Grape Skins Could Help Treat Cancer and More

English: Wine grapes. Español: Uvas de vino rojo. Русский: Грозди винограда. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

Resveratrol, a potent antioxidant found in a number of plants, including red grape skins, pomegranate, raw cacao, peanuts, and berries like raspberries and mulberries, is known to have a number of beneficial health effects.

The compound is produced by plants to increase their survival and resistance to disease during times of stress, such as excessive ultraviolet light, infections and climate changes. When you consume these plants, you can reap similar protection.

Resveratrol’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties have been well-established by science, and its benefits are thought to extend to the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, among others.

It belongs to a family of compounds known as polyphenols, which are known to combat damaging free radicals, which is likely why life extension in general is also on its list of health benefits.

Resveratrol is found in abundance in red wine, and it's highly soluble in alcohol, which means your body may absorb more of it from red wine than from other sources. I do not, however, suggest drinking large amounts of red wine, as alcohol in and of itself is a neurotoxin.

Whole foods, such as muscadine grapes, for example, are a better choice. Muscadine grapes have the highest concentration of resveratrol in nature because of their extra thick skins and numerous seeds where it is concentrated.

Other whole food sources include cocoa, dark chocolate and peanuts, but it may be difficult to get a therapeutic dose, especially since these are all foods I recommend you eat only in moderation. Another option is to take a resveratrol supplement. In this case, be sure to look for one made from a whole food complex that includes muscadine grape skin and seeds.

Resveratrol Shows Promise in Treatment of Cancer

Research has shown that resveratrol has the ability to deeply penetrate the center of a cell's nucleus, allowing the DNA to repair free radical damage that might otherwise contribute to cancerous growth.

Further, resveratrol's anti-inflammatory properties help prevent certain enzymes from forming that trigger tumor development. It also helps cut down cell reproduction, which helps reduce the number of cell divisions that could contribute to the progression of cancer cell growth.

Besides playing a role in the prevention of cancer, studies have also found that resveratrol can serve important functions in conjunction with conventional cancer therapies, as it acts as a:

• Chemo-sensitizer—a substance that can help you overcome resistance to chemotherapy drugs
• Radiation-sensitizer; making cancer cells more susceptible to radiation treatment

The latter was recently shown in a study1 conducted at the University of Missouri, in which melanoma cells became more susceptible to radiation when treated with resveratrol prior to the radiation treatment. When treated with resveratrol alone, 44 percent of the cancer cells underwent apoptosis, or cell death.

This, by itself, is worthy of note. When a combination treatment was applied, using radiation on melanoma cells pretreated with resveratrol, apoptosis of tumor cells increased to 65 percent. While promising, the researchers noted it’s still going to take some time before an effective treatment can be produced. According to co-author Dr. Michael Nicholl, MD:2

"Because of difficulties involved in delivery of adequate amounts of resveratrol to melanoma tumors, the compound is probably not an effective treatment for advanced melanoma at this time.”

Several Cancers Appear Susceptible to Resveratrol’s Beneficial Influence

The first evidence of resveratrol’s anti-cancer effects was published in 1997. The findings received great interest from cancer researchers, and many studies have been devoted to this potent antioxidant since then. In particular, its ability to render cancerous tumors more vulnerable to chemotherapy and radiotherapy makes resveratrol a unique3 and potentially useful addition to conventional cancer therapy.

Many tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs, known aschemoresistance. Researchers are always on the lookout for effective “chemo-sensitizers” that can help overcome such resistance, and resveratrol has been shown to do just that.

In a 2011 review4 of dietary agents that sensitize tumors, making them more susceptible to the treatment with chemotherapy drugs, resveratrol was featured as a clear candidate, courtesy of its multi-targeting properties. So far, cancers shown to respond favorably include:

Lung carcinoma	Acute myeloid and promyelocytic leukemia	Multiple myeloma
Prostate cancer	Oral epidermoid carcinoma	Pancreatic cancer

In another study5 published that same year, resveratrol was also found to help alleviate many of the debilitating side effects associated with conventional cancer treatments, including those listed below. According to the authors, mounting evidence indicates that these symptoms are primarily caused by dysregulation of inflammatory pathways in your body, which may explain resveratrol’s efficacy.

