Happy Holidays!
A study of over 25,000 Dutch adolescents concluded that skipping breakfast is a significant risk factor for developing obesity. Also shown as risk factors were alcohol consumption and lack of exercise. Let’s just start with breakfast….in Chinese Medicine it is said that one should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”. The idea being that we should have our largest meal early in the day and closer to bed should be our smallest meal. This makes sense from an energy standpoint as we need the calories to keep our energy up through the day. I often get the “…I don’t feel hungry in the morning…” argument from patients. (more…)

Wow! Amazing. There was an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2005 that demonstrated how you can reduce your chance of death by 50%! Why haven’t the pharmaceutical companies caught wind of this major breakthrough yet??? Knowing how to cut your chance of death in half cannot be held as a secret for long, can it??

However it isn’t any pill. It isn’t any magic potion. It is simple smart nutrition and lifestyle. Imagine that - smart nutrition can cut your risk of death in half! This study looked at all inclusive mortality of a 10 year period of people aged 70-90 years old in several European countries. What it found was that those who didn’t smoke, moderately exercised and ate a Mediterranean diet had less than 50% chance of dying over the 10 year period of the study.

What is the Mediterranean diet? Many healthy vegetables - cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale), onions, garlic, lean meats, small amounts of cheese, whole grains, beans, and small amounts of alcohol. It doesn’t contain the copious amounts of fried fatty foods, baked sugary foods or refined carbohydrates in the American diet. It also doesn’t contain high amount of the unstable polyunsaturated oils. The Mediterranean Diet use mostly olive oil which is a monounsaturated fat and contains a tremendous amount of beneficial phytochemicals.

OK that was a European study you say….so what about the American melting pot? How would we fare with the Mediterranean fare? A study just released answered that question. Similarly it was a 10 year study with over 214,000 mean and 166,000 women looking at all cause mortality and the Mediterranean diet. A decrease of 20% all-cause mortality was observed when subject ate a diet of vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, meats, and moderate alcohol.
It seems to be a no brainer to eat this way unless you are not genetically programmed to eat this way. For example and an Inuit that that lives on whale blubber and meat would not be healthy on a Mediterranean diet. However for the majority of us of European decent and most likely Asian and African it would behoove us to eat a Mediterranean diet. Not only will we feel better on it, but there is at least a 20% chance of living longer. You can read the entire article here:All Cause Mortality in US Population on Mediterranean Diet

In Health,
George Mandler

Acupuncture, Nutrition & Herbal Medicine

I just had another patient this week telling me that they avoid eggs because their cholesterol is high. I hear it so often that I find myself explaining over and over that eggs are an incredibly nutritious food and that they have little effect on increasing small particle LDL. There are a plethora of research articles referenced below showing that eggs increase important antioxidants - lutein and zexanthine and do not cause an increase in small particle LDL. Why does it matter small or large particle LDL? (more…)

In 2004 there was a JAMA article concluding that the Mediterranean diet and moderate exercise can reduce your chance of death by 50%. An article just released in the Archives of Internal Medicine did a similar study with a U.S. population and found a reduction by at least 20% with a Mediterranean diet alone. You can find a link to my article and both of these studies by clicking here.

In Health,
George Mandler
Licensed Acupuncturist
Licensed Dietitian / Nutritionist
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Acupuncture Nutrition com

Here is another study showing that low vitamin D is associated with some common disease. Amazing. Soon we’ll find out that global warming is caused by low vitamin D levels.
The clinical status of patients with knee OA is primarily predicated by their level of pain and their muscle function. Recent studies have shown that vitamin D influences both musculoskeletal health and neuromuscular function. Vitamin D deficiency is common among elders and those with comorbidities. This suggests that vitamin D may especially influence the clinical status of patients with knee OA. This study examined whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level was associated with pain and physical function in patients with symptomatic knee OA. (more…)

Folic acid has been added to our white flour, wheat flour and other grain products for about 10 years to offset the poor diets of potential mothers as it was proven last decade that low folate levels at conception can cause neural tube defects (NTDs). Certainly it has been shown to be very beneficial as folate supplementation has considerably reduced the number of NTDs. However, as with just about anything in life there are always two sides to the coins. Where there is yin there is yang. And timing is everthing. It seems that taking folate early in life may prevent cancer, but taking it later in life after there has been cell damage may futher accentuate damage and cause cancer. (more…)

It is important to know our suppliers.  Just because something says ‘organic’ doesn’t really mean it is made with organic standards.   Case in point is the Horizon’s organic milk that is sold under various labels at Costco, Walmart etc.     They’ve been accused of using conventional cows in their lots as well as not allowing the cows to pasture which is required by organic standards.

Read the release from the Organic Consumer’s Association: (Oct 4, 2007)

AURORA THREATENS ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION WITH LAWSUIT
Just when we thought it couldn’t get any hotter (or any more mind-boggling), the “organic” dairy factory farm controversy reached a new level of intensity over the past week. The USDA announced, to the disappointment of the organic community, that they were not going to take further disciplinary measures against Aurora Organic Dairy, a company that just a few weeks ago had a portion of its organic certification suspended by the USDA for “willfully” violating National Organic Standards since 2003 by failing to pasture its animals and by bringing conventional calves onto its feedlots and then declaring them organic. But caving in to pressure from Aurora and other big corporate players in the organic sector , the USDA now says the #1 organic private label dairy processor in the U.S. can continue selling milk produced on its factory farms as “organic” to its longstanding customers including Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, and Woodstock Farms.

In a mind-twisting manipulation of logic, the new acting Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Connors, a notorious cheerleader for biotech and corporate agribusiness, announced last week that this issue, regarding Aurora’s violation of the USDA National Organic Standards, falls outside the scope of the USDA National Organic Standards. “I know there is controversy out there on a number of issues that really fall outside the bounds, if you will, of what constitutes that organic standard that is necessary in order for the product to have our seal,” said Connors.

Now that they have the USDA in their pocket, Aurora is threatening to sue the Organic Consumers Association and Cornucopia Institute for educating and mobilizing consumers to oppose Aurora’s blatant violations of organic integrity. In related news, the recent issue of Fortune Magazine reports Aurora’s factory farms generated a record 100 million dollars in “organic” dairy sales to consumers this year. In other words, when it comes to suing the OCA, Aurora has plenty of money, from selling its cheap “organic” factory farm milk to Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Safeway . So given this David versus Goliath situation, OCA needs your financial support today, more than ever, to defend ourselves from this attack by Aurora and to expose the ongoing negligence of the USDA.

Keeping abreast with current research there was a recent study showing that organic meat and dairy foods led to higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). It is known that grass-fed animals have higher levels of this important fatty acid than do conventional meats of animals stuck in a farm lot. (more…)

There have been numerous studies recently about the benefits of organic foods. Here is another reason to avoid big-agro cattle farming from the University of Minnesota…..

Routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock may be contaminating the environment
13.jul.07
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One of the four major medical journals, JAMA, recently released a study which concluded that antioxidants increase mortality rate. It made big headlines, but unfortunately got blown out of proportion. There were many problems with this study which are described below (more…)