Leanseekers Blog

Facebook Login

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:18:00 GMT

If you click on the login button at the top right of any page, you will see that you have 2 options - standard and facebook. The 'standard' is highlighted by default and allows you to enter your user name and password and login.

You can also click on 'facebook' which will then show the "facebook connect" button. The first time you use this, you will have to authorize Facebook to allow login. Once you have completed this step, you will see the following message:

You have been successfully authenticated. However, this authenticated Identity is not a member of this site. You can either associate the Identity with an existing user (by providing the username and password) or you can register as a new member.

You can now link your facebook account to an existing account (if you previously registered on our site). This will prevent you from having 2 different account profiles. Type in your existing username and password and click "Associate with User Account".

The next time, you login, it will simply log you in with your facebook credentials.

If you do not have an existing account with us, click "create a new account". Fill in your basic information and respond to the email that we send. (This step, verified registration, is necessary so that others don't create an account and use your email address for spam).

If you have any problems logging in with our standard or facebook login, please contact me at dr.coyne@leanseekers.com

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Polyphenols in Popcorn Study

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:57:00 GMT

On March 25th 2012 the warm fuzzy media world bubbled with headlines like: "Popcorn: The snack with even higher antioxidants levels than fruits", "Antioxidants In Popcorn: Study Finds Polyphenols In Corn's Kernels", "Popcorn Packed With Polyphenols, More Than Fruit And Veggies "Popcorn is good for you, say scientists". All this attention came from the presentation of a paper by Dr. Joe Vinson (a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton) at the American Chemical Society meeting on Sunday in San Diego.

Tags: popcorn,antioxidants

Review of Harvard Red Meat and Increased Mortality Study

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:41:00 GMT

A report in Harvard Health Publications on March 12 2012 from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that a steady diet of red meat increases the odds of dying prematurely. The Study urges moderation in red meat intake.

Another epidemiological study declaring "guilt by association"

Tags: red meat

World Renown Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:07:00 GMT

Well written and consistent with the latest research. The original research that damned cholesterol and fat came form the era of fascination with large computers that could correlate everything with everything, It became a case of guilt by association. Correlation does not mean causation. Science ignored the physiology and biochemistry of causation.

http://preventdisease.com/news/12/030112_World-Renown-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease.shtml

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Tags: heart

Muscle Recovery and Downhill Skiing - a testimonial

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:40:00 GMT

I don’t usually do testimonials but my downhill skiing experience over the last 2 weeks prompted me to this exception.

Some might call it “so you finally walked your talk” !!

I have been an avid fan of a muscle recovery drink since it was introduced in 1993 by the Shaklee Corporation. They developed the first muscle recovery drink with the help of research by Dr. John Ivy at the University of Texas. Ivy and his colleagues published the first muscle recovery study using muscle biopsy techniques to assess glycogen and insulin levels in fatigued muscles. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in1992.

Since the introduction of this item I have advised my clients (and myself) to use the drink within one hour of completing an intense work-out like a long – hard run, a challenging weight training session or an intensive game. The rationale is that following the completion of such tasks there is a need to replace muscle glycogen quickly and to repair muscle damage from the metabolism of amino acids, particularly the branched chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine. This action will, based on science and experience, reduce muscle stiffness and pain and create an experience of returned energy more quickly than not using such practices.

I am an avid skier. I ski hard and long and I like challenges. The ski area I attend tops out at an altitude of 9,000 feet and the vertical drop is 1200 to 1500 feet over a one mile + run, depending on the run. I ski advanced blue and black diamond runs and seek ankle deep powder at ever opportunity. (all of this is skier talk and I merely use it to demonstrate that my ski days are not a walk in the park). We also get on the hill by 9:30, take only a 1/2 hour lunch break and leave at around 4:00 PM. Even though I ski 25-30 days each winter, I always experience muscle stiffness and pain in the quads and calves for about a day and a half. As I said before, I always use the recovery drink following a weight work-out or a run of one hour or longer. However, for some reason I never used it at the end of a day of skiing until 2 weeks ago.

The results were very noticeable. For the first time, my legs did not scream at me in foreign languages when I walked down stairs and I experienced no stiffness. Yes, I finally “walked my talk”. I have understood the science for years but for some reason never thought about it as a way to end a full day of activity. I encourage you to try it.

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Tags: sports

Resveratrol Facts Explained

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:16:00 GMT

Resveratrol is frequently referred to as “The active ingredient in Red Wine” but that is a serious over-simplification and the evidence is clear – there is not enough resveratrol in a glass of wine to make a difference.