Cachexia (wasting syndrome)	Anorexia	Fatigue
Depression	Neuropathic pain	Anxiety
Cognitive impairment	Sleep disorders	Delirium (acute confusion)

Resveratrol: A Powerhouse of Health Benefits

Resveratrol is often referred to as “the fountain of youth” due to its wide-ranging health benefits. GreenMedInfo.com6 lists no less than 590 scientific studies showing the beneficial effect of resveratrol for 342 different diseases. In addition to its anti-cancer properties, resveratrol has been shown to reverse oxidative stress, reduce inflammation, normalize your lipids, protect your heart, stabilize your insulin, and much more.7 In broad strokes, resveratrol has the following actions and functions:

• Broad-spectrum antimicrobial
• Anti-infective
• Antioxidant
• Cardio-protective
• Neuroprotective

Resveratrol's ability to quench inflammation renders it useful not just against cancer, but also for inflammatory diseases such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis. It does this by preventing your body from creating two molecules known to trigger inflammation -- sphingosine kinase and phospholipase D.

Another property that sets resveratrol apart from many other antioxidants is its ability to cross your blood-brain barrier, which allows it to moderate inflammation in your central nervous system. This is significant because CNS inflammation plays an important role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

In a 2010 study,8 resveratrol was found to suppress inflammatory effects in certain brain cells (microglia and astrocytes) by inhibiting different proinflammatory cytokines and key signaling molecules. There is also solid scientific data that resveratrol helps clear out the plaque in your brain that leads to Alzheimer’s disease. According to a 2005 study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, 9 resveratrol exerts “potent anti-amyloidogenic activity.” More recently, resveratrol was also found to improve cerebral blood flow to your brain,10 which has obvious implications for vascular dementia—which is caused by impaired blood flow—as well as stroke.

What’s the Best Source of Resveratrol?

According to Bloomberg,11 at least two dozen clinical trials are currently underway to gauge resveratrol’s effects on human health and longevity, including at least one synthetic version that is equivalent to drinking 1,000 bottles of red wine per day! This synthetic resveratrol is being tested on cancer patients. Harvard researchers are optimistic that their anti-aging “wonderdrug” could be available in less than five years.

But buyers beware... Taking a synthetic version of a natural agent, or an isolated agent, rarely produces good results and you can frequently expect the unexpected, in terms of side effects. It is always better to consume the whole food, the way nature prepared it with its full complement of naturally-occurring, synergistic phytonutrients.

As mentioned earlier, red wine is one of the richest dietary sources of resveratrol. For comparison, fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 micrograms of resveratrol per gram, while red wine concentrations range from 1.5 to 3 milligrams per liter. That said, I still don’t recommend drinking red wine for a daily dose of resveratrol, mainly because alcohol itself is a neurotoxin, which means it can poison your brain. Additionally, it has the strong potential to seriously disrupt your delicate hormone balance.

Instead, I recommend getting resveratrol from your diet by eating grapes (muscadine grapes have the highest concentration of resveratrol in nature because of their extra thick skins and numerous seeds where it is concentrated), cocoa, dark chocolate and peanuts. In order to get closer to any kind of therapeutic dose, however, you would likely need a resveratrol supplement (which is one of the few supplements I personally take). Ideally, it should be made from a whole food complex that includes muscadine grape skin and seeds, which contain the highest levels of resveratrol.

Since grapes are particularly high in fructose though, if you are one of the 80 percent of the population that suffers from insulin resistance (overweight, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol) then that might not be your first step. Instead consider implementing intermittent fasting and get your insulin resistance under control. Once you have done that, then it would make sense to use grapes as a source of natural resveratrol as it will work in conjunction with your now normalized insulin resistance.

