Pycnogenol, an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of a French maritime pine tree, reduces blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients, U.S. researchers say.The study, conducted at the University of Arizona, indicates Pycnogenol may also allow some people to lower their anti-hypertensive medication and improve cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Most people with type 2 diabetes have cholesterol problems and half of those people experience hypertension, lead researcher Dr. Ronald Watson said in a statement.

The 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial consisted of 48 men and women, 40 to 75 years of age, with non-insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes, taking anti-diabetic medication with metformin, sulfonylurea and glitazones. They also took anti-hypertensive medications with ACE inhibitors such as Lisinopril.

Despite their medication their fasting blood sugar was above healthy values — 142 mg/dL — and their average systolic blood pressure was 139 mmHg. The subjects were randomly assigned to receive either Pycnogenol at 25 mg, five times daily, or a placebo. Participants were told to continue taking their prescriptions.

In the Pycnogenol treated groups, blood pressure control was achieved in 58.3 percent of patients at the end of the 12 weeks with 50 percent reduction in prescription medications.

The study, published in the journal of Nutrition Research, found the mean average blood glucose decreased from high 142.3 mg/dL to a healthy value 118.6 after 12 weeks. Low-density lipoprotein the bad cholesterol declined by 11.9 percent.

Irish women who skip meals could develop silent killer illnesses, research revealed yesterday.A third of women who miss at least one meal a day are at risk of developing colon cancer.

And 20 per cent of women eat fried or fatty foods two to three times a week which is bad for their digestive system.

The research was carried out as part of World Digestive Day. One of the nutritionists behind the study believes skipping meals is like dicing with death.

Eamonn Quigan said eating three meals a day is crucial for a healthy digestive system.

He added: “Digestive disorders affect a significant per cent of the population and can lead to serious conditions such as colon cancer.”

Results also show that while four out of five Irish women believe that they have a healthy digestive system, 66 per cent still experience bloated feelings. Mr Quigan said: “The survey findings also suggest that poor digestive health also has a serious negative impact on quality of life.”

Although many women experience serious problems research shows that over two thirds haven’t gone to a doctor. Younger women, aged 25 to 34, are least likely to seek medical advice.

Independent nutritionist, Paula Mee said fatty foods aggravate symptoms and should be avoided.

She added: “Digestive health is an excellent indicator of our overall health. Discomfort isn’t something that should be ignored.

“Eat lots of fruit and veg, wholegrains and probiotic yoghurt with scientifically proven benefits.”

(c) 2008 Daily Mirror. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

A MEDITERRANEAN diet protects against diabetes, according to scientists.Eating meals of olive oil, fruit, veg and fish helps ward off Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to lifestyle factors such as diet and obesity.

Those who stuck strictly to a Mediterranean diet in tests had an 83 per cent lower chance of developing the condition.

(c) 2008 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: The Sacramento Bee Publication date: 2008-05-30Potatoes make you fat. Well, that’s what we thought a few decades ago. Now we know better. How much do you know about one of the most popular vegetables in the American diet? Here’s a quiz to find out.

1. Potatoes are high in calories.

True or false?

2. Potatoes are low in fiber.

True or false?

3. One potato has more than 60 vitamins and phytochemicals.

True or false?

4. Potatoes contain flavonoids, which are credited with improving heart health.

True or false?

5. People with high blood pressure should avoid potatoes.

True or false?

6. A potato, with the skin, provides 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance for potassium.

True or false?

Source: Prevention magazine, June 2008

Answers: 1. False. One medium baked potato has 161 calories. 2. False. One potato has about 4 grams of fiber. 3. True. 4. True. 5. False. Potatoes are high in kukoamines, a plant chemical that helps lower blood pressure. 6. True.

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(c) 2008, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).

Visit The Sacramento Bee online at http://www.sacbee.com/

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DETROIT _ You feel it in the pit of your stomach first: a thumping Latin beat that makes your insides shake and your heel start tapping.But by the end of the hour, you feel Zumba everywhere: your heaving lungs, your pulsing stomach muscles, your swinging shoulders.

