Elevated levels of common lab test associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's

There is no single test available at the time to specifically diagnose Alzheimer's disease or to only show the risk for it. New research, however, indicates that a common test like fasting glucose may tell us something about the risk (Burns CM, et al. 2014).

When regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose in brain regions usually affected by Alzheimer disease was measured, a correlation with fasting glucose levels was found. Higher fasting glucose levels in cognitively normal, non diabetic adults were correlated with lower regional cerebral metabolic rate.

This means that higher fasting glucose levels may be associated with the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease and increase the risk for this disease.

What is the solution? A diet consisting of high nutrient, low glycemic index food, exercise and meditation for better handling of stress.

This type of lifestyle will also reduce the risk for all other chronic conditions as well.

Burns CM¹, Chen K, Kaszniak AW, Lee W, Alexander GE, Bandy D, Fleisher AS, Caselli RJ, Reiman EM.Higher serum glucose levels are associated with cerebral hypometabolism in Alzheimer regions. Neurology. 2013 Apr 23;80(17):1557-64. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31828f17de. Epub 2013 Mar 27.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

An easy habit to reduce your risk for depression

This research was convincing because it involved 11,000 people who were followed for 50 years (Pinto Pereira SM, et al, 2014).

A sample of persons born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week in March, 1958 were followed up to the age of 50 years. Depressive symptoms were measured and frequency of physical activity (times per week) were recorded at the age of 23, 33, 42 and 50 years.

It was concluded that physical activity may alleviate depressive symptoms.

Physical activity needs to be included in your lifestyle. It will make you feel better both physically and psychologically.

For those who don't like to exercise, the good news is that numerous studies has documented that you don't have to spend a lot of time exercising to receive a lot of benefits as long as you exercise at a high intensity.

Pinto Pereira SM¹, Geoffroy MC², Power C¹. Depressive Symptoms and Physical Activity During 3 Decades in Adult Life: Bidirectional Associations in a Prospective Cohort Study. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014 Oct 15. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.1240. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

This is how you can quickly improve your memory performance

Did you know that exercise can improve your memory?

Maybe you have heard that before, but how long do you think it takes? Not very long depending on how you exercise.

You may not think of exercise as stress, but exercise is putting stress on your body, that's why it works. The body responds to the stress, and you will for example get stronger or improve your endurance depending on how you exercise.

Because exercise is stressful, you will also release stress hormones.

The reviewed research measured participants noradrenaline one of the hormones released when under stress, and showed the participants pictures they should try to remember (Weinberg L et al, 2014).

One group did resistance exercise with one leg after they were shown the pictures, while the control group sat and had the machine move their leg for them.

2 days later they were tested for recall of the pictures. The group that exercised remembered more of the pictures. Also interesting was that the ones that had the strongest response to the exercise, nor-epinephrine increased the most, also performed better on the memory test.

The researchers also found that emotional pictures were remembered better than neutral ones. This has also been documented in other studies.

This is even another example of the importance of the intensity you exercise with. The more intense it is, the less time you have to spend exercising. You will also stimulate more muscle growth, and more release of beneficial hormones, and it will even improve your memory.

Weinberg L, Hasni A, Shinohara M, Duarte A. A single bout of resistance exercise can enhance episodic memory performance. Acta Psychol (Amst). 2014 Sep 25;153C:13-19. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.06.011. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

How dangerous is sitting?

It is important that the endothelium is healthy, which is the inner lining of the blood vessel wall, and it is also important to have good circulation through those blood vessels.

If these factors are compromised the risk for atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries) will also increase, and you don't want that.

The reviewed research is interesting because it investigated a common reason for decline in circulation and what you can do to prevent it(Thosar SS et al. 2014).

The researchers measured flow mediated dilation (FMD) for the superficial femoral artery. When blood flows through a blood vessel, the vessel will dilate and FMD measures this.

FMD was measured after the participants had been sitting for 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours without getting up. The participants then walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes after they had been sitting for 30 minutes, 1.5 hour and 2.5 hours and the same FMD measurements were performed.

The FMD significantly declined after sitting for 1, 2 and 3 hours, but walking for 5 minutes every hour prevented the decline in FMD.

Just a simple thing like this can make a difference, and depending on the activity, you may not even have to be active for 5 minutes.

Thosar SS, Bielko SL, Mather KJ, Johnston JD, Wallace JP. Effect of Prolonged Sitting and Breaks in Sitting Time on Endothelial Function. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2014 Aug 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Magnesium lowered triglycerides by 47.4 percent

The reviewed research is interesting because it shows results from taking magnesium that most people would find surprising(Rodriguez-Moran M, Guerrero-Romero F, 2014).

Participants in this study had metabolic syndrome and low levels of magnesium. They were given magnesium or a placebo once a day for 4 months.

 At the end of the study period, the blood pressure, insulin resistance index, fasting glucose and triglyceride levels all improved in the participants taking the magnesium.

How can only taking magnesium change all these things?

The reason is that magnesium is a very important mineral, and it is involved in many important metabolic functions. In this case it improved insulin resistance with 46.5 percent.

When insulin sensitivity improves not only will blood glucose levels improve, but blood pressure and triglyceride levels as well. Usually cholesterol will also improve, but that was not measured in this case.

