Spice ingredient in curry emerges as promising basis for an Alzheimer's disease medicine

The spice compound that gives curry dishes their yellow color and pungent flavor is emerging as a prime candidate for a less expensive treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Lauren K. Wolf, C&EN associate editor, explains that pharmaceutical companies have invested heavily in developing new drugs for AD. More than 5 million people in the U.S. alone already have that memory-robbing disease. Projections suggest that the number will rise to 16 million by 2050. New medications are in the pipeline, but the most advanced candidates, made of monoclonal antibodies, are expensive to produce and may cost tens of thousands of dollars annually to treat each patient.

As a result, scientists are seeking less-pricey alternatives, such as substances that can be extracted in abundant amounts from plant compounds. One of the most promising is curcumin, a spice compound extracted from the rootstalks of the turmeric plant. The article details scientific evidence about curcumin's potential and the hurdles that chemists must overcome to craft it into a drug. For instance, only tiny amounts of powdered curcumin taken by mouth get into the blood, let alone the brain.

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The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Save Your Brain

Michael Colgan

PLAN TO SAVE YOUR BRAIN NOW
Don’t wait: You may forget you ever made the plan
Dr Michael Colgan 5 September 2012
For the last 14 months I have been writing about our research on an advanced brain supplement. The supplement is finally done, tested in clinical trials, found effective in improving cognitive functions in normal healthy people, and is now available for use. I am travelling continuously until December lecturing about our work on it.
Isagenix associates check your back office for dates. If you can, attend one of the coming ISA-Universities in Toronto, Phoenix, or Kansas City, where I will be presenting some of the amazing studies supporting the new Isagenix Brain and Sleep Support System.
If you have not yet experienced Isagenix, go to drcolgan.isagenix.com where my staff will enrol you as one of our Personal Preferred Customers. You will get access to these products at special prices, priority access to all the new anti-aging research we are doing, and the chance to get tickets to stellar events in brain science.
Over the next year I will be writing a series of short articles on the research. The first one is below. If you want to keep your marbles, and improve them …..
The Importance of Sleep
Dr Michael Colgan 5 September 2012
Sleep is an active physiological process programmed into the human body by the day-night cycle of the revolution of the Earth. The sleep cycle controls hundreds of functions of the body for one-third of your entire life. Without sleep you would quickly die. Controlled studies of human survival training show that, given sufficient water, sleep is more important than food in maintaining physical and mental performance.(1)
Five important health functions that occur almost entirely, during sleep are; memory consolidation, organ repair, neurogenesis, brain development, and muscle recovery and growth.(2-6) That is why we made sound sleep an important component of the Isagenix Brain and Sleep Support System.
Melatonin Improves Sleep
The pineal gland, the “third eye” of legend, is a little clump of tissue that sits way back in the center of your brain about level with the top of your eyes. In 1958, Aaron Lerner at Yale University discovered that the pineal gland secretes a powerful hormone, which he named melatonin.(7)
Since 1970, more than 100 controlled studies have shown clearly that melatonin supplementation, can reset the internal circadian clock and improve both the duration and the quality of sleep. Taken in the correct form, dose, and timing, it helps people who have difficulty falling asleep. it maintains sleep for longer, and it enables those who wake too early to fall back to sleep again.(8)
Melatonin Supports Neurogenesis
Melatonin’s control of the temporal patterning of neural and endocrine functions in the brain is so strong it is now considered a major organizer of cognition.(9-12) Almost all neurogenesis (the growth of new neurons) occurs in the brain during sleep. Neurogenesis declines dramatically with sleep deprivation. Recent research indicates that supplementary melatonin can improve circadian synchronization and increase neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus the essential area of the brain for formation of memories.(13,14)
Melatonin Declines with Age
Our ability to make melatonin declines rapidly with age. In the North American population today, melatonin levels decline below what many scientists believe is optimal by about age 35.(15) Without sufficient melatonin, you gradually lose the temporal organization of your sleep, causing progressive sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbance accelerates aging of your organs, especially your brain. The Isagenix Sleep supplement contains the most potent forms of immediate and time-release melatonin together with relaxing L theanine, valerian and chamomile. It potentiates the Isagenix Brain Support System to provide the best brain support available anywhere.
1. Ståhle L, Ståhle EL, Granström E, Isaksson S, Annas P, Sepp H. Effects of sleep or food deprivation during civilian survival training on cognition, blood glucose and 3-OH-butyrate. Wilderness Environ Med. 2011 Sep;22(3):202-10.
2. Rojansky N, et al. Seasonality in human reproduction: An update. Human Reproduction, 1992;7:735-745.
3. Reiter RJ. Melatonin. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.
4. Dubocovich ML. Melatonin receptors: role on sleep and circadian rhythm regulation. Sleep Med 2007; 8Suppl(3): 34–42.
5. Tononi G, Cirelli C. Sleep function and synaptic homeostasis. Sleep Med Rev. 2006;10(1):49–62.
6. Dinges DF. The state of sleep deprivation: from functional biology to functional consequences. Sleep Med Rev. 2006;10(5):303–5.
7. Lerner AB, Case JD. Melatonin. Fed Proc, 1960;19:590-592.
8. Dubocovich ML. Melatonin receptors: role on sleep and circadian rhythm regulation. Sleep Med 2007; 8Suppl(3): 34–42.
9. Crowley SJ, Lee C, Tseng CY, Fogg LF, Eastman CI. Combinations of bright light, scheduled dark, sunglasses, and melatonin to facilitate circadian entrainment to night shift work. J Biol Rhythms 2003; 18:513–523.
10. Maestroni G. The immunoendocrine role of melatonin. J Pineal Res, 1993;14:1-10.
11. Holmes MM, Galea LA, Mistlberger RE, Kempermann G. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis and voluntary running activity: circadian and dose-dependent effects. J Neurosci Res 2004;76:216–222.
12. Mueller AD, Pollock MS, Lieblich SE, Epp JR, Galea LA, Mistlberger RE. Sleep deprivation can inhibit adult hippocampal neurogenesis independent of adrenal stress hormones. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2008;294:R1693–R1703.
13. Oxidative damage in the central nervous system: protection by melatonin. Prog Neurobiol 1998;56:359–384.
14. Ramirez-Rodriguez G, Ortíz-López L, Domínguez-Alonso A, Benítez-King GA, Kempermann G. Chronic treatment with melatonin stimulates dendrite maturation and complexity in adult hippocampal neurogenesis of mice. J Pineal Res. 2011 Jan;50(1):29-37.
15. Colgan M, Colgan LA. The Perimenopause Solution. Vancouver: Science Books, 2009.

