From www.naturalnews.com
(NaturalNews) A recent article appearing on NaturalNews reported that milk destroys the antioxidant benefits of blueberries. This article left many readers wondering whether the outcome is confined to blueberries only, or whether there are broader implication that might extend to all fruits and even vegetables. A recent study has come to light that may help answer these questions. Researchers have found that the addition of milk also blocks the antioxidant potential of tea.
Milk cancels out the heart protective benefits of tea drinking
Several studies have found that tea is beneficial in terms of heart health. Since there has been evidence showing that milk and milk products may block the body`s ability to absorb antioxidants, researchers in Germany decided to see what adding milk would do to the heart protective capabilities of tea. They reported their results in the June, 2007 European Heart Journal.
In the study, 16 healthy women drank either half a liter of freshly brewed black tea, black tea with 10 percent skimmed milk, or only boiled water on three different occasions under similar conditions. The researchers then assessed the function of the cells lining the brachial artery in the forearms of the women, through the use of high resolution ultrasound both before and two hours after tea consumption.
The researchers found that black tea was able to significantly improve the ability of the arteries to relax and expand, a condition that suggests positive cardiovascular health. This ability depends on an enzyme, eNOS, that synthesizes the chemical messenger, nitrous oxide. However, when milk was added, this positive effect was completely absent. They concluded that milk counteracts the favorable health effects of tea on vascular function and demonstrated that proteins in milk, called caseins, were responsible for canceling out the positive effects of the polyphenols in tea.
Casein in milk binds polyphenols rendering them ineffective
These proteins bind specifically to tea chemicals, especially a catechin called EGCG. Catechins are a kind of polyphenol, a group of chemicals long thought to underlie the beneficial effects of a plant based diet. EGCG is the primary antioxidant in green tea.
When this research team took their study into the lab, they found that tea also relaxed rings of aorta in rats, and increased the activity of the eNOS enzyme in cultured arterial cells by fourfold. But when the tea had 10% of skimmed milk added to it, it had none of these effects on rat aortas or cells.
When the study was interpreted and reported by the University of Rochester Medical Center, it was noted that milk not only blocks tea`s benefits for blood vessels, it also destroys the antioxidant effects of tea and may negate its caner-protective effects as well.
The Rochester report quotes Dr. Robert Vogel, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School who agrees that tea is one of the greatest sources of antioxidants. In countries where they drink a lot of tea, heart disease is decreased, except for the British Isles, where it is typical to add milk to the tea. His advice is to add lemon to tea, but not milk or cream.
Researchers in the past had claimed that milk had no effect on tea because it did not change the overall concentration of polyphenols in the blood. However, in an interview Dr. Stangl, the leader of the German research team, stated that what is important is the presence of specific polyphenols, such as EGCG, and milk does block those.
The study team is looking at whether green or black tea is better to drink. Previous studies may have been confounded by the fact that black tea is often consumed with milk, while green tea is not. Studies based particularly on responses of informants as to tea drinking habits, not considering the milk addition as a factor, may have biased several research studies that showed green tea as containing greater amounts of beneficial polyphenols and producing more desirable outcomes.
Polyphenols are more than antioxidants
Polyphenols have recently been termed "lifespan essentials". They work in the body to enhance health in complex ways, and they do more than scavenge free radicals. Their specific heath benefits are being actively researched. So far it is known that polypheonols work to protect the systems of the body from chronic diseases, particularly heart disease and cancer.
To attain or preserve optimal health, foods containing polyphenols should be eaten daily, as these compounds are only active in the body for a short period of time. Blood levels of polyphenols will peak soon after they are consumed, and then decrease as they are metabolized or excreted from the body. Some polyphenols are not even absorbed into the bloodstream at all, but merely pass through the digestive tract, protecting against colon cancer.
Polyphenols are found in unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. They tend not to be destroyed by moderate cooking or heating, and cooked foods may offer a more bioavilable source of some polyphenols. To a large degree, polyphenols are why it is so important to eat a plant based diet.
It may be time to rethink how we combine our foods
Although it is possible that the studies with blueberries and tea are isolated incidents, such a conclusion seems to go against the tenets of nature which are presented in broad statements. This suggests that a more likely conclusion would be that proteins in milk have a great affinity for many polyphenols found in both fruits and vegetables. It implies that if one chooses to eat fruits and vegetables for their health promoting benefits, no dairy product should be involved in the process until the body has had a chance to make full use of the polyphenols presented.
Fresh green salads may lose much of their antioxidant power when cheese is added, as may peaches with cream or yogurt with fresh fruit. Coffee may lose its health benefits when milk or cream are added. The implications of these findings are huge once a person decides to interpret them as meaning that no fruits and vegetables should be eaten near the time milk products are consumed.
We already know that milk chocolate contains very few polyphenols compared to dark chocolate. This may be because polyphenols in chocolate bind with milk protein and become inactive.
For more information:
Lorenzo M, Jochmann N, von Krosigk A, Martus P, Baumann, G, Stangl K, Stangl V, "Addition of milk prevents vascular protective effects of tea", European Heart Journal.
Skip Milk in Black Tea, Boost Antioxidant Power, University of Rochester Medical Center.
High Fructose Corn Syrup Meets Mercury
You may have seen this television commercial (or one like it) last September:
Brought to you by Sweet Surprise, a Web site of The Corn Refiners Association, the ad campaign came on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s decision in July that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) can be labeled as “natural.” The clip reiterates the theme that HFCS is “made from corn, has the same calories as honey or sugar and is fine in moderation.”
