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Prunes or Plums — Which Has More Benefits?
Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/22/prunes-or-plums.aspx
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola March 22, 2024
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Once known as prunes, dried plums are now the more palatable name for the fruit that, whether fresh or dried, contains numerous compounds that impart amazing health advantages
- Studies show that a single serving or about five dried plums may help prevent bone loss in older, osteopenic postmenopausal women
- Plums are loaded with flavonoid polyphenolic antioxidants, primarily lutein and cryptoxanthin, as well as neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acid, but the nutrients are highly concentrated in the dried fruits
- The vitamin C is destroyed when plums are dried, but they become significantly higher in other antioxidants and contain significantly higher concentrations of most of the other nutrients found in the fresh fruit
If you know anyone with osteoporosis, you may be familiar with some of the more overt signs, such as broken bones, weak grip strength or back pain. People with this condition may develop a “stooped” posture or even become shorter because their bones are literally being compressed.
There’s good news, though, as a study revealed dramatic and positive effects from dried plums. Scientists found that “dried plum not only protects against but more importantly reverses bone loss in two separate models of osteopenia,” another name for bone loss and the forerunner of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis affects both males and females, although more women than men. One study describes it as a “debilitating disorder” exacerbated by age:
“As the demographic shift to a more aged population continues, a growing number of men and women will be afflicted with osteoporosis and a search for potential non-pharmacological alternative therapies for osteoporosis is of prime interest.
Aside from existing drug therapies, certain lifestyle and nutritional factors are known to reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Our [three]-month clinical trial indicated that the consumption of dried plum daily by postmenopausal women significantly increased serum markers of bone formation, total alkaline phosphatase, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and insulin-like growth factor-I by 12, 6, and 17%, respectively.”1
Ironically, several drugs taken for osteoporosis taken for five years or more have been shown to actually cause esophageal cancer, according to an Oxford study.2 However, in exploring non-pharmacological alternative therapies, researchers discovered dried plums may not only protect against, but reverse, the condition.
Researcher Bahram H. Arjmandi, Ph.D., from Florida State University, said that over his entire career, he’d examined many fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries and raisins, but none of them come close to having the effe
ct on bone density that dried plums or prunes have.
He added that in terms of bone health, this particular food is exceptional.3 Studies show that a single serving of dried plums may help prevent bone loss in older, osteopenic postmenopausal women as well as the previous recommendation of two servings, equating 100 grams or eight to 10 dried plums.4
Plum History and Description
Closely related to apricots, peaches and almonds, plums are an ancient fruit that experts believe may have originated in China, but were cultivated by Alexander the Great in Mediterranean regions by around 65 B.C.
Plums are about the size of limes, but that’s the only similarity. They’re dark purple (some have a golden tinge) with smooth, rather dull skins and sweet, delectable flesh inside, wrapped around a single, large pit, the main criteria for a drupe. Prunes are simply dried plums, the latter name thought to be more palatable.
All prunes are plums, but the reverse is not always the case. The high sugar content in plums allows them to be dried without fermentation. Further, like all dried fruit, dried plums are dehydrated by natural-drying, sun-drying and the use of dehydrators. Medical Daily clarifies:
“So if dried plums are just plums with the water taken out of them, why do they lower our colon cancer risk while fresh plums don’t? Not only does dried plum retain both soluble and insoluble fiber from its original form, but it also contains more sorbitol than fresh plums.”5
Far more than just a tasty snack, these juicy little fruits are loaded with flavonoid polyphenolic antioxidants, primarily lutein and cryptoxanthin, as well as neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acid, which can help prevent cell damage from oxidation of lipid molecules.
All cell membranes, including those in your brain, are mainly composed of fat-containing lipids, found to inhibit LDL cholesterol oxidation and making them a significant factor in helping prevent chronic disease.6
A Comparison of Nutritional Attributes Between Plums and Prunes
Plums contain 26% of the reference dietary intake (RDI) in vitamin C; 13% in vitamin K; and 11% in vitamin A, or retinol, as well as iron, potassium, thiamine, riboflavin and calcium, plus vitamin B6 and niacin to metabolize one of their most serious drawbacks: high natural sugar and carbohydrate content.
