Will I Need A Prescription For These Sugar Pills?

Big Pharma is worried. Have you noticed that there are substantially fewer new drugs that are making it through pharmaceutical testing and being released to the consumer market? Especially in the mood treatment arena where Prozac and Valium have ruled for years.

Want to know one reason why?

Because evidently, sugar pills are as just as effective at curing us as many of comprehensively researched, painstakingly designed, and massively marketed medicinal cocktails being developed by companies like Merck and Smith-Glaxo. And it’s not that the new drugs don’t work. You don’t spend all those dollars on research and development unless you are pretty sure the drug will do what it’s supposed to do. The key to getting it to market is to ensure a minimum of overly dangerous side effects.

So the new drugs are typically effective in bestowing the medicinal benefits intended. It’s just that, during the clinical testing trials of these new drugs, the placebos are proving to work just as well at providing those same benefits.

New drug comes up for trial testing. A group of test subjects is selected. Some percentage of those subjects are given the real drug, while another group is given sugar pills that look like the real drug. Neither group knows whether they are getting the real thing or not.

Many of these tests are now showing that the group taking the placebo experiences an inordinately high number of member individuals who show the same benefits as those in the other group taking the real drug. In other words, in these cases, people even thinking they might be taking the real drug somehow fool their body into producing the same effects as they would expect if they really were taking the drug.

It’s really hurting the pharmaceutical industry because the FDA will not approve any drug where the placebo effect during testing distorts the true intended benefits of the drug.

As a result of this phenomena, scientists are beginning to discover that the power of the human brain can be a far stronger healing agent than Big Pharma’s black bag of pills, powders, and potions.

There’s a great article in last month’s Wired Magazine that gets into far more detail. You can read the online version here.

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V8 Juice: Nutrition In A Can? Or…

V8 Juice.

We’ve all seen the ads.  Guy drinking a soda looks over and sees his buddy drinking from a colorful can with pictures of celery, tomatoes, carrots, and other brightly painted vegies on it.  Guy knocks himself in the head exclaiming “Wow, I could’a had a V8!”.

V8 100% Vegetable Juice, now made by the Campbell Soup Company, still retains the same basic recipe as when it was first formulated back in 1933.  Per the V8 site, the original V8 Juice (there are now more than 20 additional V8 brands) contains a healthy mix of vegetable juices extracted from tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress and spinach.

Campbell claims that each eight ounce glass of the V8 100% Vegetable Juice equals two servings of vegetables.  So, in theory, drinking 2-3 cans of V8 each day should fulfill your daily requirements for the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and healthy plant based sterols that we would get from fresh vegies eaten raw, steamed, or even juiced.

But is that true?  I’ve often wondered about the processes required to prepare fruit and vegetable juices for mass storage and distribution, and the effects of these process on the nutritional value of the juice.  In other words, is drinking a glass of 100% Apple Juice from a bottle as nutritious as eating 2-3 raw apples?  Is drinking a glass of V8 as healthy as downing a couple of helpings of spinach and carrots?

Let’s look at how V8 (and most other fruit and vegetable juices) are processed.  We are not privy to the exact recipe of how the juice is prepared or what the percentage breakdown of the eight included vegetables is, so let’s just assume that, at the early stages, it really is a healthy combination of raw juices from the vegetables listed above.

Now this is a glass of juice I’d like to drink.  In addition to an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, freshly extracted vegetable juice also contains living enzymes.  These living enzymes are protein molecules and are essential for most of the building and rebuilding that goes on constantly in our bodies.

But, if I wanted to get the full nutritional value of that glass of raw juice, I would need to drink it quickly.  Prolonged exposure to air will speed up the breakdown of these living enzymes.  In fact, most of the valuable enzymes are destroyed within 20 minutes of exposure to air.  This is why, when you go to a juice shop and order wheat grass or any of the other freshly extracted vegetable juices, you are encouraged to drink it quickly.