When taking magnesium, you should take it with other minerals, since minerals affect each other, and magnesium helps regulate intra and extra cellular calcium levels. This may also help to prevent calcium from getting deposited in places you don't want it.

Magnesium comes in different forms. The most common form is magnesium oxide because it is the cheapest form, but it is very poorly absorbed, and it can also give you diarrhea.

A better form of magnesium is a special form of amino acid chelate. This form is much better absorbed and will not giving you diarrhea.

Rodríguez-Moran M¹, Guerrero-Romero F². Oral magnesium supplementation improves the metabolic profile of metabolically obese, normal-weight individuals: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.Arch Med Res. 2014 Jul;45(5):388-93. doi: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2014.05.003. Epub 2014 May 13.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

What's better, whole eggs or egg substitutes?

You have probably been warned at one time against eating eggs, because eating eggs could raise your cholesterol and in turn increase your risk for cardiovascular disease.

The reviewed research should shed some light on this issue(Blesso CN, et al. 2013).

In this study the participants were either consuming 3 whole eggs per day or the equivalent amount in yolk-free egg substitute, as part of a moderately carbohydrate-restricted diet for 12 weeks.

Plasma lipids as well as several cardiovascular risk markers, even particle size of both HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol), were measured.

All of these risk factors improved in the participants eating the eggs, but not for the participants eating the egg substitute.

Even plasma insulin and insulin resistance were reduced and the diameter of the HDL and LDL increased only in the group that ate eggs. These are all risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Apparently eating eggs will reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, not increase it as we used to believe.

Blesso CN, Andersen CJ, Barona J, Volek JS, Fernandez ML. Whole egg consumption improves lipoprotein profiles and insulin sensitivity to a greater extent than yolk-free egg substitute in individuals with metabolic syndrome. Metabolism. 2013 Mar;62(3):400-10. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2012.08.014. Epub 2012 Sep 27.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Surprising way artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance

Artificial sweeteners are used as an additive in both beverages, as well as food, to improve taste since most people prefer a sweet taste.

Since these sweeteners contain very few calories, they are also popular in diet beverages and diet foods. They are even used in products marketed to people with diabetes and promoted as a good alternative to sugar.

This seems to be a big mistake according to the reviewed research(Suez J, et al. 2014).

The results demonstrated that consumption of these sweeteners are causing glucose intolerance because they alter the composition of the intestinal bacterial flora in a negative way.

These results have been reproduced in both humans and mice.

The last thing you want to do is to consume a substance that will make you more glucose intolerant. This is very important for diabetics, but also for non diabetics because you don't want to develop diabetes.

Suez J, Korem T, Zeevi D, Zilberman-Schapira G, Thaiss CA, Maza O, Israeli D, Zmora N, Gilad S, Weinberger A, Kuperman Y, Harmelin A, Kolodkin-Gal I, Shapiro H, Halpern Z, Segal E, Elinav E. Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature. 2014 Sep 17. doi: 10.1038/nature13793. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Taking this vitamin regularly could reduce your risk for dementia

The reviewed research included 1658 elderly participants who were free from dementia at the start of the study(Littlejohns TJ et al. 2014).

The vitamin they were tested for was vitamin D.

During the average follow-up of 5.6 years, 171 participants developed dementia including 102 cases of Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers concluded that the results confirmed that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

In my experience, just by taking 2000 IU of vitamin D 3 per day would keep you above the level of what this research indicates as increased risk for dementia.

Littlejohns TJ, Henley WE, Lang IA, Annweiler C, Beauchet O, Chaves PH, Fried L, Kestenbaum BR, Kuller LH, Langa KM, Lopez OL, Kos K, Soni M, Llewellyn DJ. Vitamin D and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2014 Sep 2;83(10):920-8. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000000755. Epub 2014 Aug 6.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Your gastrointestinal bacterias may influence your blood sugar

A lot has been written about the bacterial flora of the gastrointestinal tract lately and how it can affect other areas of the body.

The reviewed research evaluated the effects of seven strains of friendly bacterias and how they may affect insulin sensitivity(Eslamparast T, et al. 2014).

Participants with the metabolic syndrome were given capsules containing 200 million of seven strains of friendly bacterias twice a day for 28 weeks.

Fasting blood sugar and insulin resistance improved significantly in the treatment group.

While we don't know all the friendly bacterias yet, we know that quite a few can be beneficial to take. When you are traveling, it can be a good idea to bring a pro-biotic which does not require refrigeration since this may also help to prevent gastrointestinal problems if you are exposed to bacterias you are not used to.

Eslamparast T, Zamani F, Hekmatdoost A, Sharafkhah M, Eghtesad S, Malekzadeh R, Poustchi H.
Effects of synbiotic supplementation on insulin resistance in subjects with the metabolic syndrome: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Br J Nutr. 2014 Aug;112(3):438-45. doi: 10.1017/S0007114514000919. Epub 2014 May 22.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Do you have to be in good shape to tolerate high-intensity short interval training?

High/intensity short/interval training is a type of exercise that stresses the body hard for a very short period of time. In other words, it is hard exercise, but you don't have to spend much time doing it.

