JC Tonic - Healthy Blood=Healthy Life

How is it that JC Tonic® is able to help so many people with so many different health problems? Given the right care, the human body is capable of doing amazing things! JC Tonic®, helps to keep the blood healthy. Healthy Blood = Healthy Life

It accomplishes this by helping to regulate blood chemical and biological balance. It has the property to keep the walls of the blood vessels clean. It has catalytic properties to render chemical processes and conversions more efficient and more assimilable to the blood. It also contains rich sources of trace minerals and organic acids, to supplement these to the blood chemistry if lacking. It so contributes to keep blood in good shape to do its job of giving life and well being to the body.

Your Body - Astounding Facts By Dr. Anne Dunev Most people know more about their favorite sports team or the latest celebrity news than they do about how their own body works.  The word “doctor” comes from the Latin “docere”, which means to teach... Here are some astounding facts about your body: There are 60 to 100 trillion cells in the adult body. Every hour, approximately 1 billion cells must be replaced. Where do dead cells go? To the kidney, to be excreted. A human body has 60,000 miles of blood vessels. 15 million blood cells die in the human body every second. The heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day. The average heart beats 100,000 times per day. Two million red blood cells die every second. The average human heart will beat 3,000 million times in its lifetime and pump 48 million gallons of blood...

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For more information about JC Tonic, please visit www.HealthIsInReach.Jurak.com

The Healing Crisis and JC Tonic

What is The Healing Crisis and

What does it have to do with JC TONIC®?!

Well, in the words of Dr. Bruce Fife, "The healing crisis is a process in which the body undergoes an intense period of cleansing and rebuilding. This is a common phenomenon that happens when you do natural things to improve your health, such as taking tonic herbs. It is called a "healing" crisis because the body is healing itself and becoming stronger. It is sometimes considered a "crisis" because the symptoms can be dramatic and rather unpleasant during this time. Because the healing crisis is often accompanied by unpleasant symptoms it is often mistaken as a sickness. In reality, it is just the opposite. It is a process in which the body is overcoming ill health and becoming healthier and stronger...

When people start to take JC Tonic®, they assume that since it will improve their health they will immediately begin to feel better. While it will begin the process of improving health, that doesn’t mean you will suddenly feel better. In fact, just the opposite may happen..."

THE HEALING CRISIS BY DR. BRUCE FIFE (AUDIO)

Neuropathy Testimony with JC Tonic

For additional information about JC Tonic, please visit www.HealthIsInReach.Jurak.com

Study: Baker's Yeast Beta Glucan Benefits Intense Exercise

Product: Transfer Point Baker's Yeast Beta Glucan 

Intense exercise, such as running a marathon, cycling, etc., are known to suppress the natural immune capacity of mucous membranes that line the air passageways and digestive tract for up to 24 hours, which can increase the risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and experience reduced exercise performance.

Many dietary interventions have been used to combat post-exercise immune suppression ineffectively, but this study demonstrates that Baker's Yeast Beta Glucan (β-glucan) may reduce URTI symptomatic days and improve mucosal immunity post-exercise, since baker's yeast  β-glucan supplementation increases monocytes and cytokines after exercise.

Using two experiments, this study was to determine if baker's yeast β-glucan could positively affect the immune system of individuals undergoing intense exercise stress.

In the first experiment, 182 men and women marathon runners took 250mg of baker's yeast β-glucan or a placebo for 28 days immediately after the marathon.  Baker's yeast β-glucan was associated with a 37% reduction in the number of cold/flu symptom days post-marathon compared to a placebo.

In the second experiment, 60 men and women were evaluated for changes in their salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) after 50 minutes of strenuous cycling taking 250mg of baker's yeast β-glucan or a placebo 10 days before their cycling session.  Saliva was collected before, immediately after, and 2 hours after exercising.  Baker's yeast β-glucan was associated with a 32% increase in salivary IgA at 2 hours after exercise compared to the placebo, signaling the mucous membranes were stronger, and could resist infection better.

