oxidative stress
Preventing Asthma with Fruits and Vegetables
"Preventing Asthma With Fruits and Vegetables" Asthma is the most common
chronic disease in children, and the prevalence is
increasing around the world. Despite this, most research dollars
are spent on adult chronic diseases. One might ask whether this is because
our politicians and senior administrators feel themselves to be more
likely to suffer from the latter, and ignore allergic diseases
because they have their major impact on children and young
adults who don't vote. Imagine how much more effort
would be put into elucidating causes of a disorder
that increased at the same escalated rate in
the middle aged and elderly. Well, finally, an international study
of asthma and allergies in childhood, studying more than a million children
in nearly a hundred countries, making it the most comprehensive survey
of these diseases ever undertaken. What did they find? They found a wide variability
in the prevalence and severity of asthma, allergies,
and eczema. We're talking 20-fold
to 60-fold difference in prevalence of symptoms of
asthma, allergic runny nose, and atopic eczema
around the world. Striking worldwide variations in
the prevalence of allergic symptoms.
What does it
all mean? Well, the large variability
suggests a crucial role of some kind of local characteristics
determining the differences in prevalence between
one place and another. What kind of environmental factors? Like, why does the prevalence
of itchy eyes and runny nose range anywhere from 1% in India, for
example, up to 45% of kids elsewhere? There were some associations with
regional air pollution and smoking rates, but the most significant
associations were with diet. Adolescents showed a
consistent pattern of decreases in symptoms of wheeze
(current and severe), allergic rhinoconjunctivitis
and atopic eczema, associated with increased
consumption of plants. The more their calories and
protein came from plant sources, the less allergies
they seemed to have. In general, there seems
to be an association between an increase
in asthma prevalence and decreased consumption of
fresh fruits, green vegetables, and other dietary
sources of antioxidants, helping to explain why the prevalence
of asthma and respiratory symptoms is lower in populations with high
intake of foods of plant origin. Intakes of high fat and sodium,
and low fiber and carbohydrates are linked with asthma, while traditional and vegetarian diets
are associated with lower rates.
For example, if you
look closer within India, in a study of more
than 100,000 people, those who consumed meat, for example,
daily or even occasionally, were more likely to report asthma than
those who were strictly vegetarian, which meant also
avoiding eggs. Eggs have been associated,
along with soda, with an increased risk of respiratory
symptoms and asthma in schoolchildren, whereas consumptions
of soy foods and fruits were associated with reduced
risk of respiratory symptoms. In fact, removing eggs from
the diet, along with dairy, may improve lung function
in asthmatic children in as little
as eight weeks. So maybe it's a combination of eating
less animal foods and more plants.
High vegetable intake, for example,
has been found protective in children, cutting the odds of
allergic asthma in half. And fruit showed a consistent
protective association for current and severe wheeze and
runny nose in adolescents, and for current and severe asthma,
allergies, and eczema for children. But why? I've talk about the endocrine-
disrupting industrial pollutants building up in the meat supply that may
increase the risk of allergic diseases, but the increase in asthma
may be a combination of both a more toxic environment
and a more susceptible population. "The dietary changes which have
occurred over recent years may have led to a reduction in
these natural antioxidant defenses, resulting in a shift of the antioxidant
status of the whole population and leading to increased susceptibility
to oxidant attack and airway inflammation." In adults, for example, the risk
of airway hyper-reactivity may increase seven-fold
among those with the lowest intake of
vitamin C from plants foods, while the lowest intake of saturated
fats gave a 10-fold protection, presumably because of saturated fats
have a role in triggering inflammation.
“The protective effect of plant-based
food may also be mediated through effects on
intestinal microflora." It turns out the differences in
the indigenous intestinal flora might affect the development and priming
of the immune system in early childhood. Kids with allergies,
for example, tend to be less likely to
harbor lactobacilli, the good bacteria that's
found in fermented foods and also just naturally
on fruits and vegetables. And lactobacillus probiotics may
actually help with childhood asthma, which may all help
explain why children raised on largely
organic vegetarian diets may have lower prevalence
of allergic reactions. Infants raised in this way tend
to have more good lactobacilli in their guts compared
to controls, though they were also more likely
to have been born naturally, breastfed longer, and not
given as many antibiotics, so you really can't tell if it's the
diet until you put it to the test… which we'll
explore next..
Video Transcript – As found on YouTube
Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes
"Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes" I’ve talked about the role meat may
play in increasing the risk of diabetes, and the potential protective
role of healthy plant foods. But plant-based diets
not only appear to guard against getting diabetes
in the first place, they may successfully treat the disease
better than the diabetic diets patients are typically placed on, controlling
weight and cholesterol. Diets based on whole plant foods can
result in significant weight loss without any limits on portion
size or calorie counting, because plant foods tend
to be so calorically dilute. Here's a 100 calories of broccoli,
tomatoes, strawberries, compare that to a 100 calories
of chicken, cheese, or fish.