As for prunes, a 1-cup serving gives you 87% of the RDI of vitamin K. The Guardian notes that soluble fiber helps slow down the absorption of glucose, which stabilizes blood sugar levels.7
Because prunes are a concentrated source of the nutrients and phytonutrients found in plums, their antioxidant potential is six times that of the fresh fruit. Prunes are also significantly higher in antioxidants than many other dried or fresh fruits or vegetables. Comparing the two, Healthy Eating observes:
“Although most of the vitamin C in plums is destroyed during the drying process, prunes contain significantly higher concentrations of most of the other nutrients found in the fresh fruit.
One cup of pitted prunes provides 129 percent, 36 percent, 27 percent and 9 percent of the daily recommendations for vitamin K, potassium, vitamin A and iron, respectively. Vitamin K is vital to the function of several proteins involved in blood coagulation, and vitamin A promotes healthy vision.”8
These vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients have several benefits throughout your entire body, including your skin and improved vision due to the high iron, of which a deficiency can cause hair loss.
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Fiber: Good for Gut Health and Colorectal Cancer Prevention
Bone health isn’t the only benefit of this oft-neglected fruit, though. Studies indicate dried plums can lower your risk of colon cancer.
One factor that helps give plums and prunes such high marks in this category is fiber, crucial for moving food along smoothly through your colon for elimination, but also the natural chemicals sorbitol and isatin, both helpful for relieving constipation. These three ingredients are why prunes have the (earned) reputation as a laxative. Media outlet Chatelaine notes that fiber:
“Helps to … [optimize] cholesterol by soaking up excess bile in the intestine and then excreting it. Bile is made from cholesterol in the liver in order to digest fat.
When the body excretes bile along with the fiber from prunes and plums, the liver must use cholesterol in the body to make more bile thereby lowering the amount in circulation in the body. Soluble fiber may also inhibit the amount of cholesterol manufactured by the liver in the first place.”9
Plums contain 2 grams of fiber in a 1-cup serving, which also helps produce beneficial gut microbiota. One of the big differences between fresh and dried plums is that the dried version contains 12 grams of fiber, which, compared to fresh plums, is about half of the RDI needed for an entire day (although I believe about 50 grams per 1,000 calories consumed is ideal).
According to Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, prunes are even more effective than psyllium as a laxative.10 Plus, the sorbitol pulls moisture into your digestive tract to help bring about a bowel movement.11 That’s where its effectiveness as a colorectal cancer preventive comes in.
More Benefits From Plums and Prunes
An online resource called Colon Cleansing and Constipation recommends stewed prunes to alleviate constipation, or infrequent bowel movements. Eating them regularly can help prevent subsequent stomach pain and hemorrhoids. All of these can become serious enough to necessitate surgery.
Aside from skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. It encompasses both rectal and colon cancer, which together have stricken around 140,000 people in the U.S., and more than 50,000 die from it every year, according to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.12
Medical Daily mentioned one study that found eating dried plums can help lower your risk for colon cancer by maintaining good gut bacteria in your colon, adding that “a diet high in [certain] red meats can increase colon cancer risk while a diet high in fruits … [and] vegetables … can reduce colon cancer risk.”13
A FASEB Journal study backed up the gut bacteria benefit, noting that their data supported their initial hypothesis:
“Diet is known to alter metabolism and composition of colon microbiota, which has major implications for disease prevention and treatment … The hypothesis tested by this experiment was that consumption of dried plums would promote retention of beneficial microbiota and patterns of microbial metabolism throughout the colon, and that by doing so would reduce colon cancer incidence.”14
Fructose in Plums and Prunes
It takes around 4 pounds of fresh plums to produce 1 pound of dried plums, and both are very versatile. You can chop them up to add to raw grass fed yogurt, blend them in smoothies and shakes and add them to salads and vegetable dishes. In fact, just about anything you use raisins for, prunes are a tasty, healthy alternative.
