What is it, why the weird name and why do we need it?

First CoQ10 really means Coenzyme Q 10 and has other names like ubiquinone and ubidecarenone, these names refer to the substance’s ubiquitous appearance throughout the body. Coenzymes are a subgroup of what are generally known as cofactors. Cofactors are chemical compounds that bind to a protein and are integral to the proteins function.  Coenzymes are a type delineated by its loose fitting bond with their protein.  And what that jargon means is that proteins in our bodies have cofactors and actions that they carry out and by extension coenzymes activate those proteins so that their role is fulfilled.

CoQ10 plays a significant role in something called the electron transport chain or ETC.  This pathway is an important one in the production of cellular energy.  CoQ10 is also a potent antioxidant which is something we all could use a bit more of. The tissues with some of the highest metabolic rates and thus the highest requirements for energy like the heart and liver also have the highest concentration of CoQ10. As we age our natural production of CoQ10 declines and not surprisingly our metabolism and general energy level decline as well. That may be enough to warrant a small supplemental dose in order to help deal with our daily stresses.  However, the people with marked deficiency of this critical nutrient are those on statin drugs for lowering cholesterol.  Statin drugs stop a particular enzymatic pathway (HMG CoA Reductase) from producing cholesterol, unfortunately that same pathway is used to produce our endogenous CoQ10. Also the CoQ10 precursor “mevalonate” is inhibited by some beta blockers, so blood pressure and cholesterol meds have shown to drastically reduce the endogenous quantity of this vital metabolic nutrient with the intention of improving heart health.  But as we referenced earlier the heart requires more CoQ10 than almost any other tissue. This is obviously not the smartest way to improve heart health and protect sensitive tissue from damage. Simply lowering cholesterol has not been effective in protecting the heart and the vast majority of high blood pressure is idiopathic… meaning no identifiable cause (which really most often means lifestyle).

So is the answer these two drugs or developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle based on sound whole food nutrition and regular activity? The NEED for supplemental CoQ10 would essentially disappear with a quality lifestyle and without these drugs.  True our levels do decline as we age and supplementing can help to stave off declining energy and the increase of free radical damage but it would be a potential aid in optimizing function and not as a necessary nutrient as it has become for those who take either of the above mentioned class of drugs.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/06/Why-You-Should-NOT-Vaccinate-Your-Children-Against-the-Flu-This-Season.aspx

The surge of dementia information in the news recently should come as little surprise, with the aging population and increased scrutiny the health of our seniors is placed under. Yes we know more people are developing brain dysfunctions like dementia and we still do not have much to do to effectively treat it, so prevention becomes the key factor. First it has to be said that many theories have been postulated and many ideas proven wrong as to the true cause of dementia. What we do know is that certain people with certain behaviors have a much lower incidence of developing dementia.

The most important thing to do is (and you’ve heard this before) to eat a nutritious diet containing primarily whole raw fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats that are as free as possible of herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc.  And again, this diet cannot be provided by a fast food chain.  The healthy fats part probably will need to be supplemented with a clean source of omega 3 fatty acid as it is hard these days to consume enough of the right foods to create our ideal fatty acid balance. The whole, raw fruits and vegetables part is also very important because while we need these carbohydrates in our diets what is damaging to our brains (and the rest of our bodies) is the surge of insulin that accompanies the processed sugars and high levels of carbohydrates unbalanced with proteins and fats.

This eating plan has been discussed before; getting closer to nature in our diet will have far reaching benefits to every cell of our bodies and the earth around us. The next thing that we can do is to exercise regularly, both our bodies and our minds. The body exercise is simple, moving our bodies creates reactions that improve our body composition regulate our hormones including insulin and reduce our stress levels. Challenging our minds with reading, puzzles and thought provoking conversation helps to keep us sharp by constantly forming new neural connections and re-firing existing ones extending the plasticity of our brains.

Some of the other factors associated with dementia involve heavy metals in the body; specifically aluminum and mercury.  Admittedly the correlations between metals and dementia is controversial but if there is even a small chance of a link, maybe finding a safer deodorant than one containing aluminum, and would check out alternatives for amalgam dental fillings, as well as the flu shot.

So now when we read the headlines about the coming surge of dementia we can understand what we can do to give us the best possible chance of a clear minded life as we age.  We do not have to feel scared by the headlines implying that dementia is completely unavoidable.  Eat right, exercise your body and mind, and avoid toxins, especially metals, develop a supplement program that includes Omega 3 oils and antioxidants, and know that you are doing your best to protect yourself.

Our infomercial is set to air this weekend and for the following days thereafter.  Please check to see when you are able to view it.  It is great!

