It's summer, and grocery stores are filled with delicious fruits and vegetables to tempt you. It's easy to get carried away and fill your cart with everything in sight. Prices are more affordable, and foods you couldn't find a few months ago are plentiful.
There's no doubt that eating some fruit is an important part of a healthful diet. So it's easy to think that you can eat lots of fruit salads, freshly made fruit juices, and gorge on melons and cherries. But this is not as healthy as you may think. Yes, fruits are filled with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and their sugar gives us energy. But that sugar, which is called frutose, can lead to type-2 diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal problems, and much more.
So if you're eating huge amounts of fruit, canned fruits, and beverages sweetened with fructose, you could be heading for trouble.
Many people have switched from eating sucrose (sugar) to fructose (fruit sugar) on the advice of their doctors or nutritionists. This is because fructose doesn't require insulin to be absorbed and it doesn't affect blood sugar levels like sucrose.
The problem is that every cell in your body can metabolize sucrose, but only your liver can metabolize fructose. As a consequence, we've seen that the livers of laboratory rats who ate high amounts of fructose were fatty and cirrhotic — just like the livers of alcoholics!
In one study, rats were divided into two groups. One group ate a high fructose diet, while the other ate a high glucose diet. The rats that ate glucose — a sugar found naturally in many starchy foods — were fine. The rats that ate fructose had numerous health problems including the inability to produce live baby rats.
Problems with fructose
There are no problems with eating a little fructose every day. In fact, fructose has been used successfully in some weight loss programs when the diets consisted of salads, protein, and small amounts of fruit throughout the day. This is healthy and safe. But large amounts of fructose can cause all sorts of health problems.
It contributes to aging. Fructose reacts with protein molecules to form AGEs, toxic substances that accelerate aging by damaging organs and tissues. In fact, fructose creates more AGEs than either sucrose or lactose.
AGEs have been called "free-radical factories." They are associated with damage to collagen, the eyes, and the kidneys. It's the AGEs in white sugar that damage the immune system and contribute to many diseases.
In a one-year study, rats on a standard diet were given access to various beverages: water or solutions with fructose, glucose, or sucrose. None of these drinks raised their blood sugar, but the rats that consumed the most fructose had higher levels of three separate signs of aging.
It can harm you vision. While it's true that fructose doesn't trigger blood sugar, it has other consequences. It can harm your eyesight.
When non-diabetic rats were given a diet high in carbohydrates — either fructose, glucose, or sucrose — those who consumed fructose or sucrose had changes to their retinas that were indistinguishable from diabetic retinopathy. Their blood sugar levels remained normal, but their eyesight was impaired.
It raises triglycerides. Eating a lot of foods high in fructose can raise your triglycerides, fats that contribute to heart disease and diabetes. You can read more about triglycerides, what they do, and how to lower them, in the April 2006 issue.
It affects digestion. Fructose causes gastrointestinal problems including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The reason is simple. While glucose is completely absorbed in the intestines, fructose is not. Unabsorbed fructose can pull fluids into your intestines causing bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Glucose helps fructose absorption, so problems like IBS occur when there's more fructose than glucose present.
Fruits contain both, but not all have the same amount of these sugars. Some, like pears and apples, are higher in fructose.
Their juices cause diarrhea in some children. Oranges and white grapes have equal amounts of glucose and fructose and children tolerate their juices better.
Bottom line: If you have digestive problems and eat a piece of fruit a day, try eating an orange instead of a pear or apple.
The fructose solution
Now that you understand the consequences of high fructose consumption, I hope you will reduce the amount of fruits you eat to a single piece at any one time. A glass of juice always contains more sugars than one or two pieces of the same fruit. So eat fruit instead of drinking juice. Pay attention to any intestinal problems and the fruits that cause them. Gaby, A., MD. "Adverse effects of dietary fructose," Alternative Medicine Review, vol. 10, no. 4, 2005.
Giampapa, V.C., MD, et al. Breaking the Aging Code, Basic Health, 2004.
Hallfrisch, J. "Metabolic effects of dietary fructose," FASEB Journal, vol. 4, 1990.
