The Overlooked Importance of Vitamin D Receptors

Life Extension Magazine August 2013 The Overlooked Importance of Vitamin D ReceptorsBy Logan Bronwell Just a few years ago, vitamin D was simply known as the “bone vitamin.” Thanks to the hard work of many scientists, especially Michael Holick, MD, a pioneer in vitamin D research, the data show that nearly every tissue and cell type in the body has receptors for vitamin D. 1 As a result of this discovery, much higher doses are required for optimal functioning. This discovery has radically changed how we understand the role of vitamin D in the body. Unless your body is at optimal levels, you are opening the door to a host of disorders, ranging from heart disease and Alzheimer’s to weak bones and diabetes.2,3 In fact, even if you have normal blood sugar today, a vitamin D deficiency makes you 91%more likely to progress to insulin resistance, or “pre-diabetes,” and it more than doubles your risk for progressing to active, type II diabetes.4 Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency is a global epidemic. An estimated 1 billion people do not have adequate vitamin D levels.5 And 64% of Americans don’t have enough vitamin D to keep all of their tissues operating at peak capacity.6 The results of this deficiency are catastrophic. Studies have now shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of a long list of diseases that span all systems in the body. In fact, low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of non-Alzheimer’s dementia almost 20 times! 7 While checking for vitamin D levels is still not standard of care for many physicians, you will realize from reading this article that assessing vitamin D status is one of the most important health-protecting steps you can take. Fortunately, achieving optimal levels of vitamin D is easy, inexpensive, and highly protective against a range of lethal diseases. Why Vitamin D is so Vital While humans can make some vitamin D in their bodies, most of us require additional amounts from our diet, the sun, or from supplements in order to maintain adequate levels. Once vitamin D has been ingested in the diet or produced in the skin, the liver and kidneys convert it to its active form, called 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, or vitamin D3.8,9 Virtually every tissue type in your body has receptors for vitamin D, meaning that they all require vitamin D for adequate functioning.8,9 The very presence of specific receptors define vitamin D as a hormone, rather than a vitamin.8 It interacts with receptors throughout the body and has a number of different effects. It’s becoming evident that higher doses of vitamin D are required to support its other activities in tissues such as heart muscle, brain cells, and fat tissue, to name just a few. Additionally, vitamin D regulates genes that control cell growth and development, immune function, and metabolic control. 5,8 Studies have now shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased risk of numerous chronic disorders, including type II diabetes, cancer, infections, and cardiovascular, autoimmune, and neurological diseases (See the table on page 2 for greater detail).8,9 The Global Vitamin D Deficiency The problem is that most of us are simply not getting enough vitamin D to allow our bodies to work optimally at all of the functions that vitamin D supports. An estimated 1 billion people(that’s about a seventh of the global population) have inadequate vitamin D supplies in their bodies.5 According to mainstream medical standards, there are three levels of vitamin D status: sufficient, insufficient, and deficient. People who are considered vitamin D “sufficient” have blood levels of at least 30 ng/mL. However, optimal vitamin D status is achieved with a minimum of 50 ng/mL.Those considered “insufficient” (meaning their bodies aren’t at optimal vitamin D capacity) have levels between 21 and 29 ng/mL.And those who are “deficient” are defined as having levels at or below 20 ng/mL.8By those criteria, 25% of Americans areinsufficient, and 39% are outright deficient.6 In other words, fully 64% of Americans don’t have enough vitamin D to keep all of their tissues operating at peak capacity. It’s hardly any wonder we are plagued with so many chronic diseases. Vitamin D Supports Cardiovascular HealthVitamin D deficiency is common in people with cardiovascular disease; almost all people with heart failure have reduced levels.10 It is now recognized as an independent predictor for diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including heart attacks and strokes.11 One study published this year found that women with vitamin D levels in the top one-third of the population had 68% lower risk of heart attacks compared with those in the lowest third; men in the top third had a 44% lower risk.12 Conversely, if your vitamin D level is in that lower range, you have a 42% increased risk of dying of cardiovascular disease and a 49 to 64% increased risk of a stroke.13,14 The risk of having clogged coronary arteries (the precursor of a heart attack) is more than doubled for people with vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/mL).15 Why does vitamin D deficiency lead to such a dramatic increase in the risk for having America’s #1 killer disease? It’s because the heart muscle, blood vessels, and other circulatory system components are rich in vitamin D receptors, which means they depend heavily on vitamin D for optimum function.16 Animals bred to have no vitamin D receptors have cardiovascular disease at an early age and end up with enlarged, dysfunctional hearts.10,17,18 These effects are likely due to vitamin D’s role in increasing protective signaling pathways in those tissues, while preventing harmful ones.19 In addition, vitamin D is required to prevent the excessive buildup of collagen and other fibrotic proteins that stiffen heart muscle and artery walls, reducing blood flow and raising blood pressure.11 Human Studies Verify D’s Heart BenefitsThere’s no shortage of compelling human studies of vitamin D and cardiovascular risk. One study found that a daily supplement of 3,320 IU reduced triglycerides by 13.5% (vs. a 3% increase with a standard weight-loss program) and also reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha, a major marker of inflammation that contributes to atherosclerosis.20Supplementation has also been shown to relax blood vessels, helping to reduce blood pressure and improve blood flow.19 In a study of African-American teens (a group at very high risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease), vitamin D supplements of2,000 IU/day boosted blood levels into the sufficient range. The supplemented group also saw a significant and beneficial decrease in aortic stiffness, a measure of cardiovascular risk.21 In another study of African-American adults (also at high risk for cardiovascular disease), 60,000 IU/month for 4 months (about 2,000 IU/day) improved endothelial function, an essential property of blood vessels that allows them to provide adequate blood flow at safe pressures.22 Similar effects have been shown in stroke survivors, who really need to optimize their endothelial function.23 In a study of vitamin D supplementation in obese and overweight women (with an average age of 38 years), supplementing with 1,000 IU/day significantly raised protective HDL-cholesterol levels and significantly lowered body fat mass after 12 weeks.24 Vitamin D deficiency is also implicated in peripheral arterial disease, in which hardened, narrowed arteries fail to provide enough blood to the extremities, especially the legs.25 People with lower vitamin D levels are more likely to develop peripheral artery disease, in direct proportion to how low their levels are. And in fact, amputation, the worst consequence of this condition, is much more likely among those with the lowest levels.25 It’s clearer than ever that you need vitamin D to maintain your cardiovascular health—but it’s important to make sure you’re taking