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1. More evidence that ultra-processed foods could harm health
2. What are the Health Benefits of Exercise
3. Tips for Effectively Talking to Someone About Their Addiction
4. Another Essential for Nerve Health - Daily Multivitamins

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More evidence that ultra-processed foods could harm health Medical News Today.com

More evidence that ultra-processed foods could harm health

Previous research has suggested that consuming high levels of ultra-processed foods, such as packaged snacks and soda, could harm health. Two new studies confirm this notion and provide more evidence of the associated cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risks.

Eating processed foods may raise the risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality.

Numerous studies have linked a high consumption of ultra-processed foods with a raised risk of chronic conditions.

Cancer, type 2 diabetes, celiac disease, and multiple sclerosis are just a few of the outcomes associated with consuming processed foods.

Some studies have also suggested that consuming processed meat may raise the risk of premature death.

Now, two studies appearing in the BMJ strengthen the idea that processed foods may be harmful to one’s health.

One study focused on the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, while the other examined the risk of all-cause mortality.

The cardiovascular risks of processed food

Bernard Srour, from the Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center at Sorbonne Paris Cité in France, is the lead author of the first study.Trusted Source

Srour and colleagues examined the links between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the risk of cardiovascular conditions.

The researchers looked at data on 105,159 adults who had enrolled in the NutriNet-Santé study, which is one of the largest worldwide studies of nutrition and health.

The participants were 43 years old, on average, and mostly women (79%). They completed six questionnaires that examined their dietary patterns over a 24-hour period, choosing foods from a list of 3,300 items.

The team classified the foods according to their “degree of processing.” Srour and colleagues define ultra-processed foods as those containing many ingredients that manufacturers exclusively use for industrial purposes but that consumers perceive as “safe, convenient, and highly palatable.”

Ultra-processed foods “often have a higher content of total fat, saturated fat, added sugar, energy density, and salt, along with a lower fiber and vitamin density,” the study authors explain.

Baked goods, snacks, sugary soft drinks, ready meals with food additives, and dehydrated vegetable soups are some examples of ultra-processed foods.

In the study, Srour and team clinically followed the participants for a decade, between 2009 and 2018.

The findings revealed that for every 10% increase in the amount of ultra-processed foods the participants consumed, the risk of:

cardiovascular disease increased by 12%
coronary heart disease increased by 13%
cerebrovascular disease increased by 11%

By contrast, those who consumed minimally processed or unprocessed foods were at a lower risk of developing these cardiovascular diseases.

The scientists calculated the cardiovascular risk in relative terms, meaning that they compared the cardiovascular risk of those who consumed more processed foods with that of those who consumed less.

“Various factors in processing, such as nutritional composition of the final product, additives, contact materials, and neoformed contaminants, might play a role in these associations,” they suggest, adding that more research is necessary.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), 1 in 3 deaths in the United States occurs as a result of cardiovascular disease.

Ultra-processed foods may raise death risk

Anaïs Rico-Campà, from the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, led the second study.Trusted Source

Rico-Campà and colleagues set out to examine the links between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and the risk of mortality from any cause.

They examined a total of 19,899 adults, 12,113 of whom were women. The participants were 38 years old, on average, and they had registered in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra study.

As part of this study, the participants completed a food questionnaire of 136 items. The scientists followed them up for 10 years and grouped the foods they ate according to how processed they were.

The study found that people who consumed more than four servings of ultra-processed food each day were 62% more likely to die from any cause compared with those who consumed two servings or fewer.

The relative risk of premature mortality increased by 18% with each additional serving of ultra-processed food.

Ultra-processed foods can lead to a second heart attack or strokeUltra-processed foods (UPF) contain industrially-formulated ingredients and little to no whole food.

A recent study found that these foods increased the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

A new study says that these foods are especially dangerous for people who already have cardiovascular disease.

A food must contain minimal amounts of whole food ingredients and five or more — often many more — inexpensive, industrially produced ingredients to qualify as UPF.

Scientists have long cautioned against the overconsumption of UPF, linking them to a range of health conditions. Recent studiesTrusted Source have indicated that they can lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality.

A new study finds that consuming UPF increases the risk of a second — and more likely fatal — heart attack or stroke for people who already have CVD.