“It truly feels like you’re dancing with your friends,” said Lori Fera, 24, of Farmington Hills, Mich. She loves Zumba classes so much she’s training to be an instructor. “Everyone’s laughing and talking and having a good time. I started going to it and got addicted.”

Zumba is a hot fusion of Latin dance and floor aerobics, and it’s hitting fitness clubs and YMCAs and recreation centers in many cities. Invented in Colombia in the 1990s when aerobics instructor Beto Perez forgot his music and had to use the salsa tapes he had in his car, Zumba invaded the United States in 1999. It’s not quite a dance class, not quite aerobics, but something very fast-paced and hip-heavy in between.

The moves are Latin-inspired, sometimes downright sexy and fun to do and watch.

“The Zumba class is like exercise plus having fun,” said 45-year-old Eleanor Trice of Garden City, Mich., who started taking Zumba in January as something to do with her two sisters. They’ve stuck with it ever since. “I love it. You sweat. It’s a very good workout.”

The energy is super-high,” said Christina Brown, 25, of Farmington Hills. “Everybody has a really great time and enjoys themselves, even if they don’t know the steps.”

In practice, Zumba is like an interval workout, said instructor Debbie Lim: You alternate high impact with low, and the enforced breaks of a couple of seconds between songs give people a chance to rest briefly.

Steven Keteyian, program director of preventive cardiology at Henry Ford Hospital, said the classes are appropriate for men younger than 40-45 and women younger than 50-55 who don’t have any health risks.

If you’re older, or have pre existing conditions _ back pain, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, history of stroke or heart disease _ you know the drill. Check with your doctor first.

“People tend to know what things bother them or not,” Keteyian said. “The class is for people looking for a better workout. It’s a lot different than an easy-moving water aerobics class, or getting started walking.”

Participants agree: Zumba is a killer workout. But they say it’s not like a straightforward, hard-core high-impact aerobics or kickboxing class.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re working out,” Fera said. She buys steel for an auto supplier. “Everyone at my day job makes fun of me because I’m always cha-chaing around. I feel really good, and I have a lot more energy. There’s days when I come in from a very stressful work week and right when the music hits, it melts away. You can’t not have a good time.”

She’s always been an active person, but her opportunities to move around dried up after she left college two years ago, she said. So she’d been on the hunt for something new to do to keep fit.

“On my own, I was trying to work out. But it’s hard to stay motivated,” she said. “I truly do love going to these classes. Once you go to three classes, you get the steps down. I get really into it and exaggerate the moves and I am just sweating. It’s a good workout for your core _ with the Latin moves, you’re really using your hips. At the end of 45 minutes, I am ready for bed.”

Although it has taken a while to make its way to Michigan, Zumba is one of the hottest trends in new aerobic classes this year. That may be one of the classes’ only down sides, said Lim. The 46-year-old from Farmington Hills has been teaching Zumba for about 16 months.

“The only downfall to Zumba is that anyone can take the workshop and anyone can teach Zumba,” she said. She expects that to change, and to see more requirements for people who want to be certified.

” Zumba was new to me,” Lim recalled. “I was getting bored of the same routines. I had to concentrate, to learn new routines, new songs. It brought back a lot of my inspiration. I’m happier now.”

That doesn’t mean she liked it when she first tried it, however. Lim’s first exposure to the new fitness routine was when she had an instructor on as a guest on her local-access cable TV show, “Fitness Motivators,” carried on Bright House Networks cable.

“I said `Oh, my god, I feel stupid doing this,’” Lim said, laughing. In her role as an instructor, Zumba was a whole new dance: F or starters, instead of one continuous soundtrack, she had to compose routines to individual tracks, keeping with the classes’ dance-party feel. “It was extremely difficult for me to get used to it. I didn’t like it at first. It was intense. But then I got to know it. You get used to the Latin music.”

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(c) 2008, Detroit Free Press.

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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): zumba For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. 1058690

The heart association gives its endorsement to home equipment for regular pressure checks.Everyone with high blood pressure — some 72 million Americans - - should own a home monitor and do regular pressure checks, the American Heart Association and other groups urged Thursday in an unprecedented endorsement of a medical device for consumers.

