega-3s?

Before you head to your local health food store, there are some things you need to know about omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are a class of fats that come in three “flavors”: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Fish oil and cod liver oil are rich sources of the two most important fatty acids, DHA and EPA. The body converts the third kind—ALA, which is found in flaxseed and various vegetable oils and nuts—into DHA and EPA.

Omega-3s are vital fatty acids (EFAs). That means two things: one, the body can’t produce all the omega-3s from scratch, so these compounds must be part of the diet; and two (and even more importantly), these fats are crucial for staying healthy.

In the 1970s scientists started to study the health effects of omega-3s when they found the link between the low heart disease rate of the Greenland Eskimos and their diet of cold-water oily fish. But a healthy heart was only the beginning of the story. Numerous studies now indicate that the benefits of DHA and EPA are far more extensive than heart health and play an important role throughout your child’s life.

Your Children need Omega-3 Fatty Acids

As infants, DHA plays an important role in the development of the brain, eyes, and nervous system. This isn’t too surprising, since the retina of the eye consists largely of fatty tissue, and DHA makes up 20 to 30 percent of the brain. As toddlers, EPA and DHA can help improve their vision and cognitive and behavioral development. Once your children start elementary school, DHA remains a key component to their success, as it supports their memory, focus, and cognitive development.

Almost every study of behavioral and cognitive problems in children as well as in adults has shown a connection between low levels of omega-3s and severity of symptoms. Of course, as teens and young adults, DHA continues to play an important role. Recent studies have found that it may support hormonal and sexual health, help mood disorders like depression, and protect their hearts.

Getting your Children Omega 3 Fatty-Acid

It is easy for children to have a deficiency in DHA and EPA due to the fact they can frequently be relatively fussy eaters. The typical American diet doesn’t help either. It’s loaded with omega-6 fatty acids (vegetable oils such as corn and sunflower, and animals raised on grain instead of green vegetation), trans-fatty acids from fried foods, and hydrogenated oils, all of which interfere with the ability of the body to convert ALA to the much-needed EPA and DHA.

Since omega-3s and omega-6s are building blocks for all sorts of hormones and other important compounds in the body, it’s critical that they be in balance. Nutritionists believe that the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the diet is somewhere between 1:1 and 4:1. Currently, most Americans consume a ratio of 20:1 or higher.

The easiest way to know your children are receiving enough Omega-3s is a dietary supplement. Adding omega-3 rich food will also help, there’s certainly a wide variety to choose from: eggs, dairy products, cereals, cereal bars, peanut butter, and infant formulas. But do they contain enough omega-3s? There is no U.S. recommended daily allowance, but most experts recommend getting anywhere from 500 milligrams (1/2 gram) up to a couple of grams a day of EPA and DHA. So while fortified foods may contribute, they don’t contain nearly enough omega-3s to make up for a diet that’s low in these important nutrients

Diet vs. Exercise: A Verdict is Reached

Author: Sean Wells
A recurring question in the realm of health, nutrition and weight loss is whether it is diet or exercise that is primarily responsible for progress. It now appears that the question has been resolved—and the answer is “yes”. A team of researchers has reported that a combination of diet and exercise yielded marked improvement in physical function and weight loss as compared with either approach performed on its own.

In a one-year randomized controlled trial, researchers examined 107 adults over the age of 65—all were classified as obese according to BMI measurement. Patients were randomly assigned to one of four groups: control (no behavioral changes), diet-only, exercise-only and combined diet-exercise.

Results were judged by a number of factors, including any improvements made in a modified version of the Physical Performance Test, measurements of body composition, assessments of frailty and reports on quality of life. Collectively, accumulated data demonstrated that blood pressure, waist circumference, abdominal fat, serum triglycerides and C-reactive protein were seen to improve in both the diet and the diet-exercise groups.

Researchers also found that body weight was reduced by 10% in the diet group and by 9% in the diet-exercise group; this is a possible indication that some degree of muscular growth had occurred in the group that was both dieting and exercising. There was no change in bodyweight reported in the control group, who made no changes in lifestyle—needless to say, an expected result.

Researchers summarized the more relevant findings as follows: “Diet-induced weight loss with or without exercise, but not exercise training alone, improves insulin sensitivity and multiple other cardiometabolic risk factors simultaneously in obese older adults. However, the combination of these interventions is associated with an even greater improvement in insulin sensitivity.”