Aim for Balance—Even When It Comes to Beneficial Nutrients

Keep in mind that too much of a good thing can backfire, even when it’s a natural supplement. This is particularly relevant when it comes to antioxidants, as your body does need some degree of oxidative stress for optimal function and adaptation. Consider exercise, for example.

Vigorous exercise creates a high degree of oxidative stress, but without it, your body would not become stronger. In other words, if the stress on your body were to be removed from exercise, so would the benefit. This is precisely what the University of Copenhagen12 discovered in a recent study involving older men taking resveratrol. According to Science Daily:13

“We found that exercise training was highly effective in improving cardiovascular health parameters, but resveratrol supplementation attenuated the positive effects of training on several parameters including blood pressure, plasma lipid concentrations and maximal oxygen uptake.”

This really took the researchers by surprise! They noted that the quantities of resveratrol given to the men in this study (250 mg) were much higher than what they would have received from natural foods, and that might be part of the problem. The take-home message is that antioxidants are not a fix for everything; it’s more about finding balance. By focusing on a healthful diet that optimizes your insulin levels and minimizes inflammation, you will reduce your risk for virtually all chronic disease, including cancer.

As a general rule, the best approach to antioxidants is to consume a wide variety of them, not large amounts of just one. They work together synergistically, all performing different roles in your body, like an orchestra performing a symphony. The music falls very short if only one or two instruments are playing.

So remember, while resveratrol can be a powerful addition to your diet, you need a solid nutritional foundation. The first step is making sure you’re covering the basics, which is why I offer my complete nutrition plan free of charge. This comprehensive guide addresses the factors underlying virtually all chronic and degenerative diseases. For more details on lifestyle strategies that help prevent cancer, please see my recent article: Cancer—Forbidden Cures.

Related articles

• Compound Found in Grape Skins Could Help Treat Cancer and More
• Resveratrol could help treat multiple types of cancer, study finds
• Resveratrol Shown Beneficial in Fighting Cancer
• Compound in Grapes, Red Wine Could Help Treat Multiple Types of Cancer, Study Finds

Can Adding Fluoride to Milk Help Improve Children’s Dental Health?

English: Putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. The toothpaste is Crest Pro-Health Clean Cinnamon, 0.454% stannous fluoride, 0.16% w/v fluoride ion. Deutsch: Zahnpasta auf eine Zahnbürste auftragen. Русский: Выдавливание зубной пасты из тюбика на зубную щётку (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

People in the UK may want to pay special attention to the following issue. The Blackpool Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board recently proposed adding fluoride to milk in its primary schools.

This so-called “dental milk” would ostensibly be introduced to promote dental health in school age children, since the town does not fluoridate its municipal water supplies. The proposal was supported by “an overwhelming majority.”

The dental health in Blackpool children is said to be among the worst in the country, with 43 percent of 12-year olds having at least one unhealthy tooth,1compared to 33.4 percent nationally.

Ten other areas of the UK have already introduced fluoridated milk to its students: St Helens, Knowsley, Wirral, West Cheshire, Manchester, Trafford, Leeds, Sheffield, Barnsley and Doncaster.

Councilor Tony Williams said parents should be given both sides of the argument before agreeing to let their children have fluoridated milk.

 “I believe that just adding fluoride to school milk falls far short of the need to tackle the problem,” he told the British Gazette.2 “Better school dental programs should also be introduced with an increase in school visits from NHS dentists and oral hygiene specialists.

“Most school children in Blackpool are now eating two breakfasts a day with the school serving including starch and syrup. Children should be allowed and encouraged to brush their teeth in school after every meal.”

In response, cabinet member for health, Ivan Taylor, said that the council has not yet made any decision on the matter, but that they will be “testing the opinion of schools and anyone else that’s interested.” He also noted that parents would have the right to choose if they want their children to receive fluoridated milk or not.

Why Is Poisoning of Children Considered a Valuable Public Health Policy?

