Archive for the ‘brain health’ Category

Do Statins Lower Cholesterol Too Much? Memory Loss, Hormone Decline and Diabetes Can Follow

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Statins

Statins

You need it to make every cell in your body, hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and DHEA , as well as, Vitamin D and bile acids. Wouldn’t you say that these are essential to life? Not having enough cholesterol to make these essential hormones, bile and vitamins can put you in danger. Many of the diseases that middle-aged persons begin experiencing including depression, abdominal weight gain, prostate, breast and heart disease are directly related to hormone imbalances.

The recommendations have been to keep cholesterol low to protect you from heart disease. It is questionable whether it has had the desired effect on heart disease since that has many factors besides cholesterol as its cause. There are at least 14 independent risk factors that cause arteries to narrow as we age. While high LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and total cholesterol are two of these causes, the other 12 factors also have to be controlled to maintain lifelong healthy blood flow. What the medical community and media are finally recognizing is that levels that are too low can cause harm.

The most popular drug class that is used to lower it, statins, can have some harmful effects. While I don’t recommend stopping your medications completely, I do recommend finding the underlying cause, correcting it and using some lifestyle and natural means to get it to a reasonable level with or without the use of drugs. If you must take a drug, use the lowest dose to achieve the desired result.

Cholesterol can become elevated due to a variety of factors:

  • Genetic
  • Inflammation
  • Oxidation
  • Sedentary Lifestyle
  • Diet
  • Smoking
  • Hormone imbalance

Correcting the underlying factors stated above, may allow you to stop or lower your dose. If you don’t have many risk factors for heart disease, your cholesterol levels may not need to be too low., If you have many risk factors for heart disease keep your LDL level around 100 but not less than 70 and a total cholesterol level between 200 and 180. Consult your doctor for the levels that are right for you.

Cholesterol levels that are too low can increase:

  • Overall increased rate of death or mortality
  • Suicidal behavior
  • Depression
  • Stroke due to bleeding
  • Cancer

Statin drugs

  • Brand names ending in “or” such as:  Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor, etc
  • Generic names ending in “statin” such as:  rosuvastatin, atorvastatin, simvastatin etc.
  • Some not so well known side effects of statin drugs:
    • Memory loss
    • Increased risk of diabetes
    • Depletion of coenzyme Q 10 (otherwise known as ubiquinone, ubiquinol, CoQ10)
    • Fatigue, decreased exercise endurance
    • Muscle pain, muscle breakdown, cramps
    • Liver and kidney toxicity
    • Low thyroid function

Lifestyle, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory food and supplements, low saturated fat diet, increasing Omega 3 fatty acids,exercise and hormone replacement and balance can dramatically lower your cholesterol. It’s more work than just taking a pill, however the benefits are longevity with a quality of life that can keep you slim, sharp, sexy, strong and supercharged. Learn more from my blogs, newsletters, books and programs at www.vibranceforlife.com

Lorraine Maita, MD is an award winning physician, speaker and author of “Vibrance for Life: How to Live Younger and Healthier”. She is an expert in anti aging medicine, bioidentical hormone replacement, weight loss, nutrition, supplements and executive health.  She has a private practice in Anti Aging Medicine www.howtoliveyounger.com in Short Hills, NJ.  You can live younger and healthier; Click Here to Get my Best 7 Tips on How to Live Younger and Healthier!

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Posted in HDL cholesterol, brain health, cardiovascular disease, good health, good nutrition, healthy body | Comments Off

Fish oil Potion or Poison

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Doesn’t it seem like every time you try to do something healthy there is some problem with the “health food” and you feel like you are in a Catch 22 situation? Many researchers and healthcare professionals tout the benefits of fish oil, yet a group that tested ten fish oil supplements and found that all violated California’s Prop 65 labeling requirement because they contained PCBs.
ConsumerLab.com, LLC (“CL”) is the leading provider of independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals evaluate health, wellness, and nutrition products shed some light on the subject and put things in perspective.
Here are some points to keep in mind:
• Virtually all fish meat and fish oil supplement will contain some PCBs. The samples chosen were oils made primarily made from larger fish (including shark) and fish “liver,” which tend to have higher amounts of contaminants.
The majority of the products had extremely low levels of PCBs. Somewhat higher levels were found in a few products. None of these pose a health risk in themselves, but those with higher levels might unnecessarily contribute to PCB exposure. The products are identified by name in a news release about the suit which includes two tables. The first table shows total PCBs. The second table shows the amount of dioxin-like PCBs, which may be more meaningful as it focuses on the subset of PCBs known to be harmful in animal studies. Be aware that results in both tables are skewed against products that suggest higher daily serving sizes.
• To put the findings in perspective, total daily PCBs reported was under 100 nanograms for most supplements and did not exceed 900 nanograms for any. The FDA permits an 8 ounce serving of fish to contain about 450,000 nanograms of total PCBs, 500 times more than in any of the products. The EPA, using a more conservative approach, estimates that the average adult can consume 1,400 nanograms of total PCBs per day without harmful effects.

