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Vitamin D is appearing in the news a lot recently, mostly due to deficiency of it. There have been several opinions abounding on what is the correct recommended daily amount of Vitamin D and also what is the best source of vitamin D.

Professor emeritus of biochemistry and biomedical sciences, Anthony Norman is an internationally recognised expert on vitamin D. He says that there is insufficient Vitamin D intake for over half the people of Western Europe and North America.

Professor Norman described his fears about vitamin D lack, saying, “Elsewhere, it is worse. Given that two-thirds of the people are vitamin D-insufficient or deficient. It is clear that merely eating vitamin D-rich foods is not adequate to solve the problem for most adults.”

Vitamin intake is measured in ‘IUs’ (international units) and the daily recommendation fro vitamin D is 200 for people up to 50 years old, 400 for those between 51 and 70, and 600 for those over 70.

Norman wants to up those recommendations considerably. He said: “There is a wide consensus among scientists that the relative daily intake of vitamin D should be increased to 2,000 to 4,000 IU for most adults.”
Norman described how it could be done, saying “A 2000 IU daily intake can be achieved by a combination of sunshine, food, supplements, and possibly even limited tanning exposure.”

There are some very pressing reasons why an increase in the dosage of vitamin D would be beneficial to health, or at least getting the majority of people up to the current RDA. Norman revealed that “Several studies have reported substantial reductions in incidence of breast cancer, colon cancer and type 1 diabetes in association with adequate intake of vitamin D, the positive effect generally occurring within five years of initiation of adequate vitamin D intake.

Even though economic conditions are far from good, the sales of alternative medicines are rising. The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper reported a study that revealed how the alternative medicine market in the UK has grown by 18% in the last two years making it worth £213 million yearly. In the next four years that is forecast to rise to £282 million.

What is especially interesting in the study is that the rise in purchases of alternative medicines also includes categories that are not so well known such as Indian ayurvedic medicine.The U.S. has also experienced a rise in sales to the tune of $639 million but at a lower percentage rate of 10%. As some sources were not included in the figures they could be higher still.
The reasons for the growth in spending on alternative medicines according to the study group Mintel, is that governments and the people have greater acceptance of alternative treatments and medicines than only a few years ago. Acupuncture is even available via the National Health for example.

Another reason is that in many cases alternative medicines or treatments are less expensive, particularly in the U.S. than seeing a doctor and getting a prescription. From a study paper conducted by the Associated Press it was stated that, “climbing sales of herbal medicines have paralleled the tanking economy.”

One more reason is that with an increasing number of people having mood disorders but not wanting to depend on potentially harmful psychiatric drugs, they are looking to homeopathy treatments like St John’s Wort which is being used to help relieve depression. In 2008 in the UK 1.5 million people bought this remedy.

In December the U.S. National Institutes of Health released the results of their study which revealed that 18% of American study respondents said they had use nonvitamin, nonmineral products for their health care, with 25% foregoing or delaying conventional medical treatment due to the cost.

Self-employed bookkeeper, Cathy Birleffi said “The doctors are so much higher [in cost]; the insurance isn’t paying as much.” She and her husband now look to herbal remedies to treat their health problems.

A remote Welsh village called Myddfai is to revive its centuries old tradition of herbal treatments. Myddfai is a tiny village with a parish population of about 400, but in recent years the fortunes of the village have been steadily dwindling as the younger generations are forced to go elsewhere to find work.

The “terminal decline” as one parisher put it, is set to be reversed with the help of £400,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS scheme. The money is to be used to re-establish Myddfai as a centre for herbal remedies and other branded goods
From medieval times, the village was renown across Europe as a source of potions, oils and unguents all derived from herbal plants. Prince Charles who owns a holiday home in the area is bound to approve of the venture.

Project leader is Jo Gideon, who sees the project as a “lifeline” for the Carmarthenshire village. She said, “The absence of any amenities has meant it is in danger of terminal decline as younger generations are forced to leave to find employment.” She also voiced her concerns that the traditions and knowledge that had been passed down could be lost.

The legend of the village is that a lady rose from the lake, married a local man and had 3 sons. Before returning to the lake, she imparted her knowledge about the medicinal properties of herbs and plants to her eldest son. The son and his following generations were the physicians of Myddfai who were renowned across Europe. The son certainly existed, but the lady of the lake is not so certain.

