Herbal Health

Often heart disease runs in the family, and sometimes large numbers of family members die at a relatively young age of this condition. Our genes affect how high our LDL cholesterol is because they determine how fast LDL is made and removed from the blood. You are two to five times more likely to have a heart attack if a first degree relative has died of coronary heart disease before the age of 60.

There is a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). It is an autosomal dominant disorder that produces severe elevations in total and LDL cholesterol. The DNA in our cells is packed into chromosomes, which occur in pairs. Autosomal comes from the word “autosome” which means all chromosomes other than the sex chromosomes. Dominant means that only one parent needs to contain the defective gene to pass it on to their offspring.

Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia occurs in approximately 1in 500 people worldwide, and it causes an approximate doubling in LDL cholesterol levels.

Heterozygous means that only one defective gene is present for a condition, so it usually produces a less severe case of the disease. In other words only one parent passed the condition on, rather than both parents. FH is especially common in French Canadians, Lebanese, South Africans and Ashkenazi Jews.

In FH the LDL receptors are either missing or deformed. These receptors are required in order for the liver to take up LDL that has been floating in the bloodstream, process it and remove it from the bloodstream. If the liver can’t take up LDL particles, blood levels quickly rise. Also, if LDL is not able to get into liver cells, it can’t suppress the production of more cholesterol, therefore greater amounts of cholesterol are produced, and blood levels rise. In people with heterozygous FH, only half the normal number of LDL receptors is present. Commonly, levels of LDL cholesterol will be between 5.1 and 10.3 mmol/L. In normal healthy people LDL cholesterol should be no higher than 3.5 mmol/L. People with heterozygous FH typically develop premature coronary artery disease; men typically in their forties, and women 10 to 15 years later.

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is a much more severe case of the disease, as both genes are defective. It affects approximately one in one million people. In people with this condition sudden death due to a heart attack occurs as early as age 1 to 2 years.

High blood levels of LDL cholesterol in people with FH means that various cells in the body that do not require LDL receptors, take up and absorb cholesterol. This includes monocytes and macrophages, which can turn into foam cells and lead to the production of fatty plaques in the arteries.

People with familial hypercholesterolemia often display telltale signs on their bodies called xanthomas. The word xanthoma is derived from the Greek word xanthos, which means yellow. Most xanthomas have a yellowish appearance, but this isn’t always the case. They are basically deposits of fat, connective tissue and blood vessels in and under the skin which grow on various sites of the body. People with familial hypercholesterolemia typically develop xanthomas on their Achilles tendons and tendons on the hands. Sometimes a xanthoma develops on the inner side of the eyelid; this is called a xanthelasma. An iridologist looking in the iris of a person with FH will usually see an arcus senilis, this is a cloudy ring on the outer border of the iris. There are several other genetic conditions besides FH which produce severely elevated levels of LDL cholesterol.

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The premenstrual syndrome is a collection of symptoms and bodily and mental changes that occur, usually regularly, anything from a few days up to two weeks before the onset of a woman’s monthly period. The problems stop with the onset of bleeding.

The syndrome has tended to appear a somewhat woolly collection of symptoms and signs (more than a hundred have been reported) and this has led many, mostly male, doctors to question its existence as a real entity. To the women who suffer from it, though, it is real enough, and although there is undoubtedly a psychological element to many cases it is by no means a problem that is ‘all in the mind’.

The most common complaints are of anxiety, nervous tension, mood swings, irritability, weight gain, breast tenderness and headaches.

Between 30 and 35 per cent of women of childbearing age suffer from it. Almost 5 per cent of women are severe sufferers and become suicidal, accident-prone or very difficult to live with when they have PMT.

Recent research has shown that there are several fairly clear-cut sub-fractions of the condition which respond to different treatments:

ÐÌÒ-Ë women complain mainly of nervous tension, anxiety, irritability and mood swings occurring as much as two weeks before the onset of their period. The symptoms get worse and are sometimes followed by mild to severe depression, improving with the onset of bleeding. These symptoms have been found to be caused by too much oestrogen-research indicates that oestrogens act as stressors to the nervous system. Progesterone, on the other hand, has a calming effect. Research shows that the liver is unable to de-activate these raised levels of oestrogens without adequate supplies of  vitamins.

