MCVitamins News

Your Nutritional Education Site

1. Is Nerve Damage The Rule, Not the Exception With Cholesterol Meds?
2. Energy Drinks?  Are they good for you?  
3. Health Tip: Happy Hearts
4. 8 Tips for Arthritis

Is Nerve Damage The Rule, Not the Exception With Cholesterol Meds?

At least 88 other studies further link statin drugs to neurotoxicity (nerve damage), including 12 studies on statin-induced peripheral neuropathy

A separate study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed statins increase the risk of diabetes for postmenopausal women by 48 percent, adding to an already established body of research on their diabetogenic properties

For full article Statin Drugs and Nerve Damage

Energy Drinks?  Are they good for you? 

Energy drinks claim to provide people with increased energy levels that will keep them active & alert.  People who use them say it is very effective.   But are they good for you or even safe to drink?  What do you need to know about and Energy Drink before you use them.

Do you know what's in Energy Drinks?

Energy drinks can be a deceptive combination of soft drink and nutritional supplements.  

Most energy drinks contain at least as much caffeine as a standard eight-ounce cup of coffee (~80mg).  In addition to large doses of caffeine, most energy drinks contain excessive amounts of sugar & legal herbal stimulants.

Energy drinks will give you a boost of energy, but it usually won’t last. Energy drinks containing  these high amounts of sugar and caffeine are in amounts that can be dangerous, but, a common complaint of energy drink users is the same as any other sugar or caffeine-based product: the "crash" they experience after the energy "buzz" wears off.

Dangers of Drinking Energy Drinks

You can't substitute energy drinks for water in the system while doing exercise because of the caffeine can leave a dehydrating effect on the body.  

While many of the ingredients are common among the different drinks, each energy drink has its own little twist to it. And reading the labels of these drinks isn't going to help the average consumer much if they don't know what to look for.

Caffeine

Caffeine is acts as both a stimulant and a diuretic. 

When consumed in large or regular quantities, caffeine can also make you jittery or irritable. As a diuretic, caffeine causes your kidneys to remove extra fluid from your body. If you consume energy drinks while sweating, these effects can be particularly dangerous because you can become severely dehydrated quickly.

Many younger people have started mixing energy drinks with alcohol because it makes them feel alert and energetic, even when they are drunk. Because alcohol and caffeine dehydrate our bodies, especially after a night of dancing. There have been many instances, where energy drinks mixed with alcohol has caused severe dehydration.

Energy drinks used during exercise or other strenuous activity compounds the problem of dehydration, and does nothing to provide the body with any necessary nutrients or fluids.

Common Energy Drink Ingredients:

Herbs

The main concern with the use of the herbs in these drinks is their source. The mass manufacturers of energy drinks are not required by law to list whether or not the herbs they use, have been sprayed with toxic pesticides,  irradiated or watered with contaminated water supplies, so there is no telling what other toxins are contained in these drinks and whether or not these herbs will have a negative effect on the body.

These drinks must be taken properly because the ingredients used in it are powerful enough to affect your body. 

With any herb, if you are taking medication, you should check with your pharmacist to see if the herb effects the medication  negatively (pharmacists have database programs to check..this).

Ginseng – A root that is believed to help reduce stress and increase energy levels.

The dosage often used in research studies is 200 mg a day of a standardized ginseng extract.   Some traditional herbalists recommend using ginseng for no more than three weeks at a time, followed by a one to two week rest period.

Pregnant or nursing women or children should avoid ginseng. People with hormone-dependent illnesses such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus, or prostate should avoid Panax ginseng because it may have estrogenic effects.

Panax ginseng may decrease the rate and force of heartbeats, so it shouldn't be used by people with heart disease unless under the supervision of a healthcare providers.

Ginseng may lower blood sugar levels, so it shouldn't be taken by people with diabetes unless under a doctor's supervision. Ginseng may worsen insomnia.

