On Saturday, August 27, I will be participating in an “Ask the Nutritionist” webinar hosted by Marilyn Farms. In this free one-hour session, participants can send in questions and I will answer as many as I can in the time we have. It will be a nutrition question feeding frenzy! Below are a few examples of questions that I received during our last “Ask the Nutritionist” webinar. To take advantage of this offer, please register here or through our website, www.marilynfarms.com. I look forward to talking with you!

Q: What are the top veggies/fruits that we should buy organically?

A: Each year, the Environmental Working Group sends out a list of the “Dirty Dozen”, which are the top 12 produce items that should be purchased organically. This year, that list includes apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines (imported), grapes (imported), sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries (domestic), lettuce, and kale/collard greens.

Q: Are there nutritional supplements that a child can take after a course of antibiotics to prevent diarrhea and other side effects?

A: The most important thing for recovery is of course going to be a healthy diet that minimizes sugar and maximizes nourishing foods such as green vegetables, meat, poultry, bone broths, and fermented foods such as yogurt or kefir. As far as supplements go, the #1 most important thing to take after (and if possible, during) a course of antibiotics is probiotics (healthy bacteria). There are many different probiotic formulations for children available, just make sure that they contain a blend of bifidus and acidophilus bacteria to re-colonize all areas of the digestive tract. In addition to this, taking cod liver oil (recommended dose for most children is 1 tsp per day) can help to restore levels of nutrients that may have been depleted by antibiotics.

Q: Can diabetics use cod liver oil?

A: Cod liver oil is a wonderful supplement for diabetics because it contains omega-3 fats, natural vitamin D, and natural vitamin A—all three of which help with blood sugar control and nerve health. The one caution with any fish oil is that it can thin the blood, so a person on blood thinners such as aspirin or Coumadin should be sure to check with their doctor to make sure medications are in balance.

This month we are focusing on CoQ10, our most recently added product. I thought it would be useful to share some of the science behind how CoQ10 is produced in the body.

CoQ10 is made in all cells of the body in varying quantities and is necessary for the synthesis of ATP, the source of energy that fuels the biochemical processes of life. Research indicates that the average person requires a daily replacement of approximately 500 mg of CoQ10. Even more may be needed in people who expend more biochemical energy on a daily basis whether due to disease processes such as diabetes and neurological issues or due to excessive stress and over-exertion. Most people only obtain about 5 mg per day of CoQ10 from food, so the rest is made up from the body’s own endogenous production. CoQ10 synthesis requires at least seven known vitamins (B2, B3, B5, B6, folic acid, and C) so a deficiency in any one of these nutrients can slow production of CoQ10. There’s one more reason to eat a nutrient dense diet! The biochemical pathway that produces CoQ10 is closely intertwined with the pathway that produces cholesterol, so those on cholesterol-lowering medications (particularly statins, which directly block this pathway) are particularly vulnerable to CoQ10 deficiency. To help boost your levels of CoQ10, be sure to eat a balanced whole foods diet to encourage your body’s own production of this important nutrient, and consider adding a CoQ10 supplement.

For more on the science behind CoQ10 including clinical recommendations, pharmacology, and research-based indications see the article Coenzyme Q10 from the journal American Family Physician.

NOTE: This blog is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified healthcare practitioner. If you are on prescription medications and/or are under the care of a physician, please consult with them before taking nutritional supplements.

Since we are in the midst of flu season and many people are taking extra vitamin C I thought it would be important to address the question of whether or not vitamin C causes kidney stones in people whose kidneys are otherwise healthy.

In my research I found that the opposite is actually true—vitamin C may help to prevent kidney stones!  However, high doses of vitamin C (defined as doses over 2,000 mg/day for an extended period of time) may be a concern for people with compromised kidney function due to kidney failure or uncontrolled diabetes.  People with iron storage diseases or those on medications affecting kidney function also may not do well with high dose vitamin C.  This is why it is important to check with a trusted healthcare practitioner before making any extended changes to your diet or supplement routine if you are working with a particular health concern.

Here is a link to an excellent article on vitamin C and kidney stones from the Linus Pauling Institute’s website (Dr Pauling was a Nobel prize winning scientist who pioneered research on the benefits of high dose vitamin C and supposedly took about 20,000 mg himself daily!) that answers this question in detail and provides the research behind it.

Last Saturday’s webinar on weight management had a big emphasis on blood sugar control as a key to keeping weight in check. You don’t have to have diabetes or hypoglycemia to care about blood sugar! When blood sugar is out of control (too high or too low), you may be prone to mood swings, fatigue, body fat gain, and loss of muscle. We covered several key points during the webinar to help keep blood sugar levels stable. If you missed it, contact us at info@marilynfarms.com for information on how you can purchase and download the webinar complete with handouts. Here are a couple of easy ways to support stable blood sugar levels that we didn’t discuss in the webinar:

• Eat cinnamon! Cinnamon exhibits effects similar to insulin in its ability to reduce high blood sugar levels. A study done earlier this month in the journal Phytomedicine (title of the study is “Cinnamon extract regulates glucose transporter and insulin-signaling gene expression in mouse adipocytes”) showed that cinnamon may even work on a genetic level to keep expression of genes in a balance to improve the body’s sensitivity to insulin and decrease the likelihood of excess blood sugar being used as fat. Most studies recommend one to two teaspoons, per day of ground cinnamon sprinkled over food or try Marilyn Farms tasty Cinnamon Extract.
• Use vinegar in cooking and on salads! In fact, a study in the January 2010 issue of the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism found that just two teaspoons of vinegar consumed with a meal were found to effectively lower blood sugar levels after the meal. Other studies found that regular intake of vinegar produced a modest (but still significant) decrease in HbA1c levels (this test gives a window into the level of a person’s blood sugar over the past three months), and that people who consumed a tablespoon of vinegar with lunch and dinner lost an average of 2 pounds over 4 weeks! For more info see the article A Spoonful of Vinegar Makes the Blood Sugar Go Down? which can be located at www.dlife.com.

Last week, makers of corn syrup petitioned the FDA to be allowed to list their product on food labels under the name “corn sugar”.  This is a (deceptive) marketing move to improve sales of corn syrup since many big food producers have replaced corn syrup in their products with sugar due to customer demand.  Here is a New York Times article with more info: click here for article

The FDA has 6 months to respond to the name change petition, and if accepted (I personally hope it will not be), then the formal decision of whether to allow “corn sugar” on labels would take place in 12 to 18 months.  While all high-calorie sweeteners can lead to obesity and diabetes, high fructose corn syrup is especially harmful.  Here are some of the issues with corn syrup to be aware of:

• It is usually made from genetically modified corn.
• It is a highly processed food.
• The production of corn syrup requires the use of a plethora of chemicals that are harmful to the environment, some of which may remain in trace levels in the finished product.
• It contains high levels of fructose (fruit sugar), which can only be metabolized by the liver.  Fructose was not an issue for our ancestors who obtained small amounts of it in fruit and whole foods.  In today’s world, however, high fructose corn syrup is hidden in so many foods that people may not realize they are overloading their liver.  Excessive intake of fructose contributes to fatty liver disease and other liver problems.

Last week I attended a 4-day conference in Chicago on nutrition and chronic disease.  The conference itself was fantastic, but I’m writing this blog to tell you of my 4-day love affair with the free samples of magnesium glycinate (the same form of magnesium found in our very own Mag Calm and Essential Calm) that were provided at the conference.  You see, the conference was sponsored by a supplement company that wanted to make sure the practitioners in attendance knew all about the wonders of their supplements so they had open bottles of their entire product line for us to sample.

Magnesium is commonly used for the nutritional treatment of a diversity of issues including osteoporosis, pre-menstrual syndrome, fatigue, fibromyalgia, arthritis, insomnia, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arrhythmia, and diabetes.  I personally experience none of the above but since an estimated 80% of the US population doesn’t get enough magnesium in their daily diet I thought I’d take advantage of the free samples.

After just one day of taking about 400 milligrams of magnesium I found myself sleeping better, waking up easier, and just generally feeling relaxed and refreshed – which is not usually how I feel when sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day listening to scientific lectures.  The dosage I took is slightly above the RDA of 310 mg/day for women but magnesium is hard to overdose on when taken orally – if you get too much your body will eliminate the extra via the bowels (translation: if you find yourself running to the bathroom, you took too much).  The only exception to this would be if you have inadequate kidney function or are on medications that alter your metabolism of magnesium.

As I write this blog I’m staring at my own bottle of Mag Calm, which I keep by my computer to remind me to keep up the experiment I started at the conference.  It’s been a week and I’m still feeling energetic and waking up refreshed and happy in the morning which is highly unusual for me when it starts getting cold outside!

Magnesium has so many amazing qualities that I couldn’t do it justice in one blog so I wanted to also provide you with a link to one of my favorite reference websites on nutrition – the Linus Pauling Institute.  Here is the link to their page on magnesium.  Enjoy!
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/magnesium/

In three short weeks, I will be teaching a webinar (online seminar for you non-webbies) on blood sugar. This subject is so huge that I could probably teach on it for eight hours straight. When I realize that I only have an hour of your attention I get into editing and prioritizing mode.

When most of us think of blood sugar, we think of diseases – like diabetes since it can be a life and death issue for a person dealing with the illness. But there is so much more to blood sugar than that! It is a topic that applies to every single one of us living in today’s world of processed foods and readily available junk who need to learn how to make choices that keep our bodies balanced.

Many health practitioners believe that erratic blood sugar is the cause of accelerated aging and disease. I know for a fact that the fatigue so many of us deal with daily (though it has been good business for coffee shops) has a lot to do with a lack of blood sugar control. Uncontrolled blood sugar is also a major impediment to maintaining a healthy weight and preserving muscle mass.

Needless to say, it will be an hour jam-packed with information, along with my super funny and sometimes lame jokes. There is nothing stranger than the feeling of telling a biochemistry joke (yes, the best jokes of all!) while staring at my computer and knowing that 50+ people are on the other end of that computer and I can’t tell if they’re laughing or crying. Oh well, I just hope I don’t talk too fast. Click here to register for the excitement, or go to marilynfarms.com and click on the promo piece next to the specials.

If any of you out there have ideas for future blogs or webinars, please share by adding a comment below!