Richmond Chiropractic Neurology

26/08/2024

Health News Update: Quality Really Matters

8.26.24

Hello again everyone:

Here is a very interesting study that reveals that not only do plant-based diets lower inflammation, it also shows that poorly chosen plant-based food patterns raise inflammation. As you know, inflammation causes, aggravates, and/or perpetuates every known chronic health condition…you cannot name one health condition in which inflammation is not a key player. Food consumption patterns are the leading cause of inflammation as well as being recognized as the leading cause of death and disability in our country.

Currently, there is enormous interest in plant-based dietary models that reveal significant health benefits. As the science progresses, they are now teasing out the differences between healthy and not-so-healthy food choices. And guess what? The healthier plant-based food choices lowered inflammation while the unhealthy choices did not.

Conclusion: Higher scores of HEI-2015 (Healthy Eating Index) and increased intake of a healthy plant-based diet were associated with lower inflammation, while an unhealthy plant-based diet was associated with higher inflammation. A greater adherence to the 2015 dietary guidelines may reduce the risk of mortality associated with inflammation and may also benefit individuals with obesity who had low and moderate inflammation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10468921/pdf/394_2023_Article_3191.pdf

Bottom Line:

So, what is a healthy plant-based food plan? It was a Mediterranean style diet. This is simply the healthiest way to go as it lowers inflammation and protects and lowers your risk of all-cause mortality. Enjoy!!

A Mediterranean-style diet typically includes:
• plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds.
• olive oil as a primary fat source; and
• dairy products, eggs, fish and poultry in low to moderate amounts.

Fish and poultry are more common than red meat in this diet. It also centers on minimally processed, plant-based foods. Wine may be consumed in low to moderate amounts, usually with meals. Fruit is a common dessert instead of sweets.

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/mediterranean-diet

PS: I strongly disagree with the wine statement. Read more here:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/alcohol/art-20044551

19/08/2024

Health News Update: Intensive Lifestyle Intervention Slows Alzheimer’s

8.19.24

Hey there everyone:

Here is a new study that reveals the ability to slow the progress of dementia with lifestyle upgrades. Here are the essentials:

Conclusions

“In summary, in persons with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, comprehensive lifestyle changes may improve cognition and function in several standard measures after 20 weeks. In contrast, patients in the randomized control group showed overall worsening in all four measures of cognition and function during this time.
The validity of these findings was supported by the observed changes in plasma biomarkers and microbiome; the dose-response correlation of the degree of lifestyle changes with the degree of improvement in all four measures of cognition and function; and the correlation between the degree of lifestyle change and the degree of changes in the Amyloid Beta 42/40 ratio and the changes in some other relevant biomarkers in a beneficial direction.

The point of sharing this information is summarized in the highlighted section below.

Our findings also have implications for helping to prevent AD. Newer technologies, some aided by artificial intelligence, enable the probable diagnosis of AD years before it becomes clinically apparent. However, many people do not want to know if they are likely to get AD if they do not believe they can do anything about it. If intensive lifestyle changes may cause improvement in cognition and function in MCI or early dementia due to AD, then it is reasonable to think that these lifestyle changes may also help to prevent MCI or early dementia due to AD. Also, it may take less-extensive lifestyle changes to help prevent AD than to treat it. Other studies cited earlier on the effects of these lifestyle changes on diseases such as coronary heart disease support this conclusion. Clearly, intensive lifestyle changes rather than moderate ones seem to be required to improve cognition and function in those suffering from early-stage AD.”

https://alzres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13195-024-01482-z

So, what exactly were these intensive lifestyle interventions?

“The intervention program had four components: a whole-food, minimally processed, plant-based diet of predominantly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and selected supplements; moderate aerobic exercise (such as walking) and strength training for at least 30 minutes a day; stress management including meditation, stretching, breathing, and imagery for 1 hour a day; and online support groups for participants and spouses or study partners for 1-hour sessions three times a week. The diet had approximately 14% to 18% of its calories as total fat, 16% to 18% as protein, and 63% to 68% as mostly complex carbohydrates. Calories were unrestricted. All meals were sent to each participant's home twice a week.”

https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/alzheimersdisease/110596?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2024-06-15&eun=g1207968d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly%20Review%202024-06-15&utm_term=NL_DHE_Weekly_Active

Bottom Line:

Why not start right now to upgrade your lifestyle to avoid dementia in the first place. Today, dementia/Alzheimer’s is the 5th leading cause of death in those over 65. Personally, I do not want to be part of those statistics and I have easily and gradually implemented all of those lifestyle upgrade strategies outlined above. I hope you will join up with this worthwhile cause. Think and plan ahead, while you still can.