Anti-inflammatory Foods

Guide to buying grass fed beef

grass fed beef

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—When you buy beef from the grocery store, you can usually tell that there's some kind of beef encased in all that plastic and styrofoam. You also know what cut of beef you're getting. But as for details on what you're actually eating, packages are not very informative. That will all change when the same "Nutrition Facts" panel that appears on milk, eggs, and every other packaged food at the grocery store will start appearing on packages of beef, as well as poultry and pork, a new USDA rule that will take full effect in January 2012. But what those labels won't tell you is whether your meat contains residues of rBGH or rBST growth hormones or whether it contains trace amounts of the 30 million pounds of antibiotics used on livestock every year. They won't give you a good idea of where your meat came from or how the animals were treated prior to slaughter, nor will they tell you about an animal's diet, which can impact the health of the animal as well as whether it's meat is contaminated with E. coli. If you care about all those things—as well as the nutritional quality of your beef—it's best to avoid the supermarket and buy grass-fed beef directly from a farmer, says Shannon Hayes, a partner at Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York and the founder of GrassFedCooking.com. "Either know a local natural-food store owner who knows how beef is produced, or know the farmer directly," she says. "Trust is the only thing that's going to assure your meat was produced ethically." Grass-fed beef has also been found to contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and is typically leaner than it's corn-fattened counterpart behind the market's deli counter (those are some nutrition facts that won't appear on the new labels, either).

