What are varicose veins and what causes them? If you have them are there natural treatments that work and can varicose veins be prevented? This will be the subject of discussion for tomorrow's live tele-clinic with Dr. Richard Brouse. I f you would like to join us the tele-clinic begins tomorrow, Mon. Mar. 29, at 8:00 pm ET 5:00 p.m Pacific time. Here is the dial in no -( 712 )432 0075 Access code 403964#
These tele-clinics are very informative and done as an educational program for the larger Shaklee family. Since I am a Shaklee member you have the unusual opportunity to listen in as my guest, so grab the opportunity while you can.
http://www.healthysolutionsunltd.myshaklee.com/
http://www.power-blog.com/free1/3867
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Study Suggests Vitamin C Could Be A Safe Alternative To Statins
Many of you have heard and probably been confused by recent studies on vitamins C & E which concluded that they do not have the health benefits we once thought. Well, the results are going to depend on how the study is designed and what questions are asked. I want to share with you this excellent letter by Dr. Steve Chaney who puts this whole subject back in perspective. Let us not be fooled by negative reports resulting from poorly designed studies. The antioxidants vitamins C & E are vital to our health: Have a read below:
Hi Susan,
Finally! There have been so many negative reports about supplementation recently because the investigators
asked the wrong questions. Someone finally asked the right question. Dr. Gladys Block and colleagues at UC Berkeley recently published (Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 46:70-77, 2009) a study on the effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood levels of something called C-reactive protein (CRP).
In case you didn't know CRP is a marker of inflammation and a number of studies have suggested that an elevated (> 1 mg/L) level of CRP in the blood is an independent risk factor for heart disease. In fact, after a recent study called the JUPITER trial some cardiologists are recommending that people with elevated CRP be given a statin drug even if their cholesterol levels are normal. This is why the study by Dr. Block and her colleagues is so significant. They gave healthy, non-smoking adults (both men and women) with an average age of 44 either 1000 mg of vitamin C or placebo each day for two months and asked whether the vitamin C supplementation caused a significant reduction in CRP levels. If they had just asked whether vitamin C reduced CRP levels in the total population group (the wrongquestion) you would have been reading about another negative study that showed supplementation didn't work.
But they were smart enough to ask the right question.They divided their study group into those who had
elevated CRP levels and those whose CRP levels were normal. For those people whose CRP levels were normal (and were, therefore, at low risk of heart disease according to their CRP levels), vitamin C had no effect on their CRP levels.
As Dr. Block observed those results were not particularly surprising. She said "Common sense
suggests, and our study confirms, that biomarkers are only likely to be reduced if they are not already low."
However, in the group with CRP levels > 1 mg/L, vitamin C supplementation decreased CRP levels by 25% (34% if their CRP levels were > 2 mg/L).In fact, for individuals with elevated CRP levels, vitamin C supplementation was just as effective at lowering CRP levels as statin drug treatment!
Dr. Block concluded by saying: "It has recently been suggested by some researchers that people with elevated CRP should be put on statins as a preventive measure.For people who have elevated CRP but do not have elevated LDL cholesterol, our data suggest that vitamin C should be investigated as an alternative to statins,or as something to be used to delay the time when statin use becomes necessary."In short, because she and her colleagues asked the right question we now know that vitamin C supplementation does make sense for people with elevated CRP levels rather than mistakenly assuming that vitamin C supplementation is worthless.
I do want to make the distinction here that elevated CRP is only one risk factor for heart disease and this
study alone does not prove that vitamin C reduces the risk of heart attack or stroke.However, this study is fully consistent with the Women's Health Study (Lee et al., JAMA, 294:56-65, 2005).
You may remember that vitamin E supplementation did not decrease the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in the total population group studied and the headlines said "Vitamin E is ineffective at
reducing heart attacks and stroke in women".Yet when they looked at women who were over 65 (the
ones actually at high risk for heart disease), vitamin E supplementation reduced cardiovascular deaths by 24%, heart attacks by 26% and strokes by 21%.
Dr. Block and her colleagues concluded that "[future] research on clinical benefits of antioxidants should
limit participants to persons with elevations in the target biomarkers [risk factors]"
Now that is the right question!
To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney
http://www.chaneyhealth.com/
Hi Susan,
Finally! There have been so many negative reports about supplementation recently because the investigators
asked the wrong questions. Someone finally asked the right question. Dr. Gladys Block and colleagues at UC Berkeley recently published (Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 46:70-77, 2009) a study on the effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood levels of something called C-reactive protein (CRP).
In case you didn't know CRP is a marker of inflammation and a number of studies have suggested that an elevated (> 1 mg/L) level of CRP in the blood is an independent risk factor for heart disease. In fact, after a recent study called the JUPITER trial some cardiologists are recommending that people with elevated CRP be given a statin drug even if their cholesterol levels are normal. This is why the study by Dr. Block and her colleagues is so significant. They gave healthy, non-smoking adults (both men and women) with an average age of 44 either 1000 mg of vitamin C or placebo each day for two months and asked whether the vitamin C supplementation caused a significant reduction in CRP levels. If they had just asked whether vitamin C reduced CRP levels in the total population group (the wrongquestion) you would have been reading about another negative study that showed supplementation didn't work.
But they were smart enough to ask the right question.They divided their study group into those who had
elevated CRP levels and those whose CRP levels were normal. For those people whose CRP levels were normal (and were, therefore, at low risk of heart disease according to their CRP levels), vitamin C had no effect on their CRP levels.
As Dr. Block observed those results were not particularly surprising. She said "Common sense
suggests, and our study confirms, that biomarkers are only likely to be reduced if they are not already low."
However, in the group with CRP levels > 1 mg/L, vitamin C supplementation decreased CRP levels by 25% (34% if their CRP levels were > 2 mg/L).In fact, for individuals with elevated CRP levels, vitamin C supplementation was just as effective at lowering CRP levels as statin drug treatment!
Dr. Block concluded by saying: "It has recently been suggested by some researchers that people with elevated CRP should be put on statins as a preventive measure.For people who have elevated CRP but do not have elevated LDL cholesterol, our data suggest that vitamin C should be investigated as an alternative to statins,or as something to be used to delay the time when statin use becomes necessary."In short, because she and her colleagues asked the right question we now know that vitamin C supplementation does make sense for people with elevated CRP levels rather than mistakenly assuming that vitamin C supplementation is worthless.
I do want to make the distinction here that elevated CRP is only one risk factor for heart disease and this
study alone does not prove that vitamin C reduces the risk of heart attack or stroke.However, this study is fully consistent with the Women's Health Study (Lee et al., JAMA, 294:56-65, 2005).
You may remember that vitamin E supplementation did not decrease the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in the total population group studied and the headlines said "Vitamin E is ineffective at
reducing heart attacks and stroke in women".Yet when they looked at women who were over 65 (the
ones actually at high risk for heart disease), vitamin E supplementation reduced cardiovascular deaths by 24%, heart attacks by 26% and strokes by 21%.
Dr. Block and her colleagues concluded that "[future] research on clinical benefits of antioxidants should
limit participants to persons with elevations in the target biomarkers [risk factors]"
Now that is the right question!
To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney
http://www.chaneyhealth.com/
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