Archive for the ‘Nutrition and Supplements’ Category
Grapes offer a “bunch” of protection against macular degeneration
01.20.2012
A new study suggests that eating grapes might slow down or prevent the onset of age-related macular degeneration. Researchers believe the antioxidant effects of grapes are what offer the protection.
The research was conducted at Fordham University and funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutues of Health and the California Table Grape Commission. The study compared the influence an antioxidant-rich diet had on vision using mice to conduct the study. The mice were divided into three groups with one group receiving a grape-enriched diet, one with added lutein or just a normal diet.
Researchers found that the grapes offered remarkably more protection than lutein and that the grapes offered benefit for vision even if the grapes were eaten at a young age. The study also indicated that age-related vision loss is a result of collective, oxidative damage over time. It was also noted that to achieve the benefits from eating antioxidant rich foods, they need to be consumed prior to the onset of advanced age.
Reziva, Dr. Krawitz’s trademarked French red grape formula, offers as much trans-resveratrol as 30 glasses of wine.
Taking zeaxanthin improves vision in elderly, VA Hospital proves
12.14.2011
A recent military study revealed that elderly people have improved night vision and improved ability to discern fine details when they are taking zeaxanthin. Sixty elderly war veterans with early signs of age-related macular degeneration were evaluated over a 12-month period.
The study participants were given 8 mg of zeaxanthin daily and over the course of the study, their ability to drive at night improved and they had an average improvement of 1.5 lines on an eye chart. In addition, blind spots disappeared.
The Veterans Administration Hospital in Chicago conducted the study which was published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Optometric Association. Study participants were given either 8 mg of zeaxanthin, 9 mg of lutein or a combination of both over the course of a year.*
VisiVite.Com has a special page devoted to explaining Zeaxanthin. You can reach it by clicking here.
Buyer Beware! Supplements might not contain full ingredients listed on label!
11.28.2011In my nearly 53 years, I’ve grown particularly less trusting during the last few. I keep hoping that companies do the right thing, but it seems as often as not, when money is on the line, they might not.
A case in point is vitamins and nutritional supplements. They’re out of purview of the governmental agencies. So much so, in fact, that supplements are required to put a disclaimer on every bottle specifically stating that the FDA has had no role in evaluating the bottle’s contents.
And wouldn’t you know that some vitamin manufacturers claim a bounty of premium eye vitamin ingredients, including both Lutein and Zeaxanthin, while putting less of the stuff in the bottle than is listed on the label. In some cases, less than 1% of what is claimed!
The story is preposterous. But it’s true.
I first got wind of the issue from my role as an Industry Advisory Panelist for the Ocular Nutrition Society. A couple months ago, ONS members received notification that a specific manufacturer was putting nearly zero Lutein and Zeaxanthin in its formulas, while marketing it to the public and doctors as having absurdly high concentrations of these substances. Worse, ONS said that there was little that they could do to protect the “good guys” such as VisiVite from the scoundrels who stole advertising space and naively spent consumer dollars.
But today, I received a recommendation to visit the site, eyevitaminlab.org, which lists 7 out of 11 samples as falling below stated label claims.
If VisiVite was listed, I knew it was a given that we were going to be in good shape. And we were, along with 3 others.
But many others were rated “Not Recommended,” based upon inflated Lutein and Zeaxanthin claims. Two manufacturers were listed as having less than 1% of claimed Lutein!
The Ocular Nutrition Society reached a dead end pursuing this with the FDA, which is overwhelmed with prescription drug issues, and doesn’t allot enough resources to track down these reports. And in the end, ONS didn’t have the dollars to fight the battle on its own.
This issue not only casts a black eye on the entire nutritional supplement industry. It’s also terribly deceitful of consumers.
What an “eye opener” !
–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President and Founder
VisiVite.Com
Ugly Brother Tries to Ruin Things Again!
10.20.2011
1970.
Layla, from Derek and the Dominos, topped the charts. The Beatles broke up. The United States invaded Cambodia. Midnight Cowboy won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture.
January 1st, 1970 was also the date that cyclamates were taken off the market by the Food and Drug Administration because they were shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
But no one would come to the conclusion that honey from a bees nest would do the same, simply because it is also a sweetener.