The debate over the dangers of fluoride has been ongoing for more than six decades, despite the fact that study after study has confirmed that fluoride is a dangerous, toxic poison that bio-accumulates in your body while being ineffective at preventing dental decay.

Fluoride can also create a calcium deficiency situation by precipitating calcium out of solution. This causes low blood calcium, as well as the buildup of calcium stones and crystals in joints and organs. This could potentially turn out to be a concern with regard to adding fluoride to calcium-rich milk...

Worse yet, when you consider the fact that there are 25 studies showing that fluoride reduces IQ in children, the idea of giving fluoridated milk to school children is a shockingly bad idea, even if they don’t also drink fluoridated water.  Approximately 100 animal studies have also linked fluoride to brain damage. This includes such effects as:3

Reduction in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors	Damage to the hippocampus	Formation of beta-amyloid plaques (the classic brain abnormality in Alzheimer's disease)
Reduction in lipid content	Damage to the purkinje cells	Exacerbation of lesions induced by iodine deficiency
Impaired antioxidant defense systems	Increased uptake of aluminum	Accumulation of fluoride in the pineal gland

One particularly striking animal study4 published in 1995 showed that fluoride ingestion had a profound influence on the animals' brains and altered behavior. Pregnant rats given fluoride produced hyperactive offspring. And animals given fluoride after birth became apathetic, lethargic "couch potatoes." Other research has linked fluoride toxicity with the wide-ranging problems listed below.

Increases lead absorption	Disrupts collagen synthesis	Increases manganese absorption, which is alsolinked to lower IQ in children	Crippling skeletal fluorosis andbone fractures
Genetic damage and cell death	Increased tumor and cancer growth	Disrupts immune system	Inhibits antibody production
Brain damage, and lowered IQ	Dementia	Arthritis	Severe eye problems, includingblindness
Impairedthyroid function	Bone cancer (osteosarcoma)	Inactivates 62 enzymes	Muscle disorders

Important Facts About Fluoride

After reviewing the available evidence, the only rational conclusion you can come to is that fluoride's health dangers far outweigh the marginal dental benefits itmight offer. For example, the science is very clear about the following:

• Fluoride acts as a cumulative poison and is in no way a "nutrient.” It offers NO benefits at all to the human body.
• Fluoride exposure for many can easily reach toxic levels. For example, poison control should be called if you swallow a quarter milligram of fluoride from toothpaste. Meanwhile just ONE glass of fluoridated water can contain this amount of fluoride.
• Fluoride is a cumulative poison that has been proven to cause wide-ranging, serious health problems, such as damage to your bones, brain and endocrine system.
• Dental caries can be prevented with means other than fluoridation, thereby avoiding the adverse effects of fluoride.
• Recent research reveals that ingesting fluoride in supplement form does notreduce cavities in primary teeth, and may in fact cause harm.
• When hydrofluorosilicic acid is added to water, over 99% goes down the drain and into the environment.  It never comes in contact with a human tooth

A 2011 Cochrane Database Review,5 which looked at 11 studies involving more than 7,000 children, showed that the effect of fluoride supplements (in the form of tablets, drops, lozenges and chewing gum) on primary teeth could not be determined, with one study showing no cavity-reducing effect. Meanwhile, the study revealed that no difference was noted between fluoride supplements or topical fluoride for preventing cavities. The researchers noted:

"In the review, no conclusion could be reached about the effectiveness of fluoride supplements in preventing tooth decay in young children (less than 6 years of age) with deciduous teeth. Moreover, insufficient evidence exists to show whether or not using fluoride supplements in young children (less than 6 years of age) could mottle teeth (fluorosis), an effect of chronic ingestion of excessive amounts of fluoride."

Aspartame—Another Harmful Ingredient Considered for Addition to Dairy

Earlier this year, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) filed a petition with the FDA requesting the agency “amend the standard of identity” for milk and 17 other dairy products. This was done to provide for the use of any safe and suitable sweetener as an optional ingredient — including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame—without having to indicate its use on the label.

