The New Optimum Nutrition Bible

by Patrick Holford

  Some foods and nutrients exert a mild laxative effect. These include flaxseeds, which can be ground and sprinkled on food; prunes; and vitamin C in doses of several grams. But most laxatives, even natural ones, are gastrointestinal irritants and, although they work, they do not solve the underlying issue. A new kind of laxative, fructo-oligosaccharides, supplied in powder form, is a complex carbohydrate that helps keep moisture in the gut and stimulates production of healthy lactic acid bacteria. While the results are not quite so rapid, this is a far preferable way of dealing with constipation. Eating plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, plus drinking lots of water, is essential as well.

  For some people, long-term constipation can result in physical blockages and distension of the bowel. Dietary changes help but are not always enough to clean out the intestinal tract. A combination of particular fibers, such as psyllium husks, beet fiber, oat fiber, and herbs, will assist in loosening up old fecal material. These are available via colon-cleansing formulas consisting of powders and capsules to be taken over a one- to three-month period. Another helpful treatment is colonic therapy: water is passed into the bowel by enema under pressure and this, together with abdominal massage, helps release and remove old fecal material. Exercise that stimulates the abdominal area also helps improve digestion, as do breathing exercises that relax the abdomen. It is a natural reflex of the body to stop digesting in times of stress.

  Improving digestion is the cornerstone to good health. Energy levels improve, the skin becomes softer and clearer, body odor is reduced, and the immune system is strengthened. The trick is to work from the top down, first ensuring good digestion, then good absorption, and finally good elimination. If you have any specific digestive difficulties, the best person to see is a nutrition consultant. With current testing methods and recent advances in natural treatments, most digestive problems can be solved with relative ease, little expense, and no need for invasive tests or treatment.

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  Secrets for a Healthy Heart

  You have a 50 percent chance of dying from heart or artery disease. That is the bad news. The good news is that heart disease is, in most cases, completely preventable. Yet so widespread is this epidemic that we almost take it for granted. We fail to protect ourselves from a disease more life threatening than AIDS, a condition whose cause for the most part is known and whose cure is already proven.

  There is nothing natural about dying from heart disease. Many cultures do not experience a high incidence of strokes or heart attacks. By contrast, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women, with a quarter of a million Americans dying of heart disease in 2001. Autopsies performed on the mummified remains of Egyptians who died around 3000 B.C. showed signs of deposits in the arteries but no actual blockages that would result in strokes or heart attacks.

  Despite the obvious signs (severe chest pain, cold sweats, nausea, fall in blood pressure, and weak pulse), in the 1930s a heart attack was so rare that it took a specialist to make the diagnosis. According to American health records, the incidence of heart attacks per one hundred thousand people was none in 1890 and had risen to 340 by 1970. Although deaths did occur from other forms of heart disease, including calcified valves, rheumatic heart, and other congenital defects, the incidence of actual blockages in the arteries causing a stroke or heart attack used to be minimal.

  Even more worrying is the fact that heart disease is occurring earlier and earlier. Autopsies performed in Vietnam showed that one in two soldiers killed in action, with an average age of twenty-two, already had arterial blockages (atherosclerosis). Nowadays, most teenagers can be expected to show signs of atherosclerosis, heralding the beginning of heart disease. Obviously, something about our lifestyle, diet, or environment has changed radically in the last sixty years to bring on this modern epidemic.

  The respiratory and cardiovascular system.

  What is heart disease?

  The cardiovascular system consists of blood vessels that carry oxygen, fuel (glucose), building materials (amino acids), vitamins, and minerals to every single cell in your body. The blood is oxygenated when tiny blood vessels, called capillaries, absorb oxygen from the lungs and in turn discharge carbon dioxide, which we then exhale. These blood vessels feed into the heart, which pumps the oxygenated blood to all cells. At the cells, the blood vessels once more become a network of extremely thin capillaries, which give off oxygen plus other nutrients and in return receive waste products. Oxygen plus glucose is needed to make energy within every cell of the body; the waste products are carbon dioxide and water.

  The blood vessels that supply cells with nutrients and oxygen are called arteries, while the blood vessels that carry away waste products and carbon dioxide are called veins. Arterial blood is a brighter red than venous blood because oxygen is carried on a complex called hemoglobin, which contains iron. The pressure in the arteries is also greater than in the veins. As well as returning to the heart after it has visited the cells, all blood passes through the kidneys. Here, waste products are removed and formed into urine that is stored in the bladder.

  Diseases of the arteries

  Heart disease is wrongly named. The main life-threatening diseases are diseases of the arteries. Over a number of years, deposits can start to form in the artery wall. This is called arterial plaque or atheroma, from the Greek word for porridge, because of the porridgelike consistency of these deposits. The presence of arterial deposits is called atherosclerosis, and it occurs only in certain parts of the body.

