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The Metabolic Plan ()

Fit of Fat (Covert Bailey)

Arlington Texas Chiropractic|Chiropractor reveals:

Alzheimer’s can be a debilitating disease that can dramatically transform your life. It’s an insidious disease that can rock your confidence and rob you of your yesterdays. As one sufferer says, “I feel that I am robbed of any future because while I will live in it, I will be unlikely to remember it.”

It’s a brutal reality to have to accept. But scientists are offering hope in fighting the disease. Over 4,000 scientists attended the recent International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease. And amidst a flurry of presentations, they reported that simple vitamin D may be your best defense against Alzheimer’s.

“Sunshine” Vitamin Boosts Brain Function

Sounds too good to be true? Not according to a new study revealed at the conference. The study says that vitamin D deficiency raises your risk of mental decline by up to 394 percent.

The study is just the latest to show that the “sunshine vitamin” is essential to good brain health. It was conducted by the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, England. It reviewed participants as they completed a series of tests and exams.

Tests included memory, time and space orientation, and attention-focusing exercises. Vitamin D levels were measured from blood samples and compared with test performances.

“There are some fantastic findings this year,” said Professor William Thies, the chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association. He said these findings “are some of the first reports of this type in Alzheimer’s” and “have the “potential to move the field forward.”

Study results showed that the risk of cognitive impairment was 42 percent higher in people deficient in vitamin D. Impairment was 394 percent higher in those who were severely deficient in it.

“The odds of cognitive impairment increase as vitamin D levels go down,” says study author David Llewellyn. “Given that both vitamin D deficiency and dementia are common throughout the world, this is a major public health concern.”

The Peninsula Medical School also worked on an earlier related study. It too offered evidence supporting this simple truth: seniors who get their daily dose of “sunshine” maintain stronger cognitive functioning.

Critical research, based on tests conducted on almost 2,000 U.K. senior citizens, showed a clear correlation between the presence of the “sunshine vitamin” and healthy mental function.

Sunshine is an important source of vitamin D. UVB rays initiate the production of the vitamin in human skin. Vitamin D also helps maintain strong bones (through the absorption of calcium and phosphorus) and a healthy immune system.

According to study author Dr. Iain Lang, the results indicate that individuals with the lowest levels of Vitamin D were 50 percent more likely to suffer impaired mental faculties. In other words, as vitamin D levels in seniors decreases, mental impairment increases.

“Getting enough vitamin D can be a real problem,” said Dr. Lang. “Particularly for older people, who absorb less vitamin D from sunlight. One way to address this might be to provide older adults with vitamin D supplements.”

Older people lose their capacity to absorb Vitamin D from sunlight as the body ages. That means they must seek other sources of the “sunshine vitamin.”

Sources of “Sunshine”

According to Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, Vitamin D can also be found in foods such as oily fish and eggs. She adds that these foods are key sources of vitamin B12, which studies have shown to also help in protecting the brain.

Maggie Ward – nutrition director at The UltraWellness Center in Lennox, MA – says the best animal source is liver, especially from cod, herring, and sardines.

“That’s why those living in dark climates have these fish as a staple in the diet,” she says. “Nature always knows best.”

But she believes the best source of vitamin D is simple, old-fashioned sunlight.

“This is one of the many reasons I love summer,” she says. “I get my vitamin D from the sun and have one less supplement to take.”

Supplement Your Sunshine

The Vitamin D Council offers several good tips to ensure you get just the right amount of “sunshine.” Check out these four ideas:

1. Have your doctor check your vitamin D levels. This will give you a good idea of how much vitamin D you need to supplement.
2. Make sure you’re getting vitamin D3 in your diet. Smart options are capsules or drops. To improve absorption, take it with food containing fat. Fat makes it more soluble.
3. Have your levels rechecked every three months. Vitamin D is a hormone, so it fluctuates for everyone. Seasonal changes also affect it.
4. People with dark skin need at least 5 to 10 times more sunlight than light-skinned people.

“Vitamin D supplements have proven to be a safe, inexpensive, and effective way to treat deficiency,” says Llewellyn. “However, few foods contain vitamin D and levels of supplementation in the U.S. are currently inadequate.”

But you don’t have to be deficient. If you get inadequate sunlight exposure, or your ability to produce Vitamin D from sunlight exposure has been compromised by age or illness, then, you MUST take a Vitamin D nutritional supplement.