Eating plums and prunes may also help alleviate problems related to obesity, heart disease and diabetes. However, whether it’s fresh plums or dried prunes you crave, make sure you consume these in moderation, as they both contain high amounts of sugar. Nutritionist Anshul Jaibharat cautions:
“Prunes are high in natural sugar, so too many may not be good for people watching their weight. After all, excess of anything is stored as fat in your body. Prunes have such high nutritional values ensuring that you can eat just one piece and still gain measurable nutrients.”15
However, the sorbitol, which is a sugar alcohol, is not a source of ethanol, the substance found in alcoholic beverages. It’s a natural substance found in many fruits and vegetables, and is about 50% as sweet as sugar.16
Plums are often used to make the French form of Armagnac, a quickly distilled version of cognac with a raw, earthy body. They also end up soaked in brandy for several desserts, including brûlée. The sugar (and, for the former, alcohol) content in these, however, is considerable and outweighs the nutritional benefits that the fruit provides.
Additionally, prune juice is often loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and, even if it’s not, will still be a significant source of fructose without the fiber benefits, so be aware that consuming the whole fruit is preferable.
- 1 Ageing Res Rev. 2009 April;8(2):122-7
- 2 BMJ. 2010 September 1;341:c4444
- 3, 11, 15 NDTV May 11, 2016
- 4 Osteoporos Int 27, 2271–2279 (2016), Abstract
- 5, 13 Medical Daily September 29, 2015
- 6, 9 Chatelaine January 15, 2016
- 7 The Guardian February 16, 2013
- 8 Healthy Eating
- 10 Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics April 13, 2011
- 12 Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Volume 63, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 546-557, Introduction
- 14 FASEB Journal April 2015
- 16 Livestrong, October 3, 2017
How to Help Prevent and Treat Alzheimer’s Disease
Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/08/27/dale-bredesen-alzheimers.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola Fact Checked August 27, 2023
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- In 2014, Dr. Dale Bredesen published a paper demonstrating healthy lifestyle choices could reverse Alzheimer’s in 9 out of 10 patients. His team is now launching a new randomized, controlled trial at six sites. Biological aging, brain aging and epigenetics will be included in this trial, using newer blood tests that weren’t available even a few years ago
- The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) test can be a valuable tool. This test basically looks at brain changes associated with astrocytosis. Astrocytes respond when there’s a problem in the brain, so it can give you a heads-up that something is afoot up to 10 years before symptoms set in
- Supporting energy production and reducing inflammation in the brain are the two most important factors to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s
- The entire family of herpes viruses is associated with changes in the brain and neurons. Left untreated, chronic infections put your innate immune system into overdrive. Alzheimer’s is an innate immune system mismatch with the adaptive system. You’re not clearing the pathogen, so you’ve got a continued onslaught of cytokines causing damage in your brain
- Valuable adjuncts that can help improve mitochondrial energy production include methylene blue, niacinamide and glycine
In this video, I interview repeat guest Dr. Dale Bredesen, a neurologist specializing in the treatment of Alzheimer’s. In 2014, he published a paper1 demonstrating the power of lifestyle choices for the prevention and treatment of this tragic condition. By leveraging 36 healthy lifestyle parameters, he was able to reverse Alzheimer’s in 9 out of 10 patients.
This included the use of exercise, ketogenic diet, optimizing vitamin D and other hormones, increasing sleep, meditation, detoxification and eliminating gluten and processed foods. It’s been several years since we spoke last, so he’s got quite a few updates to share.
Randomized Trial Launch
For starters, his team has published another proof-of-concept paper and are now launching a randomized, controlled trial at six sites: Hollywood, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Cleveland, Ohio; and Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco in California.
Biological aging, brain aging and epigenetics will be assessed in this trial, using newer blood tests that weren’t available even a few years ago, including phospho-tau 181, phospho-tau 217, A-beta 42 to 40 ratio, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light polypeptide (NF-L).
“A couple of these are not commercially available yet, so we’re doing these as research, but they will all become commercially available,” Bredesen says. “Currently, phospho-tau 181 is commercially available and so is the A-beta 42 to 40 ratio. So now, for the first time, you can get an idea, without necessarily having a PET scan, where you stand.