“We saw,” says first author of the study Dr. Marialaura Bonaccio, “that people with a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods have a two-thirds increased risk of a second heart attack or stroke, this time fatal, compared with participants eating these foods less frequently. The probability of dying from any cause is also 40% higher.”

Worryingly, consumption of UPF is growing, particularly in the United States, where nearly 60% of the average person’s diet is likely to be made up of highly processed foods.

The Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy, conducted the study, which appears in European Heart Journal.

Recognizing ultra-processed foods

Dr. Bonaccio told Medical News Today, “It is important to underline that the definition of ultra-processed food is not linked to the nutritional content, but rather to the process used for its preparation and storage. In other words, even if a food is nutritionally balanced, it might still be considered ultra-processed.”

Cardiology dietician Michelle Routhenstein, MS RD CDE CDN, who was not involved in the study, told MNT:

“I find that many people are hyper-focused on calories, so when they read the food label, if the nutritional facts panel satisfies what they are assessing it for, they can easily dismiss the processing element of the food. I, therefore, like to direct the attention of the consumer to read the actual ingredient list first.”

Routhenstein adds, “When looking at the food label, it may be helpful to understand at a glance the NOVA classification scale.”

The NOVA classification system assigns foods to one of four categories based on the amount of processing they involve:

Group 1 — Unprocessed or minimally processed foods. These are either unprocessed foods or foods that have undergone minimal processing, such as cooking or pasteurization.
Group 2 — Processed culinary ingredients. These derive from nature or group 1 foods. They include olive oil, salt, maple syrup, and other items which people may use to prepare group 1 foods.
Group 3 — Processed foods. These are foods created using items from groups 1 and 2, such as bread and cheese.
Group 4 — Ultra-processed food and drink products. Manufacturers have formulated these food products to be tasty, cheap to buy, and easy to prepare. They include few to no products from group 1 and often contain fats, salt, preservatives, stabilizers, food coloring, artificial flavoring, and refined grains.
Open Food Facts summarizes group 4 foods: “soft drinks, sweet or savory packaged snacks, reconstituted meat products, and pre-prepared frozen dishes.”

How UPF may affect cardiovascular health

Dr. Bonaccio shared with MNT some hypotheses regarding the relationship between UPF and the increased risk of CVD-related death:

“Here, we saw that only a small part of the excess of death risk is attributable to the poor nutritional content of these UPF, and this leads [us] to think that other non-nutritional factors of UPF are potentially responsible for their detrimental effects on health.”

“They are frequently packaged in materials that are a source of phthalatesTrusted Source and bisphenolsTrusted Source that are multifunctional synthetic chemicals used to make plastics flexible and durable.” Dr. Bonaccio added that “UPF are also a major source of food additives and neoformed compoundsTrusted Source that have been shown to have adverse effects on human health in experimental and some epidemiological studies.”

“Thus,” Dr. Bonaccio concluded, “it seems that UPFs do not exert specific cardiovascular effects but accelerate the occurrence of secondary events in patients with pre-existing CVD.”

Choosing one’s diet

Neuromed’s Dr. Licia Iacoviello says, “it is time to overcome the distinction between healthy and unhealthy food solely on the basis of the nutrient value.”

Dr. Iacoviello notes that knowing, for example, that one is following a Mediterranean diet does not say anything about how the food was prepared. She adds, “Fresh vegetables are not the same as pre-cooked and seasoned vegetables, and the same goes for many other foods. It is a factor to be increasingly considered when advising citizens about proper nutrition.”

When asked if there is some way for a consumer to know if a food is a UPF that they should avoid, Dr. Bonaccio suggested to MNT:

“One simple thing to do for a consumer to make healthier food choices is to look at the number of ingredients a given food contains. If this number exceeds five, that product has a high probability of being an ultra-processed food.”

Ultra-processed foods may raise the risk of type 2 diabetes
Sugary drinks, packaged snacks, and ready-made meals all count as ultra-processed foods — that is, foods that contain a higher number of additives and last longer because of the added preservatives. New research suggests that these foods also raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Research has linked ultra-processed foods with conditions such as cancer, obesityTrusted Source, and cardiovascular disease, as well as with a higher risk of premature mortality.

These foods are prevalent in Western diets, and the Western world has also seen a surge in the incidence of diabetes in recent decades. Are ultra-processed foods and type 2 diabetes linked? And if so, how?

Bernard Srour, Ph.D., of the Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center–University of Paris in France, and his team of researchers set out to answer this question.

