by admin | Mar 6, 2018 | Health, Nutrition, Wellness
Hardening of the arteries can affect any artery in the body and can contribute to heart disease and stroke. Stiffening, which is more than plaque formation, can damage capillaries which not only contributes to high blood pressure but can also contribute to heart attacks, strokes, cognitive decline, dementia, kidney failure, and other disorders as well. Vitamin D and vitamin K both contribute in slowing and even preventing arterial stiffening.
It has also been found that arterial stiffness can also contribute to kidney disorders, liver disorders, type II diabetes, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc. The causes of arterial stiffness include diabetes, ageing, and calcification. Vitamins D and K both play an important role in calcium metabolism. Vitamin D helps in the absorption while Vitamin K keeps the calcium out of the arteries. Vitamin K also allows the proper deposition of calcium into bone which can help with osteoporosis.
In a study of middle-aged type II diabetics, subjects received either a placebo or 1000IU of Vitamin D daily for a year. After a year, the supplemented patients had a decrease in the measure of arterial stiffness; the placebo group had no change.
In another study, adults with high blood pressure and a Vitamin D deficiency were studied. After taking 4,000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily for 6 months, they had a 12.3% reduction in arterial stiffness. No changes were noted in the control group that only took 400 IU/day (the standard recommended dose).
A Danish study done in the winter months showed how 3000IU of Vitamin D3 reduced both the systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure in subjects who were Vitamin D deficient.
There is a protein called matrix Gla-protein that exists and Vitamin K is required to activate it and cause an inhibition of calcium from being deposited in artery walls. In a lab study involving diabetic rats, they were found to have a reduction of matrix Gla-protein of 36% compared with nondiabetic rats. This led to an increase in major artery calcium deposits of up to 56% and ultimately produced a 44% increase in arterial stiffness.
A recent human study that involved 244 healthy, post menopausal women ran for three years. Half received a placebo and the other half received Vitamin K2 in the form of MK-7. The study showed that supplementation of MK-7 significantly reduced (by 50%) levels of inactive matrix Gla-protein. This study showed how the Vitamin K supplemented women had significant reductions in arterial stiffness. An added benefit was that those with the highest stiffness at baseline experienced significant improvements list of other arterial parameters related to arterial suppleness as well.
Overall, Vitamins D and K are involved in how our bodies manage calcium, mainly with keeping it in our bones and out of the arteries.
To read the full article, please read Life Extension Magazine, March 2018, Reduce Your Risk of Arterial Stiffness by Celia Stanton, pp. 46-53.
by admin | Nov 5, 2015 | General, Nutrition
It is important to realize that vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that the body needs and must be obtained outside the body. As we age, we tend to have lower levels of vitamin C which can lead to impaired immune function. A deficiency in vitamin C has been associated with colds which can lead to pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. A deficiency can make us more vulnerable to infections. Reasons for a deficiency in vitamin C include aging, stress, and various disease states including diabetes, gastritis, cancer, arthritis, pneumonia and pancreatitis.
One of the most important functions of vitamin C is to support and energize the immune system. Studies have shown that the amount of vitamin C can not only reduce the duration and severity of the common cold, but it can reduce the incidence of developing a cold. Because all common cold studies do not produce consistent results, other nutrients may be needed to fight the common cold. The use of zinc lozenges when the cold first appears is one suggestion to follow.
Studies have shown that vitamin C can reduce the duration of colds from 5-21%. Studies using 1,000 mg or more per day have shown the incidence of a cold being developed being reduced by 50%. There is growing support for the use of vitamin C in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anemia, periodontal disease, and osteoporosis.
For more information on this subject, please read “The Link Between Vitamin C and Optimal Immunity” by Chad Robertson in the 11/15 issue of Life Extension Magazine, pp. 56-64.
by admin | May 18, 2015 | General, Nutrition
Remove grains from your diet and your brain is released from the control of their mind active components. It is liberating, wonderful, and empowering. Your brain can be restored to its normal alert, energetic, calculating, and creative state. After withdrawal, the benefits that can be experienced include:
1. Improved mood
Once the depression that can accompany withdrawal is past, there is typically a substantial lifting of mood. This develops due to the removal of gliadin and other prolamin proteinderived exorphins, as well as increased levels of brain serotonin. People are happier and more optimistic, and they become better engaged with the people and activities of their lives.
