Table of Contents:

Spotlight on folate
Co enzyme Q10 helps your heart work better
Oral Contraceptives and Heart Disease
Abs & Healthy Back
Choose Whole Grains
Soy Protein Decreases Risk of Heart Disease
Carotenoids and Heart Disease
Vegetarian Diets in Pregnancy
Flaxseed Lowers Cholesterol
High Risk Exercises for the Shoulder
Selenium Deficiency Sets Stage for Virus Mutation
Heart Health: It's The Nuts
Lacto-Vegetarians not at Risk of Dietary Vitamin B-12 Deficiency
Dipping DHEA Levels May Trigger Lupus
High C Linked to Fewer Gallstones
Whole Grains Stymie Heart Disease in Women
Laugh!
Dear Valued Employee

Spotlight on folate

Folate, or folic acid, a member of the B-vitamin family, usually gets top billing for prevention of neural tube defects in babies during early pregnancy. It’s now earning accolades from the scientific community for its role in preventing heart disease.

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health found that a  higher intake of folate and vitamin B6 is associated with a nearly 50 percent decrease in risk for coronary heart disease in women, regardless of whether these nutrients were derived from food or supplements.

Researchers also concluded that an increase in the recommended daily allowance of folate and B6 could be a vital factor in reducing deaths from coronary heart disease (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1998, vol.279). Their results build on an earlier study published in the same
journal that linked low blood levels of folate with increased risk of heart disease (1996, vol.275).

Folate’s role in heart health is its ability to convert homeocysteine into protein building blocks. Homeocysteine is a precursor to methionine, an essential amino acid found primarily in animal protein sources such as milk, eggs and meat.

Excess homeocysteine can damage blood vessels, narrow arteries and contribute to the formation of blood clots. Vitamins B6 and B12 also play a part in breaking down homeocysteine. Insufficient levels of these B vitamins can cause homeocysteine levels to soar.

To ensure you’re getting adequate folate and other B vitamins, eat a varied whole-foods diet with generous amounts of dark-green leafy vegetables, fruits, orange juice, seeds, nuts, whole grains,
legumes and fortified cereals.

Co-enzyme Q10 helps your heart work better

It’s the hardest-working organ in your body, pumping hundreds of  gallons of blood to points near and far, always vigilant. Your heart needs all the help it can get:

Exercise, a low-fat diet, a smoke-free environment and the right balance of nutrients.

A nutrient vital to heart health is Co enzyme Q10. Abundant within human cells, Co enzyme Q10 helps metabolize fatty acids and other compounds into energy.

The mitochondria cells where energy is produced are especially rich in Co enzyme Q10.

It’s theorized that Co enzyme Q10 enhances energy at the cellular level, especially in the heart. This increase in energy enables the heart muscle to pump blood faster and more efficiently. A long-term
study of heart disease showed that a deficiency of Co enzyme Q10 could have a detrimental effect on myocardial function.
American Journal of Cardiology, 1990, vol. 65

Another study points to Co enzyme Q10 capacity to help lower blood pressure (Current Therapeutic Research, 1990). And it may help reduce other heart problems such as arrhythmia and cardiac muscular dysfunction. Although it’s produced by our bodies, Co enzyme Q10 can also be obtained by consuming oily fish, organ meats and whole grains.

Oral Contraceptives and Heart Disease

Oral contraceptives (OCPs) increase blood pressure, increasing the risk for heart disease. But what if you’re on a low-fat diet? Will this be sufficient to balance the effect of OCPs? Not according to a study published in the Journal of Hypertension. It found that not only did blood pressure rise in OCP users, but they had higher cholesterol and triglycerides, higher blood sugar, and their hearts reacted more to stress than women who were not on ‘ the pill.”