the proper dose. Studies of cardiovascular patients who use only 400 to 600 IU/day in general show no benefits, whereas those using 2,000 IU or more do.20,21,26 One study demonstrated that 2,000 IU/day is the minimum needed to ensure that people reach the minimum target of 30 ng/mL of vitamin D in their blood.27 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Vitamin D: Essential HormoneMost people think of vitamin D as the “bone vitamin,” but recent discoveries show that vitamin D is essential for a tremendous number of normal body processes.Virtually every tissue type in the body possesses receptors for the activated vitamin D molecule, defining it as a true hormone.Low vitamin D levels are associated with increased risks of cardiovascular and neurological disease, cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.The majority of Americans have vitamin D levels below the minimum recommended concentration of 50 ng/mL, explaining in part the high prevalence of these diseases.Fortunately, supplementation with vitamin D3 has been shown to be protective for all of these conditions, when taken at the dose of at least 2,000 IU/day. (Most people need 5,000 to 7,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 to achieve optimal blood levels.) Vitamin D Lowers Diabetes RiskVitamin D can also play a critical role in diabetes. People with diabetes (both types I and II) have even lower levels of vitamin D than the general population.28,29 A vitamin D deficiency makes you 91% more likely to progress to insulin resistance, or “pre-diabetes” (even for those with normal blood sugar). Additionally, a vitamin D deficiency more than doubles your risk for progressing to full-blown type II diabetes.4 This close connection between vitamin D and diabetes is due to vitamin D receptors, which are found in the pancreas’s insulin-producing cells and in liver, fat, and muscle tissue, all of which influence the fate of glucose in your blood.28 For example, white blood cells called macrophages have vitamin D receptors. When macrophages are taken from diabetics, they display a high level of fat content, which contributes to diabetics’ increased cardiovascular risk. However, when those cells are treated in the lab with vitamin D, they stop their pathological fat uptake—ultimately helping reduce cardiovascular risk.30 Similarly, compared to healthy controls, diabetic lab animals have decreased numbers of insulin and vitamin D receptors in their brains; they have more body fat and higher levels of inflammation and DNA damage; and they perform poorly on tests of memory and cognition (remember that Alzheimer’s disease has been called “diabetes of the brain”).31,32 But vitamin D supplementation restored all of those functions to near-normal levels—including improved cognitive performance.31,33 This is an especially important finding, since it shows the potential of vitamin D to help reverse the process of diabetes. The inflammatory changes in diabetic animals, as in humans, lead to increased fat in the liver, a condition known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This condition further degenerates due to a vitamin D deficiency.34 But when human diabetics with similar elevated inflammatory markers are supplemented with 1,000 IU/day of vitamin D, the inflammation is substantially reduced.35 Perhaps the most remarkable news about vitamin D in this context, however, is that it slows the progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes. When obese, non-diabetic adults supplemented with 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D or placebo for 16 weeks, the vitamin D group had significantly improved glucose clearance from their blood, improved insulin secretion from the pancreas, and a trend to lower levels of hemoglobin A1c (the marker of long-term glucose exposure). Control subjects instead saw a worsening of all those parameters.36 Vitamin D supplementation also benefits those who already have diabetes. Diabetics receiving 1,000 IU/day of vitamin D in yogurt saw significant decreases in fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, insulin resistance, waist circumference, and body mass index, compared with controls receiving no vitamin D.37 Studies show that supplementation with vitamin D3 can reduce blood pressure, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol—all risk factors for the heart and kidney diseases for which diabetics are at increased risk.38 Treatment with active vitamin D3 also significantly reduces protein levels in urine, a marker of kidney disease.39 With few exceptions, doses of vitamin D of less than 1,200 IU/day have not been shown to be as effective as doses of 2,000 IU/day at lowering blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, lipid levels, and other disease markers in diabetic patients.40,41 Vitamin D Protects Brain Cells Vitamin D is especially powerful against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Long-term studies show that low vitamin D levels increase the risk of cognitive decline of any kind by 41 to 60%; increase the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia by 77%; and increase the risk of non-Alzheimer’s dementia bynearly 20-fold.7,42,43 And higher vitamin D concentrations are correlated with lower severity in Parkinson’s disease.44 Even though existing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases can only treat symptoms and temporarily slow their progression,45 vitamin D has been found to reverse neurodegenerative decline. A recent study showed that adding vitamin D to a standard memory drug, meantime, for 6 months in newly diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients produced significant gains in cognition, suggesting a synergism between vitamin D and the drug.46 Supplementation with vitamin D has such potent benefits for the brain because the brain relies on vitamin D receptors for protection against a variety of destructive processes.47 Vitamin D has been shown to have a critical role in nerve cell growth and differentiation, nerve transmission, and the “plasticity” of connections that’s so essential for normal learning and memory.48 Without adequate vitamin D, all of those functions suffer, and some fail. In Alzheimer’s disease, that failure is manifested as increased amounts of the abnormal, inflammatory protein called amyloid beta (or Abeta). Studies show that when vitamin D is added to cultures of cells from Alzheimer’s patients, it speeds the clearance of Abeta.49 When laboratory animals bred to spontaneously develop Abeta plaques are supplemented with vitamin D, they show a decrease in brain inflammation, an increase in protective nerve growth factor, and they develop fewer Abeta plaques compared to control animals.50 Even normal elderly lab rats (those without Alzheimer’s) can experience cognitive benefits from vitamin D supplementation. Older rats have significant difficulty with cognitive testing, along with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, decreased levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines, and higher levels of Abeta proteins in their brains.51 But supplementing with vitamin D for as little as 21 days significantly reversed the inflammatory changes and improved clearance of Abeta.51 This shows the potential of vitamin D to prevent the onset of age-related cognitive decline—even when it’s not associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin D can benefit people with Parkinson’s disease as well. In humans, it’s already known that vitamin D supplementation reduces falls and improves balance in healthy older adults—two problems often faced by patients with Parkinson’s.44 A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial has shown that 1,200 IU/day of vitamin D3 prevents deterioration in Parkinson’s disease patients over a 12-month period.52 Intriguingly, this effect depended on the patients’ type of vitamin D receptors in brain tissue. Vitamin D Blocks Cancer Low levels of vitamin D in the blood are strongly associated