National
WETV          WED,  16-Sep @ 6:30 AM
FIT-TV        TUE,  15-Sep  @ 5:00 AM

Regional
FOX SPORTS NET SOUTHWEST         MO, 14-Sep @ 9:00 AM

Local Market
PHILADELPHIA - WMCN   FRI, 19-Sep, 10:00 PM
MILWAUKEE - WMLW   SUN, 13-Sep, 7:30 AM
DES MOINES – WOI  SAT, 12-Sep, 6:30 AM
DALLAS - KFWD   SUN, 13-Sep, 10:00 AM
BEND - KBNZ   SAT, 12-Sep, 4:30 PM
HARTFORD - WTXX   SAT, 12-Sep, 11:00 AM
LOS ANGELES - KHIZ   SAT, 12-Sep, 2:30 PM
NEW YORK - WRNN   SAT, 13-Sep, 1:30 PM
CHICAGO - WJYS   SUN, 13-Sep, 10:30 AM
FT. MYERS - WZVN   SUN, 13-Sep, 6:30 AM
BOSTON - WBPX   SUN, 13-Sep, 9:00 AM
DALLAS - KTXA    SUN, 13-Sep, 11:00 AM
HOUSTON - KTBU   SUN, 13-Sep, 1:00 PM
SALT LAKE CITY - KPNZ   SUN, 13-Sep, 9:30 AM
TAMPA – WTSP    SUN, 13-Sep, 6:30 AM
FARGO - KVRR   SUN, 13-Sep, 9:30 AM
BANGOR – WABI  SUN,  13-Sep, 8:30 AM

We have all been bombarded with advertisements and media reports about antioxidants in various forms being heralded as everything from the fountain of youth to protection from our own bad habits.  Along with the news on antioxidants comes the message that free radicals (what antioxidants neutralize) are evil and we should do everything we can to stop their production.  Stopping the production of free radicals in your body is easy.  So easy in fact, that all you have to do is stop breathing forever… it’s that easy.  Obviously we are not supposed to completely stop the production of free radicals, so this must be one of those situations where a delicate balance must be achieved.

So why all the hype?  First, free radicals are substances that have an unpaired leectron which enables them to be highly reactive and in some biological situations, highly damaging.  Antioxidants are substances that have reduction capability and thus end the free radical chain reactions and in effect neutralize the radical intermediates of oxidative reactions…blah blah blah.  All that big chemistry talk means is that if free radicals are a fire spreading out of control, then antioxidants are the water used to control and eventually put the fire out.  Free radicals happen every day during normal chemical reactions in our bodies; their production is accelerated during times of stress, illness, exercise or toxic exposure.  A healthy, varied diet of whole, raw, live foods, espeically with a rainbow of colors, should be all that is needed to provide an ample dose of antioxidants to combat a normal production of free radicals.  Few of us however, live a life devoid of stress, illness, and exercise or toxic exposures.  These necessitate a supplemental increase in our antioxidant intake.  Most of us also do not consume a rich and varied diet of brightly colored raw foods on a regular basis.  The market is saturated with the next big miracle antioxidant.  What we have to realize is that certain antioxidants work in certain circumstances and under certain conditions to neutralize certain free radicals.  We need a variety of antioxidant nutrients from a variety of sources to combat all the free radical variables (i.e., ones we ingest, breath, absorb, etc).  It’s not enough to take a big load of Resvertatrol and think that it is taking care of all your antioxidant needs.  As the saying goes “variety is the spice of life.”  An antioxidant supplement that is whole food based and provides many different types of antioxidants is the best bet to combat the free radical onslaught of daily life.

So a vaccine is being developed for the swine fly (H1N1).  Many people are convinced that the H1N1 virus is a pandemic virus that is more aggressive than flu virus’ in the past.  It is true that it seems that a high percentage of folks that come in contact with the virus develop symptoms.  However, one major fact so often overlooked is that the cases still can be considered mild with percentages of far fewer serious complications from this flu than typical winter influenza.  This, my friend, is a mild flu virus that the vast majority of people will recover from completely and rapidly with absolutely no medical intervention.

Why then is there still panic?  There are 190 million government ordered doses of a vaccine to combat this viral “bacon.” So the modus operandi is the same.  A virus hits the population and a vaccine is ordered to take care of it.  What do we know about this vaccine?  We know that it is being developed very rapidly leaving very little chance to effectively test for safety or really even efficacy.  Although it may appear to be beneficial to push this vaccine through quickly in order to save people the discomfort of an essentially non deadly flu, but what about the long term consequences of an untested vaccine? The limited time for development also means that the actual virus for the vaccine may not be produced in adequate quantities.  This can lead the manufacturers to add something to the mix that guarantees that you will have a heightened immune response even if the level of virus injected is very small.  In other words they are stretching the short supply. This is what is happening with the H1N1 vaccine.

