by Dan-N on February 25, 2010
Forget Resveratrol. Forget Acai Berries. No, if you want to turn back the clock on aging you need something new, something exotic, something like…. Whey Protein !?!? Yes this sounds crazy and maybe it is, but we recently read a piece that got us thinking there may actually be something to plain old whey protein helping with aging.
Telomere, DNA, Aging and Whey Protein – What is The Connection?
There are many theories of why we age. One popular theory is that as our cells age, we age. Cells are made up of chromosomes and DNA. At the end of the DNA is something called the Telomere. We start with a telomere that is about 15,000 bases long and by the time we die our telomere is 5,000 bases long. This is an amazing oversimplification, but the concept is – as our telomer shortens (less bases) we age and eventually die. So, if we could decrease the rate of telomere shortening we could slow the aging process.
The Whey Protein Connection
We think whey protein is a great way to increase protein intake and terrific for people looking to put on muscle mass. We never considered whey protein an anti-aging superfood until we read Dr. Mercola’s article (link at the bottom). It turns out that some studies have shown that
The theory is, if you feed your body whey protein – you give your body what it needs to release an enzyme that stops the telomere from shortening.
1 Part Science and 1 Part Science Fiction
We want to be clear that this is just a theory, which while based on some sound science, could still turn out to be science fiction. There are a few to many “ifs” and “maybes” for us – but it is interesting. As whey protein is already considered a very strong supplement for many other health benefits, this would just be an incredible bonus to an already strong supplement.
Additional Resources:
Read the Entire Dr. Mercola Piece and Video Here. We have greatly simplified things here and he even has pretty pictures and a video! The end of the article is basically a commercial for his whey protein, but the rest of the article is very interesting reading.
by Dan-N on January 13, 2010
By now we all know that a diet very high in fatty foods is bad for us, but we also know that some of those fatty foods taste really good! Well, it looks like taking Acai may actually help counteract some of the negatives associated with fatty food!
New Study Shows Acai Helps Make a High Fat Diet… Not So Terrible
A study just published in the December 2009 Journal of Nutrition found that rats feed a high fat diet AND acai pulp, had lower levels of total Cholesterol and LDL Cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) then rats who just ate a high fat diet.
“This is the first study, to our knowledge, addressing the potential benefits of açai intake in the cholesterol profile,” wrote the researchers, led by Maria Lucia Pedrosa from the Federal University of Ouro Preto.
“We observed that the addition of açai pulp in the hypercholesterolemic diet had a hypocholesterolemic effect by reducing cholesterol levels (total and non-HDL), which could be explained by a lower food intake and higher faecal excretion,” they added.
How Does Acai Help Reduce Cholesterol Levels?
The study just looked at end results – it did not try to answer how Acai might have achieved its positive results. To be honest the results do not surprise us, we have been talking about the health benefits of Acai for a few years now. Our theory is that Acai is a powerful antioxidant and thus it can stop cholesterol from oxidizing and becoming the very dangerous oxidized LDL Cholesterol. We wrote a whole article on fruits and oxidized LDL cholesterol, that you can read here.
But What If I Am Not a Rat?
Our most recent survey indicates that, surprisingly, the vast majority of our readers are actually not rats. So, since the study was done with rats – what can we humans take from it? Rat studies are a good first step in understanding how something like Acai may work in our body. Often what we find true in rats is also true in humans – but not always.
The only way to confirm the findings of this study are to do human clinical trials with Acai and a high fat diet. Until those studies are done, there will be debate on whether Acai can really reduce LDL cholesterol in humans with a high fat diet.
So, if you are taking Acai now, we would not recommend loading up on fatty foods and hoping the Acai balances things out. However, if you are not taking Acai now, but are eating a high fat diet, and just can’t stop – now might be a good time to look into some high quality Acai Supplements.
Additional Resources:
Diet supplementation with acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) pulp improves biomarkers of oxidative stress and the serum lipid profile in rats. Journal of Nutrition, Published online 21 December 2009.
by Dan-N on January 5, 2010
We have an Obesity issue in this country – so Weight Loss Supplements are sold as the solution to our weight problems.
We have an issue with drug addiction and crime associated with drug use, so the War on Drugs is our solution to our drug problem.
We have an issue with global warming and oil dependency, so Hybrid Cars are the solution to our energy problems.
Weight loss supplements, The War on Drugs and Hybrid Cars are all connected because they are presented as solutions to real problems, but they are actually flawed and failed solutions!
Why Our Solutions Don’t Address the Problems and Just Treat the Symptoms
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by Dan-N on December 3, 2009
It is December, which can mean only one thing… time for everyone to start predicting what will happen next year. While we wish someone could predict the winning lottery numbers for us, for now there seems to be more interest in predicting what people will eat and buy.
New Trends for 2010
Mintel, a market research firm, has released their new report – 2010 Global Consumer Packaged Goods Predictions. What incredible new things do they predict? The same things we saw in 2009, but with a twist. Right, that doesn’t make much sense to us either – here is the explanation from their press release…
“Post-recession, we don’t expect manufacturers to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we predict 2010’s new products will give shoppers something familiar paired with something new to better satisfy their needs,” states David Jago, Director of Trends and Innovation at Mintel. “On retail store shelves, we expect today’s familiar megatrends – health and wellness, convenience, sustainability – to get a fresh, new makeover for 2010.”
That clears it up – right???
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