You probably know that eating a diet full of color is one of the best ways to ensure you’re getting optimal nutrition. But some colors are easier to find than others. One of the harder categories for people to fill is the reddish-purple group. These foods are full of a beneficial flavonoid called anthocyanidin. As you’re about to see, this flavonoid has health benefits for everything from your brain to your blood vessels to your nervous system.

One often-overlooked food that’s rich in anthocyanidin is beets. Despite their health benefits, beets are often forgotten or ignored, possibly because fresh beets can be challenging to prepare and many people simply don’t like the taste. Fortunately, there’s a way that you can get all the benefits of beets without the stained fingers or long roasting time. I’ll tell you about it below. But first, let me explain what all those benefits are.

You’ve probably heard me talk about nitric oxide before. This little gas molecule does wonders for our health by helping blood vessels relax and dilate. This is great for your circulation. In addition to helping your circulation, these dilated arteries and veins also lower your blood pressure. And beets are full of nitrates, which the body then naturally turns into nitric oxide. In fact, one study published in the journal Hypertension found that drinking beet juice caused participants’ blood pressure to drop 10 mm Hg. And compared to the control group, who drank water, they had less blood clotting three hours after downing the juice.

Because nitric oxide boosts circulation, it can improve your endurance and energy levels as well. Many athletes consume large quantities of beets to get these benefits. In fact, one study found that beets enhanced participants’ ability to pedal to exhaustion by 15%. Research has found that your nitrate levels will peak two to three hours after you consume beets and that you need three to five beets to experience the boost. So instead of carb-loading before a big race, consider binging on beets.

Boosting your nitric oxide levels isn’t the only way beets help your cardiovascular system. These roots are also full of betaine, a plant alkaloid, and folate, a B vitamin. Together, these nutrients lower homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is an amino acid that can damage your arteries if levels get too high. And damaged arteries lead to heart disease. So it’s important to keep homocysteine levels in check. Betaine also can benefit your liver, which has the tough job of filtering toxins out of the blood. Studies have found that it helps keep fat from building up in the liver. Research with rats also found that drinking beet juice increased the levels of detoxifying enzymes found in their blood. In diabetic humans, betaine has been found to improve liver function, lower cholesterol, and decrease liver size.

If you’ve ever suffered from brain fog, you know how important proper blood flow to the brain is. Sometimes our brains can feel sluggish and tired, as though they’re gasping for the oxygen. Nitric oxide can help with this too, as improved circulation throughout the body means better blood flow — and oxygen delivery — to the brain. One small study confirmed that eating a diet high in nitrates, including some from beet juice, boosted circulation to the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain responsible for executive functioning. If you find that you’re struggling with staying focused, getting organized, or keeping track of details, particularly as you age and your brain’s energy metabolism and neuron activity decline, the nitric oxide boost from beets could help.

Betaine, which I told you about earlier, isn’t the only nutrient that beets offer. Don’t confuse it with betalain, a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory also found in beets. You probably know that inflammation is linked to practically every identified health ailment, from cardiovascular disease to obesity to cancer. So we want to douse its fires whenever possible. Betaine also improves digestion. Betacyanin (which contributes to beets’ color) may also help protect you from carcinogens, and researchers are currently studying its ability to fight cancer.

The combined effects of better circulation, improved digestion and lower inflammation levels translate to a boost in energy. That’s something I want to experience every day. However, while I like the taste of beets, I don’t want to eat them quite that regularly. Fortunately, there’s a way to get all the benefits of beets without the prep work. It’s called SuperBeets: a powdered form of beets formulated to boost nitric oxide levels optimally. In fact, just one teaspoon will give you the nitric oxide equivalent and subsequent circulation benefits of eating three whole beets.

You may be skeptical about the taste of the powder. If so, I have good news. It comes in a black cherry flavor that many people report is actually quite tasty when mixed with water. In fact, patients of mine who report not enjoying beets find the SuperBeets powder easy to drink. Or you can mix it into a smoothie, where you may not even notice it’s there!

You might be skeptical that just a teaspoon of beet powder can really make a difference. You’re not alone. But many people who felt the same way decided to give SuperBeets a try just in case. And they were blown away by the difference in their energy levels. Some report noticing a difference after just one serving! Its effects are often compared to that of caffeine but without the jittery, shaky feeling that often accompanies too many cups of coffee.

