L-Ergothioneine

L-Ergothioneine (LE) is an antioxidant amino acid that occurs naturally in the body and is found in high concentrations around cells that are subjected to free radical damage. However, we can’t synthesize it, so we need to obtain it from our diet.

Ergothioneine has been found in bacteria, plants and animals, sometimes at mill molar levels. Foods rich in ergothioneine include liver, kidney, black beans, red beans and oat bran, with the highest levels in bolete and oyster mushrooms.

OXIS International, Inc. (OXIS) was the first company to develop a patented, synthetic process for the manufacture of pure L-Ergothioneine (LE). This company develops technologies and products to research, diagnose, treat and prevent diseases of oxidative stress/inflammation associated with damage from free radical and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The company holds the rights to several therapeutic classes of compounds in the area of oxidative stress, and has focused commercialization programs that include SOD (superoxide dismutase), MPO (myeloperoxidase), GPx (glutathione peroxidase). Over the years, LE research has been limited by the lack of availability of a commercial source of pure synthetic material, but finally researchers from OXIS have made amazing breakthrough by developing the first patented, synthetic process for the industrial preparation of pure LE and providing us this amazing super antioxidant.

Some of the potential benefit of L-Ergothioneine (LE) are :

1. Dietary supplement

Oxis believes that the use of LE as an old dietary supplement is because it has been documented to have been in the food supply in significant quantities for at least a century prior to 1994.

2. Specialized Unique Natural Antioxidant

LE is a highly protective, nontoxic, naturally occurring antioxidant that is not easily auto-oxidizable in aqueous solutions. It means it is water soluble and can reach near millimolar concentrations in selected tissues, and stimulates the natural antioxidant defenses within cells. The benefits of natural antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E in cancer, aging and general health are well known. And now we have new choice. LE is unique among antioxidants in that it chelates heavy metal, while protecting cells (principally erythrocytes) from ROS damage.

3. Dermal Protectant/Anti aging

Free radicals in ultraviolet light has role in inducing skin damage and UVB radiation has part in skin cancer. LE has ability to minimize the formation of various ROS and to protect cells from radiation induced damage.

4. Ophthalmic benefit

LE plays a critical role in the protection of the eye. An early study has shown that the eye contains extremely high concentrations of LE that decrease during cataract development. Also it protects eyes from UV Radiation.

5. Energy enhancer

LE has effect in increasing the availability of cellular energy sources

6. Organ Preservation

The availability of viable organs for transplantation is currently limiting the number of organ transplants that can be conducted. Preservation of the available tissues and prolongation of their viability is an important determinant in both the ultimate success of the procedure and the number of patients that can receive transplants. Specifically, liver viability is limited to 8 hours,which severely limits the transport of these organs. Although, current preservation solutions are formulated to include antioxidants such as glutathione, the instability of these compounds (significant degradation begins to occur immediately after manufacture) limits their usefulness in protecting organs from oxidative damage. Glutathione even in refrigerated preservation solutions is readily oxidized, to its disulfide form. The later form is cytotoxic and also facilitates inflammation-induced proteolysis. LE, a stable water-soluble thiol-containing antioxidant that also chelates metal ions, could be an ideal to replace glutathione in this mixture.

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wheat can cause diabetes

An abnormal immune response to wheat proteins may contribute to type 1 diabetes, Canadian researchers say.

Their study of 42 people with type 1 diabetes found that nearly half had immune system T-cells that overreacted to wheat. The researchers also identified genes associated with this abnormal immune response.

“The immune system has to find the perfect balance to defend the body against foreign invaders without hurting itself or overreacting to the environment, and this can be particularly challenging in the gut, where there is an abundance of food and bacteria,” study author Dr. Fraser Scott, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, said in a hospital news release.

“Our research suggests that people with certain genes may be more likely to develop an overreaction to wheat and possibly other foods in the gut, and this may tip the balance with the immune system and make the body more likely to develop other immune problems, such as type 1 diabetes,” he explained.

