Scientists from the University of South Florida found that high doses of the antioxidant epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) found in green tea prevented Alzheimer’s-like damage in the brains of mice bred to develop symptoms of this disease.

One of the possible causes of Alzheimer’s disease is the harmful accumulation of beta-amyloid, which is just a very small protein fragment of a larger protein in brain cells. After several months of injecting the mice with pure EGCG on a daily basis, the nerve cells of the mice generated 54% less beta-amyloid proteins than not-treated mice.

In the case of humans, we would need a daily dose of 1,500 to 1,600 mg of pure EGCG to achieve the similar effect experienced by the mice and this daily dose has been studied in healthy human volunteers and was found to be safe and well tolerated. The drinking of green tea alone would not be sufficient to have this particular effect.

Reference: “Green Tea Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate (EGCG) Modulates Amyloid Precursor Protein Cleavage and Reduces Cerebral Amyloidosis in Alzheimer Transgenic Mice” Kavon Rezai-Zadeh, et al. Journal of Neuroscience (2005) 25(38):8807-8814

Related tips:
Alzheimer’s Disease
Antioxidants

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Most people understand the importance of dietary fiber in their diet. Much has been said about its importance in heart health, diabetes, cancer prevention, and even weight control.

What is less well understood is how different types of fiber effect the body. Some provide fecal bulk, some are absorbed more quickly into the blood stream than others, and thus raise blood sugar levels more quickly, and yet others provide benefits to the heart.

Thus, despite the apparent simplicity, fiber is a complex topic. And whilst all types of fiber are important, if you are looking at preventing or managing specific conditions, its not enough to just look at the total dietary fiber as written on food packaging.

Dietary fiber is broadly classified into soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber is fermented in the colon, and plays a role in slowing the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. It also encourages the growth of the ‘friendly’ bacteria that help break down bile, and are involved in the creation of B vitamins like folic acid, niacin, and pyridoxine.

Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, acts a bit like an intestinal broom. It provides bulk to the stools, and makes sure they pass through easily and quickly. This is the type of fiber that keeps you ‘regular’, not insoluble fiber.

Insoluble fiber does provide a feeling of fullness, however. This makes it great for weight loss and controlling hunger. It also keeps blood sugar levels more stable, although research into the rate at which carbohydrates enter the bloodstream have found there to be some significant differences within the foods that make up the fiber group. Dietary fiber can thus be rated by its Glycemic Index, which effectively ranks fiber foods with each other on a relative scale.

The idea is to try and include more low gylcemic index foods. Foods with a high glycemic index cause blood sugar levels to spike, providing too much energy to the blood in the form of carbohydrates, which in turn sets off the body’s sugar controlling hormone - insulin. You thus get a ‘high’ followed by a sudden drop. This in turn leads the body to want more carbohydrates to balance itself again, leading to cravings and overeating, as well as tiredness and moodiness.

Low glycemic index foods include lentils, chickpeas, baked beans, fruit loaf, salmon sushi, barley, milk, low fat custard, soy milk, yoghurt (not diet yoghurt), apples, strawberries, grapes, spaghetti, peas, carrots, fructose, strawberry jam, and chocolate milk.

Moderate glycemic index foods include pea soup, rye bread, porridge, muesli, ice cream, bananas, pineapple, kiwi fruit, new potatoes, beetroot, white sugar, honey, and mars bars.

High glycemic index foods include broad beans, bagels, white bread, brown rice, watermelon, udon noodles, desiree, pontiac and sebago potatoes, and glucose.

We need both soluble and insoluble fiber, however. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that in a group of 6000 French men and women, those with the highest levels of soluble and insoluble fiber in their diet had a lower risk of being overweight, a lower risk of having blood pressure problems, cholesterol problems, and they had better levels of triacylglycerols and homocysteine. The last two are measure3 of heart health.

