Dietary Enigmas
asking questions about our diet
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Archive for August, 2007
An Enigma - Food and Drugs
It was only today that i saw a strange thing. Why is it that the Food and Drug industry’s are administered by the same organisation? Both the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry are huge - each probably $2 Trillion per year and they have huge political clout. It is no suprsie then that they have both decided to operate a systematic campaign to squeeze out the food supplement industry. Food supplements are now a necessary part of anyone wanting to live healthy lives and are increaseingly being seen as a real alternative to reliance on Pharmaceutical drugs. The enigma is that they are all controlled by the same Government agency which gets huge revenues from both the Pharmaceutical and food industry - whereas the supplement industry is way smaller and is being squeezed out of the picture. You have a choice but you need to exercise it - www.alliance-natural-health.org is one lobbying organisation worth supporting and www.HealthFreedomUSA.org is another.
Paul barton
Paul@sugars4life.com
US 615 692 1173
UK +44 (0) 1752 769090
More on plant sugars - Fucose
These sugars are a source of endless fascination for me. We know that Fucose or Fucoidans are one of the key labels for cancer cells but i’ve just seen that they are also implicated in the fight against heart diseas, anti viral activity and generally immune response.
Study of fucoidan’s anti-viral and anti-bacterial activity could also mean it has therapeutic value for preventing heart disease by bolstering immunity. If, as some research suggests, C-reactive protein (CRP) is elevated from viral or bacterial activity, prevention of such an invasion could enhance our ability to lower our cardiovascular disease risk.Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are assessing whether there is a possible connection between Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria known to cause stomach ulcers. The bacterial infection is thought to be a precursor to gastric cancer and heart disease. The study, which will look at H. pylori and the incidence of heart disease in African-Americans, should have implications for the population at large.
Scientists have found that fucoidan inhibits the adhesion of H. pylori in the gut, again, giving it a potential role in cardiovascular-disease prevention. In studies, fucoidan’s anti-viral activity was shown to be effective against herpes simplex and HIV.
More later
paul barton
US 615 692 1173
UK +44 (0) 1752 769090
Down Syndrome - a families struggle and success
This is a bit off track but well worth a look. Down syndrome affects many families and varies in severity but see how a family has triumphed and helped their daughter live a full and productive life. www.hazelshealthmatters.co.uk
Weird how sugars seems to be the flavour of the day
How weird is that. Sugar, once deemed the enemy of everyone seeking to be healthy is now put forward as an aid to health. To be more correct a specific plant sugar seems to aid a vaccine work better. Sucrose is still the enemy but specific bilogically active sugars seem to be the flavour of the day. Read below.
Sugar could help fight flu
Posted
UpdatedResearchers are hopeful of boosting the fight against influenza with natural plant sugars. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)
Research has shown that a component of the natural sugars in plants could make flu vaccines up to 100 times more effective.
The head of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department at Flinders Medical Centre in
He says the natural sugar helps stimulate the human immune system.
Professor Petrovsky says it has the potential to offer much higher protection against influenza-A and to extend vaccine supplies.
“It actually only requires a much smaller does of vaccine, which means that vaccine supplies which currently can be quite stretched would go a lot further,” he said.
“Hopefully everyone would be able to receive a vaccine, not just high risk groups.”
The hospital is looking for people to trial a vaccine containing the substance.
“It could potentially be available within a year or two,” Professor Petrovsky said.
“I think if we did face a flu pandemic then we’d be doing everything we can to see it made available immediately rather than to have to even wait that long.”
Professor Petrovsky thinks it could work equally well in the avian flu vaccine.
We know that not only is he right but he’s about 15 years behind the times as a company in the USA used just the same technique in the fight to help a vaccine used in poultry - it increased its effectiveness by 20% or more.
Paul barton
US 615 692 1173
More Enigmas - Diabetes
Isn’t it strange how the problem and the solution are almost invariably linked. Lets look at Diabetes. Diabetes is simply the inability to control blood glucose levels. There are 2 principal reasons:
- the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, where insulin is produced, simply give up the ghost and either produce
- no insulin or
- not enough.
- the cells become accustomed to having too much insulin around and refuse to do what they should do.
The cause of 1.1 is normally associated with a genetic issue, a physical or emotional trauma or viral infection.
The cause of 1.2 is likely to be down to inadequate nutrition and or enyme defficeincy
The cause of 2 is simply diet. Too much food that produces too much glucose which in turn stresses the ability to produce insulin.
The end result in each case is pretty much the same. The body is unable to control blood glucose levels and we know what the problem results in.
So being solution focussed where do we start - the first thing is to eliminate the starchy foods - potatoes, rice (overcooked), pasta (overcooked), bread, flour. Once you have done that the next step would be to look at dietary support. Thats what we’ll do next time.
Warm Regards Paul Barton
US 615 692 1173
UK +44 1752 769090
- the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, where insulin is produced, simply give up the ghost and either produce