Calcium & D3 for Polycystic Ovaries and Kidney Disease

So to close this high-traffic month (this website has had more visitors this month, by far, than any previous month), I'll discuss two recent studies published on the benefits of calcium and vitamin D supplementation. However, before I get to the goods, I must reiterate that for anyone taking calcium supplements, taking a vitamin K2 supplement is mandatory. For those just getting to this blog for the first time, here are some posts I highly encourage you to read:

• Calcium Causes Heart Attacks Without Vitamin K2
• Do Calcium Supplements Cause Heart Attacks? 
• Human Study Suggests Vitamin K2 (as MK-7) REVERSES Arterial Calcification

Now, the first study I'll cover examined the effect of combined calcium and vitamin D3 supplementationon (or placebo) on bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). BMD was measured at baseline, 12 and 24 months.

Calcium Causes Heart Attacks Without Vitamin K2

Well, here we are again...just over a year later, and another study on calcium supplements suggests it raises the risk of heart attacks. If you're wondering if this is even true, in my opinion, yes it is. However, you shouldn't worry too much about this as long as you're taking vitamin K2.

Instead of repeating myself, please read my response to a similar study last year. The title of the post was Do Calcium Supplements Cause Heart Attacks? and I hope this gives a clear explanation that the evil in this story is not the calcium supplement, but the fact that most people don't get enough vitamin K.

Human Study Suggests Vitamin K2 (as MK-7) REVERSES Arterial Calcification

This is an exciting post since there is some amazing new data on vitamin K2 in the form of MK-7. I don't believe this has yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal (so there is no reference below as usual), but once it gets published, I'll be sure to cover it again or link back the reference.

At the Vitafoods convention in Geneva, taking place as I write this, Dr. Cees Vermeer, at VitaK laboratory (of Maastricht University), presented new data showing significant benefits for improved bone strength and prevention of cardiovascular aging with daily supplementation of natural MK-7.

In the study, 244 healthy postmenopausal women received 180 µg of MK-7 daily, or placebo, for 3 years. The clinical endpoints included bone mineral density, bone strength, and vascular characteristics measured by ultrasound and pulse-wave velocity (PWV, which evaluates age-related stiffening of blood vessels).

Elemental Diet as Effective as Drugs for Crohn's Disease

For those with Crohn's Disease, 6-Mercaptopurine is the the prescription drug often used as maintenance therapy. However, toxicities like myelosuppression limit its clinical benefit.

To evaluate the efficacy of the Elemental Diet versus 6-mercaptopurine as maintenance therapy in Crohn's disease--the first comparative study to pit nutritional therapy against 6-Mercaptopurine in a controlled setting.

95 patients with Crohn's disease were randomly assigned to: 6-mercaptopurine; an elemental diet; or none (control). Patients were observed for 2 years and the rate of relapse (Crohn's disease activity index ≥200) was monitored.

Fish Oil Improves Gene Expression in Alzheimer's Disease

So, last week I covered a study showing omega-3 fatty acids are associated with lower beta-amyloid, which shed some light on how omega-3s impact the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Now, I've just come across another new study that suggests that omega-3s induce or inhibit the expression of various genes involved in the theoretical pathogenesis of AD.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study study found dietary fish oil supplementation for 6 months may have effects on expression of genes which influence AD.

Four Meta-Analyses Confirm Chocolate's Benefit on Blood Pressure

This new study on chocolate was a meta-analysis of four other meta-analyses...a dream within a dream. Well, not really. Anyway, the Germany-based researchers investigated the effects of epicatechin dose on blood pressure measures using data from four meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Results showed that the potential blood pressure lowering effects of epicatechin were linked to the dose consumed with higher doses producing greater reductions in blood pressure. A 25 mg dose of epicatechin per day was associated with significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

At a daily intake of 25 mg, epicatechin was associated with average reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 4.1 and 2.0 mmHg, respectively.

Omega-3s for Alzheimer's Disease Prevention

I had to post this. Remember the video I previously posted of some dude having fun with Photo Booth (click HERE for that post)? Well, my oldest son thought it was pretty funny too, and he took it upon himself to do something similar. This was at least a few weeks ago now, but I'm just getting around to putting it online.

This was totally spontaneous, no practicing, and we didn't even know what he was doing--until we saw this...

Ok, now let's talk about this new study. Previous research has shown that diet could play an important role in preventing or delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease and other forms of age-related dementia.

Administration of Oral Vitamin K2 to Newborns

Ok well, today I'm not covering a new study, but over the last year, I've had numerous people ask about an article I wrote describing a protocol I put together for using vitamin K2 (as MK-7) in newborns (in lieu of the standard K1 injection).