Many people like to take SuperBeets before a workout, having found that their stamina and endurance improves substantially. Some even credit SuperBeets with helping them set new personal records. One person found that SuperBeets was key to giving him the motivation and strength he needed to begin walking and exercising again after recovering from a broken foot.

SuperBeets powder is made from the highest-quality, non-GMO beets. Each crop is carefully tested to ensure you’re getting the highest nitric oxide result. For those of you with special diets, because the powder is focused on delivering beets to you and nothing else, you can rest assured that it’s vegan and gluten-free. I don’t eat beets for breakfast, but thanks to SuperBeets, I can easily kick my day off with all the energy-boosting benefits of nitric oxide first thing in the morning! You can order SuperBeets by calling 800-791-3395. Make sure you give them special order code WH6317.

http://www.health.com/nutrition/beets-health-benefits.

Two-Nutrient Combination Protects Against Parkinson’s and Weight Gain

Our modern world certainly affords us many conveniences. We have all the information we could ever want at our fingertips, we can go almost anywhere in a matter of hours. And we can find almost anything to eat at our local grocery stores, regardless of season. There are certainly advantages to all the innovation surrounding us. But these conveniences may come at a higher price to our health than we realize.

Our modern way of life requires toxins like heavy metals and pesticides to be involved in producing nearly all of our creature comforts. Our cars release microparticles of metal into the air we breathe. Our fruits and vegetables are coated in chemicals that help them deflect predators and survive cross-country journeys. Our fish swim in polluted waters, storing up toxins that they pass on to us.

All of this is taking a toll on our health. However, because these poisons are invisible and their effects are cumulative, we rarely recognize what’s happening to us – or we don’t realize that toxins are the culprit behind our diseases. In fact, I’ve told you in the past that neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s are becoming increasingly linked to pesticides and heavy metals. Studies have found that people who live near golf courses (heavily sprayed with pesticides) or who worked as welders (breathing in fumes that contain heavy metals) have much higher risks of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Several studies have linked iron and copper accumulation in particular to Parkinson’s. We’ve known for some time that decreases in dopamine levels were associated with the disease. And new studies are finding that iron accumulation may be partially responsible for killing dopamine neurons. A study in Brain: A Journal of Neurology pointed out that iron is a “potent pro-oxidant.” While we generally think of “pro” as being positive, in this case it means that iron promotes oxidation (which is what we take antioxidants to prevent). Excess iron can accelerate cell death, contributing to Parkinson’s. Another study found that copper is toxic as well, creating disruptions in important cell processes.

Of course, if you develop Parkinson’s or another neurodegenerative disease, you’ll certainly know something is wrong. But the accumulation of toxic metals and pesticides in our bodies can have subtler but still harmful effects — some of which we might never think to associate with these factors.
That was the case for one of my patients. She was a very fit 40-year-old. She exercised for up to two hours every day. She ate a healthy diet. But over the course of four months, she gained eight pounds even though nothing in her lifestyle had changed, and she couldn’t shake them. I decided to run her mercury levels, and while they weren’t absolutely out of control, they were about five points higher than they should have been. I immediately put her on a supplement regimen (which I’ll tell you more about in a moment) to help flush the mercury out of her system. Within six weeks, her mercury levels were back to normal. By week eight, she had lost all the extra weight – even though she’d still made no changes to her diet or exercise habits.

This is a more common situation than you might expect. I see it often in my patients who live in coastal areas and eat a lot of seafood. Unfortunately, seafood is often mislabeled, and it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting. I encourage people to try to stick with smaller, wild, cold-water fish like salmon rather than regularly consuming mahi-mahi or tuna. Over time, elevated mercury can cause weight gain, as in the story above, bloating, or gastrointestinal distress.

Many people don’t associate these symptoms with a heavy metal load; they’re quick to just take a probiotic or try to tweak their diets. But if you have unexplained symptoms like these, I think it’s a good idea to get your mercury levels tested. Having a heavy burden of toxic metals forces your liver and kidneys to work extra hard, leading to bloating, sluggish digestion, and even elevated liver enzymes.

So let’s say your results come back a bit higher than normal — or you’re having some of these symptoms and suspect that the metals in your seafood or the pesticides from the golf course might be to blame. What now? Of course, you first want to minimize the levels of toxins you’re putting into your body. That’s why I recommend things like wild cold-water fish and organic fruits and vegetables. But you also need to flush the existing toxins out of your body. Your liver and kidneys help with this, but sometimes they can’t keep up. After all, they have plenty of other responsibilities.