The IDFA and NMPF claimed the proposed amendments would “promote more healthful eating practices and reduce childhood obesity by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products” since many children are more inclined to drink flavored milk products than unflavored milk.

Funny how big business’ ideas of “helping children” keep revolving around the use of wholly unnatural ingredients that have clearly been proven toxic! In this case, I’m not sure what’s more frustrating: the fact that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) insists on using the flawed theory of calories as a measure of the “healthfulness” of school meals; their misguided insistence on fat free and low fat products to combat obesity; or their ignorant stance on artificial sweeteners...

When combined, what you end up with is a nutritional nightmare. How can anyone believe a fat-free, hormone-laced pasteurized milk-like product from cows raised on genetically engineered corn, flavored with artificial flavors, colors and chemical sweeteners might actually do a growing body good? The nutritional illiteracy within these agencies is staggering... yet they’re responsible for making decisions that affect over 30 million school children across the US on a daily basis.

What Really Causes Cavities and Obesity?

Interestingly, the root cause behind both of these problems that “dental milk” and “low-calorie” artificially sweetened milk propose to address is identical, and can be summed up in two words: sweetened beverages—and when it comes to obesity, thisincludes those sweetened with artificial sweeteners!

Soda and other sweet beverages, including all fruit juices, have long been known to increase your risk of cavities. Many of these types of beverages supply a double-whammy because they also cause dental erosion, which is a condition independent of the microbial action that produces cavities. Unlike caries, dental erosion is a process of incremental decalcification, which, over time, literally dissolves your teeth.

If officials are adamant about pushing fluoride into a drink, it would appear to be a better choice to dump it into soda instead of milk or tap water.

Sweetened beverages of ALL kinds are also one of the primary culprits behind our skyrocketing obesity rates, which are closely mirrored in both the UK and the US. As recently reported in the Guardian Express,6 kids are 40 percent heavier today compared to just 25 years ago, and a growing number of studies have linked rising childhood obesity rates to increased consumption of sugary beverages, including those sweetened with no- or low-cal sweeteners.

In fact, artificial sweeteners have been shown to cause greater weight gain than calorie-laden sugars, and recent research has also found that diet soda drinkers suffer the same exact health problems as those who opt for regular soda, such as excessive weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.7, 8 In short, cutting out sweetened beverages is one of the quickest ways to simultaneously address your child’s dental health and weight.

The Best Way to Ensure Healthy Teeth

Anyone who has ever read Dr. Weston Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration will soon recognize that diet is a major factor in dental health. Dr. Price wrote this book in 1920 and it is full of pictures of cultures with excellent dental health that rapidly deteriorated once processed Western food was introduced. When Dr. Price studied these native diets, he noticed some similarities in the foods that kept them so healthy. Among them:

• The foods were natural, unprocessed, and organic (and contained no sugar except for the occasional bit of honey or maple syrup).
• The people ate foods that grew in their native environment. In other words, they ate locally grown, seasonal foods.
• Many of the cultures ate unpasteurized dairy products, and all of them ate fermented foods.
• The people ate a significant portion of their food raw.
• All of the cultures ate animal products, including animal fat and, often, full-fat butter and organ meats.

I believe that if you have an optimal diet, without processed foods and sugars from infancy, you can be virtually assured of cavity-free teeth. All of the brushing and flossing in the world will not give you the healthy teeth that following the eating patterns described above will, so if you value your pearly whites, get started eating a healthier diet today.

Improve Your Health by Ditching Sweetened Drinks

Sweetened beverages, whether sweetened with sugar, corn syrup, naturally-occurring fructose, or artificial sweeteners likeaspartame, are among the worst culprits in the fight against obesity and related health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. Sweetened drinks are also a primary cause of cavities. Ditching ALL of these types of beverages can go a long way toward reducing your and your child’s risk for cavities and weight gain—not to mention a long list of other chronic health problems. 