Fiber from cereals was linked to lower body fat, lower blood pressure, and lower levels of homocysteine. Those with a higher intake of vegetables, also a source of fiber, had lower blood pressure and lower homocysteine levels. Fiber from fresh fruit was associated with a lower waist to hip ratio (good news for dieters!), and lower blood pressure. And fiber from dried fruit, nuts, and seeds (like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds) was also linked to a lower waist to hip ratio, lower body fat, and a better fasting glucose concentration. Fasting glucose relates to having a steady level of glucose between meals. If it dips too low, we crave things, often sweets.

Fiber has another interesting benefit. In people with type 2 diabetes, it has been found to lower the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, and increase the levels of ‘good’ cholesterol. It has already been established that fiber supplements will lower the levels of bad cholesterol in people, whether they have diabetes or not. But this new study found that fiber supplements also decreased the reabsorption of cholesterol from meals.

To get this benefit, it is important to time taking the fiber supplement in synch with meals. The study participants took a fiber supplement drink before mealtimes, and this ensured that the fiber was in the intestines when the meal was being eaten. The people in the study participated for 90 days and their average age was 59 years old.

References:
1. Australian Healthy Food, November 2005
2. nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=64759
3. nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=57887
4. nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=64462
5. nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?id=59737

For more information on soluble and insoluble dietary fiber supplements, check out this article. Rebecca Prescott presents the vitamin and health site, http://www.vitaminstohealth.com

There are numerous factors which need to be taken into consideration when choosing what type of

href="http://www.yourfloors.co.uk">flooring to go for. Getting new flooring put in in your home

can breathe new life into it and can be a great way to improve your living environment. It may not

be as expensive as you think either.

An important factor when choosing flooring is how that particular room will be used. Flooring which

makes sense for the front room may not be appropriate for the bathroom or kitchen for example. Some

of the most widely used types of flooring are carpet, vinyl, wood, and laminate.

Laminate flooring can be a fantastic substitute for wooden flooring if you are looking for a wood

effect floor at a lower cost. Laminate flooring is made from a sheet of MDF with a wood-effect

plastic surface glued to it. One pitfall of laminate flooring is that whilst it is resistant to

sctratches once it is damaged it is extremely difficult to repair. Apart from that it can still be

an ideal choice for a kitchen, where the plastic coating provides an easy to wipe clean surface. On

the other hand a solid wood flooring would not be advisable in a bathroom, or in fact any room which

is likely to get very wet. Some woods such as beech are particularly vulnerable to moisture.

If you are looking to fit a wooden floor, its critical you have the right surface to fit it on. An

ideal surface would be flat, and dry. There are options however to counter uneven flooring problems,

such as laying ply throughout, or employing an underlay to create a floating floor.

More often than not laminate flooring is sold as a product you can install without help which is a

great way of keeping costs down. Solid wood flooring requires however a higher degree of DIY

competence, so it can sometimes be advisable to get solid wooden floors fitted professionally which

can add substantially to the cost.

One point to remember many people do not realise when they measure their room to work out how much

flooring they will need to buy ” is that it is crucial to include a 10mm gap around the edge of the

room for the wooden flooring to expand and contract.

As a fundamental part of any interior design scheme, it is important to choose the correct flooring.

Whilst wooden or laminate floors can be ideal ” often for a more chic minimalist look; carpet can be

a better option if you are trying to achieve a more traditional home feel. The important thing is

you take into account the various factors you need to consider before ordering new flooring.

A ranch house, a zip lock bag and some ordinary flour

Two experiments:

1)Some ordinary wheat flour such as can be found in most homes placed with some water in a zip-lock plastic bag. A magnet is passed over the bag and an extraordinary thing happens - Iron particles start popping out and attaching themselves to the side of the bag, forming clusters of what looked like iron filings.

2) The next experiment involves placing a well-known brand of cereal into a bowl of water. The magnet is again passed over the bowl this time and the flakes literally line up and follow the magnet round the bowl.

This is the first time I realized that there is so much added iron in the food that we eat and the effect it can have on our health.

We’ve all been told that heart attacks and heart bypass surgery are as a direct result of clogging or furring of our arteries by ‘bad cholesterol’. The arteries become so narrowed as to make the blood flow through the arteries very difficult thus placing enormous strains on the cardio-vascular system.