Source: Journal of Dietary Supplements; 2013, Vol. 10, No. 3, 171-83

For additional information on Baker's yeast β-glucan visit www.bakersyeastbetaglucan.com

Blood Type Increases Heart Disease Risk

Two studies were performed that indicated people with blood types A, B, or AB have a greater risk for developing coronary heart disease when compared to those with blood type O. 

Blood type AB - 4% of the population - 23% increased risk
Blood type B - 12% of population - 11% increased risk
Blood type A - 36% of population - 5% increased risk

The findings are based on an analysis of 62,073 women in the Nurses Health Study (NHS) and 27,428 men in the Health Professional Follow-up Study (HPFS).  These people were predominantly white, aged 30-75 and followed for 26 years (NHS) and 24 years (HPFS).

The mechanism for this increased risk seems to be a genetic inheritance of a non-O blood group. In non-O individuals, plasma levels of clotting factor VIII-von Willebrand factor (vWF) complex are ≈25% higher than group O individuals which confers higher risk.  Other studies show that non-O individuals have higher lipid levels (cholesterol, triglycerides) and inflammatory markers, including soluble intercellular adhesion molecule, plasma soluble E-selectin levels, P-selectin levels, and tumor necrosis factor-α.   All of these elevated levels of inflammation increase the risk for coronary heart disease.

You can't change your blood type, but you can decrease your risk by adhering to a healthy lifestyle, one way is by eating right for your blood type.



Are You Gluten Intolerant or Have Celiac Disease?

If you're gluten intolerant or have celiac disease what is your body doing when gluten is present?

Dr. Tom O'Bryan in this video describes what your body and immune system does when gluten is consumed.

Dr. O'Bryan also discusses whether or not people with gluten sensitivities may introduce gluten after a period of time, have it in moderation or stay completely away from it.

The Dr. goes on to explain about a 34 year old woman with celiac disease who had osteoporosis (malabsorption of Vit. D and calcium), recurrent anemias (malabsorption of iron), chronic fatigue, hairloss, and a number of other symptoms.

After going completely gluten free her osteoporosis was gone, her hairloss was gone, she had her energy back and her blood work was normal.

This video is approx. 10 minutes in length and worth watching.

Ten Best and Worst Foods

Food has the potential to affect your physical health, emotional well-being and mental acuity.  Choose wisely.

The best foods are cancer-protective and longevity-favorable and, if consumed regularly, will contribute to maintaining ideal weight, achieving super immunity and promoting overall well-being.

Ten Best Foods:

1. Green Leafy Vegetables (kale, collard greens, swiss chard, mustard greens, spinach, lettuce)
2. Non-leafy Cruciferous Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage)
3. Berries
4. Beans
5. Mushrooms
6. Onions
7. Seeds (Flax seeds, chia, hemp, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin)
8. Nuts (walnuts, pistachio, pine-nuts, almonds, cashews)
9. Tomatoes
10. Pomegranates

But the worst foods can be the leading causes of death, including cancer, diabetes and heart diseases.  The wrong foods can be as addictive as drugs and alcohol and can cause us to lead lives that provide only a fraction of our potential for health, energy level and physiological well-being.

Ten Worst Foods:

1. Full-fat Dairy (cheese, ice cream, butter, whole milk)
2. Trans Fat Containing Foods (stick margarine, shortening, fast foods, commercial baked goods)
3. Doughnuts
4. Sausage, Hot Dogs, and Luncheon Meats
5. Smoked Meat, Barbecued Meat and Conventionally-raised Red Meat
6. Fried Foods including Potato Chips and French Fries
7. Highly-salted Foods
8. Soda
9. Refined White Sugar
10. Refined White Flour

For a deeper look at the "Ten Best and Worst Foods", please refer to the full article

To fine tune your eating habits, you can also look at eating according to your Blood Type.



Eat Right 4 Your Type
by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo

Is Meat or Soy the Real Cause of Bone Loss?

The soy industry has done its best to fan women’s fears about bone loss, blame meat for the osteoporosis epidemic and promote soy milk and other products as the solution.

Consumers who bone up on the issue, however, will find that soy has only a rickety leg to stand on.

And the soy industry itself knows this!