Therapeutic doses can range from 1 to 10 grams of fish oil per day depending on the condition being treated. Most people would take 1-4 grams. An average capsule size contains 720mg so the range of PCB’s in most cases would not exceed the EPA daily limits. The bottom line is to carefully choose your dietary supplements and put the risks in perspective. More people suffer from inflammatory conditions than PCB toxicity. Seek the advice of your healthcare provider when taking mega doses and choose companies that have the purest products.

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Spice up Your Memory

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Adding spice to your life can have some terrific benefits. Traders risked their lives and traveled far and wide to procure and sell these invaluable assets. Aside from adding flavor to foods, spices have been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. They have powerful effects in protecting the brain from damage. Each acts a little differently to prevent or reverse damage to nerve cells. Longevity Medicine Review looked at the development Alzheimer’s disease calling it the 21st Century Epidemic and found the active extracts of some common herbs and spices may preserve healthy brain function with few, if any side effects. . Here are some of the most pertinent findings that may compel you to consider incorporating the following into your foods and supplement regimens.
• Curcumin, the most active of the three curcuminoids found in the yellow- orange Indian curry spice turmeric. Populations who used this liberally in their diets had a much lower incidence of Alzheimer’s and scored better on established measures of cognitive function.
• Rosemary extract with its long history of folk use as a brain stimulant was studied and the results were so impressive the researchers concluded it could be a key molecule for the development of therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Gingko bilboa extract treated brain cells were resistant to toxic effects of beta amyloid protein found in Alzheimer’s plaques.
• Red or Panax Ginseng in recent studies showed the extracts were able to regenerate brain cells. Its extract in other studies was shown to improve memory.
• Vinpocetin is an antioxidant, dilates blood vessels and improves blood flow to the brain.
• Huperzine A significantly relieves memory deficits in the elderly related to Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia without the side effects that usually accompany pharmaceutical products.

Blending, means of extraction, and absorption enhancers may explain why studies of these compounds have had conflicting results. Individuals with ApoE4 genotype are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s and preventive action may thwart disease development. Large -scale human trials are necessary to shed more light on how to prevent this 21st Century Epidemic. In the meantime, spice up your memory and work with a healthcare professional knowledgeable in prescribing high quality dietary supplements to assure that the products you are using are safe and effective.

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Posted in BPA risks, aging, aging science, brain health, eating healthy, good health | 12 Comments »

Fishing for Brain Health – reduce depression and other disorders by eating more fish

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Improving mental health may be a fish story. Fat….it should all be in your head. Data suggests that populations that consume large amounts of fish appear to have relatively low rates of major depression. Rates of depression are high and increasing in parts of the world (eg, United States and Western Europe) where changes in agriculture and food technology have shifted diets away from omega-3 fatty acids toward omega-6 fatty acids (from commercial and processed vegetable oils). Studies have shown improvements in depression, bipolar disorders, mood, ADHD, schizophrenia and may hold promise for other inflammatory disorders such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and asthma as well as spinal cord and traumatic brain injury.

The brain is largely made up of fat and fatty acids. Fish oil has EPA and DHA and the brain is largely made up of the DHA component as well as other phospholipids. Inflammation has been shown to be present in a host of brain disorders and fish oils have an anti-inflammatory effect. Inflammation causes cell excitation, increased oxidative stress and cell death. We were designed to have a 2 to 1 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids and the Standard American Diet (SAD) has shifted that ratio to 25 to 1 with the balance shifted towards fatty acids that are more inflammatory. There are many compelling studies that indicate Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have therapeutic potential in neurology and psychiatry. Enrichment of cell membranes in DHA can lead to subtle changes in plasma membrane which is the cells “doorman” allowing signals and nutrients to get through and waste to be removed.

While fish oil with emphasis on the DHA component shows promise in improving or managing these conditions, there is no substitute for a healthy lifestyle of exercise, good nutrition, reduction of toxins such as herbicides, pesticides and heavy metals known to affect neurological conditions, a good nights sleep and stress management, as well as other supplements that improve nerve transmission and circulation. The good news is that if you are deficient, a good quality supplement may improve your condition and you can have tests to measure the balance of fats as well as oxidative stress. Have a fatty acid profile done to look for balance of inflammatory versus anti-inflammatory fats and seek expert advice on how to improve your mental health.

Dr. Lorraine Maita has expertise in nutrition and supplements and is a Diplomate in The American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and Internal Medicine. She specializes in lifestyle, exercise, nutrition, supplements, executive physicals, bioidentical hormone replacement, neurocognitive function and stress management in Short Hills, NJ

From Clinical Lipidology Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Their Neuroprotective and Regenerative Potential in Traumatic Neurological Injury Posted: 11/18/2009; Clin Lipidology. 2009;4(3):343-353. © 2009

Behavioral Health Matters: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Mental Health http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/409997

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Posted in brain health, eating healthy, good health, longevity | 7 Comments »