When ingested by healthy elderly test subjects (120 ml per day) for 30 days, a standardized Goji fruit juice (GoChi, provided by FreeLife International, USA) has been found to boost the antioxidant defense but at the same time also lowered the oxidative stress-induced damage of lipids, i.e. fat molecules which are vital for the proper functioning of the human body. However, other blood parameters such as cholesterol or glucose levels appeared to be unaffected by the Goji fruit juice consumption.

Taken together, this placebo-controlled study by Amagase and colleagues indicates that Goji fruit juice “increased antioxidant efficacies in humans by stimulating endogenous factors and suggest that continued use beyond 30 days might help prevent or reduce free radical-related conditions.”.

For more details, you may want to check out the article published recently in the journal Nutrition Research (doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2008.11.005).

Photo: Wolfberries, Wikipedia

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Wolfberry (Goji) Improves Oxidative Stress Resistance in Humans

Is the African herb hoodia an effective appetite suppressant?
Do green tea supplements burn fat?
Are all supplements out there in the market safe?
Natural weight-loss supplements don’t have side effects. Correct?

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, I think you need to learn the facts.

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Myths (and Facts) About Weight-Loss Supplements

Image published with permission.

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Gastric Health Over the Holidays

Notweworthy, the study confirms data from the EPIC study (December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) which also did not detect any association between selenium concentrations in the blood and prostate cancer risk in a large cohort of European men.

Although selenium supplements may help prevent (bladder) cancer in certain sub-populations, and may perhaps be useful in populations prone to selenium deficiency, supplementation specifically for the prevention of prostate cancer does not seem to hold water.

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Does Selenium Supplementation Help Prevent Prostate Cancer?

Before (pre) and after (post) the supplementation period, participants performed a discontinuous cycle ergometry test to determine the PWCFT [physical working capacity at the fatigue threshold (PWCFT)]. Results: Significant increases in PWCFT (28.6%) from pre- to post-supplementation were found for the BA treatment group (p<0.05), but no change was observed with PL treatment. These findings suggest that ninety days of BA supplementation may increase physical working capacity by delaying the onset of neuromuscular fatigue in elderly men and women.

The researchers believe that beta-alanine supplementation may help in the prevention of falls, and the maintenance of health and independent living in elderly men and women.

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Beta-Alanine Improves Muscle Endurance Among the Elderly

And to muddle things even further, yet another review has been published in the Cochrane Library, suggesting that St. John’s wort extracts tested in trials

• are superior to placebo in patients with major depression;
• are similarly effective as standard antidepressants;
• and have fewer side effects than standard antidepressants.

I’m sure there  are all sorts of preparations of varying sorts and purities out in the market. Afterall, St. John’s wort is considered to be the”natural prozac“. Note however, that just because something is of plant origin does not mean it’s totally safe. Please, please, do not self-medicate and consult your doctor, particularly if you are taking any other medications.

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St. John’s Wort as Anti-Depressant

A new study indicates that its powers extend to liver health, too. According to the results of an animal trial, resveratrol, a compound naturally found in grape skin and berries, may also help treat fatty liver, a condition associated with excessive alcohol consumption. It is characterized by the build-up of excess fat in the liver cells, which may lead to inflammation and liver damage.

Could the resveratrol in red wine protect the liver form the negative effects of the alcohol in the same drink? The alcoholics will rejoice if it were so, but I doubt it.

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Resveratrol May Help Against Fatty Liver

These observations build on previously published reports that vitamin K may have an effect on diabetes development via the vitamin K-dependant protein osteocalcin:

By “knocking out” these genes in mice so that they could not function, the animals lacking a functional osteocalcin gene gained fat, showing that osteocalcin helps regulate the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas and release it into the bloodstream.

These osteocalcin deficient mice also became glucose intolerant. Both conditions are considered “pre-diabetic.”

Osteocalcin was also shown to signal fat cells to release a hormone called adiponectin that increases insulin sensitivity (Cell, 2007 Vol. 130, pp. 456-469).

Vitamin K1, also called phylloquinone or phytonadione, (as opposed to Vitamin K2, also termed menaquinones) is found in green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli and spinach.

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Vitamin K1 May Reduce Development of Insulin Resistance

[The researchers] found that 12 weeks of isoflavone supplement, at a dose of 80 mg a day, significantly improved brachial FMD and, therefore, vascular endothelial dysfunction in patients who had suffered an ischaemic stroke (a stroke caused by blood clots or other obstructions).

The researchers also found that 12 weeks of isoflavone treatment resulted in a significant decrease in levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. This protein increases during systemic inflammation and is an independent predictor of cardiovascular-related events. “These findings suggested that isoflavone treatment alleviated vascular inflammatory stress and was an important component that mediated the reversal of endothelial dysfunction in this group of patients,” wrote the authors.

“These findings may have important implications for the use of isoflavone for secondary prevention in patients with cardiovascular disease, on top of conventional treatments,” the authors wrote in their EHJ paper.

These data are based from a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, involving 50 patients taking the isoflavone supplement, and 52 taking a placebo pill.

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Isoflavone Supplement Benefits Stroke Patients

Although this study was done with mice, a recent human study found that people who took quercetin suffered fewer illnesses following three days of exhaustive exercise compared to those who did not. Unlike the mouse study, the humans were not inoculated with a virus.

“This is the first controlled experimental study to show a benefit of short-term quercetin feedings on susceptibility to respiratory infection following exercise stress,” said Davis. “Quercetin feeding was an effective preventive strategy to offset the increase in susceptibility to infection that was associated with stressful exercise.”

The authors add if further studies confirm these results, quercetin may be very useful for endurance athletes, soldiers and others undergoing difficult training regimens, as well as people under psychological stress. For normal people like you and me, perhaps plenty of fruits and veggies would also do the trick.

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Quercetin Helps Fight Flu