More importantly, you can follow it as you improve. Prevention is key, but also reversing cognitive decline, which we were the first to do … We’ve seen it again and again, when you’re doing the right things, when you’re attacking the important drivers of the process, you see [reversal].”
Valuable Tests
The GFAP test, while nonspecific, can be a valuable tool. This test basically looks at brain changes associated with astrocytosis. Astrocytes respond when there’s a problem in the brain, so it can give you a heads-up that something is afoot up to 10 years before symptoms become apparent. “The good news is if it’s normal, you’re in pretty good shape. So you want to know that going forward,” he says.
The phospho-tau 181 and phospho-tau 217 are specific tests for Alzheimer’s changes related to the death of neurons. Genetic testing is also important to ascertain how many copies of the APOE ε4 gene you might have. “That’s a critical piece,” Bredesen says. “Everybody should know their APOE status.” Hormone testing and testing for toxins, including mycotoxins and heavy metals, are also important.
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Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire
According to conventional thought, elevated tau and beta-amyloid are causative factors in Alzheimer’s, but Bredesen’s research suggests otherwise. He explains:
“This is a little bit like saying, ‘There’s some smoke there. If we just blow away the smoke, then the house is not going to burn down.’ It makes no sense. The key thing to know is that [tau and beta-amyloid] are responses and mediators. You’ve talked a lot about mitochondrial function, which is absolutely critical in this disease, but we know of many upstream contributors, and that’s another update.
People have not known what’s causing this disease, and it’s often said there’s nothing that prevents, reverses or delays it. Nothing could be further from the truth. We know there are many contributors, [including] anything that damages mitochondria [and] different infections.
What we now see from the research is that Alzheimer’s disease fundamentally is a network insufficiency. You have this beautiful network of about 500 trillion synapses and as you get exposed to inflammation, infections in your mouth, insulin resistance, leaky gut, not enough blood flow, reduced oxygenation, reduced mitochondrial function, any of these things, that network is no longer sufficiently supported.
And, no surprise, it pulls back and that’s why you see the tau. They are part of the mediators of making this effect enhanced. They amplify the problem. Dr. Lee Hood and Dr. Nathan Price have just published a wonderful book called ‘The Age of Scientific Wellness,’ and as they point out, amyloid is an excellent biomarker but a terrible therapeutic target, and that’s exactly what’s coming out of the data.
Unfortunately, Lecanemab was just recommended by the panel for FDA approval. It slowed the decline. But here’s the thing they didn’t say, which they should have said, what are the things that performed better? Lecanemab doesn’t make you better, it doesn’t keep you the same, it slows the decline by 27%. That’s it.
So what worked better in their trials? No. 1, ketones alone worked better than this drug. No. 2, extra virgin olive oil alone in a trial worked better than this drug. No. 3, combined metabolic activators — carnitine, nicotinamide, riboside, things like that. Again, supporting energetics. This is about energetics and inflammation. Those are the two big players.
And then of course, the protocol we developed worked the best of anything. We’ve got people now who have sustained their improvement for more than 10 years. So, it’s sad that this drug has been recommended for approval.”
Two Key Causative Factors That Must Be Addressed
According to Bredesen, supporting energy and reducing inflammation in the brain are the two most important factors to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s. Basics that all of Bredesen’s patients implement include:
| Dietary intervention — Bredesen recommends a plant-rich, mildly ketogenic diet, with a good omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, no dairy, no grains and no simple carbs. “That’s the approach that has worked the best,” he says. “We call that KetoFLEX 12/3.” Nutrition for Longevity now offers meal kits for the KetoFLEX 12/3 diet at KetoFlex123.com, to make it easier to follow.
