Posts Tagged ‘Health’
Why Coffee Is Healthy for Seniors!
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Recent studies have shown that coffee has a number of health benefits for seniors who want to take preemptive aging steps to foster their senior health. Coffee is loaded with phytochemicals that contribute to coffee’s ability to protect us against diseases. In addition to the health promoting phytochemicals coffee contains healthy polyphenols that act directly on our cells. The leading phytochemical in coffee is chlorogenic acid. It turns out that drinking even one cup of coffee a day can reduce a persons risk of diabetes by more than 10 percent. The more coffee a person drink the greater the risk reduction for contracting diabetes. A dozen cups of either regular or decaffeinated coffee can reduce the risk more than 65 percent. This is good news for seniors who are living under the shadow of an oncoming national epidemic of diabetes. Coffee is a natural, tasty and healthy drink that seniors can imbibe to their good health. For those who do not want to drink coffee standardized chlorogenic acid supplements are available. These supplements deliver high levels of the healthy coffee compounds to help reduce the risk of contracting diabetes.
How B Vitamins Help Senior Women
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Senior women who are concerned about their senior health need to make certain that they get enough of the B vitamins, because they reduce the risk of breast cancer by 38% and other cancers by 25%. The B vitamins lower homocysteine levels which keep women’s bones strong and promote cardiovascular health, too. It turns out that the risk of age-related macular degeneration was reduced for senior women who took the B Trinity on a daily basis. The healthy trinity of B vitamins that include B6, B12, and folic acid (vitamin B9) definitely improves cardiovascular health for both senior men and women by lowering the level of homocysteine. As an added benefit they reduce the risk of stroke as well. For both senior women and men Vitamin B12 boosts energy, helps keep the brain from degrading, and improves longevity.
Despite all these myriad health benefits why don’t the B vitamins get the press that C, D, and A do? Although some multivitamins list various B vitamins in their ingredients, they don’t tell you what health benefits they bring to the senior health table. Fortunately some of the latest research on vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid (vitamin B9) has uncovered numerous health benefits that improve our health and the health of seniors in particular. Major benefits conferred by the B Trinity for seniors include contributing to the prevention of cardiovascular disease, to the reduction of the risk of cancer, and to a lowered risk of osteoporosis.
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Sex Promotes Cardiovascular Health
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Is sex really that important? As more and more research is done on the subject, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that having healthy sex is essential to a healthy life — and that sex can even help you to live longer. Numerous studies have shown that an active sex life is closely correlated with longer, healthier life which is of special importance for promoting senior health. Specifically, it seems like sex may lower the risk for heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular diseases. A European study in the 1990′s found that men who had weekly sexual activity reduced their risk of heart attack or stroke by more than 40%. In 2010, the New England Research Institute conducted a massive study confirmed that weekly sex reduces risk of heart disease by 45%.
Additional benefits of engaging in sexual activity include reduction in stress and lower blood pressure. Another benefit of the oxytocin released during orgasm: it calms the nerves. Studies done on lab rats have shown that oxytocin counteracts the effects of cortisol (a stress hormone). Sex also helps you sleep better. When he rolls over and starts snoring after a good bout in the bed, it’s not just physical exhaustion. Oxytocin not only calms you down, but it also specifically promotes sleep. In conclusion seniors who engage in sexual activity are taking a preemptive aging step that fosters their cardiovascular health.
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Pomegranate Seed Oil Fights Cancer
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The benefits of pomegranate juice and pulp have been well documented for their ability to help combat a wide range of degenerative diseases. Two of the leading diseases include cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. Recently researchers have discovered that other parts of the pomegranate plant can confer significant health benefits. for example the extracts of pomegranate flowers provide excellent protection against type 2 diabetes and many of the collateral effects of obesity. It turns out that pomegranate seed oil provides powerful chemoprevention against reproductive cancers.
In particular pomegranate seed oil is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme aromatase that produces estrogen from testosterone. As men age the balance of high testosterone to low estrogen tends to become inverted which fosters the growth of prostate cancer. Pomegranate seed oil reduces the amount of testosterone that can be converted to estrogen in older men which promotes their prostate health. Pomegranate seed oil provides another health benefit, because it greatly inhibits the proliferation of human prostate cancer cell lines by interrupting the cell growth cycle and also by inducing cell death known as apoptosis. Thirdly it greatly suppresses the invasion of cancer cells. Finally when pomegranate seed oil is teamed with other pomegranate components it acts synergistically to suppress prostate cancer proliferation and matastasis more effectively than any of the components alone.
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Can Garlic Breath Save Your Heart?
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In common folklore wearing garlic is supposed to repel vampires, but in our workaday world consuming garlic may have a major health benefit. For some time garlic has been touted as food that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease is of particular importance to seniors. Previous research into how garlic contributes to cardiovascular health focused on its ability to help our bodies synthesize both NO and CO. Garlic apparently helps our bodies boost the levels of both carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO) so that the heart is better protected against cardiovascular disease. This is good news for seniors who are searching for ways to take preemptive aging steps to foster their senior health, but there is even better news about garlic.
Recent research has discovered that garlic helps our bodies synthesize a third molecule known as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which is not as well known as the first two, but which your nose has probably detected. The H2S molecule gives off the familiar odor of rotten eggs. The H2S molecule is the one that is responsible for the infamous ‘garlic breath’ that appears after anyone has eaten anything containing garlic or its extracts. The small amount of H2S that is generated from eating garlic is not toxic and apparently has a beneficial effect on our cardiovascular health. Specifically the H2S molecule produces several physiological effects that benefit cardiovascular health including relaxing blood vessels, promoting the development of new blood vessels, and lowering blood pressure.