Why do we need chelators and what are they?

A few trace metals that we absorb are toxic, these include iron and lead

To make use of them our bodies must form chelates (key-lates) out of them, and to do this requires chelating substances

Chelating substances attach to desirable trace metals and allow the body to properly utilize those metals they also attach to undesirable trace metals and allow the body to remove them.

Types of Chelator

Many chemicals can serve as chelators. Their effects will depend on the precise nature and concentration of that chelator.

There are some weak chelators present in common foods.

Stronger chelators are substances used medicinally to rid the body of excess toxic metals

Why is there potential for Iron Overload? Iron overload is possible because there is no normal mechanism for removing it from the body.

The body is iron-efficient, it retains its iron and recycles it over and over again.

The body’s iron level is controlled almost entirely by absorption and iron can build up progressively as dietary intake increases, especially in men because they do not have a monthly blood loss.

Over a period of months and years this will result in the accumulation of several grams of iron.

Iron and Heart Disease Risk

Iron can generate free radical pathology.

There is now good evidence that free radical pathology leads to changes in the blood vessels which sets the stage for atheroscelerosis.

Accumulation of excess iron in the body may increase the risk for heart disease and the connection doesn’t end there….

Health statistics have revealed that women have a lower risk of heart disease than men, until menopause, after which the risk is the same.

Why?

Pre-menopausal women have a monthly blood loss that rids the body of excess, potentially toxic iron, which may protect against heart disease.

Even pre-menopausal women with high blood cholesterol levels and high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, which are considered to be strong risk factors for heart disease, have less heart disease than men.

The Lead connection

Lead is a toxic element that has many undesirable health effects.

Evidence links excess lead with cardiovascular disease, cancer and other disorders.

Researchers have found that cancer rates are higher amongst people living near heavily-traveled roads and it was suggested that this increased risk is due to the higher levels of lead in the air.

This led the researchers to test the effect of a lead-removing substance - EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid),a man-made amino acid and chelating agent - on cancer rates in people living near high-traffic roads.

After 18 years those treated with EDTA had one-tenth of the cancer rate of those not treated with EDTA.(1)

Chelation Therapy

This is the use of chelating agents, orally or by injection, in order to bind and remove harmful metals from the body.

The man-made chelating agent EDTA can remove most toxic metals.

Intravenous Chelation

This therapy has been used by doctors as an effective alternative to bypass surgery for atherosclerosis since the 1950s, giving hope that having hardening of the arteries need not lead to coronary bypass surgery, heart attack, stroke and numerous other related diseases.

Doctors noted reduced pain and blood cholesterol levels as well as other favorable changes. EDTA chelation therapy has been reported to help in many conditions now thought to be related to free radical pathology: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and others.

Another effect of EDTA is that it changes the calcium/ magnesium ratio in the body.

EDTA removes calcium more efficiently than magnesium which reduces the ratio.

Lowering the ratio improves the flexibility of blood cells, reduces the tendency of blood to clot and reduces blood cholesterol and blood pressure.

So the benefits of EDTA are not entirely due to the removal of toxic metals but also the calcium/magnesium balance.

In the case of intravenous chelation, EDTA is used as the chelating agent. It is carried in a glucose formulation together with synthetic B Vitamins. It takes several hours and requires 80-100 treatments.

Oral Chelation

Oral EDTA therapy can also be used. One or two oral doses of EDTA per day, over a period of months can have a long-term preventative effect.

But beware! - there are many so-called oral chelation supplements on the market containing few or no chelating substances!

For an oral chelation supplement that has been tested and certified to lower bad cholesterol by The University of Illinois, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition: Go to http://GetaHealthyHeart.com

————————————————

References:

1. Blumer,W, et al Environmental International 3: 1980, pages 465-471

Bibliography:

New Answers to Old Questions, The Free Radical Story by Harry W Hersey

About The Author

Jakki Francis operates ‘Natures Remedies’ a health and nutrition business selling cutting-edge herbal nutrition products. They are based in the UK and also trade in Europe, USA and Canada and new partners are welcome from any of these countries.

