Current Research  
 

NPA Says JAMA Study on Ginkgo Biloba Effects on Rate of Cognitive Decline ‘Still Misses the Boat’

The study population should have been one situated closer to the onset of cognitive decline.

A study released on Tuesday in the December 23/30 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that adults who used the herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba for several years did not have a slower rate of cognitive decline compared to adults who received placebo.  The researchers analyzed results from the 2009 Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study to determine as a secondary outcome if G. biloba slowed the rate of cognitive decline in older adults who had normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at the beginning of the study.

The Natural Products Association has previously issued comments on the GEM study, which was originally  released in November of  2008, questioned the benefits of Ginkgo biloba on preventing dementia and  

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), saying the study “missed the boat entirely” because the universe of people studied was too limited to make broad statements about the benefits of the popular dietary supplement: [New JAMA Study on Ginkgo Biloba and Alzheimer’s Misses the Boat Entirely; NPA Member Update, November 18, 2008].

“As we stated in our comments regarding the GEM study last year, the boat has left the dock and this study isn’t on it,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD., vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the natural Products Association.  “When one considers that age-related cognitive decline may initiate in healthy adults as early as their 30s, it would seem that if the authors were indeed serious about investing prevention as a secondary outcome, they would have selected a population that was situated closer to the onset of cognitive decline instead of one where its effects most likely have already taken hold.”
  Keep This in Mind When Buying Gifts

For some years, scientists have known that both bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates, two chemicals frequently found in a variety of consumer products, can mimic human hormones and disrupt the endocrine system.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a basic building block of polycarbonate plastics.  In the bloodstream and body tissues, BPA mimics the hormone estrogen.  Low levels of BPA, including those well below the current regulatory safety threshold, have been shown to affect prostate development, promote prostate tumors, affect breast tissue development and sperm counts, and possibly even create and enlarge fat cells.  Scientists have also linked BPA exposure to premature puberty, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, miscarriage, and birth defects like Down Syndrome.

For their part, phthalates are a group of industrial compounds widely used in common products. About 7.6 billion pounds are produced throughout the world each year.  The largest use of these chemicals is as a plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride and other soft plastic to keep them flexible.  Without the addition of phthalate plasticizers, these materials would be fairly stiff and difficult to use for their intended purposes.

used in food and soda can linings, toys, and dental sealants.  The molecular bonds that bind this chemical to its host material weaken over time, especially (though not exclusively) when those materials are exposed to heat, washing, or acidic materials like certain foods.  As a result, BPA is able to easily leach out of products that contain it and enter the bodies of people that some into contact with those products.  In fact, the Center for Disease Control has detected BPA in 95% of the people it tested.

Phthalates are also used as solvents that help keep other ingredients in a chemical formula dissolved and dispersed throughout the product.  Their oily texture helps lubricate other materials; and this ability to keep a chemical product evenly mixed makes phthalates an ideal additive in things like cosmetics, personal care products, perfumes, inks, and insect repellents, among many others.  Phthalates are also used in things like lotions to help them penetrate and soften skin.  In fact, these chemicals are now used in so many products and in so many places that they’ve even begun to appear as contaminants in products that don’t purposefully contain them.

Unfortunately, phthalates are easily volatized.  This means that they are readily able to leave the product they’re used in and enter the air. 

Kyolic Garlic vs. statin, aspirin and placebo study

Summary of Budff’s New Clinical Study

Design: placebo-controlled, double blind, randomized trial

Formula: 2 capsules of Kyolic 108, each capsule contains AGE (500 mg),

        Vitamin B-12 (200 mcg), Folic Acid (400 mcg), Vitamin B6 (25 mg)

        And L-Arginine (200mg)

Subjects: All 58 patients treated with statin and aspirin-but only half of the
   patients treated with Kyolic 108-the other half were treated with the statin,
   aspirin and placebo.

Duration: 1 year

Results shown significantly

Inhibition of coronary artery calcification:

 

Kyolic

Percent

Better Than

 

Decreased Calcium

Kyolic

83.5%

8 x

qVs placebo + statin and aspirin 10%

Total Cholesterol:

Kyolic (Down)

9.7%

3 ½ x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 2.5%q) statin & aspirin

LDL-cholesterol:

Kyolic (Down)

14.5%

17 x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 3.0%p) statin & aspirin

HDL-cholesterol:

Kyolic (Up)

16.7%

3 x

q Vs baseline (placebo: 5.9%p) statin & aspirin

Homocysteine:

Kyolic (Down)

15.0%

4 ½

q Vs baseline (placebo: 3.5%q) statin & aspirin

 

The Study on Kyolic was so impressive that Dr. Budooff was invited to the largest cardiovascular convention in Munich, Germany.  As the good Dr. says, “Taking Kyolic may save your life”—

P.S. -- No Side effects with those taking Kyolic – just side benefits . . .

uuPresentation Schedule of Dr. Budoff’s 2nd Clinical Study using Kyolic 108:
     Experimental Biology (EB 2008) San Diego, CA, April 9, 2008

uuAmerican Heart Association Meeting’s on : Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology 2008, Atlanta,
      Ga April 16-18 2008

     Quality of Care and Outcome Research in Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke Conference 2008, Baltimore,
     MD, April 30-May 2, 2008


 
Study: Folic Acid Reduces Heart Attack, Stroke

                                                
    

A new study published in the British Medical Journal provides further evidence that lowering levels of the amino acid homocysteine can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.  And, since the B vitamin folic acid has been shown to reduce homocysteine levels, “Increasing intake of folic acid would be a relatively cheap and simple way of reducing heart disease,” according to researchers. The researchers analyzed a variety of previously published studies and concluded that homocysteine as

 

a cause of  cardiovascular disease “explains the observations from all the different types of study” and that “no single alternative explanation can account for all the observations. Since folic acid reduces homocysteine concentrations…it follows that increasing folic acid consumption will reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by an amount related to the homocysteine reduction achieved.”

Acrylamide Reduced in Wheat Crops…

According to a recent report in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, researchers at the University of Reading in the U.K. found that wheat grown in fields low on  sulfer had much higher concentrations of asparagines – an amino acid that, along with sugars, forms acrylamide during cooking. Acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer and other possible ill effects, naturally occurs during

 

 the baking or frying process of starchy foods. Since being identified in 2002, scientists have tried to find ways to reduce or eliminate the amount of Acrylamide in foods without losing the appealing flavor that comes from browning. Researchers speculate that ensuring that crops have plenty of sulfur could reduce acrylamide in foods without changing the flavor.

Citrus Peel
Extract May Fight Diabetes...
          Supplementing daily with an extract from citrus peel may help ward off diabetes in humans, suggests an animal study.  Polymethoxylated flavones(PMFs), extracted from citrus peel, have been reported to help reduce cholesterol levels, but researchers conducting this study claim it's the first to look in detail at the benefits and report the positive effects on inflammation.  For the study, published in the journal Life Sciences (2006, vol. 79, no 4: 365-373), 28 hamsters on a fructose-rich diet (which induced
hyperglyceridimia and insulin resistance) were divided into four groups and fed one of four diets: chow; a control fructose diet; fructose plus low-dose PMFs (62.5 milligrams per kilograms body weight per day); or fructose plus high-dose PMFs (125 milligrams per kilograms body weight per day).  After four weeks on these diets, both PMF groups showed a significant decrease in serum triglycerides and cholesterol levels compared to the fructose-fed hamsters.

 

 
  
  
 

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