Your best and most cost-effective beverage choice is to drink filtered tap water. Nothing beats pure water when it comes to serving your body’s needs. If you really feel the urge for a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon juice.

Since we’re on the topic of milk, I would also like to add my latest recommendations. As always of course, the only acceptable dairy products would be raw, unpasteurized organic varieties. Raw is more important than organic so don’t be fooled. Although raw milk is only available commercially in a few states in the US, nearly everyone can get it by going to RealMilk.com. For those of you who live in the UK or Ireland, The Natural Food Finder9 is one resource.

I recommend drinking whole milk only; the lower the fat content the more processed and less wholesome it is.  

Join the Fight to Get Fluoride Out of Drinking Water

There's no doubt about it: Fluoride should not be ingested. Even scientists from the EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory have classified fluoride as a "chemical having substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity.” Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 41 percent of American adolescents now have dental fluorosis—unattractive discoloration and mottling of the teeth that indicate overexposure to fluoride.

Clearly, children are being overexposed, and their health and development put in jeopardy. Why?

At least when it comes to topical application, you have a choice. You can easily buy fluoride-free toothpaste and mouthwash. But you're stuck with whatever your community puts in the water, and it's very difficult to filter out of your water once it's added. Many do not have the resources or the knowledge to do so.

The only real solution is to stop the archaic practice of water fluoridation in the first place. Fortunately, the Fluoride Action Network has a game plan to END water fluoridation, both in the United States and Canada. 

Clean pure water is a prerequisite to optimal health. Industrial chemicals, drugs and other toxic additives really have no place in our water supplies. So, please, support the anti-fluoride movement by making a donation to the Fluoride Action Network today.

Related articles

• UK to Poison Children by Adding Fluoride to Milk and Water
• Safely Detox Fluoride From Your Body
• Fluoride: Do You Know About It? Take Action!
• Fluoridating Water Supplies Keeps Us Dumb, Docile, and Sick - Let's End It
• Britain: Blackpool Considering Adding Fluoride to Milk for School Children

Stress - Trigger of Alzheimer’s Identified

English: PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer's disease (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

The connections between stress and physical and mental health are undeniable. Studies have found links between acute and/or chronic stress and a wide variety of health issues.

This includes reduced immune function, increased inflammation, high blood pressure, and alterations in your brain chemistry, blood sugar levels and hormonal balance, just to name a few.

According to recent research, stress also appears to be related to onset of Alzheimer’s disease, which currently afflicts about 5.4 million Americans, including one in eight people aged 65 and over.1

It is projected that Alzheimer's will affect one in four Americans in the next 20 years, rivaling the current prevalence of obesity and diabetes. There is still no known cure for this devastating disease, and very few treatments. Alzheimer's drugs are often of little to no benefit, which underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime.

Fortunately, there’s compelling research showing that your brain has great plasticity and capacity for regeneration, which you control through your diet and lifestyle choices.

Avoiding gluten and casein, or wheat and dairy primarily, appears to be of critical importance, as is making sure you’re getting plenty of healthful fats (including demonized saturated fats).

Fasting also has a remarkably beneficial influence on your brain health. At the end of this article, I share my best tips for maintaining healthy brain function well into old age.

Stress May Be Related to Clinical Onset of Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers in Argentina recently presented evidence suggesting that stress may be a trigger for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The research was presented at the annual World Congress of Neurology in Vienna. According to lead author, Dr. Edgardo Reich:2

"Stress, according to our findings, is probably a trigger for initial symptoms of dementia.

Though I rule out stress as monocausal in dementia, research is solidifying the evidence that stress can trigger a degenerative process in the brain and precipitate dysfunction in the neuroendocrine and immune system. It is an observational finding and does not imply direct causality. Further studies are needed to examine these mechanisms in detail."