People just can't seem to eat to enough
to compensate for the calorie deficit so lose weight eating whole plant foods.
And most importantly, it works. Better. A plant-based diet beat out the conventional
American Diabetes Association diet in a head-to-head randomized
controlled clinical trial, without restricting portions,
no calorie or carb counting. A review of all such studies found that
individuals following plant-based diets experience improved reductions in blood
sugars, body weight, and cardiovascular risk, compared with those following
diets that included animal products.
And cardiovascular risk is
what kills diabetics the most. They're more likely to get strokes,
more likely heart failure. In fact, diabetes has been proposed as
a coronary heart disease risk equivalent, meaning diabetic patients without
a history of coronary disease have an equivalent risk to those
non-diabetic individuals with confirmed heart disease. A newer study used a technique to
actually measure insulin sensitivity. Improved on both diets
in the first three months, but then the veg diet pulled ahead.
And look at their LDL cholesterol. That's what we see when people
are put on plant-based diets; cholesterol comes down so much it can
actually reverse the atherosclerosis progression, reverse the
progression of heart disease.
We know about the beneficial
effect of vegetarian diets on controlling weight, blood sugars,
cholesterol, insulin sensitivity, and oxidative stress compared
to conventional diabetic diets, but what about quality
of life, mood? How did people feel after making
such a dramatic change in their diets? In this randomized controlled trial,
study subjects were assigned either to a plant-based diet
group or control group. Vegetables, grains, beans, fruits, and
nuts, with animal products limited to a maximum of one daily
portion of low-fat yogurt, and the control group got
the official diabetes diet. Quality of life improved on both
diets in the first few months, but within six months, the plant-
based group clearly pulled ahead. Same thing with
depression scores. Dropped in both groups
in the first three months, but started to rebound
in the control group. Bottom line, the more plant-based
diet led to a greater improvement in quality of life
and mood. Patients consuming a vegetarian diet
also felt less constrained than those consuming the conventional diet.
People actually felt the conventional diabetic diet was more restrictive
than the plant-based diet.
Disinhibition decreased
with a vegetarian diet, meaning those eating vegetarian
were less likely to binge. And the veg group folks
tended to feel less hungry, all of which helps with
sustainability in the long term, which is, of course, critical
for changing diet. So not only do plant-based diets
appear to work better, but they may be easier to stick to.
And with the improvement in mood, patients may exhibit desired
improvements not only in physical, but also in mental health..
Video Transcript – As found on YouTube
Fibromyalgia vs. Vegetarian & Raw Vegan Diets
"Fibromyalgia vs. Vegetarian & Raw Vegan Diets" Millions suffer from fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by months
of widespread pain, as well as fatigue, sleep disorders,
depression, anxiety, cloudy thinking, headaches,
low back pain, and other illnesses. It has an enormous impact
on the quality of life of patients who may experience a reduced capacity
to carry on the activities of daily living. Everyday activity becomes more difficult,
more time consuming, or simply impossible.
Its cause is unknown, and there’s no effective treatment
for this illness. What can we do for those who suffer? Well, according to the latest review
on fibromyalgia and nutrition, a vegetarian diet could have
some beneficial effects, but based on what kind of evidence? Well, back in 1991, a survey was sent
to a few hundred folks suffering from various chronic pain conditions
including fibromyalgia, asking if they found any success
trying different diets. Some folks tried a vegetarian diet,
some folks tried a vegan diet. Some reported the various diets
helped with pain, stiffness, and swelling. Vegan diets were reported
to reduce disease symptoms more effectively than the vegetarian diet
with rheumatoid arthritis. But what we needed was to put these diets
to the test in formal studies. The first one was in ’93. Ten fibromyalgia patients were put on
a vegetarian diet for three weeks.
The measured levels of oxidation
and inflammation and cholesterol went down – no surprise. But of interest
from a clinical point of view is the positive effect of the treatment
upon pain status of most of the patients. Seven out of ten felt better. They weren’t sure if it was the improved condition
of the fibromyalgia patients in this course of treatment
with a vegetarian diet – whether it was due to the improvement
of their antioxidant status or what it was about a meat-free diet
that seemed to help so much. A vegan diet was first put to the test
in 2000, in Helsinki. You can tell English is not the researchers’
first language with sentences like: “Plants face heavy load of light.” The point they’re making is good though. UV light generates free radicals
in their tissues. All this means is that, you know,
plants must be well prepared to meet the challenges
of the oxidant radical stress and contain a broad variety
of antioxidants. That’s why plants don’t get sunburned
and their DNA damaged hanging out all day in the sun
without any sun block on.
