WebMD had several articles on probiotics and their uses for holistic health and wellness. Here is that article:

Probiotics are microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast that are believed to improve health. They are available in supplements and foods. The idea of taking live bacteria or yeast may seem strange at first. After all, we take antibiotics and use antibacterial substances to fight bacteria. But  our bodies naturally teem with such organisms.

The digestive system is home to more than 500 different bacterial species. They help keep intestinal linings healthy and assist in breaking down food. Beneficial organisms are also believed to help regulate healthy immune response.

How Do Probiotics Work?

Researchers believe that some digestive disorders result when the balance of friendly bacteria in the intestines becomes disturbed.  This can happen after an infection or after taking antibiotics. Intestinal problems can also arise when the lining of the intestines is damaged. Introducing new beneficial organisms in the form of probiotics may help.

“Probiotics can improve intestinal function and maintain the integrity of the lining of the intestines,” says Stefano Guandalini, MD, professor of pediatrics and gastroenterology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. These friendly bugs may also help fight off diarrhea-causing organisms.

Probiotics and the Immune System

There’s also evidence that probiotics assist in maintaining a strong immune system. “In societies with very good hygiene, we’ve seen a sharp increase in autoimmune and allergic diseases,” Guandalini tells WebMD. “That may be because the immune system isn’t being properly challenged by pathogenic organisms. Introducing friendly bacteria in the form of probiotics is believed to challenge the immune system in healthy ways.”

Probiotics May Benefit an Array of Ailments

Although evidence is still being gathered, researchers say there are enough data to rate the effectiveness of probiotics for several specific illnesses. In 2008, a panel of experts at Yale University reviewed the latest findings. They concluded that probiotics are most effective for:

• Acute childhood diarrhea
• Preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea
• Preventing pouchitis, an intestinal inflammation that can follow serious intestinal surgery
• Regulating immune response
• Treating and preventing eczema associated with cow’s milk allergy

The Yale University panel of experts concluded that probiotics may be helpful in other ways, although the evidence so far is less convincing. These include:

• Easing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome
• Preventing childhood diarrhea
• Treating diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria, which can infect the colon

Probiotics may also be useful in unexpected ways. A study published in 2010 suggests that probiotics may decrease the risk of common childhood problems such as ear infections, strep throat, colds, and diarrheal illness. The study included 638 children aged 3 to 6 in day care centers/schools. The children who drank a yogurt drink containing a probiotic were 19% less likely to come down with a common infection.

Cautions About Probiotics

For the most part, taking probiotics is very safe and causes few side effects. “People in cultures around the world have been eating yogurt, cheeses, and other foods containing live cultures for centuries,” says Martin Floch, MD, a professor of gastroenterology at Yale University, co-author of Probiotics: A Clinical Guide, and a consultant for the Dannon Company.

Still, probiotic supplements may be dangerous for people with weakened immune systems or serious illnesses.  One study found that patients with severe pancreatitis who were given probiotics had a higher risk of death. More studies of probiotic use in young children and the elderly are needed.

Are Probiotic Supplements or Foods Best?

Probiotics come in many forms, including powders, tablets, capsules, and foods such as yogurts and dairy drinks. The form you take them in doesn’t matter, experts say, as long as it contains enough live organisms to begin growing in the intestines. Experts say the effective dose varies widely, from as little as 50 million to as many as 1 trillion live cells per dose.

Specific probiotic organisms appear to be useful for particular illnesses, however. The bacteria Lactobacillus GG and the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii have been shown to be helpful for infectious diarrhea in children, for example. “But there’s no evidence that Lactobacillus acidophilus, which is used in many commercial yogurts, has any benefits for diarrhea,” says Floch.

Advice on Choosing a Probiotic Supplement

The FDA does not regulate probiotics  as it does prescription medications because probiotics are in the same category as food and supplements. With growing evidence for their effectiveness, however, the FDA is reviewing their status and may regulate them more closely in the future.