That you don't have to spend much time exercising appeals to most people, but you may wonder if you can tolerate it. Is it safe to exercise this way if you are not in great shape?

The reviewed research should answer that question, but make up your own mind after reading this.

It may surprise you that anybody would even try this with people in the shape that they were. The researchers took patients with signs of chronic heart failure and had one group do high/intensity short/interval training, and had another group do the regular continuous aerobic exercise training(Koufaki P et al. 2014).
The program lasted for 6 months and the participants were tested for cardio respiratory fitness at the start and at the end.

Peak oxygen uptake, sit to stand and gait speed improved equality in both groups, no difference in results.
The researchers concluded that the training adaptations were achieved in the high intensity short interval training group despite a significant reduced time commitment and reduced work volume when compared to continuous aerobic exercise training.

There is really no reason to waist time exercising for a long period of time unless you enjoy the exercise itself. The high intensity training was also tolerated well.

Maybe it should not be a surprise that people with heart failure can exercise like this.

Years ago people were advised not to do any exercise after they had a heart attack, believing exercise would increase their risk for another heart attack. That has been changed because we know better now, that exercise is one of the things that will help prevent heart problems.

Koufaki P¹, Mercer TH, George KP, Nolan J. Low-volume high-intensity interval training vs continuous aerobic cycling in patients with chronic heart failure: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial of feasibility and effectiveness. J Rehabil Med. 2014 Apr;46(4):348-56. doi: 10.2340/16501977-1278.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

More on salt, how much do you need?

This research is interesting because it measured sodium and potassium excretion and examined the association between major cardiovascular events and death(O'Donnell M et al. 2014).

Urine samples from 101,945 persons in 17 countries were included in the study with a follow up time of an average 3.7 years.

The average estimated sodium excretion was 4.93 g per day and the potassium was 2.12 g per day.
So how does this relate to sodium intake?

Based on the urinary excretion, an estimated sodium intake between 3 g per day and 6 g per day was associated with a lower risk of death and cardiovascular events than was either a higher or a lower intake.
Higher potassium excretion was also associated with lower risks.

These findings are higher than what's been recommended for sodium intake in the U.S.. The recommendations in the U.S. are now being questioned by many.

O'Donnell M¹, Mente A, Rangarajan S, McQueen MJ, Wang X, Liu L, Yan H, Lee SF, Mony P, Devanath A, Rosengren A, Lopez-Jaramillo P, Diaz R, Avezum A, Lanas F, Yusoff K, Iqbal R, Ilow R, Mohammadifard N, Gulec S, Yusufali AH, Kruger L, Yusuf R, Chifamba J, Kabali C, Dagenais G, Lear SA, Teo K, Yusuf S; PURE Investigators. Urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 2014 Aug 14;371(7):612-23. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1311889.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Is systemic inflammation making your pain worse?

Knee pain is very common as we get older, and so is systemic inflammation, but what is systemic inflammation?

Systemic inflammation is the type of inflammation that you may not even know you have an issue with, because you don't have to have a swollen joint. This type of inflammation is low grade, and it affects your whole body. It can, however, be measured by checking certain inflammatory markers.

The reviewed research investigated if there was an association between increased knee pain and systemic inflammation(Stannus OP et al. 2013). The participants were 149 men and women with an average age of 63 years. Knee pain was determined using an osteoarthritis pain questionnaire at the start of the study and then five years later. Radio graphs as well as MRI were used in the examination.

Several inflammatory markers were tested, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).

The conclusion was that systemic inflammation is an independent predictor of worsening knee pain over 5 years. Adjustments for radio graphic osteoarthritis or structural abnormalities detected on the MRI did not make much difference regarding that association.

Does this mean that you can't do anything about this?

No, you can do something about this, and I suggest you do, because systemic inflammation is also a risk factor for chronic disease.

Research has documented that the food you eat can be quite effective in reducing this type of inflammation.
This is one of the things you learn in "The Special Effects Diet". You can download it here.

Stannus OP¹, Jones G, Blizzard L, Cicuttini FM, Ding C. Associations between serum levels of inflammatory markers and change in knee pain over 5 years in older adults: a prospective cohort study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Apr;72(4):535-40. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-201047. Epub 2012

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Can you change your estrogen metabolites by exercising?

What would be the benefits of changing your estrogen metabolites?

Certain estrogen metabolites are related to a higher risk for estrogen related diseases. Breast cancer is one of those diseases.

If you could change the ratio between the harmless metabolites and the ones related to an increased risk for estrogen related problems you would be better off.

The reviewed research investigated if exercise could do that since exercise has shown to reduce the risk for breast cancer.(Smith AJ,et.al.,2013).

The participants were healthy young women who were divided into either an exercise group doing 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise 5 days a week or a sedentary control group. The study went on for approximately 16 weeks.

Estrogens and estrogen metabolites were measured,and the rates of the different metabolites were calculated. The change from the baseline measurements increased significantly in the exercise group for 2-OHE1/16α-OHE1 which is the ratio of the estrogen metabolites associated with a decreased risk for estrogen related diseases. This change was not seen in the control group.

The researchers concluded that this may be the mechanism by which increased physical activity is decreasing the risk for breast cancer.