Now if you’re lucky enough to be able to immediately seal that freshly extracted juice in an airtight container, you might be able to store it in your fridge for up to 3-4 days before the enzymes are completely broken down.   Freshly extracted fruit juice can be sealed and stored for up to five days before losing all the enzyme goodness.

Reading between the lines, I’m pretty sure all those living enzymes are gone by the time those cans and bottles of V8 reach my pantry shelf.

So, maybe V8 should change it’s name to:

V8 100% Vegetable Juice (But Without All Those Pesky Healthy Enzymes).

Okay, back to our glass of freshly made pre-processed V8 Juice.  Now the makers have to be able to package the juice in cans and bottles and ship it across the world so that it can be ready and waiting on your local grocery shelf.  But wait, first the juice must be pasteurized.   Per Webster’s Dictionary:

Pasteurization is the act or process of heating a beverage or other food, such as milk or beer, to a specific temperature for a specific period of time in order to kill microorganisms that could cause disease, spoilage, or undesired fermentation.

Pasteurization kills organisms–such as salmonella, listeria, and brucella–that can make you sick or cause food and juices to spoil.  Our favorite governmental glee club, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), sets detailed guidelines for the pasteurization of fruit and vegetable juices.

What does pasteurization do to our glass of prep-packaged V8 juice?  Well, per numerous studies, it has been proven that the pasteurization process can destroy large quantities of the nutritional goodies that remain in our already enzyme-depleted glass of juice.

Specifically, it has been shown that the various vitamins in our glass of vegie juice react differently to heat.  Vitamin E is relatively stable and has a 90% retention rate.  In contrast, vitamin A has only a 60% retention rate after heat processing.  The B family of vitamins is relatively stable with retention rates ranging from 75% to 90%.  The exceptions there being folic acid, which has about a 50% survival rate after being pasteurized, and riboflavin, which is sensitive to both heat and light.

What about vitamin C?  Well the majority of the vitamin C in our pre-packaged glass of V8 vegetable juice never makes it to pasteurization.  Turns out vitamin C, like our living enzymes, is also very sensitive to air exposure and will break down in a short period of time.

In summary, a plate of raw fresh vegetables or a glass of raw vegetable juice contains quality protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and complex sugars to provide long lasting metabolic energy.  The same juice after going through pasteurization contains little protein, no antioxidants, and nutrients that have broken down into large quantities of simple, monosaccharide sugars.

Now, on the plus side, it has been shown that plant phenols are relatively stable throughout the heating process.  But, again, the free radical scavenging antioxidants aren’t.  They are almost completely lost.

So, is an eight ounce glass of V8 100% Vegetable Juice really equal to two servings of fresh vegetables or freshly extracted vegetable juice?

Not even close.  And when you throw in the extra salt that they add to enhance the flavor that is also lost during the heating process, you really have gone from 100% Vegetable to maybe 50% Vegetable Light Plus Salt.

I still drink V8.  The low sodium brand.  I know it’s not going to replace or even really reduce the need for real vegetables, but it is a tasty drink that does offer more nutritional value than soda, coffeee, or bottled water.

There are over twenty different types of V8 juices on the market. What’s your favorite? And do you drink it for the “health benefits”, or just the taste?

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Krill Oil: Three Times As Healthy As Fish Oil?

If you are already familiar with the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and how fish oil supplements can help attain a healthy balance of these essential fatty acids, then you may want to scroll down to the ‘A Better Alternative?’ section.

It is well acknowledged in the scientific and consumer communities that taking in omega-3 fatty acids can improve your health.

Omega-3 fatty acids cannot be produced by the human body and are thus part of the “essential fatty acid” family.  We can only get them from the food we eat or the supplements we take.  Cold water fish, such as salmon and cod, are great sources of omega-3s.