Women on a low-fat diet showed slight benefits over those who were not on a low-fat diet. But their results were not nearly as good as women who were not on OCPs. If you’re using birth control pills, understand that you may be increasing your risk for heart disease. Monitor your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, and consider other forms of contraception if you notice any changes over the normal range. Straznickv, N.E., et al. “A study of the interactive effects of oral contraceptive use and dietary fat intake on blood pressure. Cardiovascular reactivity and glucose tolerance.
J. Hypertension vol. 16, 1998.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School recently took a look at all the literature that’s out there on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and a postmenopausal woman’s risk for breast cancer. They
went through a huge database, MEDLINE, and reviewed all the articles on the subject. What they found is not necessarily what your doctor is telling you.

They discovered that each year you take HRT increases your risk for breast cancer just as if your menstrual cycle had continued for the same length of time. In other words, if you stopped menstruating at age 50 and began HRT, by the time you turned 60 you would have taken hormones for ten more years past menopause. This compares with a woman who kept menstruating until she was 60! The longer you’re exposed to estrogen, the higher your risk.

If your doctor isn’t listening to individual studies, tell him or her to read the Harvard report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, June 3, 1998. Your doctor, acupuncturist, nutritionist should give you their expert information, not frighten you or coerce you into doing anything. If you have menopausal symptoms, like hot flashes, HMC hesperidin, that is a bioflavonoid found in vitamin C, can stop them. So can black cohosh, found in health food sections by itself or in a formula called Remifemin.

Mercola. Joseph M., DO, “Hormone replacement causally related to breast cancer,” Towson Letter August/September 1998.

Muscles in your abs are responsible for maintaining your posture. A strong midline prevents injury. You can move at a variety of angles and feel secure if your abs are trained.

Therefore you should prepare your torso for flexion (leaning forward), extension (leaning backward), and rotation (turning sideways) by training your abdominals, obliques and lower back.

There is no magic to developing your core. Instead, it requires disciplined daily training.  Sit-ups train your rectus abdominus muscles (two thin strips of muscle that extend from your breastbone to the pelvis), and three layers of muscle that are your abdominals.

To perform a perfect sit-up, begin each repetition as if you were in slow motion. Contract your rectus abdominus and exhale as you let your muscles pull your body off the floor.  Exhaling on each repetition will allow you to squeeze your abdominals without arching your back. If sit-ups are too
difficult, raise yourself off the floor with your arms and perform a sit-up on the down phase.

When you are attempting to train your abdominals other, more powerful muscles called your hip flexors (Iliopsoas) do most of the work.

Even when you perform a crunch correctly, your rectus abdominus begins the movement but your hip flexors cannot help but become involved; especially if you attempt to perform crunches quickly.
Raising slowly, come up into an upright position is your best method for working your rectus abdominus instead of your hip flexors with the soles of your feet together, and the legs in a
butterfly position.

If you anchor your feet, you work mostly hip flexors. With your feet anchored, your back may arch straining the Quadradus Laborum (lower back muscles). Don't try twisting your elbow toward your knee at the top of your sit-up.  As you twist your lumbar spine during forward flexion the lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5) open and allow the intervertebral disc to protrude laterally.  Over time this may lead to herniation of the disc, “slipped disc” or rupture of the disc.

Poor fitness leads to poor posture. If you carry most of your weight in your abdomen, your back muscles must counterbalance. The same is true concerning the relationship between your quadriceps and hamstrings. Your hamstrings should be at least 60 percent as strong as your quadriceps
(thigh muscles).   Research has demonstrated that the average American has an imbalance of greater than 3:1 quadriceps to hamstring.

Tight hip flexors and hamstrings combined with weak abdominals and upper back may be a prime cause for low back pain.

Does your back hurt when you walk? Walking loads and unloads your disks, like a massage. With most muscular problems, moving around helps to relieve pain. But more serious ailments could be
aggravated while walking or moving. This may be due to a nerve impingement or herniated disk. In these cases, walking exacerbates pain because of nerve involvement. Pulsing and throbbing pain or temperature disturbances may be a vascular issue.