“For now, the best advice is to choose products from well-known companies, especially those that have been tested in research studies,” Guandalini says. Reliable products should indicate the name of the precise probiotic organisms they contain, as well as how many organisms a single dose provides. Many products also provide information on the scientific studies they use for their recommendations.

Many thanks to WebMD for this highly informative article. For further reading:

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/what-are-probiotics?

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/best-probiotics-use

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/probiotics-benefits

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I received an e-mail from Melissa Murphy today asking for some help with her campaign. Seems like a good program and website. Here are her comments and I will post the website and one of their video’s below.

The older we get, the harder it can be to stay active and fit. However, here is one more reason to keep moving – light exercise can help reduce the risk and pains associated with osteoarthritis, which affects 27 million Americans.

Age is a risk factor for this disease, but osteoarthritis is NOT inevitable. There are small changes that you can make to your lifestyle today that can reduce your risk for developing osteoarthritis tomorrow! I’m writing to you on behalf of the Arthritis Foundation and the Ad Council to let you know about their new campaign,Fight Arthritis Pain, and ask you to help us educate about this important and positive message.

Here is a brief summary:

- It’s easy (and fun!) to incorporate more movement into your life – watch the entertaining campaign PSAs here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8bV5eV-wFQ

- Throughout the month of May (National Arthritis Month), there will be over 100 Arthritis Walks held nationwide to help raise awareness and funds to help improve the lives of those that live with arthritis. For more info visit:
www.fightarthritispain.org

- The campaign website (www.fightarthritispain.org) provides fantastic resources, including a tool for assessing your osteoarthritis risk, community support forums a local events calendar, and a movement tracker widget that can be shared on social networking sites and will help keep you on track as you try to move daily.

Website  www.fightarthritispain.org

Unpaid advertisement

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Lately, vitamin D is showing up in the news more often. It used to be the ho-hum vitamin that you got from drinking your milk and playing out in the sunshine. Apparently, this vitamin is much more important to our health and has many previously unknown attributes that can enhance your holistic wellness. Vitamin D is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight. Many factors including season, skin coloration, cloud cover, smog, and sunscreen affect UV ray exposure and vitamin D synthesis in the skin, and it is important for individuals with limited sun exposure to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet.

As civilization and the industrialization enabled humans to work indoors and wear more clothes when outdoors, these cultural changes reduced natural production of vitamin D and caused deficiency diseases. In many countries, foods such as milk, yogurt, margarine, oil spreads, breakfast cereal, pastries, and bread are fortified with vitamin D₂ and/or vitamin D₃, to minimize the risk of vitamin D deficiency. In the United States and Canada, for example, fortified milk typically provides 100 IU per glass, or a quarter of the estimated adequate intake for adults over age 50. Fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, catfish and sardines are natural sources of vitamin D. Other natural sources include: fish liver oils, such as cod liver oil, whole eggs, cooked beef liver, and UV-irradiated mushrooms. In the United States (U.S.), the 100% Daily Value used for product labels is 400 IU/day.

The easiest way to tell if you are getting enough of the vitamin is have a blood calcidiol level test at the doctor’s office. If the test results are not in specification, then you can increase your level with a higher dose of supplementation. Your doctor can recommend an appropriate level.

Deficiency of vitamin D can result from a number of factors: inadequate intake along with inadequate sunlight (UVB) exposure, disorders that limit its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, conditions that impair conversion of vitamin D into active metabolites, such as liver or kidney disorders and body characteristics such as skin color and body fat. Rarely, deficiency can result from a number of hereditary disorders. Deficiency results in impaired bone mineralization, and leads to bone softening diseases including:

• Rickets, a childhood disease characterized by slowed growth, and deformity, of the long bones. Rickets was first described in the 17th century. Prior to fortifying milk products with vitamin D, rickets was a major public health problem. In the United States, the fortification of milk with 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D per quart in the 1930s led to a dramatic decline in the number of rickets cases.