I usually distribute this article when I'm delivering a seminar/presentation for vitamin K2 on behalf of Inno-Vite (for whom I developed the only liquid K on the Canadian market). However, for those who've never attended one of my presentations, or may have lost this article, I'm posting it here. This the latest version (from January 2011). Should there be a need to update this with newer relevant information, I'll post it to this blog.

If you prefer to obtain a pdf copy, please contact me using the link on this page and I'll be sure to email it to you.

...and a shameless plug for a product I'm proud to put my name behind...for this product I sourced the "cleanest" MK-7 (the only MK-7 raw material that doesn't contain dimethylpolysiloxane, and is also non-GMO, etc.) or use toxic preservatives like BHT in the vitamin D3 component (these are things you won't see on a label). It works great for newborns (based on feedback from many new parents and midwives, in addition to using it with my second son) and children, but also being used increasingly as a topical vitamin K serum for various skin conditions (mostly rosacea and wrinkles).

Update (July 17, 2012): Inno-Vite's newly launched Liquid K2 Extra Strength is the preferred and more appropriate version for use in newborns and infants, especially for the larger initial dose. Only 7 drops of the new Liquid K2 Extra Strength will provide more than the recommended 200 mcg for the initial dose (as opposed to 40 drops, or 2 mL, using the original version). Using the Liquid K2 Extra Strength will also be easier to administer daily since only 1 drop (30 mcg) will provide more than the recommended 25 mcg daily dose. However, since there is no D3 in the Extra Strength version, a separate D3 supplement should be considered.

Administration of Oral Vitamin K2 to Newborns

Lee Know, ND  |  www.KnowGuff.com  |  Originally published Aug 2010, updated January 2011

Since the launch of Inno-Vite’s Liquid K2 Drops, the product has become popular among parents who prefer to avoid the vitamin K injection at birth. This document is intended to give parents-to-be and their Midwives, Doulas, Naturopathic and Medical Doctors the information and guidance they need to make an informed choice on vitamin K.

Dehydration Affects Alertness (and new washroom etiquette)

It's been a while since I've randomly talked about things, but when I was writing this post, I was thinking dehydration...and mind mind started to wander...water consumption...going #1...and the "new etiquette" for guys going #1.

So guys, you know how much collateral splashing occurs when standing up to urinate (not just from poor aim, but splash up from the bowl). My proposal is that you sit down when at home or when you're guest in someone else's home. It's so much cleaner. This is what we've been trying to do in my home with my oldest son, who's now 8.

Public washrooms are a different story, but I've got a few words to throw in about this too. Sure stand-up (if using the toilet and not urinals)...no problem. But in those places where they don't designate a washroom by sex (unisex washrooms) or even men's washroom without urinals, please lift the toilet seat! This is just courtesy for those who may want to do #2, and need a seat that's not drenched in urine.

Women, you listen up too...same thing...lift the seat and leave it up unless doing #2. I know most of you don't sit when doing #1...you'll squat over the toilet, but if the seat is down, it gets wet, putting it out of commission for anyone to do #2.

Basically, in public washrooms, the toilet seat should always be up unless doing #2. That's my opinion, and it makes a lot of sense...at least to me.

Now I've got that out of the way...here's another study on dehydration. This study evaluated the effects of 24-hr fluid deprivation (FD) on selected mood and physiological parameters, using a well-controlled dehydration protocol.

This was a cross-over study with 20 healthy women (average age 25) who participated in two randomised sessions: FD-induced dehydration vs. a fully hydrated control condition. In the FD period, no water was consumed for about 23–24 hours. Water intake was only permitted at fixed periods during the control condition.

Heat-Killed Probiotics May Benefit Metabolic Syndrome

This new study on a probiotic strain was only on rats, but I'm covering this as an example of how dead probiotics still offer health benefits (and there are a number of other studies like this on dead probiotics). I know most would think that live probiotics are what you should get, and yes, for the most part, that's true. But remember, it's not the probiotics themselves that give the health benefits, but their metabolites. This is why dead probiotics still offer health-promoting properties--they've released their metabolites into their surroundings (capsule, powder, growing medium, etc.) while they were alive. The benefit of consuming live probiotic bacteria is that they'll continue to secrete beneficial metabolites for some time, while the benefits of dead probiotics will be short-lived and transient.

Anyway, the present study investigated the potential health-promoting effects of heat-inactivated Lactobacillus gasseri TMC0356 (TMC0356) on the metabolic syndrome (MS). Rats were randomly divided into five groups: a control group fed a conventional diet, an MS model group fed a high-fat and high-salt (HFS) diet and three TMC0356 test groups (low-, medium- and high-dose groups) fed an HFS diet supplemented with TMC0356.