Bend forward from your waist. At about 15 degrees of flexion your back muscles (erector Spinae, Quadradus Laborum) eccentrically lengthen.
When you bend to about 45 degrees your hips take over.
Bend past 90 degrees and your back is supported by ligaments in the lumbar spine.
Pain receptors called proprioceptors are in these ligaments. Sit in your chair with your left leg on the floor and your right ankle crossed over your left knee in a figure 4 position.
Slowly bring your chest toward your right knee. Did you feel pain?
Try your other leg. Disc injuries, muscular imbalances, and lack of flexibility in the gluteals and Piriformis (muscle under your hip) can create sciatic nerve problems. Check with your doctor if you feel tingling or numbness radiating down your leg.

Other stretches may relieve your low back pain:

Lie on your back and bring your knees to your chest in a fetal position. This stretches your erector Spinae and Quadradus Laborum.
Lift one knee to your chest and grab it with your arms. Let your other leg remain on the floor. Switch legs and repeat. This stretches your hip flexor muscles.
Lean sideways into a wall keeping your pelvis stable. Bend sideways not forward. This may help if you have a disk that protrudes sideways.
Sit in your chair and slowly twist sideways maintaining a neutral spine throughout. This may relieve pressure on your disks.
Lie on your stomach. Raise your right arm and your left leg.
Raise your left arm and right leg. This "Superman" exercise strengthens your erector Spinae and Quadradus Laborum in your back.
Roll over onto your hands and knees. Lift your upper back and stretch resembling a "mad cat". Hold this stretch for 3 seconds.
Stand with your right hand against a wall. Grab the top of your left foot with your left hand.
Bend your left knee until you feel a stretch in your left quadriceps.
Switch legs and repeat. It is not beneficial to possess defined abdominals at the expense of low back pain. I have seen people do bizarre exercises in the gym in an attempt to gain defined abdominals.  If your lower back
hurts, begin with trunk stabilization movements. Lie on your back and lift your arm and opposite knee toward your chest while maintaining a neutral spine.

Performing hundreds of crunches a day may be harmful to your disks. Crunching forward forces the annulus of lower back disks into your spinal nerve causing pain. After you finish your abdominal
workout, perform some hyperextensions to move your lower back disk material back into place.  You would probably rather take a blow to your midsection than to your upper abs. Your abdominal wall is thinner toward your ribs near your solar plexus.

That is one reason the upper part of your rectus abdominus fatigues quickly when you perform crunches. Your hip flexors do most of the work when you execute reverse crunches. It feels as if
you are training your lower abdomen, but it is simply the close proximity of your hip flexors to your rectus abdominus.

Test the balance of strength between your lower back and abdominal muscles by performing the following exercise. Lie on your back and keep your lower back flat while you extend your legs
toward the ceiling. Slowly drop your legs while attempting to hold your lower back flat to the floor. If you can pull this off, your abdominals are strong enough to counter the pull from your hip
flexors.

When you develop powerful obliques (the abdominal muscles on the sides of your torso), you receive an added bonus of muscular love handles over your hips. Training obliques does not make your waist smaller. In fact if you overload your muscles, your waist may grow larger. When your abdominals contract they produce an inner tube like effect to stabilize your torso. When you flex your obliques you provide structural support to your spine as if filling an inner tube.

You may have discipled yourself to "pull your belly button to your spine" to protect your lower back. Ironically it is not your abdominals that hold your belly button in, it is your diaphragm. A preferred guideline is to maintain a neutral spine when performing your abdominals.

A neutral spine is a slight arch in your low back. If you own a large buttocks you may be incapable of holding your lower back to the floor. If you have a heavy chest or thick legs, situps and reverse sit-ups are difficult.

Low back pain may be caused by weakness in your abdominals or lower back muscles. It may be tightness in your hamstrings or hip flexors. Or you might have a structural problem such as scoliosis
(S-curve), no curve, or bone degeneration.

Do's and Don'ts for abdominal exercise:

Do  contract your abdominal muscles through a full range of motion.
Don't hold your breath.
Don't arch your back too much, keep a neutral spine.
Don't pull on your neck.
Do  use slow and controlled movements.
Don't swing your legs.
Don't continue repetitions if you lose your form.
DO  disengage your hip flexors to allow the rectus abdominals
to be targeted with over stressing the hip flexors and lumbar spine.