Background Evidence links lifestyle factors with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We report the first randomized, controlled clinical trial to determine if intensive lifestyle changes may beneficially affect the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia due to AD. Methods A 1:1 mul...

12/08/2024

Health News Update: Planetary Diet: Less Death & Better Environment

8.12.24

Hey there everyone:

You may wonder why I am so positive about the evolving understanding about plant-based food plans and our environment, so here is a recent paper to add to your knowledge base:

“Conclusions: In 3 large United States-based prospective cohorts of males and females with up to 34 y of follow-up, a higher PHDI (Planetary Health Dietary Index) was associated with lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality and environment impacts.”

https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(24)00389-7/abstract

Closely following a planet-friendly diet of mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains reduces the risk of premature death by nearly one-third in people, while also dramatically cutting the release of greenhouse gases devastating the planet, a new study found.

“Eating more whole plant foods, less animal foods, and less highly processed foods is better for people and planet alike,” said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine who was not involved in the study.

“In this paper, we see that same message amplified: adhering to a dietary pattern conducive to the health of the planet and sustainability is associated with meaningful reductions in all-cause mortality,” he said in an email.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/10/health/planetary-diet-longevity-study-wellness

Bottom Line:

The evidence is mounting up and the conclusions are becoming more and more focused: whole food, unprocessed, plant-based food plans are good for you and the planet. Shifting your meal focus away from all types of processed foods and animal products and moving towards a plants predominant food plan has significant benefits for one and all. To put it another way, I have never seen a chronic illness get better without a dietary upgrade. Take all the functional medicine approaches and nutritional supplements you want, but without a clean, whole foods, low inflammatory potential predominantly plant-based food plan, I have yet to see someone reach their health goals adequately. Food is simply foundational, and quality matters significantly!! Check this out:

“Conclusion: Higher scores of HEI-2015 (Healthy Eating Index) and increased intake of a healthy plant-based diet were associated with lower inflammation, while an unhealthy plant-based diet was associated with higher inflammation.”

Wang YB, Page AJ, Gill TK, et al. The association between diet quality, plant-based diets, systemic inflammation, and mortality risk: findings from NHANES. Eur J Nutr. 2023. doi:10.1007/s00394-023-03191-z

In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission proposed a healthy dietary pattern that, along with reductions in food waste and improved agricultural practices, could feed the increasing global population sustainably. We developed a Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) to quantify adherence to the EAT-Lancet refe...

05/08/2024

Health New Update: Intermittent Fasting and Healthy Aging

8.5.24

Hello once again everyone:

If you are curious about how Intermittent Fasting works, this paper should help explain things once I explain things:

Highlights

Throughout observational time, prolonged intermittent fasting affected dynamical changes in autophagy, senescence and inflammasome activities. These include:

• Prolonged intermittent fasting significantly induced ATG5 and ULK1 expression but reduced the other autophagy gene, BCN1.

• Prolonged intermittent fasting significantly induced the expression of inflammasome gene NLRP3 and IL-1 but not it’s active component, ASC.

• Prolonged intermittent fasting could significantly reduce p21, p16 and p53 expression at a later point in time.

Taken together, this manuscript combines novelty and clinical relevance to help our understanding of fasting, especially intermittent fasting. Furthermore, it can be implemented as a non-pharmacological and low-cost therapy to promote rejuvenation.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666149723000063?via%3Dihub

Bottom Line:

Ok…so what does all that stuff actually mean?

• The first bullet point related to intermittent fasting upregulating autophagy in a good way. Briefly, autophagy is the self-cleaning custodial work that our body (mostly immune cells) do on a daily basis, and most of it is at night in the absence of calories. This is why intermittent fasting improves autophagy and helps to maintain an internally clean environment and adequate surveillance against infection and tumor induction. To quote the paper: “dysregulation of autophagy is associated with many diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, vascular diseases, and many others.” This is an incredibly important essential benefit!

• The second bullet point reveals that intermittent fasting significantly lowers inflammation, and as you know, inflammation causes, perpetuates, and/or aggravates every known human condition. Thus, lowering inflammasome expression will lower our total non-purposeful background inflammation, thus promoting a longer health span and lifespan with less illness and disability. Another amazing benefit. It is also shown to lower autoimmune diseases!

• The last bullet point reveals that markers of immune senescence are reduced. Immune senescence is the same as immune senility…certain aspects of the immune system begin to become ineffective and act old. Recent research revealed that those without immune senescence live the longest with the greatest health span.