How to Tell If You Have Heavy Metals in Your Body - And What to Do About Them If You Do
All of us have been exposed to heavy metals — toxic substances like mercury, cadmium, and lead. They're in our food, our water, and in the air we breathe. There's no way we can escape them, and it's difficult to get rid of them once they've accumulated in our tissues. This is unfortunate because they have been strongly implicated in a great number of health problems including poor memory, low thyroid, a suppressed immune system, fatigue, vision problems, and much more.There's a lot of talk about various detoxification products and programs, but often there's insufficient information to back up the claims made by companies with products to sell. Which toxins do you need to eliminate? And how do you know that any program or product is effective?
You can get expensive blood, urine, and hair analysis tests to identify heavy metals in your tissues. Many require a doctor's prescription to order them. Then you need to repeat the test to make sure that whatever detoxification program you used was effective. This is expensive – $100 or more for each test.
But you don't have to spend that much. I've found an inexpensive kit that screens your urine for some of the most important heavy metals – and it only costs $25 for two tests. It has some limitations over the more expensive tests, but it's effective enough to evaluate any detox program designed to eliminate heavy metals.
The more expensive tests, either blood or hair analysis, can test for over two-dozen heavy metals. This one screens you for just a handful. But it isn't necessary to know which heavy metals you have in your body since all of them are toxic. All that you need to know is that you have them. The ones that are tested in this kit are mercury, lead, nickel, and cadmium. It also tests for copper and zinc, as well.
What's wrong with copper and zinc?
No metals, even beneficial ones, should be present in high concentrations. Copper and zinc are essential for various functions from forming collagen to supporting a healthy immune system. When you have too much of either, however, it can mean that you have accumulated other more toxic metals.
Everything has its place in nature, and minerals have been assigned biological spaces that only they should fill. But heavy metals can get into these spaces because they're heavier. In fact, the heavier the metal, the easier it is for it to occupy another mineral's spaces in your body.
Lighter metals can be pushed around and overpowered by heavier metals. Cadmium and mercury are heavier than zinc, so they can bully their way into zinc's spaces, preventing zinc from performing its necessary functions. Zinc may be present, but it can't do its job. If you have too much mercury — from dental amalgam fillings or from fish, for instance — you could have symptoms of a zinc deficiency even when you have enough zinc in your body. The mercury has occupied zinc's biological spaces. So a high level of zinc is often a sign of hidden heavy metal toxicity.
What this test measures
Heavy metals can be stored in your tissues, neutralized by your body, or float around in your urine. The latter are called "free ionic metals." You might think that these are the most innocuous of all. They're not. They are actually the most dangerous. These metals are potent oxidizers. They help generate free radicals, and they damage your DNA. Damaged DNA promotes disease and accelerates aging.
This test cannot measure any toxic metals that have already been attached, or bound, to a chelator, such as modified citrus pectin or EDTA. It screens for heavy metals in their most dangerous form. It indicates high, medium, low, or no amounts of heavy metals.
You can use this test just to check screen for heavy metals in your urine. You can also test your drinking water, saliva, and any materials that can be put into water, such as dust, foods, or paint.
You may be a non-excreter
Occasionally, someone who has been exposed to heavy metals gets a test result that indicates no presence of toxic metals. This doesn't mean you're fine. It may mean that your body is storing heavy metals in your tissues rather than eliminating them in your urine. So if your test remained green, take a heavy metal chelator, like modified citrus pectin for one week and then re-test. I'll bet the second test detects heavy metals!
Testing other substances
The directions for testing water, dirt, paint, food, and dust are included in the instructions. This Heavy Metal Testing Kit is available for $19.95 from Wonder Laboratories 800-992-1672(www.wonderlabs.com).
Detoxification is a complex two-step process. If you have free-circulating heavy metals in your urine, chances are you have some trapped in your tissues. Use a strong, effective chelation formula to pull these toxins out of your tissues and remove them from your body. There are numerous formulas available. The one I use, because it's safe, effective, and there's science behind it, is PectaSol Chelation Complex. If you'd like to try it, you can get it from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-728-2288).
How to Take the Test
Begin by not taking any of your supplements or drinking tap water (if possible) the day before the test. They may contain some metals. The day of the test, collect around two teaspoons of your second urine discharge in the morning.
Put one piece of test paper into one of the test tubes, close the tube, and shake it gently for 30 seconds to mix the paper with the liquid. The liquid will be green.
Next, add 2 ml of urine to the test tube — bringing it to the 3 ml mark — close the tube and shake well for 15 seconds. Notice the color of the liquid at the band of color at the top of the test tube each time. Don't pay any attention to the color of the liquid at the bottom of the test tube. If the color of the liquid has changed from green to any other color at all, it means that you have a high concentration of metals.