Take a look at the Food Guide Pyramid. Its foundation is bread and cereal products any type of bread and cereal products. A recent study suggests that rather than emphasizing increased use of any type of grain, we need to emphasize the use of whole grains. This study examined intakes of whole and refined grains and their relation to heart disease risk. They followed more than 34,000 post-
menopausal women in Iowa for 9 years.

The diets of study subjects were evaluated at the beginning of the study.
They were divided into groups based on their number of daily servings of whole grains. Subjects with the highest intake of whole grains (3 servings per day) had the lowest risk of dying from heart
disease. The risk of dying from heart disease was reduced by about one-third even in those who only are 1 or more servings of whole grain products each day compared with those who rarely ate
whole grain products. This reduction in risk was not explained completely by such things as dietary fiber or vitamin E in the whole grain products. So, the next time you have bread, make it whole grain. Choose a whole grain breakfast cereal. It could make a difference.

Willett, WC. 1998. The dietary pyramid: does the foundation need repair? Am J Clin. Nutr 68:218-219.

Jacobs, D.R., Meyer, K.A., Kushi, L.H., Folsom, AR. 1998. Whole-grain intake may reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease death in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Am J. Clin Nutr 68:248-257.

Researchers from the University of Illinois studied 66 older women with high blood cholesterol levels. Subjects were placed in one of 3 groups: a lowfat, low-cholesterol diet with protein from dairy products; a lowfat, low-cholesterol diet with protein from soy with moderate amounts
of isoflavones (one component of soy); and the same diet with high amounts of isoflavones. Subjects remained on the assigned diet for 24 weeks. Over the course of the study, HDL, often-called “good” cholesterol, cholesterol (including “bad” LDL cholesterol) decreased in both groups receiving soy.

These changes should reduce risk of heart disease. This suggests that some component of soy is important in reducing blood cholesterol levels, even more than the reduction seen with a lowfat, low-cholesterol diet.

Baum, J.A., Teng, H., Erdman, J.W, et al. 1998. Long-term intake of soy protein improves blood lipid profiles and increases mononuclear cell low-density-lipoprotein receptor messenger RNA
in hyper-cholesterolemic, postmenopausal women. Am J Clin. Nutr 68:545-55 1.

Think of your arteries as hoses, which carry blood throughout your body. These hoses can get filled up with crud so that the blood does not flow through them as well. When blood does not flow as
well or stops flowing entirely, problems like heart attacks and strokes happen. Plaques (sticky substances) can form on the walls of the arteries and block blood flow. An important task in
reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke is finding a way to prevent plaques from forming in the arteries. It appears that beta-carotene is important in preventing plaque formation.

To assess the role of beta-carotene in arterial plaques, close to 13,000 middle-aged subjects were studied. The amount of beta-carotene in their diets was determined and their arteries were
examined. In both men and women, those subjects with the highest intake of carotene had the lowest prevalence of plaques.

Beta-carotene is found only in plant foods and is especially high in orange or dark yellow vegetables like carrots, winter squash, and pumpkin, and orange fruits like cantaloupe. Perhaps a carrot rather than an apple a day will keep the doctor away.

Kritchevsky, SB., Tell, G.S., Shimakawa, T., et al. 1998. Provitamin A carotenoid intake and carotid artery plaques: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Am J Clin. Nutr 68:726-733.

A Mediterranean diet can cut the risk of getting cancer or dying of the disease by two-thirds, compared with the American Heart Association’s “Prudent Diet.” That’s the word from a five-year study by Michel de Lorgeril, M.D., of the School of Medicine in Saint- Enenne, France. His research is part of the larger Lyon Diet Heart Study. Noting that cancer rates are low in the Mediterranean, researchers decided to see if the area’s diet protects against cancer.

They randomly assigned 605 people with heart disease to follow either the Prudent Diet (30 percent of calories from fat; 10 percent each of mono, poly and saturated fat; and less than 300 mg/day of cholesterol) or the Mediterranean diet, which includes more beans, fruit, vegetables and fish, less pork and beef, and moderate red wine intake. A canola spread supplemented with alpha-linolenic and oleic acid oils was substituted for butter, and olive and canola oils were recommended for
cooking.