The study appears in the August issue of Diabetes.

“These observations add to the accumulating evidence that the gut is an active player in the diabetes disease process,” Dr. Mikael Knip of Finland wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Michael Jackson’s Death: Cardiac Arrest Is Deadlier Than Heart Attack

Iconic pop star Michael Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Thursday at the age of 50. Details of his death are still emerging, but friends and relatives say they have been concerned about Jackson’s use of prescription painkillers.

Brian Oxman, the Jackson family spokesman and attorney, told CNN that people surrounding Jackson were “enabling” him in his use of medications. Jackson had suffered a number of injuries, including a broken vertebra and a broken leg sustained in a fall on stage, Oxman said.
“If you think the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing in comparison to what we have seen taking place in Michael Jackson’s life,” Oxman told CNN.

“I do not know the extent of the medications that he was taking, but the reports that we have been receiving in the family is that it was extensive,” he said. “This is something which I feared and it is something that I warned about.”

Douglas Zipes, MD, a distinguished professor at the Indiana University Medical Center and past president of the American College of Cardiology, says that drug abuse can contribute to a cardiac arrest.

“Certainly drugs, in someone like Michael Jackson, have to considered,” he says. “We know that drugs like cocaine and amphetamines can trigger a cardiac arrest by themselves, and the summation of multiple drugs could ultimately result in a cardiac arrest.”

Jackson may have been underweight as well. He reportedly weighed 120 pounds in 2003. At 5’10” or 5’11” (reports vary), he would have had a body mass index of 16 or 17, and anything below 18.5 is considered underweight.

In recent months, friends and relatives had described Jackson as even more frail. Filmmaker Bryan Michael Stoller, who visited Jackson in April, told People, “I hugged him and it was like hugging bones.” And a fan who recently met Michael Jackson at a tour rehearsal reportedly wrote in an email this week, “He is a skeleton.”

Extreme weight loss can cause electrolyte abnormalities, according to Dr. Zipes. “Two very important electrolytes, potassium and magnesium, are critically important in maintaining normal electrical activity of the heart,” he says. “[If] one or both electrolytes were very low, they can trigger cardiac arrest.”

Another factor that may have played a role is stress, says Dr. Zipes, who has not treated Jackson.

“He’s been under incredible emotional stress—the legal issues with the accusations of child molestation, the financial debt that he’s incurred, the prospect of a world tour after not performing for years; it would seem to be daunting,” he says. “All of these things would seem to be extremely stressful and stress certainly can play a role in the development of coronary disease and sudden death.”

In general, a cardiac arrest is much more dangerous than a heart attack.
During cardiac arrest, the heart actually stops beating and quivers with uncoordinated contractions. Unless a defibrillator is used to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, death is inevitable. Someone experiencing a cardiac arrest generally collapses, loses consciousness, and stops breathing.

“[The heart] stops contracting effectively but it’s actually beating—if you take the word beating as an electrical event. The heart rate of the bottom chambers, the ventricles, is 400 to 600 times a minute—that’s ventricular fibrillation,” says Dr. Zipes. (The normal adult heart rate is 70 beats per minute.) “When it increases so dramatically it actually looks like a bag of squiggly worms—there’s no effective contraction.”

Despite dramatic TV portrayals of patients being revived from cardiac arrest, the chances of survival in real life are slim. If a bystander performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the heart can be shocked back into a normal rhythm, the chances of survival are much better.
About 95% of people who experience a cardiac arrest die before reaching the hospital. Overall, about 1,000 cardiac arrests occur each day in the United States; that’s roughly 350,000 per year.

A heart attack, on the other hand, is a reduction in blood flow to the heart, which can cause a crushing chest pain known as angina, along with sweating, nausea, a sense of impending doom, and tissue death in part of the heart muscle. In contrast to cardiac arrest, heart attack patients may not lose consciousness. If they get rapid medical treatment, the prognosis is generally better. Heart attacks are about twice as common as cardiac arrests, but a heart attack can progress to a cardiac arrest if not treated.