Between 2001 and 2005, I attended three symposia sponsored by the soy industry entitled “The Role of Soy in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease,” where I had the pleasure of watching embarrassed researchers squirm as they apologized for their failure to find a consistent bone-sparing effect and try to explain that the dose must have been either “suboptimal” or “excessive.”

In other words, they all know soy “works” . . . now if they could only find the perfect dose, correct formula or right age to initiate preventive treatment!

In 2006, very bad news came for the soy industry when Yale researchers writing for the Journal of Nutrition concluded:

“These data indicate that when soy protein is substituted for meat protein, there is an acute decline in dietary calcium bioavailability.”

This finding, of course, should have exploded once and for all the myth that eating meat and eggs results in a loss of calcium, leading the body to strip calcium from storage in the bones, ultimately causing osteopenia or osteoporosis.

But no such luck.

To this day the myth gets repeated, and if any science is cited at all, it’s most likely from an article that ran in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism back in 1988. Let’s talk about that one:

The study involved 15 healthy young people, divided into three groups. All three groups ate foods that contained identical amounts of sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and protein, but differing amounts of sulfur.

The first group (least sulfur) consumed soy products; the second (moderate sulfur) consumed soy milk, texturized soy protein, cheese and eggs; and the third (most sulfur) consumed animal protein from meat and cheese. Those who got their protein from the animal products lost 50 percent more calcium from their bodies than did those who had only soy protein.

The soy, egg and dairy people were in the middle. The researchers concluded, “The inability to compensate for the animal protein-induced calciuric response (calcium in the urine) may be a risk factor for the development of osteoporosis.”

When this study comes up — which it often does in the pro plant-based diet literature – the authors never mention that the 15 subjects spent a grand total of 12 days testing each type of food. This was just enough time for their bodies to react to unexpectedly high levels of sulfur proteins, but not enough time for the body to normalize and handle the sulfur load.

Calcium homeostasis is normally well regulated so that increased calcium loss through the urine results in increased calcium absorption from the gut. This adaptive process may fail to occur during short-term studies, though the human body is more than capable of adjusting to the sulfur load of real foods when given a proper time frame.

The fallacy of most other studies linking sulfur-rich animals foods to high calcium excretion is equally easy to find. The majority of the experiments feature overdoses of the isolated amino acids methionine, cysteine and cystine without providing adequate levels of vitamin B6 and the extra hydrochloric acid needed to process this high amino acid load.

Notably, people and animals fed Real Food have not experienced the same problems.

The B6 issue is critical because the active form of B6 (pyridoxal-5-phosphate) is the coenzyme for the enzyme needed for proper conversion of sulfur-containing amino acids (cystathionine synthetase). The best and most available sources of vitamin B6 are raw animal foods, such as raw meat, raw milk and raw cheese. As it happens, these foods are also good sources of usable sulfur.

To date, only one study convincingly suggests that soy might prevent osteoporosis.

Published in the May 2006 issue of Journal of Nutrition, it pertains to natto, a fermented Japanese soybean product rarely sold in the U.S. In the case of natto, the bone building doesn’t come from the miracle bean itself, but from the Vitamin K2 manufactured by the bacteria involved in the fermentation process.

Vitamin K2 is crucial for bone health and conspicuously absent from soy milk or any other modern soybean products. But don’t expect to find natto in the stores anytime soon as few Americans appreciate its sticky coat, cheesy texture, musty taste, sliminess, stringiness and pungent odor.

Butter and lacto-fermented foods like sauerkraut are the best sources of vitamin K2 in western diets.

As for soy milk and other modern soy products, more than 70 years of studies link soy to thyroid problems, particularly hypothyroidism with its familiar symptoms of weight gain, fatigue, malaise and lethargy. Hypothyroidism itself is a known risk factor for osteoporosis.

Soy proponents, of course, believe the phytoestrogens in soy promote bone health.

While it’s true that estrogen receptors are found in bone, soy phytoestrogens are not true estrogens and don’t reliably activate them. In any case, the key hormone for bone health is not estrogen but progesterone. In that American women most often suffer from estrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency, soy phytoestrogens aren’t likely to help. And there aren’t any soy phytoprogesterones.