At the end of five years, 15 of those on the Prudent Diet but only seven on the Mediterranean diet had died from cancer or leukemia. A total of 17 people on the Prudent Diet but only seven of those on the Mediterranean diet were diagnosed with cancer during the five years. Because cancer develops over time and may nor reflect current exposures, the researchers also looked at how many
people developed cancer two years into the study. The differences were even more pronounced the Prudent Diet group had 12 cancers; the Mediterranean diet group had two.

This represented far fewer cases than would be expected in a comparable segment of the French public. Several factors apparently contributed to the lower cancer rate. For starters, the Mediterranean diet emphasizes antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.

Although the Mediterranean diet contains less vitamin E, blood levels of the vitamin among those in the group were higher, probably because their vitamin E was not spent protecting the polyunsaturated fatty acids found in the Prudent Diet. The oleic and alpha-linolenic oils eaten by the Mediterranean diet group are also remarkably resistant to oxidation, researchers say. In addition, the alpha-linolenic acid and the fish oils contained in the Mediterranean diet are omega-3 fatty acids, which strengthen the immune system as well as prevent the inflammation and blood supply required by tumors.

Rest assured the rumour of stair climbing making glutes "bigger" is nonsense.  Stair climbing, walking, swimming, running are activities that can require your muscles and limbs to move hundreds of times, even thousands if you add in all the steps and movements the human body takes each day.

What makes the "butt" bigger ?

Sitting on it.
Eating excessive calories.
Eating the wrong types of calories.
Not eating enough essential fats (flaxseed/fish oils/olive oil).

Back to exercise.  You would receive more benefits, i.e., burning stored fat, increasing muscle tone, by adding resistance training into your program.  Instead of 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise daily, add 30 minutes of full body weight training (train legs, back, abdominals, shoulders, chest, arms) and reduce your cardiovascular exercise by 30 minutes.

Weight training will tone the body's muscles all over.  Improving your figure and your bone density.  Toned muscles burn more calories at rest and during exercise.

Mark Occhipinti, M.S. Exercise Physiologist, Ph.D., N.D. (in progress)

A supplement of ground flaxseed lowers cholesterol and reduces a heart disease-promoting protein in post-menopausal women, according to a study by Bahram Arjmandi, Ph.D., of Oklahoma
State University in Still-water. In the double-blind, crossover study, 38 women with extremely high
cholesterol levels were given bread and muffins containing 38 g of either sunflower or flaxseed flour daily. After six weeks, subjects were taken off the supplemented food for two weeks and then
switched to food made with the other flour for six weeks.

Flaxseed lowered total cholesterol by 6.9 percent (from 229 mg/L to 213 mg/L) and LDL cholesterol by 14.7 percent (from 158 mg/L to 133 mg/L). Even more importantly, flax lowered levels of a protein called lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a), from 0.95 mm/L to 0.88 mm/L. Lp(a), which increases after menopause, causes atherosclerosis in several ways.

It increases clotting and cholesterol deposition in artery walls and oxidizes LDL cholesterol, making it highly reactive. Lp(a) levels are lowered by estrogen supplementation but not by cholesterol-lowering drugs, which may explain estrogen’s protective effect on the heart. This study demonstrates the first dietary approach to lowering Lp(a).

Flaxseed is high in alpha-linolenic acid, known to lower cholesterol. It also contains Lignans, which have a weak estrogenic effect on fats.

According to Arjmandi, “The potential effects of flaxseed on lowering blood cholesterol and Lp(a) in post-menopausal women have immense implications should this dietary source of PUFA [polyunsaturated fatty acid] and lignan precursors be demonstrated effective.”  Only ground
flaxseed has such effects; whole flaxseed is not digestible.

Archives of Internal Medicine 1998 Jun 8;158:l 181-7 Nutrition Research 1998 Jul;18(7):1203-14

If you perform upright rows stop, as it is one of the major causes of impingement syndrome within the trapezius.  I am not sure of the depth of your pressing movements and dumbbell fly’s.  Depth for press not greater than pushup depth on a flat surface.  Dumbbell depth not greater than fists at tops of armpits (also known as mid- axially).  Consider a slight incline in all chest work (15-25 percent grade, no higher).