There are three types of omega-3 fatty acids: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).  All of these act as anti-inflammatories in the body.  Inflammation is a leading cause of many medical conditions including the deterioration of the cardiovascular (heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure) and brain (depression, Alzheimer’s) systems.  Inflammation is also primarily responsible for many of the effects of aging, including skin wrinkling, arthritis, and the degeneration of bone and tissue in the body.

Another member of the essential fatty acids are the omega-6s.  They are far more common in the typical diet and can be found in meat, nuts, and seeds.  Maintaining a healthy ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids can reduce the likelihood of suffering from a variety of medical problems including cancer, arthritis,and heart disease.  However, the proper ratio between the two can differ based on the condition you are trying most to alleviate or prevent.

Regardless of the ratio, taking in the appropriate amount of omega-3s and omega-6s can be immensely beneficial to our health.  Most people get plenty of the omega-6 fatty acids in their day to day diet.  However, due to the limited food sources available (how many people eat fresh salmon everyday?), supplementation is a great way of ensuring that we get the appropriate amount of omega-3s.

Fish oil pills have become a popular source of omega-3s over the last ten years.  Even doctors, who routinely disavow any nutritional benefits of non-prescription supplementation, are recommending fish oil supplements to their patients.  Especially those who suffer from any of the warning signs of impending cardiovascular issues (adverse cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, etc).

So, in summary, various scientific studies conclude that a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can help with the following conditions:

• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Adverse cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Depression
• Certain types of stroke
• Eczema
• Asthma
• Arthritis

Taking fish oil supplements can help achieve that healthy balance of essential fatty acids.

Fish Oil Supplements Do Have A Downside

Fish oils are a great source of the omega-3 fatty acids.  But they do have some risks.  Fish oil is obtained from fish that swim in oceans that contain varying levels of mercury and other toxins.  And because salmon and other cold water fish are way up the ocean food chain, they absorb all the toxins that have been ingested by the fish they eat, the fish that those fish ate, and so on down the line.

By the time a salmon is caught and harvested for its oil, it potentially contains dangerously high levels of mercury and other toxins that have poisoned our oceans.  You always want to check the quality of the fish oil supplements you buy to ensure that quality filtering processes are used to purify the extracted oil.  But, no matter the quality of the manufacturing, there is a risk of at least trace amounts of bad stuff in those pills.

A Better Alternative?

Krill are tiny shrimp-like marine animals that live in all oceans of the world.  They are considered a “keystone” species near the bottom of the food chain because they feed purely on phytoplankton and zooplankton and convert these into the main dietary sources for fish and other higher level marine animals.

In other words, they are a primary food source for many of the bigger boys in the ocean.

Turns out krill oil contains higher and more efficient concentrations of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA, EPA, and ALA than is found in the cold water fish that fish oil supplements are made from.

Three times the effectiveness of fish oil!

The effectiveness of krill oil is superior due to the fact that the omega-3s in krill oil are linked together in a different cellular structure that, without going all high school chemistry, mimics the structure of the fat in human cell walls.  This means that krill oil is more compatible with the human body and thus more easily absorbed.

In addition, krill oil contains astaxanthin, an extremely potent antioxidant the body uses to neutralize free radicals that can damage cells and tissues throughout the body.

Krill are a plentiful ocean resource.  Less than 1% of the ocean’s 600 million tons of krill is harvested annually.  This ensures an abundant, sustainable krill population.  This is a plus because many people are shying away from fish oil supplements due to the concerns over depleted fish populations across the globe.

Krill oil is typically packaged in small soft gel form.  This is compared to the larger fish oil gel pills that can be hard for some people to swallow.  And krill oil keeps longer.  Bottles of fish oil pills typically spoil within six months to a year.  Krill oil pills can stay fresh and nutritionally potent for up to two years or more.

And for some reason, krill oil doesn’t have the fishy smell or disgusting burp aftertaste that is so common with fish oil.

So, fish oil is a good source of omega-3s if you do your homework on quality and purity.  But krill oil supplements are clearly superior in terms of effectiveness and purity.