Heart attacks are more common in those with heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. (Read more about heart attacks.) Cardiac arrest, on the other hand, can be caused by a wide variety of factors, including heart disease, drowning, electrocution, choking, and traumatic injury.

The American Heart Association recommends that people know the warning signs of cardiac arrest (loss of consciousness, lack of pulse), call 911, and perform CPR until help arrives. Bystanders can even administer chest compressions alone and skip mouth-to-mouth breathing while waiting for emergency help or defibrillation, according to recent guidelines from the American Heart Association.

“I think it’s tragic whenever anybody has a sudden cardiac death, particularly somebody whom you would consider to be relatively young. I don’t think society considers that people in their 50s can die suddenly—I think that adds to the tragedy of the situation,” says Stephen Nicholls, MD, a cardiologist and assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio.

“The other thing it highlights is the importance of CPR and the importance of using defibrillators,” he says. There’s been a push in recent years to make sure automated defibrillators are in airports, shopping malls, and sports stadiums.

“The most prompt action to try to restore heart rhythm in that situation gives you the best chance of survival,” Dr. Nicholls says.

The 5 Kinds of Headaches

It's critical to identify which type of headache you suffer from—tension, cluster, sinus, rebound, or migraine—so that the correct treatment can be prescribed. In one 2004 study, 80% of patients with a recent history of self-described or doctor-diagnosed sinus headache—but none of the signs of sinus infection—actually met the criteria for migraine. And two-thirds of those patients expressed dissatisfaction with the medications they were using to treat their headaches. Here's a cheat sheet to help you put a name to your pain.

Tension headaches

Tension headaches, the most common type, feel like a constant ache or pressure around the head, especially at the temples or back of the head and neck. Not as severe as migraines, they are not usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and they rarely stop someone from continuing their regular activities.

Over-the-counter treatments, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen (Tylenol), are usually sufficient to treat tension headaches, which experts believe may be caused by contraction of neck and scalp muscles (including in response to stress), and possibly changes in brain chemicals.

Cluster headaches

Cluster headaches, which affect men more often than women, are recurring headaches that occur in groups or cycles. The headaches appear suddenly and are characterized by severe, debilitating pain on one side of the head often accompanied by a watery eye and nasal congestion or a runny nose on the same side of the face. During an attack, sufferers are often restless and unable to get comfortable and not likely to lay down the way someone with a migraine usually does.

The cause of cluster headaches is unknown, but they may have some genetic component. There is no cure, but medications can reduce the frequency and duration of attacks.

Sinus headaches

When a sinus becomes inflamed, usually through an infection, it can cause pain. It usually comes with a fever, and can—if necessary—be diagnosed by MRI or CT scan (which can both detect changes in fluid levels), or by the presence of pus viewed through a fiber-optic scope. Headaches due to sinus infection can be treated with antibiotics, as well as antihistamines or decongestants.

Rebound headaches
Overuse of painkillers for headaches can, ironically, lead to rebound headaches. Culprits include over-the-counter medications like aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), as well as prescription drugs.

"Most of the patients we see in a headache center with daily headache have medication-overuse, or rebound, headaches," says Stewart Tepper, MD, director of research at the Center for Headache and Pain at the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute.

"They are on a merry-go-round and they can't get off," says Dr. Tepper. "They keep taking more medicine, they keep having more headaches, and so the patient becomes more and more desperate. That's when they end up coming to headache specialists to kind of reset the whole system.

"One theory is that too much medication can cause the brain to shift into an excited state, triggering more headaches. Another is that the headaches are a symptom of withdrawal as the level of medicine drops in the bloodstream.