Yet 41 years later, both the medical and popular press continue to do just that when it comes to a synthetic, petroleum-based molecule that’s created from smashing together ingredients to create a witches’ brew of active vitamin ingredients and bizarro, mirror images of the vitamin molecules that have no beneficial biological activity.
The offender is DL-alpha tocopherol. And it is the “L”, which stands for Levo or Left-handed, that let’s you know you’re dealing with this contaminant-laden mixture. It also goes by the confusing acronym, “all racemic-tocopheryl acetate” which means it contains some beneficial right-handed racemers, and some pollutant left-handed racemers.
Oh, by the way, the other name for this molecule is Synthetic Vitamin E.
The ugly brother continues to drag down the pristine reputation of Natural Vitamin E, which is lovingly derived from healthy plant oils.
The latest tale of worry was a study in the normally responsible Journal of the American Association, which stated that taking high doses of Vitamin E could increases a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer by 17%. Unusually, the findings came from a trial which was attempting to prove just the opposite.
Of course, combing through the Methods section of the study, we found that the scientists were using You Know Who — Ugly Brother Petroleum-Based Synthetic Vitamin E!
Two earlier research papers looked at a large number of men taking vitamin E supplements and each came to different conclusions on how vitamin E affects prostate cancer.
In 2003, data from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta –Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Trial showed that study participants taking vitamin E had a 32 percent reduction in prostate cancer. And in the Physicians Health Study II, participants took the same amount of vitamin E as the men in the Select trial but it had no effect on their risk of prostate cancer.
A report last year published in the International Journal of Cancer showed that a form of vitamin E called gamma tocotrienol “stopped tumors forming in more than 70 percent of mice …implanted with the cancer cells.” Tumors developed in 100 percent of the mice in the control group.
The medical literature is replete with studies showing that natural vitamin E is helpful for a wide variety of health conditions, including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, cancer prevention, Alzheimer’s and eye health.
Our advice about Vitamin E? Consult with your doctor if you take Coumadin (warfarin), since prothrombin times can be affected when you are on that medication. And seek out supplement manufacturers who use natural forms of Vitamin E in their formulations, without the “L” or “All Racemic” in the chemical name.*
—–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.
It’s True – Marigold Flowers May Prevent Senility
10.12.2011
The many hats that I wear include my position as a member of the Ocular Nutrition Society’s Industry Advisory Panel.
Yesterday, ONS held its Annual Educational Symposium in Boston. And for any disbelievers in the health value of the carotenoids, Lutein and Zeaxanthin, there was enough scientific evidence that added immensely to our understanding of these important molecules.
Lutein and Zeaxanthin, for those of you new to the discussion, are the plant pigments that concentrate in the macula like iron filings to a magnet. They are vitally important for macular pigmentation, visual function, and overall macular health. Dr. Johanna Seddon, Director of the Ophthalmic Epidemiology and Genetics Service at the University of Pittsburg presented an excellent overview of several epidemiologic studies showing relationships between nutritional health and reduction in macular disease. While we now know that genetic vulnerability plays a large role, nutritional and environmental factors are important as well.
Dr. Alex Iannaccone from the University of Tennessee’s Health Science Center demonstrated several studies which showed that Lutein and Zeaxanthin concentrations could be accurately measured in the retina using instruments that measure heterocrhomatic flicker photometry (HFP), and furthermore, that these levels improve with Lutein and Zeaxanthin supplementation.
One of the ground-breaking presentations was by Dr. Elizabeth Johnson of the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Dr. Johnson presented studies showing that early cognitive decline was lessened in the presence of increased brain Lutein. Furthermore, brain Lutein and Zeaxanthin levels correlated with retinal levels, which can be measured non-invasively with flicker photometry.
Of course, we’ve been believers in Lutein and Zeaxanthin since for many years, and were the first company worldwide to offer VisiVite macular degeneration supplements with these two molecules as early as 2003.
Fat ingestion improves the absorption of Lutein and Zeaxanthin, so if you take VisiVite supplements, take them with food.
P.S. VisiVite Formulas exclusively use FloraGLO brand Lutein, which is derived from Marigolds.*
–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., F.A.A.O.
President and Founder
Vitamin Science, Inc.