• Osteoporosis, a condition characterized by reduced bone mineral density and increased bone fragility.

New research is showing low levels of vitamin D may also be linked to an increased susceptibility to several chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, tuberculosis, cancer, periodontal disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, seasonal affective disorder , elevated VLDL triglycerides, peripheral artery disease, cognitive impairment which includes memory loss, and several autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes. There is also an association between low vitamin D levels and Parkinson’s disease, but whether Parkinson’s causes low vitamin D levels, or whether low vitamin D levels play a role in the development of Parkinson’s disease has not been established.

Research indicates that vitamin D may play a role in preventing or reversing coronary disease. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in high blood pressure and cardiovascular risk. Numerous observational studies show this link, but no randomized trial has proven the impact of vitamin D supplementation. When researchers looked at the vitamin D levels, blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors of  people, of an average age of 59 years for 5 years, they found that those people with low levels of vitamin D had a 62% higher risk of a cardiovascular event than those with normal vitamin D levels. The issue of vitamin D in heart health has not yet been settled. Exercise may account for some of the benefit attributed to vitamin D, since vitamin D levels are generally higher in physically active persons.

Many recent studies are showing a relationship between cancer and the vitamin D hormone, calcitriol. A search of primary and review medical literature published between 1970 and 2009 found an increasing amount of research that seems to support the idea that vitamin D has significant protective effects against the development of cancer. This research looked at the association between sun exposure, serum levels of 25(OH)D, and consumption of vitamin D and risk of developing and/or surviving cancer. All of the studies looked at show a beneficial correlation between vitamin D intake and prevention of many cancers; colon, breast and ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate.

So vitamin D is much more important to our health and wellness than we thought. All of the recent findings are mostly of a preliminary nature and with more studies we may find more benefits to taking an adequate amount of vitamin D every day. I usually take a 1000IU supplemental tablet a day. Please consult your medical specialist on how much is healthy for you.

Be well.

Technorati Tags: health and wellness, holistic wellness, men over 50, nutrition, women over 50

It’s that time of year again. Trying to figure out what to give that special someone(s) in your life. It’s not always easy to come up with ideas. Fortunately, there are also many sites and companies out there who advertise their products in the form of ideas in the hopes that you will buy their products or buy products through them. In keeping with that same theme, I found a few health related items that could make good gifts. They could also make good gifts to yourself to maybe help improve or keep your health during the holidays. Here are some of the ideas.

Sometimes it’s nice to know how much your exercising when you’re not formally exercising. Walking here and there or doing chores also counts as exercise, so it would be helpful to put a value to those activities. This item could be handy. Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer. Click up the miles and find out what you are actually doing.

Another idea for that woman in your life who is trying to improve or maintain her heath, this seems to be a good DVD – Women’s Health: Total Workout in Ten!.

Another DVD with a more eastern style of staying healthy is T’ai Chi for Health: Yang Short Form 37 Form. Tai Chi has been getting good reviews by scientists and medical personnel as safe low impact way to exercise without stressing our various joints. Also of value is The Alchemy of Qi Gong Volume I: The Essential Health Practices. Qiqong is a similar format to Tai Chi but a little more energetic. It is also spoken of highly in eastern medicine. Either method would be a good, low impact way to exercise, improve your health and your overall well being.

Sometimes you just have to have one of those foods that just makes you feel good inside, maybe something from your childhood. Well, here’s a book to help you do that and still stay healthy. Hungry Girl Chew the Right Thing: Supreme Makeovers for 50 Foods You Crave

If your trying to lose weight, the holidays generally in not the time to do that. Most people just give up. If you are determined to lose weight, sometimes it helps to have inspiration and a little guidance, try Believe It, Be It: How Being the Biggest Loser Won Me Back My Life. Maybe it will give the lift you need.