Smith AJ¹, Phipps WR, Thomas W, Schmitz KH, Kurzer MS. The effects of aerobic exercise on estrogen metabolism in healthy premenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 May;22(5):756-64. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-1325.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Low cholesterol associated with increased mortality risk, too low can be dangerous

Have you been told or have you read that the more you lower your cholesterol the better off you are?
You may also have heard that having high cholesterol is healthy. So what is correct?

More and more research documents that it may be dangerous to lower your cholesterol too much, but the reviewed research is shedding some light on this (Bae J M et al. 2012).

Screenings from 12,740 adults between the ages of 40 and 69 years were included in the study, and they were followed from 1993 to 2008. The results were probably surprising to a lot of people.

Cholesterol below 160 mg/dl as well as above 240 mg/dl was associated with higher cardiovascular disease mortality. As with many physiological functions the risk ratio has a U-formed curve.

Both too little and too much is not good, it needs to be between certain levels.

Cholesterol has often been presented as a bad thing we would be better off without.

That could not be further from the truth. Cholesterol is necessary for many functions; the body makes it for a reason.

Eating more nuts, seeds and olive oil and less high glycemic index carbohydrates would help to keep your cholesterol in a healthy range.

Bae JM¹, Yang YJ, Li ZM, Ahn YO. Low cholesterol is associated with mortality from cardiovascular diseases: a dynamic cohort study in Korean adults. J Korean Med Sci. 2012 Jan;27(1):58-63. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2012.27.1.58. Epub 2011 Dec 19.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

How do you think stress affects your metabolism?

You don't want to have a slow metabolic rate because that would make it harder to maintain a lean body composition.

You can probably also agree that most of us are exposed to plenty of stress during a average day.
I think you will find the reviewed research interesting because it investigated how stress may affect our metabolic rate (Kiecolt-Glaser JK, et.al.,2014).

Fifty-eight healthy women, with the average age of 53.1 years, participated in the study and were given high fat test meals. The day prior to eating the test meals, stressors were also assessed using a standard test. Fat and carbohydrate oxidation, triglycerides, cortisol, insulin and glucose were measured before and after the 2 high fat meals.

It was found that greater numbers of stressors were associated with lower fat oxidation after the meals and also higher insulin levels.

The difference between stressors the day before and no stressors turned out to be 435 kj which is approximately 104 calories. The researchers estimated that it could add up to almost 11 pounds per year in weight gain.

This means that stress can contribute to weight gain.

You may not be able to control the factors contributing to stress, but you can, with some training, control how you react to stress.

In other words you can make yourself more stress resistant.

Meditation is a great tool for that.

Kiecolt-Glaser JK¹, Habash DL², Fagundes CP³, Andridge R⁴, Peng J⁴, Malarkey WB⁵, Belury MA⁶.

Daily Stressors, Past Depression, and Metabolic Responses to High-Fat Meals: A Novel Path to Obesity. Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Jul 9. pii: S0006-3223(14)00385-0. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.05.018. [Epub ahead of print]
 
Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Research documents an easy way to slow brain shrinkage

Brain size makes a difference when it comes to memory.

The problem is that the brain shrinks as we age. If we could prevent that, we could also help prevent memory loss as we get older. That is what the reviewed research investigated (Daiello LA, et.al. 2014).
The participants were assessed with neuropsychological tests and brain magnetic resonance imaging every 6 months. The participants that used fish oil supplements during the follow up had a significantly better outcome on the neuropsychological tests which indicated better cognition.

Not only that, but the fish oil use was also associated with less atrophy (brain loss) in one or more brain regions related to memory.

The active ingredients of omega 3 fish oil is EPA and DHA, so if you are going to take fish oil, you want to use a product that has high amounts of EPA, DHA.

Daiello LA¹, Gongvatana A², Dunsiger S³, Cohen RA², Ott BR⁴; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Association of fish oil supplement use with preservation of brain volume and cognitive function. Alzheimer's Dement. 2014 Jun 18. pii: S1552-5260(14)00079-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.02.005. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

How well is your fish oil absorbed?

To maximize the benefits from the nutrients you're taking, you need to absorb them well.

The reviewed research is interesting because it investigated how well fish oil was absorbed(Beckermann B, et.al.1990). The study was a so-called crossover trial. This means that the same participants ingested different kinds of fish oil, which were compared to see if there was a difference in how well they were absorbed.

Three forms of omega-3 fat were compared, and the amount of EPA/DHA (the active ingredients of omega-3 fat) were measured in the blood after the participant ingested capsules containing different forms of omega-3 fat.

The most common form of fish oil is ethyl esters because it is cheaper to make, so that was included in the study. Also included was free fatty acids.

These two forms were compared with a triglyceride form.

The free fatty acid form was absorbed the best, but free fatty acids oxidize very easy which means they get rancid very easy, so it is unlikely that you will find that form as a supplement. The triglyceride form is the most stable form and the study documented that the triglyceride form was absorbed 50 percent better than the ethyl ester form.

It is more expensive to produce fish oil in a triglyceride form, but you don't have to pay 50 percent more for a quality product, so the triglyceride form is a better choice.

