Why Do You...Age? Get Sick? Get Diseases?

This might seem hard to believe, but we as humans don't actually age, we don't get sick, and we don't get diseases.  Our cells do.

Our body's health is dependent on our cells' health. So to slow down aging, limit sickness, and prevent disease, we must protect and properly feed our cells.  

If you were to put buttermilk in your car's gasoline tank...it would get a "disease" and stop working.

This blog is the first of several entries on this subject, as it is important for all HealthPro Nutrient customers, distributors, and friends to learn as much as possible about how your body works, and how to keep it nourished and healthy.  We have the secret to the best health care plan possible.

That health care plan is knowledge. 

What Are Cells Made Of? 

Cells are made up of many atoms.  When these atoms are healthy, the cells replicate (make an exact copy) and keep the body young, well, and disease free. What makes an atom healthy is that it has "paired" electrons (yellow dots). 

How Do Cells Age, Get Sick, And Get Diseases?

Atoms missing an electron (yellow dot) are not just "bad", they actually destroy surrounding atoms by stealing their electrons.  An atom missing an electron is called a Free Radical. Free Radicals alter or destroy cells. Cells that die, and cells that replicate in a damaged state, are the cause or contribute to premature aging, sicknesses, and diseases such as cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and many others.

Where Do Free Radicals Come From?

• smoking
• stress
• UV rays
  
• pesticides
• pollution
• medications
• certain foods
• food additives
• x-rays
• excessive exercise
• chlorine
• mercury
• many more 

Free radicals come from pollution released into our environment all over the world.

Free radicals come from pesticides and insecticides put on our plants, grass, weeds, and in our air.

Free radicals come from water treated with chlorine to make it "safe" for drinking.

One cigarette generates approximately one quadrillion free radicals (1,000,000,000,000,000).

The Solution Is Antioxidants

Antioxidants have "extra" electrons (yellow dots) that can give to free radicals, which eliminate their harmful effects.

Antioxidants are your body's defense against destructive free radicals. Therefore they are your defense against aging, sickness, and disease.

Part 2 in this series will provide you with information about how antioxidants neutralize free radicals and reduce your risk of disease.

Vitamin D Emerges as Treatment for Prostate Cancer - Cuts PSA Levels by Half

Treatment with vitamin D supplements may slow the progress of prostate cancer, according to a study published in the journal BJU International.

In the United States, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men, after lung cancer. Approximately 240,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, leading to 30,000 deaths.

Researchers have suspected for nearly two decades that the so-called "sunshine vitamin" may play a role in the risk and progression of prostate cancer, but no studies have previously been conducted on its usefulness as a treatment.

"It's very interesting - there has been no significant trial of vitamin D," said lead researcher Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College London. "This is a treatment which is unlikely to have significant toxicity and is a welcome addition to the therapeutic options for patients with prostate cancer."

Waxman decided to do the study when he learned of a prostate cancer patient who recovered after his wife bought vitamin D pills for him. Waxman and colleagues recruited 26 men with prostate cancer and assigned them each to take a daily vitamin D supplement. In five of the men, reductions in levels of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) were reduced.

In men with prostate cancer, PSA levels are an indicator of disease severity. One participant experienced a decrease in PSA levels less than 25 percent, two experienced decreases of between 25 and 50 percent, and two experienced decreases of more than 50 percent. In one of the participants, PSA levels remained reduced for a full 36 months.

Vitamin D is synthesized by the body upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. It plays a critical role in calcium absorption and bone health, and deficiency in the vitamin can lead to rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Recent research has also suggested that vitamin D can help prevent autoimmune disorders and a variety of chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Some scientists have stated that if everyone increased the amount of time they spent in the sun, far more lives would be saved from cancers prevented than would be lost from increased skin cancer cases.

A light-skinned person can get enough vitamin D from getting 15 minutes of sun on the face and hands each day, while a darker skinned person might need up to 45 minutes. More sun exposure is needed at more extreme latitudes.

A connection between vitamin D and prostate cancer was first suggested in 1990, when researchers suggested that the vitamin might tie together a variety of observed risk factors for the disease. A wide body of research has demonstrated that prostate cancer risk is higher at northern latitudes (where people get less vitamin D), among older people (with reduced vitamin D synthesis) and black people (who absorb less UV rays). Researchers have also found that men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer or autumn, when vitamin D levels tend to be highest, have a better prognosis than men diagnosed in winter or spring.

In 1992, researchers also suggested that higher vitamin D consumption in Japan might account for lower rates of prostate cancer there, relative to the United States. Japanese men consume more fatty fish, which is high in both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids that increase the vitamin's stability in the body, and soy, which slows the rate at which bodily vitamin D breaks down.

Since then, studies have found that many prostate cancer cells contain vitamin D receptors, and that vitamin D can inhibit the growth of some of these cells.

