2004 Ad

Better Nutrition, Dec, 2004

The beauty of compiling an end-of-the-year list of the top 10 of anything--be it college football teams or news stories--is that everybody with an opinion thinks you've gotten it wrong. Which is fine because progress--at least in the West--depends on a process of point versus counter-point.

We selected the following stories--all reported this year in BN--based on how we thought they would affect the most immediate health concerns of the most people. Hence, our picks tend to deal with the basics--heart disease, cancer, anti-aging and the like.

Our selections also show, we believe, that there are no magic health bullets, only progress based on the accumulation of facts. Indeed, that is the scientific method. And so, what we have here are less separate items than one larger story of continued advancement in natural health.

Heart Claim Approved

In a rare move, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the short list of foods that can make "heart-health" claims on their labels.

Already, you may have seen the words "heart healthy" on some "added phytosterols" brands of orange juice, margarine, cheese or rice drink products. If not, you can find sterols--also known as stanols--in supplement form. Sterols compete with cholesterol for absorption, thereby reducing blood levels of cholesterol by as much as 8-15 percent.

When taken with soy, sterols can lower cholesterol by 26 percent.

Surprisingly, sterols taken with low-fat foods were still found to reduce LDL, or "bad" cholesterol.

Bigger Bang from Supplements

We've grouped about a half dozen 2004 studies together to reveal a "hidden" breakthrough.

During the past year, researchers found that vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 have a far greater benefit in heart disease prevention when taken together than their combined individual benefits.

Another study proved that Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer risks are more greatly reduced by taking vitamins C and E together than the summed risk reduction effects of each taken separately.

The same synergistic effect was found in numerous other studies: broccoli with tomatoes; sulforaphane with selenium; apigenin with sulforaphane; and vitamm E with selenium and soy.

Implications go well beyond traditional advice to vary your diet. Watch for new respect for supplements taken together--and a host of revisited studies.

Anti-Aging Pill Uncorked

When red wine extracts were finally developed, many thought they would revolutionize heart disease prevention--until studies suggested that they may pass through the body too quickly to be properly absorbed and used. But new production techniques might be able to deliver on the original promise of red wine extracts.

Resveratrol, found in grape skins and red wine, can help prevent heart disease, stroke damage and some cancers. And in vitro, it mimicked calorie restriction's effect of extending life-span by 70 percent.

Unfortunately, the bioavailability of resveratrol pills--labeled "red wine extract" for regulatory reasons--has been questioned. But in 2004, one firm replicated the oxygen-free environment of wine by adding quercetin and natural preservatives to their process and encapsulating the resveratol under nitrogen. This seems to make the extract more bioavailable.

So, is resveratrol an anti-aging supplement? Will it slash heart disease and cancer? Stay tuned for the answer in 2005.

Supplement for Seniors

Studies rarely recommend vitamin supplements for large cross-sections of the population because true deficiencies are individual-specific. But a year ago, we reported on a sound study by a well-balanced scientific consortium that set this significant precedent.

Experts from government agencies, top research universities and health advocacy organizations all worked together to reach a surprising conclusion: If every American over the age of 65 took one pill daily, the United States could save $1.6 billion in Medicare expenses over the next 5 years.

One caplet daily was found to reduce by 32 percent blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). This blood marker for inflammation is now strongly linked with cardiovascular disease.

That pill? A simple multivitamin.

Upping the 'Anti'

When one new antioxidant hits the market, it may be up to 100 times more effective than vitamin E, the antioxidant standard.

Antioxidants are molecules that counteract the damaging effects of oxygen's "free radicals," and they might prevent cancer, heart disease and even aging.

Canadian, Italian and American government agencies and universities have been working cooperatively on a project that experiments with adding and removing nitrogen atoms from a tocopherol--a form of vitamin E--thereby developing a host of new molecular compounds called pyridinols. In 2004, they hit on the new super-antioxidant.

Researchers will next try to make water-soluble pyridinols, which--unlike oil-soluble vitamin E--could trap and destroy water-soluble free radicals.

Trans-Parent

Did you notice the trans fat-free trend in 2004? The reason?

Some manufacturers are choosing trans fat removal over the upcoming new American and Canadian labeling laws.