Researchers at the University of Valencia (Spain) recently released the results of a study that concluded that light to moderate alcohol consumption in non-smokers is correlated with reduced Alzheimer’s risk.  So enjoy your Happy Hour and know that your doing your part for the health of your brain!

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To comment on this post, click on the title, or email the author dennis@healthjag.com

 Dr. Wiseman says:

“A few seconds of bad fortune can unravel years of striving, while a moment of good luck can lead to success and happiness. Luck has the power to transform the improbable into the possible; to make the difference between life and death, reward and ruin, happiness and despair. Research has revealed there are four main differences between the lives of lucky and unlucky people.”

Lucky people…

Create, notice and act upon chance opportunities
Use intuition to make successful decisions
Expect the best for the future
Transform bad luck into good fortune

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I was reflecting on this when I recently analyzed the McDonald’s menu for the drive-thru diet posts on this blog. In those days, a meal of a McDonald’s hamburger, small fry, and small coke ran 685 calories. Hardly a healthy meal, but manageable. Fast forward to 2009. Hardly anyone orders a McDonald’s hamburger  or a small fry anymore. That sandwich is considered so small that it is relegated to the children’s Happy Meal. And McDonald’s recently ran a promotion where the 32 ounce drink was 99 cents, which was actually less than the small size. In 2009 ,the typical average adult meal at McDonald’s consists of a Big Mac, large fry, and large coke, and comes in at a whopping 1,370 calories, exactly double my satisfying fast food treat from 1963. And although I am using McDonald’s as an example, it is only the prototypical example of all corporate fast food and sit down restaurants. The bottle of Coca-cola that I grew up with was 6.5 ounces. The average bottle that you purchase in a convenience store is between 20 and 32 ounces, a four fold increase.

Given these facts, it is actually amazing that only 1/3 of Americans are classified as obese and only 2/3 are overweight. It is popular for us to blame our obesity on stress eating, depression, or unhappiness. From my point of view our obesity is caused by our evolutionary craving for food that drove our hunter-gatherer ancestors to spend their entire existence looking for food, combined with our scientific ability to engineer artificial foods that satisfy our most basic cravings without the satiation that comes with nutrients. Add to that cocktail the unbelievable ability of humans to market to each other, and the unlimited (relatively speaking) ability of the average American to afford to purchase calories, and it’s actually amazing that obesity isn’t closer to 100%.

Although hunting for food with a gun is still practiced in parts of our country, the most common weapon for hunting now is the automobile.  We cruise the suburban savannah in our SUV’s, spotting our food sources grazing on the edges of the boulevard.  Our prey aren’t camoflaged by their surroundings, they invite us to hunt them with signs that brag about the billions and billions of their kind that have been downed before.  And there are no limits to the amount of our prey that we can take home. Our limits are our pocketbooks, and as obesity statistics show, money is not a limiting factor for calorie consumption.

So the question is, what human motivation is stronger than our evolutionary need to binge on food, stronger than the easy accessibility of calories, stronger than multi-billion dollar advertsiing budgets?  What motivates people to engage in a  healthy lifestyle in the face of all that is stacked against us? Are most of us doomed by our DNA controlled  propensity for instant gratification? Maybe not. The obesity rate in Japan is about 3.5% compared to over 30% in the U.S. The average citizen of Japan consumes over 200 caloires less per day than the average American. It seems to me that we have created a culture of unhealthy eating in our country. Over the last year, we have focused the debate in this country on our health care delivery system and costs. But the number one health care problem in this country is obesity. Obesity by itself is the source of the majority of our country’s health care costs. And this problem has gotten little attention from the government.  A few years ago, we declared a government sponsored “war on drugs”.  And although this war has not been successful, we have been fairly successful in indoctrinating our children in the dangers of drugs through the DARE school drug education programs.

Until we recognize that obesity is a severe national problem, as severe as cigarette smoking and drugs, we cannot begin the cultural change that is required for us to slim down.  For example, I have noticed that it is not politically correct to criticize people who are obese. In the 1960’s smoking was part of our culture. It was promoted through advertising and protected by the government. It would have been unthinkable to outlaw smoking in public places. Has the time finally come for us to treat obesity like cigarettes? It is a choice that turns into an addiction. It causes severe health problems, costs our country billions of dollars that we cannot afford, and if we don’t prevent our children from getting hooked, then they all become unhealthy obese adults.

I came to realize over a period of time that being fat made me less attractive, less able to do the active things I wanted to do, and was going to become more and more of a problem as I grew older.  But we are all fighting an uphill battle living in a culture that promotes obesity and doesn’t treat it for what it is. Until we can turn our culture around, each of us are fighting the battle as an army of one.

