HEALTH NEWS

By LYNNE GULLY

March 2005

Stop Ageing Now – Part One

 I recently came across a book called “Stop Ageing Now” by Jean Carper, which explains simply what aging is and what we can do to slow down the process. I’ve decided to dedicate this whole newsletter to the subject of aging and to continue with this theme over the next few newsletters, as I know you’ll find it really fascinating. By the time Summer arrives, you’ll be feeling and looking ten years younger.

Everyone has to age but how rapidly you age can be controlled. Aging occurs when the cells in your body are permanently damaged by continual attacks from chemical particles called free radicals. And, the older you get, the more damage accumulates in your cells and the more the aging process speeds up. These free radicals can be neutralized by antioxidants, which stop the damage to the cells. The more antioxidants that are present in your body, the less damage is done by the free radicals. And the less damage, the less likely the telltale signs of aging and ultimate breakdown of the body.

It is impossible to avoid free radical damage in your body but it is possible to keep it to a minimum by making sensible, informed food choices and by taking a daily supplement of antioxidants. When you have far more free radicals than antioxidants in your system, you’re in trouble, suffering what scientists call free radical overload or stress. This imbalance nicks away at cells, setting the stage for accumulated damage that eventually becomes so severe we experience it as symptoms of one disease or another and overall aging.

By feeding your cells antioxidants, you give them a powerful youth potion. People often plaster their faces with creams and lotions that the manufacturers claim will make them look younger and wrinkle-free. The key to younger looking skin most definitely comes from within.

There is no magic wand for getting healthy and slowing the aging process. It takes a bit of effort by eating the right foods, avoiding the bad foods and by taking a daily supplement of vitamins and minerals. As George Burns said “ You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”

When your body is healthier, you have more energy. You also feel happier and have more enthusiasm for enjoying your life to the full.

Tel: 01689 856581 email: lynne.gully@optimumhealth.co.uk www.optimumhealth.co.uk

Antiaging Secrets of the Experts

Earl Stadtman, Ph.D., age seventy-five. A pioneering biochemist and chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Dr Stadtman is a well-known authority on free radicals and has done much research demonstrating that aging is characterized by an accumulation of cell damage from free radical attacks.

He said, “I think of aging as a disease – a process of progressive physical or mental debilitation, and one of the important elements responsible is the generation of free radicals. Anything that increases the rate of free radical damage contributes to the aging process.”

Here’s what he takes daily to delay aging:

• Vitamin E – 400 IU
• Vitamin C – 500 milligrams
• Beta carotene – 24,000 IU

The RDAs are Poor Protection

If you strive for ordinary poor health, some experts joke, follow the RDAs – recommended dietary allowances – figures touted by government officials as the amount of vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent common deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets. But if you want optimum health, aim higher – ten to two hundred times higher than the RDAs. That’s what many experts now urge.

Professor Jeffrey Blumberg considers the RDAs “increasingly irrelevant to today’s public health concerns of aging and chronic disease.” The RDAs do not pretend to address prevention of heart disease, cancer, cataracts, arthritis and other age-related diseases, he points out.

What You Need To Know About Vitamins To Fend Off Aging

• Heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes and cataracts are really “accelerated aging”, tied to widespread vitamin-mineral deficiencies
• It’s no longer smart to think food can give you all the vitamins and minerals you need to interfere with aging
• To best stave off aging, it’s necessary to take antioxidant vitamins and minerals, notably vitamin E, vitamin C and beta carotene
• Know that you are probably deficient even in the minimal RDA requirements for vitamins and minerals and so flirting dangerously with premature aging
• Contrary to what you sometimes hear, vitamins and minerals in antiaging doses are remarkably safe and free of side effects
• A number of studies show that antioxidants work better in combination than individually

Improve Your Diet

It’s very important to include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet. Eat lots of carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots and spinach to infuse your cells with beta-carotene. You won’t get maximum aging slowdown unless you take in lots of beta-carotene from fruits and vegetables and it’s smart to take a beta-carotene supplement as extra antiaging insurance. I don’t think any of us eats enough of these particular vegetables on a daily basis to ensure optimum intake of beta-carotene.

Fruits and vegetables also contain vitamin C but again, how many of us eat five fresh (not frozen or tinned) fruits and vegetables every day.

Foods high in vitamin C are sweet peppers, cantaloupe, pimientos, papaya, strawberries, Brussels sprouts, citrus fruits and juices, kiwi fruit, broccoli, tomatoes and tomato juice. Be sure to take a vitamin C supplement in addition to, not as a substitute for, fruits and vegetables.

If you take no other vitamins, take Vitamin E. It’s virtually impossible to get heart disease-fighting, cancer-fighting, immune-boosting doses of vitamin E from food – unless you eat more than 5,000 calories a day, most of them in fat. When you ask top researchers around the world which vitamin supplement is most crucial to scare off the diseases of aging, the choice is almost universally vitamin E.

The company Nature’s Sunshine has some excellent products that contain the antioxidants mentioned above.  A daily Multi Vitamin and Mineral Formula is recommended together with an antioxidant formula for extra protection.

·        Mega-Chel Multi Vitamin and Mineral Formula provides a full range of nutrients that are not always present in our food in sufficient amounts. The vitamins and minerals are in a base of citrus bioflavonoids, ginkgo leaf and hawthorn berries. Stock no 1821.

·         The Antioxidant Arsenal contains beta-carotene, vitamins C & E, the minerals Selenium and Zinc and a grape seed extract called Grapine. This is a very powerful combination of antioxidants.  Stock no 4033.

·         The Super Antioxidant is an exclusive formula containing tocotrienols (a powerful form of vitamin E), lycopene and alpha lipoic acid (known for its antiaging properties), in a base of rose hips, milk thistle and turmeric. Stock no 1825.

Some important facts

·         Vitamins C and E taken together reduce the incidence of heart attacks by 75%.

·         Lycopene helps prevent abnormal cells on the cervix and in the pancreas.

·         Zinc protects the prostate gland.

To order Nature’s Sunshine Products – call the Order Hot Line on 08458 40 50 60.