The polyphenol Resveratrol has been a hot topic among the anti-aging writers and commentators since Dr. David Sinclair was interviewed by the TV magazine show “60 Minutes” in Jan 2009 and the Barbara Walters Show in June of 2009. Dr. Sinclair emphasized that although anti-aging was a “hot button”, he was more interested on the influence on diseases or prevention of diseases associated with aging.

What is Resveratrol?

The explanations below are detailed and require some concentration to completely understand so I urge you to read it carefully.

Resveratrol is a phenolic or polyphenol compound that has been found to have a strong antioxidant activity. Plants create resveratrol to protect themselves against the stress caused by things such as poor growing conditions and severe weather.

Resveratrol has been shown to destroy cancer cells, reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease. Recent studies on animals have shown resveratrol to dramatically increase life span, increase athletic endurance and mimic the benefits of a calorie-restricted diet.

In nature, resveratrol exists in two different isomers, trans-resveratrol and cis-resveratrol; these prefixes refer to the shape of the molecule. Researchers have identified trans-resveratrol as the biologically active of the two isomers, which is why responsible companies only label for this active "trans-resveratrol" molecule. Some of competitors label "total resveratrols," which is not enough information for a consumer.

The Shaklee Corporation has developed a tonic they labeled as Vivix. This is not a juice beverage but rather an exclusive, concentrated liquid anti-aging dietary supplement that delivers the purest form of resveratrol and a highly potent polyphenol extract created from the only grape in nature with an extra chromosome.

This unique blend of polyphenols includes ingredients that have been shown in laboratory studies to fight key mechanisms of cellular aging. One teaspoon of Vivix delivers the equivalent amount of resveratrol found in 100 glasses of red wine.

This is a very specialized product - takes 28 days to produce a batch and it only has an 8 month shelf life.

You cannot drink enough red wine to make a difference. Not all Resveratrol products are equal.

Only Trans-resveratrol is active. If a company reports “total resveratrol – the number is meaningless.
There are different degrees of purity—some companies have reported products as low as 20% pure. Shaklee’s Vivix product is 98% pure – extracted from the The Japanese Knot Weed (polygonum cuspidatum). If a company doesn’t report its purity you can be sure it is not 98%.
Many companies extract from grapes or red wine. You cannot get 98% pure from these sources.
Dr. David Sinclair (Harvard University) published data demonstrating that a collection of polyphenols make the resveratrol much more powerful. So 100 mg of Shaklee resveratrol is 10 times stronger than resveratrol alone. They have added 1200mg of polyphenols from the muscadine grape, European Elderberry and Purple Carrot. (Nature. 2007 Nov 29;450(7170):712-6.)
Uses a patent pending extraction process that delivers more than15 polyphenols.
Shaklee has also removed the Emodin (a potentially inflammatory ingredient found with most resveratrol products).

How does it work?

The mechanisms at play and are responsible for numerous benefits to the disease conditions associated with aging.

Protects and repairs DNA damage experienced by every cell every day.
Reduces the biological (oxidative) stress response.
Increases energy production at the cellular level by increasing the number of mitochondria (energy productions centres of every cell) in cells.
Activates the genetic regulators and slows the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) proteins. Excess AGE proteins cause cellular damage and often associated with insulin resistance and diabetes.

Updated information item -- Dr. Sinclair and his partner Dr. Westfall developed a small research Company known as "Sirtris". In 2009 The pharmaceutical giant Glaxao Smith Clyne bought Sirtris for $750 Million and they still do not have a viable pill form for the product. Remember, the Vivix product is a liquid tonic with only an 8 month shelf-life.

Here are four published studies showing positive potential health benefits for resveratrol / polyphenols.

Resveratrol and Cancer

This is one of the articles I came across. I didn't know what apoptosis meant so I looked it up and find it so fitting to what we have been told about Resveratrol.

Apoptosis - necessary death of cells - a form of cell death necessary to make way for new cells and to remove cells whose DNA has been damaged to the point at which cancerous change is liable to occur.

ABSTRACTS

1. “Trans-Resveratrol induces apoptosis in human breast cancer cells MCF-7 by the activation of MAP kinases pathways “Genes Nutr. 2007 Dec;2(3):295-305.

Polyphenols represent a large class of plant-derived molecules with a general chemical structure that act as potent free radical scavengers. They have long been recognized to possess several therapeutic activities ranging from anti-thrombotic to antioxidant.

Moreover, the capability of polyphenols to act as reducing or oxidizing molecules depends on the presence of environmental metals and on the concentrations used. In this work we demonstrated that the stilbene trans-resveratrol was able to commit human breast cancer MCF-7 cells to apoptosis.