High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and death. Having it checked a few times a year in a doctor’s office or at the drugstore is not enough to keep tabs on it, and regular home monitoring is more accurate, the new advice says.

Closer checks would let doctors fine-tune the many medicines used to control high blood pressure, just as diabetics adjust their insulin levels by regularly monitoring blood sugar. Only a third of people with high blood pressure now have it under control.

“We need new approaches. Our current approach is simply not working,” said Dr. David Goff, a preventive medicine specialist at Wake Forest University and a member of the panel that wrote the advice.

Outside experts strongly agreed.

But some said the case would be more compelling if those pushing the monitors had no industry ties. For example, a leading device maker pays more than $300,000 a year to co-sponsor the heart association’s blood pressure Web site.

- The company played no role in the new advice, the association said.

“This is not as clean a recommendation as it could be” because of the industry ties, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the consumer group Public Citizen. Still, home monitors are “an excellent idea,” Wolfe said.

They cost $50 to $100 on the Internet and at pharmacies. Insurance usually doesn’t pay, though the heart groups say it should.

The heart association, the American Society of Hypertension and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses’ Association all urged home monitoring in a statement published online Thursday in the journal Hypertension, the medical word for high blood pressure.

The condition occurs when blood pulses too forcefully through vessels, which can damage the heart, kidneys and other organs. It is more common as people age, and it leads to about 7 million deaths in the U.S. each year.

Readings of 140 over 90 are considered high at the doctor’s office; 135 over 85 if taken at home. Pressure often goes up with the “white coat” effect — nervousness when seeing a doctor. Readings also vary throughout the day.

“So often we rely on a single measurement in the office and it’s so arbitrary,” said Dr. Allen Taylor of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a prominent researcher not involved in the new advice.

Many types of medicines can help control high blood pressure, and often more than one is needed. Finding the right dose or combo is tricky.

Home monitors can help, by giving a better picture of pressure variations and the response to a drug. Sometimes less medication is needed, because doctors discover that pressure was artificially high when someone was in the office, Goff said. That spares people the cost and side effects of unnecessary treatment.

Often, though, the opposite is true — people need more or different drugs.

Home monitors are especially important for the elderly, pregnant women, diabetics and people with kidney disease, the panel said. Automated, arm-cuff devices are recommended — wrist and finger ones are notoriously inaccurate.

People should take their device with them to their doctor’s office and have measurements compared to make sure the machine isn’t off.

Experts suggest taking two or three readings at a time, one minute apart, while sitting with the arm supported. Readings should be taken at the same time each day, such as morning and evening, for a week.

Twelve readings are recommended for doctors to make treatment decisions, and this can be repeated as often as a doctor feels necessary, depending on how stable the condition is.

Taking readings at home also may nudge people to cut risks — use less salt, exercise more, lose weight and limit alcohol.

“It’s a great idea,” said Dr. Joseph Drozda of St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Chesterfield, Mo. He is a high blood pressure expert for the American College of Cardiology. “If you’re graphically seeing where your blood pressure is all the time, it keeps it real to you,” especially if you’re not having symptoms, he said.

However, there is scant proof that home monitoring will cut heart attacks, strokes or deaths more than periodic office checkups do. Studies suggest that home monitors can improve blood pressure control, and that a 2-point drop in the reading results in a 4 percent drop in heart disease death rates, Goff said.

Many blood pressure drugs have been approved without evidence they lower deaths, said Dr. William White, a blood pressure specialist at the University of Connecticut and a reviewer of the new advice.

“We don’t have direct evidence that it will reduce heart attacks and strokes but we have reason to believe that it will,” said heart association president Dr. Daniel Jones, dean of the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

Industry ties also should not make the public doubt the advice, Jones said. A leading home monitor maker — Omron Healthcare Inc. of Deerfield, Ill. — is one of three sponsors of the association’s high blood pressure Web site (the other two are drug makers).

Omron’s $300,000 to $400,000 a year payment is a fraction of the association’s $800 million in revenue, and companies have no role in the content of the Web site or any advice, Jones said.

Device makers also help sponsor projects and meetings of the hypertension society. The head of the panel urging home monitors, Dr. Thomas Pickering of Columbia University, is a paid speaker for Omron.

