Nutrition Articles Update: Briefs From the 2009 IAACN Symposium

Looking for the latest nutrition articles?  Google “nutrition articles” and you’ll get at least 50 million results, but which ones are reliable and based on solid science and evidence?  Whether you are a regular or new reader of this blog, rest assured that my nutrition articles are trustworthy.  I am board certified in Clinical Nutrition, a Doctor of Chiropractic, a Functional Medicine practitioner and board certified in Anti-Aging health.

Now back to why you are reading this page.  If you are looking for some latest nutrition articles, read on.  In the interest of time, instead of lengthy articles, I will share briefs from the 2009 clinical nutrition symposium.

When I attend scientific symposiums, I look for health and nutrition facts to share with my patients, and readers of my nutrition articles, blog and newsletter.  In particular, I look for health and nutriton info that empowers people to make well-informed healthy choices.  Here are briefs from the 2009 International and American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists (IAACN) Symposium.  Each section begins with the name of the doctor the statements are attributed to.

Mitchell Ghen, DO, PhD

• Here’s a simple at home test to check if your stomach is producing too little stomach acid (hypochlorhydria):  First thing in the morning, mix 1 egg, 4 oz beet juice and a glass of water in a blender and drink.  If after 4 hours there is any pinkness in the stool, you have hypochlorhydria.  Why is adequate stomach acid important?  Read my nutrition article on low stomach acid.
• Due to sprayed pesticides being recirculated in the air inside airplanes and exposure to ionizing radiation from thinner atmosphere at high altitudes, in an 8-hour flight, your body gets the equivalent DNA damage of smoking 200 cigarettes.  It would be impractical to never again get on an airplane for a trip for family, business or leisure reasons.  However, this should serve as another reason why having antioxidants in our diet and nutrition supplements is very important.
• The adequate blood vitamin D levels are 40 to 80 ng/ml.
• 50,000 to 70,000 deaths per year could be prevented if everyone has adequate blood vitamin D levels.
• The maintenance dose of supplemental essential fatty acids (found in fish and krill oil) for a healthy person is 2500 mg/day.  For anyone with heart rhythm abnormalities (arrythmia), it is 5000 mg/day.  For those with neurologic disorders (Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s), it is 10,000 mg/day.
• Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a measurement of how well a food absorbs damaging free-radicals.  The average person gets 1200 ORAC units/day.  3000-5000 are needed to raise tissue antioxidant levels.  Some products contain 21,000 ORAC units.  People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) should not take extremely high ORAC unit products because they will often feel more fatigued.

Thomas O’Bryan, DC, DACBN, CCN

• Vitamin D controls a molecule made in our body (called “zonulin”) that allows potential immune-damaging substances in getting through our gut lining into our bloodstream.
• Gluten, found in many grains, signals our gut lining to activate zonulin.  If our vitamin D intake is too low, or our blood vitamin D levels are inadequte, too much zonulin is produced.   Therefore, adequate vitamin D is necessary to prevent damage from gluten-containing grains
• A recent study showed that elevated blood zonulin levels measured prior to the development of type 1 diabetes, were found in 70% of those who eventually developed type 1 diabetes (childhood onset diabetes); the study also showed the elevated zonulin levels preceeded the onset of type 1 diabetes by 3 1/2 years.  ¹
• Markers for elevated zonulin can also be found using special urine tests.  Measuring urine indicators for elevated zonulin provides early detection of potentially developing type 1 diabetes.  If detected, you can then decrease dietary gluten and increase vitamin D to prevent type 1 diabetes.  This could save many families from the discomfort, inconvenience and expense of childhood onset diabetes.

Steve Haltiwanger, MD, CCN

• Free-radical damage to the brain and a decline in the energy production of nerve cells preceeds symptoms of dementia by years.  Antioxidant protection is necessary to prevent and treat free-radical brain damage.  Therapeutic doses of lipoic acid, vitamin E, vitamin D, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), vitamin C, and Ginkgo biloba are helpful for this purpose.
• All cells have energy producing structures called “mitochondria”.  Nerve and brain cells should normally have about 4000 mitochondria in each cell.  Deginerative brain diseases (Parkinson’s, Alzhiemer’s, etc.) have low energy produced by nerve cells and a decreased number of mitochondria.  To increase the energy produced by brain cells and restore mitochondria to prevent or treat deginerative brain diseases, supplemental Coenzyme Q10, NADH, phosphatidylserine, acetyl-L-carnitine in therapeutic doses are very helpful.

More nutrition articles that you can apply right away will be posted in this blog.  Stay tuned for part 2.

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