Author Archives: Let's Talk Health

Critical Vitamin C Absorption Facts

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Did you know that vitamin C intravenous infusions range in price from $125 to $160 per treatment? Yes, you read that right. There is a reason that many people desire to maximize the absorption of vitamin C for general health or when battling a chronic disease. The sad truth is, even the best liquid or capsule form of vitamin C is only absorbed at 19-22%. Liposomal delivery allows you to have the best of both worlds – High absorption of vitamin C in the bloodstream without the expense of IV infusions.  Plus you can determine how often and how much vitamin c you take without needing to set an appointment (not to mention – a needle stick) every time you get an infusion. The liposome protects the vitamin C as it goes through the digestive tract so that it is intact as it enters the blood stream.  In addition, because (Read More)

Diet Linked to Arthritis

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Having a bad diet may increase your chances of developing osteoarthritis. Scientists have long thought the condition was tied to obesity and excessive stress placed on the joints, reports MedicalDaily.com. But in a new study, a team from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that a high-fat Western diet caused mice not only to gain weight but also to develop systemic inflammation and an imbalance in their gut microbiome: Their colons had high levels of harmful bacteria and hardly any beneficial “probiotic” bacteria. When the researchers tore cartilage in the rodents’ knees to trigger osteoarthritis, the disease progressed more rapidly in the obese mice. When they then treated these mice with a probiotic to restore their gut microbiome, the rodents had less inflammation and their joint health improved. Study author Eric Schott says his team’s findings “set the stage to develop therapies that target the microbiome and actually treat (Read More)

Night Owls May Live Shorter Lives

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People who habitually stay up late are more likely to die early, a new study has found, perhaps because their internal body clock is out of sync with a society that favors early risers. Researchers tracked about 430,000 adults between 38 and 73 years old for 6.5 years. They found that night owls had a 10 percent greater risk of early death than those who prefer to wake up early, Vox.com reports. Those who burned the midnight oil were more likely to have chronic health issues, such as diabetes, neurological disorders, and respiratory disease. One possible reason, says study author Kristen Knutson, is that the pressure to conform to other people’s work and social schedules leaves late risers anxious, sleep deprived, and feeling as if they live in a perpetual state of jet lag. “There’s a problem for the night owl who’s trying to live in the morning-lark world,” Knutson (Read More)

A Deeper Look Into Vitamin C

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Vitamin C, it’s everywhere. Daily vitamins, cold remedies and orange juice are all full of this ingredient, and most people accept that it’s good for them. But how many people realize the full potential of vitamin C in multiple areas of their health and life? Who takes the time to research the wondrous effects that this vitamin really has? By Any Other Name Vitamin C is sometimes known by another name: ascorbic acid. Of course, no matter what you call it, vitamin C is still beneficial. It’s been the case for hundreds of years. Sailors, for instance, would fight of scurvy with a healthy dose of the stuff. Scientists now realize that ascorbic acid helps create collagen in the skin. This protein is necessary to give strength and blood vessels strength and firmness, while vitamin C helps skin create scar tissue. It might not be pretty, but it does help (Read More)

Inflammation Triggers Chronic Disease

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The presence of inflammation is what opens the door to most chronic disease.  It can and often does occur for years before it exists at levels sufficient to be apparent or clinically significant. More than half of Americans suffer from chronic or recurrent pain, and nearly half (46 percent) of poll takers reported pain in the last two weeks.  Is it any wonder that chronic disease is such a big issue?  Inflammation is now recognized as an overwhelming burden to the healthcare status of our population and the underlying basis of a significant number of diseases. How long it has been smoldering really determines the degree of severity of a disease and often the prognosis assuming the inflammation can be controlled. One could also argue that without inflammation most disease would not even exist. Take a look at this list of diseases and their relationship with inflammation: Disease Mechanism Allergy 4 (Read More)

