Ginkgo Does Not Work to Improve Your Memory – So What Does?

Last year a study led by Steven T. DeKosky, MD, the vice president and dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, showed that the popular herb offered no protection against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. …

Publish Date: 05/11/2010 13:32

http://alzheimer.skreviews2.com/ginkgo-does-not-work-to-improve-your-memory-so-what-does.html

Limited evidence seems to indicate that the herb sage might enhance memory, improve cognitive performance, and slow down disease progression in Alzheimer’s patients.

Publish Date: 03/13/2010 8:11

http://seniors-health-medicare.suite101.com/article.cfm/can-sage-prevent-or-treat-alzheimers-disease

Benefits of Ashwagandha Herb | adidas tmac 2

Research has exposed that ashwagandha extract helps to rebuild networks of the nervous system, creation it a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. In addition, this herb has been shown to possess …

Publish Date: 05/11/2010 12:07

http://marsh.boseviews.com/2010/05/11/benefits-of-ashwagandha-herb/

You can also see Dr. Houser (from link above) in a video, in case you don’t feel like reading the moment:

Alzheimer’s and Gotu Kola

Protect your brain, Herb Specialist, John Houser shares info on Alzheimer’s, the importance of hydration, enzymes and a brain boosting herb.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Do you ever wonder if all the anti-aging resveratrol mania is out of hand? Well, it is. Here are some red flags to watch out for.

If you have about 10 minutes right now, watch this video to prep yourself for my comments on this topic. It is a phenomenal video about resveratrol research. Just don’t believe any of it.

RESVERATROL! ABC News!

Resveratrol is a Great Antioxidant

Just to keep the record straight, I am all for the benefits of plant natural products for human health. My professional background has been in plant natural products chemistry for more than 35 years, so I am automatically biased in favor of them. However, the hysteria over different substances makes my whole field look bad.

The Problem with Reductionist Thinking

The video above, and all the commentary about resveratrol for that matter, comes from looking at small, single variable explanations for scientific results. This is called reductionist thinking. The long-running joke about reductionist scientists is that they (we!) study smaller and smaller details until we finally know everything about nothing. The whole field of molecular genetics is built around reductionist thinking. That is the nature of the beast.

Goals of Resveratrol Research

If you watched the video you may have noticed that resveratrol was repeatedly referred to as a drug. This is great news in some ways. However, you can bet your bottom dollar that this non-patentable natural product will not be the final product of this research.

What we have here is a high-powered Harvard research lab with financial backing by a high-powered vulture capitalist, er, venture capitalist. The primary goal of this team is to develop something that will be profitable, pay the investment back, and make a lot more money to boot.

These are the very same goals of pharmaceutical drug research. Notice that human health is just a side issue here. The purpose of drug research is to make money, not to make people healthier. Ditto for resveratrol research.

Leap of Faith

When I was doing research with brain cancer, one of my colleagues once said, “Applying results from studies of laboratory animals to humans is like taking a leap of faith the size of the Grand Canyon.” Virtually all of the research on resveratrol that has generated so much excitement is based on lab animals and yeast. Equivalent studies on humans would take a lifetime. Let’s get real real!

By the way, humans have about 30,000 or so genes. The impact of one substance on one gene does not possibly explain how anything works in a whole person.

A complete critique of resveratrol mania could occupy a whole book. I hope my brief comments at least get you started thinking a little more clearly on this issue. It will serve you well for judging all kinds of wild science in the headlines.

My Recommendations

I see nothing wrong with taking resveratrol supplements. Indeed, I encourage it. I encourage you to take antioxidant supplements in general, even including red wine itself. However, if the issue that you want to address is anti-aging or any other health-related concern, I suggest that you find out what the whole-person scientific research says about getting healthy, staying healthy, and living a full and long life.

