Vitamin Information Center

Any food that contains high levels of antioxidants is always a good thing, but that does not mean that the antioxidants are the very property that makes the food a good tool for dieting. That is the most common misconception surrounding acai berry and all acai berry based products. As many people already know, this small, innocuous-looking, dark purple berry has been praised by the western world as the super food to top all super foods. It seems that the acai berry has 12 times the antioxidants as compared to the blueberry. Antioxidants help preserve the cells of the body by encouraging faster cell renewal. This helps keep the skin clear and young looking. This also contributes to the overall feeling on youth and stamina. However, antioxidants do not directly help in shedding off those unwanted pounds.

So why is the acai berry (and all other products based on the fruit) being hailed as the best tool for dieting? The answer lies in its two lesser known properties. To be more precise, acai berry contains high levels of fiber and omega fatty acids.

High levels of fiber in itself can be used as a tool for dieting since it flushes out the toxins and most other unwanted materials from the body. Fiber is especially helpful in binding to the fat deposits in some food. In which case, the fats gets expelled out of the body with the fiber. This lessens the incidence of the body actually absorbing such fats.

On the other hand, omega fatty acids almost have the same toxin flushing property. These essential acids help increase blood flow by keeping the bad cholesterol and glycerine at a comfortable level. If a person has high levels of bad cholesterol and glycerine in his or her bloodstream, chances are the vessels of the carotid arteries will constrict. So much so that the constriction will make the blood move in a more sluggish manner. This will make digestion (among all bodily functions) slow down as well. If digestion is slowed down, then the process of eliminating waste from the body is likewise stalled. So high levels of omega fatty acids ensure that the body keeps bad cholesterol at bay; in turn, this speed up the digestive process considerably, making waste expelling relatively faster and easier.

Fiber is also known to be a natural appetite suppressant. Fiber rich foods tend to keep the body satiated from hunger for longer periods of time. It allows the stomach to feel like it is always “full” even when there are less calories being taken in by the person. This tends to curb most unwanted tendencies to binge or eat beyond the scope of the recommended diet.

Likewise, omega fatty acids lower down the glycerine or blood sugar level in the lymphatic system. If a person has very high levels of blood sugar, the body feels the need to eat and eat some more. The bad news to this scenario is that once a person eats, the blood sugar increases as well, making the person’s need to eat more food even more urgent. This cycle does not stop, even several hours after digestion. By helping control the levels of glycerine in the system, omega fatty acids also help curb the appetite, making the person less prone to seek calorie rich foods particularly carbohydrate-based sweets.

Here are 10 tips for women to fiat fit and healthy:

1. Staying fit and flushed starts with a counterbalanced fast. Undergo and shielder the moral metric for your age. Consult your theologist to discover what food you should refrain and select your uptake penalty routines. If you are disagreeable to lose both unit, foods with shrill calories should be omitted from your meals. Food with dominating fiber and low fat should be included a precedence in your market table instead of red meat, sugars and fats.

2. Salute abundance of h2o. Uptake at slightest cardinal glasses of wet ordinary. This cleanses the body from impurities. It is also considered for lactating women to growth h2o intake to cook the body hydrated.

3. Guide Vitamins and Supplements. Do not block your Metal increment. Sufficient Metal intake is beneficial for women of all ages. This has been proven to forestall having cramps and Pre-Menstrual Punctuation (PMS) Symptoms. It also prevents Osteoporosis especially for menopausal women. Vitamin E boosts beardown unsusceptible method. Women who stomach menopausal point should support Vitamin E-400 as it stops nighttime garment and hot flashes. Also, Vitamin E is said to be soul in avoiding wrinkles when ageing.

4. Quit smoking. If you are smoking, plosive. It is also a big “NO� for expectant women, as this instrument impact the welfare of the babe. Pregnant women who ventilation may locomote the insidious noesis of cigarettes to babies through the bloodstream. Past studies possess shown that women smokers are writer unerect to diseases than men smokers. Women who tobacco bonk a place chance of getting serving soul. Also boundary your intoxicant intake.