with elevated cancer risk. Compared to people with higher vitamin D levels, those with low levels have an 83 to150% increased risk of developing cancer.53-55 This strong correlation is due to vitamin D receptors, which regulate a number of signaling pathways involved in inflammation, tumor growth, and immune system surveillance for cancer—especially in the epithelial cells of the skin, breast, prostate, and colon (tissues that are prone to cancer development).56-58 The problem is that in cancer cells, the vitamin D receptor is dramatically decreased, leaving cells unregulated and prone to reproduce in an out-of-control fashion.57 Treating cancer cells in culture with vitamin D, however, produces a number of actions that help fight against cancer: it decreases tumor cell proliferation, quells inflammation, reduces invasiveness, and increases tumor cell death (apoptosis).57,59,60 The benefits of these actions are especially seen in cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon. Breast CancerIn animals with experimentally induced breast cancer, for example, these effects of vitamin D reduced the incidence, number, and size of tumors, particularly when vitamin D was combined with EPA and DHA from fish oil.59,61 In vivo studies have shown that activated vitamin D3 has some benefits specific to estrogen-dependent breast cancer. It reduces overall tumor-promoting estrogen effects by decreasing the expression of the aromataseenzyme that makes estrogen in breast tissue and by decreasing the expression of the alpha form of estrogen receptor that aggravates certain malignancies.60 Human studies are now pointing in a similar direction. In the large Women’s Health Initiative study, even a low dose of 400 IU/day of vitamin D combined with calcium was associated with an up to 20% decrease in breast cancer in women who had not taken supplements previously.62,63 Prostate CancerCancers of the prostate also respond to vitamin D supplementation, as shown by a study in which men with early prostate cancer received4,000 IU/day for a year.64 Fifty-five percent of supplemented subjects showed a decrease in tumor-positive biopsies or a decrease in the Gleason tumor score, while an additional 11% showed no change (meaning the cancer had not progressed). Since prostate cancer is often such a slow-growing malignancy, it is ideal for prevention with vitamin D.65 Colorectal CancerCancers of the colon and rectum usually start as benign polyps (or adenomas), which progress to malignancy as a result of chronic inflammation. Colorectal adenoma patients who took 800 IU/day of vitamin D3 experienced a significant 77%decrease in inflammatory markers that can promote cancer development.56 In a similar group of patients, 800 IU/day of vitamin D3 produced marked decreases in levels of the tumor promoter beta-catenin, with an increase in the tumor suppressor known as APC.66 INCREASED DISEASE RISK WITH LOW VITAMIN D LEVELS Condition Risk Increase with Low Vitamin D Levels* Autoimmune: Multiple Sclerosis78 61% Autoimmune: Psoriasis79 189% Autoimmune: Rheumatoid Arthritis80 24% (Patients taking vitamin D supplements had 24% lower risk.) Cancer, Bladder54 83% overall; 494% for invasive tumors Cancer, Breast53 150% Cancer, Thyroid55 100% Cognitive Decline7 41 to 60% Cardiovascular: (Risk of Heart Attack)12,13,15 38 to 192% Dementia, Alzheimer’s43 77% increase for lowest vitamin D intake Dementia, Non-Alzheimer’s7 Almost 20-fold increase Infection, Respiratory81 36% Metabolic: Diabetes4,82 91% for insulin resistance, 38 to 106% for type II diabetes Metabolic: Risk of progression from normal blood glucose to diabetes83 77% Stroke13,84 22 to 64% * Defined either as serum levels less than 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L), or as lowest percentiles vs. highest; risk expressed as percent increased for those with normal or highest levels. Vitamin D and Autoimmune DiseaseVitamin D is essential for maintaining a balanced immune system. Immune system cells are well-supplied with vitamin D receptors, which along with vitamin D itself, help the system modulate its response: from “attack mode” in the face of pressing threats to “cleanup and wind-down” mode once the threat is past and tissue damage becomes a concern.67-69 Vitamin D plays a role in the onset and progression of autoimmune diseases, including type I diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis.68,70-72 Fortunately, studies show that restoring vitamin D levels to the healthy range through supplementation can help patients with autoimmune diseases. Supplementation has been shown to increase the number of regulatory T-cells that restore immune system activity to its normal state, preventing the overactive response characteristic of autoimmune diseases.73 The increase in vitamin D levels through supplementation has a number of disease-specific benefits: It causes a decline in the disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.71,72It reduces the risk of developing type I diabetes and preserves insulin-producing pancreatic cells once the disease has started. 74It suppresses the development of multiple sclerosis in animal models of the disease, and a large human trial has shown that supplementation was associated with a 40% reduction in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis.70,75The Vitamin D SolutionWith over 1 billion people worldwide faced with insufficient levels of vitamin D, it’s easy to see why so many of these life-threatening diseases are skyrocketing to epidemic proportions. Fortunately, the solution is straightforward. Start by taking a high quality vitamin D3 supplement of at least 2,000 IU daily (small children need at least 400 to 1,000 IU).8,9 Next, get your vitamin D level checked as soon as possible. Be sure the lab tests for “25-hydroxyvitamin D,” which is the best measure of vitamin D status.8 To get your blood concentration up to the sufficient level, you’ll need to take 100 IU of additional D3 for each 1 ng/mL you need to raise it.8 So if your level comes in at a low 20 ng/mL, you’ll need to take an additional 3,000 IU (100 IU x 30 ng/mL) to get yourself up to 50 ng/mL. Recheck the level in 2 to 3 months. Once you are in the sufficient range, you might be able to maintain that level by taking 2,000 IU daily, though most people nowadays are taking doses of 5,000 IU and higher to get their levels closer to high optimal range of 80 ng/mL. Confirm this with repeat testing at least once a year.76 Many people, especially those with pre-existing chronic illness, find they need more to boost their levels adequately.76,77 SummaryDespite reams of evidence to the contrary, mainstream medicine continues to mainly regard vitamin D as essential only for healthy bone maintenance. But the discovery that the vitamin D receptor is found in virtually all human tissues has suggested to many that the vitamin (actually a hormone) is vital for most human functions. Frighteningly, though, the majority of Americans have insufficient vitamin D levels to support good health, resulting in an increase in a host of chronic diseases. Supplementing with 2,000-8,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 is the best way to get your levels back to normal and to promote your body’s maintenance—not just of bone health, but of robust cardiovascular, metabolic, neurologic, and immune function, while also preventing cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon, and likely many others. Remember to take your vitamin D with the meal of the day that contains the most fat, as this greatly enhances vitamin D absorption. You owe it to yourself to get your vitamin D level tested now—but don’t wait for the results. Odds are that you haven’t got enough vitamin D in your body for optimal health, so you should begin a vitamin D3 supplement today. If you have any questions on the scientific content of this article, please call a Life Extension® Health Advisor at1-866-864-3027. Read on the Site where the article includes a detailed list of journal references.