Natures Remedies also trade worldwide on-line - http://www.naturesremediesuk.com - And while there, don’t forget to subscribe to her F*REE Ezine, “Health News You Can Use”

Who is Jakki Francis? http://www.JakkiFrancis.com

Sports Supplement - what is it?

We are all aware of what is a nutrition or diet supplement, but what is a sports supplement? A sport supplement is a subcategory of nutrition supplements. The sports supplement is associated with rising sport results, intensifying training, lowering the consequences like muscle pane, etc. Many athletes use some type of sports supplement or supplements, but if you are an athlete you need to be careful as some of the chemicals used in production of supplements or some of the supplements themselves can be on the banned substance list.

Sports Supplement - caffeine.

Caffeine is an example of a sports supplement. Athletes have used caffeine for a long time as it helps them to stay alert and improve endurance. A good thing about caffeine is that there was a lot of research done about it. According to many sport researchers, caffeine supplements claim that caffeine improves athletic performance, increases energy, delays fatigue, improves fat burning, and enhances body fat loss.

Sports Supplement - protein.

Protein is another example of a sports supplement. According to many athletes, high protein diets help to increase muscle mass and gain strength. Unfortunately there is no scientific proof of that nowadays. Protein supplements claim that protein supports muscle growth, increases muscle strength and mass, improves recovery, etc. Again, no research is available to prove these claims.

Sports Supplement - creatine.

Creatine is yet another example of a sports supplement. According to many sport researchers, creatine supplements seem to enable muscles to work harder before becoming fatigued. Creatine supplements claim that creatine improves high power performance of short duration, increases muscle mass, delays fatigue. If you are an athlete, you need to be careful about using creatine sports supplements as there is very little research regarding safety of creatine.

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More information at http://www.liquid-vitamins-4u.com

Fiber supplements can be tremendously beneficial for IBS sufferers. Although supplements such as Metamucil and Citrucel are generally marketed as laxatives, and are very useful for constipation sufferers, they can also be used to combat diarrhea because they add bulk to the diet and can make waste food more solid.

These supplements are not really medications - most are simply fiber products with no added drugs or herbs, and so they can be taken long term on a daily basis without worrying about side effects. They’re just the equivalent of adding lots of fruit and bran to your diet, but without having to eat daily apples or worry about bloating from the bran.

Do check, though, that the supplement you choose is just made up of fiber and nothing more, as you will occasionally find one that has added chemical laxatives or other ingredients that can upset your stomach.

It is important to make sure you find the fiber supplement that’s right for you, as IBS sufferers often have very sensitive stomachs. Some people find that the psyllium fiber in supplements such as Metamucil can irritate their intestines, so if that happens to you try one of the methylcellulose products such as Citrucel, or other types of fiber such as acacia fiber.

Another point to be aware of is that some manufacturers use artificial sweeteners in their products, and these can sometimes cause problems for IBS sufferers. There should be a normal, sweetener-free version to choose instead, and the amount of sugar in a few spoonfuls should not have a huge impact on any diet you are on.

Whatever type of fiber you choose, you must make sure to build the dosage up gradually. If you add masses of fiber to your diet all at once you will probably feel very gassy and bloated. Instead, try just a small spoon of fiber once a day and build up to the recommended dose on the label. Most supplements will recommend that you take the product with lots of water, and to make sure you are drinking enough water for the rest of the day as well.

It will take a little while before you see the effects of the supplement, so don’t give up if you don’t feel better after a few days. Try taking a supplement for one or two weeks to really give it time to work.

These days there are many different ways to take fiber supplements. You can buy the traditional powder form, which is swallowed with water or soft food, or you can buy wafers, tablets or capsules, which can be very handy if you need to travel and don’t want to carry a whole can of fiber with you.