Side effects of ginseng may include nervousness, agitation, insomnia, diarrhea, headaches, high blood pressure, and heart palpitations.

As with any herb, if you are taking medication, you should check with your pharmacist to see if the herb effects the medication  negatively (pharmacists have database programs to check..

Gingko Biloba – Created from the seeds of the gingko biloba tree, it has been shown to enhance memory.  

Constituents in ginkgo leaves may affect blood clotting, so ginkgo leaf extracts shouldn't be used by people with bleeding disorders. People with epilepsy (or anyone with a history of seizures) should avoid ginkgo, because it may increase the frequency of seizures.

Ginkgo leaf products may affect blood sugar levels, so people with diabetes should only be used under the supervision of a health care provider.

The safety of ginkgo in pregnant or nursing women and children isn't known.

Inositol – A member of the B-complex Vitamin that assists in the relaying of messages between cells. Inositol is not a vitamin itself.

Guarana Seed Extract  – A stimulant that grows in Brazil & Venezuela which contains high levels of caffeine. 

Guarana - which is a very popular ingredient in many energy drinks, is a central nervous system stimulant that contains. What you need to  know is that consuming these drinks and then mixing them with drinks containing ephedrine or diet pills can be very dangerous.  Guaraná reduces fatigue, sharpens perceptions, reduces appetite and relieves muscle tension and hangover effects.

Amino Acids:

Taurine

Taurine is a free form amino acid contained in foods and manufactured in the body from the amino acid cysteine. It was first discovered in the bile of bulls, and now produced synthetically by the truckload. Studies have implicated synthetic taurine in illnesses ranging from high blood pressure to strokes and seizures to heart disease.   Any ingredient in an energy drink needs to be natural.

Carnitine – An amino acid that helps to metabolize fatty acids.  Again, you need to know that it is natural. 

Low Carb Energy Drinks

Some energy drinks use artificial sweeteners and call themselves "low carb".  The sweeteners used is Splenda and Ace-K or acesulfate potassium.

Splenda -  A study  published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, found even further disturbing news besides weight gain. Splenda:

• reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent
• increases the pH level in your intestines, and
• affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you’re on certain medications

They also found unmistakable evidence that Splenda is absorbed by fat, contrary to previous claims.

It’s truly disturbing that Splenda can destroy up to 50 percent of your healthy intestinal bacteria, as these bacteria help maintain your body's overall balance of friendly versus unfriendly micro-organisms, and support your general health. Many people are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to choosing highly processed foods. 

Ace-K:  acetoacetamide, a breakdown product, has been shown to affect the thyroid in rats, rabbits, and dogs. Administration of 1% and 5% acetoacetamide in the diet for three months caused benign thyroid tumors in rats. The rapid appearance of tumors raises serious questions about the chemical's carcinogenic potency."

Both don't seem like something you'd want to ingest. 

When it comes to energy drinks, you need an all natural energy drink that will not use your reserves and end with a crash, but one that supports the body's natural energy production at the cellular level.

For information about Real Energy, an Energy Drink that gets your body to produce its own energy.

Health Tip:  Happy Hearts

Vitamin E & B and Your Heart

There is not a single cell in your body that can stay alive without vitamin E because Vitamin E regulates oxygen.   When your body is deficient in Vitamin E, your heart may require up to 250% more oxygen.  Many people are not getting the entire Vitamin E complex.  Vitamin E such as alpha-tocopherol is not the full complex.   It used to be that you could get the vitamin E complex from freshly ground wheat, but these days almost all breads have had the vitamin E completely stripped out of them.  If by chance you do eat freshly ground wheat that has not been bleached, you have to eat it within 7 days to get the vitamin E.  After 7 days, the vitamin E becomes rancid.  If you eat commercial bleached flour products regularly, it is likely you have a vitamin E deficiency. 