The panel did not endorse specific machines, but noted a British Hypertension Society Web site listing some. The group does no independent testing, however.

Blood pressure tracker: www.americanheart.org/bptools

Home monitors: www.bhsoc.org/blood–pressure–list.stm

Originally published by MARILYNN MARCHIONE Associated Press.

(c) 2008 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

ALCOHOLIC drinks should carry calorie count warnings because drinkers do not realise the contribution of booze to getting fat, town hall chiefs said yesterday.The Local Government Association wants bottles and cans to feature nutrition statistics like other foods in a bid to counter the UK’s obesity epidemic.

It also called on restaurants and take aways to inform customers of the healthiness of their menu and offer more options for the weight-conscious.

The LGA said recent studies had found the average adult was adding an extra day’s worth of calories to their diet each week through alcoholic drinks alone.

Public health spokesman David Rogers said: “An average pint of beer has around 250 calories in it and yet most alcoholic drinks don’t have to put any kind of ingredient labelling on cans and bottles.

“There has been widespread publicity of how drink damages your health but most people are likely to be completely unaware of the effect it can have on their waistline.

“Bottles of wine or cans of beer should be properly labelled to let people know the effect that alcohol can have on their weight.”

Urging restaurants and takeaways to play their part, he went on: “As a nation we’re eating out more than ever before.

“When people eat out, it’s right that they should be able to get a rough idea of how much fat is in their curry or sugar in their ice cream.

“This shouldn’t become another burden on small businesses, so proposals wouldneedto be flexible and support from the Government forthcoming.”

He said food labelling in general still fell “woefully short” of what was required despite the adoption of “traffic light” symbols by some retailers.

“Providing people with understandable, helpful and coherent information written in plain English about the food they are eating would make a huge difference.

“It would be naive to suggest that food labelling alone is going to halt the obesity problem, there is no silver bullet to solve the issue,” he added.

“We need to eat better, exercise more and lead healthier lives in general and councils play a huge part in that.

“From providing children with free fruit and vegetables and planning towns and cities that encourage walking, to encouraging people to get into the gymand into sports, town halls are on the frontline of tackling obesity.”

(c) 2008 Western Mail. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Bone up on strategies to treat and prevent this growing disease Your Chances Of having healthy bones get “thinner” every year. Nowadays, you have a fifty-fifty chance of having a fracture from osteoporosis in your lifetime if you are a white woman over 50. But it can-and does-strike at any age.Osteoporosis (literally, “porous bones”) is a progressive degeneration of bone structure, density, and strength. Bone tissues degenerate and gradually lose minerals, especially calcium, and become brittle, fragile, and tend to break easily. Backache, loss of height or stooped back, easily fractured bones, loss of jawbone, blood clots, and pneumonia head the list of symptoms, yet many people with osteoporosis suffer no symptoms at all until a crisis hits.

From about age 35, everyone’s bone structure becomes less dense. But in osteoporosis, bone weakness goes beyond normal aging. In this abnormal condition, bone becomes exceptionally thin from mineral loss and poor-quality protein matrix. Combine aging with inadequate calcium intake for many years, poor childhood bone formation, or less calcium taken into the bones after menopause, and the outcome can be a severe case of osteoporosis.

Today, 10 million Americans have osteoporosis. Between 18 million and 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk. Nearly 25 percent of white, Asian, and brown- skinned women have some degree of osteoporosis after menopause. Black women have been shown to have greater bone density, which reduces their risk.

The two major risk factors are peak bone mass and rate of bone loss. Less well-established factors are low weight-to-height ratio, prolonged bed rest, high alcohol consumption, low calcium intake, smoking, high protein/ phosphate intake, high caffeine consumption, and physical inactivity.

Osteoporosis leads to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, especially of the hip, spine, wrist, ribs, and forearm, though any bone is at risk. In America, 1.5 million osteoporotic fractures occur each year. Devastating hip fractures comprise 20 percent of that number. Only 15 percent of hip- fracture patients can walk across a room unaided six months later.