Interestingly, there was no measureable decrease in the exercise-only group regarding body weight either. While this lends some support to the widely-held belief that a poor diet cannot be “out-exercised”, it is important to remember that the diet-exercise group still experienced the greatest overall benefits, indicating that physical exercise makes an excellent addition to a proper diet.

How To Avoid Getting Burned This Summer

Author: willllamas
Everyone needs Vitamin D from the sun. However during these hot summer months, we often fall victim to a little too much. Now, there’s an alternative to lathering yourself in sun lotion every time you step outside. Supplementation of astaxanthin, resveratrol and omega-3 fatty acids can protect your skin internally from the sun.

Sunburn occurs when UV rays from the sun burn skin tissue, causing the skin cells to die. This often causes noticeable discomfort, and skin to turn a reddish color. This is a hint that it’s actually a type of inflammation, and sunburn can be a very serious condition. The greatest danger is that sunburn is the leading cause of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Becoming sunburned on a routine basis causes an individuals risk for melanoma to increase dramatically, potentially even doubling after four or more serious sunburns.

Effectively reducing your risk of harmful sunburn can actually start with the nutrients that enter your body. Research suggests that taking these nutrients can help stop sunburn before it strikes.

1) Astaxanthin

The super-antioxidant astaxanthin is naturally found in algae and animals that eat the algae. In concentrated form, it can also be found in various supplements. As an antioxidant it has been primarily been used to promote a healthy cardiovascular system. However, recent research has suggested that astaxanthin helps protect the skin from UV rays, helping to potentially prevent sunburn.

2) Resveratrol

Recently resveratrol, an antioxidant found in grapes, has received a lot of publicity for supporting healthy hearts as well as alleviating certain symptoms related to cancer. This study also suggests that when resveratrol is absorbed into skin cells, it helps them block UV rays.

3) Omega-3 Fatty Acids:

A diet high in Omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to combat the inflammatory response of skin after it’s been exposed to the sun for too long. This can limit the harmful effects of sunburn as well as reduce the risk of melanoma. Omega-3 acid is found naturally in fish, but supplementation may be suggested, to ensure that both proper quantity and quality is received.

These nutrients have all shown to be effective in combatting UV rays. Try out these suggestions and let us know if you’ve noticed a decrease in sunburn frequency and intensity.

Resveratrol Shows Exercise Benefits

Author: Sean Wells
Dietary intake of the red wine polyphenol resveratrol is known to promote cardiovascular health in the general population—this is the source of the so-called French Paradox.  When it comes to the other half of the health equation—regular exercise—it appears that this extract might also provide some assistance. According to a recent animal trial, resveratrol may help boost exercise performance by improving strength, endurance and fatty acid metabolism.
For the study, two groups of male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to either a standard diet or one supplemented with resveratrol, while simultaneously undergoing a treadmill-based exercise program, conducted five days a week, for a period of 12 weeks. The exercise regimen was progressive, beginning with 10 minutes and incrementally increasing to 20 over the course of the study.
The research team found that the compound improved exercise performance, heart function and muscular strength, all in addition to promoting positive changes in dietary metabolism. Specifically, overall improvement in the resveratrol-supplemented group on exercise performance averaged 21 percent higher over the course of the study, as compared to the control group.
Researchers reported that this supplementation also improved several parameters related to cardiovascular performance. Left ventricular ejection force—meaning more powerful heart muscle contractions and increased blood flow—was observed to increase by 10 percent in the experimental group as compared to the control group. In addition, an increase in fatty acid oxidation—the optimization of fatty acid metabolism as a fuel source for exercise—displayed a noticeable, statistically significant increase.
In regard to the study, researchers had this to say: “Based on these findings, we conclude that resveratrol is an ergogenic aid that improves exercise training via changes in skeletal muscle function and cardiac performance, but also improves energy metabolism.”
As an additional clarification, they summarized the results by comparing the effects of resveratrol to actually embarking on an exercise program; in terms of observed biomarkers, the results were very similar.
“We were excitied when we saw that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training.”
The next project for this research group will involve resveratrol in a human-based, therapeutic application, examining its effects on diabetics who have experienced heart failure, and for whom such endurance training, though potentially beneficial, is not feasible from a safety standpoint. The 10-week study will attempt to reinvigorate heart function in this group through resveratrol supplementation, thereby restoring an enhanced degree of health and quality of life.