In the interview, I counter some of Bredesen’s dietary recommendations, as he still recommends polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). I’m convinced all omega-6 PUFAs need to be kept low, below 2% or even 1% of daily calories, for optimal health, and I strongly suspect people with dementia need to be even more cautious, as the PUFA linoleic acid (LA) appears to be the biggest dietary source of all the drivers of Alzheimer’s, including inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and dysfunction in electron transport chain such that you cannot efficiently produce ATP. I’ve written extensively on the ins and outs of this, so for more information, listen to the interview and/or review “Linoleic Acid — The Most Destructive Ingredient in Your Diet.” I’m also not convinced that the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio is as helpful as commonly suggested since you cannot counter the damage caused by omega-6 fats simply by taking more omega-3. On top of that, most omega-3 supplements, primarily fish oil, are worthless because they’re synthetic and rancid to boot, so making sure you’re getting high-quality omega-3 is an essential factor. |
| Exercise — Bredesen is seeing particularly good results with KAATSU (blood flow restriction training) and exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT). |
| Sleep optimization — Sleep apnea is a common problem that unquestionably contributes to cognitive decline, as it reduces oxygen to your brain and raises adrenaline while you’re sleeping.
“Sleep is a huge area in and of itself,” Bredesen says. “Patient zero, the first person we treated back in 2012 who reversed her cognitive decline beautifully, she’s now over a decade in on this, doing great continually. She’s now in her late 70s. One of her issues was poor sleep and, of course, one of the things that was addressed. Getting at least an hour of deep sleep and at least an hour and a half of REM sleep is very helpful … Poor sleep gives you more amyloid. It’s just a marker, but it’s a marker of things that aren’t so good, and unfortunately, amyloid then gives you poorer sleep.” |
| Stress reduction |
| Brain training |
| Detox |
| Targeted supplements |
The other part of Bredesen’s program is customized to each patient. Many have undiagnosed chronic infections, for example, that need to be addressed. Common ones include P. gingivalis and T. denticola, which work their way into your brain from your oral microbiome, herpes simplex and human betaherpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A).
The entire family of herpes viruses is associated with changes in the brain and neurons. HHV-6A in particular is associated with the brain degeneration seen in Alzheimer’s. Chlamydia pneumoniae is also highly troublesome, as are all tick-borne infections, including Borrelia, Bartonella, Babesia and Anaplasma.
All these infections put your innate immune system into overdrive and need to be quenched. As noted by Bredesen, COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s are “both innate immune system mismatches with the adaptive system.” You’re not clearing the pathogen, so you’ve got this continued onslaught of cytokines. In the case of COVID, you die from the acute cytokine storm, whereas in Alzheimer’s, you die from cytokine drizzle. “It’s a long-term cytokine problem,” Bredesen says.
High-Fructose Corn Syrup Down-Regulates ATP Production
Bredesen also highlights the importance of avoiding fructose. In March 2023, Dr. Richard Johnson, Bredesen, Dr. David Perlmutter and several other coauthors published a paper2 on Alzheimer’s disease as “a maladaptation of an evolutionary survival pathway mediated by intracerebral fructose and uric acid metabolism.”
“It’s really the long-term research of Rick Johnson. You talk about mitochondrial function, about damage to mitochondria. He’s talking about a change in signal. They’re both important. As he points out, when you get that fructose, your body is literally responding to it saying, ‘Winter is coming. We are going to store fat and we’re going to turn down your ATP by about 15%.’
Well, when you’re right on the ragged edge of not getting enough energetics, then turning down your ATP by 15% is the last thing you want and is associated with cognitive decline.
Rick put together a whole table looking at all the relationships, changes in PET scans, changes in blood biomarkers. In each of these cases, what happens with fructose is the same thing that happens in Alzheimer’s disease.
So again, it comes back to the critical nature of the energetics, whether you’re turning them down by taking too much fructose and high fructose corn syrup, which is not to say you can’t eat some fruit, it just means you don’t want to have massive amounts of fructose.”
Fruit Versus High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Here too, my current views veer a bit. It’s important to understand there is a world of difference between fructose from fruit and high-fructose corn syrup. I used to recommend limiting both sources, but I’ve recently changed my thinking on this, as fructose from fruit activates pyruvate dehydrogenase, which you need to metabolize glucose from pyruvate to acetal-CoA in your mitochondria. If that enzyme is not activated, the glucose cannot be used for fuel.