Researchers also hypothesize that vitamin D might inhibit the action of the androgen receptor, which produces male sex hormones that have been linked to the disease.

Vitamin D3 can be found in the HealthPro Nutrient products YouthD3, CoreMatrix and the multi-vitamin EC Men and Women formulas.

Youth D3 is also a powerful antioxidant which provides optimal protection and integrity to biological systems in the body.

The above article was originally published by David G. of Natural News 

Brain Health Impacts Diabetes

Think of a treatment for diabetes, and you probably think of a drug or natural therapy that targets the pancreas to help normalize blood sugar levels. Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in red grapes, has been shown to have a host of health benefits -- including improving diabetes in animal studies. But, it turns out, that's not necessarily because it benefits the pancreas. Instead, scientists have made an unexpected discovery: resveratrol's anti-diabetic properties appear to be mediated through the brain.

That's the conclusion of a new study conducted by scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, that was just published in Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society. The researchers focused on sirtuins, a class of proteins activated by resveratrol that are thought to underlie many of the potential beneficial effects of calorie restriction, including promoting longevity and slowing down the aging process.

Early studies in mice have produced important evidence showing that when resveratrol activates sirtuins, diabetes is improved. While sirtuins are expressed virtually all over the body, until now researchers have remained in the dark about what tissues could be mediating resveratrol's beneficial effects on the disease.

"We know that sirtuins are expressed in parts of the brain known to govern glucose metabolism, so we hypothesized that the brain could be mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions," said Roberto Coppari, PhD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and co-author of the study, in a statement to the media. "To test the hypothesis, we assessed the metabolic consequences of delivering resveratrol directly into the brain of diabetic mice. We found that resveratrol did activate sirtuins in the brain of these mice which resulted in improving their high levels of blood sugar and insulin. These findings may lead to new strategies in the fight against type 2 diabetes."

Dr. Coppari and his research team found that long-term infusion of resveratrol into the brains of diet-induced obese and diabetic mice normalized the animals' hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and greatly improved the rodents' hyperinsulinemia (excess levels of circulating insulin in the blood). The scientists noted in their research paper that these beneficial effects were independent of changes in the lab animals' body weight, food intake, and circulating levels of leptin (a hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism).

Resveratrol -- which is found in red wine, red grapes and grape juice -- has been found to promote health in a remarkable number of ways. In addition to preventing heart disease, it can help maintain a healthy weight, keep cholesterol in balance and even support increased longevity). It may also prevent and reverse fatty liver disease.

For more information:
http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/en.2009-0528v1 

Resveratrol can be found in the HealthPro Nutrient products C+CoQ10 and BrainRestore. For optimal brain health look to HealthPro Nutrient products BrainActivate, BrainSmart and Omega 3-6-9.

The above article was originally published by S. L. Baker of Natural News

More on Inflammation: What You Don't Know May Kill You

America is in the middle of a health crisis. Over the last two decades, our society has seen a dramatic increase in conditions such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and arthritis. In fact, chronic disease accounts for approximately 75% of deaths in people over 65.

What is on thing these conditions have in common? 

A primary underlying cause of these conditions is chronic inflammation.

What Is Inflammation?

Most of us think of inflammation as the swelling that accompanies a sprained ankle or insect bite. This type of inflammation is acute and part of the body's healthy response to injury or illness. But when inflammation is present for long periods of time, it causes problems...often big problems. 

What Causes Chronic Inflammation?

Usually, this is a result of how we live. Our diets have too much fat, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and chemicals. All of these can injure the body's cells and tissues. Our environment exposes us to hundreds of toxins and chemicals every day. Pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, smoking, excessive sunlight, household cleaners...the list goes on and on. They all create free radicals that damage our cells, tissues, and organs...which ultimately result in the body creating an inflammatory response. 

Which Conditions Can Chronic Inflammation Contribute To?

• Cardiovascular disease
• Dementia
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Irritable bowel syndrome/digestive disorders 
• Fibromyalgia and other autoimmune disorders 

Which HPN Products Help?

Most HPN products help with inflammation because they are focused on creating wellness by balancing your system, feeding you the nutrients you need, and addressing from the inside the negative factors you are living with on the outside. 

Youth D3, a powerful antioxidant which provides optimal protection and integrity to biological systems in the body.

Also:

ClearBody provides powerful support for the gastro-intestinal tract, especially effective as an anti-inflammatory. It is an excellent dietary supplement and healing agent for anyone afflicted by ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, or gastritis.

Omega 3-6-9 contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which are crucial for:

• cardiovascular health,
• immune health,
• immune regulation,
• anti-inflammatory processes,
• neurological and ocular function. 

Omega-6 fatty acids can also inhibit inflammation and enhance immunity. 

Click here to order Youth D3, ClearBody, and Omega 3-6-9.