Beckermann B¹, Beneke M, Seitz I. [Comparative bioavailability of eicosapentaenoic acid and docasahexaenoic acid from triglycerides, free fatty acids and ethyl esters in volunteers]. Arzneimittelforschung. 1990 Jun;40(6):700-4.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

What you drink could increase your blood pressure

A lot has been written about the effect salt may have on your blood pressure, but not much has been mentioned about the topic of the reviewed research.

In this research the results of several studies which included 409,707 participants were included (Malik AH, et.al.,2014). The researchers investigated how a common habit many people have may affect their blood pressure, and that habit was drinking sugar sweetened beverages.

They found that the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages were associated with higher blood pressure leading to increased incidence of hypertension.

Comparatively few people may be aware of the health hazards of sweet soft drinks. Many also still think that a glass of fruit juice is a very healthy choice, but it is actually loaded with sugar. Keep that in mind especially now when it is summer and you want to pick up something to drink.

Water is certainly the best choice, but if you want something sparkly, use carbonated water and squeeze some lemon juice in it if you want more taste.

Malik AH1, Akram Y2, Shetty S2, Malik SS3, Yanchou Njike V4. Impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on blood pressure. Am J Cardiol. 2014 May 1;113(9):1574-80. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2014.01.437. Epub 2014 Feb 12.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

What effects brain loss as you get older?

As we get older we gradually experience a certain degree of brain atrophy. The rate of which the brain volume is changing is, however, not the same for everyone. The good news is that there is something you can do to slow down this process.

An Austrian study of 201 participants evaluated brain volume changes over 6 years. Using MRI scans, it was documented that the participants with higher Hemoglobin A1c levels also had a higher rate of brain atrophy (Enzinger C, et.al.,2005).

Hemoglobin A1c is a measurement of long term glucose control.

The participants with high alcohol intake also lost brain volume faster, and so did the ones with a high body mass index.

As you can see, these are things you can do something about. If you get into the habit of eating low glycemic index meals it will help to make you more insulin sensitive and lower Hemoglobin A1c. If you also add some exercise to that, it will help even more.

If you find this interesting I believe you will find the information in "The Special Effects Diet" very interesting also.

Enzinger C¹, Fazekas F, Matthews PM, Ropele S, Schmidt H, Smith S, Schmidt R. Risk factors for progression of brain atrophy in aging: six-year follow-up of normal subjects. Neurology. 2005 May 24;64(10):1704-11.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Too little or too much sleep can affect your memory

The reviewed study is interesting, not only because it investigated how very little sleep may affect your memory, but also how a lot of sleep can influence it(Devore EE,et.al.,2014).

The participants were 15,385 female nurses and 4 repeated assessments were performed over 6 years.

Women sleeping 5 hours or less had worse cognition than those who were sleeping 7 hours, and so did the women who slept more than 9 hours. Women whose sleep duration changed by 2 hours or more over time also had worse cognitive function than the women with no change in sleep duration.

It was concluded that extreme sleep duration at midlife and later life, and also extreme changes in sleep duration are associated with poor cognition in older women.

The message is that it is not only important to sleep well in your older years, but also how you sleep earlier in life may affect your memory when you get older.

Devore EE¹, Grodstein F, Duffy JF, Stampfer MJ, Czeisler CA, Schernhammer ES. Sleep duration in midlife and later life in relation to cognition. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Jun;62(6):1073-81. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12790. Epub 2014 May 1.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

How healthy is green tea?

Green tea seems to be one of the best things you can drink for your health. One of the reasons is that it contains a lot of antioxidants.

One of the most important things we can do to stay healthy is to be sure we stay insulin sensitive. When we are insulin sensitive the glucose is transferred from the blood into the cells very easily without the pancreas having to release a lot of insulin. This will keep the blood glucose at a low and normal level, and also help to keep inflammation low, both are very important if we want to be healthy.

The reviewed research investigated if green tea could improve glucose control and increase insulin sensitivity(Liu K, et.al.,2013).

17 studies were included in the analysis. It showed that green tea consumption significantly reduced the fasting glucose and Hemoglobin A1c. Hemoglobin A1c is a test for long-term glucose control.

If you don't like green tea and if you want to be sure your green tea does not contain a lot of pesticides, you can take it in capsule form like our "Better Green Tea" formula which meets the German standards for pesticide content, which is very strict.

Liu K¹, Zhou R, Wang B, Chen K, Shi LY, Zhu JD, Mi MT. Effect of green tea on glucose control and insulin sensitivity: a meta-analysis of 17 randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug;98(2):340-8. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.052746. Epub 2013 Jun 26.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Can exercise be dangerous?

We have all heard that exercise is healthy and it is, but is it healthy for everybody and are all types of exercises healthy?

This is what you need to know
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When lifelong competitive endurance veteran athletes were compared with younger endurance athletes and control age-matched participants, they were found to have myocardial fibrosis which is abnormal changes to the heart muscle(Wilson M,et.al.,2011).

This finding was significantly associated with the years spent training, the number of competitive marathons and ultra endurance marathons completed.

Keep in mind that this was hard endurance training and extreme endurance competition over a lifetime, it does not mean that exercise is not good, it just means that this type of activity does not seem to be the best.

Another study compared participants with coronary heart disease with different levels of physical activity(Mons U,et.al.,2014). They found that participating in strenuous endurance exercises more than 5 hours per week increased cardiovascular mortality. Exercising less than twice per week also increased the risk.