They did so by examining the dietary habits of more than100,000 people.

The results of their analysis appear in the journal JAMA Internal MedicineTrusted Source.

More Next Week - Ultra Processed Foods and Diabetes

What are the Health Benefits of Exercise

.Hey, It’s Dr. Martin here…

Once you hit 30 you lose 3-8% of your muscle mass per decade. And you start to lose even MORE than that once you hit 60.
To make matters worse studies show that as you age and lose muscle you gain fat mass. So, when you age, your body wants to LOSE MUSCLE and GAIN FAT. This means you need to actively fight against that.

In this email, I want to share with you why building muscle is one of the most important things you can do for your health. In fact, one of your health goals SHOULD be building muscle.

Let me start by saying something you’ve never heard about muscle, especially from your doctor. MUSCLE is an endocrine organ. I know that muscle isn’t *technically* an endocrine organ…but it should be.

Your endocrine system, which is made up of all the body’s different hormones regulates ALL BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES (including blood sugar) in your body from your birth until you die.

Your endocrine system is made up of 8 major organs:

1. Hypothalamus
2. Pituitary
3. THYROID
4. Parathyroid
5. ADRENALS
6. Pineal Body
7. The OVARIES
8. The Testes

(You most likely recognize many of the endocrine organs because I always talk about them).

Since most doctors only consider muscle part of the "musculoskeletal” system, muscle is completely ignored when it comes to health especially when it comes to hormonal health.

But that can’t be farther from the truth. If you don’t have enough muscle — All your hormones suffer.

Let me share with you four surprising things muscle does for your health:

1 - Your Thyroid Suffers If You Don’t Have Enough Muscle

Without getting too deep into the weeds our thyroid makes and secretes a few hormones, two of which are critical T3 and T4.

All you need to know for now is that T3 is the ACTIVE hormone.
T3 is a potent metabolism regulator. You need T3 for energy, and you need T3 to lose fat. Basically, you need T3 to live.

BUT and this is big…94% of all the hormones your thyroid makes come in the form of T4 NOT in the active T3 form.

This means you have to convert T4 into the active form T3 so that you can breathe properly, have a regular heart rate, be at a normal body weight, have muscle strength, have a normal menstrual cycle, keep a balanced body temperature, and have a healthy nervous system.

Once your thyroid makes T4 and T3, they both LEAVE your thyroid and travel through your blood to get to other organs where the conversion of T4 to T3 happens. So, once your thyroid has made T4 and T3, it has done its job. The thyroid doesn’t have to do ANYTHING else.

It’s now up to other organs to convert the T4 into T3. Well…
One of those organs that converts T4 into T3 is your muscle.

Want a healthy thyroid that isn’t sluggish? Build muscle.

2 - Your Metabolism Suffers If You Don’t Have Enough Muscle

Your muscles are one of the central storage units for glucose. Let me explain what that means…EVERYTHING you eat gets broken down into glucose. Some food turns into glucose fast while better foods (eggs, meat, and cheese) take a long time to turn into glucose.

Glucose is highly toxic to your health if your blood sugar levels go too high or get too low it can be deadly. That’s why your blood sugar levels are TIGHTLY regulated by your body.

So, if you overeat energy and your body doesn’t immediately need that energy then the extra glucose has to be removed from your blood ASAP and moved into storage.

As I mentioned earlier, your muscles are one of the primary storage units of excess energy consumption. If you are losing a significant amount of muscle mass every decade you’re losing a lot of storage. And that’s a big problem for your metabolic health.

Because you’re losing storage. Your blood sugar levels can start to climb higher. Maybe not high enough to be a diabetic but high enough to increase your risk of every disease.

You also end up secreting a lot more insulin because your body is desperately trying to get rid of glucose from your blood.

Once you start making too much insulin that’s when all the problems start:

• High inflammation
• Hormone issues
• Pain
• Brain problems
• Low energy
• Weight gain
• Skin issues
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure

… to name a few.

Also you’ve lost storage space your body will put more glucose into your liver and fat cells. It will also pack a lot of fat around your organs called visceral fat.

One more overlooked benefit of weight lifting. You burn off the glucose stored in your muscles. Essentially weight lifting helps clean out the storage containers. This opens up more room for future glucose storage.

If you want a better metabolism…build muscle.