Flat bench & flat fly’s tends to load on the rotator cuff (external rotation).

Consider one full week off from upper body training and switch from squats to leg presses (holding the bar in the squat can aggravate the shoulder joint).

Pullovers: Either switch to the bent arm pullover machine (nautilus for example) or bent arm across the bench dumbbell pullover.  The stress on the shoulder/rotator cuff placed by a straight arm pullover can be risky.

Mark Occhipinti, M.S. Exercise Physiologist, Ph.D., N.D. (in progress)

Selenium Deficiency Sets Stage for Virus Mutation

Selenium deficiency adversely affects the immune system in many ways, putting people with infections at risk of becoming sicker.
Now it turns out that selenium deficiency can also aid viruses, allowing them to mutate into more dangerous pathogens. It has long been known that Chinese people living in selenium-deficient areas are more apt to develop a severe heart problem called Keshan disease. It is caused by a normally harmless virus, Coxsackie virus B3, that replicates using RNA rather than DNA.
Selenium supplementation prevents the disease.

In a study conducted by Melinda Beck, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, viruses from selenium-deficient mice that developed Keshan disease were injected into animals with
normal selenium levels. These mice became sick as well, suggesting that the virus had mutated. A study of the virus gene sequence both before and after it infected the selenium-deficient
mice indicated the genetic structure of the virus had in fact changed, making the virus more virulent.
There are two possible explanations, according to Beck. Selenium prevents oxidation and, hence, mutations in fast-multiplying RNA viruses. In addition, the decreased immune response in the
selenium-deficient mice may have made it easier for a more aggressive virus sub population to take hold.

This study suggests that not only are animals with selenium deficiency at greater risk for infection, they may be hosts for breeding more pathogenic varieties of RNA viruses.

Nutrition Reviews 1998 Jan;ll:5140-8 Nutrition Science News November 1998 Vol. 3, No. 11 575

Research found that the subjects’ diets provided adequate amounts of calcium, zinc, folate, vitamin B-12, and vitamin C. Dietary supplements were needed to meet iron recommendations.

Birth weights of infants of vegetarians were not significantly different from those of infants of non-vegetarians or fish-eaters (those who abstained from meat but did eat fish). Infant head circumference and length were also similar in the three groups. The authors of the study conclude that vegetarian diets can be adequate for pregnancy.

The vegetarian women did feel that they did not receive adequate information on their diet during pregnancy. Most received information from supermarket leaflets and vegetarian groups. They
did not find dietary advice from their midwives or physicians particularly helpful. These results support the need for groups like The Vegetarian Resource Group to develop and distribute credible and user-friendly information about vegetarianism during pregnancy 63 subjects who had been lacto-vegetarians for 10 years or more.

They found that their blood vitamin B-12 levels were not significantly different from those of non-vegetarians. Use of vitamin B-12 supplements by the lacto-vegetarians did not appear to affect blood vitamin B-12 levels. Dietary vitamin B-12 correlated well with blood vitamin B- 12 levels, which suggested that a lacto-vegetarian whose diet was quite low in dairy products could have low blood vitamin B-12 levels unless another source of vitamin B-12 was used. It appears that
lacto-vegetarians whose diets contain good sources of vitamin B-12 are not at increased risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency.

Solberg, E.E., Magnus, E., et al. 1998. Vitamin B-12 and folate in lacto-vegetarians a controlled study of 63 Norwegian subjects. Veg Nutr 2:73-75.

Drake, R., Reddy, S., Davies, J. 1998. Nutrient intake during pregnancy and pregnancy outcome of lacto-vegetarians, fish-eaters and non-vegetarians. Veg Nutr 2:45-52.