What does this all mean? It means that it is important to be sure you get enough recovery time, and long hours of endurance training is not the best way of spending your time. You are more likely going to reap more benefits if you do high intensity, short interval training and include some resistance training the other days.

One of the important things to keep in mind is that recovery from the exercise is as important as the exercise itself. Without proper recovery it just adds stress.

Mons U, Hahmann H, Brenner H. A reverse J-shaped association of leisure time physical activity with prognosis in patients with stable coronary heart disease: evidence from a large cohort with repeated measurements. Heart. 2014 May 14. pii: heartjnl-2013-305242. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2013-305242. [Epub ahead of print]

Wilson M, O'Hanlon R, Prasad S, Deighan A, Macmillan P, Oxborough D, Godfrey R, Smith G, Maceira A, Sharma S, George K, Whyte G. Diverse patterns of myocardial fibrosis in lifelong, veteran endurance athletes. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2011 Jun;110(6):1622-6. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01280.2010. Epub 2011 Feb 17.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Reduce your blood glucose with short breaks of physical activity

Elevated blood glucose causes damage to tissue and can increase low grade inflammation which increases the risk for chronic diseases.

We have known for a long time that exercise helps to transfer the blood glucose into the cells, that way lowering the blood glucose.

As it turns out it does not take a lot of activity to do that. The reviewed research is interesting because it compared two approaches of activity during 9 hours of sitting(Peddie MC, et.al.,2013).

The participants were 70 adults who were each given 3 meal replacement drinks during the 9 hours. On one occasion they walked for 30 minutes and were then sitting for 9 hours and on another occasion they were breaking up the sitting with walking for 1 minute and 40 seconds every 30 minutes.

The results showed that both blood glucose levels and insulin levels were reduced more when they walked for 1 minute and 40 seconds every 30 minutes as compared to continuous walking for 30 minutes.

In my experience, you don't even have to spend that much time being active if you practice a certain type of activity.

I will be writing more about that in a future article.

Peddie MC¹, Bone JL, Rehrer NJ, Skeaff CM, Gray AR, Perry TL. Breaking prolonged sitting reduces postprandial glycemia in healthy, normal-weight adults: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug;98(2):358-66. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.051763. Epub 2013 Jun 26.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Could gluten cause problems for everybody?

There is more and more information published every day on adverse reactions to gluten.

We used to believe that if you did not have celiac disease, you would not have any issues with gluten. This does not seem to be true since there are different degrees of gluten intolerance. People who have celiac disease just have a very severe reaction to it.

A gastroenterologist and researcher at Harvard University has published a very interesting article on this subject(Fasano,A,2011).

The intestinal mucosa act as a barrier to protect us from pathogens and other particles that are not supposed to be absorbed into the blood. This is called intestinal permeability.

Dr. Fasano explains that gliadin (a protein found in gluten) trigger IL-8 (an inflammatory cytokine) leading to recruitment of neutrophils. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell which are activated as a part of the body's defense mechanism.

Gliadin increases intestinal permeability through the release of a substance called zonulin. When the intestinal permeability increases we may absorb both pathogens (bacterias) and larger proteins not intended to be absorbed, triggering an inflammatory response.

Gliadin also interacts with macrophages, another type of white blood cell. This establishes an inflammatory environment in the intestinal mucosa. Depending on genetic predisposition, we will then experience a more or less severe reaction. This may, for example, trigger an autoimmune response in someone who is predisposed to that.

In other words, it looks like gluten is triggering an inflammatory response in everybody, but because we don't have exactly the same genes, we will not have exactly the same reaction.

Gluten is found in common grains, but gluten free grains are not without problems either because they elevate the blood glucose high. There are; however, solutions to this which you will find in the "Special Effects Diet" program.

Fasano A. Zonulin and its regulation of intestinal barrier function: the biological door to inflammation, autoimmunity, and cancer. Physiol Rev. 2011 Jan;91(1):151-75. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00003.2008.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Interesting reason why you may gain fat around your waist

When you notice that you have gained fat around your waist, it usually also means that you have gained visceral fat.

Visceral fat is fat deposited around your inner organs, and is contributing to metabolic dysfunction and inflammation.

The reviewed research is very interesting because it investigated if there was a connection between an increase in waist circumference, visceral fat, and increased intestinal permeability(Gummesson A, et.al.,2011). Intestinal permeability is a way to tell if we are absorbing particles into the blood that were not meant to be absorbed. The mucosal membranes of the intestinal tract are supposed to protect us from absorbing pathogens like bacterias and also large protein particles that were not meant to be absorbed. Our body will attempt to defend itself by triggering inflammation when we absorb particles that we are not meant to absorb.

In this study, waist circumference and intestinal permeability were measured, and computed tomography and dual energy X-Ray were also used.

A positive correlation was found between waist circumference and intestinal permeability. Visceral fat and liver fat also correlated with increased intestinal permeability.

It is important to have normal intestinal permeability and a well functioning gastrointestinal tract for many reasons, and it may also help you in keeping your waist slim.

Click here to learn how to eat to support a healthy gastrointestinal tract.