That’s why I like PectaSol Detox Formula. It contains modified citrus pectin and alginate (a type of seaweed). Modified citrus pectin binds to toxins and helps the body flush them out, while alginate helps keep the body from absorbing heavy metals in the first place. I like to pair PectaSol with buffered vitamin C, which protects the veins and arteries. Carrying a heavy metal or pesticide load makes you more susceptible to inflammation, which in turn leaves you vulnerable to cardiovascular troubles. Buffered vitamin C can help minimize the inflammatory response while protecting your delicate blood vessels.

PectaSol and buffered vitamin C were a slam-dunk combination for my patient with high mercury levels. If you, like her, have unexplained weight gain or digestive troubles, your toxin load may be to blame. Reducing toxins is also vital for minimizing your risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. In today’s world, it’s hard to avoid ingesting toxins altogether because of how insidiously they’ve infiltrated our air and food supplies. But we can be sure we escort them out of our bodies as quickly as possible. You can find buffered vitamin C online and in most health food stores. PectaSol is available by calling 800-791-3395.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27481072

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27651256.

Why You’re Not Getting All the Nutrients Out of Your Whole Grain Foods

any of us are careful to choose whole grains over refined grains. And in general, this is a good idea. Whole grains are much more nutrient-dense. But new research out of Denmark shows that our bodies might not actually be able to benefit from those nutrients if we combine our whole grains with the wrong thing. Here’s what to look out for so you can actually absorb the nutrients your body needs.

One of the main reasons that consuming whole grains is linked to a lower risk of diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes is that these foods contain compounds called lignans. Bacteria in our guts transform these lignans into enterolignans, which are chemically similar to estrogen. This may be why consuming whole grains has been linked to a reduced risk of breast cancer in particular.

But what if you don’t have the right gut bacteria to metabolize these lignans? That’s what a study conducted by Aarhus University and The Danish Cancer Society has begun to question. Using information from a large study of over 57,000 participants, the researchers identified a key issue in whole grains’ ability to benefit our health.

The data from this study, which was entitled “Diets, Cancer, and Health,” include information about the participants’ diets and lifestyle choices as well as blood, fat, and urine samples from the years 1993 to 1997. Since 1996, over 2,200 of the participants have developed cancer, and the researchers focused on this group for this particular study. In particular, they measured their blood levels of enterolignans. Then they compared this information with another interesting data set: which participants had used antibiotics during the study period.

The researchers found that the more often the participants used antibiotics, the lower their enterolignan concentrations tended to be. This was particularly true for women. In fact, those who used antibiotics showed blood level enterolignan concentrations of up to 40% lower than the women who did not use them – for as long as three months after taking the antibiotics. To examine this link more closely, the researchers carried out a controlled intervention in pigs. Sure enough, the pigs who received antibiotics had 37% lower enterolignan concentrations than the control group.

This study is an important reminder of all that our gut bacteria do for us — and that they’re easily wiped out by antibiotics. Antibiotics don’t know how to distinguish between helpful and harmful bacteria, which is another reason that it’s important to use them sparingly. Don’t use this study as an excuse to eat white, refined grains when you do find that you need antibiotics. Whole wheat is still full of fiber and other beneficial nutrients. But if you want to reap all the rewards of your grain choices, don’t take antibiotics unnecessarily. And if you do need them, be sure to use a good probiotic like Advanced Probiotic Formula (800-791-3395) to get your gut bacteria back up and metabolizing lignans quickly.

Anne Katrine Bolvig, Natalja P. Nørskov, Mette Skou Hedemann, Leslie Foldager, Brendan McCarthy-Sinclair, Maria L. Marco, Helle N. Lærke, Knud Erik Bach Knudsen. The effect of antibiotics and diet on enterolactone concentration and metabolome studied by targeted and non-targeted LC-MS metabolomics. Journal of Proteome Research, 2017; DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.6b00942.

Nutrition Detective

Does St. John’s Wort Really Work as Well as SSRIs?

For years, people have been reporting anecdotal evidence that St. John’s wort helps treat depression. In fact, many of them found that it does so as effectively as antidepressants. However, many scientific studies had conflicting results. So some doctors were hesitant to encourage patients to try it. So a group of researchers wanted to find the truth.

One of the best ways to get to the bottom of differing scientific results is to conduct a review study. This type of study looks at all the existing evidence, takes differences in methodology into account, and attempts to determine the best way to interpret all of the available results.