Again this seems ok as you would most likely want the heightened immune response effect if you are going to receive the vaccine.  Let’s consider what this immune response boosting “stuff” is.  In the, past things like mercury and aluminum have been commonly used, but those toxins are yesterday’s news.  For the “pig virus” we need something new; a hip adjuvant if you will.  That new adjuvant is squalene, an oil that is synthetically produced. As a matter of fact the WHO is now recommending this adjuvant as stated on a July 13 briefing on the swine flu pandemic:  “In view of the anticipated limited vaccine availability at global level and the potential need to protect against “drifted” strains of virus, SAGE recommended that promoting production and use of vaccines such as those that are formulated with oil-in-water adjuvants and live attenuated influenza vaccines was important.”

Why the big deal?  It is good to note there are no approved vaccines in the US that contain the additive squalene.  Squalene itself is fine.  In fact it is found in many places throughout the body, especially the nervous system. It is not however, found freely floating in your blood.  Why?  Because when squalene is injected directly into the bloodstream (i.e., vaccine) the body sees it as a toxin and attacks it.  This can be a problem for you and a bonus for vaccine makers, as your immune system builds antibodies to this foreign substance in the blood. Good for vaccine companies as your immune system is stimulated; bad for you because now those antibodies turn and attack squalene wherever they are found naturally occurring in your nervous system.  This information was obtained after the discovery of squalene in the experimental anthrax vaccine used in Gulf War Veterans.  Although the DOD first would not admit that squalene was a component of the vaccine there were to facts to show otherwise.  First the FDA found squalene in some tested samples of the vaccine and second an anti-squalene antibody test was developed for patients suffering Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) and a clear link was made between those with GWS and antisqualene antibodies.  A study from Tulane university in 2000 that was published in the journal of Experimental Molecular Pathology made it very clear: “ … the substantial majority (95%) of overtly ill deployed GWS patients had antibodies to squalene. All (100%) GWS patients immunized for service in Desert Shield/Desert Storm who did not deploy, but had the same signs and symptoms as those who did deploy, had antibodies to squalene. In contrast, none (0%) of the deployed Persian Gulf veterans not showing signs and symptoms of GWS have antibodies to squalene. Neither patients with idiopathic autoimmune disease nor healthy controls had detectable serum antibodies to squalene. The majority of symptomatic GWS patients had serum antibodies to squalene.”

This would be the first approved in the US vaccine to contain squalene which failed.  It is unfortunate that it was used on soldiers.  The question now becomes why are we doing this and what long term effects will we see from people having toxins like squalene injected.  These questions will bear answers later and with 190 million doses already ordered in the US alone those answers will be repeated over and over and over again.

This is a very interesting article that can be found in the very informative Mother Nature Network blog. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health/blogs/the-fuel-in-meat-and-potatoes

Vitamin K is known to most of us as something that helps clot our blood.  Its most useful and wonderful benefits are certainly not well known to the general public.  Certain forms of Vitamin K have proven to be able to build bone and clean the plaque out of arteries.   Sounds great, right?  So,where do we get Vitamin K, and especially Vitamin K2?

Our gut bacteria, or probiotics, actually manufacture Vitamin K2 for us.  Without a healthy gut population, we go without this vital nutrient that has so many important functions.  The two really interesting benefits of Vitamin K2 are really one in the same.  The bone building is intimately partnered to the artery cleaning.  It sure is great how everything in the body works together and seemingly small lifestyle choices have far reaching effects – it’s really all one process.  One of the steps involved with depositing calcium to your bone is called “carboxylation,” and without Vitamin K present that step is unable to proceed.  The calcium that seemed destined for bone strengthening now has to go somewhere else.  The answer is that it floats around in the blood stream until it comes upon a damaged or an inflamed portion of artery and there it is deposited as part of the arterial wall.  Voila! Arterial Calcification.   This reaction is supposed to be mediated by our bodies in part by Vitamin K as it directs extra calcium to bone growth and therefore pulls it out of the bloodstream. Let’s reemphasize that Vitamin K2 actually has the ability to take calcium out of the arterial walls where it is very bad for us and put it into the bone which is very good for us.  At no point in our story of cleaning the arteries and building bone did we mention the need for Lipitor, Vytorin, Crestor, Zetia, Zocor, Fosamax, Actonel, Boneva or Evista.  Those drugs simply address the symptoms of atherosclerosis and bone loss.  The real issues go much deeper.  Taking care of our gut health is the real answer.  Maintaining a healthy probiotic level and avoiding such toxins as caffeine, carbonation, alcohol, excessive sugars and processed foods which negatively affect our gut health.  Healthy probiotic populations will create all the Vitamin K2 that we need leading to proper carboxylation reactions of shuttling calcium to the bone while removing it from the arterial walls where it causes problems.