The best form of intermittent fasting (at least this is what the current literature states…but that can change) is called early time restricted feeding, or eTRF. Basically, it works like this: you have breakfast before 10 AM and lunch before 2 PM and consume 80% of your total daily calories in that early time. Your dinner is as early as you can and is very light with only 20% of your total daily caloric intake. You then fast for at least 12 hours without any calories…up to 14 hours is a bit better but longer than that does not seem to bring more benefit. A helpful hint to get started with this is to prepare your normal dinner, but only eat about 1/3 of it and have the rest for breakfast…this is actually a lot better than it sounds. Give this a try and let me know how it works for you.

I do recommend that before you attempt eTRF you should consult your health care provider, especially those that are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a history of eating disorder, or are diabetic.

29/07/2024

Health News Update: Heart Disease, Diet and Inflammation

7.29.24

Hello everyone:

As you know from reading these blogs, inflammation will cause, perpetuate, and/or aggravate every known chronic condition. Science has long known that immune activation and the subsequent inflammatory response caused by food choices leads to atherogenesis, or what we all know as cardio-vascular disease…heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, vascular diseases and more. But did you know that your food choices can also reduce your risk?

“Conclusions: Med-Diets supplemented with VOO or nuts down-regulate cellular and circulating inflammatory biomarkers related to atherogenesis in subjects at high risk of CVD (Cardio-Vascular Disease). The results support the recommendation of the Med-Diet as a useful tool against CVD.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19056596/

Bottom Line:

Upgrading your food plan to a plant-based Mediterranean style is not only delicious, but it is highly anti-inflammatory and immune modulating. This important because not only does it reduce your risk for non-communicable diseases (which are the leading causes of death and disability in our country today), it can substantially improve both your health-span and your lifespan as well. You may have heard about how aging is now called ‘inflammaging’ because science has revealed that it is inflammation from multiple sources that drives pre-mature and/or unhealthy aging as well as cardio-vascular disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, anxiety, depression, autoimmunity, fatigue, arthritis, headaches, and more.

Research has also revealed that the primary driver of inflammation in our country is our food choices. You can easily do an online search for a list of anti-inflammatory foods to include in your diet, and you can just as easily find many lists of what are considered pro-inflammatory foods. I would recommend that you spend a few minutes online and look up anti-inflammatory diets…there you will find an enormous amount of information, and you will soon see that most of those food plans agree on the basics of what to avoid and what to eat. If you have any chronic conditions of any type, just give an anti-inflammatory diet a try for 4 months and see if it changes your life. It is for reasons such as this that Hippocrates is famously quoted as saying: “Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.”

PS: Being overweight promotes a chronic inflammatory chemistry that slowly erodes health and is a great reason to get into anti-inflammatory dietary upgrades.

25/07/2024

22/07/2024

Health News Update: Depression and Inflammation…Vit. D May Help!

7.22.24

Hello everyone:

A new study revealed that Vitamin D supplementation was beneficial in supporting brain health and lowering depression symptoms. Now scientists know that there are Vitamin D receptors in the brain suggesting that Vit. D is important in helping to regulate neurological immune processes and lower inflammation.

“For the study, the researchers examined 41 RCTs including 53, 235 people in their analysis…The researchers also noted that while doses up to 2,000 IU daily had a small to moderate effect, those who took over 4,000 IU daily had a larger effect…vitamin D supplementation appeared to have a larger effect when taken for less than 12 weeks compared to longer periods of time. Overall, the researchers found that vitamin D supplementation had a small to moderate effect on depressive symptoms.”

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/vitamin-d-supplementation-seems-to-alleviate-depressive-symptoms-in-adults?utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=dedicated&utm_content=2022-08-21&apid=32362300&rvid=24561ae4b347411c6ae1874dad579a0aedec4a5e471e9b3b5a21dc0826faa6b9 (Medical news Today report)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2022.2096560 (full study)

Bottom Line:

As a component of a comprehensive brain health treatment plan, it is important to consider Vitamin D status. The researchers noted that the size of the effect of Vitamin D supplementation was larger in those with initial baseline Vit. D levels less than 50 nmol/L than those with Vit. D levels above this baseline. In other words, get your Vit. D levels tested and start to supplement as indicated by your labs and your condition. Since Vit. D can become toxic at high levels, make sure you monitor your Vit. D levels with lab testing at least every 6 months.

