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Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder that damages nerve cells in the brain and is one of the main causes of dementia around the world. It is due to the buildup of abnormal proteins in the brain, which form plaques and tangles that damage and kill brain cells. Current medical treatments are usually not very effective and can cause side-effects.
However, a new study reports that (in tests on animals), an amino acid called arginine, can significantly reduce these plaques and their effect on the brain. (Amino acids are natural molecules obtained from our food, which our bodies use to make the proteins it needs.) Arginine was found to dramatically lower plaque levels, reduce inflammation, and improve behaviour.
(The research team noted that although arginine is commonly sold as a dietary supplement, the dose and frequency used in their experiments were designed for research, and are different to those of basic over-the-counter products.)
Please click here to read more about the research.
*Please note: As with almost any bio-chemical imbalance, Alzheimer's Disease is a complex condition, and there will normally be a number of contributing factors. It is best to always consult with a highly trained and experienced health professional before undertaking a course of supplementation that could make a significant difference to your health.
We are currently offering a limited number of free Comprehensive Assessments. (Terms and conditions: the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
The Assessment helps to identify:
If you would like to book in for an Assessment, please give us a call on 3376 6911, or you can book online using the link at the top of the page.
Be well, and have a great life!
A major global review of 57 studies shows that 7,000 steps per day slashes the risk of dying early by nearly half, as well as producing major benefits in heart health, dementia, depression, and other areas.
The University of Sydney study examined the impact that different daily step counts have on the chance of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer, and developing diseases such as type 2 diabetes, dementia and depression.
The researchers found that walking 7,000 steps a day provides similar health benefits as walking 10,000.
However, for those who struggle to achieve this, even 2,000 to 4,000 steps per day brings measurable health improvements.
When compared with 2,000 steps a day, researchers found that:
For further information about this study, click here.
(Walking can also be very beneficial for constipation and many types of back pain, particularly when walking over uneven ground so that all of the lower back and abdominal muscles are used.)
Low testosterone levels in men can cause a variety of symptoms, such as
If you are wanting to feel stronger, have more energy, or just keep everything working smoothly, there are some natural ways to improve testosterone levels.
Some vitamins and minerals are particularly important for the creation of testosterone. The main ones are vitamins A, D, B1, B2, B3, and the minerals magnesium, zinc, sodium, and chloride.
Carrying extra weight can lower testosterone levels, so if you’re overweight, losing some pounds is a good idea. Exercise is your best friend here, especially resistance training (lifting weights) for about 6 hours a week. (You can add some high-intensity workouts for variety.)
The ideal for a man is around 12% body fat. If your fat levels get too low, this can also affect your hormones.
The correct fuel for your body is important. If you’re reducing carbohydrates, prioritise healthy fats over excessive protein. Or, if your diet is high in protein, make sure your body can handle it by supporting your sulphur metabolism.
Athletes might benefit from having a glutamine supplement (a building block for making proteins in the body) per day.
For some people, their methylation (a biochemical process your body uses to function) may need support,
Herbs can be regarded as nature’s secret weapon. Some of the herbal options include Tongkat Ali, Ashwagandha, Fenugreek, and Forskolin.
However, herbs have powerful and specific effects on the body. When you take what is classed as a therapeutic dose, care is needed to make sure it is appropriate for you and won’t cause any side-effects. Professional herbalists often combine different herbs to offset any potential side-effects. and they need to ensure the herbs won’t conflict with any medication the person is taking. So any therapeutic herbal extract or formula should always be prescribed by a qualified herbalist or naturopath. (This does not apply to over-the-counter products, as they are designed to be safe rather than effective.)
Having the correct testosterone levels can make a big difference to your energy, mental state, and general wellbeing.
If you need some assistance with getting yours at the right level, we are currently offering a limited number of free Comprehensive Assessments. (Terms and conditions: the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
The Assessment helps to identify:
If you would like to book in for an Assessment, please give us a call on 3376 6911, or you can book online using the link at the top of the page.
Be well, and have a very happy life!
In a recent large-scale Phase 3 trial1 by the University of Sydney, a group of people who previously had basal cell carcinomas or squamous cell carcinomas were given a form of Vitamin B3 for 12 months.
The results made international headlines when the study found that the number of new
In addition, the number of pre-cancerous actinic keratosis lesions were reduced by 13%, and there was also a decrease in the number of these lesions forming.
(In another study, the same version of B3 has been shown to reduce solar keratoses by about 35% after two months of treatment.)
How Does B3 Reduce Skin Cancer Risk?
When your cells are working as they should, your DNA instructs your cells to grow normally. However, UV radiation from the sun can damage the DNA in your skin, and this damaged DNA results in the creation of skin cancers.