5. Contain exercises in your daily function. Acquire a posture after business, use stairs instead of elevator or wit with your kids when you are at place. Plate exercises are also impressive especially when you do not human clip to go to the gym and would equivalent to regress any metric. Yoga and Pilates are only a few of the galore powerful exercises you can do at domestic. Exercises forbear in limiting the peril of cardiovascular diseases.

6. Refrain show. Many women are prone to too some accentuate. Emphasis has been glorious as grounds to galore sicknesses. As overmuch as viable demand example to weaken. Interpret a unspoilt assemblage, flow out with friends and struggle into sports. Handle yourself by effort to parlors or you can do many shopping. And do not forget to get enough period to resurrect your vigour.

7. Use cream to protect your skin from the stabbing rays of the sun. Weary hats when under the sun to protect your pare. Too often sun is bad for your skin. The cutis is unerect to human when unprotected to too overmuch light. It also speeds up the aging of peel cells, which causes wrinkles to women.

8. Make sure to stay your dentist to stronghold that splendid grinning. Ever soul it cleaned to forbid cavities and bad relief.

9. Call your Gynaecologist. Women who are eighteen and above should make their Animal Scrutiny annually especially for the Pap Fault endeavor. Women who are twoscore and up should person their mammograms and the Mamma self-exam is pleased formerly puberty has been reached and should be a wont as they nubile

10. Secure sex is strongly advisable. Use condoms to forbid sexually transmitted diseases

the process of taking into the body substances such as proteins or fats
that have been digested from food and enter the bloodstream from the stomach and intestines

A new study appears to explain how humans, along with other higher primates, guinea pigs and fruit bats, get by with what some have called an �inborn metabolic error�: an inability to produce vitamin C from glucose.

Unlike the more than 4,000 other species of mammals who manufacture vitamin C, and lots of it, the red blood cells of the handful of vitamin C-defective species are specially equipped to suck up the vitamin�s oxidized form, so-called L-dehydroascorbic acid (DHA), the researchers report in the March21st issue of Cell, a publication of Cell Press. Once inside the blood cells, that DHA–which is immediately transformed back into ascorbic acid (a.k.a. vitamin C)–can be efficiently carried through the bloodstream to the rest of the body, the researchers suggest.

�Evolution is amazing. Even though people talk about this as an �inborn error��a metabolic defect that all humans have�there is also this incredible manner in which we�ve responded to the defect, using some of the body�s most plentiful cells,� said Naomi Taylor of Université Montpellier I and II in France, noting that the body harbors billions of red blood cells. �[Through evolution], we�ve created this system that takes out the oxidized form of vitamin C and transports the essential, antioxidant form.�

Meanwhile, the red cells of other mammals apparently take up very little, if any, DHA, which might explain why they need to produce so much more vitamin C than we need to get from our diets, Taylor said. The recommended daily dose of vitamin C for humans is just one mg/kg, while goats, for example, produce the vitamin at a striking rate of 200 mg/kg each day.

In essence, the red cells of animals that can�t make vitamin C recycle what little they�ve got. Earlier studies had described the recycling process, Taylor said. �Our contribution to the whole story is to show that this process of recycling exists specifically in mammals that don�t make vitamin C.�

Scientists knew that the protein called Glut1, found in the membranes of cells throughout the body, is the primary transporter of glucose. They also knew that Glut1 can transport DHA too, thanks to the structural similarities between the two molecules. In biochemical assays, it appeared that the glucose transporter would move glucose and DHA interchangeably.

But, in the new study, Taylor�s group made a surprising discovery: The Glut1 on human red blood cells strongly favors DHA over glucose. In fact, the human blood cells are known to carry more Glut1 than any other cell type, harboring more than 200,000 molecules on the surface of every cell. Nevertheless, the researchers found, as red blood cells develop in the bone marrow, their transport of glucose declines even as Glut1 numbers skyrocket.