Gummesson A¹, Carlsson LM, Storlien LH, Bäckhed F, Lundin P, Löfgren L, Stenlöf K, Lam YY, Fagerberg B, Carlsson B. Intestinal permeability is associated with visceral adiposity in healthy women. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Nov;19(11):2280-2. doi: 10.1038/oby.2011.251. Epub 2011 Aug 18.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Not all omega-3 fatty acids will improve your memory

We know that fat is important for the brain, and more specifically omega 3 fat.

Active ingredients of omega 3 fats are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA

(docosahexaenoic acid), but which one of these two ingredients are the most important for memory?

The reviewed research investigated just that. The study was a double blind crossover design where EPA and DHA were given to the participants, but with a 30 day wash out period in between the two supplementation periods (Bauer I, et.al.,2014). Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were used during
memory tests both before, and after, each 30 day supplementation period.

Both the EPA and DHA showed an increase in activation of a certain area of the brain, and the EPA reduced the reaction time of a specific test. The DHA, however, did not show any change in behavior performance. The researchers concluded that after EPA supplementation the participants' brains worked less hard and achieved better cognitive performance, indicating that DHA supplementation is less effective than EPA supplementation in enhancing neurocognitive function.

Certain supplements containing only DHA have become popular because the belief has been that DHA is the most important one for the brain. That belief, however, does not seem to be accurate.

I believe we are better off taking a supplement that includes both EPA and DHA, since there are benefits to both.

Click here to read more about the benefits of EPA and DHA.

Bauer I, Hughes M, Rowsell R, Cockerell R, Pipingas A, Crewther S, Crewther D. Omega-3 supplementation improves cognition and modifies brain activation in young adults. Hum Psychopharmacol. 2014 Mar;29(2):133-44.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Improve your odds of not getting sick

For your immune system to keep you healthy, the white blood cells need to effectively engulf and kill bacterias and viruses. This process is called phagocytosis.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could improve the ability of your white blood cells to kill bacterias and viruses, in other words improve phagocytosis. If you could do it without taking any medication, that would be even better.

That was exactly what was investigated in the reviewed research(Fernandes CA, et.al.,2012).

Twenty-nine healthy individuals, both men and women, 24 to 67 years old, participated in the study. They received three hours of training, weekly, in meditation during the 10 weeks the study lasted. They also agreed to practice daily for 20 minutes at home. To evaluate the phagocytosis, the production of hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide by the monocytes(a type of white blood cell) was measured. Corticotrophin and cortisol, hormones released under stress, were also measured.

The measurements were done at the beginning of the study, halfway through, and at the end. The participants who meditated for more than 980 minutes showed an increase in phagocytosis. Their monocytes, a type of white blood cell, produced higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The level of corticotrophin hormone also went down.

By just using your mind, you can improve your body's ability to fight disease.

Fernandes CA¹, Nóbrega YK, Tosta CE. Pranic meditation affects phagocyte functions and hormonal levels of recent practitioners. J Altern Complement Med. 2012 Aug;18(8):761-8. doi: 10.1089/acm.2010.0718. Epub 2012 Jul 9.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

A benefit of exercise you may not be aware of.

As we get older inflammation usually increases. You don't necessarily have to get increased inflammation as you age, but that's what's been observed in a lot of people. You probably know that inflammation is a risk factor for most chronic diseases, it can also make you more uncomfortable because it can contribute to pain.
It would be great if you had a way to reduce inflammation without taking any medication. In fact there are ways you can do that, and instead of side effects you even get a lot of additional benefits.

Exercise is one of the things that can reduce inflammation. That is exactly what the reviewed study investigated, by looking at data from a lot of research on this specific topic(Woods JA, et.al., 2012). Data on the participants activity level, as well as measurements of several inflammatory markers, were used.

As you may have guessed, exercise was found to reduce some of these inflammatory markers, especially highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP).

One of the studies they looked at also investigated the effects of antioxidants on inflammation. They found that the participants who took antioxidants had reduced inflammation, even if they did not exercise(Colbert LH, et.al.,2004).

The logical thing would be to both exercise and take antioxidants.

The most effective antioxidant the body makes is glutathione, but the problem is that it produces less of it as we get older, when we actually need more.

You can read more about this by clicking here.

Colbert LH¹, Visser M, Simonsick EM, Tracy RP, Newman AB, Kritchevsky SB, Pahor M, Taaffe DR, Brach J, Rubin S, Harris TB. Physical activity, exercise, and inflammatory markers in older adults: findings from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004 Jul;52(7):1098-104.

Woods JA¹, Wilund KR, Martin SA, Kistler BM. Exercise, inflammation and aging. Aging Dis. 2012 Feb;3(1):130-40. Epub 2011 Oct 29.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Can this be the reason why your mood is not good?

You want to be happy and not feel depressed, and while we don't understand all the reasons for depression, new research suggests that low-grade systemic inflammation may be involved(Wium-Andersen MK, et.al., 2013).

This is exactly what the reviewed research investigated by measuring plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker. 73131 participants both men and women between the age of 20 and 100 years were included.

The conclusion of the study was that elevated levels of CRP are associated with increased risk for psychological distress and depression in the general population.

Maybe this looks a little bit strange to you, but the food you eat could actually be contributing to this type of inflammation, and for that reason also affect your mood.