However, savvy marketers have come up with some creative terminology to convince you that conventionally produced meat is as good as truly pasture-raised, grass-fed beef.

"Grass-fed" versus "Pastured" versus "Free-Range"
Catering to the public's desire for more ecofriendly meat-production processes, companies have started stamping labels on foodthat don't always mean what you think they do.

"Grass-fed" is a term for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) actually has a legal definition. Only meat from "ruminant" animals—animals that survive on grass, such as cattle and sheep—can be labeled grass-fed. (So if you ever see eggs or pork with "grass-fed" on the package, buy another brand.) The animals have to be fed a diet of grass, hay, and forage their entire lives, and be provided access to pasture. However, as with most government rules, there's a downside. Any farmer using that term before the new definition was established could be grandfathered in, regardless of whether he or she now complies with the new rule. "A lot of farmers refuse to participate in this program because we feel the standards aren't strict enough," says Hayes.

The USDA doesn't have any legal definition for "Pastured," but Hayes says it typically means that animals are outside eating grass but are also fed grain. "Usually, the label is applied to omnivorous animals that need something in addition to grass to survive," she adds, such as pigs, turkeys, and chickens.

"Free-range" is a term the USDA has defined vaguely for poultry but not at all for beef. "Grass-fed and pastured animals are by nature free-range," says Hayes. However, the reverse isn't true, so the term may not mean what you're picturing. "I've seen 1,000 chickens crammed onto a barn floor and they were considered 'free-range.' The barn door opened, and they had access to a feces-laden concrete pad," she adds.

On larger-scale farms, however, even with organics, it's more efficient to ready an entire herd to be slaughtered all at once, she says. USDA organic-certification rules permit farmers to fatten a grass-fed herd up with corn, soy, or other grain-based feed, provided that it's organic, which isn't a practice some small farmers agree with.

"You've eliminated all the health benefits [of grass-fed beef] in three months when you finish them with grain," says Jo Robinson, founder of the online meat retailerEatWild.com. Feeding grain to cattle, she says, increases the acidity of an animal's stomach, increasing the levels of bacteria, including E. coli, in their guts. So it's best to look for "grass-finished" beef, but even that can be tricky, since it's not a common term and most farmers who grass-finish their beef don't usually advertise it, says Hayes. The best way to know is to simply ask.

Benefits of Coconut Milk

7 things you need to buy that are Organic

Organic is alive and well. In fact, shoppers are expanding their organic intentions beyond the produce aisle. Take red meat, for instance. As news reports of recalls and ammonia injected into factory-farmed meat spread, sales of organic beef jumped nearly 50 percent in 2011. Opting for organic non-food items is becoming the norm, too, with many reaching for organic-slanted soaps and shampoos, as well. Interestingly, new data finds that people under 40 are the biggest supporters of organic, regardless of the paycheck they bring in.

Now that you've got the routine of eating fresh organic fruits and veggies down pat, try adding these other must-have organic items to your shopping cart.

Hormone-Free Desserts
Standard ice cream usually comes from cows fed a steady (and unnatural) diet of genetically engineered corn, soy, and even antibiotics and hormones linked to certain cancers. Organic dairies ban all of these, and their cows are required to eat a more natural diet featuring organic grasses and hay. This, in turn, creates milk higher in a heart-protecting fat called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA.

Sales of organic ice cream in 2011 were up a whopping 44 percent over the previous year's numbers, according to organic product research figures compiled by TABS group, a data-analysis firm that follows consumer product trends.

Rodale.com Pick: Stonyfield After Dark Chocolate

Eggs from Happier Hens
Did you know that more than 90 percent of the eggs produced in this country come from hens crammed into tiny cages and given feed loaded with antibiotics? Consumers are getting the message, and they don't agree. According to TABS data, sales of organic eggs jumped 21 percent in 2011, compared to 2010 sales.