Another issue from Patrick Cox ix worth a read (a few times!)

Living During the Dawn of DNA Authentication

BY PATRICK COX

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

The biotech revolution continually surprises me. Exponential increases in computer technologies are powering biotech progress in ways that I never imagined.

Among the most unexpected developments, the result of rapidly improving analytical bioinformatics, is the emergence of remarkably effective “supplements” that I talked about last week. Because these molecules fix systemic problems associated with breakdowns in our biological systems due to aging, they act suspiciously like panaceas, which of course we have always known do not exist; unless they do.

Another of my favorite surprises is Stanford University’s AVAcore thermoregulatory biotechnology, which increases the effectiveness of physical training as much as a pretty strong dose of steroids but without the side effects. I’m not sure I mentioned it, but the German World Cup team bought and used dozens of the AVAcore devices before and during their successful Cup run. No sports team in the world is more scientifically sophisticated or well-funded than the German World Cup team, so this is very cool.

I actually knew that Die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft were using AVAcore, but couldn’t talk about it. The team didn’t seem to want word of their secret advantage leaking, but a sports writer for the UK Telegraphbroke the news, so I feel free to point it out. According to the article, England passed on the use of the technology because the team’s scientists wanted more time to do tests. It’s too bad. I like England and doubt they’ll make that mistake again.

For those of you who use AVAcore, I’ve heard a rumor that the German scientists found that recovery from vigorous exercise is faster if the device is used on the left hand at heart level with the feet elevated. This makes sense since the arterial distance from the hand to the heart is shorter on the left than the right. Once more, I have no financial arrangement with AVAcore, but I am an unapologetic fanboy because I’m making gains that you’re just not supposed to make at my age.