I’ve switched to krill.  I get mine thru Bulk Nutrition, which is a site I learned about in the homemade supplements guide I obtained.  It’s a great site that carries a large supply of quality supplement brands at super discount prices - especially when you buy in quantities.

Click to see the Bulk Nutrition krill oil I use.

They carry various brands, so be sure to type ‘krill oil’ into the ‘Quick Find’ search box on the left side of the page if you want to check their selection.  They also carry a wide range of other products that you can browse for.  Again, great prices and quick shipping.

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Saving A Marriage: A Mid-Life Success Story

First, this story is not about me. I am a happily married man who has tried to develop healthy ways of dealing with the problems that crop up in any marriage. The wife and I have our moments, but after ten years, we’ve learned enough about each other to play to each other’s  strengths, respect boundaries, and avoid pushing the wrong buttons. Usually anyway. Saving a marriage is just not a task we’ve had to face. Knock wood.

But we do have some friends that have been experiencing some real turmoil in their marriage. You’d never know it if you saw them in public.  As a couple, they seem to be perfect for each other. On the surface anyway.

He is a real Type A personality who is focused on his climb up the corporate ladder. Well, he doesn’t really climb - he sprints. It’s always about the next promotion and the next bump in salary. His rationale seems to be that the higher up the food chain he is, the more protected he is against layoffs and the other ugly by-products of these uncertain economic times.

She, on the other hand, is a stay-at-home Mom who is heavily involved in her kid’s activities and the school PTA. She manages the household, makes sure the kids get where they need to be, and can be found working the concession stand at many of her kid’s sporting events. Personality wise she is extremely laid back and seems to roll smoothly with the ebb and flow of active adolescents, a demanding husband, and a hectic schedule.

Perfect match, right? The ambitious breadwinner and the supportive wife?  Maybe not so much.

A few months ago, he came up to me while I was in the front yard playing with Junior. After a few pleasantries, he turned and asked me “Does marriage counseling work?”

Turns out things weren’t so rosy in the marriage. He was bored and frustrated at work. She was irritated at his lack of attention to his family.

They tried counseling, but after trying 2-3 different counselors, they couldn’t agree on one to move forward with. They each favored the one that seemed to favor them.

Long story short, they decided to take a self help approach. We went to dinner with them last week, and the change in their relationship was pretty apparent. He was much more attentive to her. She seemed to be more tolerant of his dinner table soliloquies on the state of the U.S. economy. They were even holding hands at the table.

According to them, they are still pushing through their issues, but they seem to be much happier just knowing they are working towards a common goal. I asked them what had changed. Had they finally found a counselor they could work with?

They said no. It was all about this program they heard about on the radio called The Us Factor. It’s some program put together by a doctor that helps you work on your marriage and improve your relationships.

I don’t know much of anything about the program except that it seems to be helping our friends. I also don’t know what the odds are of saving a marriage that’s gone sour, but they seem to be one of the lucky couples who have come back from the brink. At least so far. They encouraged me to get the word out about this program, so you can click here or on the graphic to learn more. Again, don’t know a thing about it myself, but it’s helped two people I know come back together.

Any tips you want to share on keeping a marriage intact and exciting? Just leave us a comment below.

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I Trust Lance Armstrong… I Think

It’s tough not to like Lance Armstrong.  Even tougher not to admire him and what he’s accomplished.  A discussion of his achievements would read like a real life Rocky story, but that’s not what this post is all about.

Lance is now promoting a new energy drink called FRS.  After trying FRS, he was so impressed he actually approached the company, The FRS Company,  about endorsing the product. And he must be committed to the stuff, because he’s now also a member of the The FRS Company’s Board of Directors.

I’m not a big fan of most of the “energy” drinks you see lining the shelves and coolers of your local health store or grocery.  Catchy names like Red Bull, Full Throttle, and Monster Energy (”Unleash the beast!”) are slapped onto stimulant laced drinks that typically contain way too much sugar and way too much caffeine.  I’ve already given you a rundown of the ingredients you find in most of these drinks, so no need to rehash them here.