3 - Your Energy Suffers If You Don’t Have Enough Muscle

Muscle plays a major role in your energy system. Why? Because muscles are loaded with mitochondria.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, The batteries inside a Tesla weigh almost 2,000 pounds…Whereas a Honda Civic weighs under 3,000 pounds in total! A Tesla needs a HUGE and HEAVY battery to get over 350 miles on a single charge.

The same is true for you.

You require a lot of energy to run all the trillions upon trillions of chemical processes in your body daily. So, like the Tesla, you need a LOT of BIG and HEAVY batteries.

Well the mitochondria are the energy-producing structures found in cells, acting like batteries. This means you NEED a LOT of BIG and HEALTHY mitochondria.

If you suffer from low energy, you also have a mitochondria problem. You have fewer mitochondria, and the ones you do have are smaller and don’t work as well as they should.

One way to get more mitochondria is to build more muscle. If you want more energy…build more muscle.

4 - Your Brain Suffers If You Don’t Have Enough Muscle

Did you know that your brain shrinks as you age? Well, it does, and it is normal. But if your brain shrinks too fast then you’re at serious risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Many things can cause your brain to shrink too fast…

• Fatty liver
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Obesity

…and lower muscle mass.

If you don’t have enough muscle your brain shrinks much faster than normal. That’s one reason why people with lower muscle mass have much more severe Alzheimer’s.

If you want to protect your brain as you age…then build more muscle.

This leads us to the million-dollar question how do you prevent muscle loss as you age?

The first thing and the most important is to think of muscle mass building as your retirement savings account. The more you have in your account, the better. The same goes for muscles.

Since you naturally will lose muscle mass as you age, it makes sense to build muscle early and often. But…what if you haven’t done that yet?

The good news is that you can start building muscle right now no matter your age.

Start lifting weights today.

Also I can’t talk about muscles without talking about PROTEIN.
Few are getting enough protein in their diets. I’m amazed at how backward and poorly informed most doctors are about protein.

I wish they’d keep up with research. You need MORE protein than you think. To make matters worse most of the protein people consume today is from wheat sources like bread and pasta.

And don’t look to the government for advice on how much protein you should eat. The RDA, the BARE MINIMUM, is 0.8 grams per kg.

That means that women weighing 150 pounds (68kg) need to eat a bare minimum of 54 grams per day of protein.

If you’re eating only 54 grams of protein per day, you’ll end up with sarcopenia. That’s a certainty.

If you’re struggling to get enough protein in your diet

Our favorite protein supplement is our BONE BROTH PROTEIN. Bone broth protein is a superfood that contains collagen. While other types of protein are hard to digest — collagen isn’t.

Now, collagen makes up around 30% of the protein in your body.
It’s the main protein of your cartilage, ligaments, bones, and skin.
Meaning Your JOINTS AND SKIN need collagen to be healthy.

Now, humans naturally produce plenty of collagen until they are about 25 which is when we start producing less and less of it.

Which you might have already felt, if your joints hurt more today than they did ten years ago [roducing less collagen is the main reason your joints start to ache.

Bottom line:
• Lift weights
• Get more protein

Tips for Effectively Talking to Someone About Their Addiction

When it comes to talking to someone with an addiction problem, there are certain things that a person should avoid saying if they want to be at all effective in their conversation. Like any other type of issue that a person may be facing, addiction can be a sensitive subject and something that isn’t easy to discuss. For someone who doesn’t understand the complexities of addiction, it can be easy to judge others and make assumptions about their character. Communication breakdowns often occur when people feel disrespected.

If you were dealing with a severe problem and someone came along and started speaking to you about it in a derogatory manner, how would that make you feel? Would you be inclined to open up to that person and listen to what it was they had to say? I doubt it. Now think about if that person could compassionately speak to you and listen to what you had to say without judgment and condemnation. How much easier would it be for you to open up?

It is important to remember that when you are speaking with someone struggling with a substance use problem, they are a person with emotions, past hurts, and difficulties. You aren't talking to someone who intentionally hurts their family and everyone they love; this is just one sad part of addiction that happens the further along someone gets entangled in its snare.

Five things you should avoid saying while speaking to someone about their addiction:
1. Why don’t you stop already?
Many times people will say this out of frustration. To someone looking in from the outside, it seems like a legitimate question. Why would someone continue to keep doing something that is destroying their life? It doesn’t make any sense. Someone who is not addicted to something can assume they would stop once they realized the negative consequences were destroying their life. But seeing this from the addict’s point of view, when you say this to an addict, it will not help them; it will only make them defensive.

