Free
radicals are very reactive by-products of normal metabolism that are
constantly being produced by your cells. A major cause of age-related
decline, free radicals can damage the DNA in cells and cause cancer as
well as abnormal function. Diet, lifestyle, and inheritance
can affect your levels of free radical production. For
example, some people inherit a propensity to produce high levels of
homocysteine. Abnormally high levels of this amino acid are as
much a risk factor for heart disease as are smoking.
In
addition to restoring your key hormone levels to a youthful level, we
analyze the degree to which your body is susceptible to damage from
free radicals. For instance, after detecting a high homocysteine
level in a patient, we add specific antioxidant supplements that reduce
the homocysteine level and thus greatly reduce the likelihood of a
heart attack. Antioxidants such as vitamins B & C are very
effective molecules in your body for neutralizing these free radicals
before they can do you harm. Other antioxidants that we assess
& replenish are vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, alpha-lipoic acid, etc.,
all of which can help to reduce stiffening of the arteries while
improving skin.
Research
in nutrition and medicine over the past few decades increasingly has
born out the truth of the old adage, “You are what you eat.” We
strongly believe that there is now enough scientific evidence to
prescribe a youth-preserving and disease-fighting diet. Much
research shows a link between diet and key hormones such as insulin and
anti-oxidants such as glutathione. For these reasons, we closely
monitor your dietary habits and prescribe changes to optimize body
composition and energy levels
Time
and space does not permit an in depth description of specific nutrients
but we offer one example of the importance of a group of nutrients in
disease improvement and wellness. Other areas of nutrient research,
such as antioxidant nutrition, essential fatty acids, or amino acids
have similar bodies of evidence.
Researchers
have found that simple, food-based, methyl groups that are components
of common nutrients - folic acid, choline, B-12, and B-6 - can turn on
or off genes. During methylation, a methyl group attaches to a gene at
a specific point and induces changes in the way the gene is expressed.
In one very important study with implications for pregnant women and
their offspring, a diet rich in methyl groups (folic acid, choline,
B-12, and B-6) turned off a gene that led to adult obesity and diabetes
in mice. Methyl groups are entirely derived from the foods people eat;
they include vitamin B12, folic acid, choline, and betaine from sugar
beets.Interestingly,
these same nutrients, folic acid, B-12 and B-6 have a role to play in
preventing heart disease. A genetic weakness in the body's ability to
lower the levels of the amino acid homocysteine has been linked to
premature vascular disease. These nutrients prevent homocysteine build
up and consequent heart disease by changing homocysteine to the safer
amino acid, methionine.
Human
and animal short-term nutrient studies done on one nutrient at a time
merely show that a specific nutrient deficiency contributes to symptoms
and a specific nutrient replacement may modify those symptoms. But,
isolating one symptom and treating it with one nutrient in a simple
cause and effect approach should not be our only criteria for
understanding the role of nutrients in health. We believe that by
examining the human in the larger context of their life, including
diet, supplement intake, exercise status, and stress reduction, is much
more relevant and can be examined statistically using the objective and
subjective measures that we have chosen.
Specific Nutrient Supplementation
We advise most of our patients to have as many of the following Nutrient supplementation as possible
Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Biotin, Pantothenic acid,
PABA, Niacin, Calcium and magnesium, Chromium, Selenium, Vitamin D,
Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Choline and inositol, L-Carnosine, Coenzyme Q10,
TMG
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