Speaking of inspirational, if you a fan of or ever seen Britain’s Got Talent, then you’ll definitely want to get this album I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle. It’s also available as an MP3 format.

Well, this was just a few ideas. If you think you would like to purchase these items just click on the link. Whether you do or not, have a Happy Holiday and a great New Year.

(sponsored advertisement)

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I just read an article with a few great tips on health and wellness I’d like to share.  Here are some of the highlights that might interest you.

1. A big splash of non-fat milk turns your morning java into a protein drink, giving you more stamina and a bone boost. If your out try Starbucks Grande Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte, a 130-calorie treat with 12 grams of protein and 40 percent of your daily calcium.

2. Want less colds or flu this winter? Wash your hands for about 20 seconds with soap and water every time you cook, use the bathroom, blow your nose, handle garbage or touch a public surface. Temperature of the water is immaterial to cold prevention but luke warm water is better for the skin on your hands.

3. Eating, brushing your teeth or combing your hair with your non-dominant hand challenges your brain and helps it think faster.

4. Want to live a little longer or at least live better for the time you have? Don’t smoke and walk at a quick pace for 20 minutes 3 times a week.

Be well.

Reprinted from:

• Health Magazine, November 2009

• Prevention Magazine, November 2009

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Angie from Angie’s List A short video where Angie explains why medical gag orders go against your First Amendment rights (the opening commercial is short).

Have you ever run into a problem with a company and wished someone had told you about how bad that service was. If you lived in a small town or have lived in an area long enough you could probably ask your cousin or neighbor or a co-worker. But what if you are new to an area or you you have a new problem to solve and no one to ask about it.

Welcome to Angie’s List. They have a list on almost any service you can think of using. And they have comments about that service from REAL PEOPLE. That’s right, real people who have used the company or service provider and given their opinion, good or bad, for that service or company. And before the comments are posted, all reviews are checked in order to guard against companies that try to report on themselves or their competitors.

They are constantly adding areas, services and comments to their list. As each new person signs up, more and more information is added to the list.

Yes, this is a paid service. They have monthly, annually and multi-years rates, depending on what you want to pay. Their rates are highly reasonable and fair, considering the information you will receive. Even if Angie’s List is new to your area. They offer a free one-year membership for the first few months they are in your area. Members who sign up during this time period help them build the List. After your first year, you’ll have the option, not obligation, to renew your membership at the regular monthly or annual price.

More than 650,000 members nationwide use Angie’s List. The people who join Angie’s List are like you – looking for a way to find trustworthy companies that perform high quality work.

Member benefits include:

* 24-hour access to the reports and reviews at AngiesList.com
Just think how valuable that would be at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night and the air conditioner goes out.
* Real-live support through Angie’s award-winning call center
* Angie’s List Magazine
An email version will be delivered to members with complimentary memberships. Paying members also receive a hard copy in the mail.
* Coupons and discounts from highly rated service companies.
* Access to Angie’s Complaint Resolution Process
If you don’t receive the quality of work that you expected from a service company, Angie’s works to resolve the situation on your behalf.

Angie’s Complaint Resolution Process is an excellent service. It’s a service designed exclusively for Angie’s List members to help restore communication between you and a company you’re having a problem with.

If your complaint qualifies (go to AngiesList.com for the rules of the game), they will contact the company in question on your behalf. And space permitting, they may print the outcome of your complaint in their magazine and on their website — good or bad!

Companies that don’t respond to your complaints end up in the “Penalty Box,” and their name appears in the magazine for three consecutive months.

They have helped a lot of our members get refunds, repairs and re-dos for remodeling jobs of all types. How? There’s power in numbers, and you have the strength of the entire Angie’s List membership base behind you.

And that is the real worth in an Angie’s List membership. As a single individual, you may feel powerless against a company but with 650,000 people to stand with you, you are a veritable giant. So check it out, click on the box in the left column or on the highlighted links in the text, I think you will be pleasantly suprised.

Be Well.

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