  Atherosclerosis, coupled with thicker-than-normal blood containing clots, can lead to a blockage in an artery, which stops the flow of blood. If this occurs in the arteries feeding the heart, the part of the heart fed by these blood vessels will die from lack of oxygen. This is called a myocardial infarction or heart attack. Before this occurs, many people are diagnosed as having angina, a condition in which there is a limited supply of oxygen to the heart owing to partial blockage of coronary arteries that feed oxygen plus glucose to the heart muscle, causing chest pain, most classically on exertion or when under stress.

  If a blockage occurs in the brain, part of the brain may die. This is called a stroke. The arteries in the brain are especially fragile and sometimes a stroke occurs not as a result of a blockage but because an artery ruptures. This is called a cerebral hemorrhage. If a blockage occurs in the legs, it can result in leg pain, which is a form of thrombosis (a thrombus is a blood clot). When peripheral arteries get blocked, this can result in poor peripheral circulation, for example, in the hands and feet.

  Reversing high blood pressure

  So two main factors are responsible for so-called heart disease: atherosclerosis (the formation of deposits) and the presence of blood clots (thick blood). However, there is a third problem that can and usually does occur along with atherosclerosis. That is arteriosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries. Arteries are elastic and, whether or not atherosclerosis is present, tend to lose their elasticity and harden with age. One reason for this is a lack of vitamin C, which is needed to make collagen, the intercellular “glue” that keeps skin and arteries supple. Arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, and thick blood can all raise blood pressure, putting you at greater risk of thrombosis, angina, a heart attack, or a stroke.

  In the same way that the pressure in a hose increases and decreases as the tap is turned on and off, the pressure in the arteries increases when the heart beats and decreases in the lull before the next beat. These are called your systolic and diastolic blood pressure respectively, and a normal reading should be 120/80 irrespective of age. However, if the arteries are blocked, or if the blood is too thick, the pressure increases. Given that blood pressure increases with age in most people, conventional medical wisdom is that a systolic blood pressure of 100 plus your age (say 150 for a fifty-year-old) means that you are in “normal” health. Yet, these are the very same normal people who drop dead unexpectedly from heart attacks. These guidelines are certainl
y not ideal.

  Strategies for lowering blood pressure

  There are four ways to lower blood pressure.

  TAKING EXTRA MINERALS AND AVOIDING SALT

  The arteries are surrounded by a layer of muscle, and an excess of sodium, or a lack of calcium, magnesium, or potassium, can increase the muscular pressure. Increasing your intake of these minerals, while avoiding added salt (sodium chloride), can make a substantial difference to blood pressure in just a month. Of these, magnesium is the most important. There is a strong association between magnesium deficiency and heart attack risk. A pronounced magnesium deficiency can cause a heart attack by cramping a coronary artery even in the absence of an atherosclerotic blockage. So checking your magnesium level is essential.

  VITAMIN E PROTECTS YOUR ARTERIES

  Another way to change blood pressure is to thin the blood. Conventionally, aspirin is used and reduces the risk of a heart attack by 20 percent. Vitamin E, however, was four times as effective, according to Professor Morris Brown, whose double-blind controlled trial of vitamin E at Cambridge University Medical School showed a 75 percent reduction in heart attack risk.6

  These results are consistent with many studies that show a reduced risk of heart attack, especially if vitamin E is given before a problem develops. In one study, whose findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 87,200 nurses were given 100 IU of vitamin E daily for more than two years. A 40 percent drop in fatal and nonfatal heart attacks was reported compared with the rate among those not taking vitamin E supplements.7 In another study, 39,000 male health professionals were given 100 IU of vitamin E for the same length of time and achieved a 39 percent reduction in heart attacks.8

  While these results confirm the first reports of vitamin E’s protective effect, made in the 1950s by Drs. Wilfred and Evan Shute, who treated thirty thousand patients with heart disease with an 80 percent success rate, not all trials have been positive. A trial at Oxford University, giving people who had had a heart attack 900 IU of vitamin E, plus 250 mg of vitamin C and beta-carotene, failed to find a reduction in mortality.9 I would suggest that if a person has had a heart attack, much better results could be achieved by making dietary changes, plus taking more substantial supplementation, including omega-3 fats.

  THE BENEFITS OF FISH OILS

  The omega-3 fish oils, which contain EPA and DHA, have also been shown to reduce risk of heart disease. So too has eating fish. If you’ve had a heart attack and start eating omega-3-rich fish three times a week, you could halve your risk of a further heart attack. Other trials giving people omega-3 fish oils have found that they do indeed confer protection from heart disease.10 Exactly how they work is still under investigation. Omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory, and artery damage involves inflammation. They also thin the blood and, in combination with vitamin E, are much more effective and considerably safer than aspirin.