The good news is that this research shows that B3 may help to reduce the risk of skin cancer by helping the DNA repair itself.
(The study did not look at whether the rate of melanomas was also reduced, however anecdotal evidence from a local skin doctor, who is a Fellow of the Skin Cancer College of Australasia, suggests that it has a similar effect on this type of skin cancer as well.)
For those who have been previously diagnosed with BCC or SCC, the benefits of vitamin B3 could literally be life-changing. However, it is important to note that a certain type of B3 (nicotinamide) and a certain dosage was needed to obtain these results. So to help prevent skin cancer, nicotinamide should be given as a high-dose treatment rather than just as a basic supplement.
If you have had a skin cancer, or have a family history of it, or if you just want to try and prevent any skin cancers developing, we suggest making an appointment with one of our naturopaths. Or even better, book in for a free Comprehensive Assessment first, so that we can gain a very detailed understanding of your body and how it is functioning, allowing us to precisely tailor any treatment you may have. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
Be well, and have a great life!
1https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4570055/
Last year it was estimated that around 400,000 Australians suffer from dementia, and this number is expected to double by 2058.There is no effective treatment using pharmaceutical drugs, however there have been a number of studies showing the effectiveness of natural therapies for this condition.
One study, showed that increasing your magnesium intake is likely to "lead to less age-related brain shrinkage, which is associated with better cognitive function and lower risk of delayed onset of dementia in later life". See more on this study by following the link below.
Magnesium plays an essential role in nerve transmission and nerve-muscle interaction. It also protects nerves against excessive stimulation, which can damage or even kill nerve cells, and cause many types of neurological disorders. Due to its importance to the nervous system, research continues to be conducted on its role in preventing or treating migraines, chronic pain, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, epilepsy, anxiety and depression.
If you have a health issue, or have a family history of a health problem and want to prevent it, we offer a free Comprehensive Assessment, to see what is going on in your body, what is causing the problem, and the best way to treat or prevent it. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
Be well, and have a great life!
Hibiscus tea is high in antioxidants, and also offers many other health benefits. Recent research has also shown that it may be able to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer’s Disease.
Alzheimer’s is caused by a build-up of certain protein deposits in the brain (A Beta and Tau protein aggregates). These deposits end up causing a chronic inflammatory reaction and damage to the nerve cells, which results in cognitive decline and memory loss.
The brain has its own immune cells called microglia, which attack and absorb these deposits. However constant exposure to the A Beta protein will end up exhausting the microglia, and they can't continue to remove the deposits.
A recent study established that a compound found in hibiscus flowers called gossypetin activates the microglia. The research team treated mice afflicted by Alzheimer's with gossypetin for three months, and demonstrated that the microglia were then able to scavenge the A Beta protein in their brains. The A Beta deposits decreased, and the impaired memory and cognition were almost restored to their normal levels. Clinical trials are now planned for developing gossypetin products for the prevention and treatment of dementia.
For more details on the research, visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221116133855.htm .
Hibiscus flower is yet to be regarded as a medical treatment or cure for Alzheimer's. However, if there is a history of this condition in your family, or if you are starting to experience mental decline or memory loss, it is worthwhile considering drinking hibiscus tea regularly.
With any condition, to get results it is always important to treat the causes of the problem. We are currently offering a limited number of free Comprehensive Assessments. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.) These help to identify
If you would like to book in for an Assessment, please give us a call on 3376 6911, or you can book online using the link at the top of the page.
Be well, and have a great life!
How’s your memory? Many people feel that their memory is gradually getting worse, and assume that this is a normal part of aging. But there are steps you can take to help improve your memory, and to help prevent the development of dementia or Alzheimer’s as you advance in years.
There are a number of factors that affect brain function and memory, however two of the main ones are medications and heavy metals.
Medications
There are many medications that have an effect on mental functions. Some of these that have a particular impact on memory include
Heavy Metals
Various heavy metals also negatively affect mental function and memory. One of the more common ones is aluminium, which is absorbed from aluminium cookware, flocculation agents added to water supplies, baking powders used in breads, deodorants, antacids, etc. Aluminium causes the nerves in the brain to become tangled (referred to as neurofibrillary tangles), and also causes a glue-like substance called amyloid, which interferes with the normal brain nerve conduction.