Migraine headaches

Migraine headaches come from a neurological disorder that can run in families and are defined by certain criteria:
- At least five previous episodes of headaches
- Lasting between four hours and 72 hours
- Having at least two out of four of these features: one-sided pain, throbbing pain, moderate-to-severe pain, and pain that interferes with, is worsened by, or prohibits routine activity
- Having at least one associated feature: nausea and/or vomiting, or, if those are not present, then sensitivity to light and sound

An oncoming migraine attack may, for some, be foreshadowed by an aura, which can include visual distortions (such as wavy lines or blind spots) or numbness of a hand. It's estimated, though, that only 15% to 20% of migraineurs experience this.

new pain cure for woman

You’ve got achy shoulders from carrying the kids, the groceries, or your incredibly heavy handbag. You look for the right pill to pop, but what should you take? Aspirin? Ibuprofen? Or, you’re about to get your period. You know you’ll get killer cramps or that nasty headache any minute now, but nothing you take seems to help once the pain hits.

You’re not alone: Many women have a tough time finding the right kind of relief for their pain—and for good reason: Until recently, experts hadn’t actually studied women’s pain specifically, and most research wasn’t conducted with a woman’s hormones and physique in mind. All that’s changing, though. Docs now know that to banish our aches, they must develop treatments formulated for women’s bodies. What’s more, researchers are also looking for—and finding—ways to head pain off at the pass, so those of us with chronic troubles like migraine, fibromyalgia, or backache don’t have to be hobbled by pain on a daily basis. Here, how the new research will help you live an (almost) pain-free life.

The old way of dealing with pain was to ‘wait until it hurts enough to treat it,’” says Carol A. Foster, MD, director of Valley Neurological Headache and Research Center in Phoenix and author of Migraine: Your Questions Answered. “But in the last few years, there has been a complete turnaround. Now we know that prevention and early intervention are absolutely critical.”

The new thinking has made all the difference for Carolyn Robbins of Petaluma, California, who suffers from chronic back and neck pain, the result of a spinal-disk injury combined with nerve damage from Guillain-Barre syndrome. “If you’ve ever had an exposed nerve in your tooth, you know what it feels like,” says Robbins, who describes her pain as “electrical shocks” in her upper and lower back.

The 45-year-old mother of two doesn’t wait until pain hits her full force before treating it. She now relies on a daily prevention regimen, starting with a hot shower and a double dose of ibuprofen. She swims two to three times a week for strength and mobility, and gets weekly massage and chiropractic treatments. And during those times when things get really bad, she pulls out the stronger painkillers prescribed by her doctor. “I’ve found that it’s not a good idea to try to power through the pain, because other things start to go wrong,” Robbins says. “Pain depletes your system as much as exposure to germs.”

Just five years ago, a “kitchen sink” approach like Robbins’ might have been pooh-poohed by pain-management types, who would have been quick to prescribe hard-core, addictive drugs like oxycontin for such a serious condition. But now the focus has switched. “It used to be, people treated the pain and didn’t always treat the underlying disease,” Foster says.

The problem with such an approach, though, is that it sets up a vicious cycle of dependence. “Giving narcotic pain pills to headache patients is like giving cookies to diabetics,” she adds.
So how do you break the habit of heading straight for the medicine cabinet? No matter what your source of pain, the first step is to get an accurate diagnosis and then set up an early intervention strategy with your doctor, says Neil Kirschen, MD, president of the American Association of Orthopedic Medicine and chief of pain management at South Nassau Community Hospital in New York. “The whole goal of pain management today is to keep pain from becoming chronic,” he says.

The reason? Pain actually causes the brain to fire off a stress response that, over time, makes nerves more and more sensitive—and thus better able to telegraph intense pain to you. In other words, pain actually begets pain.