PMT-C women find their appetite increases two weeks before a period and they crave sweet, sugary things. The craving is especially bad if the woman is under stress. An hour or two after eating the sugar-rich foods the woman feels low, tired and shaky. If you are under stress and eat a lot of refined sugar several things happen. Stress changes the levels of certain brain enzymes, which creates a relative deficiency of a substance called dopamine. The highly refined sugar eaten forces the amino-acid tryptophan into the brain cells where it is converted to serotonin. An excess of serotonin causes palpitation, nervous tension and drowsiness, among other things. The refined sugar triggers the release of too much insulin and this reduces blood-sugar levels. A deficiency of a hormone called prostaglandin E (PGE) may also be involved. PGE suppresses the insulin response to sugar and reduces the nervous system’s responses to a decreased blood sugar. The following nutrients are needed for the formation of PGE from cislinoleic acid, which is its dietary building block: magnesium, zinc, and vitamins B3, B6 and C. Perhaps the craving for chocolate so many PMT-C sufferers have is really for the magnesium and phenyl-ethylamine (related to dopamine) that chocolate contains.

PMT-H women mainly complain of weight gain during the last few premenstrual days. Their body weight goes up, their breasts, hands, feet, faces and ankles swell. Rings become tight, shoes and skirts are tighter than normal, contact lenses feel less comfortable or even cannot be worn, and the breasts and lower abdomen are tender. Most women in this group gain only 3 lb or less in weight but it seems to be all in sensitive places. Some gain as much as a stone.

Such women often have normal oestrogen levels but have elevated levels of hormones produced by the adrenal glands that control salt and water retention by the kidneys. High brain levels of serotonin stimulate the release of ACTH-a brain hormone that makes the kidneys retain salt and water. Excess carbohydrate consumption makes the body produce too much insulin, as we saw above, and insulin is known to make the kidneys retain more salt than they should. Stress also makes the kidneys retain salt and water.

PMT-D women have premenstrual depression, are withdrawn and confused, cry easily, can’t sleep, are forgetful, and may even be suicidal. Many such women, if they have no other signs, are not diagnosed as PMT sufferers and end up with psychiatrists. Some of these women improve with oestrogen supplements.

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Linus’s Legacy

Though the Daily Value for vitamin Ñ is only 60 milligrams, esteemed researcher Linus

Pauling took thousands of milligrams of this powerful antioxidant every day, convinced it would fend off everything from the common cold to cancer. Though Pauling himself lived to be 93, clinical evidence is still inconclusive about what vitamin Ñ can and can’t do.

“We have found that high levels of vitamin Ñ seem to protect against cataracts as well,” says epidemiologist Paul F. Jacques, D.Sc, associate professor of nutrition at Tufts University. “But we still need more research to understand what levels are beneficial for most people. So far, it looks like more than two times the Daily Value.”

Until we know more, a study at the National Institutes of Health indicates that we need 200 to 500 milligrams of vitamin Ñ a day to keep our systems vitamin C-saturated (we lose vitamin Ñ when we urinate). But since it’s easy to get vitamin Ñ from food, experts recommend looking for a supplement with about 200 milligrams.

Folic Acid Frenzy

A once-overlooked  vitamin, folic acid has been shoving its way into the spotlight during the past several years-first as a protective agent against life-threatening birth defects of the brain and spine, then as a potential defender against heart attack and stroke.

The U.S. Public Health Service recommends getting the Daily Value of 400 micrograms of folic acid every day, which can be tough unless you eat a lot of greens, drink fortified orange juice, or eat fortified foods. “Food manufacturers are soon going to be fortifying flour and flour products with folic acid much in the way they add thiamin, niacin, and riboflavin today, which should lead to improvements in heart disease rates,” Dr. Tucker says. But until you see folic acid appear on food labels, a multivitamin/mineral supplement containing 400 micrograms of folic acid may help keep your heart healthy.

While you’re supplementing folic acid, you may also want to add vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 into the mix, Dr. Tucker says. “There’s a concern that by taking a lot of folic acid, you can mask a vitamin B12 deficiency, a potentially debilitating condition that becomes more common as we age and our bodies stop absorbing vitamin B12 as well as they should,” she says. In addition, people who have diets low in folic acid also tend to run low in vitamin B6, another  vitamin that lowers homocysteine levels. So if you’re going to supplement one, you might as well supplement all three. Dr. Tucker recommends looking for a multi with up to 10 milligrams of vitamin B6 and with 6 to 25 micrograms of vitamin B12.