Sorry to say that I don’t have any recommendations that I can make any money on. Well, I could make some fake recommendations for the purpose of selling you my book, if I had one, or of selling you some supplements. However, I think it is much more important to tell you something that will truly benefit your health. It is this:

Get and read the following two books (cheap used copies at Amazon, I am sure):

“Healthy at 100″ by John Robbins

“The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell

Better yet, if you are looking for instant information on these books, you can visit the following two websites:

Healthy at 100

T. Colin Campbell Foundation

All the best in natural health,
Dr. D

• Arterial plaque contains cholesterol
• The most abundant substance in arterial plaque is calcium
• About 50% of heart attack victims do not have clogged arteries
• About 90% of heart attack victims have no previous cardiovascular symptoms
• Cholesterol is important for proper functioning of cell membranes
• Dietary cholesterol has almost no effect on serum cholesterol levels
• Cholesterol levels are easy to measure
• Cholesterol levels are easy to control by synthetic drugs called statins
• Statins block the synthesis of CoQ-10, which is crucial for heart health
• There is no such thing as ‘bad’ cholesterol
• Low cholesterol levels, especially when induced by statins, are associated with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease and ALS
• High cholesterol levels do not predict heart disease or mortality
• The only factor that characterizes ALL cardiovascular disorders is inflammation

Several years ago the federal government, with the helpful guidance of the pharmaceutical industry, adjusted its guidelines for managing cholesterol levels. At that time the definition of what was considered too high changed from 300 mg/dL to 200 mg/dL (i.e., milligrams of cholesterol in each deciliter of blood serum, which is a little more than 12 ounces). Under the old guidelines, roughly 13 million people in this country were recommended to take cholesterol-lowering medications. The new guidelines brought this number to 36 million people, which almost tripled the market for cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

The bottom line is that the widespread use of statins is clearly based on a false premise that cholesterol causes heart disease. Nevertheless, annual sales of statins worldwide exceed $25 billion. The issues of cholesterol and human health disappeared from the realm of wellness long ago and have been replaced by issues of money and politics. This is in spite of the well-known and lengthy list of side effects of these drugs, including unexplained muscle weakness, cramps, twitching, slurred speech, difficulty in walking or motor skills, nerve pain, depression, memory loss, and impotence. Indeed, this money machine continues to grow in spite of recent research on two drugs, Zetia and Vytorin, which shows that they don’t even work.

Maintaining Your Body’s Natural Balance

Cholesterol and overall lipid (fat) balance is still important, because every cell membrane in your body depends on cholesterol and other lipids for proper functioning. The way your cells handle lipids says a lot about your general state of health. Controlling them with drugs is just not the best choice for real wellness. It you have been frightened into taking statin drugs, it is time to find a doctor who will work with you to get off of them. Several natural approaches will ensure that you are on the right track. Since inflammation is at the root of cardiovascular disease, the most important strategy that you can adopt, which also offers benefits against many other chronic conditions, is to address inflammation with a combination of good anti-inflammatory and fiber supplements, the right eating plan, optimal exercise, stress and lifestyle management, and hormone balance.

Amygdalin – The Real Natural Product

Apricot pits and many other kinds of seeds contain a natural product that is called amygdalin, which is often used synonymously with laetrile. They are not the same.

Amygdalin consists of the following parts: a benzene ring, a nitrile (cyano) group, and two molecules of glucose together in a side chain. Although these parts can be put together in several ways, only one particular combination is called amygdalin. Chemist are very picky that way.

Laetrile – The Semisynthetic Product

Laetrile consists of the following parts: a benzene ring, a nitrile (cyano) group, and one molecule of glucuronic acid as a side group. The question about what this molecule is can be resolved by simply knowing the origin of the word laetrile. It comes from the detailed name of the molecule, which is laevomandelonitrile.

Why Is This Important?

The body of research on laetrile as a natural cancer cure is littered with confusion about which molecule was used in any one patient group or lab animal experiment. To make matters worse, early researchers campaigned to get amygdalin or laetrile – it is not clear which – approved as a vitamin, B-17.