2. (Insert name here) was able to quit all on their own why can’t you?
It is unproductive to compare yourself to other people, and it is equally useless to do this with other people. Pointing out how so and so was able to quit on their own isn’t going to help your loved one quit on their own. Some people can stop without help, but most people who have an addiction will need some form of assistance to get better.

3. You don’t even care about how your actions are affecting others.
While it may seem like your loved one doesn’t care how their actions affect others, this usually isn’t true. The thing about addiction is that it hurts everyone involved, whether using drugs themselves or not. As a result, the addict will often say and do things they usually wouldn’t if they were not addicted. Now, this is not to say that you should put up with abusive or toxic behavior, only that it is essential to realize it is the addiction that is usually causing it.

4. Why did you choose to become an addict?
Asking someone this question is unproductive and destructive. Saying this to someone is like a slap in the face. While it may have been that person’s choice to start using in the first place, it is usually never a person’s choice to become a full-blown addict. Some people can experiment with drugs without drugs taking over their lives, while others may try a drug once and quickly become addicted. There is nothing productive about asking this question, and there is no reason to do so. The point shouldn’t be how you let this happen but rather what we can do to fix this.

5. You are a terrible person.
Telling someone they are a terrible person because of their addiction will not cause them to change; it will only cause them to become defensive and unwilling to hear anything else you say. While you may feel that your loved one has turned into someone you no longer recognize, there are different ways to let them know how you think. Again, it is essential to focus on the behavior and not the person.

Five things to consider saying instead:

1. What would be some things we can do to help you get better?
Often, people with addiction know that they need help; they are just unsure how to ask for it. By presenting a question like this, you acknowledge that there is a problem and show you are willing to help figure out a solution. When people feel that you are on their side and want to help them get better, they will be much more open to receiving help.

2. Do you think it would be beneficial to seek out professional help?
Many people do need some form of professional help to get ahold of their addiction. There is a reason there are so many different treatment options available, and that is because addiction is a difficult thing to overcome on one’s own. There are certainly people who can do it without help. However, it is usually a good idea to seek out some form of support to make the process more effective and increase long-term success.

3. I feel (insert emotion here) when you (insert action here).
The statement above is an effective way to communicate how another’s actions impact you. While the person may still try to deflect, they will be more inclined to see how their actions impact the people they love. When they can do this, they will be in a better space to make a change.

4. I’m not sure how this happened, but I want to help.
When a person is at the point that they need help for their addiction, there isn’t much point in asking them how they got this far; this is something they can work through during their treatment program. So at this point, the best thing you can do as a support person is let them know you are willing to help them figure out how they can get help and then support them however you can during that process.

5. Your addiction is causing you to act in ways that you usually wouldn’t.
By focusing on the addiction, which is the problem, the person will be more willing to see how their actions negatively impact their lives. In addition, it is easier for a person to accept responsibility for the harmful actions when they don’t feel attacked. So keep the focus on the problem and remember that deep down, this is someone you care about that you want to help get better.

When we can speak to others with kindness, compassion, and a level of understanding, we are in a much better position to help that person get better. No one wants to listen to someone criticize them for an hour and talk about all of the bad things they are doing. When we can shift the focus off of the person and onto the problem, it becomes much easier to address the real issue at hand.

Another Essential for Nerve Health - Daily Multivitamins

There are many vitamins and minerals that can directly influence the function and health of the nervous system, not to mention your general health and well-being.

It is important to make sure that you are giving your whole body all the nutrients it needs to help your body stay healthy and well.

Here is what one of our customers had to say about using it:

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"Overall, I'm a healthy person, especially considering that I am not as active as I should be, and don't eat/exercise the way I know I should. I continue with the formula in the hope that it can add to whatever other healthy (or not) habits I may have.”

From KLS in Texas

The RHP Life Support Formula is a Daily MultiVitamin that contains a complete balance of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It is designed to provide your body with complete and balanced nutrition.

The formula includes 7 trace minerals and a super potent fruit and vegetable antioxidant blend! The ingredients used are highly bioavailable and bio-active. Your body can recognize and use them.

Order your Life Support (daily multivitamin) here:

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