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1. Do you feel fat, even though you know (or others have told you) that you are thin?

2. Have you lost a significant amount of weight, especially recently?

3. Have you restricted food intake through dieting or fasting?

4. Do you burn off energy through excessive exercise?

5. Do you have urges to binge?

6. Have you “purged,” either through vomiting or laxative or enema abuse?

7. Do you set dieting “goals,” then reach them, only to set yet another goal?

8. Do you think about food constantly?

9. Do you feel uncomfortable eating in front of others?

10. Do you turn down spontaneous invitations to eat in places other than your home, say, in restaurants or at parties?

11. Do you have set routines you feel you must follow during a meal? If you don’t follow them do you get angry or tense?

12. Do you take very small bites while eating, or do you count your bites?

13. Do you insist others eat while you resist eating?

14. Do you make a point of weighing yourself or looking in the mirror several times a day?

15. Does your mood depend on how much you have eaten? Are you happy if you eat nothing, sad if you eat anything at all?

16. Are you more socially isolated than you were, say, three months ago?

17. Are you a perfectionist? Are you overly critical of yourself?

18. Do you ever feel depressed or sad for a long time for no identifiable reason?

19. Are your menstrual periods irregular-not occurring every 25-30 days, or occurring an average of fewer than ten times a year for the past two years?

20. Do you feel cold all the time, or need extra layers of clothing?

21. Have you experienced low blood pressure, dizziness, or fainting spells recently?

You can use this test to raise your awareness about the possibility of serious problems.

Remember, eating disorders can only be treated successfully if they are detected early, and the earlier the better.

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When Sandra Youse was 23, her doctor told her that she would not live to see 50. At the time, she weighed 400 pounds.

“Everyone in my immediate family is overweight,” says the Salisbury, North Carolina, resident. “And in my extended family— among grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins—there are lots of health problems. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are pretty common.”

Even with her doctor’s dire warning, Sandra didn’t get serious about slimming down until 10 years later. By then, she had gained almost another 100 pounds, reaching her top weight of 491 pounds.

“In those 10 years, I had made some halfhearted attempts at dieting, but they weren’t successful,” Sandra recalls. “I reached a point where I was tired of being so heavy. And because of an inheritance, I finally had the money to do something about it.”

In February 1997, she entered Structure House, a weight-loss facility in Durham, North Carolina, about 90 minutes from her home. “I went there on the advice of friends who were familiar with the Structure House program,” she says. “They really believed that it could help me.”

Sandra stayed at Structure House for 11 months. While there, she received individual counseling to help her confront and cope with some painful issues from her past. “I learned that many people use food to avoid dealing with their problems and that I was one of those people,” she says. “I had been overeating since I was a child.”

As Sandra began to address her own issues and learn more positive ways of handling them, she was better able to control her eating habits. “Through counseling, I learned that eating couldn’t solve my problems—that I had to find other ways of coping,” she says. “I started talking with friends, telling them what I was thinking and feeling. If a friend wasn’t available, I’d write down my thoughts instead.

“The ultimate goal of counseling is to resolve the underlying problem,” Sandra continues. “That actually makes things harder for a while. There were times when I got so overwhelmed with my issues that I had to step back and take a break. But eventually, I’d move on.”

By the time she left Structure House in January 1998, Sandra had lost 138 pounds. She continued to follow the eating-and-exer-cise guidelines that she had been given, and once a week, she made the 90-minute drive to Durham to meet with a Structure House counselor. “Losing weight was tougher on my own than at Structure House,” she says. “It definitely wasn’t a straight line. I’d make some progress, then take a couple of steps backward.”

But Sandra was determined. In a little more than a year, she took off another 130 pounds, dropping to 223 pounds.

Sandra, now age 36, would like to lose another 70 or so pounds. To that end, she continues to eat healthfully and exercise regularly, and she sees a counselor every week. The therapy is excellent, she says, and it has helped her tremendously in dealing with the issues that contributed to her weight gain in the first place.

“People constantly tell me what an inspiration I am and how I give them hope,” Sandra adds. “But I couldn’t have done what I did if I hadn’t learned to face my problems.”

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