Vitamin B-17 is now available commercially, although it is almost certainly amygdalin most of the time. Company representatives do not generally know enough about the subject to provide clarity on their own vitamin B-17 products.

Do Laetrile and Amygdalin Have the Same Anticancer Activity?

That is the key question. It can only be answered theoretically, based on the supposed mechanism of action of laetrile. It goes like this:

Enzymes in tumors cleave the glucuronic acid group off of the intact laetrile molecule. The remaining parts then disintegrate spontaneously into two pieces: a molecule of cyanide and a molecule of benzaldehyde. Supposedly, once the cyanide molecule is released inside the tumor, it goes about killing the cancer cells.

Amygdalin breaks apart the same way, after enzymes in the tumor cleave off the glucose side chain. According to this behavior, amygdalin should have the same mechanism of action against cancer as laetrile does.

Enough Chemistry – What is the Bottom Line for Treating Cancer?

Since laetrile is chemically modified from amyglalin, it may occur as a 50-50 mixture of active and inactive forms. For this reason, a stable concentration of amygdalin should provide the best chance for full anticancer activity.

The key word here is stable. If you have a product that is supposed to be vitamin B-17, or amygdalin, or laetrile, it may be giving off an odor of cyanide (like the odor of bitter almonds or of ground up apple seeds). The stronger the odor, the more of the active ingredient it has lost.

Are Laetrile/Amygdalin Valuable a Cancer Treatment?

More than 80 years of research, from several labs and clinics around the world, shows strong support for a positive answer to this question. Another indication is that this treatment, especially in combination with other treatments, became so good that it was made illegal and chased out of the U.S.

The closest laetrile/amygdalin-based treatment clinics have been in Mexican border towns, especially in Tijuana. Unfortunately, legal problems arising because of certain sections of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have led to closures of some of these cancer clinics.

Natural cancer cures are still as good as they always have been. It is just that getting access to them has become more of a challenge in recent years.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Calling acai scams such a nasty name is pretty harsh. I’ll just say that most of the information on the Internet is simply repeated, out of ignorance, from a few original sources. The original sources are the scams. Just for fun I’m going to show you how a scientist (me) evaluates the marketing hype behind the big acai scam.

What I did was to go to one of my favorite medical databases and simply look up all of the references to published research on the scientific name, Euterpe  oleracea, which is the name that scientists use for the species of palm tree that produces acai berries (which are not really berries, by the way). I’m going to give you the Cliff Notes version of the results first, then I’ll append the complete list with summaries of results.

Research Behind Acai Berry Scam

A total of 9 publications came up in my search. The earliest was published in 2004 and the most recent one in 2008. The main results are listed below:

• 2004 Anthocyanins and similar phytochemicals were isolated and evaluated for antioxidant activity and pigment stability.
• 2005 Several commercial and non-commercial samples of acai fruit pulp were found to have antioxidant activity; very little of this activity was due to the anthocyanins
• 2006 Anthocyanins from fruits were found to be potent inhibitors of nitric oxide
• 2006 Seed extracts show potent antioxidant activity, mostly from as yet unknown ingredients
• 2007 Extracts of acai pits show vasodilator effect on rat tissue
• 2007 Acai fruits have good nutritional value
• 2008 Acai fruit pulp and oil inhibit growth of colon cancer cells in culture; effect is not due to anthocyanins
• 2008 Class of phytochemicals called lignans discovered; showed protective effect on breast cancer cell cultures that were stressed by hydrogen peroxide
• 2008 Showed acai pulp to be equivalent to applesauce in increasing plasma antioxidant capacity

Do Research Articles Support Acai Scams?

In a word, no. The research has nothing to do with the marketing of any acai scam. Now go look up what you can find on acai for weight loss, then compare what you find with the list of research results below.

You may also run into a handful of articles at EzineArticles.com that advise you to drink acai juice to prevent cancer. After doing many years of research on cancer cell cultures myself (in my case, brain cancer cells), I can tell you that research on cell cultures rarely has anything to do with cells in a whole person. The reference above from 2008 regarding colon cancer is very, very, very preliminary. Did I say VERY preliminary? No advice whatsoever can be taken from this lone article.