Nan Weiner, executive editor at San Francisco magazine, is a case in point. When she broke her ankle eight years ago, it never completely healed, and the pain became chronic. What should have been a relatively simple injury became an odyssey that had Weiner visiting specialists all over San Francisco. She finally found a podiatrist who “took a detective-like approach to the problem,” Weiner says, by exploring and treating each joint and tendon in a methodical search for the pain’s source. Thanks to this care, which includes regular pain-preventing cortisone shots, the 55-year-old mother of one has been able to resume her hobby of salsa dancing.



We know that men don’t suffer menstrual pain, but that’s not the only fun they’re missing. “Research is uncovering very dramatic differences in how the genders experience pain,” says Mark Allen Young, a professor at New York College of Podiatric Medicine and author of Women and Pain: Why It Hurts and What You Can Do.

It all starts with hormones. There is no getting around how profoundly hormones like estrogen and testosterone affect the central nervous system, which is responsible for perceiving and transmitting the sensation of pain.

According to experts, this is one reason why conditions such as osteoarthritis, headaches, and irritable bowel syndrome strike women at much higher rates than men.

Our physical differences really matter, too. “We’ve only recently begun to grasp that women’s body architecture is completely different from men’s,” Young says. Because women walk differently, for instance, they put pressure on joints, muscles, and bones in very different ways than men do. “Starting with the knees and hips and working up to the shoulders, spine, and neck, how a person walks can have a huge impact on how pain develops later in life,” Young says. Just last year, one medical-implant maker finally recognized this fact by creating a knee implant just for women.

Women are also more prone to conditions involving the immune system, says Deborah Metzger, MD, an OB-GYN and specialist in integrative pain management in Los Altos, California. Scientists have long known that women have stronger immune systems than men, she says. That strength can backfire, though, leading women to suffer from far more autoimmune disorders—in which the immune system attacks itself—and the host of mysterious diseases thought to sometimes result from an overreactive immune system, such as celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and many types of pelvic pain.

“Women tend to have hyperalert immune systems, which is good,” Metzger says. “But once the immune system gets stirred up, it can turn into a feeding frenzy.” The fired-up immune activity produces inflammatory chemicals that fuel all types of muscle and joint pain; it can also activate nerves in vulnerable spots like the lower back (sciatica), the head (migraines), and the pelvis (endometriosis and pelvic pain).

gastroesophageal reflux disease - Heartburn Triggers

Why am I in pain?

Heartburn is as American as apple pie—more than 60 million people experience it at least once a month. For some people—those with gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD—heartburn can be a constant companion.

Some heartburn triggers are obvious: chili dogs, chocolate cake, Thanksgiving. But heartburn doesn’t stop and start with food alone. If you have constant heartburn, it's time to track down the real culprit.

Smoking
As if anyone needed another reason to quit: Smoking makes GERD worse.

Smoking can weaken the valve between the stomach and esophagus (so stomach acid flows back into the esophagus); cause fat-digesting bile salts to migrate from the small intestine to the stomach; and cut down on saliva, which normally flushes stomach acid out of the esophagus and contains a natural acid-fighter, bicarbonate.

How do you spell heartburn relief? Q-U-I-T.

Pills
Prone to frequent headaches and heartburn? Think twice about reaching for the ibuprofen. When used regularly, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen can trigger heartburn.

Some prescription drugs can too, including antibiotics, calcium channel blockers (for high blood pressure), bronchodilators such as albuterol (for asthma and COPD), osteoporosis drugs, and some sedatives.

Consult your doctor if you think your Rx is causing heartburn—don't just decide to stop taking a drug on your own.

Fish oil supplements

Fish oil contains omega-3 fatty acids and has been hailed as a natural way to manage heart disease, depression, and countless other health conditions. However, it can also cause heartburn.

The oil—not the fish—appears to be responsible for gastrointestinal side effects. Fish itself is low in fat and high in protein and is an excellent food for heartburn sufferers when used in a healthy, heartburn-soothing recipe.

Stress

Stress does seem to trigger heartburn, but the relationship is trickier than you might think. Stress does not cause an off-the-charts surge in stomach acid production.