Various academic studies have shown AVAcore accelerates gains in multiple populations for aerobic as well as anaerobic activity. In my case, my gains may also have something to do with the supplements I discussed last week. Mr. Mauldin, by the way, is getting absolutely buff. Regardless, recent research shows that physical strength is the fitness metric that correlates most strongly with life expectancy so I’m happy to be getting stronger.

Equally surprising to me is the arrival of absolute physical authentication. If I hadn’t been involved in encryption technologies in the early days of the Internet, the value of authentication might not have been so obvious to me. Typically, when I explain to people the importance of physical authentication, the ability to accurately determine the identity of a thing, there’s a learning curve.

Back when the Internet was being born, and I was consulting at the seminal Netscape Communications, the problem of authentication posed a huge problem for those who wanted to do business via the Web. Obviously, online commerce wouldn’t be possible if we couldn’t be sure where data comes from. Simple password technologies work fine in many cases. In more important instances, such as the transfer of money, we rely on various strong encryption technologies to authenticate the players in financial transactions.

The ability to know with complete confidence the provenance and identity of physical objects is just as valuable, but it’s never really been possible before. Counterfeiters, especially those backed by organized crime, have proven themselves amazingly capable of passing off fakes as the real thing.

This has created an enormous problem. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the global economy, well over a trillion dollars a year, is lost to counterfeiting. Even if this estimate is high by a factor of two, it’s still useful for conceptualizing the scope of the counterfeit problem. Moreover, many sectors most impacted by counterfeiting have significant implications in terms of public safety.

The World Health Organization says that the 10 percent of drugs that are fake are causing serious problems. WHO cites research indicating that 200,000 people die annually due to fake malaria drugs alone. Counterfeit chips also pose health threats if they appear in automobiles, airplanes or military computers. Significant numbers of fake chips have, in fact, been found in all these applications.

Experts say that about 30 percent of the chips in your computer are probably counterfeit, accounting for a disproportionate percentage of failures. Think about that the next time your computer goes down. There’s better than even odds that it’s because someone’s slipped a shoddy chip into the supply line somewhere.

Counterfeiting is also an enormous problem in many agricultural sectors. The highest-end cottons and wools as well as coffees are replaced with cheaper substitutes at an astonishing rate; perhaps as high as 10 times the actual supply.

For the military, counterfeit chips are not just a safety issue, though they are that. Foreign intelligence services have long had espionage programs dedicated to inserting altered chips into military supply lines. These chips have also been found in consumer products ranging from USB thumb drives to vaping devices. They can be used to plant malware designed to gather intelligence or even sabotage critical systems. When you hear discussions of cybersecurity, counterfeit chips are a critical part of the picture.

Now imagine a world where it would be easy to immediately verify the absolute authenticity of any physical item, anywhere and anytime. Well, starting last week, we live in that world. The key is DNA, the densest, most versatile and durable form of information storage in existence. The amount of DNA that would fit on the head of a pin can be encoded with more information than the average physical library.

Today, this property of botanical DNA is being exploited to encode complex authentication information that cannot be replicated or decoded. Coded DNA, unlike mathematical encryption schemes, can’t be broken no matter how many supercomputers are dedicated to the task. Without access to the “key,” encoded DNA bonded to some physical item can therefore provide absolute authenticity. For other techno-geeks, DNA authentication is comparable to the ultimate one-time pad (OTP) and is therefore uncrackable.

Plagued by the problem of counterfeiting in their supply chains, the US military was the first to legally require DNA authentication to protect critical defense systems. Internationally, the high-end cotton and wool industries are rapidly adopting DNA authentication to prevent counterfeiting. In Europe, the technology is being used with incredible success to protect high-value items like jewels, metals, and cash-in-transit.

One of the most important impacts of the deployment of this biotechnology is that it immediately results in much higher detection rates of stolen items as well as conviction of thieves. Criminals count on the ability to resell stolen items. If users can quickly identify a good as stolen, they are unlikely to buy it and the criminal is much more likely to be caught and convicted. This, in turn, has led to dramatic reductions in crime rates wherever DNA authentication has been implemented.

Criminologists know that criminals, especially those involved in organized crime, calculate risks when they plan crimes based on the odds of being caught and convicted. By raising the odds of those outcomes, DNA authentication is able to significantly reduce crime rates. Experience indicates that halving crimes of theft in industries and areas protected by DNA authentication is a realistic expectation.

So let’s go back to the ICC’s estimate of the scope of counterfeiting. Cutting out their inclusion of file sharing, which can’t be stopped, let’s say that 10 percent of the world economy is being degraded by counterfeiting. There’s also, however, the cost of property crime, which is addressable through DNA authentication. It’s difficult to determine what that impact is. The World Bank says, in Facets of Globalization, that property crime accounts for about .5 of GDP in America and three times that in Latin America. There are, however, secondary costs associated with property crime such as law enforcement and penal expenses that account for several percentage points of global GDP. Still, let’s leave the estimate of GDP loss addressable by DNA authentication at 10 percent.