Last summer, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) put the kibosh on proposed health claims that soy stops osteoporosis. Of the fourteen studies submitted by the soy industry, EFSA found only two that showed a possible benefit.

Those two reported an effect of soy isoflavones at doses of 54 mg per day at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, which was accompanied by a significant increase in markers of bone formation and a significant decrease in markers of bone resorption. However, the panel noted that such changes in BMD at the lumbar spine seen in short term studies (six to nine months) could have “resulted from a change in the remodeling balance which may not be retained in subsequent remodeling cycles” and that “the evidence for a mechanism by which soy isoflavones may exert an effect on bone mass and turnover in post-menopausal women is weak.”

As for the other 12 studies, they did not support bone health despite dosages of soy isoflavones as high as 200 mg per day. The soy industry declared it was “surprised” and “disappointed.”

Disappointed?  Of course.  Surprised?  Hardly.

EFSA had earlier rejected three petitions for a soy/heart disease health for similar reasons.

The takeaway?  Other than the vitamin K2 found abundantly in natto, soybean products have little to offer our bones and much to harm them.
About the Author

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food endorsed by leading health experts, including Drs Joseph Mercola, Larry Dossey, Kilmer S. McCully, Russell Blaylock and Doris J. Rapp.

She is Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, on the Board of Directors of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and received the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Integrity in Science Award in 2005.  Kaayla has been a guest on The Dr.Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy, and many other shows.

 

Kaayla  is known as The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths.

 

You can find her on Facebook at facebook.com/DrKaaylaDaniel and subscribe to her edu-taining blog at drkaayladaniel.com.

SOURCES

Daniel, Kaayla. The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food. (New Trends, 2005)

Daniel, Kaayla. EFSA rejects soy health claims for bone health and menopause.

Daniel, Kaayla. Nothing natty about natto, but the strings of slime are good for you.

 

Fujita Y, Iki M, Tamaki J et al. Association between vitamin K intake from fermented soybeans, natto, and bone mineral density in elderly Japanese men: The Fujiwara-kyo Osteoporosis Risk in Men (FORMEN) study. Osteoporos Int. 2012 Feb;23(2):705-14.

 

Ikeda Y, Iki M, Morita A, Kajita E, Kagamimori S, Kagawa Y, Yoneshima H. Intake of fermented soybeans, natto, is associated with reduced bone loss in postmenopausal women: Japanese Population-Based Osteoporosis (JPOS) Study. J Nutr. 2006 May;136(5):1323-8.

Reinwald S, Weaver CM. Soy components vs. whole soy: are we betting our bones on a long shot? J Nutr. 2010 Dec;140(12):2312S-2317S.

 

Eat Tomatoes to Protect Against Heart Attack and Stroke

According to Dr. Fuhrman, carotenoids are a family of over six hundred phytochemicals, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Carotenoids are abundant in green and yellow-orange vegetables and fruits and help to defend the body’s tissues against oxidative damage, oxidative damage from free radicals contributes to chronic diseases and aging.¹

The levels of carotenoids in your skin and in your blood are a good indicator of your overall health because the levels parallel the levels of plant-derived phytochemicals in general. In fact, Dr. Fuhrman uses a carotenoid skin testing method to non-invasively track his patients’ progress as they adopt a nutritarian diet. Low blood levels of total carotenoids, alpha-carotene, and lycopene have been linked to premature death; of all the carotenoids, very low blood lycopene was the strongest predictor of mortality.²

Lycopene is the signature carotenoid of the tomato. The lycopene in the American diet is 85 percent derived from tomatoes.³ Lycopene is found circulating in the blood and also concentrates in the male reproductive system, hence its protective effects against prostate cancer. ⁴ In the skin, lycopene helps to prevent UV damage from the sun, protecting against skin cancer. ⁵ Lycopene is known for its anti-cancer properties, but did you know that lycopene has also been intensively studied for its beneficial cardiovascular effects?