So what would happen if you had people
live exclusively on plant items? In other words, what might be the effects
of a strict vegan diet on the symptoms of fibromyalgia? In fact the study used a raw vegan diet. The rheumatoid patients said
they felt better when they started to eat
the living food diet, and the symptoms got worse
when they returned back to their previous omnivorous diet. But what about the fibromyalgia patients? Both groups reported having
quite a lot of pain at rest in the beginning of the study. But there’s a significant decrease
in the raw vegan group, which gradually disappeared
after shifting back to the omnivorous diet. They also found other
significant changes, such as improvement
in the quality of sleep, reduction of morning stiffness, and improvement in measures
of general health. So, for example, here’s morning stiffness. The light bar represents those
about to go on the raw vegan diet, and the dark bars,
the omnivorous control group. They started out about the same,
but after about a month and a half those eating vegan felt
significantly less stiff, which continued through the end
of the three-month study.
And when they went back to eating their
regular diet, the stiffness returned. What about pains at rest?
Same thing. So significant improvements
in fibromyalgia – stiffness, pain, and general health
on a plant-based diet. The study only lasted three months, but it can be concluded that eating vegan has beneficial effects
on fibromyalgia symptoms, at least in the short run..
Video Transcript – As found on YouTube
Fibromyalgia vs. Vegetarian & Raw Vegan Diets
“” Fibromyalgia vs. Vegetarian & & Raw Vegan Diets “Many millions deal with fibromyalgia, a problem defined by months
of widespread discomfort, along with tiredness, rest conditions,
anxiety, stress and anxiety, gloomy thinking, frustrations,
low pain in the back, and other ailments. It has an enormous effect
on the lifestyle of individuals who may experience a minimized capability
to continue the activities of daily living. Daily activity comes to be harder,
more time consuming, or merely impossible. Its cause is unidentified, and there’s no reliable treatment
for this health problem. What can we provide for those that endure? Well, according to the most recent testimonial
on fibromyalgia and nutrition, a vegan diet might have
some useful results, but based upon what sort of proof? Well, back in 1991, a study was sent out
to a few hundred individuals dealing with various chronic pain conditions
consisting of fibromyalgia, asking if they found any success
trying various diets.Some folks attempted
a vegetarian diet, some individuals attempted a vegan diet. Some reported the various diet regimens aided with pain, rigidity, and
swelling. Vegan diet regimens were reported to minimize disease symptoms more successfully than the vegan diet regimen with rheumatoid joint inflammation. However what we required was to place these diets to the examination in formal research studies. The very first one remained in’ 93.
10 fibromyalgia people were put on a vegetarian diet regimen for three weeks. The determined degrees of oxidation and swelling and cholesterol decreased– no surprise.
However of rate of interest from a clinical point of view is the favorable result of the therapy upon discomfort standing of the majority of the individuals. Seven out of 10 really felt better. They weren’t sure if it was the enhanced problem of the fibromyalgia clients in this course of treatment with a vegan diet regimen– whether it resulted from the improvement of their antioxidant standing or what it was concerning a meat-free diet that appeared to
assist so much.A vegan diet plan was initially tested in 2000, in Helsinki.
You can inform English is not the researchers ‘mother tongue with sentences like:” Plants encounter heavy load of light.” The point they’re making is great
though. UV light produces cost-free radicals in their cells. All this means is that, you recognize, plants need to be well prepared to meet the obstacles of the oxidant radical
anxiety and have a wide variety of antioxidants. That’s why plants don’t get sunburnt and their DNA
harmed socializing all the time in the sunlight with no
sunscreen on. So what would certainly happen if you had individuals real-time
exclusively on plant products? To put it simply, what might be the effects of a strict vegan diet regimen on the symptoms of fibromyalgia? In truth the
research used a raw vegan diet. The rheumatoid people stated they felt better when they started to consume the living food diet, and the signs worsened when they returned back to their previous omnivorous diet.But what about the fibromyalgia clients? Both groups reported having quite a great deal of pain at remainder at first of the research study. Yet there’s a significant
decrease in the raw vegan group, which slowly went away after changing back to the omnivorous diet. They also found various other significant changes, such as improvement in the high quality of sleep, reduction of early morning tightness,
and enhancement in steps of basic health. So, as an example, below’s morning rigidity. The light bar stands for those
concerning to go on the raw vegan diet plan, and the dark bars, the omnivorous control group.They began
out regarding the exact same, however after concerning a month and a fifty percent those consuming vegan felt considerably less stiff, which continued via the end of the three-month
study. And when they returned to eating
their routine diet,
the rigidity returned. What regarding discomforts at remainder? Same point
. So substantial enhancements in fibromyalgia– rigidity, pain, and basic health and wellness on a plant-based diet. The research study just lasted 3
months, but it can be concluded that eating vegan has advantageous impacts on fibromyalgia signs and symptoms, at least in the brief run.