The cost of DNA authentication services is very low compared to the payoffs, which has run 1 to 100 in some applications. Every dollar, euro, or pound spent has returned a hundred. Recently, the ability to read DNA authentication marks moved from the lab to the field. Now, portable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) readers can authenticate products wherever there is a need to validate the identity of some physical item. The actual portable device is the size of a toaster attached to a laptop and can authenticate a marker in less than a half hour.

On a humanitarian level, the benefit that this technology will deliver is enormous. If less than half of counterfeiting and property crime is stopped by DNA authentication, it could reasonably lead to an improvement of three or four percent to the world economy over time, which would be compounded on an annual basis permanently. This is a historic technological leap for our species and I think the emergence of an authenticated economy will be a hallmark of the 21st century.

Sincerely,

Patrick Cox
Editor, Transformational Technology Alert

Read it on the Site

Vitamin D deficiency linked more closely to diabetes than obesity

People who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to have diabetes, regardless of how much they weigh, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The results help clarify the connection between vitamin D, obesity and diabetes. According to the Society's Scientific Statement on the Non-skeletal Effects of Vitamin D, studies have found that people who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to be obese. They also are more likely to have Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic syndrome than people with normal vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and maintain bone and muscle health. The skin naturally produces this vitamin after exposure to sunlight. People also absorb smaller amounts of the vitamin through foods, such as milk fortified with vitamin D. More than 1 billion people worldwide are estimated to have deficient levels of vitamin D due to limited sunshine exposure.

"The major strength of this study is that it compares vitamin D levels in people at a wide range of weights (from lean to morbidly obese subjects) while taking whether they had diabetes into account," said one of the study's authors, Mercedes Clemente-Postigo, MSc, of Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA) at Complejo Hospitalario de Málaga (Virgen de la Victoria) and Universidad de Málaga in Malaga, Spain.

The cross-sectional study compared vitamin D biomarkers in 118 participants at the university hospital Virgen de la Victoria in Malaga as well as 30 participants from the Hospital Universitari Dr. Josep Trueta in Girona, Spain. All participants were classified by their body-mass index (BMI) as well as whether they had diabetes, prediabetes or no glycemic disorders. Researchers measured levels of vitamin D in the participants' blood streams and vitamin D receptor gene expression in adipose tissue.

The analysis found that obese subjects who did not have glucose metabolism disorders had higher levels of vitamin D than diabetic subjects. Likewise, lean subjects with diabetes or another glucose metabolism disorder were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D levels were directly correlated with glucose levels, but not with BMI.

"Our findings indicate that vitamin D is associated more closely with glucose metabolism than obesity," said one of the study's authors, Manuel Macías-González, PhD, of Complejo Hospitalario de Málaga (Virgen de la Victoria) and the University of Málaga. "The study suggests that vitamin D deficiency and obesity interact synergistically to heighten the risk of diabetes and other metabolic disorders. The average person may be able to reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy diet and getting enough outdoor activity."



Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Endocrine Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Bitterness, forgiveness and Health

Stephen Post: Learn to Forgive Because Bitterness is Bad For Your Health

Professor Stephen Post is well known for his writings on the health benefits of helping others. In this video, he walks us through the many reasons why practicing forgiveness can be both therapeutic and rejuvenating. After all, studies show that people who show a proclivity to hostile emotions tend to die earlier due to heart failure. That's why the James Lang Theory of Emotions posits the emotional and physiological benefits of small acts of kindness.


This is a very good, yet short 4 minute video that talks about forgiveness and its effect on the body.  Stephan is a likeable fellow with a good message. 
Click here to view video

Mixing Health and Tech Investment Ideas is Not Always Bad

More Information • Tech Digest Archive » • Transformational Technologies Site » • Premium Newsletter » February 20, 2015

Answering Your Supplement Questions

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Today I’d like to answer multiple questions sent to me regarding last week’s issue, in which I discussed the supplements that Mr. Mauldin and I are taking. By way of explanation, I didn’t include links to the actual products I discussed for the simple reason that I don’t want to give the impression that we’re recommending these products for financial reasons.

I think that most people know it’s possible today for vendors to track where links come from. Some organizations give the linkers a cut of their revenues. Amazon.com does this through its affiliate program, but we’re not doing that.

Personally, it always sort of irritates me when organizations appear to be hawking supplements because it makes me question their objectivity; so I didn’t include links. I’ve been convinced to do otherwise, however, in the explanations below. Let me clarify that we have no financial arrangement with anyone regarding these supplements. I write about them, and take them, based solely on the emerging science. Before you take anything yourself, you should always review the latest literature and speak with your physician.

My interest is driven not just by a desire to be as healthy as possible, by the way; I’m also convinced that breakthroughs in biotech analytical tools are making it possible to find rather simple compounds that will have large impacts on health and demographics. Since demographic change is having an enormous impact on our economy and politics, we should be interested in anything with the potential to significantly increase healthspans and alter the makeup of the population.

Since we’re talking about supplements, I should start with the most misunderstood: vitamin D. Everybody takes some. What has changed recently, however, is the consensus regarding optimal dosages. In fact, you can’t really say how much vitamin D you should take. It’s your 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood level that really matters. Different individuals will need very different doses of oral vitamin D to accomplish the target range recommended by the top researchers in this field, which is 40-60 ng/mL.

I realize, by the way, that there are still some people in government science organizations that disagree with me. If you think about virtually any area of nutrition in which government has given guidelines over the past 50 years, there is a near 100 percent record of getting it wrong. Rather than go over the new research again, let me direct you to the University of California project dedicated to increasing understanding about D. It’s GrassrootsHealth, which you can access at this link.