Vitamin B, which is essential to heart one and rhythm, is also depleted by consuming bleached flour products.  Whole food Vitamin B and E supplements are what is needed.

by Cindy Clayton, D.C. & Nutritionist - Practices in the 

Portland, Oregon area  See Health Professionals

8 Tips for Arthritis

Tip 1: Make Sure You Really Have Osteoarthritis

While to some of you, today's tip might be very basic. It is absolutely essential that you make sure your diagnosis is correct before you begin wasting money on treatments that are not designed to help your specific situation.

Tip 2: Searching For Just Arthritis Pain Relief? You Shouldn't!

Doctors are very quick to address your joint pain with what has become a "standard" response. Normally, they tell you to take NSAIDS like Aspirin, Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, and Acetaminophen, or prescribe COX-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx and Celebrex.  These are drugs which cover the pain and have side effects. 

Tip 3: Keeping Your Weight in Balance is Key To Taking Control of Your Osteoarthritis!

If your osteoarthritis is affecting your load-bearing joints, keeping your weight within normal ranges is important. Load-bearing joints of course refers to any portion of your body that would be affected by excessive weight. Hips, knees, feet and spine are all load-bearing joints.

Tip 4: The Arthritis Fighting Diet

The most common foods to avoid are:
# sugar
# caffeine
# citrus
# salt
# red meat
# dairy products
# additives
# soft drinks
# corn
# flour

Tip 5: Fighting Arthritis Through Proper Exercise!

As best you can, try to keep painful joint areas in motion, even in a limited manner. Exercise is good for joints affected by osteoarthritis. Even if you don't think you can exercise, you can. Even the lightest exercise can go along way to maintaining joint mobility and health. A good exercise routine is key to beating arthritis.

Tip 6: The Treatments: NSAIDs, Cox-II Inhibitors, Surgery, Glucosamine & Niacin

The latest arthritis research has shown that there are some very effective alternatives that have no side effects, are completely safe.

Glucosamine is an over-the-counter dietary supplement that became  known in the treatment of osteoarthritis and joint pain since 1999.  It stimulates the production of glycosaminoglycans (GAG's), the important proteins found in cartilage plus proteoglycans, the water holding molecules that make up the cartilage.

Tip 7: How to Evaluate a Gluosamine Product

There area many products about and can be found in your local food market or drug store. 

There is nothing new about the use of Glucosamine as a way of easing an arthritic condition. For many years it has been used in Asia and Europe before the English speaking medical community caught on. However, you have to be  careful when selecting Glucosamine products.

Your selection should be based on certain factors which is something you should take into account with all supplements. 

You must consider the quality of the product, method of delivery to body, additional ingredients in the product, and of course, price. Simply put, the higher quality that you use, the greater your relief will be. 

Secondly, the method of delivery can make the difference between no pain relief and your personally desired pain relief. Most products produced after the breakthrough news of the 1999 Lancet medical journal study, were rushed to the market. In this haste, these companies did not take any time to do tests on their product. They simply assumed pill form would be the most effective. The latest research however, has shown that Glucosamine in liquid form is much more effective. 

To receive true help in an arthritic state, you need to look for products that combine a number of arthritis fighting ingredients. You should look for a product that besides Glucosamine Sulfate and Glucosamine HCL, it also contains arthritis-fighting ingredients such as chondroitin, boswellin, bromelain, omega 3 & 6, yucca, manganese ascorbate, and vitamins A, C, and E.

A recommendation if you want to use a Glucosamie product is Syn-flex® as it a liquid formula that combines all the ingredients. 

Do your own research. 

Tip 8:. 12 Ingredients that Will Ease Your Arthritis Pain

In alleviating arthritis pain, the compounds that you should be taking for  relief. These are Glucosamine, chondroitin, boswellin, bromelain, omega 3 & 6, yucca, manganese ascorbate, and vitamins A, C, and E, and niacin.

Niacin in high quantities, has been used to help arthritis. 

For more information on arthritis, go to Arthritis

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To Your Health,

MCVitamins
www.mcvitamins.com

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