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The researchers scanned the brains of 94 elderly people.  Although the test participants were elderly, they were all  cognitively normal. They were not afflicted by brain degenerating diseases such as Alzheimer or Parkinsons. According to Dr. Paul Thompson, a UCLA professor of neurology, just a 4% loss of brain tissue represents“severe” brain degeneration.

So not only can being fat affect your health, we now have evidence that if affects your intelligence.  Of course, we don’t know for sure if the deficiency in brain tissue caused people to be fat, or if the fat caused the loss in brain tissue.

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Two-hundred twenty-five seniors with mild cases of Alzheimer’s, from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and United States  participated in the 12-week trial of the drink, called Souvenaid .Half were asked to take the nutrient-rich milkshake each morning, while the other half were given a substitute drink that looked and tasted like Souvenaid but lacked key ingredients, such as B vitamins, EPA and omega-3 fatty acids. All these nutrients are believed to promote healthy synapses, the connections that carry vital messages between brain cells.

At the end of the trial, 40 percent of participants who drank daily Souvenaid shakes showed significantly improved scores on verbal recall tests, while only 24 percent of those imbibing the placebo showed improvement.

So this explains why so few babies are afflicted with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

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“It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms,” said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, USF Research Professor at the Florida ADRC. “It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer’s mice.”

The researchers showed that exposing old Alzheimer’s mice to electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of the harmful protein beta-amyloid, in addition to preventing the protein’s build-up in younger Alzheimer’s mice. The sticky brain plaques formed by the abnormal accumulation of beta amyloid are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Most treatments against Alzheimer’s try to target beta-amyloid.

Comment on this post by clicking on the title, or email the author dennis@healthjag.com

Comment on this post by clicking on the title, or email the author, dennis@healthjag.com

• Too much food, especially fatty, rich food.  These take a lot of work for your stomach to digest and may keep you up. Spicy or acidic foods in the evening can cause stomach trouble and heartburn, which worsens as you are laying down.
• Too much liquid. Drinking lots of fluid may result in frequent bathroom trips throughout the night.
• Alcohol. Although it may initially make you feel sleepy, alcohol can interfere with sleep and cause  frequent awakenings. Also some people are also sensitive to tyrosine, found in certain red wines
• Caffeine. Avoid food and drinks that contain caffeine, and that doesn’t just mean coffee. Hidden sources of caffeine include chocolate, caffeinated sodas, and teas. Try to avoid all caffeine for 4-6 hours before you go to bed.

If you suspect a food or drink is keeping you up, try eliminating it for a few days to see if sleep improves.

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Because sleeping is the most important thing that we can do for our health that doesn’t require depriving ourselves of something, we are bringing you a series of sleeping tips. Sleep in a cool room (65 degrees or so or even cooler if you can stand it). Pile on another blanket or add one under the mattress pad rather than turn up the heat. Studies show that the cooler temperature helps your body get to sleep and stay asleep. You will also save on your heating bill in the winter. In the summer you can turn up the temperature a bit, sleep in light pjs or none at all, and use a fan to push cooling air over your body.

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Today’s tip is to make sure you sleep in a very dark room. Light is one of the body’s most powerful time cues. Any light while you are trying to sleep can cue your body that it is time to stop sleeping. A dark room is the most conducive for sleep – day or night. Even a night light or light from the bathroom can disrupt your normal sleep cycle. Darkness is also required for your body to maximize its production of melatonin, which protects your immune system. So make sure that your room is completely dark.  It’s okay if your room lets in natural light as the sun rises as this will let you awake naturally, but you want to eliminate as much light as possible during your normal sleep cycle.

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For guys, it’s bad news. Men have a much higher annual death risk than women at every age. For 20-year-olds, the risk is 2.5 to three times greater for men. Men are much more prone to accidents, homicides and suicides, and the risk of dying from heart disease is always higher for men than women.

* Avoid all refined sugars including syrup, honey, high fructose corn syrup, and white and brown sugar
* Avoid dried or cooked fruit. Eat only fresh fruits
* Avoid alcohol which behaves like sugar in the body
* Eat 6 small meals a day or have a mid-morning and mid-afternoon healthy snack
* Eat some protein with every complex carbohydrate meal (natural unprocessed starches)
* Avoid simple carbs and starches  (which are converted to sugar in the body) such as white flour, white sugar, white rice, corn, white potatoes

I was happy to find this article because I have been trying to find an answer to this question for some time. You can read the details of the interview with Dr. Harris at Vitalchoice.com.