The key to this riddle for me was the Randle Cycle, which basically acts as a metabolic switch. Your primary fuels are fats and carbs, and the Randle cycle determines how your cells decide which one to burn. When your diet is more than 30% to 35% fat, this switch shifts to fat metabolism, so that you’re burning fat in your mitochondria rather than glucose. The glucose instead gets shuttled into glycolysis and any excess goes out into your blood.
So, eating a lot of fruit and a lot of fat at the same time is not a good idea. In essence, fructose by itself is not what’s causing the problem. Rather it’s eating too much fructose in combination with too much fat. If you increase your fresh fruit intake, you also need to lower your fat intake, or else the sugar can’t be used for fuel.
Additionally, there are individual variations in metabolic flexibility, toxicity and microbiome that likely contribute to a person’s ability to tolerate increased carbohydrates.
The other point of contention I have is that PUFAs also appear to induce torpor (decreased physiological activity marked by a reduced metabolic rate), much like high-fructose corn syrup does. So, I suspect ripe fruit is not going to be a major contributor to dementia. In a previous interview with Johnson, he also admitted being surprised that fructose from fruit did not have the same effects as high-fructose corn syrup. Bredesen replies:
“Yes. And it makes perfect sense. The interesting thing to me is we are frugivore (animals that thrive on raw fruits), we are descended from frugivores. The problem we have today, of course, is that our fruit has been bred to have a much higher sugar content. That’s the issue. But the good news is, it retains the wonderful fiber and, as you pointed out, it doesn’t give you that effect that high fructose corn syrup and processed foods give you.”
Methylene Blue, Niacinamide and Glycine
One treatment adjunct Bredesen favors is methylene blue, which is something I recommend for just about anyone who wants to improve their health and reverse degenerative disease, primarily because it’s so effective at reducing reductive stress. It facilitates electron transfer forward in the mitochondria, thereby allowing ATP production to occur, even if the complexes are damaged.
Raising NAD+ is also important for energy production. NAD+ is oxidized, not reduced, so it facilitates the transfer of electrons forward in the electron transport chain. While there are expensive precursors out there, my favorite is plain old niacinamide, which is incredibly inexpensive yet raises NAD+ effectively.
Recent research has also confirmed that niacinamide helps slow brain aging. For general health, I recommend taking 50 milligrams of niacinamide three times a day. Niacinamide also works synergistically with methylene blue.
Many dementia patients also have low glutathione levels, especially if they’ve been exposed to mycotoxins or other toxins. I’m not a fan of taking glutathione, because glutathione is reduced, and you need the oxidized form to really make it work.
Two other ways to get more glycine into your diet are to eat “nose to tail,” not including muscle meat, or taking a collagen supplement or gelatin powder. “Nose to tail” refers to organ meats and connective tissues, which are rich in collagen. Collagen, in turn, makes up about one-third of the protein in your body, so it’s incredibly important. About 30% of the collagen and gelatin is glycine, so it’s an excellent source.
Precision Medicine Program to Launch
Bredesen is also part of a team launching a Precision Medicine Program at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California. The program will work to prevent and treat chronic conditions at all stages, but will focus on getting people in for prevention and early treatment.
“When you get Alzheimer’s, you go through four stages,” Bredesen says. “You go through a presymptomatic phase, and you go through subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) that lasts on average 10 years. For these areas, prevention and treatment are pretty much 100% effective. We can prevent, and we can reverse virtually every time people are in SCI.
MCI is the next. It’s too bad it’s called mild cognitive impairment. It’s like telling someone they have mildly metastatic cancer. It’s a relatively late stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Still, in our trial, we had 84% of those people improve.
The final stage is dementia. And we still see some people with proof of dementia improve. But the farther you go, the harder it is to get them all the way back. So, we encourage everyone, please come in early.
We’ve had people go from MoCA [Montreal cognitive assessment] scores of 18 to 30, which is fantastic, from demented to normal. We’ve had people go from zero to 9. But we’ve never seen anyone yet be able to go from zero MoCA, which is end-stage Alzheimer’s, to perfect 30 …
A guy wrote me a nasty note a couple years ago, saying ‘How dare you tell people that if they’re too far along, they shouldn’t get on this protocol? My wife had a MoCA score of zero. She’s in a nursing home. We used the protocol that you developed, she only went up a little bit, but her symptoms were so much better.’ She could dress herself, she could speak again, she could engage.