Of course we recognize that current lifestyles tend to make it hard to maintain healthy probiotics, much less rebuild the population.  So supplemental Vitamin K2 can be especially useful in turning around a degenerative situation and helping us back to a more sustainable level of health.  It is important to notice the form of Vitamin K that we want is K2.  Vitamin K1 is the kind in leafy green vegetables and K3 is a toxic synthetic.  K2 is produced by way of probiotics in us and in some fermented foods.  In partiuclar an Asian staple called natto.  It is important when considering calcium supplementation that K2 is one of the nutrients included for proper utilization of the calcium.

Managing and living with diabetes is not easy.  One must monitor their dietary intake much closer than the average person.  Adjusting to a “diabetic safe” diet is quite a shock to most people, but the real shocking thing is that a diabetic safe diet is really a rather simple and healthy diet that is not far off a recommended eating plan.

Diabetes is not a genetic disease or something that just happens.  It is a disease caused by poor nutrition.  There is no magic pill or potion, although some substances have been known to support the body in healing itself.  The answer lies in nutrition both in treatment and prevention.

High sugar and processed fats predominate in the SAD (Standard American Diet).   This diet has a devastating effect on our insulin and leptin sensitivity, our hormone balance, and our physiologic stress (and thus inflammation) levels.  Diabetes seems to be a disease of miscommunication between brain and liver and fat cells.  The communicatory substances in play are insulin and leptin. We know that insulins’ role is to reduce blood sugar by shuttling sugar to the liver, and if you lose the ability to handle the glucose you intake, insulin resistance followes. Leptin is relatively unknown to most people but it has far ranging communication between the brain and the liver and individual fat cells. Leptin is responsible for telling your brain when you’re full and how much stored “fat energy” you have available.  Errors in leptin signaling would therefore lead to calorie over consumption, dangerous spikes in insulin, excessive fat storage, and lots of global inflammation.  The answer to this specific issue of diabetes seems to stem from how we effectively keep up communication in our bodies and stay properly sensitized to leptin and thus insulin.  This proper signaling is protected by dietary intake of good healthy fats, whole raw vegetables and an absence of simple processed foods.

Preventing, managing, and treating diabetes is as easy as making healthy choices in our diets, removing processed foods and consuming more whole, raw, live foods.  Lean animal proteins and fats help to balance our macronutrient intake in a hormonally functional way.  Generally, eating this way tends to eliminate much of the food choices that have led to the epidemics of obesity and diabetes.  Eating whole, fresh and live with lean animal proteins means that there is automatically an absence of processed foods (fast foods, microwave dinners, sandwich meats, etc), excessive sugars (soda, sweets, high fructose corn syrup) and allergenic grains (wheat, barley, oats, etc).  Consuming many simple sugars from processed products means eating unnatural quantities of rapidly absorbing sugars which puts a strain on our hormonal balance affecting insulin sensitivity, fat storage, stress hormone production, brain chemistry, and our digestive capacity.

Preventing diabetes is really not the issue we have to focus on, rather it is returning to a healthy lifestyle consisting of raw whole foods, good choices in lean animal protein, exercise, sunlight and good mental hygiene.  These steps not only lead to a road of diabetes prevention, but also many diseases plaguing us today.

It is summer time and that means most of us will venture outside more often. We play more sports, we garden and we simply enjoy outside cooking and eating during this time of the year. That puts us in contact with pests and in particular the dreaded mosquito. I know the first thing to pop in your head is West Nile Virus.  Many people like to use a pesticide or bug spray to ward of the bugs, the vast majority of these contain a chemical called DEET, and that is bad news. Our own EPA advises that it should not be applied to children under 6 and for adults it should only be applied to clothing not to skin, and then to wash the skin immediately upon returning inside.  This sure doesn’t sound like a healthy idea.  Deet has been linked to neurological symptoms, headache, nausea, dizziness, tremors, muscle and joint pain, memory loss, fatigue, shortness of breath, and in rats has been shown to cause diffuse brain cell death.  It is unlikely that something so potent against other living organisms can really be safe for you to spray on your skin. Botanical products have been shown to be effective but much less so than chemicals like DEET.  This simply means that they need to be applied more often and we have to understand that we may get a bug bite or two during a long evening outdoors.  Options include Neem oil, Cinnamon oil, Cintronella, Vanoline, Lemongrass and Peppermint.

Now about that West Nile virus thing.  Our municipalities are spraying dangerous chemicals into our air rather than directly onto any actual bugs with no regard for possible repercussions. Those repercussions include

• resistance of the mosquitoes to the pesticides
• inhalation of pesticides by people and animals
• maybe most importantly the collateral damage to predator species and birds susceptible to the poison

All of this for a virus that has never been properly identified, isolated or really even proven to exist by the same methods that other heath threats are subjected to. Nobody likes to get mosquito bites but are the preventative measures worse than the irritation of the bite?