The key to the glucose transporters switch to DHA, they show, is the presence of another membrane protein called stomatin. (Accordingly, in patients with a rare genetic disorder of red cell membrane permeability wherein stomatin is only present at low levels, DHA transport is decreased by 50% while glucose uptake is significantly increased, they report.)

Then, another surprise: The researchers found that the red cells of mice, a species that can produce vitamin C, don�t carry Glut1 on their red blood cells at all. They carry Glut4 instead. They suspected that the differences in human red blood cells might be linked to our inability to synthesize the reduced form of DHA, vitamin C, from glucose. In fact, they confirmed Glut1 expression on human, guinea pig and fruit bat red blood cells, but not on any other mammalian red cells tested, including rabbit, rat, cat, dog and chinchilla. Next, they took a closer look at primates. Primates belonging to the Haplorrhini suborder (including prosimian tarsiers, new world monkeys, old world monkeys, humans and apes) have lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C, whereas primates in the Strepsirrhini suborder (including lemurs) are reportedly able to produce this vitamin, Taylor explained.

Notably, they detected Glut1 on all tested red blood cells of primates within the higher primate group, including long-tailed macaques, rhesus monkeys, baboons and magot monkeys. In marked contrast, Glut1 was not detected on lemur red blood cells. Moreover, they report, although DHA uptake in human and magot red cells was similar, the level of transport in cells from three different lemur species was less than 10% of that detected in higher primates.

�Red blood cell-specific Glut1 expression and DHA transport are specific traits of the few vitamin C-deficient mammalian species, encompassing only higher primates, guinea pigs and fruit bats,� the researchers concluded. �Indeed, the red cells of adult mice do not harbor Glut1 and do not transport DHA. Rather, Glut4 is expressed on their cells. Thus, the concomitant induction of Glut1 and stomatin during red blood cell differentiation constitutes a compensatory mechanism in mammals that are unable to synthesize the essential ascorbic acid metabolite,� otherwise known as vitamin C.

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The researchers include Amelie Montel-Hagen, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; Sandrina Kinet, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; Nicolas Manel, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; Cedric Mongellaz, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; Rainer Prohaska, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Jean-Luc Battini, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; Jean Delaunay, Hematologie, Hopital de Bicetre, APHP, INSERM U779, Faculte´ de Medecine Paris-Sud, Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France; Marc Sitbon, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France; and Naomi Taylor, Institut de Genetique Moleculaire de Montpellier, CNRS, Universite´ Montpellier I and II, Montpellier, France.

Researchers at Rutgers have unlocked some of the mysteries of how the developing embryo reacts to fluctuations in the amount of vitamin A present in the maternal blood stream. Their results are presented in the February 28 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The researchers studied the role of LRAT, a protein that facilitates the formation of vitamin A stores in the body, during embryonic development. In particular, they showed how LRAT protects developing tissues from potentially toxic levels of vitamin A that have been ingested by the mother. Although this function of LRAT had previously been hypothesized in adults, this is the first time that its role has been demonstrated during embryonic development.

The developing mammalian embryo is entirely dependent on the maternal circulation for its supply of retinoids, the vitamin A metabolites produced in the body. These are essential nutrients and they control the formation of the embryo’s heart, central nervous system, eyes and other important organs and tissues. Malformations of the developing embryo can occur when too little, or too much, vitamin A is consumed by the mother.

“We were looking for the mechanisms that allow the fetus to maintain adequate amount of retinoids, whether the mother has over- or under-consumed vitamin A,” said Dr. Loredana Quadro, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and member of the Center for Lipid Research at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “We also looked at the effects of different levels of vitamin A being transferred from the mother to the fetus.”