Eight Ways to Make Healthy Eating Affordable.

They got the nickname for a reason.
By Kate Bartolotta
If eating healthy, organic food is important to you, the sky’s the limit in terms of cost.
Looking for a $25 pink Himalayan sea salt? You’ll find it. $10 hydroponic watercress? Check. But most of us are trying to balance healthy eating and silly things like…oh, paying our mortgages! Healthy eating has become synonymous with expensive food in our country. In fact, this is a frequent reason people site for not being able to eat healthy food.
I remember seeing an overweight homeless man as a child and wondering (innocently) to my mother, “If he doesn’t have much money, how come he’s fat?” I’m sure it embarrassed her, but I was baffled.
Now I get it.
The cheapest food in this country is usually highly-processed crap. You would think that it would make sense, given the shambles of our health care system, that we would make more of an effort to make healthy food accessible to people—but that’s another blog altogether.

If healthy food choices are important to you, here are eight ways to make them work on any budget:

1. Get to know the “dirty dozen” and the “clean 15.”

I would love to buy exclusively organic food, but financially, it’s unrealistic. As far as fruits and vegetables go, Environmental Working Group’s guides are a great starting point. If it’s on that dirty dozen list and I want it—I buy organic.
If it made the clean 15 list:

1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

I’m a little more flexible, and would buy organic only if it was a good deal. Pesticides are the only consideration here, and certainly there are other concerns with some of these items, which brings me to number two.

2. Think local and seasonal.

I love my farmers’ market. It’s as much a social event as it is about shopping, but if you are smart and go for what you need (instead of just fun extras like local salsas or cookies) it can help budget-wise as well.
The bonus here is that your local farmer may not bother to go through all of the hoops necessary for organic certification, but you can often talk to him or her about the growing methods, any pesticides—and get great tips on how to use vegetables you may not have tried before. (Fiddlehead ferns. Wow. If you’ve never tried them, I highly recommend them!)

3. Say no to boxes as much as possible.

Besides the issue of excessive packaging, if it’s in a box, it’s going to cost you—financially and nutritionally. Okay, I have kids and I’m not a total meanie, so we do buy some eco and organic packaged snacks. I’m picky on this front. If the item in question contains more than two types of sweetener, it doesn’t really matter if they are agave, or honey or “organic cane sugar,” it’s probably something you don’t want to eat often. If you make it yourself you will be getting a higher quality product for less money.

4. Fall in love with the bulk foods aisle.

What’s cuter than a bunch of Mason jars full of quinoa, dried beans and homemade granola? I’m a huge fan of bulk foods.They have less packaging waste, they are less processed and more fun overall. Whole Foods and most local natural foods stores have a bulk section. Plan before you buy and know what you’re buying. Dried beans will last indefinitely, but some nuts and seeds go rancid quickly, especially in warm weather. It’s not a good deal if you end up throwing it away.

5. Do it yourself (or do it with a friend).

Love to cook? Batch cook on a Sunday afternoon instead of buying organic convenience foods. Throw beans in a slow cooker before you leave for work and then freeze them in smaller portions once they’re done. Make tomato sauce, salsa or jam and can it or swap it with a friend. Have a recipe that everyone loves when you bring it to parties? Make enough for two families and ask a friend to do the same and swap.

6. Go meatless whenever possible.

Okay, for many of us, it’s possible all the time. Even if you aren’t vegetarian or vegan, reducing your number of meat meals can have a big impact on your budget as well as your carbon footprint. I think it is wonderful that so many alternatives exist to factory-farmed meats and dairy products, but it is a huge expense. I would also add—don’t load up on meat substitutes. They are often just as expensive and not much healthier.

7. Eat at home.

This one should be obvious. The most recent statistic I found said that Americans eat out and average of four to five times a week. That was entire meals, not just coffee or a snack. Add that in—and try to make healthy restaurant choices instead of fast food—and it’s no wonder we think we can’t afford to eat healthy.
In Righteous Porkchop, Nicolette Hahn Niman discussed how people often balk at the cost of a dozen organic local eggs (which would last for several meals) but spend the same amount—or more—on a coffee beverage that will be gone in a few minutes. Good restaurants are fun and can definitely be part of mindful eating, but homemade meals save you money, are a more appropriate portion-size and, best of all, you know exactly what’s in them. When you make an occasion of eating out, you will appreciate it much more.

