Drinking between three and five cups of coffee a day in middle age could decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease by 65 per cent, says a new study from Scandinavia.
Researchers from the University of Kuopio in Finland, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and Finland’s National Public Health Institute report their findings in the new issue of Alzheimer’s Disease.
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By Stephen Daniells, 16 Jan 2009, foodnavigator-usa.com
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The sweet escape can be deadly
THAT sugar on your breakfast table is actually a powerful drug. It is pure white and sweet but deadly. I call it "white poison".
You just need small amounts of it in your bloodstream. Too much of it will damage your vital organs.
Ask any diabetic. It is addictive and can leave you with horrible withdrawal symptoms.
It is also bad for your immune system.
Sugar is also a known tooth decay agent.
The major sources of calories are:
Of the carbohydrate package, there are simple carbohydrates, or sugars, as opposed to the complex. Within the sugars there are refined simple carbohydrates, as opposed to the unrefined.
In nature, sugars are found, with the exception of honey, in an unrefined state, such as in sugar cane, sugar beets, and most fruits which are naturally sweet.
Sugar is also inherent in corn, rice, and even milk. However, these are not so sweet.
In fact, almost all vegetables have fair amounts of natural sugar in them.
As these are natural real wholesome food, there is little problem in eating as much as desired.
There would be no problem eating either sugar cane, or sugar beets, as a squeezed, non-concentrated juice straight from the plant. Every nutrient required for the assimilation (absorption and utilisation) of the juice is contained within it.
If you chew the stalk, you even get natural fibre. Real food contains within itself the nutrients required for its use by the body.
"Real" sugar is not the problem. The problem is the refined sugar which should no longer qualify as food.
This means that when "the white stuff" is ingested, the vitamins, and particularly the minerals required for burning (or storing) that fuel internally (B-1, B-2, biotin, niacin, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and others), are rudely removed from the now totally pure and concentrated sugar.
The body will handle the fuel. However, it does it by taking from body stores already in existence. This depletes existing nutrient stores that your body holds.
Ongoing intake of "empty" calories saps the body of the internal stores of nutrients. Eventually, a state of deficiency arises, possibly of a sub-clinical nature. Most of our diets consist of empty, non-food substances.
A warning for sugar lovers -- these refined calories are not only "empty", they are also concentrated. Besides the nutrients being removed, the water is all gone; the juice is now a crystal. Soluble fibre is also missing.
For example, one ounce (0.023kg) of refined sugar requires 0.23 kilogramme of sugar beets. You could easily consume one ounce of sugar but would be hard pressed to eat 0.23kg of sugar beets.
Once sugar enters the system, the blood sugar rises. Remember, sugar is toxic to your body. You cannot store it anywhere in your system. Your body's response to this is to remove the sugar from the blood and send it into the muscle and brain cells.
If you don't happen to be lifting or thinking enough, it is then stored, but not as sugar. The excess sugar is converted and stored as fat.
In other words, you can cut your fat grammes to zero, but if you eat too much sugar, you can still get fat. Here is where the "low fat" but sugar laden product advertisers don't tell us the whole truth.
Actually, your body over-reacts to refined sugar, causing your blood sugar to drop dramatically. This causes symptoms such as headache, irritability, fatigue, abdominal pains, muddled thinking, even blurred vision and even depression along with cravings for another sugar "fix".
Now that we are in the holiday season, you may have lots of parties to attend with lots of sumptuous foods and decadent desserts. Don't starve yourself all day "saving up" your calories for the party food -- it may be bad for your brain and you might go off the sugar-bingeing deep end.
Instead, eat normally and choose healthy food throughout the day with lots of nutrients and fibre (like fruits and vegetables). Then later, when you are faced with all those delicious holiday treats, it may actually be easier to control your cravings.
By, Rajen M. Published on NST Online 3 Jan 2009.
Dr Rajen M. is a pharmacist with a doctorate in holistic medicine. Email him at health@po.jaring.my
You just need small amounts of it in your bloodstream. Too much of it will damage your vital organs.
Ask any diabetic. It is addictive and can leave you with horrible withdrawal symptoms.
It is also bad for your immune system.
Sugar is also a known tooth decay agent.
The major sources of calories are:
- proteins
- fats and
- carbohydrates
Of the carbohydrate package, there are simple carbohydrates, or sugars, as opposed to the complex. Within the sugars there are refined simple carbohydrates, as opposed to the unrefined.
In nature, sugars are found, with the exception of honey, in an unrefined state, such as in sugar cane, sugar beets, and most fruits which are naturally sweet.
Sugar is also inherent in corn, rice, and even milk. However, these are not so sweet.
In fact, almost all vegetables have fair amounts of natural sugar in them.
As these are natural real wholesome food, there is little problem in eating as much as desired.
There would be no problem eating either sugar cane, or sugar beets, as a squeezed, non-concentrated juice straight from the plant. Every nutrient required for the assimilation (absorption and utilisation) of the juice is contained within it.
If you chew the stalk, you even get natural fibre. Real food contains within itself the nutrients required for its use by the body.
"Real" sugar is not the problem. The problem is the refined sugar which should no longer qualify as food.
This means that when "the white stuff" is ingested, the vitamins, and particularly the minerals required for burning (or storing) that fuel internally (B-1, B-2, biotin, niacin, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and others), are rudely removed from the now totally pure and concentrated sugar.
The body will handle the fuel. However, it does it by taking from body stores already in existence. This depletes existing nutrient stores that your body holds.
Ongoing intake of "empty" calories saps the body of the internal stores of nutrients. Eventually, a state of deficiency arises, possibly of a sub-clinical nature. Most of our diets consist of empty, non-food substances.
A warning for sugar lovers -- these refined calories are not only "empty", they are also concentrated. Besides the nutrients being removed, the water is all gone; the juice is now a crystal. Soluble fibre is also missing.
For example, one ounce (0.023kg) of refined sugar requires 0.23 kilogramme of sugar beets. You could easily consume one ounce of sugar but would be hard pressed to eat 0.23kg of sugar beets.
Once sugar enters the system, the blood sugar rises. Remember, sugar is toxic to your body. You cannot store it anywhere in your system. Your body's response to this is to remove the sugar from the blood and send it into the muscle and brain cells.
If you don't happen to be lifting or thinking enough, it is then stored, but not as sugar. The excess sugar is converted and stored as fat.
In other words, you can cut your fat grammes to zero, but if you eat too much sugar, you can still get fat. Here is where the "low fat" but sugar laden product advertisers don't tell us the whole truth.
Actually, your body over-reacts to refined sugar, causing your blood sugar to drop dramatically. This causes symptoms such as headache, irritability, fatigue, abdominal pains, muddled thinking, even blurred vision and even depression along with cravings for another sugar "fix".
Now that we are in the holiday season, you may have lots of parties to attend with lots of sumptuous foods and decadent desserts. Don't starve yourself all day "saving up" your calories for the party food -- it may be bad for your brain and you might go off the sugar-bingeing deep end.
Instead, eat normally and choose healthy food throughout the day with lots of nutrients and fibre (like fruits and vegetables). Then later, when you are faced with all those delicious holiday treats, it may actually be easier to control your cravings.
By, Rajen M. Published on NST Online 3 Jan 2009.
Dr Rajen M. is a pharmacist with a doctorate in holistic medicine. Email him at health@po.jaring.my
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