2. Reduce anxiety
Many people are plagued by constant low-level anxiety, the sort of pointless and unwarranted unease that makes daily life an unpleasant experience. Typically, such anxieties recede with grain removal. For some, the effect can be dramatic and life changing, sometimes even providing relief from years of phobias such as agoraphobia or claustrophobia. For others, it may be a more subtle change, with relief from frequent or pervasive anxieties that darkened your life. Like suicidal thoughts, anxiety is easily reprovoked with any grain exposure, so avoidance is key.
3. Lifting of mind fog
Like the lifting of mood, a lifting of mind fog is also a common grain-free experience. People report that they are better able to concentrate for prolonged periods and are able to think more clearly, make decisions more easily, and speak more effectively. Writers are able to write for longer periods; artists are able to draw, paint, or compose more easily; business people can engage in discussion, perform at meetings, and prepare documents more effectively; and athletes are able to sustain concentration for a longer time and become less reliant on performance crutches such as energy drinks and protein bars. This effect applies to children just as much as adults. Some of the most dramatic stories I’ve heard have come from parents who report that their children’s school performance skyrocketed when they were freed from the fogginess of grain consumption.
4. Enhanced learning
Restoration of the capacity for prolonged concentration, clearer thinking, and reduced distractibility add up to an enhanced ability to learn. People listen more effectively, retain more with reading, acquire and synthesize data and concepts with greater ease, and enjoy enhanced recall. They are more focused, more creative, and more effective.
5. Reversal of seizures
As seizures have been associated with grain consumption, especially consumption of wheat, removal of grains can be associated with relief from seizures if grains were the initiating cause. Most commonly, sufferers of temporal lobe seizures experience a marked reduction or complete relief from these episodes. Although the causal association between grains and grand mal seizures is more tenuous, I am hearing from more and more people who have experienced marked relief from these dangerous events, as well.
6. Reversal of neurological impairment
People with cerebellar ataxia usually experience a slow, gradual improvement in coordination, balance, capacity to walk, and bladder control, or at least experience no further deterioration, after grains are eliminated. Because the nervous system is slow to heal and may do so imperfectly, the process can take months to years, so a long-term commitment is required to gauge improvement. Even multiple sclerosis, which results from autoimmune destruction of the myelin covering of nerve tissue, can slowly improve or reverse. It’s also critical that you simultaneously correct vitamin D deficiency, as preliminary studies suggest a powerful relationship between vitamin D and this condition.
7. Prevention of dementia
High blood sugars that occur day in and day out, many times per day, due to habitual grain consumption are reversed when grains are removed. Clinical trials have demonstrated the powerful association between blood sugars that are around 110 mg/dl — which is below the cutoffs for prediabetes and diabetes and considered just above normal — and the development of dementia, with even higher risk presented by the higher blood sugar levels of prediabetes and diabetes. Grain elimination is a powerful means of reversing high fasting and after meal blood sugars. Some people are also prone to the autoimmune process triggered by the gliadin and prolamin proteins that leads to dementia; it is likewise turned off with elimination of theinciting grains.
Excerpt from Wheat Belly Total Health, by Dr. William Davis. Published by Rodale Books, in 2014.
by admin | Apr 30, 2015 | Children, General, Nutrition, Sports, Therapy
Are your chocolate cravings so intense that you feel like it screams your name? Do you ever jump out of bed in the middle of the night because of a muscle spasm? Or, no matter what you try, do you have difficulty sleeping? There’s a good chance you’re deficient in magnesium.
Substantial numbers of Americans are deficient in the mineral magnesium. However, most people have no idea that they’re missing this vital mineral. Nutritionists often call magnesium the master mineral because it affects over 300 different enzymatic processes that help your body function properly. As a registered dietitian, I’d like to share seven of the most common symptoms of magnesium deficiency — backed up by research — I see when clients come for nutrition counseling:
1. Muscle cramps or spasms
If you’ve had one of these, you know how awful they can be whether you’re sitting at your desk or awakened in the middle of the night with a painfully tight calf! Muscle cramps are a result of muscle spasms, which are involuntary muscle contractions. Magnesium helps relax muscles throughout your body, so when you’re deficient your muscles will contract involuntarily.
2. Trouble sleeping
Millions of Americans have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Magnesium plays an important role in the function of your central nervous system. Without sufficient magnesium, you may experience insomnia. Also, magnesium levels drop in your body at night, leading to poor quantity and quality of REM sleep, which is the most critical sleep cycle to recharge your body and mind.