The study found that 72 percent—nearly three out of four—Alzheimer's patients had experienced severe emotional stress during the two years preceding their diagnosis. In the control group, only 26 percent, or one in four, had undergone major stress or grief. Most of the stresses encountered by the Alzheimer’s group involved:

• Bereavement; death of a spouse, partner, or child
• Violent experiences, such as assault or robbery
• Car accidents
• Financial problems, including “pension shock”
• Diagnosis of a family member’s severe illness

When you consider all the adverse biological effects that stress and anxiety causes, it might not be such a stretch that severe stress could trigger Alzheimer’s. For example, researchers have found links between emotional distress and physical pain,3 chronic inflammation4 and even stillbirths.5

It can also wreak havoc on your gut health, which is critical to maintaining mental and physical health. Most recently, Forbes6 reported the findings of a study7exploring the role of stress in rewiring your brain—in this case, altering your sense of smell:

“Two brain circuits that don’t typically “talk” to each other—one linked to our sense of smell and another linked to emotional processing—can become cross-wired when we experience stress-induced anxiety. The result is that stressful experiences transform normally neutral odors into bad ones...

‘After anxiety induction, neutral smells become clearly negative,’ explains Wen Li, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Waisman Center, who led the study. ‘People experiencing an increase in anxiety show a decrease in the perceived pleasantness of odors. It becomes more negative as anxiety increases.’”

How Stress Causes Disease

When you're experiencing acute stress, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol, which prepare your body to fight or flee the stressful event. Your heart rate increases, your lungs take in more oxygen, your blood flow increases and parts of your immune system become temporarily suppressed, which reduces your inflammatory response to pathogens and other foreign invaders.

When stress becomes chronic, however, your immune system becomes less sensitive to cortisol, and since inflammation is partly regulated by this hormone, this decreased sensitivity heightens the inflammatory response and allows inflammation to get out of control.

This is in large part how stress “predisposes” you to getting sick in the first place. And, in the event you do get sick, emotional stressors can make your symptoms worse, especially if the stress is severe or longstanding.

For example, research presented at this year’s annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Miami, Florida, found that ruminating on a stressful incident can increase your levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation in your body.8 It was the first study to directly measure this effect. Inflammation, in turn, is a hallmark of most diseases, from diabetes to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

Tips for Reducing Work Stress

Polls have shown that work is the number one source of stress in people’s lives. In a recent survey9 of more than 2,000 people, 34 percent of respondents reported that their work life was either “very” or “quite” stressful. One in five people also reported developing anxiety due to work-related stresses. In a related article,Forbes magazine10 lists nine tips to reduce work-related stress, such as:

• Adding personal touches to your work space, such as photographs or art work, and live plants
• Keeping your work space clean and organized
• Learning to handle or ignore interruptions
• Incorporating relaxation exercises into your work day
• Improving your communication skills

Conquer Your Stress and Anxiety with Energy Psychology

While it’s not possible or even recommended to eliminate all stress from your life, you can provide your body with tools to compensate for the bioelectrical short-circuiting that takes place when you’re stressed. Using energy psychology techniques such as the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can help reprogram your body’s reactions to the unavoidable stressors of everyday life, thereby reducing your chances of experiencing adverse health effects. Exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and meditation are also important “release valves” that can help you manage your stress.

EFT was developed in the 1990s by Gary Craig, a Stanford engineering graduate specializing in healing and self-improvement. It’s akin to acupuncture, which is based on the concept that a vital energy flows through your body along invisible pathways known as meridians. EFT stimulates different energy meridian points in your body by tapping them with your fingertips, while simultaneously using custom-made verbal affirmations. This can be done alone or under the supervision of a qualified therapist.11

By doing so, you help your body eliminate emotional “scarring” and reprogram the way your body responds to emotional stressors. Since these stressors are usually connected to physical problems, many people’s diseases and other symptoms can improve or disappear as well. For a demonstration, please see the following video featuring EFT practitioner Julie Schiffman, in which she discusses EFT for stress relief. However, for serious problems it is far preferable to see an experienced EFT therapist as there is a significant art to the process that requires a high level of sophistication if serious problems are to be successfully treated.