8. Keep in simple, sweetie.

Some of the most enjoyable dinners are simple, seasonally-appropriate foods. A thick white bean and kale soup in the winter with homemade bread. A giant “little bit of everything” salad with local wine and cheese in the summer. My kids love dinners where we do a smorgasbord of veggies, fruits, nuts, cheese, hummus and pita bread and they can pick and choose what they want. Talk about fast food! Stir-fried veggies plus rice or quinoa are always a hit too, and usually take half an hour or less to make. Don’t get caught up in some cultural idea of what dinner is supposed to be. Simple is good.

Obesity in Teens Leads to Rise in Hypertension

Author: Kerri Whatley
The number of children and teens who are being admitted to hospitals with high blood pressure has experienced a sharp increase over the past decade, according to a new study that was recently published in the journal of Hypertension. This frightening trend is leading teens towards more severe health problems in their future.

In 1997 a documented 12,661 children and teens were admitted to hospitals with high blood pressure, In 2006 that number rose to 24,602–in other words, nearly doubling within a decade. The cost of hospitalization over that time span was a whopping 3.1 billion dollars.

Obesity in children, as in adults, has been on a rapid rise. Obesity is also a major contributor to high blood pressure, and as it increases the number of children who suffer from the disease will continue to increase also.

There are more than 12.5 million children in the U.S. between the ages of 2 and 19 that are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the number of obese children has tripled since 1980. According to a study published in Obesity,the cost of health care related to childhood obesity totaled 3 billion dollars in 2009.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, cardiologist and the director of women and heart disease of the Heart and Vascular Institute of Lenox Hill Hospital, told WebMD that the findings are alarming:

“This could be a huge wake-up call. When I read an article like this, I feel like standing on the buildings in New York City and screaming,” she said. “Children are getting sicker and sicker as they’re getting more obese. There’s going to be a huge increase in heart disease and health care costs because of this.”

Unfortunately, hypertension has few symptoms, but if left untreated, could cause a host of medical problems. High blood pressure can lead to stroke, blindness, memory problems and heart failure. Risk factors include family history, age, race, and poor diet.

Exercise and eating healthier are imperative to curb the trend, researchers said.

“Increasingly, these are children with essential hypertension–this is consequence of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes that is found increasingly in teenagers and younger children,” Dr. Ernesto Schiffrin, spokesman for the American Heart Association, told CNN. “If we are going to prevent adult hypertension, we have to start at this early age by avoiding obesity, cutting back on salt and exercising- otherwise this will increase further the prevalence of adult hypertension and the huge costs that will occur accordingly.”

More Than Iron: Supplement Necessities for Anemia

Anemia is a condition in which there are not enough red blood cells present in the body to adequately carry healthy levels of oxygen through the bloodstream. Anemia can impact someone for a short amount of time or it can be long-term, ranging in levels of severity.

Most noticeably, anemia causes you to be tired and sluggish- even if you’ve had adequate rest. It can cause tingling and numbness in your hands and feet and can also lead to poor concentration and forgetfulness. A telltale sign of anemia is a swollen, red tongue.

It is well-known that a boost of iron is essential for those with anemia, as it helps to increase the count of your red blood cells. An adult female (at a great risk for developing anemia) requires 18 mg/day. Adult males require 8 mg/day. If you have been diagnosed as anemic, when assessing your multivitamin it is important to consider one that includes iron.

Anemia includes other vitamin and mineral deficiencies aside from iron. Decreased vitamin B12 and folic acid absorption can lead to anemia and factor in to other health problems, especially during pregnancy. In particular, folic acid is essential to ensure proper fetal development. Though meats, eggs, and other dairy products are high in B12, an activated supplement is a good choice to maximize rapid absorption.

Sickle Cell Anemia, the most severe form of anemia, pairs regular symptoms of fatigue with severe bone pain that is experienced through isolated episodes. Sickle Cell is a genetic form of anemia, typically identified at no earlier than 4 months of age and lasting for an entire lifetime. Research shows that taking supplemental Omega-3 fish oils can help to reduce the severity and frequency of episodes. Ask your health care provider what the suggested Omega-3 intake is for your age group.

Remember, if your body is unable to maintain sufficient levels of iron, it’s likely that you have other deficiencies as well. If you suspect you are suffering from anemia, have your blood tested and together with a physician, come up with a plan to maximize your health.