These researchers did such a review study on St. John’s wort and published their results in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The study was quite extensive. The researchers reviewed studies published in a variety of databases over the past 56 years. They were looking for studies on St. John’s wort that were randomized controlled trials, compared St. John’s wort to SSRIs (the typical prescription treatment method for depression), included at least 20 patients who had received a clinical diagnosis of major depressive disorder, and tested for both efficacy and safety.

They found a total of 5,428 studies to review. And when looking at these studies, they evaluated both how well the participants responded to the treatment and how often they experienced adverse effects. They assessed the treatment response according to the response rate of the treatment group compared to the placebo group. They were looking for a greater than 50% reduction in scores according to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). They also were looking at the remission rate ratio, comparing the treatment group to the placebo group, and looking for a greater than 75% reduction in HAM-D scores. In all, they found 27 studies that met their criteria. The study populations ranged from 40 to 428 participants with mild-to- moderate depression. And they underwent treatment for 4 to 12 weeks.

After conducting a meta-analysis, the researchers concluded that the St. John’s wort had similar effects to the SSRIs. Even better, participants receiving the St. John’s wort were much less likely to drop out of the studies due to negative side effects compared to those receiving drugs. This is great news, as the side effects of SSRIs often cause patients to discontinue treatment and leave them hesitant to give something else a try.

The researchers believe the consensus of the studies is that St. John’s wort is both as effective as SSRIs and safer. I’m sure you know that I almost always prefer an herbal solution to a pharmaceutical one. I think St. John’s wort is a great option for treating depression, and I’ve had many patients use it effectively. However, keep in mind that you should never discontinue taking an antidepressant without a doctor’s supervision. If you’d like to switch to St. John’s wort, make sure you get your doctor’s help to do so safely.

http://www.jad-journal.com/article/S0165-0327(16)31592-0/abstract.

LETTERS

Q: I was floored to see your reply regarding not to use iodine when you have Hashimoto’s. Can you elaborate on this more? – Renita S., via email

Dear Renita,

I am a strong proponent of both Lugol’s Solution, SSKI, Iodomere, Iodoral — all iodine supplements. My experience with acute Hashimoto’s disease is that the addition of supplemental iodine can be aggravating to the condition.

But here’s the good news: Acute Hashimoto’s generally responds well to selenium 200 mcg once or twice daily for two months, along with thyroid supplementation. These interventions will almost always reduce anti-thyroid antibody levels in people with autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto’s). Once you’ve controlled the antibodies, you can begin experimenting with iodine. By the way, you can now order Iodoral from Advanced Bionutritionals by calling 800-791-3395.

Q. Is one sugar better than another? – Danielle, via email

Dear Danielle,

The bottom line on sugar – any sugar (including organic sugar, coconut sugar, white sugar, honey) – is that your body recognizes all of it as sugar (sucrose). And your body metabolizes it the same way. There are a number of reasons to avoid sugar. Just to name a couple of issues, studies have linked it to the provocation of insulin issues, which lead to diabetes and fatty liver disease. And more recently, research shows that it increases your risk for cardiovascular disease. Sugar also has the ability to bind to proteins and cause damage. Imagine an apple cut and left open on the counter. It turns brown. As we age, we are all browning. Sugar speeds up our internal aging/browning process. If you need a sweetener, use Stevia, as it doesn’t affect the body like sugar does.

Q. In one of your newsletters, you said that a person weighing 120 pounds needed 50 grams of protein. You used the formula of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a kilogram equals 0.45 pounds. If this is true, then your formula for figuring this is wrong and a person weighing 120 pounds would need 213.3 grams of protein, not 50 grams. I don’t want to eat too little or too much. Can you help? – Kerry R., via email

Dear Kerry,

Thank you for your note. This is the equation that I used in the article. Weight in kg x 0.8 gm. This slightly lower number .8 is commonly used if you are in good health and are also sedentary (i.e., 0.8). So if you weigh 120 lbs, divide that by 2.2 to get the number of kilograms. This number is 54.54 kg. Multiply this by 0.8 and you get 43.63.

In the article, I rounded up to 50 grams because most of our readers are active and exercise. This number is geared more toward a woman who is a bit sedentary. You could remain in good health if you weighed 120 lbs and consumed anywhere between 44-50 grams of protein. Indeed, these numbers change if you have, for example, kidney disease. In this case, you would be eating less protein. If you
are exceedingly active, you would need a bit more.