Most people prefer to take one dose of fiber in the early morning, perhaps with their breakfast, and then another with dinner or just before their evening meal. You will need to experiment to find the right dosage for your symptoms and the best time to take the fiber, but if you can find a supplement and dose that works for you it will be well worth the effort, because you will have found a cheap, drug-free way to help keep your IBS under control.

Sophie Lee has suffered from IBS for more than 15 years. She runs IBS Tales http://www.ibstales.com where you can read hundreds of personal stories of IBS sufferers and a range of self-help tips.

Nutrition Articles are a dime a dozen. Type any nutrition-related keyword into a major search engine and you’re bound to find tens of thousands of search results

With all of that information out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Which nutrition articles are worth reading? What books can help you reach your goals?

Here are some tips to help you sort through all of the information out there and make progress toward helping your family live happier and healthier lives:

==>Figure out what you want.

Sounds too simple, but it’s so important. Make sure that you have a good sense as to what are appropriate and realistic goals for your children before you start to collect information.

==>Talk with your child’s doctor

Run your goals past your child’s doctor and talk with them about the information that you’ve found. Often physicians have or can point you toward good, evidence-based information that is safe and effective.

==>Look at who’s writing the information

A lot of the information on the Internet about nutrition is not written by health care professionals. They are typically one person’s experience with a certain product and will not have any scientific evidence to back up claims. Government-run public health sites tend to have better information written by professionals, although you usually can’t find all of the answers that you’re looking for in one place.

Michael P. Scaccia, MD, FAAP is a physician, child health expert, and author of “The Ultimate Parent Guide to Fitness and Nutrition”. From nutrition to fitness and beyond, this powerful, step-by-step guide is a must-have for concerned parents of overweight children. For more information, visit ==> http://www.UltimateParentGuide.com

Eat less fat. Eat more fat. Carbs are bad. Carbs are good-Nutrition advice changes so often, no wonder so many people are confused.

But when it comes it calories, the advice to consume fewer of them seems set in stone. After all, “a calorie is a calorie”, right?

Wrong.

For years, we’ve been told that if we “eat less and exercise more,” we’ll lose weight. That recommendation is based on the belief that we need burn more calories than we take in. But this doesn’t tell the whole story.

As it turns out, it isn’t the amount of calories you consume that really affects your weight and your health. It’s the type of calorie.

It’s true-the calories you eat are actually absorbed at different rates. And the different amounts of fiber, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and nutrients in these calories can have very different effects on your metabolism. There’s no difference between a thousand calories of kidney beans and a thousand calories of a low-fat muffin-until they’re metabolized.

As you can see, food isn’t just a source of energy-it’s a source of operating instructions for your body. Calories 101

So what is a calorie anyway? Simply put, a calorie is just a unit of energy. When we eat food, chemical processes that make up our metabolism break this food down and turn it into energy. Burning this energy lets us do what we need and want to do-from breathing to running a marathon. It’s like your car: You have to put fuel in it to make it run. For people, food is our fuel. Calories are what help us “run.”

The Dieting Myth

Just like high quality fuel is better for your car than the cheap stuff, some calories are better for our metabolism than others. That idea flies in the face of conventional diet wisdom, but it’s true-and science backs it up.

For example, recent studies show that high-carb diets can boost insulin and blood sugar levels. The result? Weight gain (not to mention high cholesterol and triglycerides). On the other hand, people who eat a healthy low-carb diet that’s rich in vegetables, whole grains, beans, and lean animal protein-but consume more calories than low-fat dieters-actually lose more weight!

As you can see, the kinds of calories you consume can have a big impact on weight gain, because different foods are metabolized in different ways. Food “talks” to your genes, giving your metabolism specific instructions-whether to lose weight or gain weight, speed up or slow down the aging process, increase or decrease your cholesterol level, and produce molecules that increase or decrease your appetite.

No wonder you can feel like you’re doing everything right and still not lose weight!

The Whole Truth

If you want to lose weight and be healthy, you have to send your body the right messages. That means living in harmony with your genes.

This means different things for different people. Depending on our genes, some of us may need more carbs, protein, or fat than others.

