DHA & ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

This is exciting folks – really!

A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis is the development of beta amyloid proteins and the immune system’s inability to properly metabolize this brain plaque.

A recent study found that both vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty  acid  docosahexaenoic acid or DHA increased phagocytic activity of plaque-clearing macrophages while reducing troublesome inflammatory cytokines.

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FAILING KIDS:

Children with poor behaviour control and reading skills had lower omega-3 levels.

By now, most people know that developing brains and eyes need the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid known as DNA.

The most critical period for DHA’s impact on brain development occurs before birth, when the fetus gets this brainy omega-3 via the umbilical cord.

But a series of clinical studies from Britain’s University of Oxford suggest that young children continue to gain brain benefits from dietary DNA … whether from fish or supplements.

Now, another study from Oxford adds weight to the idea that omega-3s keep helping kids’ brains, well into childhood.

The new study focused on schoolchildren with below-average reading ability, and compared their omega-3 blood levels to standard measures of cognition (reading ability and memory), behaviour, and emotional health.

And the UK team’s results affirm prior indications that omega-3 DHA blood levels can affect cognition and behaviour in schoolchildren.

Many of the best studies came from Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention (CEBI), and most of those were led by Alex Richardson, Ph.D. … with psychiatrist Joseph Hibbeln, M.D. of the U.S. NIH playing a key role.

Three years ago, they covered the outcomes of an earlier study conducted by scientists from Oxford’s CEBI.

UK study affirms the value of omega-3s to younger schoolchildren.
The CEBI researchers examined blood from 493 children aged 7 to 9 years, all of whom had below average reading performance.

They tested the kid’s blood to determine its proportions of the two key omega-3s, DHA and EPA.  (Of the two, DHA is much more important to brain function, while EPA appears to contribute to healthy behaviour control.)

The current medical consensus holds that a minimum percent of the fatty acids in human red blood cells should be omega-3s, in order to enable and promote optimal cardiovascular and heart health.

This measure is called the “omega-3 index”, and physicians increasingly view 8% as the minimum proportion of omega-3s needed in red blood cells to enable optimal heart, brain, and overall health, with 12% being optimal.

Reading ability, “working” memory capacity, behaviour control (ADHD-type symptoms), and emotional stability were also assessed in the 493 participating children, using standard tests.

The test results were adjusted to account for the impacts of factors known to affect learning and behaviour, such as household income, gender, consumption of fish and omega-3s, and use of medications for ADHD or other condition.

The UK team compared the children’s omega-3 levels to their learning and behaviour scores, with dismaying results:

   *       Lower DHA levels were linked to poorer reading ability and working memory performance.

   *       Lower DHA levels were linked to higher levels of oppositional behaviour and emotional lability.

*       Omega-3 DHA and EPA levels were only 1.9% and 0.55% of total blood fatty acids, respectively, with DHA showing more individual variation.

As the authors wrote, “In these health UK children with below average reading ability, concentrations of DHA and other Omega-3s were low … and directly related to measures of cognition and behaviour.  These … suggest the benefits from dietary supplementation with omega-3s (previously) found for ADHD, dyspraxis, dyslexia, and related conditions might extend to the general school population.”

While noted the need for controlled clinical trials to confirm the connection, they’ve already conducted one such study (“Slow-Reading Kids Aided by Omega-3s”), and they urged parents to ensure that kids get enough omega-3s: “… meanwhile, the low blood omega-3 status found across this sample would indicate that an increased dietary intake might be beneficial on general health grounds.”

The very low omega-3 levels found in the new CEBI study was disturbingly low, given that DHA is critical for normal brain and nervous system development.

In fact, it seems sadly unsurprising that children so sorely lacking in omega-3s would under-perform in school and suffer behavioural and emotional problems.

There is much research available on this subject but I believe all you parents, grandparents, and family friends have an obligation to make sure everyone reads this material.

And when you’re purchasing Omega-3s, make sure that they are organic.  If you’re unsure of how and what to buy, just let me know and I’ll turn you on the natural, bioidentical supplements.

Products to Consider

#1021 –  For Pregnant or Nursing Women

Lemon Flavor – DHA Omega

#1020 – EPA DHA Omega-3 Liquid

Hope these articles are helping you all and this is certainly another step in –

Planning for Tomorrow’s Good Health – TODAY!™

Dr. Rhonda

 

Website:               www.drhenry.com

Email:                   contact@drhenry.com

Office:                   702-269-8120 

Multivitamin Necessity!

 

“Don’t stop taking your multivitamin.”

That’s the simple advice offered by board-certified family practitioner David Brownstein, M.D. in the wake of heavily publicized recent studies that concluded a daily multivitamin doesn’t have health benefits.

Of course we are all smart enough to figure out who is paying for the research, because it’s hurting their bottom line.   But I have good news and that is that:

After carefully reviewing the studies, Dr. Brownstein, one of the nation’s top practitioners of holistic medicine, concluded that they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

“I have been practicing medicine for more than 20 years, and I can assure you I have never seen a patient harmed by taking multivitamins,” says Dr. Brownstein.  “However, I have had many patients harmed from FDA-approved drugs.