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Chocolate or Xocolatl Its Good for Your Heart!
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The source of chocolate is the seed from the cacao tree which has been cultivated for over three thousand years in Mexico, in Central, and in South America. The cacao seeds have a bitter taste, so the ancient peoples of those regions fermented them to bring out the flavor that we modern folk love so well. In fact the Aztec word xocolatl means something like bitter water. The Aztecs and their neighbors made beverages out of fermented cacao seeds. This is good news for seniors who are looking for ways to foster preemptive aging techniques to improve their senior health, because chocolate is full of flavanols similar to those found in red wine, apples, teas and so on.
In particular the flavanols in cocoa products have been shown to have a number of health benefits particularly in terms of cardiovascular health. In addition they tend to enhance insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and cognitive function which are all important health issues for seniors. The cocoa products have been shown to increase cerebral blood flow and brain activation. This is very good news for seniors, because cocoa products taste good, they can improve your cardiovascular health and possibly make you smarter, too.
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Boost Immune System With This Fish Oil
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Less than 15 years ago a compound discovered in a particular fish liver oil was identified as providing an immune system boost. The physicians who researched this compound were seeking a way to boost their patients immune system against a particular cancer. The compounds that were identified as building immune system against the cancer were identified as alkylglycerols. These alkylglycerols were obtained from the livers of coldwater sharks such as the Greenland shark. The fact that cancer is very rare in sharks may be due to the presence of alkylglycerols in their livers. The researchers found that the biologic effects of shark liver oil include stimulation of blood leukocyte and thrombocyte production as well as the activation of macrophage and anti-tumor activity.
Put another way, alkylglycerols led to lowered cancer cell reproduction and a reduced ability of the cancer cells to invade healthy cells. The authors concluded that alkylglycerols possess both cancer preventative properties, as well as cancer treatment effects. Alkylglycerols are beneficial against other enemies of our health, because they are known to increase the production of certain cytokines that attack viruses. According to some researchers, viral infections such as influenza or the common cold, can be prevented or reduced significantly by the addition of shark liver oil, taken at the first sign of symptoms. This is very good news for seniors who are concerned about fostering their senior health with an immune system boost.
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Lignans Contribute to Preventing Prostate Cancer
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For senior men effectively reducing their risk of prostate cancer requires a multi-pronged approach. What is presented here represents one major prong that emphasizes the nutritional side of prostate cancer risk reduction. For example in Asian countries such as China and Japan most men have healthy prostates. By comparison US and European men have ten times the rate of prostate cancer. Multiple research studies indicate that diet greatly influences the risk of contracting prostate cancer and dying from it. In Japan and China folks consume a lot of fruits, vegetables, grains, and seeds. These foods are rich in plant lignans. Western diets are generally low in plant lignans. Lignans definitely appear to help prevent and treat prostate cancer.
The way lignans work to help prevent prostate cancer is described as follows. After the lignans enter the digestive system they are converted into what are called lignan metabolites or enterolactones that help our bodies prevent prostate cancer. Enterolactones are known to protect against hormone-dependent cancers. Several very precise studies in Europe showed that men with the highest level of enterolactones in their blood were more than 80% less likely to have prostate cancer. A parallel study reported a 60% less likely number. A third study in the US confirmed the results of the two European studies. This is very good news for senior men who are concerned about their prostate health. In addition to the lignan rich foods that are referenced above supplements are available to enhance the effect of the plant lignan rich foods.
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Zinc Helps Prevent Osteoporosis
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As seniors age one of the diseases that stalks them is osteoporosis. This disease is an enemy of senior health; it can rob seniors of the enjoyment of their senior years. Recent research into the nutritional components that support strong, healthy bones revealed that a well known mineral plays an important role in decreasing bone aging. The mineral that was identified in the study is zinc. The researchers were studying the role of zinc as an essential component of nutrition in the development of humans. What they discovered was the strength of bones was correlated with their zinc content.
Of particular interest for seniors was their finding that identified how increased zinc content was related to the strength of bones. In addition they discovered that zinc had a stimulatory effect on bone formation. Both these findings are good news for seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive measures to ensure their senior health. The researchers found that several properly prepared compounds of zinc could actually provide a restorative effect on bone loss that was age related.
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Can Vitamin D Assist in The Rescue?
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In the case of a diagnosis of lymphoma standard medical treatments are available and are generally successful provided the type of lymphoma is correctly diagnosed and treatment initiated as soon as the disease is diagnosed. At a recent conference researchers reported on finding that vitamin D blood levels appeared to be predictive of survival by individuals who were being treated for lymphoma. In the study over 350 patients who had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma had their blood levels of vitamin D measured. About half the patients had levels below the minimum level for good health.
The group with the deficient levels of vitamin D showed a risk of disease progression that was 1.5 times greater than those patients with optimal levels of vitamin D. The patients with optimal levels had a 50% reduced risk of dying during the study compared with those with deficient levels. These results were reported for one study and one type of lymphoma which means that more research needs to be performed to validate these findings over a broader range of lymphomas. The good news for folks who are concerned about their senior health is that building up their vitamin D levels will probably insure that an optimal level of vitamin D will assist and complement any medical treatment that may be needed in the event that they contract a lymphoma. Optimal levels of vitamin D have already been shown to assist in the prevention and reduction of cancers other than lymphoma, so it is very probably that the same would apply in the case of lymphoma.
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