But there’s one basic principle that works of everyone: Base your diet on whole, unprocessed foods. Foods that are in their natural state talk to your genes the most effectively-and were designed by nature to keep you at a healthy weight.

You’ll find more details on whole foods and the Calorie Myth in my book, UltraMetabolism or on my website at http://www.ultrametabolism.com.

Copyright 2006 Mark Hyman MD

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a NY Times bestselling author, lecturer, and practicing physician. Discover how you can program your body to automatically lose weight and find out what special super fiber can help by grabbing an exclusive sneak preview of UltraMetabolism at http://www.ultrametabolism.com.

Itaca Inn is a bed and breakfast in Syracuse, located in Piazza Archimede, 2

B&B Itaca is situated in the heart of Siracusa (Ortigia) in Piazza Archimede in a building from 1400.
Its position allows our guests to reach by foot Piazza del Duomo, Tempio di Apollo, Fonte Aretusa and the turistic harbour.
Our room were totally renewed keeping intact the architectural features and with a parcticular care for the details.
All the rooms are equipped with private bath,air condition, tv, and some have also a balcony.

In each room:
Indipendent air condition
tv
equipped kitchen
private bath

By request we can help our guests in reserving bus and aeroplane tickets, restaurants and tours in Sicily.
Rooms in our Syracuse cheap hotel

Room "Ulisse"
Double room with bath, it is carachterized by a sloping roof and it is furnished in a classical way, with wooden forniture.
The bathroom is made with white Carrara marble.

Room "Penelope"

Double room with bath, it is carachterized by a sloping roof and radio-controlled windows.It is furnished in a classical way, with wooden forniture.
The bathroom is made with white Carrara marble.

Room "Circe"
It is our biggest double room, it is possible to add an extra bed.
It has a balcony with a beautiful view on Piazza Archimede and on the internal court.
The bathroom is made of white Carrara marble.

Room "Kioni"
Double room with bath, it is carachterized by a sloping roof and it is furnished in a modern way and has a wall totally consacrated to John Lennon.
The bathroom is made of white Carrara marble.

In today’s climate of too much information, too few facts, too many myths, too many money hungry businesses, and too many misinformed and unsuspecting Americans, you may be wondering what you need to do to prevent osteoporosis or the dissolving of your bones and how this bone wasting disease affects health and fitness.

Most Americans believe that osteoporosis is caused by the lack of calcium and our best sources of calcium are dairy products and/or calcium tablets.

Most doctors’ remedy, aside from taking pills or drugs, for osteoporosis or the prevention of osteoporosis is drinking milk because milk has lots of calcium in it. After all, milk gives us strong bones and teeth, so we have always been told.

Actually, according to John McDougall, 70% of all studies say that the amount of calcium taken into the body has little or nothing to do with bone strength. In fact, those countries that consume the most calciumthe U.S., Great Britain, Finland, and Swedenhave the most hip fractures from osteoporosis.

Most of us equate osteoporosis, a bone wasting disease, with not enough calcium. In scientific journals, there is no such thing as a calcium deficiency disease.

Then what is osteoporosis? It is the loss of hard minerals from our bones. And what causes us to lose hard minerals from our bones?

There are many things we eat that leach calcium from our bones. One of the biggest calcium robbers of all is animal protein, any source of animal protein.

Animal protein causes the blood and the body to become more acidic than alkaline. An acid environment is not ideal for the body. In fact, some experts say that cancer thrives in an acid environment. The body must somehow neutralize the acidity.

That’s where calcium comes in. Without getting too complicated here, the body pulls the calcium out of the bones to neutralize the acidity, and then we literally pee this calcium out.

When we eat animal protein and other food and non-food substances that leech the calcium out of our bones day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year the way most Americans do, the result is often osteoporosis.

So what else contributes to the dissolving of our bones besides animal protein?

Learn what you eat that dissolves your bones in Part 2 of: “Are You Missing Something? Like the Inside of Your Bones?”

Dr. Leslie Van Romer is a health motivational speaker, writer, and life style coach. Visit http://www.DrLeslieVanRomer.com for more inspiration.