Mainly, we evidenced a pivotal role of the mitochondria in this phenomenon as cytochrome c release into the cytosol was found after the treatment. We further showed that trans-resveratrol was able to affect cellular redox state. In particular, it induced an early production of ROS and lipid oxidation, and only later compromised the GSH/GSSG ratio.

This mode of action was mirrored by a temporally different activation of JNK and p38(MAPK), with the former rapidly induced and the latter weakly activated at long intervals. The results obtained demonstrate a pro-apoptotic activity for trans-resveratrol, and suggest a preferential activation of different classes of MAP kinases in response to different oxidative stimuli (ROS versus GSH/GSSG alteration).

2. Role of Resveratrol in Prevention and Therapy of Cancer: A review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies
by BHARAT B. AGGARWAL, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Conclusions of review of 370 articles (complete article)

Conclusions

From the studies described in this review, it is clear that resveratrol holds great potential in the prevention and therapy of a wide variety of tumors. Resveratrol has antiproliferative effects through induction of apoptosis in cell lines of various origin such as leukemias and breast, prostate, colon, pancreas, and head and neck carcinomas.

It induces Fas-dependent apoptosis in some cell lines and Fas independent apoptosis in others. Most, but not all, studies indicate that resveratrol does not induce apoptosis in normal cells. Some in vitro studies showing that resveratrol has antiproliferative effects at certain dose ranges but not at other doses could explain the small number of in vivo animal studies in which resveratrol was ineffective in inhibiting certain cancer conditions.

Some studies have reported that resveratrol has biphasic behavior with respect to its antiproliferative effects. Thus systematic studies are required to test a range of resveratrol concentrations in vitro and then apply those doses in vivo in a wide variety of tumors.

In vivo studies clearly demonstrate that resveratrol is pharmacologically safe and can be used for prevention and therapy of cancer. Resveratrol’s ability to radiosensitize and chemosensitize opens up additional opportunities. That the structure of resveratrol is simple and the presence of hydroxyl groups is strongly linked with its biological activity provides additional opportunities for structure-activity relationship studies to improve its biopotency and bioavailability.

Lastly, resveratrol has potential for treating diseases other than cancer and cardiovascular ailments. Howitz et al. found evidence in yeast that resveratrol mimics calorie restriction and thus extends the lifespan by 70% (360).

Resveratrol and Inflamatory Responses

3. Resveratrol and polyphenols reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. (The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism February 2, 2011 jc.2010-1812 )

Background:

High-fat, high-carbohydrate (HFHC) meals are known to induce oxidative and inflammatory stress, an increase in plasma endotoxin concentrations, and an increase in the expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS-3).

Results:

The intake of the supplement (VIVIX) suppressed the meal-induced elevations of plasma endotoxin and LBP concentrations, the expression of p47^phox, TLR-4, CD14, SOCS-3, IL-1β, and Keap-1, while enhancing Nrf-2 binding activity and the expression of NQO-1 and GST-P1 genes.

Conclusion:

A supplement (VIVIX) containing resveratrol and muscadine polyphenols suppresses the increase in oxidative stress, lipopolysaccharide and LBP concentrations, and expression of TLR-4, CD14, IL-1β and SOCS-3 in mononuclear cells after an HFHC meal. It also stimulates specific Nrf-2 activity and induces the expression of the related antioxidant genes, NQO-1 and GST-P1. These results demonstrate the acute antioxidant and antiinflammatory effects of resveratrol and polyphenolic compounds in humans in the postprandial state.

Resveratrol and Diabetes

4. Resveratrol improves insulin sensitivity, reduces oxidative stress and activates the Akt pathway in type 2 diabetic patients. (Br J Nutr. 2011 Aug;106(3):383-9. Epub 2011 Mar 9.)

The aims were to determine whether the polyphenol resveratrol improves insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic patients and to gain some insight into the mechanism of its action.

Resveratrol significantly decreased insulin resistance (homeostasis model of assessment for insulin resistance) and urinary ortho-tyrosine excretion, while it increased the pAkt:Akt ratio in platelets.

On the other hand, it had no effect on parameters that relate to β-cell function (i.e. homeostasis model of assessment of β-cell function). The present study shows for the first time that resveratrol improves insulin sensitivity in humans, which might be due to a resveratrol-induced decrease in oxidative stress that leads to a more efficient insulin signalling via the Akt pathway.

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Tags: Resveratrol,Vivix,cancer,diabetes

Does COLD-FX really do what the company claims?