Local hill farmer, Lewis Jones, shared his thoughts about the village: “It has been known for centuries for its physicians. We want life here again.” The money is to be spent on building a hall and café and the refurbishment of an adjacent old building in which the herbal Myddfai treatments will be sold.

The fairly unknown herb, butterbur is proving itself to be an effective migraine headache reliever. Butterbur was first found in Germany and recent research and clinical trials are showing that it is able to prevent migraine headaches.

This simple herb performs a double act. By reducing the inflammation that results from prostaglandin E2 and leukotrienes and similar chemicals, it is able to reduce the painful symptoms associated with migraine headaches. Secondly it acts as a natural beta blocker thus maintaining proper blood flow to the brain. Spasmodic capillary action and blood pressure are then controlled which in turn aids in preventing a migraine from coming on.

A study was conducted by the Department of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in which 245 people participated. 68% of them found their migraine symptom reduce by 50% as a result of taking butterbur.

Experts are recommending that people who want to buy butterbur should only purchase the products that are labelled as ‘PA-Free’ which means that the toxic chemicals naturally found in butterbur that could be harmful, have been processed out.

It is also recommended that butterbur should not be taken with other conventional medicines or other herbs that may be taken to ward off migraines as there is a possibility of interactions between the medicines. Additionally if the person is allergic to marigolds, ragweed, daisies and chrysanthemums, butterbur should not be taken.

More and more experts are agreeing that seaweed can be categorized as a superfood. That claim is being supported by investigations that reveal that seaweed, which is a variety of algae, contains more calcium than cheese, more fibre than you will find in prunes and more iron than a sirloin steak. All these comparisons are weight for weight.

Other important vitamins and minerals contained in seaweed are potassium and iodine and it is the sole plant that is a source of vitamin B12. The most recent studies on seaweed revealed that its bioactive substances aid in reducing blood pressure and cholesterol, plus its ability to deal with free radicals that are the cause of cancer.

The American Association for Cancer Research has recently published their initial research that revealed how extracts of seaweed was able to inhibit cancer cell growth that would otherwise lead to lymphoma. They were interested to know the connection between seaweed and cancer reduction on account of the Japanese who eat more seaweed per capita than any other nation and have low cancer rates in their women.

The University of Newcastle conducted research that showed how seaweed fibres (alginates) were responsible for reducing the absorption of fat by the body and could thus be considered a viable weightloss ingredient.

From Newcastle University, research associate in human nutrition, Dr Iain Brownlee said: “We’ve found that by adding these natural fibres to food products, up to 75 per cent of the fat we consume could simply pass through the body – so in theory it could be used to fight obesity. Alginates could be used in place of the fat that gives food its flavour. In tests, people have actually preferred bread with small levels of alginate in it – so it’s not something you have to force yourself to eat.

Stress killing you?

Stress is recognised as the biggest killer in modern society.
It can be argues that stress is what allows your body to be susceptible to diseases such as cancer and arthritis, immune system problems and many physical disorders.
It will also effect you mentally and cause you problems in how you conduct your life with respect to relationships and general decisions and choices that you have to make.

It can make you tired, irritable, depressed, nervous, hyper, hungry, overweight, underweight, lethargic, controlling, indecisive, tearful, have bad skin, bad hair, bad nails, ……

It can make you snappy and cause you to hurt those that you love and care for.

Stress can ruin your life.

People suffer stress for a multitude of reasons, life is stressful, there is no way around that, but you can help minimise your stress levels and learn to minimise the detrimental effects that stress has on you, your body and your family.

I can help you do this. I work as problem solver and stress management consultant. I can help you identify the reasons that you feel stressed, work out how to stop them, or work with you to help you control the effect that it has on your life.

I work as a nutritionist, personal trainer and sports massage therapist so can physically help to to counteract the bad effects that stress my have had on you such as comfort eating, nutrition deficiencies, over or under your optimum weight or fitness level or muscular tensions.

The occurrence of dementia is continuing to rise and so scientists are looking for a way to prevent and treat it. One of the most natural ways of preventing dementia is blueberries according to results from a new study. This Most recent study confirms what was discovered in a study conducted in 2008, that easting Blueberries improves memory and world list recall.

The study involved 9 elderly people whose average age was 76, all recruited by study leader Dr Krikorian. They were administered a daily dose of wild Blueberry juice, the amount depending on their body weight. The average was about half a litre per day. The control group were a demographically matched and were given a placebo to drink.