Vitamin C Deficient? The Numerous Benefits Of Vitamin C

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Health Benefits of Vitamin C Vitamin C is rapidly finding new applications in protecting against endothelial dysfunction, high blood pressure, and the blood vessel changes that precede heart disease. Additional research is discovering that vitamin C can be helpful in preventing asthma, protecting against cancer, and supporting healthy blood sugar levels in diabetics. While often taken for granted, vitamin C is a critical supplement in your program to improve cardiac health and avoid degenerative diseases. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin. Unlike most mammals and other animals, humans do not have the ability to make ascorbic acid and must obtain vitamin C from the diet and supplementation. Signs of Vitamin C Deficiency Minor bleeding, such as nose bleeds, or easy bruising. Dry, split hair due to inadequate collagen. Slow wound healing. Vitamin C promotes collagen development in scar tissue. Iron deficiency. Vitamin C promotes iron absorption, so low vitamin C and low iron levels often coexist. Fatigue (Read More)

Some of the Things They Said Were Good For Us… and Some of the Things We Were Told to Avoid

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Some of the things they said were good for us… Nature Walks can make you healthier and happier by driving out obsessive, negative thoughts. A Stanford University study found that strolling in a natural setting decreases activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, a brain region particularly active during rumination. “It was pretty striking that a 90-minute walk had this much of an impact,” says author Gregory Bratman. For people with a tendency to brood, interrupting an endless stream of negative thoughts reduces the risk for depression and other mental illnesses. Green spaces may also make kids smarter. A separate study of roughly 2,600 fourth-graders in Barcelona found that those with greater exposure to nature were more attentive and experienced a 5 percent increase in working memory. Awe-inspiring experiences can help you live longer. Gazing out over the Grand Canyon or beholding an artistic masterpiece can trigger positive emotions with immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory effects (Read More)

Americans’ Shortened Life Spans

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The life expectancy of Americans is lower than that of people living in other high income countries, and a new study explains why: We’re inflicting earlier death on ourselves with self-destructive behavior. Car accidents, gun violence, and drug overdoses kill 100,000 people in the U.S. each year, which helps explain why American men and women die about 2.2 years earlier than residents of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, according to a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics. American men and women have a life expectancy of 76.4 and 81.2 years, respectively, compared with the 78.6 and 83.4 years of their peers abroad. “It seems staggering that we get two fewer years of life just for living here,” study author Andrew Fenelon tells the Associated Press. Gun deaths, car crashes, and overdoses are responsible for half that (Read More)

Colon Cancer in Younger People

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Colon cancer is on the rise among young adults, new research reveals. A study of more than 260,000 cases showed that nearly 15 percent of patients were under 50, which is the recommended screening age for the disease, ScienceDaily.com reports. It’s unclear why that form of cancer is increasing among younger people, and more study is needed to determine if screenings should begin earlier in life. But researchers say doctors should not ignore the early warning signs, such as anemia and bleeding, or overlook family history, which is a significant risk factor. The study also found that patients under 50 are more often diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes or other organs, and that they are more likely to receive aggressive treatment, enabling them to live longer without a recurrence of their disease. That creates another public health issue, says author Samantha Hendren of (Read More)

The Perils of a Wealth Shock

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Suffering a major financial loss could lead to an early death, a new study suggests. Researchers at Northwestern University analyzed the financial history and health records of nearly 9,000 Americans between ages 51 and 61, from 1994 to 2014. During that period, about 25 percent of the subjects experienced a negative “wealth shock,” measured as a minimum 75 percent drop in their net worth over a two-year period. The median net-worth decrease was just over $100,000. The researchers found that the people who lost their nest egg were 50 percent more likely to die than their peers during the study period, and had the same risk of premature death as those who were poor or in debt. “This is something millions of people go through,” lead researcher Lindsay Pool tells Time.com. “It’s not really a rare event.” Pool and her team say a sudden reversal of fortune can lead to depression, (Read More)