However, a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research suggests that a heartburn patient's perception of his symptoms—and not the actual levels of stomach acid—are associated with stress.

In other words, stressed people may be more aware of heartburn symptoms or the neurological effects of stress might ratchet up pain receptors in the esopagus.

Peppermint

Peppermint, like fish oil, is a double-edged sword when it comes to the stomach. Peppermint tea, peppermint-oil capsules, and even peppermint candies are often used to settle upset stomachs—but these remedies can backfire on people with GERD.

The soothing and numbing effect of menthol tends to relax the valve that separates the stomach and esophagus (known as the lower esophageal sphincter), which can cause stomach acids to drift up the esophagus more easily, aggravating heartburn.

Being overweight

The more you weigh, the more likely you are to have heartburn. A 2003 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the risk of acid reflux symptoms increases along with body-mass index (BMI).

The association seems to be stronger in women than men (especially premenopausal women).Explanations vary. Poor diet, excess body fat in the abdomen, and chemicals released by body fat have all been cited as possible culprits.

Your genes

Wondering what’s causing your heartburn? Take a look across the dinner table; your parents, not your plate, may be partly to blame.

In recent years, twin studies have suggested that 30% to 45% of your risk for GERD is dependent on genetic factors. (The rest is up to you: what you eat, whether you smoke, whether you exercise.)

Experts aren’t entirely sure what explains the hereditary nature of GERD. It could be due to inherited physical traits, such as abnormalities in stomach function or a hypersensitivity to stomach acids.

Tea Benefits

Steamy or iced, chai or green, bottled or not:
Tea is hot, and ge tting hotter. Tea drinkers can be as passionate and picky about their drink of choice as the most snobby oenophile is about her wine. There are more and more choices. And annual tea sales in the United States have jumped from nearly $2 billion in 1990 to $5.5 billion last year, says Joseph Simrany, president of Tea Association of the USA Inc.

What you’ll see in restaurants
Chefs across the country are weaving tea into signature dishes and specialty drinks. Munch on tea-smoked chicken at New York City’s Yumcha (“drink tea” in Cantonese), or sip green-tea martinis infused with pear at Jack Falstaff in San Francisco. And the first green-tea liqueur—Zen—hit the U.S. market this summer and is being served up in hot spots like New York’s Sushi Samba.

Even rock stars are getting in on it
After electronic-music king Moby opened his own New York teahouse, Teany, he decided to get even more creative. “He was a mad professor behind the counter,” says partner Kelly Tisdale, experimenting with different flavors and launching the Teany line of chilled bottled teas, like the new white tea with pomegranate, carried in New York and the U.K.

Tea as wine
At the chic tea boutique Le Palais des Thés in Beverly Hills, sections of the store are devoted to teas from different regions, similar to the way most wine shops are organized. Increasing numbers of tea snobs are seeking out teas sourced from a single place, like Darjeeling Puttabong, the first tea estate in the Himalaya and the mother of the Darjeeling tea industry.

The coffee comparison
While many people still want their Starbucks coffee fix, a growing crowd is looking for a leafier sip. “The difference between people who drink coffee and those who drink tea is similar to the difference between beer and wine drinkers,” says Le Palais des Thés’ David Barenholtz. Tea drinkers are looking for a relaxing experience, while coffee drinkers tend to slug coffee for a jolt of energy.

The payoff
Beyond its pure enjoyment, tea is packed with health perks. The heart-health and cancer-preventive benefits of black and green teas are well-publicized. And more research is under way; some studies suggest tea may also increase bone-mineral density, boost immunity, fight cavities, combat diabetes, and reduce body fat.

What makes it so healthy?
Scientists point to a group of natural antioxidants called catechins present in all teas, but not in coffee. Certain antioxidants can protect against exposure to ultraviolet light and its consequences, such as sun damage and skin cancer. And while coffee’s caffeine is known to sharpen concentration, tea has caffeine too, sometimes as much as or more than coffee.