Researcher Donal O’Mathuna said about the value of Blueberries that, “Because blueberries are high in antioxidants, which have beneficial health effects, they are being examined in many research projects,” adding that Blueberries are a nutritious and safe food… adding blueberries to a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is warranted.”
Dr Jeremy Spencer, who conducted the study at the University of Reading in 2008 into the effect of Blueberries, discovered that anthocyanins existing in blueberries were responsible for triggering the section of the brain that is concerned with learning and memory.

He said, “Scientists have known of the potential health benefits of diets rich in fresh fruits for a long time. Our research provides scientific evidence to show that blueberries are good for you and supports the idea that a diet-based approach could potentially be used to increase memory capacity. We will be taking these findings to the next level by investigating the effects of diets rich in flavonoids on individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study entitled ‘Blueberry Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults‘was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The best thing about blueberries is that generally even avid fruit haters like them- you can bake them in muffins, mix in ice cream and milkshakes to get the fussiest of eaters to enjoy them. An all round super fruit!!

More and more people are finding that their average day is spent a great deal sitting. In fact if you add up commuting by car, sitting in the office and then returning home, whilst sitting, only to sit in front of the TV, that all adds up to a very large amount of time sitting.

Some health advisors are concerned about the amount of time people are spending sitting down, so much so, that a new term has been coined, “sitting diseases”, to describe it.

There are several potential health risks associated with an excessively sedentary lifestyle the most notable being cardiovascular disease.

In order to face this growing threat some health advisors have come up with a series of solutions. Professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and author of the book ‘Move a Little, Lose a Lot.’, James Levine, MD, PhD said, “Human beings evolved as a walking entity, exploring the world on our feet,” adding that “The strangest thing in the world is that people spend all day scrunched in a chair. It’s a form of physical entrapment.” 

Professor David Dunstan from Melbourne, Australia’s physical activity laboratory in the division of metabolism and obesity suggests that people use their lunch break to get active. He said, “Getting one hour of exercise in the middle of the day is obviously going to be better than not doing anything, but that still leaves approximately seven hours of predominantly sitting during the workday.” He further advised that “We have to have a whole-day approach to physical activity promotion.”

Other suggestions included changing the way you commute so you leave time for walking to work, getting outside and using more recent technology that allows you to communicate whilst on the move and getting out of the office chair and going to speak to someone in person rather than sending an email.

Or you can hire a personal trainer!!

espite the powerful influence of genetics, studies show that exercise can enable children to reduce obesity. According to a person’s physical makeup and metabolism, some will find it easy to remain slim whereas other people find it a constant battle to keep off the pounds.

A recent study has revealed that the correct diet, good will power but most of all regular exercise can enable those people genetically predisposed towards obesity can lose weight and keep it off. The study especially focused on teenagers.

The study was carried out in 10 European countries over a 14 month period. 753 teenagers with a variety of genetic makeups took part. 16% of the group possessed 2 FTO mutations, 47% possessed one mutation and 37% did not possess any mutation. (An FTO mutation is fat mass-and-obesity-associated gene and one FTO mutation is equal to an average 3.3 pounds weight gain.)

Of all the teenagers in the group who had at least 1 hour of daily exercise, it was found that the body mass index was very close in both the group with gene mutations and those without. The difference was only 0.17 points higher. On comparing the ones who did no exercise the difference was greater at 0.65 points higher in the gene mutation teenagers.

Jonatan R. Ruiz, the lead researcher and scientist in physical activity and fitness epidemiology at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said, “These findings have important public health implications, and indicate that meeting the physical activity recommendations may offset the genetic predisposition to obesity associated with the FTO [gene variant] in adolescents.”

So once again a study has just confirmed what most of us know to be common sense!!

It has occoured to me that peoples attitude to work differs greatly and I have been trying to determine possible roots to this.

Personally I love to work, I find all aspects of my job fasinating be it sports massage or nutrition or personal training. But I also know that I thrive on being useful, being occupied and being busy. If I am not with a client I am generally baking, or cleaning, walking the dog, cooking- and all these things I actually enjoy. Even cleaning!

After a busy week I can happily spend an afternoon relaxing, but can never just spend more than a day not occupied in some way. I am even happy waiting tables rather than just sitting about with nothing to do……….

I am aware that some people dislike work through, and am wondering if this is due to a negative association that society place on ‘work’ as something that one does only because one needs to in order to survive?

Ask yourself, would you do your job for free?

If not why not? What jobs would you do for free? And why are you not working in this field?

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