When vitamin A is ingested, it is converted into retinyl ester (RE) in the intestine from where it is secreted in the bloodstream packaged with other dietary lipids into lipoprotein particles called chylomicrons. The majority of dietary RE reaches the liver, the main body storage site of vitamin A. Under insufficient dietary vitamin A intake, the liver transforms RE into retinol (ROH), which is then secreted into the bloodstream bound to retinol-binding protein (RBP), its sole specific serum carrier, to be delivered to the target tissues. Upon intake through a specific membrane receptor named Stra6, ROH is ultimately converted to retinoic acid (RA), which is the active form of vitamin A. If tissue RA is in excess, it is transformed into inactive forms, such as 4-hydroxy retinoic acid or 4-oxo retinoic acid (OXO-RA) by the action of a specific enzyme named Cyp26A1.

“When we think about vitamin A, we think about one compound,” said Quadro. “But in reality, the term vitamin A comprises a family of different compounds. Each one has a slightly different action, and plays a different role.”

The Rutgers researchers took a closer look at how ROH is metabolized into RE and RA to maintain an optimal balance of retinoids during the formation of the embryo. Mutant mice lacking both RBP and LRAT were generated to perform this study, so as to interfere with the two main pathways of maternal vitamin A delivery to the fetus (ROH-RBP from the liver stores and RE of dietary origin).

“We hypothesized that the lack of ROH-RBP and LRAT would make the embryo more vulnerable to changes in maternal dietary vitamin A intake,” said Quadro “and our data proved this to be correct. Indeed, a severe embryonic vitamin A deficiency is readily attainable when the mothers are deprived of dietary vitamin A during pregnancy. Therefore, this strain turned out to be a very good model to study how embryonic development is affected by fluctuations in the amount of retinoids present in the maternal diet and hence in the maternal circulation”.

The researchers identified LRAT, Cyp26A1 and Stra6 as the three key molecular players that act in coordination to protect the developing tissues from potentially detrimental levels of vitamin A ingested by the mother. “Understanding vitamin A metabolism in the developing fetus could have broad implications,” said Quadro. “Consumption of large doses of dietary supplements and vitamins, including vitamin A, has become a very common practice in recent years, generating the necessity to investigate the effects of high doses of vitamin A intake at different stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy and development. These studies expand our knowledge of maternal-fetal nutrition and dietary contribution to embryonic development and may ultimately provide new insight into appropriate dietary practices during pregnancy.”

The paper was previously published on the Journal of Biological Chemistry’s web site on December 19, 2007.

Source: Rutgers University

Ghrelin regulates hunger pangs

High levels of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin have an antidepressant effect, US researchers claim.

Blocking the body’s response to ghrelin has been suggested as a weight loss treatment but it may also produce unintended effects on mood, they said.

The Nature Neuroscience study found mice with increased levels of the hormone showed fewer signs of depression and anxiety.

Experts said the idea was interesting but further studies were needed.

Ghrelin is released by the empty stomach into the bloodstream before moving to the brain, where it triggers feelings of hunger.

Treatment with the hormone itself - or a drug designed to cancel its effects - might be able to help both people who are eating too little, such as cancer patients, or those who eat too much, researchers believe.

In the latest study, Dr Jeffrey Zigman and colleagues restricted the food intake of laboratory mice for 10 days, causing their ghrelin levels to quadruple.

Compared with mice who had free access to food, the calorie-restricted mice showed lower levels of depression and anxiety when subjected to mazes and other behaviour tests.

Hormone response

The team also looked at mice genetically engineered to be unable to respond to ghrelin.

When they were fed a restricted-calorie diet they did not experience the antidepressant or anti-anxiety effects.

The researchers found the same thing when they induced higher ghrelin levels by subjecting the mice to stress.

Those mice that could not respond to ghrelin had greater levels of depression-like symptoms than the normal mice.

“Our findings in mice suggest that chronic stress causes ghrelin levels to go up, and that behaviours associated with depression and anxiety decrease when ghrelin levels rise,” said Dr Zigman, a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“An unfortunate side effect, however, is increased food intake and body weight,” he added.

He said the results made sense from an evolutionary standpoint, as hunter-gatherers may have had a survival advantage in remaining calm and collected in times of hunger in order for them to successfully find food.

The researchers are now hoping to look at the antidepressant effect of the hormone in conditions such as anorexia.