Organic eggs in the supermarket likely come from an indoor operation that feeds organic only and allows the birds to wander about and perform natural behaviors. Birds raised outside on pasture produce nutritionally superior eggs, though, so their eggs are your best bet.

Rodale.com Pick: Your local pastured-egg producer—visit LocalHarvest.org to find a local farmer that raises pastured hens supplemented with organic feed.

Pesticide-Free in the Frozen Food Aisle
Farmer's markets and buy-direct-from-a-farmer systems, such as community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, are luring more and more customers in for fresh produce sales. But shoppers want to stick with the sustainable farming theme year-round now, too, even opting for organic in the frozen fruit and vegetables aisle.

Rodale.com Pick: The gold standard? Buy in bulk from a local organic farm during the growing season, and then preserve the harvest to enjoy later. If that's not possible, Cascadian Farms offers organic frozen vegetables nationwide. (The company is owned by General Mills, and thus industrial-food supported, so shop from your local organic farmer whenever possible.)

Sustainable Nurtured Skin & Hair
Repeat after us: "Natural means nothing." This is generally true with food labels and claims made on everything from your soap and shampoo to your shaving cream and nail polish. Unlike the food industry, though, personal-care product makers can use the term "organic" loosely. For truly organic personal care products, look for the actual USDA organic symbol on the product, not just "organic" in the product name.

Rodale.com Picks: Try Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild or peppermint organic soap for bathing, hand-washing, and even shampooing to get started. To find out how your current products rate and find safer, truly organic versions, visit Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.

Truly Natural Meat
Organic beef sales are up nearly 50 percent compared to 2010 sales. Choosing this type of meat means customers don't have to deal with the possibility that their meat was injected with ammonia gas, food dye, or any of the other nasty substances the food industry typically uses.

Rodale.com Pick: At the supermarket, look for the USDA Organic label—not wording like "natural"—to find meat free of pharmaceuticals and other contaminants. For more information on getting sustainable beef, read Your Guide to Buying Grass-Fed Beef.

Milk
Along with produce, milk is a priority organic product for many consumers. Sometimes referred to as the gateway into organics, many parents line the fridge with organic milk to avoid exposing their family to cancer-causing, genetically engineered growth hormones used in some conventional dairy operations. In 2011, organic milk sales grew 25 percent over 2010 levels, meaning the industry is alive and well…to help keep you well.

Rodale.com Pick: Organic Valley milk; it's farmer owned!

Chickens That Don't Eat Chicken
Industrial chicken production is causing many Americans to lose their appetites. Last year, organic chicken saw a nearly 20 percent increase in sales. As news reports of factory farms feeding their chickens food laced with chemicals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and even parts of other chickens grow more common, the U.S. public is shifting toward a more sustainable source.

Rodale.com Pick: Local grass-fed chicken supplemented with organic grains. These are known as pastured birds, and in pastured operations, they often live in open-air, floorless pens where they can eat fresh grass and bugs all day. In well-run operations, the pens are moved to fresh grass several times a day. VisitLocalHarvest.org to find this type of chicken in your area.

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Overuse of antibiotics has lead to "superbugs"

The latest news on antibiotic-resistant infections from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is scary. That’s the only word that comes to mind when you hear about an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or “superbug,” that survived careful and significant quarantine procedures; sickened 17 people, leading to six deaths; and which was unresponsive to all but one of the antibiotics available to treat it, and even that medicine did not work for four patients.

Colistin, the drug that doctors fell back on is an old drug with toxic side effects that can severely damage the kidneys, and that drug too is increasingly ineffective. Not only is our arsenal of antibiotics being rendered increasingly ineffective, there are few new antibiotics in the pipeline to replace the old drugs, and none to treat the kind of bacteria (gram-negative bacteria) that sickened the people at the NIH hospital, according to a doctor I spoke to recently.

These are the frightening realities of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria: longer illnesses, the use of stronger or more toxic medicines with greater side-effects, treatments that don’t work. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)say that “[a]lmost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment when it is really needed.”