Tips for Maintaining Healthy Brain Function and Avoiding Alzheimer's Disease

The beauty of following my optimized nutrition plan is that it helps prevent and treat virtually ALL chronic degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Remember, while memory loss is indeed common among Westerners, it is NOT a "normal" part of aging, and cognitive changes are by no means inevitable.

As explained by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter in a recent interview, Alzheimer’s is a disease predicated primarily on lifestyle choices; the two main culprits being excessive sugar and gluten consumption. Another major factor is the development and increased consumption of genetically engineered (GE) grains, which are now pervasive in most processed foods sold in the US. His book, Grain Brain, provides a powerful argument for eliminating grains from your diet.

Knowing that it is a preventable disease puts the power into your hands. People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing that it's entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place… and one of the best ways to do this is by leading a healthy lifestyle.

• Avoid Sugar and fructose. Ideally, you’ll want to keep your sugar levels to a minimum and your total fructose below 25 grams per day, or as low as 15 grams per day if you have insulin resistance or any related disorders.
• Avoid gluten and casein (primarily wheat and pasteurized dairy, but not dairy fat, such as butter). Research shows that your blood-brain barrier, the barrier that keeps things out of your brain where they don’t belong, is negatively affected by gluten. Gluten also makes your gut more permeable, which allows proteins to get into your bloodstream, where they don’t belong. That then sensitizes your immune system and promotes inflammation and autoimmunity, both of which play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s.
• Optimize your gut flora by regularly eating fermented foods or taking a high quality probiotic supplement.
• Increase consumption of healthful fats, including animal-based omega-3. Beneficial health-promoting fats that yourbrain needs for optimal function include organic butter from raw milk, clarified butter called organic grass fed raw butter, olives, organic virgin olive oil and coconut oil, nuts like pecans and macadamia, free-range eggs, wild Alaskan salmon, and avocado.
Also make sure you’re getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer's disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.
• Reduce your overall calorie consumption, and/or intermittently fast. Contrary to popular belief, the ideal fuel for your brain is not glucose but ketones, which is the fat that your body mobilizes when you stop feeding it carbs and introduce coconut oil and other sources of healthy fats into your diet. A one-day fast can help your body to “reset” itself, and start to burn fat instead of sugar.
As part of a healthy lifestyle, I prefer an intermittent fasting schedule that simply calls for limiting your eating to a narrower window of time each day. By restricting your eating to a 6-8 hour window, you effectively fast 16-18 hours each day. To learn more, please see this previous article.
• Improve your magnesium levels. There is some exciting preliminary research strongly suggesting a decrease in Alzheimer symptoms with increased levels of magnesium in the brain. Unfortunately, most magnesium supplements do not pass the blood brain levels, but a new one, magnesium threonate, appears to and holds some promise for the future for treating this condition and may be superior to other forms.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure. Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer's patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.
Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer's through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer's.
• Keep your fasting insulin levels below 3. This is indirectly related to fructose, as it will clearly lead to insulin resistance. However other sugars (sucrose is 50 percent fructose by weight), grains and lack of exercise are also important factors. Lowering insulin will also help lower leptin levels which is another factor for Alzheimer’s.
• Vitamin B12: In addition to the research presented above, a small Finnish study published in the journal Neurology12 also found that people who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer's in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12, the risk of developing Alzheimer's was reduced by two percent. Remember, sublingual methylcobalamin may be your best bet here.
• Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate, such as the one described in my nutrition plan. Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day. Avoid supplements with folic acid, which is the inferior synthetic version of folate.
• Avoid and eliminate mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50 percent mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. However, you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my optimized nutrition plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed.
• Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.
• Exercise regularly. It's been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized,13 thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer's. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer's have less PGC-1alpha in their brains and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer's. I would strongly recommend reviewing the Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.
• Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.
• Eat blueberries. Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. Like any fruit though, avoid excesses here.
• Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.
• Avoid anticholinergic and statin drugs. Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.
Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.

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