FRS, which stands for Free Radical Scavengers, is advertised as a healthy energy drink that uses all natural ingredients to provide a kick.  Minimal sugar and minimal caffeine. The formula relies on a unique antioxidant called quercetin to encourage the production of energy at the cellular level.  According to the FRS web site:

Quercetin is a natural antioxidant found in the skins of apples, blueberries, and onions. It protects the adrenaline that your body naturally creates to give you energy for small daily tasks like staying awake at work and big events like running a marathon. Quercetin allows your body to use energy more efficiently so you feel more energy for a longer amount of time.

I’m a big fan of the power of antioxidants.  Especially as we age.  But they are not the miracle cure that’s going to enable us to splash around in the fountain of youth.

However, I am always interested in finding reasonably safe energy supplements - i.e. ones that aren’t full of sugar, caffeine or other herbal heart-pounders like guarana or ephedra - that can give me the occasional boost I need to get off the couch and into the gym.

So I picked up a 4 pack of FRS to give it a try. Not cheap.

First, the stuff tastes like flat 7-Up. Sort of lemon-limey without the in your face carbonation that many of the other energy drinks have. But you’ll definitely want to throw these into the fridge, because FRS goes down alot easier when cold.

According to the product literature, a single can of FRS delivers the same antioxidant quantity as roughly three servings of blueberries, or eight servings of raspberries. This is due to the 250 mg of quercetin and 100 mg of catechins in each serving. We learned above that quercetin is an antioxidant that can be found in apple skins, red onions, and blueberries. Catechins are found in tea leaves, especially green tea, and have been proven effective at promoting cardiovascular health.

In addition to the antioxidant ingredients, FRS also contains high levels of the B-vitamin family (niacin, riboflavin, B-6, B-12, etc) as well as significant quantities of vitamins A, C, and E. Again, very little caffeine (<50 mg) and very little sugar. The B vitamins contribute to the energy mix, but you can get those alot cheaper in pill form. So, FRS must be pinning it’s value proposition on the quercetin.

Well, does it work?

Well, there’s certainly no immediate energy rush. Used to be when I downed a Red Bull, I’d feel a quick jolt as the sugar and caffeine hit my system. None of that with FRS. But at the same time, no jacked up heart rate, no twitching muscles, and no urge to punch through a wall. I’ve always thought I would have loved to have had Red Bull around when I was twenty and invincible. But nowadays, I’ve shorted out enough fuse boxes to know that power surges aren’t all good.

Did some more research and discovered that the FRS formula is not designed to provide that quick surge that the other drinks deliver. FRS supposedly provides an all day energy boost that, while not as intense as the typical energy drink, is much longer lasting. According to Lance Armstrong and the rest of the FRS Company, after taking drinking FRS, you’ll feel much more energized at the end of the day.

Hence the FRS marketing slogan “Tired of being tired?”.

The key to FRS’s claim is the antioxidant quercetine and how it interacts with the body to increase mitochondria production. Without getting all high school biology, mitochondria are the energy producing components in our body. More mitochondria equals more energy at a cellular level.

Now, if the claims are true and FRS does help you feel less fatigued at the end of the day, then great! But this stuff is being heavily marketed to athletes as a performance boosting drink and I just don’t see how a slight, long lasting increase in energy levels qualifies as a performance boost. Well, I take that back. Maybe it does help in marathon type of activities such as running the New York Marathon or cycling the Tour De France.

But wait. There have been studies that prove that quercetine does increase mitochondria production. In mice. But what about people?

The jury is still out, but recent studies such as this one indicate that quercetine does not increase mitochondria production or boost athletic performance in humans in any way.  Potentially another in a long line of nutritional supplement claims based solely on the results of animal experiments.  Humans aren’t mice.