When leading medical and public health authorities, like the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and the Director General of the World Health Organization, are warning about the end of the effectiveness of antibiotics and of an era when commonplace infections could once again kill unless we make changes, it is a sobering prospect, and one that we need to heed. The CDC lists antibiotic resistance as one of its top concerns.

A world without effective antibiotics is a frightening prospect. We should be using every avenue possible to combat antibiotic-resistance, and getting rid of unnecessary uses of antibiotics that are causing resistance. That means reducing inappropriate use of antibiotics in hospitals and human medicine, but it also requires us to take the bull by the horns and address the massive and inappropriate use of antibiotics in livestock operations. That’s exactly what leading medical associations and health groups have urged, stating that “[o]veruse and misuse of important antibiotics in food animals must end, in order to protect human health.”

The CDC and hospitals already have significant efforts under way to reduce the use of antibiotics in hospitals and to contain resistant infections. Prescriptions for antibiotics in the US declined by 13% between 1997-98 and 2005-06. More needs to be done, but a lot is already being done. Now, we need to bring some of the same energy and effort to bear on antibiotic use in animal agriculture by bringing a halt to the unnecessary use of antibiotics for purposes other than treating sickness, i.e. for non-therapeutic purposes.

Only 20% of antibiotics in the United States are sold for use in humans, and the overwhelming majority of antibiotic use in the United States is on pigs, cows, chickens, and other poultry, comprising 80% of total use in the US, the vast majority for non-therapeutic purposes. Antibiotic use in livestock operations quadrupled between 1970 and 2010 from about 7 million pounds to about 29 million pounds. So, while we can improve antibiotic use in hospitals and the human medical setting, we should also be addressing antibiotic use in animal agriculture to combat this rising public health threat.

There’s a significant body of science that establishes that the use of antibiotics on livestock operations (and not just human use of antibiotics) contributes to the problem of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The CDC has said that there is “strong scientific evidence of a link between antibiotic use in food animals and antibiotic resistance in humans,” including:

. . . multiple North American studies describing how:

• Use of antibiotics in animals results in resistant bacteria in food animals

• Resistant bacteria are present in the food supply and transmitted to humans

• Resistant bacteria result in adverse human health consequences (such as increased hospitalizations)

Once antibiotic-resistant bacteria proliferate on livestock operations, they don’t stay there. They hitch a ride on workers who work with the animals or with meat; they escape in soil, air, and water that comes into contact with animal waste and can then get on our vegetables and fish; they can be found on meat that makes its way into grocery stores; and bacteria can swap resistance genes with each other spreading resistance, including transfers from harmless bacteria to pathogenic bacteria (a new scientific study adds to the evidence on this swapping of genes). According to the CDC, “bacteria can become resistant to many [antibiotics] because of the transfer of one piece of DNA.” Meat in grocery stores is frequently contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including superbugs resistant to 3 or more classes of antibiotics. People who acquire antibiotic-resistant bacteria can pass them on to other people and can even walk into hospitals carrying superbugs.

Antibiotic use at livestock operations has been described by prominent scientists as “a major driver of antimicrobial resistance worldwide,” it can lead to potentially disastrous consequences, and we should be moving at full speed to address that threat. The story of the NIH’s battle with one superbug infection is only the latest reminder of the urgency of the issue and the need to move to address it on all fronts as quickly as possible.

Yet, in the face of this rising public health threat, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—the agency that regulates the use of antibiotics in livestock—has been dawdlingon this issue for decades. FDA needs to fast-track binding regulations to stop the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock-operations. We have called on them to do so and continue to push them to take meaningful action.

You can also send a powerful signal by asking the grocery stores and restaurants you frequent to sell meat raised without antibiotics and by choosing meat with the USDA Organic label or meat labeled “no antibiotics” backed by a “USDA Process Verified” or other independent certification.

Image of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacterium implicated in the NIH infections as seen on a scanning electron micrograph, courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)