Repeat twice more, adding 2 ml of urine each time. The more urine — or other fluid – it takes to change the color in the test tube, the lower the concentration of metals. If there is any change in color at the first step of this test, it means that you have a high concentration of heavy metals. A change after the second step means a moderate amount of toxic metals. Any change that occurs with the final step is a sign that you have only low levels of one or more metal.
A color chart included in the kit helps identify which heavy metal has been found. But it's less important to know which metals are present in your urine than to know that you have detectible amounts of any of them.
Does Chitosan Help You Lose Weight?
Chitosan, made from the shells of crustaceans (shrimp and crabs), is a popular ingredient in many weight loss supplements. It's being touted as being a natural fat-blocker. Does chitosan work? The companies that sell it say "yes." Scientific studies say "no." Here's what I say:
What we know about chitosan is that it reduces cholesterol and triglycerides by forming gels in the intestines that trap fats. Theoretically, these fats are then excreted through solid wastes. There are two problems with this theory: Chitosan doesn't increase fat excretion, and it does trap and excrete fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A and E. If you're taking a weight loss product with chitosan, you're getting less of these important nutrients than you're taking.
And here's a shocker. Chitosan can also contribute to osteoporosis by increasing the excretion of calcium! This is the last thing any woman wants her supplements to do.
But does it excrete fat?
While chitosan does excrete vitamins and minerals, the big question is, "Does it excrete fat?"
When you eat fats, there are two places they can go — into your body where they get absorbed and "count," or out of your body where they "don't count." A number of studies concluded that, despite sales pitches to the contrary, chitosan doesn't live up to its claims. It doesn't increase the excretion of fats in solid wastes — a sign that these fats are not being absorbed.
If you delve into the archives of scientific studies you may find some that concluded that chitosan does increase fat excretion. These were animal studies where the dosages were 15-22 times higher than those recommended for people.
In one study, a group of people on a high-fat diet took 15 capsules (5.25 grams) of chitosan a day before meals and snacks. Chitosan or no chitosan — the results were the same. Fat excretion didn't increase in participants who took this fat-blocker.
If you've been reading this newsletter for very long, you know that there are differences in how men and women respond to various substances. A study out of the University of California Davis (Gades and Stern) found a slight, clinically insignificant, fat excretion in men who took chitosan, but absolutely none in women. The authors concluded that for men to lose a single pound of fat, they would have to take two capsules of chitosan five times a day for seven months!
The theory behind chitosan is a good one. The problem is, there's no supporting scientific proof that it works in people who are not restricting their calories. In fact, there is scientific evidence that it doesn't work. So I say, save your money and spend it on good food instead.
There's no substitute for a healthy low-fat diet combined with regular exercise in any weight-reducing plan. Not only is a healthy diet lower in fats, it's higher in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other beneficial nutrients. A primary reason to lose weight is to be healthier. A nutrient-dense diet will bring you closer to your goal of becoming or staying healthy. Blocking dietary fats won't.
References are available www.womenshealthletter.com.
Health Detective
Natural Relief for Hay Fever
I talked about Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) in the past to prevent and treat migraines. Now, a study finds that this herbal extract can also help relieve the symptoms of hay fever.
It's no wonder! Butterbur seems to be an effective anti-inflammatory herb. And inflammation is at the center of many allergic symptoms.
The participants in a recent study were recruited from 11 European allergy clinics. They took either a Butterbur extract standardized to eight mg of petasine, three times a day, or one tablet of the allergy drug fexofenadine (Allegra) — a prescription antihistamine.
The researchers found that Butterbur was as effective as fexofenadine in relieving a drippy nose, sneezing, nasal congestion, and itchy eyes.
Which was better?
In this test, they were equal in effectiveness. The difference was in their side effects. More people who took the drug experienced sleepiness than those who used the herb. This could be significant for anyone who needs an antihistamine-like product and will be driving. Or just needs to stay alert.
If you suffer from hay fever and would like to try a natural solution, see if your health food store carries Urovex Butterbur Extract from Source Naturals. Each soft gel contains 7.5 mg of petasine. If you can't find this product, look for a similar one. Or call Source Naturals at 800-815-2333. This excellent company should be able to help you.
References are available at www.womenshealthletter.com.