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:09:00 GMT

This one will be for my Canadian friends - regarding a commercial herbal remedy sold under the name of "Cold FX". I had said several years ago, based on their ingredients list, that it was basically an extract of Ginseng. On Jan 13th the CBC broadcast an investigative report on "Cold FX" 23 minutes long.

Watch video: http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2012/whatfx/
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Daily Aspirin Is Not for Everyone, Study Suggests

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:54:00 GMT

Nearly a third of middle-aged Americans regularly take a baby aspirin in the hope of preventing a heart attack or a stroke or lowering their cancer risk. But new research shows that aspirin is not for everyone, and that in some patients this so-called wonder drug is doing more harm than good.

“I stop a lot more aspirin than I start,” said Dr. Alison Bailey, director of the cardiac rehabilitation program at the Gill Heart Institute at the University of Kentucky. “People don’t even consider aspirin a medicine, or consider that you can have side effects from it. That’s the most challenging part of aspirin therapy.”

Read more: nytimes.com
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Tags: heart

Butter, portion control, tart cherries and stevia. Welcome to 2012

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:12:00 GMT

This is encouraging - apparently the consumer is returning to real food and avoiding nonsense.

Forget goji berries and noni juice. Tart cherries, blueberries and other more familiar fruits are likely to trump their exotic cousins in 2012 as shoppers tire of Orac-tastic superfruits, according to trend watcher Hartman Group.

www.foodnavigator-usa.com
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Tags: nutrition

Health News Today

dr.coyne@leanseekers.com — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:44:00 GMT

Vitamin D Helps Bone Health Only With Calcium: Report

Government task force held off on specific dose recommendations

By Maureen Salamon HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new analysis on the effects of vitamin D on bone health shows that it cuts fracture risk in older adults, but only when taken with calcium supplements.

The review of nearly 50 studies on vitamin D -- present in a small number of foods and produced naturally in the skin with sun exposure -- by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) also indicates that it's too soon to tell if vitamin D supplements can help prevent cancer.

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Treating High Blood Pressure May Add Years to Life

Study found those who took blood pressure meds lived a day longer for every month of treatment

By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from high blood pressure, or hypertension, who keep their blood pressure levels under control may add years to their life, a new study suggests.

In fact, those in the study who took medicine to lower their blood pressure for more than four years reduced their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease over a 20-year period, the researchers found.

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Drug Overdoses Kill More Americans Than Car Accidents: CDC

Almost half of drug poisonings are now from abuse of prescription painkillers, researchers note

By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- More Americans now die from drug overdoses than in car accidents, according to a new government report released Tuesday.

In 2008, poisoning deaths became the number one cause of accidental deaths in the United States and the leading cause of injury death in 30 states, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ninety percent of these poisonings were linked to drugs, with a surge in deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses reported.

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Tags: health

Leanseekers Blog

Facebook Login

Polyphenols in Popcorn Study

Review of Harvard Red Meat and Increased Mortality Study

World Renown Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

Muscle Recovery and Downhill Skiing - a testimonial

Resveratrol Facts Explained

What is Resveratrol?

How does it work?

Resveratrol and Cancer

ABSTRACTS

1. “Trans-Resveratrol induces apoptosis in human breast cancer cells MCF-7 by the activation of MAP kinases pathways “Genes Nutr. 2007 Dec;2(3):295-305.

2. Role of Resveratrol in Prevention and Therapy of Cancer: A review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies by BHARAT B. AGGARWAL, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Resveratrol and Inflamatory Responses

3. Resveratrol and polyphenols reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. (The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism February 2, 2011 jc.2010-1812 )

Resveratrol and Diabetes

4. Resveratrol improves insulin sensitivity, reduces oxidative stress and activates the Akt pathway in type 2 diabetic patients. (Br J Nutr. 2011 Aug;106(3):383-9. Epub 2011 Mar 9.)

Does COLD-FX really do what the company claims?

Daily Aspirin Is Not for Everyone, Study Suggests

Butter, portion control, tart cherries and stevia. Welcome to 2012

Health News Today

Vitamin D Helps Bone Health Only With Calcium: Report

Government task force held off on specific dose recommendations

Treating High Blood Pressure May Add Years to Life

Study found those who took blood pressure meds lived a day longer for every month of treatment

Drug Overdoses Kill More Americans Than Car Accidents: CDC

Almost half of drug poisonings are now from abuse of prescription painkillers, researchers note

2. Role of Resveratrol in Prevention and Therapy of Cancer: A review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies
by BHARAT B. AGGARWAL, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center