Read more at DiseaseProof.com

 
References

1. Krinsky NI, Johnson EJ. Carotenoid actions and their relation to health and disease. Mol Aspects Med 2005;26:459-516.
2. Shardell MD, Alley DE, Hicks GE, et al. Low-serum carotenoid concentrations and carotenoid interactions predict mortality in US adults: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Nutr Res 2011;31:178-189.
3. Canene-Adams K, Campbell JK, Zaripheh S, et al. The tomato as a functional food. J Nutr 2005;135:1226-1230.
4. van Breemen RB, Pajkovic N. Multitargeted therapy of cancer by lycopene. Cancer Lett 2008;269:339-351.
5. Rizwan M, Rodriguez-Blanco I, Harbottle A, et al. Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo. Br J Dermatol 2010.

Happy Valentine's Day - "Just Because"

Grace looked up from the old, worn photo album to see Richard the postman making his way through the cold to her door. What a sweet young man, she thought.

Grace loved her walks to the mailbox in late spring and through the summer, but the cold winter air seemed to whip through her thin skin. Though in her heart she still felt like a young, energetic girl, her age was evident to her. Aches and pains made her careful and slow. As the air turned cooler, Richard made it a habit to deliver Grace's mail to her door.

Today was an especially lonely day for Grace. It was the seventeenth. No one but her Jim would have known what a special day this was. It wasn't her birthday or their anniversary. For forty-two years the seventeenth of every month was their unique day, as Jim would say, just because.

Though they never were rich with money, they were determined to be rich with love. For this reason, on the seventeenth Jim always found some special way to say it and live out 1 John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Over the years the gifts had been as simple as a scribbled note or as elaborate as a bouquet of store-bought flowers. But the message was always the same: "Just because." Once he'd secretly taken Grace's wedding band from her jewelry box and had it engraved with their special saying.

She found such comfort, confidence, and connection in those two simple words. To Grace it was more than a gesture of love, it was an outward symbol of much more.

When she'd gotten sick and couldn't keep up with the house, it meant I love you for who you are not what you do. When they had an argument, it meant even when we don't see eye-to-eye I love you still. When she started aging, it meant yours is a timeless beauty. Though Jim had never been a man of many words, his just because was perfect and poetic to Grace.

Jim had passed away three weeks ago. It wasn't a sudden death; they both had known his end was near. They'd had a sweet time of reminiscing, hugging, crying, and then as quickly as he came into her life all those years ago, he was gone. She missed him terribly but had peace.

They'd had a wonderful life and left nothing unsaid. Now Grace loved flipping through their old photo albums savoring pictures, but even more so she loved touching all the mementos from over the years written in his masculine handwriting.

Though she'd seen the postman coming, the doorbell startled Grace. Carefully, she made her way to the door. She graciously took the few letters he handed her and apologized for not having cookies. Maybe tomorrow. She then walked slowly to the kitchen to open her mail. A bill, another sympathy card, and something that made her heart jump and melt all at the same time.

Her eyes filled with tears and her hand trembled as she slid her finger underneath the envelope's back flap. It was a simple letter as they always were, delivered on the seventeenth as they always had been. Before his death, Jim had arranged for Richard to make one last special delivery. "Not even death shall stop my heart. Just because, Jim."

Sometimes a short story illustrates a point better than pages of instruction on how to have the perfect marriage. This kind of love — not flashy but forever; not commercial but committed — is truly honoring to the Lord and to your spouse. - Author unknown

I pray this story settles into your heart. That it reveals something to you about the heart of your loved one. Because even the smallest things can bring the greatest joys.

Over Half of U.S. Couches Contain Toxic Chemicals

According to a Duke University-led study published today, Nov. 28, 2012, more than half of U.S. couches contain potentially toxic flame retardants.  The potential risk to humans is when these toxic chemicals leave the furniture foam and enter into house dust.

In this study, of the 102 couches tested, 42 had foam with chlorinated Tris, a probable human carcinogen removed from baby pajamas back in 1977, and 17 contained the globally banned chemical pentaBDE.

Arlene Blum, a chemist at the University of California-Berkeley and founder of the Green Science Policy Institute said, "People have a pound of these toxic chemicals in their couches."

In hundreds of animal studies and several human studies flame retardants are linked to hormone disruption, cancer and neurological toxicity. 