Professor Stephen Bloom, an expert in appetite regulation at Imperial College London, said it was reasonable to believe that ghrelin had an impact on behavioural responses other than just hunger.

But he said there was a lot of research to be done before it could be confirmed that a hormone released in the stomach can have an effect on mood in the brain.

“The role of ghrelin in the gut and in the brain are likely to be completely different,” he said.

So much negativity has been placed on carbs. Back in the 80’s it was fat as the culprit. Today it’s carbs. Now there is talk that we are probably getting too much protein. It won’t be long before vitamins and minerals get the bad rap for weight gain. But let me share something about carbs with you….you need them in order to switch your metabolism from fat storing mode to fat burning mode.

Carbohydrate metabolism I don’t care what carb you eat whether it’s a “good” or “bad” it breaks down to the same energy source: glucose. All carbs break down to this sugar. The difference in carbs is not whether they are bad or good but how the respond to blood sugar release. When your digestive system breaks down carbs into glucose, glucose takes a trip into your bloodstream increasing your body’s blood sugar levels. That blood sugar needs to be transported into different cells for metabolism. Depending on how much sugar is in the blood stream some will be used for energy in cells and some will get deposited in fat cells. This is where the heroes of metabolism come in. The pancreas releases insulin to the rescue. Insulin is going to transport the glucose from the bloodstream to the cells.

Fast carbs vs. slow carbs We’re going to change the terminology a bit here. What use to be known as “bad” carbs are now going to be known as fast carbs. Why? Because that is what they do. They break down into glucose very fast and stimulate insulin really fast into the bloodstream. The same is true about “good” carbs. We’ll now refer to them as slow carbs. Why? For reasons opposite fast carbs.

The key to burn body fat The truth is that you can burn body fat with both types of carbs. But here you must combine them with protein. What is a protein? It’s like my mentor Robert Ferguson says: anything that use to fly, walk, or swim. To make a fat loss meal you must combine a protein to either carb. Meaning, you can have a fast carb as long as you combine it with a protein. Take for example a meatball sub with no cheese. You have a fast carb in the white bread and to a lesser extent the marinara sauce and you have your protein in the meatballs. That is a fat loss meal. Another example, is to take sushi where you have a fast carb in the form of white rice and you have protein in the form of some fish combined with it.

Word of caution Remember to be aware of calories. Just because you are combining fast carbs with proteins doesn’t mean that they are devoid of calories. It’s still fairly easy to eat 600 calories within one sitting of combining fast carbs and slow carbs with proteins. However, this is a convenient and easy way to enjoy carbs again. There is absolutely no need to eliminate them from your diet. Combine fast carbs with slow carbs and proteins. Carbs are good for you and you need them to burn fat. But how much of them should I eat? How often? When? Well, those are other questions that are off topic and you’re going to have to read my other articles and get my book.

Josue

Sugar. What is it Good For? Absolutely… Nothing? I wouldn’t go that far.

It’s been a great contributor to some of the most debilitating diseases known to man. Diabetes, heart disorders of all types, adrenal disorders, allergy, endocrine disturbances, obesity, and brain chemistry disturbances. Continue Reading…

Cholesterol is an essential substance that our bodies produce. Cholesterol is a waxy, soft material that is found around the lipids of our bloodstream and in our cells. Good cholesterol is important for our cell membrane formation, our hormones and other functions. Continue Reading…

Carbohydrates and more specifically, excess carbohydrates are stored in the body as fat. It doesn’t matter if they are in the form of pastas or chocolate cake, they turn into glucose once they enter the bloodstream. Your blood sugar levels increase when you consume excess amounts of carbohydrates. This will signal you pancreas to release insulin which controls where the blood sugar is stored in the body. Sugar that is not used for energy is stored as glycogen in the muscles. There is a limit of glycogen that the muscles can store (around 2,000) and the rest will be stored as fat. When you reduce the number of carbohydrates per day or per meal, there is a two-fold effect. First there is less fat stored (excess carbs) then the body tends to use the body fat that is already stored for production of energy.
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