The thing I really like about this organization is that they offer a test for D levels, which is inexpensive compared to the cost of the average lab test. A superior solution is to find a doctor, like mine, who keeps up with the literature and prescribes a full blood workup regularly. I’m about two weeks late for my blood work now, by the way, but I’ve been overwhelmed of late.

If you monitor the flood of new studies being published about vitamin D, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that a program of societal supplementation would extend average healthspans enough to solve most of our healthcare budget problems. This assumes, of course, that people continued working and investing through the years of added health. If, however, they decided to use the extra years collecting retirement benefits, it would exacerbate the already enormous problem of unfunded entitlements for the aged, which is the main driver behind the debt crisis.

Whenever anybody asks me about supplements, my standard answer is to take vitamin D3 before you worry about anything else. Dr. Michael Holick, who pioneered the new research on vitamin D, suggests that about 4,000 units a day will get most but not all healthy people up to about 40 ng/mL. My blood levels are typically closer to 60 ng/mL, but I live in South Florida and spend a little time in the sun most days.

If you live farther north, however, the sun may not provide much help for much of the year. UVB is missing for most of the day in northern latitudes but is required for D synthesis. Sunshine has benefits other than vitamin synthesis, though. A Scottish study showed that people with greater but not extreme exposure to sunshine had statistically significantly lower blood pressure even when there was no ultraviolet B (UVB) present. This is apparently due to increased production of nitric oxide.

When I got my D levels up where they should be about seven or eight years ago, the impact on my health was immediate and palpable. You can get D3 from Amazon.com here, but I take whatever brand my nutritional biologist wife happens to pick up at Walmart. I don’t worry about brands and have taken many. I know my serum blood levels are where I want them to be, so all the major brands seem to have worked.

Last week, I concentrated on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide plus (NAD+) precursors, based on the huge amount of research coming out now about this emerging area of science. Nicotinamide riboside (NR) is getting the most attention. Not only has NR been endorsed recently by several famous scientists, the first human studies showed that a single dose raises NAD+ levels.

ChromaDex is the only supplier of nicotinamide riboside, a natural substance found in milk, as it owns the usage and manufacturing patents. It is brand-named Niagen, but ChromaDex does not sell the product directly. It’s available through Amazon.com and elsewhere. John and I take the High Performance Nutrition brand in the black and blue bottle.

Incidentally, the ChromaDex scientific advisory board is chaired by Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg, a Professor at Stanford Medical School. His Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2006 was for research on the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription, which my son and I discuss around the dinner table occasionally. When Kornberg accepted the role as chair of the SAB, he specifically cited his interest in NR due to his father’s research.

Kornberg's father was also a Nobel prize winner. A professor of biochemistry at Stanford, the late Arthur Kornberg won the prize for physiology or medicine in 1959 and pioneered nicotinamide riboside research while at the NIH.

“Given my father’s noteworthy early research of nicotinamide riboside,” the younger Kornberg said, “I have been following ChromaDex’s progress on developing its Niagen nicotinamide riboside as well as the enormous amount of published research that speaks to the health benefits of NR.”

The MIT recipe referenced here includes another ChromaDex product, pterostilbene, which occurs naturally in blueberry skin. John and I have been taking both of these molecules for several years now. It’s available under the trade-name pTeroPure from several sources, including Amazon.com. Though others sell pterostilbene, I don’t trust other brands that don’t use the ChromaDex product.

Another NAD+ precursor that we’ve both taken for several years is oxaloacetate. As is the case with NR, there is only one supplier which owns usage and manufacturing patents on the heat-stabilized version currently being used by universities researching efficacy in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The company, of course, makes no medical claims as that would bring various government agencies down on its head like granite slabs dropped from helicopters. Free speech? Regardless, it’s trade-named benaGene, which you can also get through Amazon.com, butwe get it from the manufacturer here.

Oxaloacetate is a naturally occurring molecule that plays a critical role in the citric acid cycle and other cellular functions. It increases NAD+ through an entirely different mechanism of action than NR’s, so we take them both. It may not be necessary but it will be years before definitive information is generated.

We also take acetyl-L-carnitine because it has been shown in animal studies to work synergistically with oxaloacetate. My wife and doctor have both recommended L-carnitine for a while, but it was this study showing complete restoration of long-term potentiation (LPT) in rats with cerebral ischemia, or stroke, that made me start taking it assiduously.

Long-term potentiation (LPT) refers to the ability of brain synapses to increase signal transmission based on repeated activity. In other words, the study shows that oxaloacetate and L-carnitine completely restored the ability to learn in rats suffering from induced stroke. This seems like a very good sign to me, since LPT tends to decrease with age in humans. Given the option, I’d like to preserve the ability to learn as long as possible. Maybe, someday, I’ll even learn how to spell “rhythm” without a spell checker and remember my in-laws’ names.

Anecdotally, a lot of people who use either NR or oxaloacetate report a lifting of mental “fogginess.” Dave Asprey, better known as the Bulletproof Executive, sells a coffee with oxaloacetate for that purpose. I don’t know, by the way, if his product is cost-effective. I haven’t looked that closely at his materials. Coffee on its own, by the way, is incredibly healthful for most people unless they let it interfere with sleep. I’ll spend one paragraph on coffee before returning to acetyl-L-carnitine and oxaloacetate.