The high fat in most nuts is good-for-you unsaturated fat, including alpha-linolenic acid, which may prevent ventricular fibrillation, a heart-rhythm disturbance which causes sudden death. In Harvard Medical School's 12-year study of 22,071 doctors in the Physicians Health Study, men who ate the highest amount of nuts had the lowest risk for any heart-related death, even after adjusting for age, exercise, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, alcohol use, and whether individuals were
under treatment for already existing heart anomalies. "Most nuts are also high in other unsaturated fats and nutrients that might contribute to reduced heart disease risk," study lead Christine M. Albert, M.D., said in her report at the American Heart Association's 71st Scientific Sessions, which met Nov. 10 in Boston.
Reprinted with permission:http://www.fitnesslink.com/

There have been reports of low blood vitamin B-12 levels in lacto-ovo vegetarians. This is curious because dairy products and eggs do contain vitamin B-12. Norwegian investigators recently examined the vitamin B-12 status of 63 subjects who had been lacto-vegetarians for 10 years or more. They found that their blood vitamin B-12 levels were not significantly different from those of
non-vegetarians. Use of vitamin B-12 supplements by the lacto-vegetarians did not appear to affect blood vitamin B-12 levels.

Dietary vitamin B-12 correlated well with blood vitamin B-12 levels, which suggested that a lacto-vegetarian whose diet was quite low in dairy products could have low blood vitamin B-12 levels unless another source of vitamin B-12 was used. It appears that lacto- vegetarians whose diets contain good sources of vitamin B-12 are not at increased risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency

Solberg, E.E., Magnus, E., et al. 1998. Vitamin B-12 and folate in lacto-vegetarians a controlled study of 63 Norwegian subjects. Veg Nutr 2:73-75.

Declining levels of DHEA may have just as much to do with the autoimmune disease lupus as they do with growing old, suggests review author Ronald Derksen, M.D., of University Hospital in
Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Lupus is characterized by immune changes akin to those associated with normal aging. It Is also marked by an increase in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNRj, a cytokine that causes inflammation. DHEA, short for dehydro-epiandrosterone, is a hormone that drops significantly with age. In addition to calming stress-induced hormonal reactions such as inflammation. DHEA is linked to immune function.

In one study, animals given DHEA avoided some of the immune function disruptions caused by aging and survived what are normally lethal infections. Previous research shows that people with lupus have low DHEA levels, and now, two preliminary studies indicate the adrenal hormone may help treat the disease.

In the first trial, 10 women with lupus received 200 mg DHEA daily for six months and showed improvement based on a disease activity index. They also felt better, and their doctors judged them
improved. A controlled clinical trial followed, involving 28 women with lupus who also received 200 mg DHEA or a placebo daily for three months.
In addition to feeling better, the women who took DHEA were able to decrease their daily dose of prednisone, a corticosteroid commonly prescribed for lupus.

Derksen suspects that low DHEA levels may be linked to the immune system changes that characterize both lupus and aging and calls for further clinical studies.
Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism 1998 Jun;27:335-47

Gallstones plague an estimated 20 million Americans, sending many of them to the operating room each year, but researchers Joel Simon, M.D., and Ester Hudes, Ph.D. of the University of
California, San Francisco, have shown that dietary vitamin C may slash that number.

The pair recently analyzed the vitamin C levels of 9,000 adults included in the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a government study of Americans’ dietary practices
completed in 1980.

Of this group, 731 women and 189 men reported they had either gallstones or resulting gallbladder removal. The researchers compared the gallstone group’s blood vitamin C levels with levels
from other participants. People with serum vitamin C concentrations higher than 2.7 mg/dl had only 40 percent the rate of gallstones or gallbladder removal as those with serum concentrations of less than 1.4 mg/dl.

Researchers think vitamin C may be the key to an enzyme reaction  that converts cholesterol to bile. Low levels of vitamin C slow the conversion, bile then becomes supersaturated with excess cholesterol, and the cholesterol precipitates our to form gallstones. In addition, oxidants such as hydroxyl and oxygen radicals are known to over stimulate the secretion of mucin, a glycoprotein in the gallbladder that triggers gallstone formation. Simon and Hudes theorize that vitamin C, a potent antioxidant, neutralizes the oxidants and stalls gallstones.