A significant omission from this study which can help explain the findings is that in order for Vit. D to work, the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) must function optimally. Background elevated levels of some viruses and other infections can block the VDR from working properly. This means that even if you have normal Vit. D levels on your lab test, it may not be working nearly as much as it should if your Vit. D receptors are blocked by a background infection or a genetic polymorphism. The best way to figure out if your VDR’s are working right is that if they are working well, and you take a high dose of Vit. D, your calcium should go up to a high normal and your parathyroid hormone should go down to a low normal. If that does not happen, your VDR is probably blocked, and you may need higher dosages. To figure this out, coordinate with your health care provider to get the right labs done and figure out the right dosage for your Vit. D. We find this issue is very common and important for many conditions.

New research shows that vitamin D supplements have a small to moderate effect on depressive symptoms in adults, but further studies are needed to investigate the effects of combining vitamin D with standard treatments for depression.

15/07/2024

Health News Update: Western Diet, Gut Inflammation & Chronic Conditions

7.15.24

Hey there everyone:

In this study, the researchers were looking to review evidence regarding dietary patterns, their effect on the gut and microbiome, and how this may impact the increase of chronic health conditions that we are not witnessing. Here is what they were looking at:

“…a Western diet (WD), as described, features excessive amounts of saturated fat, refined grains, sugar, alcohol, processed and red meat, conventionally raised animal products, high-fat dairy products, and salt. High amounts of ultra-processed foods and drinks are also characteristic of the Western diet, according to the review authors.

For the current research, they compared and contrasted this to a Mediterranean diet, which they stated as having lower levels of processed food and higher levels of fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins, among other nutrient-rich plant-based foods.
Here is what they found:

“An increasing body of evidence supports the association between the diffusion of WD and the rising prevalence of NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases). WD also negatively affects both gut microbiota and the immune system by driving to microbial alterations, gut barrier dysfunction, increased intestinal permeability, and leakage of harmful bacterial metabolites into the bloodstream, with consequent contribution to the development of systemic low-grade inflammation.”
Bottom Line:

As you know, inflammation causes, perpetuates, and/or aggravates every known human chronic illness or condition…including aging! Thus, the traditional standard American diet predisposes you to developing chronic low-grade inflammation which leads to diseases, suffering, inflammaging, and a reduced health span and lifespan. The article goes into how diet causes adverse effects in the gut, microbiome, immune system and more, and it is a fairly easy read if you care to dig into it. For now, start making the move to a plant-based food pattern and enjoy the benefits of better health and a longer, happier life.

08/07/2024

Health News Update: Food as Medicine Movement Gaining Momentum

7.8.24

Hello everyone:

As you probably know, Hippocrates, traditionally regarded as the father of medicine, famously stated: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” The strength of that statement has not only stood the test of time but is supremely relevant today. Here is what the authors say is why food should be considered medicinal:

"Poor nutrition is the top cause of death and disability in the United States ... causing more harm than to***co use, alcohol, physical inactivity, and air pollution," said Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/primarycare/dietnutrition/110282?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2024-05-22&eun=g1207968d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%20Evening%202024-05-22&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition

Bottom Line:

While this article is targeting populations that cannot easily obtain unprocessed whole foods, the notion that food is medicine applies to every one of every socio-economic class. Why? Because, not only in this country, but around the world people are choosing to consume food like objects called ultra-processed foods. This choice is, as Dr. Mozaffarian states, “literally lethal” and from my point of view, there should be a massive public health initiative to get people to consume much less of that stuff. The average U.S. citizen consumes 60% of their calories from ultra-processed foods that pose these risks:

Ultra-processed foods are ready-to-eat/heat industrial formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods, including flavors, colors, texturizers, and other additives, with little if any intact whole food.1 Ultra-processed foods, which are typically of low nutritional quality and high energy density, have been dominating the food supply of high income countries, and their consumption is markedly increasing in middle income countries.2 Ultra-processed food consumption accounts for 57% of daily energy intake among adults and 67% among youths in the US according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).34

Ultra-processed foods usually disproportionately contribute added sugars, sodium, saturated fats and trans fats, and refined carbohydrates to the diet together with low fiber.56 As well as having low nutritional quality, ultra-processed foods may contain harmful substances, such as additives and contaminants formed during the processing.78910 Growing evidence from large prospective cohorts show that ultra-processed food is associated with adverse health outcomes, such as overweight/obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer.11121314 A systematic review showed that high ultra-processed food consumption was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, depression, and postmenopausal breast cancer.15 https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-078476

Please read the above two paragraphs closely and slowly. Friends do not let friends or family eat things that foster disease. Now that you know, what will you do?

08/07/2024

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05/07/2024

Starting Monday, get 20% off most of our supplements!