Consider also seeing your

Arlington Texas Chiropractic|Chiropractor

to make sure that there are not issues with your spine which will effect intestinal absorption of Vitamin D, as well as other vital nutrients.

An Arlington Texas Chiropractic Report

A new study in the journal Spine suggests some amazing results that have always been known to Chiropractors. Namely, it has been revealed that patients with back pain for at least 6 months experienced greater and sustained improvement by receiving an initial one month (12 treatments) of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) followed by “maintenance” spinal manipulative therapy at a frequency of one visit every other week.

The type of SMT performed was a high velocity|low force technique (HVLF), where the joint was mobilized beyond its restricted range of movement, but within it’s normal range of motion.

The study followed 93 patients, ages 20-60 years of age, who had unspecific and chronic low back pain lasting 6 months or more. All patients came from a hospital-based outpatient rheumatolgy and rehabilitation clinic.

The patients were divided into 3 groups:

1. One group was a control group that received only “sham” SMT.

2. One group received only the initial month (12 visits) of the real SMT “without maintenance” followup.

3. And, one group received both the initial month (12 visits) of real SMT, plus nine months of “maintenance” SMT at an interval of one visit every other week.

Patients in all 3 treatment groups were also instructed on a core pelvic-tilt range of motion exercise to be performed after each SMT (10 times) and at home (30 times) between visits.

Basically, the patients in the sham SMT group reported significantly less improvement than either of the real SMT groups, with return to pre-treatment pain levels following the end of treatment.

Additionally, the SMT “without maintenance” group reported a gradual return to pre-treatment pain levels at the 4th and 7th month re-evaluation visits.

However, the pain scores in the “maintained” SMT group continued to improve throughout care.

This study clearly demonstrates the efficacy of SMT followed by maintenance care in the treatment and continued reduction of chronic low back pain.

Not too many people put much thought into the various factors involved in lifting and the potential for back pain.

Most simply move to complete what ever lifting task is required whether it is lifting a child at home or a box at work.

But, the Revised National Institute for Health and Occupational Safety and Health Lifting Equation (RNLE), which is based upon the assumed estimate that the average worker can safely lift a 51 lbs load in ideal conditions, provides some good information to consider:

1. How far away from the body that an object is held

Obviously, objects held closer to the body require less lifting force and are easy to carry. If there is any doubt of this, try holding a squirming toddler out in front of yourself at arms length, and then, compare to when holding them close and tight.

2. The location of the object at the start of the lift and where it is finally placed

An object lifted and carried from counter height is less stressful than having to pick an object up from off the floor. Likewise, placement of the object on a counter surface is less stressful than having to place the object on the ground, or out front above the head (such as in a cupboard or closet shelf).

3. Distance traveled with the load

A load carried for a longer period requires more muscular effort and places more mechanical stress on the body. The capacity for lift actually will diminish over time which increases the risk of injury and back pain.

4. Frequency/Duration of lifting

Classified into 3 categories:

1) short- lifting for 1 hour or less followed by rest period of at least 1.2 times the duration of lifting

2) moderate- lifting for 2 hours or less followed by a rest period of at least 0.3 times the duration of lifting

3) long- lifting for between 2 hours and 8 hours with standard industrial rest periods

5. Hand-load coupling

Hand-load coupling involves the interaction of the hands in maintaining the load being lifted. Intrinsic muscles of the hand are small and will fatigue faster than larger muscle groups. Compensatory mechanisms employed to continue carrying the load, despite fatigue, can lead to injury.

6. and, Asymmetry or twisting of the spine while performing the lift or the carry

Asymmetry of carry, and lifting while twisted, are perhaps the leading causes of spinal disc injury and back pain. Quite simply, the supporting structures of the spine and discs are not designed to resist such unnatural forces. While in asymmetrical or twisted positions, the mechanical forces either displace internal loads towards the weakest areas of the body, or cause structures to perform tasks that they were not designed to do.

Therefore, in less than ideal lifting situations, such as with an awkward load, in reference to the 6 items above, or with weights exceeding 51 lbs, there is an increased risk of injury and back pain.

All lifting activities, whether at home or at work, should be engaged with the above concepts in mind in order to protect yourself from serious injury and back pain.