Acai Scams are Here to Stay

Many supplement manufacturers have jumped onto this bandwagon. Customers in my store come in regularly to ask about acai for weight loss and other health benefits. My recommendation is always that acai berry contains some antioxidants that are probably beneficial. It is the new berry on the block. Another one will come along soon. Fruits juices litter the supplement landscape. They are all good to some extent. However, the information about acai has reached a level of silliness that I regard as a scam. The big Acai Scam.

What About Folk Medicine?

We don’t always have to rely on scientific research to guide us. It is too slow to find out most the answers we want. This is where old knowledge can be helpful, especially when herbs have a folk medical history. Unfortunately, the acai berry is more well known as a poor man’s fruit juice than as a medicinal herb. People in Brazil, where acai palms are cultivated, are probably laughing in their beer about all the hullabaloo regarding acai. You can read about this plant from the point of view of a naturopathic doctor at RainTree Nutrition to see what I mean.

Now for the Gory Scientific Details

I welcome you to scan the references that I dug up. This is a lot of detailed information that only scientists like me get excited about. Enjoy! You can get even more information by looking up the PubMed ID numbers for the complete abstracts of these articles. Titles of the articles are in boldface. Don’t scientists have a way with words? A typical full reference, as those below, includes title, journal citation, author names, and address of the lead institution.

1: Pharmacokinetics of anthocyanins and antioxidant effects after the consumption of anthocyanin-rich acai juice and pulp (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) in human healthy volunteers.

Mertens-Talcott SU, Rios J, Jilma-Stohlawetz P, Pacheco-Palencia LA, Meibohm B, Talcott ST, Derendorf H.

Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA. smtalcott@tamu.edu

J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Sep 10;56(17):7796-802.
PubMed ID: 18693743

SUMMARY: Compared acai pulp, clarified acai juice, applesauce, and a non-antioxidant beverage. Plasma antioxidant capacity was significantly increased by the acai pulp and applesauce. Individual increases in plasma antioxidant capacity of up to 2.3- and 3-fold for acai juice and pulp, respectively were observed. The antioxidant capacity in urine, generation of reactive oxygen species, and uric acid concentrations in plasma were not significantly altered by the treatments.

2: Lignans and other constituents of the fruits of Euterpe oleracea (Acai) with antioxidant and cytoprotective activities.

Chin YW, Chai HB, Keller WJ, Kinghorn AD.

Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, 500 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Sep 10;56(17):7759-64.
PubMed ID: 18656934

SUMMARY: Identified examples of a class of phytochemicals called lignans. Showed that a handful of these can protect certain type of breast cancer cells in culture against stress caused by hydrogen peroxide.

3: Absorption and biological activity of phytochemical-rich extracts from açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp and oil in vitro.

Pacheco-Palencia LA, Talcott ST, Safe S, Mertens-Talcott S.

Department of Nutrition and Food Science and Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.

J Agric Food Chem. 2008 May 28;56(10):3593-600.
PubMed ID: 18442253

SUMMARY: Polyphenolic mixtures from both acai pulp and acai oil extracts inhibited proliferation of human colon cancer cells by up to 90.7%. None of the polyphenolics included anthocyanins. No comparison was made on potential inhibition of normal cells.

4: Characterization of the acai or manaca (Euterpe oleracea Mart.): a fruit of the Amazon. [Article in Spanish]

Neida S, Elba S.

Laboratorio de Análisis de Alimentos, Departamento de Procesos Biológicos y Bioquímicos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela.

Arch Latinoam Nutr. 2007 Mar;57(1):94-8.
PubMed ID: 17824205

SUMMARY: Results of dry-weight analysis of two harvests at different times in 2005 indicated that acai has a general content of lipids (49.4% and 33.1%), proteins (13.8% and 9.3%), ash (5.2% and 2.2%)  and total dietary fiber (27.3% and 18.0%). Polyphenols were 5.02 and 2.20 g/100 g; tannins 0.70  and 1.37 g/100g; anthocyanins 0.73 and 1.60 g/100g and the antioxidant capacity 88.03 and 87.87%, respectively. It is concluded that the acai or manaca Collected in the Venezuelan Amazon has a high nutritional value.

