Drinking Coffee May Protect Your Brain

Drinking coffee has already been shown to be linked with a lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease, but may have benefits for other neurological disorders as well. According to Dr. Jonathan Geiger of the University of North Dakota, “Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug … to stabilize the blood brain barrier.” The blood brain barrier exists to protect the brain from contaminants in the bloodstream.

In an experiment performed at the University of North Dakota, laboratory rats were given the equivalent of one cup of coffee a day. After 12 weeks, the blood brain barriers of the experimental animals were more impervious to the harmful effects of a high cholesterol diet than the control animals.

“High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease” according to Dr. Geiger. A spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Disease Society said that this study helps explain why previous research has demonstrated benefits associated with drinking coffee on Alzheimer’s disease prevention.

Read more... Daily caffeine 'protects brain'

Trans-Fats May Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer

Trans-fats are artificial fats created in the laboratory and they include hydrogenated corn and safflower oil. The RDA for trans-fats is zero and people should avoid trans-fats completely.

The Food and Drug Administration now requires manufacturers to list amounts of trans-fats on the labels of manufactured food products. California and New York have banned the use of trans-fats in restaurant foods and several countries are considering nationwide bans against trans-fats.

Trans-fats have long been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and heart attack. This is ironic, because trans-fats were initially developed in order to replace known cholesterol-clogging fats such as butter and lard.

A recent study has shown that the consumption of trans-fats may also increase the risk of breast cancer in women. Veronique Chajes at the University of Paris-South and her colleagues studied 363 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This study found a direct correlation between higher levels of trans fats in a woman’s bloodstream and her risk of breast cancer.

Other risk factors for breast cancer include high fat diets and obesity.

Read more... Trans-fats linked to breast cancer risk in study

Vitamin D Deficiency Common In Sun Drenched Arizona

The major source of vitamin D in the body is conversion of cholesterol in the skin upon exposure to direct sunlight. Here at Grossman Wellness Center in sunny Colorado, we are blessed with over 300 sunny days per year. However, it is cold in Colorado much of the year, and many of us get little direct exposure due to the hats, coats, gloves, etc., that we wear during the long winter months. We have found that over 90% of our patients have some degree of vitamin D deficincy in their bloodstreams.

On the other hand, southern Arizona basks in over 300 days of sunshine per year and enjoys the benefit of mild winters as well, so residents are easily able to get direct sun exposure almost every day. Even in southern Arizona, study investigators found vitamin D deficiencies (defined as a level less than 20) in 23% of Caucasians, 38% of Hispanics and 56% of blacks.

It should be noted that this study had a cut off of 20, while we feel that optimal levels of vitamin D are more like 50. If the study investigators used the higher scale, a dramatically higher proportion of people would have found to have deficient levels of vitamin D.

This study shows that vitamin D deficiency is common even in the sunniest climate of the United States. We still recommend direct sun exposure between the non-burning hours of the day, (before 10:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. Additionally, many of us also need to take vitamin D in the form of nutritional supplementation.

Vitamin D is not only important in maintaining strong bones and preventing osteoporosis, but it’s also been found to be protective against heart disease and many types of common cancers, including breast, colon and lung cancer.

If you haven’t had your vitamin D levels tested recently, I recommend that you get a 25(OH)-hydroxyvitamin D level on yourself. It’s a simple blood test, and does not require that you be fasting. If your level is low, you might start supplementing with 1000 IU of vitamin D3 once or twice daily for about three or four months and then rechecking your level.

Read more... Vitamin D insufficiency in southern Arizona

Telephone Consultations with Frontier Medical Institute - Grossman Wellness Center Practitioners

A significant number of our patients do not live in Denver. In fact, some do not live in the United States.

If you have a health issue you’d like to discuss with Dr. Grossman, Dr. Catalano, our acupuncturist, our nutritionist, or traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and are unable to come to Denver, consider scheduling a telephone consultation with one (or more) of our staff.

For more information or to schedule a telephone consultation, please call us at (303) 233-4247 or via email at info@fmiclinic.com.

Depressed Individuals More Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s

Two recent studies suggest that people who are depressed have anincreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

According to Dr. Robert Wilson of Rush University medical center in Chicago, "We think it suggests that depression truly is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and not simply a sign that the disease is developing … Our thinking is that depression somehow causes damage to part of the brain called the limbic system, and this is the part of the brain that Alzheimer's disease preferentially attacks."

The limbic system consists of the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain associated with short-term memory, and the amygdala, associated with emotions.

Wilson proposes that depression is associated with chronic stress, which, in turn, increases levels of cortisol, a hormone of stress that has been found to damage the dendritic connections between brain cells.

In a second study reported in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology, Dutch researchers reported that the risk of Alzheimer’s was 250% higher among patients with a history of depression.

Read more... Depression may increase risk for Alzheimer disease

Twenty Minutes of Physical Activity Per Week Can Improve Mental Health

A recent study examined the association between physical activity and mental health for subjects in Scotland. Psychological distress was measured by a questionnaire among 20,000 participants.

The study determined that any amount of physical activity resulted in a decreased risk of psychological distress. More physical activity by subjects resulted in greater amounts of protection for the participants. Individuals who engaged in less frequent activities had a 33% decrease, while more frequent physical activity resulted in a 41% decrease.

All types of activities were found to be beneficial. They included activities of routine nature such as gardening and housework, walking or sports. The greatest benefits were seen by participants engaged in sports activities.

Beneficial effects were seen whenever an individual engaged in a minimum of one or more 20 minute sessions of physical activity of any type every week.

Read more... Dose response relationship between physical activity and mental health

Coronary Calcium Score Determines Heart Attack Risk

A recent study looked at how well coronary calcium score measurements predicted coronary events among 6,700 people. Having the presence of calcium in the coronary arteries was found to have a dramatic effect on the risk for heart attacks.

Hazard ratios for people with low scores between 1 to 100 were 3.6 times higher than that of individuals with zero scores. People with moderate amounts of calcium, from 101 to 300 had a 7.7 – fold increased risk, while risk in individuals with high scores greater than 300 was increased 9.7 times.

Coronary artery calcium measurement is now widely available through a ultrafast CT scanning technology, which is available in most parts of the country.

All patients with two or more cardiovascular risk factors undergo coronary artery calcium measurement as part of their evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center.

Read more... Coronary Calcium as a Predictor of Coronary Events in Four Racial or Ethnic Groups

Executive Health Evaluations at Grossman Wellness Center

Exciting things are happening at Frontier Medical Institute. Our executive health and corporate wellness program has become so successful that we have created a separate division of our clinic specifically devoted to wellness.

If you haven't yet experienced a comprehensive wellness evaluation, please take a moment to visit our new GrossmanWellness.com website. We hope to see you in Denver soon!