In another study, published in the Environmental Health Perspectives revealed that mothers who had pentaBDE in their blood during pregnancy had children with lower birth weight, lower IQ scores, shorter attention spans and less fine motor coordination.

When looking to purchase new furniture, Blum recommends seeking out items with fillings that contain polyester, down, wool or cotton.  If you do suspect you own furniture with flame retardants, Blum suggests to frequently hand wash and vacuum with a HEPA filter.

Source:  Detroit Free Press

Cancers Use Fructose to Fuel Growth

 A study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that pancreatic cancers use the sugar fructose to activate a key cellular pathway that drives cell division, helping the cancer to grow more quickly.

According to Dr. Anthony Heaney, senior author of the study, this is the first time a link has been shown between fructose and cancer proliferation.

For this study, Heaney and his team of researchers took pancreatic tumors from patients and cultured and grew the malignant cells in petri dishes.  Glucose was added to one set of cells, while fructose was added to the other set of cells.

Heaney found that the pancreatic cancer cells could easily distinguish between the glucose and fructose even though they are very similar in structure, the cancer cells metabolizing the sugars in different ways.  In the case of the fructose, the pancreatic cancer cells used the sugar in the transketolase-driven non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway to generate nucleic acids, the building blocks of RNA and DNA, which the cancer cells need to divide and proliferate.

Heaney said, "As in anti-smoking campaigns, a federal effort should be launched to reduce refined fructose intake."

Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  HFCS accounts for more than 40% of the caloric sweenteners added to foods and beverages, such as, ketchup, cereal, yougart, cookies, applesauce, bread, canned vegetables, syrup, jelly, crackers, pasta sauces, pickles, soups, soda, etc.  Approximately 52,000 items on our grocery shelves contain some degree of HFCS.

Source: UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Food Allergies

Emily, who is not quite 2 years old was tested for food allergies, the conclusion, Emily is allergic to all but 9 basic foods.

What does a family do in a case like this?

Source:  Halleluijah Acres Health News Magazine

The immune system should react appropriately and protect against infection when confronted with harmful invaders or "infectious agents" like viruses or bacteria.  Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals and molds may trigger chronic activation of the immune system.

Cell Science Systems, Corp., developed the ALCAT Test to measure personalized nutrition at the cellular level.  The core technology is a blood test that measures the body's cellular response to challenges from a whole array of substances including various foods, additives, colorings, chemicals, functional foods and medicinal herbs.

Immune Health and Vitamin D

When our immune system malfunctions, the consequences can range from microbial infections to cancer.

Many nutritional supplement ingredients are readily available and can help improve immune system health. Some of the more popular and scientifically substantiated ingredients include:
1.     Echinacea has been shown to stimulate the immune system by increasing the activity of certain immune cells and by promoting the release of cytokines (cellular communication and regulatory molecules) from these immune cells.#
2.     Elderberry contains flavonoid derivatives called anthocyanidins that appear to have immunomodulatory effects. These compounds in elderberry extract have been found to bind to viruses and block their ability to invade host cells.# In this way, elderberry is thought to reduce the severity of viral flu symptoms.
3.     Scientific studies on ingredients such as zinc, Korean ginseng, Vitamin C, beta-glucans and arabinogalactans all enhance and improve the effectiveness of the immune system by increasing the protective activity of certain immune cells. Macrophages, neutrophils, NK (natural killer) cells and T-cells (T-lymphocytes) are responsible for attacking and neutralizing foreign, disease-causing microbes. Without the proper functioning of these immune cells, infectious diseases such as colds and the flu usually occur more frequently, are more severe, and have a longer duration.
4.     Another promising avenue for natural immune support is vitamin D3. Studies now indicate that vitamin D, once only recognized for supporting bone health, may be a key nutritional component in enhancing immune function.

