Biochemistry Behind Health Benefits of Meditation, Yoga, Prayer

For thousands of years, practices evoking the relaxation response (RR, which is the opposite to the stress response) have been used as an effective therapeutic intervention that counteracts the adverse clinical effects of stress. These interventions include meditation, yoga and repetitive prayer, and they've been shown to be helpful in numerous disorders including hypertension, anxiety, insomnia and aging itself. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that explain these clinical benefits remained unknown.

This new study looked to assess rapid time-dependent (temporal) genomic changes during one session of RR practice among healthy practitioners with years of RR practice and also in novices before and after 8 weeks of RR training.

Marijuana Benefits HDL Cholesterol, Insulin Levels, and Waist Circumference

A new study on marijuana use has turned up some fascinating health benefits. The researchers behind this latest positive study looked at 4657 participants who had completed a drug-use questionnaire as a part of the NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Survey) database between 2005 and 2010.

Another Study Proves Safety of Calcium Supplements

Back in February, I covered two back-to-back studies on calcium, one showing calcium supplements are perfectly safe, the other showing increased heart attack risk. Before those studies, I covered a number of other studies over the last couple years providing evidence for both sides of the argument.

Now here is the latest study, and it shows that calcium supplements are not related to heart attacks and stroke. If fact, no associations were found between cardiovascular death and dietary or supplemental calcium intake.

Reduced Allergy Risk if Your Parents Sucked

This study was covered extensively last week, but in case you missed it... parents who clean their infant's pacifier by sucking on it may be protecting their baby from developing allergies.

The researchers found that, after a baby dropped their pacifier on the floor, those whose parents sucked the pacifiers to clean them before giving it back were less likely to have asthma, eczema, and sensitization to potential allergens at 18 months of age (compared to children whose parents washed the pacifiers or sterilized them).

Smoking to Prevent Parkinson's Disease?

Well...the direct answer to the title above is "yes," but everyone knows that the picture is much more complex than that and smoking tobacco has unequivocally been shown to be harmful to overall health. However, this is a prime example of why I say, "nothing is 100% good, and nothing is 100% bad."

The observation that smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been consistently reported in more than 60 epidemiological studies, and the protective role seems to be related to nicotine (although not confirmed).

Two More Carnitine Studies Show Benefits for Cardiovascular Health and ALS

Well, it's been almost a full two weeks since I last published new research, and while I usually put these posts together during my downtime, recently I've been hooked on Being Erica, a TV series I'm watching on NetFlix.

I can't remember the last time I had a favourite show (outside of the Bachelor franchise, I embarrassingly admit), probably because I don't watch cable, but Being Erica is the perfect mix of philosophy, sci-fi time travel, self-help, Canadiana chick-flick.

The main character is about my age, so there's a lot I can relate to as she time travels back to her early years. Further, since the show takes place in Toronto, any one in the Greater Toronto Area will be familiar with many of the landmarks that are woven into the story line. I highly recommend this show.

Anyway, enough of my unpaid advertising for this show...

So to continue my last post and roll with the positive studies on L-carnitine, here are a couple more new studies on its therapeutic benefits.

The first study I'll cover today was double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group pilot study involving patients between the ages of 40 and 70 years. Selection criteria included definite or probable amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), patients needed to be self-sufficient (able to swallow, cut food/handle utensils, walk), and have a forced vital capacity of > 80%. 

Carnitine Beneficial in Intermittent Claudication and Pregnancy

Well, I've heard enough unjustified controversy over L-carnitine over the past couple weeks from that single, inappropriately analyzed study I discussed a couple weeks ago. So today, I'm going to  quickly discuss two other recently published studies on L-carnitine.

The first study was a systematic review on intermittent claudication, which analyzed the results of 17 studies (8 parallel randomized controlled trials, 5 crossover RCTs, 5 pre-test/post-test trials). Results revealed that a small or moderate improvement in walking performance was found to be associated with supplementation with L-carnitine in patients.

Statin Drugs Negate the Benefits of Exercise

Well, it's been a very busy month so far with the CHFA West show in Vancouver, meetings, seminars, etc. Now that I'm back and caught-up on the work that piled up, here is a study that showed simvastatin (a popular statin-type medication used to reduce cholesterol levels) minimizes the cardiovascular benefits gained from exercise.

Statin use has been linked to skeletal muscle pathologies and impaired mitochondrial function (due to an induced depletion of CoQ10), but it was unclear whether statin use alters adaptations to exercise training.

L-Carnitine Linked to Clogged Arteries?

There is lots of research to support L-carnitine's benefits to cardiovascular health. So when I usually see headlines regarding L-carnitine and cardiovascular health and risk, L-carnitine usually has a protective role. That's why it was surprising when I came across this study that suggests the opposite: that L-carnitine increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

For many of you using L-carnitine for cardiovascular health, cognitive health (acetyl-L-carnitine), and even weight loss, don't be alarmed. This study is just an anomaly is a sea of positive studies. However, it does deserve some discussion, so let's break it down.

Depression and Heart Health

With increasing focus on brain/cognitive health (a high priority with the aging population), you may have heard the saying, "what's good for the heart, is good for the brain." Then presumably, the reverse would also be true: "what's bad for the brain, is bad for the heart." This is what today's study of discussion had found. Depression can negate the anti-inflammatory benefits typically associated with physical activity and light to moderate alcohol consumption.

The results suggest that depressive symptoms can "minimize the health effects of what many Americans are doing to reduce our risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes — exercise more and adopt a Mediterranean-type diet that includes light to moderate alcohol consumption," said the lead researcher.

Olive Leaf Extract Improves Insulin Sensitivity

Here's a short summary of a human study on an ingredient I don't see studied very often--olive leaf extract (OLE).

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial involving 46 middle-aged, overweight men, supplementation with OLE (51.1 mg oleuropein and 9.7 mg hydroxytyrosol per day) for a period of 12 weeks was found to be associated with a 15% improvement in insulin sensitivity, as compared to placebo.

K2 (as MK-7) Improves Bone Health in Latest Study

In the newest study on vitamin K2 and bone health, 244 healthy postmenopausal women received for MK-7 (180 μg /day) or placebo  for 3 years.

Bone mineral density of lumbar spine, total hip, and femoral neck were measured, along with circulating uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) and carboxylated OC (cOC). From this data, bone strength indices of the femoral neck and the ucOC/cOC ratio (an indicator of vitamin K status) were calculated. Measurements occurred at baseline and annually during the study treatment period.

Two More CoQ10 Studies for Fibromyalgia

So more and more evidence seems to back the use of CoQ10 for fibromyalgia sufferers. Today I present two more recently published studies.

The first study I'll cover was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 20 patients with fibromyalgia. Supplementation with 300 mg/day CoQ10 for 40 days was found to be associated with clinical improvements, including a prominent reduction in pain, fatigue, and morning tiredness.

Magnesium and Ischemic Heart Disease

Magnesium is one of the best, yet commonly deficient, minerals the be utilized in cardiovascular conditions. However, previous studies on dietary magnesium and risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) have yielded inconsistent results, in part because of a lack of direct measures of actual magnesium uptake (it's always been a relatively inaccurate estimate based on diet recall). Therefore, the researchers of this new study looked at urinary excretion of magnesium, an indicator of dietary magnesium uptake.

Olive Oil Compound May Help Clear β-Amyloid in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects about 30 million people worldwide, but the prevalence is lower in Mediterranean countries, who consume lots of those of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) from olive oil.

However, newer research is showing that there are many other healthy compounds in olives and olive oil, one of them being oleocanthal, which has been suggested to protect the brain.