To back up for a second, HFCS is a man-made sweetener that has taken the place of sugar in soda over the past 20 years and has found its way into a slew of processed foods, including cookies, cereal, ketchup, bread and dairy products. Making HFCS requires sundry chemicals, including caustic soda (also known as sodium hydroxide or lye) which is used to help separate corn starch from corn kernel. In concert with hydrochloric acid, the caustic soda also helps to maintain the HFCS’s pH balance.
Caustic soda is made from chlorine. The reason this is important is because for more than 100 years, the primary method for chlorine production was mercury based. Newer, more efficient technology has replaced mercury-reliant methods in most cases, but there are four plants -- in Augusta, Ga., Charleston, Tenn., Ashtabula, Ohio and New Martinsville, W.Va. -- that continue to use the mercury-cell technology.
So what does this have to do with your can of cola?
Two studies released this week suggest that caustic soda, when produced the old-fashioned mercury way, becomes contaminated with mercury, which then contaminates the HFCS and ultimately, the food. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that is damaging to neurological development, particularly for developing fetuses and children. (See EPA backgrounder.)
In the first study, published in the journal Environmental Health on Jan 26, Renee Dufault, a former FDA scientist, found detectable mercury in nine out of 20 HFCS samples from three manufacturers. Her findings led to this conclusion: “with 45 percent of the HFCS samples containing mercury in this small study, it would be prudent and perhaps essential for public health that additional research be conducted by the FDA or some other public health agency to determine if products containing HFCS also contain mercury.”
EH study co-author Dr. David Wallinga was in fact “interested in taking this study to the next step.” Explains Wallinga, who overseas the Food and Health Program at the Institute of Agricultural and Trade Policy in Minneapolis: “Like many people, I hadn’t made the connection with connection of the products. I wanted to find out if one would be able to find mercury in food products made with high fructose corn syrup.”
Last fall, Wallinga and his staff went to the supermarket and selected 55 HFCS-sweetened products (HFCS was listed as first or second ingredient on the label) from the shelves, a variety that includes Pop-tarts, Snapple, Smucker’s Jelly and Yoplait yogurt. Independent lab tests revealed detectable mercury in 17 samples, or 31 percent.
The details of the study are included in a report titled “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” also released this Monday.
As was stated in the EH study, Wallinga and his authors acknowledge that much more study is necessary: “Our survey was just a snapshot in time; we tested only one sample of each product. That is clearly not sufficient grounds to give definitive advice to consumers on specific products.”
But in our conversation earlier this week, Wallinga argues that “the study raises as many questions as answers. Consumers are in the dark. All they know is what is on the label. But what they don’t know is what kind of plant the caustic soda was made in, and whether there’s mercury in their food. We can’t answer those questions based on our limited testing, but shouldn’t we know a lot more about this?”
Corn Refiners Association president Audrae Erickson challenged the EH study, arguing its accuracy and relevance. “This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance,” Erickson states in a press release, available on the CRA Web site.
However, the CRA does not mention the IATP study in its retort, which prompted my request for comment; as of last night, CRA has not responded to my request.
By the way, in 2007, a relatively unknown senator from Illinois named Barack Obama introduced S. 1818, also known as the “Missing Mercury in Manufacturing Monitoring and Mitigation Act” which calls for phasing out the use of mercury in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda by Jan. 2012.
So the studies say more research is needed. But where does this leave me and you and the neighbor’s kids who can’t get enough Hershey's chocolate syrup (third highest in mercury from among the products tested)? Should we run to the cabinets and do a HFCS sweep? Weigh in with your thoughts, sweetened, contaminated or otherwise.
By Kim ODonnel | January 28, 2009; 10:00 AM ET Food PoliticsWhat is Myoskeletal Alignment Technique?
Myoskeletal alignment technique (MAT) is a type of bodywork which blends the principles of osteopathy and structural integration to relieve chronic pain, and to reduce the potential for the emergence of pain which could become chronic over time. This technique is often integrated into regular massage and bodywork sessions, and it can also be used alone to treat systemic problems. Practitioners of myoskeletal alignment technique can be found in many regions of the world. The focus of this technique is on back and neck pain in particular, since this type of pain is extremely common in the industrialized world.
The basic idea behind myoskeletal alignment technique is that back and neck pain are caused by fundamental problems with the musculoskeletal system. Tight, stressed muscles contribute to pain by limiting freedom of movement, while weak muscles provide inadequate support for the body. This in turn leads to posture problems, stiffness, and other symptoms which create an endless cycle of pain. By addressing the fundamental issues in the muscles and fascia, practitioners hope to eliminate the associated symptoms.
Structural integration and osteopathy both rely heavily on the manipulation of the muscles, fascia, and skeletal system with the goal of promoting general musculoskeletal health. The idea behind structural integration is that if someone's body can be aligned properly, his or her health problems can be dramatically reduced, because the body will work as a whole. Osteopathic practitioners share this idea, arguing that many chronic health conditions are related to musculoskeletal problems.
In a session of myoskeletal alignment technique, the practitioner works to lengthen tight, strained muscles with the goal of releasing tension and allowing those muscles to function more normally. At the same time, weak muscles are encouraged to grow stronger with the use of gentle, focused stretches which work those muscles. The muscles and fascia will also be manipulated to release pain and to encourage proper musculoskeletal alignment.
A session of myoskeletal alignment technique can sometimes alleviate neck and back pain considerably. Regular sessions can be used to address the early signs of pain, bringing the body back to a neutral state before it develops a vicious cycle of pain. This type of bodywork can be especially useful for people in stressful occupations, or for people with jobs which require repetitive motion, as these careers can place a great deal of strain on the musculoskeletal system.
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