The following overviews of some recent studies tout the immune system benefits of vitamin D:

• A recent study showed that vitamin D signals the immune system to fight infections. Scientists discovered that T cells—white blood cells that are like soldiers who search out and destroy the targeted invaders—require vitamin D to function. The study author explains, “When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D. This means the T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease. If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won’t even begin to mobilize.” From this study, researchers realize how crucial vitamin D is for activating the immune system. The finding could have significant implications in the fight against global epidemics. Nearly half of the world’s population has sub-optimal levels of vitamin D, a problem that’s getting worse as people spend more time indoors.
• Researchers theorized that the flu season occurs in winter months because of the lack of direct sunlight, and subsequent lower levels of protective vitamin D produced in the body. Their research indicates that influenza epidemics, and possibly even the common cold, are brought on by seasonal deficiencies in antimicrobial peptides, resulting from winter-time deficiencies in vitamin D.
• In a study of Japanese schoolchildren, vitamin D supplements taken during the winter and early spring helped prevent seasonal flu. The study found that children receiving 1,200 IU of vitamin D daily were 58 percent less likely to catch influenza A.
• People with higher blood levels of vitamin D had a 50 percent reduction in the risk of developing acute respiratory tract infections than those with lower blood levels. Additionally, of those with high vitamin D blood levels who did develop infections, there was a marked reduction in the number of days they were ill. Researchers concluded, “Maintenance of a [sufficient] 25-hydroxyvitamin D serum concentration should significantly reduce the incidence of acute viral respiratory tract infections and the burden of illness caused thereby, at least during the fall and winter in temperate zones.”

Source: Boosting Immune System

Childhood Obesity - Don't Let Your Child Fall in These Numbers

Overweight Children and Childhood Obesity are running wild, just take a look at the numbers:

40% of overweight children will develop metabolic syndrome, which sets the stage for diabetes and heart problems.  Metabolic syndrome includes; abnormal lipids, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and obesity.  There is hope, when children lose even modest amounts of weight, it can reverse the negative effects of metabolic syndrome.

1 in 3 American children born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

5 hours of daily television is watched by almost half of all U.S. children between the ages of 8 and 18.

80% chance a teen will become overweight, if one parent is obese or overweight.

In the past 30 years, Fast Food consumption in the U.S. has risen 500%, while the number of children who are obese has tripled.

$100 Billion is the estimated annual cost to society for obesity.

70% chance that an overweight or obese child has of becoming an overweight or obese adult.

What can be done?  As a parent, you must set an example for your child/children in choosing healthy natural nutritious foods and drinks.  You can definitely set the stage for your child to make the right choices when it comes to what goes in his/her mouth.

Did you know that a study from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that nearly 60% of adolescents ate only one fruit or vegetable a day.

Parents, if you have a small child at home, make sure they are being introduced to fruits and vegetables in their diets, not processed snack foods.  It starts in the home, you can make a difference for your chid's health future.

And when it comes to offering soda or sugary drinks to your child, choose not to, instead, promote water, everyones bodies need it.

Shared with:  the healthy home economist

Saliva - Your Personal First Aid Kit

What is the first thing you do or the first thing an animal will do when experiencing a wound?

If you have a cut on your finger, normally you will put it in your mouth, while a dog or cat will start licking its wound.

Why is that?

Medical science is only just learning what God knew when He built this reaction into us.

Actually the saliva of mammals and human beings contains epidermal growth factor.  Studies show that when epidermal growth factor is applied to wounds, healing takes place much faster.  Epidermal growth factor increases the number of cells available to grow new skin over a wound and it also encourages capillaries to form near the wound to increase blood supply.

Epidermal growth factor doubles the amount of new DNA at the wound site, as well as, increase the amount of collagen in the wound to give the new tissue the strength to close up and remain closed.

Published in the FASEB Journal, scientists from The Netherlands took epithelial cells that line the inner cheek and cultured them in dishes until the surfaces were completely covered with cells.  By scratching a small piece of the cells away, scientists made an artificial wound in the cell layer in each dish.

One dish contained cells that were bathed in an isotonic fluid, the other dish contained cells that were bathed in human saliva.

After 16 hours, the scientists noticed that the saliva treated "wound" was almost completely closed, proving that human saliva contains a factor which accelerates wound closure of oral cells.

Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal said, "This study not only answers the biological question of why animals lick their wounds, it also explains why wounds in the mouth, like those of a tooth extraction, heal much faster than comparable wounds of the skin and bone."

Source:
Creation Moments
Science 20

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