25 June 2008 Keeping Healthy The research is clear.  Diet and nutrition play key roles in supporting good health (WHO, 2003).  Ignorance may be bliss in some cases, but it can be downright dangerous when it comes to your healthcare. One of the greatest challenges to our healthcare system is the dramatic rise in the incidence of both obesity and diabetes. In the US and Canada, diabetes has increased over 500% during just the last generation. The fact that diabetes is the leading cause of amputations, kidney failure, neuropathy, adult blindness, and premature death due to cardiovascular disease, creates great concern. It just makes sense that rebalancing our healthcare system to include a larger emphasis on primary prevention should be an essential step.   And we need to can act now. We know enough today about the principles of primary prevention, and about the basics of a healthy lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, stress management, avoidance of smoking, etc) to implement significant improvements without delay. ************* To keep good health you need to take some preventative measures. First you will need to recognize a possible risk. And if you are exposed to this risk you would need to know how you can protect yourself and avoid getting sick. To start this learning process, you need to sift fact from fiction and know how to utilize this information. Your body has a very sophisticated protective system, including an immune system and inflammatory processes, plus many other functions that protect you "behind the scenes". It goes without saying that a healthy body is your first and most important line of defense. It is your best protection. Your body's main area of defense is your immune system. We often hear about our Immune System in terms of being improved by certain vitamins. It seems a simple solution but in actual fact your Immune System is very complex and performs many different functions. A few individual vitamins will not fill all its requirements. A strong Immune System will keep you healthy for a long time. But once it has exhausted its supply of nutrients and can't borrow any more from any part of its system, things start to breakdown. It also stands to reason that the more you look after it, and the less you give it to "correct" or render harmless, the longer it will serve you. The most important medical discovery of the last half-century concerns "free radicals" and "anti-oxidants". Free radicals have been linked to at least 60 diseases. And we now have evidence that anti-oxidants can stop and (in some cases) can even reverse the damage done by free radicals. Here is how it works. When you produce more free radicals than you can manage, you create what is known as oxidative stress. We all understand that oxygen is essential for life itself; however, it is also inherently dangerous for our existence. The same process that causes a cut apple to turn brown or metal to rust also causes your body to rust inside. This process of oxidative stress, (STRESS is the important word here) is the underlying cause of the overwhelming majority of chronic degenerative diseases. These are diseases like heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and the list goes on. Because of our stressful lifestyles, polluted environment, and over- medicated societies, this generation must contend with more free radicals than any previous generation. There are many things that increase the number of free radicals you produce,  many of these are Triggers for unhealthy side effects and they include:  ·         Lifestyle choices ·         Poor Nutrition ·         Unhealthy weight management ·         Excessive Stress ·         Excessive Exercise ·         Pollutants in our air, food, and water ·         Sunlight ·         Radiation ·         Medication ·         Cigarette smoke ·         Excessive Alcohol consumption ·         And there are many more that can be added to the list. Some we have more control over than others.  Oxidative stress is literally the dark-side of oxygen.   However, we are not totally defenceless against this process. Antioxidants have the ability to neutralize a free radical. Balance is the key. You need to have enough antioxidants available to handle the number of free radicals produced.  Then you are able to prevent oxidative stress from occurring. Our bodies, and each of the cells that compose them, are complex, living systems comprising diverse structures (organs and organelles) that carry out a multitude of integrated biological functions. The importance of a balanced and varied diet is self-evident. It is important to eat a diet that supplies a wide array of nutrient-dense foods; a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and one that supplies all the essential micro-nutrients, including the right amounts and kinds of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. While diets high in cholesterol are bad for the brain, getting plenty of omega 3 fatty acids, found primarily in fish is vital for heart health, and experts tell us we should be eating several servings of fish every week. Supplements of Omega 3 can be of additional benefit. DHA is found in high concentrations in the brain and is needed for healthy cognitive function. It is widely believed to have an anti-inflammatory effect and is known to have a protective benefit on the heart. The most concentrated source of DHA is oily fish, such as salmon, tuna, herring, sardines and mackerel. Good wholesome food intake plays an important role in maintaining optimum fitness and health, body structure and function as well as maximum immunity against disease. Many fruits and vegetables primarily valued for their powerful antioxidants may in fact provide multiple benefits for the aging brain. New research has also shown that B vitamins, such as niacin and folic acid, are vitally important to brain function and may help keep the mind sharp. Found in a range of foods, including lean meat, fish, legumes, dairy products, grains and green and leafy vegetables, B vitamins appear to help control inflammation and may play a role in the development of new brain cells. Besides eating more fruits and veggies, avoiding saturated fats and trans fats may also help prevent age-related memory loss. When it comes to the amount of fat in the diet, researchers have found that what’s good for the heart is good for the brain. In the same way that reducing levels of bad cholesterol can prevent arteries from becoming ravaged by atherosclerosis, low cholesterol levels in the diet may also help protect brain cells. Comprehensive antioxidant protection requires that we consume not only vitamins C and E, but also a full spectrum of antioxidant molecules, all of which are essential for long-term health. Furthermore, we now know that advanced levels of many of the essential nutrients--including vitamin E, vitamin D, and selenium--far in excess of Recommended Daily Allowances, are required to support long-term health Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant, which is very important in the protection of brain and peripheral nerve cells. Vitamin C can concentrate in the tissue and fluid around the brain and nerves.  It is able to pass through the blood brain barrier, and in fact, vitamin C levels are ten times higher in this tissue than in the plasma.  When you realize that vitamin C is not only a great antioxidant but also has the ability to regenerate vitamin E and glutathione, it becomes a very important nutrient in protecting brain and nerve cells. Vitamin D. There are scores of studies supporting the role of calcium and vitamin D supplementation for promoting strong, mineral-rich bones and reducing the risk and progression of osteoporosis. A striking proportion of your body's peak bone mass is built when you're a teenager. Any steps you take now to build bone mass and ward off osteoporosis are certainly a good thing. Inadequate vitamin D intake has been linked to a long list of chronic painful illnesses, including bone and joint pain of various types, muscle pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, to name just a few. The incidence of type-2 diabetes is lower among women who get adequate calcium and supplement with vitamin D. Elevated intakes of calcium and vitamin D, especially from supplements, are significantly associated with lower incidence of type-2 diabetes. Article Source: Diabetes Care 29:650-656, 2006. Research has shown that diets in industrialized countries generally fail to supply even minimal levels of many of the essential vitamins, antioxidants and minerals.   These deficits are particularly worrisome for vitamins A, E and B6, as well as for folate, calcium, magnesium, zinc and copper.   In summary then, our bodies' cells are complex, integrated, living systems requiring all the essential vitamins, antioxidants and minerals--in adequate and balanced amounts--to survive and thrive. As with most things in life, you are responsible for yourself and for what goes on in your body. So you have to know what your body needs and what you put into it will do to you, or for you. It doesn't matter if it's a vegetable or a supplement. The responsibility is yours alone. You may ask for advice, but the end decision is yours. What you put in your body should help your entire body stay healthy: be it food at the dinner table or a supplement to complement the food just eaten. So protect yourself by learning these basic principles. Become aware of your own body's needs and supply them. The timeframes of primary prevention are measured in decades and lifetimes, not in hours, days, months, or years. Prevention is always the best approach.