So I don’t say there’s a limit, but it is much harder below 16. You can get some dramatic subjective improvements. And again, we’ve seen people go from 15 to 27. So, it does happen, it’s just that it’s harder the longer you wait, which is why we encourage everyone to come early. If everybody would come in in those first two phases — prevention or SCI — dementia would be a rare problem.”
Beyond salt: New evidence links fructose consumption to hypertension
Reproduced from original article:
https://www.naturalhealth365.com/beyond-salt-new-evidence-links-fructose-consumption-to-hypertension.html
by: April 10, 2023
(NaturalHealth365) Hypertension is a serious problem in the United States, with almost half (47%) of all American adults diagnosed with the condition. High blood pressure is defined as systolic blood pressure higher than 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mmHg – or if they have hypertension controlled by medication.
Traditionally, doctors have warned hypertensive patients about sodium’s dangers, which has an illustrious history of causing and exacerbating high blood pressure. However, a study suggests another culprit that can also raise blood pressure, a quite unexpected substance that can be just as harmful.
Fructose consumption has been linked to increased blood pressure in adults. What’s more, the study found that children who had a high fructose diet when they were young may be more likely to experience hypertension when they are adults.
What is fructose, and what does it do to the body?
Fructose is a naturally occurring monosaccharide that comes from fruits but can also be produced endogenously in the body when the polyol pathway is activated. It is also the base for high fructose corn syrup. Fructose is very similar in structure to glucose, but the way it affects the body is quite different.
In ancient times fructose was a survival substance regardless of how it was supplied to the body. Once it is in the body, it begins to move toward fuel storage, including glycogen and fat. This is so that the fuel can be used later to provide water and energy. Fructose causes the body to retain sodium which increases blood pressure.
While that can be harmful now, in that time, it aided survival in an environment where salt deprivation and dehydration were the norm. It essentially shifts the production of energy to glycolysis. This is another survival tool because it reduces the body’s demand for oxygen which worked well in places where oxygen was low.
Today, a diet high in fructose can be harmful because the body does not have the same demands it once did. A diet high in fructose up-regulates sodium transporters which can cause an increase in blood pressure. It also inactivates vasodilators while activating vasoconstrictors and can increase appetite and cause thirst.
When it is combined with other substances to form high fructose corn syrup, that’s when it gets really bad.
What the studies found
The study used subjects from the CARDIA study, which examined cardiovascular risk factors in both Caucasian and African American young adults between the ages of 17 and 35 at the time of enrollment. The researchers obtained both dietary data and blood pressure at the time of enrollment for this study. The dietary information quantified both sodium and fructose, while the blood pressure information was taken at several points throughout the study, at seven years, 15 years, and 30 years.
The consumption of sodium and fructose had a significant impact on the prediction of a higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure at year 30 of the follow-up. The conclusion was that a diet high in sodium and fructose during adolescence may have a significant impact on blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, later in life.
Another study found that consuming it during pregnancy could be a factor in the woman developing preeclampsia. While fructose is vital to fetal development and produced in the body (and production is increased while the woman is pregnant), if the higher production does not return to normal or if the woman’s diet consists of fructose and its derivatives, it can lead to the condition which includes high blood pressure.
The scientific evidence certainly points to the probability that high consumption of fructose can lead to high blood pressure. The best way to avoid this is to read your labels. Know the names of fructose. One of the most notorious is high fructose corn syrup which is a man-made sweetener that has been linked to a number of health problems. You may also see it as fruit sugar, levulose, d-fructofuranose, d-fructose, or d-arabino-hexulose. Be sure to avoid all highly processed foods and stick to food that is as close to fresh, organic and whole as you can get.
High fructose corn syrup is in so many things, including candy, soda, coffee creamer, frozen meals, ready-to-drink teas and coffee, sweetener alternatives, cereals, flavored oatmeal, and more. Even products labeled “healthy” could contain HFC. Bottom line, read your labels diligently and avoid processed foods as much as possible.
Sources for this article include: