Tag Archives: Cardiovascular Health

Allicin the Power Behind Garlic

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Allicin: The Power Behind Garlic

ALLICIN
1-2 CAPS DAILY WITH FOOD

First isolated and studied in the laboratory by Chester J. Cavallito and John Hays Bailey in 1944., Allicin is an organosulfur compound obtained from garlic, a species in the family Alliaceae.The power of raw garlic derives from an enzyme called Alliinase, which is released when the structural integrity of fresh garlic is altered (e.g., cut or crushed).  Alliinase catalyzes the formation of sulfenic acids from cysteine sulfoxides. Once formed, sulfenic acids begin transmuting into thiosulfinate compounds. In the case of alliin, the resultant compound is allicin. Allicin is an incredibly potent antioxidant and induces metabolic stress on invasive pathogens by disrupting their defenses and starving them of metabolic elements and compounds.  

Allicin is physiologically active in microbial, plant and mammalian cells. In a dose-dependent manner allicin can inhibit the proliferation of both bacteria and fungi or kill cells outright, including antibiotic-resistant strains like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Recent research points to several therapeutic effects of allicin, such as promoting insulin sensitivity (1,2), decreasing blood glucose levels (3,4), regulating lipid metabolism (5,6), reducing homocysteine levels (7), attenuating superoxide production and limiting inflammation and fibrogenesis (8), and limiting atherosclerotic plaque buildup (9).
Stable Allicin is a lab-certified allicin product delivering high potency allicin enhanced with Bioperine (black pepper extract) to increase bioabsorbability. Our product contains high levels of stabilized allicin that provides broad-spectrum immune support and immunomodulating properties.

Recommended dosage is 1-2 capsules per day with food.  An additional capsule can be taken when fighting off an illness.  The product can be taken on an empty stomach, but one may feel discomfort as the high strength allicin is released.

Fresh garlic must be crushed in order to release the compounds and two garlic cloves may do the job. However, although all garlic may look the same, there are dozens of varieties many of which have very little allicin. Hence to play it safe, take the capsule or take both.

Inner-Ear and Balance Disorders: Is Elevated Insulin the Culprit

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Inner-Ear and Balance Disorders: Is Elevated Insulin the Culprit?

Cochleovestibular disorders, which involve abnormalities with the inner ear, affect millions of people. These little-discussed conditions include tinnitus, Ménière’s disease, mal de débarquement syndrome (MdDS, also known as disembarkment syndrome), vestibular or cochlear hyperacusis and many more. Their symptoms run the gamut from painful and inconvenient to downright debilitating. Severe cases can result in complete disability, robbing people of their professional lives and compromising overall quality of life.

The symptoms of each individual condition vary, but, taken together, they include ringing in the ears, dizziness, nausea, hearing loss, sensations of rocking or swaying while at rest, ataxia, loss of balance, fatigue, headaches, migraines, difficulty focusing, memory loss and sensitivity to light. Not surprisingly, these difficult symptoms can ultimately result in anxiety and depression, as a patient’s quality of life worsens.

The exact causes of these varied cochleovestibular disorders are not known, but there are several possibilities. The most obvious is physical trauma to the head or neck—specifically, trauma that affects the eighth cranial nerve, called the vestibulocochlear nerve, which carries signals between the inner ear and the brain. Benign tumors, called acoustic neuromas or vestibular schwannoma, can interfere with the proper functioning of this nerve, as can vestibular neuritis (a viral infection of the nerve), and irritation of the nerve, also called microvascular compression syndrome. Some conditions can be caused or triggered by prolonged exposure to very loud sounds. MdDS, specifically, often initially appears after an ocean cruise or other prolonged water travel, but it may also arise after air or automobile travel. However, there are cases of MdDS—and the other inner-ear disturbances—that are considered “spontaneous onset,” and have no known triggering event or disease.These disorders are intractable and difficult to treat, with promising responses to medication often fleeting. Individuals with these conditions experience periods of flare-up and remission, not unlike those with autoimmune illnesses. In fact, there may be an autoimmune component to some of them. Other things they may be associated with include hormonal changes, allergies, and high levels of stress.

Perhaps the most interesting—and promising, in terms of treatment—thing these disorders are associated with is hyperinsulinemia. Being that insulin resistance—even in the absence of overweight or obesity—has systemic effects far and wide in the body (including influencing PCOS, non-alcoholic fatty liver, Alzheimer’s disease, kidney dysfunction, hypertension and overall cardiovascular health), it would not be surprising to uncover a stealth role for insulin in the etiology or progression of cochleovestibular disorders. The medical literature does, in fact, support this connection.

One study showed that 72% of Ménière’s patients had some degree of hyperinsulinemia. However, abnormalities in glucose levels were found in just 21%. This does not imply that the connection is weak; Dr. Joseph Kraft, one of the original pioneers of this work, uncovered the notion that normal glucose tolerance curves frequently hide hyperinsulinemia. Patients undergoing oral glucose tolerance tests often have normal 2-hour glucose responses, as well as normal fasting blood glucose and normal A1c levels precisely because of very high insulin levels. Other researchers have since confirmed “the need to include 5-hour glucose and insulin curves in the diagnostic routine when investigating Ménière’s disease.” They even call hyperinsulinemia “the metabolic change most often involved in the pathogenesis of cochleovestibular disorders.” (Emphasis added.) Additional studies conclude outright that “hyperinsulinemia may be responsible for inner ear diseases.”

There’s even more corroboration of the connection between deranged glucose metabolism and vertigo. The authors noted, “This may not be reflected in the glucose tolerance test alone, but becomes obvious when the insulin levels in blood are evaluated simultaneously.” Again, the glucose response may appear “normal,” but when insulin levels are evaluated, the connection is elucidated, as it was among nearly 70% of a group of Ménière’s patients who underwent a 5-hour glucose tolerance test plus insulin assay.

This is a little-known connection, however, and it hasn’t received as much attention as it perhaps deserves, especially considering that these conditions have historically been so difficult to treat. If chronic hyperinsulinemia is even just one contributing factor to these debilitating illnesses, then this holds great promise for treatment options. The obvious place to start would be a nutritional intervention, via a reduced-carbohydrate diet and supplements for improving insulin resistance and blood glucose management, perhaps with berberine, chromium, and other compounds effective for this purpose. Lifestyle interventions that may help reduce insulin resistance—such as exercise, intermittent fasting, stress reduction, and adequate sleep—may also prove beneficial for these otherwise difficult-to-treat disorders.

Celery Seed Extract for the Blood and the Brain

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Celery Seed Extract for the Blood and the Brain

Raw celery lends a crunch to crudité platters, and filling the stalks with peanut butter or cream cheese and raisins—“ants on a log”—is a surefire way to get kids to eat a vegetable they’d normally turn their nose up at. Combined with onions and carrots to create the classic culinary mirepoix, celery makes frequent appearance as the basis for savory dishes, especially in soups and stews. But celery’s usefulness isn’t limited to what it can do in the kitchen or in school lunchboxes. The tiny black seeds that grow into wild celery have impressive properties of their own.

Celery seeds contain 15% fatty oil, with the largest component being petroselinic acid (64.3%), a monounsaturated fat also found in coriander and parsley seed. The remainder contains linoleic (18%), oleic (8.1%), linolenic (0.6%), and palmitic acids. Celery seed is also composed of 2% volatile oil, which is employed as an ingredient in perfumes and food flavorings.

Celery seeds have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a number of health concerns, particularly ones relating to cardiovascular function. Modern research techniques are now validating these beneficial effects. Studies in hypertensive rats support a role for celery seed extract in lowering blood pressure. One of the chemical constituents of celery seed oil, n-Butylphthalide (NBP), is a primary contributor to the flavor and aroma of celery, and it is this compound that is believed to be responsible for the antihypertensive effects. The reduced blood pressure may be due to diuretic and vasodilatory properties of celery seed. It is important to note that the reduced blood pressure was accompanied by a significant increase in the rats’ heart rate, which the researchers speculated was likely a way to compensate for the reduced blood pressure. The beneficial effects of any compound that may affect physiological function should always be weighed against other potential outcomes.

The same compound, NBP, has been shown to reduce kidney damage resulting from hypertension in rats, decreasing urinary albumin excretion and blood urea nitrogen levels. NBP at 15 or 30mg/kg daily for 20 weeks significantly decreased blood pressure and the rate of glomerulosclerosis. It also protected against impairment of renal tubule function, decreased oxidative stress, and reduced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in kidney tissue.

Celery seed extract (CSE) may also have beneficial effects for cardiovascular health. Cultured mouse macrophages pre-incubated with CSE experienced significantly less damage upon exposure to oxidized LDL particles. CSE decreased the secretion of inflammatory markers TNF-α and IL-6 by 12-27% and 5-15%, respectively. CSE was also shown to inhibit the apoptosis of macrophages that otherwise might have been induced by the oxidized lipoproteins. Pre-incubation of cells with CSE at 100 and 200 g/ml promoted cell viability by 28% and 40%, respectively. The apoptosis of macrophage foam cells in areas where phagocytic clearance is impaired is a contributing factor in the enlargement of atherosclerotic plaque.

Other conditions for which CSE has shown promise include stroke, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Rats given 20mg/kg of NBP isolated from celery seed exhibited protection from ischemia-induced injury to the hippocampus. They had reduced deficits in spatial learning, and performed better in a maze task. NBP may also protect against some of the neuronal damage induced by the amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides associated with Alzheimer’s. Daily treatments of 10 and 30 mg/kg of this celery seed compound attenuated working memory deficits and inhibited neuronal apoptosis in rats that had received intracerebroventricular infusion of Aβ. Hyperphosphorylated tau proteins are another hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. NBP was shown to reduce activation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β, the enzyme responsible for tau protein phosphorylation.

Finally, celery seed extract may have a role as a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic. It has shown efficacy in reducing platelet aggregation and inhibits inflammatory prostaglandin-producing enzymes, COX-I and COX-II.

To date, much of the research on celery seed extract and NBP have employed relatively high doses of these compounds. Studies in rats indicate that even at doses of 5000mg/kg per day, there were no adverse effects.