American Journal of Public Health 1998 Aug;88:1208-12

One daily serving of whole-grain bread or cereal can cut the risk of ischemic heart disease death in older women by a third, according to a study by David Jacobs, Ph.D., an epidemiologist from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Jacobs’ research used data from the Iowa Women s Health Study, a 10-year effort that tracked the health of 34,492 post menopausal women aged 55 to When the study began in 1986, subjects
completed a survey about their diets. By study’s end, 3,320 of the women had died, 438 of them from ischemic heart disease.

The 60 percent of surveyed women who ate the most whole grains at least one serving daily had less risk of dying from ischemic heart disease. The whole-grain eaters differed in other ways as well. They took vitamins and hormone replacements, exercised, ate fruits and vegetables, and were leaner and more educated than their low-grain counterparts. Yet even when these confounding factors were considered, women who ate whole grains still had a lower death rate.

Jacobs cannot say exactly why whole grains prevent heart disease.
Eating refined grains such as bleached white flour didn’t guard women against heart conditions, so researchers deduced the protective effect most likely came from fiber the non digestible plant component removed in processing. Statistical analysis found that fiber, phytic acid and vitamin E were indeed partially responsible for whole grain’s protective effect, yet when they were
accounted for, whole grains still thwarted heart disease.

This suggests whole-grain components, and perhaps some undiscovered phytochemicals, may be working together in ways nor yet understood.
Although whole grains are richer in fiber, folic acid and minerals than refined grains, they account for only 5 percent of the 200 pounds of grain eaten annually by the average American. Most of
the women Jacobs studied ate whole wheat bread and breakfast cereal; researchers do nor know if other grains have the same protective effects.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998 Aug;68:248-57

Many years ago, Norman Cousins was diagnosed as "terminally ill." He was given six months to live. His chance for recovery was one in 500.

He could see the worry, depression and anger in his life contributed to, and perhaps helped cause, his disease.  He wondered, "If illness can be caused by negativity, can wellness be created by positivity?"

He decided to make an experiment of himself. Laughter was one of the most positive activities he knew. He rented all the funny movies he could find - Keaton, Chaplin, Fields, the Marx Brothers. (This was before VCRs, so he had to rent the actual films.) He read funny stories. He asked
his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did something funny.

His pain was so great he could not sleep. Laughing for 10 solid minutes, he found, relieved the pain for several hours so he could sleep.

He fully recovered from his illness and lived another 20 happy, healthy and productive years. (His journey is detailed in his book, Anatomy of an Illness.) He credits visualization, the love of his
family and friends, and laughter for his recovery.

Some people think laughter is a waste of time. It is a luxury, they say, a frivolity, something to indulge in only every so often.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Laughter is essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our aliveness. If we're not well, laughter helps us get well; if we are well, laughter helps us stay that
way.

Since Cousins' ground-breaking subjective work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, the mind and the emotions.

So, if you like laughter consider it sound medical advice to indulge in it as often as you can. If you don't like laughter, then take your medicine-laugh anyway.

Use whatever makes you laugh - movies, sitcoms, Monty Python, records, books, New Yorker cartoons, jokes, friends.

Give yourself permission to laugh - long and loud and out loud -whenever anything strikes you as funny. The people around you may think you're strange, but sooner or later they'll join in even if they
don't know what you're laughing about.

Some diseases may be contagious, but none is as contagious as the cure. . . laughter.

By Peter McWilliams from Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul Copyright 1996 by
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery & Nancy Mitchell, R.N.

This is an actual letter that was sent.  It seems that there had been three generations working for the same company, and neither the Grandfather, father or son ever took anytime off!

 Dear Valued Employee:

Our records indicate that you have not used any vacation time over the past 100 year(s).  As I'm sure you are aware, employees are granted 3 weeks of paid leave per year or pay in lieu of time off.
One additional week is granted for every 5 years of service.

Please either take 9,400 days off work or notify our office and your next pay check will reflect payment of $8,277,432.22 which will include all pay and interest for the past 1,200 months.

Sincerely,
Automated Payroll Processing

He took the check! True Story

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