If you find this interesting take a look at "The Special Effects Diet".
Wium-Andersen MK1, Ørsted DD, Nielsen SF, Nordestgaard BG. Elevated C-reactive protein levels, psychological distress, and depression in 73, 131 individuals. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013 Feb;70(2):176-84. doi: 10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.102.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

You can use your mind to reduce inflammation.

Inflammation is a risk factor for all chronic diseases, and inflammation will also increase any pain you may have. Wouldn't it be great if you could reduce inflammation by just using your mind? The good news is that you can! 

The reviewed research investigated this(Black DS, et.al.,2013). 39 dementia caregivers either meditated for 12 minutes daily for 8 weeks or listened to relaxing music.

In the participants who meditated, 68 genes were found to be expressed differently, 19 were up-regulated and 49 were down-regulated. Up-regulated genes included immunoglobulin-related transcripts and the ones which were down- regulated were pro-inflammatory cytokines.

What this means is that meditation may reverse a pattern of increased NF-kappaB driven inflammation and also reduce IRF1-related transcription of innate antiviral response genes which has been observed in healthy individuals confronting a significant life stressor.

This was accomplished by spending only 12 minutes per day of this special type of meditation.

Black DS1, Cole SW, Irwin MR, Breen E, St Cyr NM, Nazarian N, Khalsa DS, Lavretsky H. Yogic meditation reverses NF-κB and IRF-related transcriptome dynamics in leukocytes of family dementia caregivers in a randomized controlled trial. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Mar;38(3):348-55. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.06.011. Epub 2012 Jul 15.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Higher Blood Glucose Makes Your Memory Suffer

Like so many others, you may have noticed that you can’t remember like you once could. Sadly, some of your most common habits may actually increase your risk for developing dementia. Pay attention to this - life expectancy is increasing! If you don't do anything to change, most likely you will get worse as you get older. But wait! There are changes you can do that will make a difference.

The reviewed research makes it clear that reduced memory is not a coincidence, and that you have quite a bit of control(Kerti L, et.al.,2013). The study participants were 141 individuals both men and women with an average age of 62.1 years. A verbal learning test was used and their fasting HbA1c, glucose and insulin were checked. HbA1c is a measurement of long term glucose control. MRI scans were implemented to assess hippocampal volume and microstructure.

The results were very interesting and showed that even in the absence of type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, chronically higher blood glucose levels had a negative influence on cognition possibly due to structural changes in brain areas relevant to learning.

The researchers stated that strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition.

Click here and learn how to take control!

Kerti L1, Witte AV, Winkler A, Grittner U, Rujescu D, Flöel A Higher glucose levels associated with lower memory and reduced hippocampal microstructure. Neurology. 2013 Nov 12;81(20):1746-52. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000435561.00234.ee. Epub 2013 Oct 23.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Is reducing your salt intake really that healthy?

Salt has a bad reputation. The news stories are always the same: salt is bad, reduce your salt intake! I think it’s time to question that.

We don't need the same amount of salt all the time. Why is that?

When it is hot and we perspire more, or when we exercise and perspire more, we lose more salt which needs to be replaced. On days like that, we need to eat more salt. One of the reasons why runners sometimes get cramps is because of a high salt loss and not enough salt intake to compensate.

The reviewed research is interesting because it looked at salt intake and mortality related to all cause mortality and cardiovascular disease events(Graudal N,et.al.,2014). Looking at data from 25 studies it was found that both low salt intake and high salt intake are associated with increased mortality.

This makes sense. Before you cut out all salt, make an assessment of how much you perspire and take into consideration what your blood pressure is.

If your blood pressure is high and your ankles are swollen, obviously you may need to reduce your salt intake. On the other hand if you perspire a lot because you exercise and your blood pressure is normal, you probably don't need to reduce your salt intake.

Graudal N1, Jürgens G, Baslund B, Alderman MH. Compared With Usual Sodium Intake, Low- and Excessive-Sodium Diets Are Associated With Increased Mortality: A Meta-Analysis. Am J Hypertens. 2014 Mar 20. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Do you eat enough fat?

What you eat could have a significant effect on your memory. The Mediterranean diet provides many health benefits, but can it be made even more effective?

That is what the reviewed research investigated. 522 participants both men and women at high vascular risk were followed for six and half years (Martinez-Lapiscinia EH,et.al.,2013). Two Mediterranean diets, either supplemented with extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts were compared to a low-fat diet. Cognitive performance was evaluated using a Mini-Mental State Examination and also a clock drawing test.

Both of the Mediterranean diets, supplemented with either olive oil or nuts, improved the cognition compared to the low fat diet. The group with the most improvement was the group supplemented with extra virgin olive oil.

The "Special Effects Diet" provides you with the tools you need to implement a very effective way of eating to optimize your genetic potential.

Martínez-Lapiscina EH1, Clavero P, Toledo E, Estruch R, Salas-Salvadó J, San Julián B, Sanchez-Tainta A, Ros E, Valls-Pedret C, Martinez-Gonzalez MÁ. Mediterranean diet improves cognition: the PREDIMED-NAVARRA randomized trial. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2013 Dec;84(12):1318-25. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2012-304792. Epub 2013 May 13.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.