Nutrition Research News
The Right Reasons to Take Chromium
Some bodybuilders take chromium picolinate in the belief that it diverts energy to building muscle and strength. However, the majority of controlled studies in humans do not show a beneficial effect of chromium on body composition or strength in weight lifters.
But there's no question that chromium is essential for human health. Chromium plays a role in the body's use of energy—providing carbohydrates, protein and fat—and, when in short supply, the mineral is associated with impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes-like symptoms. Indeed, high doses of chromium have been shown to reduce biochemical indicators of diabetes.
Additional studies may validate chromium as an effective therapy for adult-onset diabetes. Reasearchers anticipate chromium's ability to reduce blood glucose will also reduce diabetic complications that stem from chronically elevated glucose. Be aware, though, that if you are taking antidiabetic medications, you should try chromium supplementation only with the cooperation of your doctor so your glucose and insulin can be monitored.
Botanicals Invigorate Immunity
The immune system is the body's ultimate defense against infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. Traditional medicine uses botanicals and other natural substances to stimulate the body's defense mechanisms rather than substitute for them, as is often the case with modern Western medicine.
Many botanicals, including shiitake and maitake mushrooms, licorice, echinacea, ligustrum and astragalus, owe their effects to a group of polysaccharides—complex sugars that have the ability to activate white blood cells on the front lines of cellular defense. The polysaccharides also stimulate T cell formation and differentiation—T cells direct other cells in a specific immune response—as well as activate the complement system, a group of more than 25 blood proteins that play a vital role in the body's immune defenses.
It's best not to focus exclusively on individual botanical constituents, however, since multiple components appear to be involved in their therapeutic effects. Although researchers must focus on a single isolated compound to isolate specific activity, using whole herbs takes advantage of the multiple benefits plants offer.
Brighter Babies with DHA
Babies' brains grow rapidly during the first year of life—tripling in size from birth. In the first year important foundations for intelligence, vision and language are laid. All this brain building requires fatty acids. The proper foods, rich in those fats, might even give babies an intelligence advantage.
Considering the human brain is about 60 percent fat—predominantly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid—the question arrises whether low levels of DHA can cause brain damage or less than optimal brain function. Some evidence suggests the answer is yes. Recent research reveals that infants given a DHA-enriched formula had superior problem-solving ability at 10 months compared with infants who drank the standard, low-DHA commercial product.
Both groups of 10-month-olds had normal physical development and were equally able to solve simple mental problems. However, with a more
complex mental challenge, the children on the DHA-supplemented formula did better—and their advantage was statistically significant.
Uplifting News About Depression
Depression can sometimes be treated with dietary modifications and certain vitamins and minerals, as well as with specific amino acids that are precursors to neurotransmitters such as serotonin. In some cases, vitamins B6, B12 and C as well as folic acid and magnesium may reduce the severity of depression or improve general well-being. The amino acids L-tyrosine, D,L-phenylalanine and L-tryptophan in many cases can be used as an alternative to antidepressant drugs.
This consumer education bulletin is brought to you courtesy of your local natural products retailer and Nutrition Science News,a publication of New Hope Natural Media, in Boulder, Colo.
For informational purposes only.
Contents should not be used as medical advice.