Diet
Recent research indicates that it may be possible to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s.1 This research indicates that one key way of addressing memory issues and improving neural plasticity is through reducing inflammation in the body. Ideally, this involves
This protocol has been shown to arrest serious disease, as well as reverse more mild memory and cognitive impairment.1
The Gut
The 100 trillion microbes that live in our gastro-intestinal system are extremely important for overall health, especially brain health. Today the ‘gut–brain axis’ is a feature at major neuroscience meetings, and literally thousands of publications over the past decade have revealed that the gut microbiome could have profound effects on the brain, and may cause many disorders.2 Improving the balance of the microbiome has been shown to alleviate a variety of diseases ranging from diabetes, depression and anxiety, to foggy brain and obesity.3
The microbiome is a complete ecosystem inside our bodies. It has been shown that when the gut microbial diversity decreases, there is an increased prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity, allergies and asthma. So the answer is not in just taking a random probiotic, but in seeing an expert who understands the ecology of the gut and which specific good bacteria need to be increased to restore a healthy balance to this environment. (We would recommend seeing an experienced Brisbane naturopath for this.)
Some Specific Supplements
If you are suffering from a decline in memory, or want to prevent the development of dementia or Alzheimer’s as you age, you can book in for a free Comprehensive Assessment at our clinic. The Assessment is a detailed look at what is going on in your body, what is causing any problems, and the best way to sort them out. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.)
Be well, and have a great life!
1.Bredesen, D. E. (2014). Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program. Aging (Albany NY), 6(9), 707.
2. How gut microbes could drive brain disorders. Nature.
3. Perlmutter, D. (2015). Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain-for Life: Hachette UK.
The human body is very complex, so we treat a very broad range of conditions. The following is a list of some of the conditions clients came to us for in a single week.
If you have a health issue and you would like to find out if we can help you, you can book in for a free Comprehensive Assessment. The Assessment will look at what is going on in your body, what is causing any problems, and the best way to resolve them. (Terms and conditions- the Assessment is a completely free service, with no obligations whatsoever.) Have a great life!
Everyone has heard of DNA, which is like a blueprint for your body; a set of instructions on how your cells create you. But have you heard of your epigenome? This is the part of your cells that decides which sections of your DNA are activated (or which genes are switched on or off).
So your DNA is the instructions your body comes with, and your epigenome decides how those plans are used. For example, in cells in your eye the epigenome will turn on the genes in your DNA that allow them to detect light. In your red blood cells, the epigenome will turn on the genes to carry oxygen.
As you can see, the epigenome plays a very powerful role in our health. It can also influence whether or not you develop diseases that may be coded in your DNA.
Your DNA is always constant, but your epigenomes are more fluid. They change as we grow and develop (such as during puberty), and are influenced by many other factors, including diet, levels of various nutrients, lifestyle factors, physical activity, psychological stress, toxins, pollutants, pesticides, and countless other factors.
Everybody is born with strengths and weaknesses in their body. We all inherit tendencies towards the diseases our parents had, such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, heart disease, Alzheimer's, etc. Whether we develop these diseases or not depends on our epigenomes. The good news is that there are exciting new developments in how to look after and improve your epigenomes. According to Professor Anthony Hannan (head of the Epigenetics and Neural Plasticity Laboratory at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health), "Epigenetics is a revolution that is going to transform medicine, where the prevention and treatment of disease will be based on your genome (DNA) and your epigenome, which is different for every set of cells or tissues in your body."
If you were a song, your DNA is like the sheet music, and your epigenomes are the sound engineers that create how that music will be played- which bits are loud, which are edited out, whether the melody is dominant, or the drums are taken out altogether. Would you like the song of your life to be played by a high-class orchestra, or by a badly tuned ukulele?
It is now understood that your epigenome is influenced by the health of your parents, and likely even your grandparents. So changing your own epigenome can affect your children's and grandchildren's development and health. Our understanding of how epigenetic changes are transmitted from parent to child is still not entirely clear, but the evidence suggests that this happens at the time of conception and during pregnancy. So it is great to work on improving your epigenome while you are pregnant, but excellent to do it before the baby is even conceived. A baby’s first 2 years is also a crucial time to improve their epigenome. (Naturopaths recommend working on your epigenome for 12 months prior to attempting to fall pregnant if possible.)
Our naturopaths are trained in the latest natural methods of improving your epigenetic health. If you are interested in optimising your future health (or that of your children), please book in for a free Comprehensive Assessment, and we can check how well their treatments should work for you.
How is your immune system? If you came through the cold and flu season without coming down with anything, you would assume that it is pretty good. But preventing colds is only a small part of what the immune system does. And looking after it can make a huge difference to your future health. Imagine how our streets would end up if we had no police force and no rubbish removal system!