“In the first place, one of the studies used a very low potency vitamins – so low that I don’t expect anyone would think that they could help anything.  Second, most of the multivitamins used I the studies were cheap synthetics, not natural vitamins.  Inexpensive vitamins are made with synthetics, and many of the substances are made from petrochemicals, which provide a sub optimal response and can even be dangerous.”

A study to determine the usefulness of multivitamins in cardiovascular disease was riddled with problems that made its findings useless, in Dr. Brownstein’s opinion.  “Half of the people stopped taking the vitamins during the study,” he said.  “That, in and of itself, negates it.  Even so, they still found an 11% decrease in cardiovascular risk – it just didn’t meet their criteria for statistics significance.”

The recent studies supposedly debunking the value of multivitamins were released less than 2 weeks after a Harvard study showed a multivitamin combined with selenium slowed deterioration in AIDS patients.  In fact, the scientists labeled their results “groundbreaking,” adding that multivitamins could save a lot of lives at a small price.  Another 2012 Harvard study found that multivitamins reduced cancer risk in older men.

Although the best way to get the vitamins and minerals your body needs is through a healthy diet, the typical diet lacks essential nutrients, according to Dr. Brownstein, and of course you’ve heard me say this on my online radio shows and in articles.  “I check my patients for nutritional imbalances, and the vast majority of patients, both sick and well, have nutritional deficiencies.”  And that is absolutely true also in my practice and others of like mind.

One of the answers is a daily multivitamin, but choosing the right one is essential.

“Not all multivitamins are created equal,” he says.  “There are many inferior vitamins.

 

“It’s bet to enlist the help of a healthcare practitioner who can guide you and test you and adjust your supplements depending on what you need.”  If you don’t want to visit me, just order my HealthTest© and you can easily complete your testing at home.  Check it out on my website:

http://www.drhenry.com.   We aren’t one-size-fits-all, so you must find out what your individual body needs are.

When looking for a good multivitamin, Dr. Brownstein suggests the following and I agree:

*       Choose a natural supplement that contains natural, bioidentical versions of nutrients.

*       Choose multivitamins that contain vitamin D3 – cholecalciferol.

The synthetic form of vitamin D is D2 or ergocalciferol – not good!

*       Be sure to choose vitamins containing natural vitamin B-12 – labeled as hydroxy-, methyl-, or adenosylcobalamin.

Synthetic vitamin B-12 is listed as cyanocobalamin.

This will not be an issue if you order my individualized HealthTest©, because not only will you find out where you are normal, low or very-low in each nutrients, but you will get a clear understanding of each deficiency, plus a list of foods in that category.

If that’s not enough – receive a personally designed food program based on the answers to the questions you submitted.  No counting calories, carbohydrates, fats, protein, fiber, etc., I do all that for you.  What could be easier?

My heart is to educate you, and give you proper health tools to help you, help yourselves.

Dr. Rhonda

Hoping that you’ve started to

Plan for Tomorrow’s Good Health – TODAY!™

 

Temporary website:          www.drhenry.com

Email inquiries:                 contact@drhenry.com

Las Vegas Office:              702-269-8120

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:

A hallmark Alzheimer’s diseases’ pathogenesis is the development of beta amyloid proteins and the immune system’s inability to properly metabolize these brain plaques.

A recent study found that both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids (docosahxaenoic acid or DHA) increased phagocytic activity of plaque-clearing macrophages while reducing troublesome inflammatory cytokines.

Products you may want to consider:             contact@drhenry.com for availability.

#470       Vitamin D, 5,000 IU

#490       EPA-DHA Super

                                                                                                                                                            

MOM’S TO-BE:

Supplementing pregnant moms with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA can have a positive effect on the newborn child.  DHA helps increase birth weight while also helping babies complete their gestational life cycle.

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PRENATAL DHA = HEALTH:

A simple, inexpensive nutritional supplement could increase American infants’ birth weight and gestational age closer to those found in other developed countries.

University of Kansas researchers found that the infants of mothers who were given 600 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA during pregnancy weighed more at birth and were less likely to be very low birth weight and born before 34 weeks gestation than infants of mothers who were given a placebo.

This result greatly strengthens the case for using the dietary supplement during pregnancy, leading to potentially improved neurodevelopment in infants as well as preventing hospitalizations for preterm birth and reducing the associated costs.

“A reduction in early preterm and very low birth weight delivery could have clear clinical and public health significance,” said Susan Carlson, A.J. Rice Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition at the KU Medical Center, who directed the study with John Colombo, KU professor of psychology and director of the Life Span Institute.

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) occurs naturally in cell membranes.  Infants obtain DHA from their mother in utero and postnatally from human milk.  The amount received depends upon the mother’s DHA status.  American women typically consume less DHA than women in most of the developed world.

“We believe that supplementing U.S. women with DHA could safely increase mean birth weight and gestational age to numbers that are closer to other developed countries such as Norway and Australia” said Carlson.

The results are from the first 5-years of a 10-year, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.  Researchers will follow up with the same group of babies to see if DHA supplementation benefits their intelligence.

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