5: Endothelium-dependent vasodilator effect of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Açaí) extracts in mesenteric vascular bed of the rat.

Rocha AP, Carvalho LC, Sousa MA, Madeira SV, Sousa PJ, Tano T, Schini-Kerth VB, Resende AC, Soares de Moura R.

Department of Pharmacology and Psychobiology, IBRAG, UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Vascul Pharmacol. 2007 Feb;46(2):97-104.
PubMed ID: 17049314

SUMMARY: Extracts of açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) stones (i.e., fruit pit) induce a vasodilator effect in isolated rat tissue. The vasodilator effect suggest a possibility to use such extracts in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

6: Total oxidant scavenging capacity of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (açaí) seeds and identification of their polyphenolic compounds.

Rodrigues RB, Lichtenthäler R, Zimmermann BF, Papagiannopoulos M, Fabricius H, Marx F, Maia JG, Almeida O.

Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Department of Food Chemistry I, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 11-13, D-53115 Bonn, Germany.

J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Jun 14;54(12):4162-7.
PubMed ID: 16756342

SUMMARY: The antioxidant capacity of methanol and ethanol seed extracts from Euterpe oleracea Mart. (açaí) exhibited good antioxidant capacity against peroxyl radicals, similar to the capacity of the pulp. The antioxidant capacity against of the seed extract fractions indicates that the procyanidins contribute substantially to the overall effect. In addition, however, other compounds that have not yet been identified are responsible for a large part of the observed antioxidant capacity.

7: Inhibitory effects of Euterpe oleracea Mart. on nitric oxide production and iNOS  expression.

Matheus ME, de Oliveira Fernandes SB, Silveira CS, Rodrigues VP, de Sousa Menezes F, Fernandes PD.

Departamento de Farmacologia Básica e Clínica, ICB, Caixa Postal: 68016, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21944-970 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2006 Sep 19;107(2):291-6.
PubMed ID: 16635558

SUMMARY: Results showed that the fractions obtained from fruits were the most potent in inhibiting NO production, followed by those from flowers and spikes. The more pronounced effect was observed in the fractions in which the concentration of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and cyanidin-3-O-rhamnoside were higher. This shows potential cardiovascular benefits.

8: Total oxidant scavenging capacities of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Açaí) fruits.

Lichtenthäler R, Rodrigues RB, Maia JG, Papagiannopoulos M, Fabricius H, Marx F.

Institute of Nutritional and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2005 Feb;56(1):53-64.
PubMed ID: 16019315

SUMMARY: The antioxidant capacities of 11 commercial and non-commercial samples of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (açaí) fruit pulp were studied with the total oxidant scavenging capacity. The antioxidant capacities of all purple açaí samples were found to be excellent against peroxyl radicals, good against peroxynitrite and poor against hydroxyl radicals compared with common European fruit and vegetable juices. The contributions of the anthocyanins to the overall antioxidant capacities of the fruit were estimated to be only approximately 10%. Obviously, compounds not yet identified are responsible for the major part of the antioxidant capacities of the açaí fruit pulp.

9: Phytochemical composition and pigment stability of Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.).

Del Pozo-Insfran D, Brenes CH, Talcott ST.

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Florida, P.O. Box
110370, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0370, USA.

J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Mar 24;52(6):1539-45.
PubMed ID: 15030208

SUMMARY: Anthocyanin and polyphenolic compounds present in açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) were determined and their respective contribution to the overall antioxidant capacity established. Cyanidin 3-glucoside (1040 mg/L) was the predominant anthocyanin in açai and correlated to antioxidant content, while 16 other polyphenolics were detected from 4 to 212 mg/L.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D