I’ve gone into the literature on the subject of coffee and caffeine innumerable times but it’s solid science. In previous articles, I’ve linked to this special issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that categorized coffee as “disease-modifying” for AD. Editor Dr. Mark Smith, one of the world’s leading Alzheimer’s researchers before his accidental death a few years ago, was so enthusiastic about coffee as therapy that he made the issue free to download. In terms of cost-effectiveness, coffee has got to rank alongside vitamin D in efficacy.

Returning to the subject of acetyl-L-carnitine, this naturally occurring substance breaks down in the blood to transport fatty acids into the mitochondria for conversion to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the only form of energy our bodies can utilize. Acetyl-L-carnitine seems to be particularly important for those who exercise strenuously.

It’s certainly possible that the same repair of long-term potentiation observed in rats will take place in humans. Anyway, acetyl-L-carnitine is generally considered beneficial on its own, as is oxaloacetate, so there doesn’t seem to be much downside to supplementation with both while the upside is potentially dramatic.

Another supplement related to ATP energy production that we take isubiquinol, a somewhat new and reduced (as opposed to oxidized) form of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) that appears to be more active. Ubiquinol is a critical part of the electron transport chain, transferring electrons in the process of synthesizing ATP. It’s also available through Amazon.com, as isacetyl-L-carnitine, though my wife buys them both at Walmart, I think.

Then, of course, John and I are both using up the last of our anatabine citrate, which is no longer commercially available. I assume, however, that someone is hunting for another NF kappa B moderator. There’s an awful lot of unstudied alkaloids out there, and some very smart people know about the unprecedented data generated in the animal and human anatabine trials. Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals is miles ahead on the drug development path as they have permission to begin human trials for arthritis in the UK, but someone else may go after the supplement market.

Hopefully, this answers all the questions I received. This isn’t a complete list of the supplements that John and I take, but I think it covers the most important and least known. Let me reiterate once more that we have no financial arrangements with the manufacturers of any of these products.

My hope is you find the above discussion of supplements and the emerging science behind them compelling, and can begin your own research with the data I’ve provided.

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Self Massage for the Neck and Shoulders.

Here are a few Videos that can go along with the AIS stretching techniques I have posted previously.

Neck pain can be very stressful and come from a lot of different sources. Doing AIS Stretching will help move you back to a more normal neck and shoulder mobility.  But it is important to massage the muscles and tendons in this area as well in order to promote blood flow and healing.  

These videos present a few different approaches to dealing with neck pain.  I am including them here as I think they are helpful methodologies.

In watching these videos keep in mind the AIS concepts of slow moves into stretch, limited stretching of a few degrees each repetition for only about two seconds on each repetition.  (approximately two seconds)  If at any time  you encounter severe pain it best to exercise some common sense and get yourself into the doctor.

                                   Self Massage for Neck Pain

                  Shoulder & Neck Acupressure Points for Relieving Stress

             Occipital Release Using a Massage Roller

  

Spice up your memory: Just one gram of turmeric a day could boost memory

                      Spice Up Your Memory

Adding just one gram of turmeric to breakfast could help improve the memory of people who are in the very early stages of diabetes and at risk of cognitive impairment. The finding has particular significance given that the world's ageing population means a rising incidence of conditions that predispose people to diabetes, which in turn is connected to dementia.

Early intervention could help to reduce the burden, whether by halting the disease or reducing its impact, said Emeritus Professor Mark Wahlqvist, from the Monash Asia Institute at Monash University.

Professor Wahlqvist recently led a study in Taiwan that tested the working memory of men and women aged 60 or older who had recently been diagnosed with untreated pre-diabetes.

"Working memory is widely thought to be one of the most important mental faculties, critical for cognitive abilities such as planning, problem solving and reasoning," he said.

"Assessment of working memory is simple and convenient, but it is also very useful in the appraisal of cognition and in predicting future impairment and dementia."

In the placebo-controlled study, subjects were given one gram of turmeric with an otherwise nutritionally bland breakfast of white bread. Their working memory was tested before and some hours after the meal.

"We found that this modest addition to breakfast improved working memory over six hours in older people with pre-diabetes," Professor Wahlqvist said.

Turmeric is widely used in cooking, particularly in Asia. Its characteristic yellow colour is due to curcumin, which accounts for 3 to 6 per cent of turmeric and has been shown by experimental studies to reduce the risk of dementia.

"Our findings with turmeric are consistent with these observations, insofar as they appear to influence cognitive function where there is disordered energy metabolism and insulin resistance," Professor Wahlqvist said.

The study, which was published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also involved a number of research institutes in Taiwan.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Monash University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.



Memory
Diabetic diet
Limbic system
Diabetes mellitus type 1
Dementia
Attention

Journal Reference:
Meei-Shyuan Lee, Mark L Wahlqvist, Yu-Ching Chou, Wen-Hui Fang, Jiunn-Tay Lee, Jen-Chun Kuan, Hsiao-Yu Liu, Ting-Mei Lu, Lili Xiu, Chih-Cheng Hsu, Zane B Andrews, Wen-Harn Pan. Turmeric improves post-prandial working memory in pre-diabetes independent of insulin. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr., 2014;23 DOI:10.6133/apjcn.2014.23.4.24