So, like I said, I want to trust Lance.  And I’m sure he’s done his homework on FRS.  But while it does appear the energy enhancing capabilities of quercetine might wake up a tired mouse, I’m not sure it’s going to do a thing for me.

I’m going to keep my eye on the ongoing studies around the benefits of quercetine.

So,what’s your favorite energy drink? And do they work for you? Leave a comment and share your experience.

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Flipping Mushrooms On The Grill

Evenings are finally getting cooler here in Dallas.  A nice change from the 100+ degree days we’ve been getting for much of the Summer.  Grilling out in those temperatures is little more than throwing a slab of meat on a plate and leaving it in the sun to cook.  But, now that Fall is finally approaching, I fired up the old Weber grill this weekend.

Family wanted burgers.  Me, I’ve been getting my fill of beef, chicken, and fish lately, so i wanted to try something different.  I went browsing in the local Sprouts and found some fresh portobello mushrooms that were 6″-7″ in diameter and looked just like tasty round slabs of meat.

I’ve heard that vegetarians often use mushrooms in place of meat, so, being the adventurous eater that I am, I bought a couple of the firmer looking brown caps.  Time to grill up some meat and mushrooms!

Marinated the meat with Worcestershire sauce and the mushrooms with olive oil and some red pepper.  Threw them all on the grill, and learned that portobello mushrooms kick out a different sort of smell when cooking.  More earthy and somewhat fresher than the smell of charring meat.  My neighbor actually stuck his head over the fence to ask what I was cooking.  When I told him mushrooms, he ducked back down muttering something about it being unnatural to grill anything but meat in Texas.

Once cooked, I slapped one of the mushrooms between a  bun, threw on some lettuce and tomato, and had one of the tastiest burgers I’ve ever eaten.  Really really good.  Now when I get burned out on eating beef and chicken, I can always throw some mushrooms on the grill or in the oven to spice up my diet.

Forget the fact that taking a break from meat is always a good thing to do to allow your body to do some self cleaning, but mushrooms are really healthy.

Some fun facts about a mushroom’s nutritional value:

First, unless you know what you are doing, don’t pick your own mushrooms.  There are hundreds of species which are poisonous.

Second, mushrooms are not vegetables, and they are not herbs.  They are fungi.  You just aren’t likely to see a “Fungi” sign in your local Kroger, so look for mushrooms in the veggie section.

Mushrooms are made of 70%-80% water, which was really surprising to me as the portobello burgers I cooked had the texture and chewiness of meat.  And at only 100 calories per ounce, they are a perfect weight loss substitute for beef or chicken.  Mushrooms contain very little sodium and fat, and 8% to 10% of the dry weight is healthy fiber.

How about vitamins are other nutritional goodies?  Mushrooms pack quite a wallop.

Mushrooms are an excellent source of potassium.

Potassium is a mineral that helps lower elevated blood pressure and reduces the risk of stroke. One medium portabella mushroom has even more potassium than a banana or a glass of orange juice. One serving of mushrooms also provides about 20 to 40 percent of the daily value of copper, a mineral that has cardioprotective properties.

Mushrooms are a rich source of niacin, selenium, and riboflavin.

Selenium is an antioxidant that works with vitamin E to protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals. Male health professionals who consumed twice the recommended daily intake of selenium cut their risk of prostate cancer by 65 percent. In a Baltimore study on Aging, men with the lowest blood selenium levels were 4 to 5 times more likely to have prostate cancer compared to those with the highest selenium levels.

Certain mushroom species are famous for their healing and immune system boosting capabilities.

Shiitake mushrooms have been used for centuries by Asian cultures to treat colds and flu. Lentinan, a beta-glucan present in the fruiting body of shiitake mushrooms, appears to stimulate the immune system, help fight infection, and demonstrates anti-tumor activity.

So, the next time the family wants burgers, just throw sone fungi on the grill for a tasty and healthy meal.

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