Why We Gain Weight as We Get Older
I ran into a friend at the post office the other day who looked surprisingly older and less fit than I had ever seen him. I was on my way to the gym, I mentioned, for my daily workout. "I hate exercising," he told me. "Hate, hate, hate it! I'd rather eat less than work out."
The problem is, limiting calories isn't enough. You see, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day. Stop exercising and you'll store more calories in fat tissues instead of burning them.
Unfortunately, all exercises are not alike in helping you lose weight. You need some type of strength training like using weight machines, free weights, or doing Pilates exercises (I talked about this in the January 2006 newsletter). Riding a bike or walking on a treadmill builds leg muscles and can help you keep trim, as well.
Without any kind of consistent strength training, you're likely to lose about one pound of muscle every two years. Just to keep from gaining weight, you need to eat 50 calories less every day for each lost pound of muscle. Think about it. This amounts to reducing your daily calories by 25 every year. In ten years, you'll need to eat 250 fewer calories a day just to keep from putting on one pound.
This is completely unnecessary. You don't have to get heavier as you grow older, although that's unfortunately become the norm. You just need to eat sensibly and keep your muscles toned.
I understand this friend's dislike of exercise. I never liked to exercise, either. But one day I realized I had no choice. If I wanted to be strong, have good balance, be toned, support my heart and blood pressure, I had to exercise regularly. After I began, I found I enjoyed my progress and increased vitality. That, and keeping trim, is good enough reasons for me to continue. You don't need to love to exercise. You just have to do it.
References are available at www.womenshealthletter.com.
Ask Dr. Nan
Q: How safe is cascara sagrada as a long-term solution to chronic constipation? I have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and have used laxatives and bulkers over the years. — C.B, Henderson, NV
A: Cascara sagrada is the aged bark of a tree that acts as a purgative in the intestines. This means it helps expel its contents.
The problem with cascara is that it acts like sandpaper and irritates your colon. Yours is already irritated. When you have IBS and take cascara, you continue this cycle of irritation and inflammation. You need to soothe your colon, not irritate it.
I would much prefer you use the natural bulking agents found in fruit and vegetable fibers. Drinking more water throughout the day can also help. If these suggestions are not enough, you might consider taking a magnesium supplement.
I tell my patients to take magnesium to bowel tolerance — just the amount that causes comfortably loose stools. This can vary from 100 to 1,000 mg/day.
IBS is a stressful condition, and your body uses a lot of magnesium when you’re under stress. So magnesium can help both your elimination and ability to better handle stress.
Q: Do you know of anything that can counteract the stomach pain that comes with chemotherapy? — J.B., via e-mail
A: Try taking l-glutamine, an amino acid (part of protein) that helps repair the lining of the stomach and intestines. Some animal studies have shown that l-glutamine protects the stomach mucosa from both chemotherapy and radiation. A human pilot study found that it reduces the severity of stomach irritation from chemotherapy.
The dosage used in this study was four grams of the powder. Study participants mixed the powder with water and then swished it around in their mouths before swallowing it. They began this treatment the first day of chemotherapy and stopped taking the l-glutamine four days after their stomach irritation ended. Sounds like it's worth trying, since there are no documented side effects. You can find l-glutamine in any health food store.
Skubitz, K.M., et al. "Oral glutamine to prevent chemotherapy induced stomachitis: a pilot study," J Lab Clin Med, 1996.
Q: I recently heard someone say that soymilk actually leaches calcium from the bones. Is this true? If so, women need to know! Thanks. — D.B., Show Low, AZ
A: As I’ve said many times before, magnesium helps carry calcium into the bones. Soymilk contains both calcium (10 grams/cup) and magnesium (80 grams/cup). Since it has more magnesium than calcium, it helps with calcium absorption.
Cow’s milk, on the other hand, is very high in calcium and very low in magnesium. It can conceivably leach calcium out of your bones if you drink a lot of it and eat a high animal-protein diet.
But if you use just a moderate amount of either soy or cow’s milk, it’s not likely you'll damage your bones at all. Unfortunately, exaggeration sells books, magazines, and other sources of information. Given a choice between the two, I personally opt for the soymilk since many studies have linked dairy protein to many degenerative diseases. You can read more about this in my article “Landmark Study Reveals the Cause of Chronic Diseases.” It was in the November 2005 newsletter and you can find it on my website.