3. Chocolate cravings
Dark chocolate is high in magnesium, and one square provides about 24% of your daily value of magnesium. Intense “I have to have it” chocolate cravings are another sign of magnesium deficiency. Your body actually craves what it needs sometimes.
4. Anxiety
Magnesium is the most powerful relaxation mineral. If you experience anxiety, this is a common early symptom of how your central nervous system is affected by magnesium deficiency. When you feel anxious, taking 200mg of magnesium may make you feel more relaxed.
5. High blood pressure
Many people wonder why they have high blood pressure even though they follow a healthy, whole food diet. Magnesium may be the answer; another important function of magnesium is relaxing and dilating your blood vessels. When you’re low in magnesium, your blood vessels constrict more, causing high blood pressure. Adequate magnesium levels also help balance your electrolytes. Unbalanced electrolytes can create high blood pressure as well.
6. Irregular heartbeat
It has become common for people to develop heart arrhythmias, then be put on medications. Your heart is a muscular organ, making the cardiovascular system highly dependent on magnesium to properly function. If your heart is deficient in magnesium, it can’t contract properly, which may cause irregular heartbeats.
7. Constipation
If you experience constipation regularly, that’s another sign you’re deficient in magnesium. When you’re low in magnesium, your intestines contract more, making it harder for stool to pass. Not only will magnesium relax your bowel to create a more regular bowel rhythm, but it also has an osmotic effect. Magnesium pulls water into the bowels, softening the stool. Choose magnesium citrate to help constipation. Most of my clients have at least one of the above symptoms and have found great relief after increasing their magnesium levels.
How can you increase your magnesium levels?
First, stop eating foods that deplete nutrients, such as flour and sugar. Instead eat foods high in magnesium, such as meat, avocados, leafy green vegetables and nuts. If you’re eating chocolate to restore some of your magnesium, make sure it’s at least 70% cocoa, and keep your chocolate intake to one ounce or less per day.
Even if you eat a healthy diet, you will likely still need to supplement with magnesium. Look for a good-quality magnesium supplement in the form of magnesium glycinate, which is one of the most absorbable forms. Most people need about 400 mg, but you can go up to 1,000 mg per day if needed. Take magnesium at bedtime for best absorption and to provide deep, rejuvenating sleep!
Here at Exum Chiropractic Clinic we sell top quality magnesium. It is through a local company called Xymogen. Call us at 407-423-0038 to discuss any questions you may have about magnesium and your health.
by admin | Apr 27, 2015 | General, Sports
PORTLAND, ME – The Eastern League is pleased to announce the winners of the Eastern League Player of the Week Award and Eastern League Pitcher of the Week Award for the period of April 20th through April 26th.
Altoona Curve second baseman Max Moroff has been selected as the Eastern League Player of the Week for the period of April 20th-April 26th. The 21-year old hit .474 (9-for-19) with four doubles, one triple, one home run, four runs scored, two RBIs, four walks and a .947 slugging percentage in five games for the Curve last week. Moroff, who is a native of Maitland, Florida, had at least one hit in all five games he played in last week and had multiple hits in three of those games, including going 3-for-4 with two doubles, one triple and one run scored in a 6-3 loss against the visiting Harrisburg Senators on Monday. The
6’0″, 175 lb. slugger led all Eastern League players in batting average (.474), extra-base hits (6), on-base percentage (.565), slugging percentage (.947) and OPS (1.513) last week.
He also tied for the league lead in total bases (18) and doubles (4) while also finishing ranked among the weekly leaders in hits (9-tied 3rd), triples (1-tied 3rd), home runs (1-tied 3rd) and walks (4-tied 8th). Max, who is batting .320 in 14 games for the Curve this season and is currently ranked sixth in the league in on-base percentage (.424) and seventh in OPS (.924), was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 16th round of the 2012 draft out of Trinity Prep School in Winter Park, Florida.
In the off season Max was a regular at Exum Chiropractic. He received various treatments from chiropractic adjustments to vacuum cupping, and Vibrawave rehab. Everything that Max did helped to prepare him for this season with the AA Pittsburg Pirates organization, The Altoona Curve.
We not only help the professional athlete, we help the weekend warrior, or the average person who is doing housework or yard work. We treat every age from infants to senior citizens.
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