A woman’s lifetime hip-fracture risk is equal to the combined total risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers. And hip fractures are life threatening-women who suffer hip fractures are up to 20 percent more likely to die within one year of the fracture than women who haven’t suffered a hip fracture. One-quarter of those who were ambulatory before their hip fracture require long-term care afterward.

Within the next 50 years, 25 percent of Americans will be 65 or older. Women over 65 represent the fastest-growing population segment in the United States. Osteoporosis will be a major public health concern. However, it’s not inevitable, as osteoporosis is to a great extent preventable and treatable.

Remedy 1. The Builder. Use the Right Calcium.

Bones are made largely of calcium. Researchers studied all commercially available calcium forms and found that calcium citrate malate (calcium salt of citric acid and malic acid) appears to absorb best. Studies show that up to 42 percent of the calcium in calcium citrate malate is absorbed, compared to about 22 percent of calcium carbonate.

In another study of women aged 21 to 30, 250 mg of calcium citrate malate, given three times per day, was absorbed better than an equivalent calcium carbonate supplement (37.3 percent versus 29.6 percent, respectively). In the same study, calcium citrate malate was also absorbed better than calcium from milk.

It is also important to note that calcium absorption increases the larger you are. A study of women given a standardized source of calcium suggests that a difference in 8 inches in height could correlate to a 30 percent difference in absorptive ability. Although this may sound alarming, these results demonstrate that a standard amount of calcium for all women regardless of size should be reevaluated.

Remedy 2. The Helper. Vitamin D Strengthens Bones.

Vitamin D regulates the growth and development of many different cells and maintains strong bones. The need for vitamin D increases with age, and deficiency is common among the elderly. Up to 80 percent of all hip-fracture patients have vitamin D deficiency. Substantial doses of vitamin D increase bone mass and reduce osteoporosis. Studies show that elderly persons with higher vitamin D levels have increased muscle strength and a lower number of falls. A study using vitamin D plus calcium over a three-month period lowered risk of falling by 49 percent compared with calcium alone, attributed to improved musculoskeletal function.

Remedy 3. The Fixer. Ancient Herb Heals Bones.

To help restore damaged bone tissue, consider Chinese teasel root, also known as dipsacus root (aka xu duan, Dipsacus asper), which is a mainstay of Chinese herbal joint therapy. It’s the main herb used in China to heal traumatic injury and has broad benefits for the musculoskefetal system and for pain. Xu means connect, and duan means severed; the herb reconnects damaged bones or severed tendons. Use up to 15 g per day as powder in capsules or brewed into tea.

DID YOU KNOW?

If you have a family history of osteoporosis, you’re at greater risk for the condition, as postmenopausal osteoporosis may be hereditary.

Product Examples

Lane Labs’ AdvaCal: Contains high levels of calcium and HAI, a patented bone-building amino acid extract.

Himalaya Herbal Healthcare’s OsteoCare: An herbal extract blend that helps maintain healthy bone structure.

Jarrow Formulas’ Herbal Bone-Up: In addition to calcium and vitamin D, this advanced formula contains four botanicals that help maintain and build bone.

By Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, DN-C, RH

Copyright Active Interest Media May 2008

(c) 2008 Better Nutrition. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

The sunshine vitamin may help protect against age-related rise in blood pressure, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. As many as 60 percent of whites and more than 90 percent of blacks who participated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey had insufficient blood levels of vitamin D, researchers found. Those lacking adequate vitamin D had much higher increases in systolic blood pressure as they aged than did those with healthful vitamin D levels. Because vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in the United States, those at risk for high blood pressure may want to consider increasing their intake.Copyright Active Interest Media May 2008

(c) 2008 Better Nutrition. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Better Nutrition Publication date: 2008-05-01The sunshine vitamin may help protect against age-related rise in blood pressure, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. As many as 60 percent of whites and more than 90 percent of blacks who participated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey had insufficient blood levels of vitamin D, researchers found. Those lacking adequate vitamin D had much higher increases in systolic blood pressure as they aged than did those with healthful vitamin D levels. Because vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in the United States, those at risk for high blood pressure may want to consider increasing their intake.

Copyright Active Interest Media May 2008

(c) 2008 Better Nutrition. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.