Your immune system is designed to maintain your body by
1. Dealing with any attack
2. Repairing any damage
3. Controlling your own cells
4. Helping your body adapt to changes in temperature and climate
There are far more microbes living in our body than you would think- around 100 trillion of them! So our immune system is constantly fighting to keep the right balance of good and bad bugs in and on our bodies.
If your immune system is not strong, it won’t help your body cope well with changes in temperature, season or climate. This is why many people get colds and flus after they are exposed to a cold wind or draft (get a ‘chill’), or during the cold and flu ‘seasons’, when the temperatures are fluctuating as the seasons change (especially around the start of winter or spring).
If your immune system isn't working well, you can end up with
Allergies and food intolerances occur when you immune system is overstimulated and reacts to something that has come into your body or on your skin. The number of people with allergies is increasing rapidly, with 1 in 4 children now suffering from them. Autoimmune conditions happen when your immune system is so overstimulated that it starts attacking parts of your own body. It is thought that one of the main reasons for all three conditions is because we have made our environments and our bodies too clean and sterile. We have removed many of the evolutionarily protective microbes (bacteria, viruses, parasites) we have evolved to have in our bodies, under the assumption that all such bugs are harmful[1]. So your immune system cannot behave and act in the way it was designed to. Biologists used to think that the human body is capable of doing all it needs to on its own to exist. However, recent research shows that the right bacteria in our bodies provides vital help with many of the body's basic functions, including growth, digestion, and self-defence[2]. And upsetting the balanced ecosystem between the correct bacteria in our bodies and our own cells could be causing unprecedented numbers of children to develop autism, ADHD, food allergies, asthma and many other chronic problems.
Another very common cause of food intolerances and allergies is ‘leaky gut syndrome’. Under normal circumstances, the epithelial cells that line your small intestine are joined tightly to each other. This makes the lining of your intestine nearly leak-proof, and only fully digested food molecules are allowed to pass through. If there are strong stresses on these delicate structures, these tight joins may start to separate, creating gaps between the cells. These gaps make your gut ‘leaky’, and then large, undigested food molecules can pass through into the body, where they are collected by the bloodstream and lymph vessels of your intestine.
When your immune system spots these large molecules, it decides that they are too big to be digested food, so it must be a foreign invader into the body, such as a virus or bacteria, and it attacks them. Your immune system attacking these food molecules in your blood can cause a very broad range of problems. (For more details, please see Food Intolerance Testing Now Available.)
Getting your immune system in good shape involves five things.
1. Getting rid of any focal infections
The sinuses are the most common area for focal infections, so these need to be carefully checked and treated if needed.
2. Strengthen your nutrient levels
Vitamin C and Zinc are the most important, but other nutrients, such as vitamin D, are also essential. (Vitamin D is necessary for the ‘killer T-cells’ to hunt down and destroy cells that are infected with germs or that have become cancerous.)
3. Improve any lifestyle factors
Low energy and stress both drag your immune system down. If it is not possible to change your lifestyle factors, naturopathy and acupuncture can help compensate. Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, but not too much!
4. Getting your bacterial ecosystem right
Since 70- 80% of your body's immune cells are in your digestive system[3], it is crucial to have the right bacterial balance in your gut to have a good immune system. If your diet isn’t right, you will end up with bad gut bacteria, and these bugs send the wrong messages to the immune system, creating illnesses in the body. (For more details see our article How Bad Gut Bacteria Can Cause Diabetes, Asthma, Ulcerative Colitis, Multiple Sclerosis, Autism, Allergies & Autoimmune Diseases.) Probiotics can provide the good bacteria we need, however since our internal ecosystems are so complex, there is no one probiotic that can sort out everyone’s systems. For example, we supply ten different probiotics for different purposes. (These are Practitioner Prescribing Only products, so a trained therapist has to determine which is the correct one for you.)
5. Address any allergies or food intolerances
We can check the health of your digestive system, and also perform a Food Intolerance Test. Treatments for leaky gut syndrome, overactive immune systems, food intolerances and allergies are available.
If you want to take care of your immune system, or if you have any immune issues or weaknesses, please book in for a Comprehensive Assessment at our clinic. We can then have an in-depth look at what is happening in your body, what is causing the problem, and what can be done to sort it out. These Assessments are very thorough, and you will learn a lot about how your body is working. Our clients find them very helpful, interesting and informative. We currently have a limited number of free Assessments available, so please contact the Clinic soon if you would like to book in for one.
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/
[2] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ultimate-social-network-bacteria-protects-health/
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10564096
Valued at $120, your Assessment will help to uncover:
All this will be fully explained to you, and you can ask as many questions as you like. That way we can be sure to give you all of the right information, understanding and advice you need. Terms and conditions: This is a free, no obligation offer.