  NUTRITIONAL SOLUTIONS FOR NARROWING ARTERIES

  However, the major risk associated with high blood pressure is the narrowing of arteries caused by atherosclerosis. A number of nutritional strategies have been shown to stop and even reverse this process. The main results have been produced by supplements of antioxidants, fish oil, and a combination of vitamin C and lysine. Vitamin C also helps stop arterial tissue from hardening, another cause of high blood pressure. Supplementing a combination of these nutrients is more effective in the long term than taking drugs designed to lower blood pressure—they deal with the cause of the problem, rather than the symptom. The results of a survey in Sweden showed that people who took supplements had a much lower risk of having a heart attack, with women reducing their risk by 34 percent and men by 21 percent.11

  At the Institute for Optimum Nutrition we conducted a three-month trial on people with high blood pressure and achieved an average 8-point drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, with the greatest decreases in those with the highest initial blood pressure.12 Dr. Michael Colgan found that, irrespective of age, people placed on comprehensive nutritional supplement programs showed gradual decreases in blood pressure from an average of slightly above 140/90 to below 120/80. The optimal range is a systolic blood pressure no higher than 125 and a diastolic blood pressure no higher than 85, irrespective of age. Certainly blood pressure above 140/90 is cause for concern.

  Dr. Colgan also found that pulse rate, which is more a measure of heart strength and is therefore lower in fitter people, decreased from 76 to an average of 65 over a period of five years among those on nutritional supplements. An ideal pulse rate is probably below 65 beats per minute.

  What causes heart disease?

  To understand how nutritional supplementation as well as dietary changes make all the difference, we need to examine the underlying cause of arterial disease. Back in 1913 a Russian scientist, Dr. Anitschkov, thought he had the answer. He found that feeding cholesterol (an animal fat) to rabbits induced heart disease. What he failed to realize was that rabbits, being vegetarians, have no means of dealing with this animal fat. Since the fatty deposits in the arteries of people with heart disease had also been found to be high in cholesterol, it was soon thought that these deposits were the result of excess cholesterol in the blood, possibly caused by excess cholesterol in the diet. Such a simple theory had its attractions, and many doctors still advocate a low-cholesterol diet as the answer to heart disease—despite a consistent lack of results.

  The cholesterol myth

  In 1975, a research team headed by Dr. Alfin-Slater from the University of California decided to test the cholesterol theory.13 They selected fifty healthy people with normal blood cholesterol levels. Half of them were given two eggs per day (in addition to the other cholesterol-rich foods they were already eating as part of their normal diet) for eight weeks. The other half were given one extra egg per day for four weeks, then two extra eggs per day for the next four weeks. The results showed no change in blood cholesterol. Later Dr. Alfin-Slater commented, “Our findings surprised us as much as ever.”

  Many other studies have also found no rise in blood cholesterol levels caused by eating eggs. In fact, as long ago as 1974 a British advisory panel set up by the government to look at “medical aspects of food policy on diet related to cardiovascular disease” issued this statement: “Most of the dietary cholesterol in Western communities is derived from eggs, but we have found no evidence that relates the number of eggs consumed to heart disease.”

  A review in 2000 of all studies that had investigated cholesterol and egg intake and heart disease, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, concluded that “no association was seen between consumption of more than one egg per day and the risk of heart disease.”14 The bottom line is that there’s no evidence that eating up to seven eggs a week makes any difference to your cardiovascular risk.

  Since high blood cholesterol levels are associated with a high risk of coronary artery disease, it is assumed that having a low cholesterol level is good news. Not so, according to three independent research groups. One, in Japan, found that while high levels are associated with cardiovascular disease, which is low in Japan, low levels are associated with strokes. As cholesterol levels dropped below 190 mg/dl in the blood in this group of 6,500 Japanese men, incidence of strokes increased. Meanwhile, a Finnish researcher, Jyrki Penttinen, has found low levels to be associated with a higher rate of depression, suicide, and death from violent causes.15

  These findings were confirmed by David Freedman of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta—he found that people with antisocial personality disorders had lower cholesterol levels. Freedman believes that very low levels of cholesterol lead to aggression.

  While there is no doubt that high blood cholesterol represents a risk factor for arterial disease, eating a diet containing moderate amounts of cholesterol, for example in eggs, is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease. So what is ideal? According to a survey carried out by medical researcher Dr. Cheraskin, comparing overall health w
ith cholesterol levels, there is a very narrow band that represents a “healthy” cholesterol level in the blood.16 This is between 190 and 210 mg/dl or 4.9 and 5.4 mmol/l. (Some countries, including Britain, measure cholesterol in mmol/l [millimoles per liter], while others, including the United States, use mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter].) Variations on either side correlate with increasing rates of disease. The British National Heart Forum recommends a cholesterol level below 5 mmol/l, while the national average is more like 5.5 mmol/l. They, however, set no minimum level, implying that the lower one’s cholesterol the better. This denies the fact that cholesterol is a vital precursor of hormones and much needed by the body and brain.

  TEST SCORES FOR CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH

  Good cholesterol

  Of course, the nail in the coffin of the dietary cholesterol hypothesis was hammered in by the Inuit (Eskimos). Although they have one of the highest-cholesterol diets in the world, they also have one of the lowest incidences of cardiovascular disease. We now know that there is “good” and “bad” cholesterol.