Terry A. Rondberg's blog

Pass the plate of flavanol, please

When I first heard of chiropractors marketing a type of chocolate as a "health food," I was a bit surprised and maybe a little annoyed. I'm all for backend marketing of products and services that can really help our patients, but chocolate?

I did a little more research and it turns out they might be on to a good idea. In fact, I just read that, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), cocoa flavanols may be an important part of a healthy diet for people with cardiovascular disease, which affects more than 80 million Americans.

The research, conducted at the University of California San Francisco found that daily cocoa flavanol consumption more than doubled the number of circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) in the blood. These cells have been shown to have vessel repair and maintenance functions, which can contribute to healthy blood vessels. Poor blood vessel function is recognized as an early stage in the development process of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including coronary artery disease. Increasing levels of CACs have also been associated with a decreased risk of death from cardiovascular causes, according to a 2005 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

To me, the new study published in JACC was important in that, while previous research pointed to physical activity and experimental drug therapy to increase CAC levels, this study focuses on an alternative to drugs.

The study also showed that high-flavanol cocoa significantly reduced systolic blood pressure, an important risk factor for heart disease and stroke, and improved blood vessel function by 47% compared to low-flavanol consumption in optimally medicated adults with severe cardiovascular disease.

Obviously, they didn't use just any old chocolate in the research. It was a specially prepared cocoa drink with a high level of flavanol. Other research has shown that while solid raw chocolate products often contain a substantial amount of flavanols, chocolate beverages don't. In addition, while found in abundance in raw cocoa beans, most cocoa flavanols are destroyed during the conventional chocolate-making process. Which means that regular chocolate bought in the grocery store -- overloaded with sugars and processed to within an inch of its life -- is simply tasty poison.

“And perhaps most importantly, for the first time, we found that cocoa flavanols might even directly mobilize important cells that could repair damaged blood vessels. The benefits are substantial, without any observed adverse effects,” added study author Christian Heiss, MD, Heinrich-Heine University.

A number of previously published studies already suggested that the consumption of cocoa flavanols can have important beneficial effects on the function of the body’s network of blood vessels. Yet, contrary to statements often made in the popular media, the collective research demonstrates that the cardiovascular effects of cocoa flavanols are independent of general "antioxidant" effects that cocoa flavanols exhibit in a test tube, outside of the body. The body of research not only suggests that these cocoa flavanols may provide a dietary approach to maintaining cardiovascular function and health, but also points to new possibilities for cocoa flavanol-based interventions associated with age-related blood vessel dysfunction and vascular complications of type 2 diabetes.

Can you imagine the look on patients' faces if you offered them some chocolate for their health?

Tai Chi not just for elders

Although my preferred exercise routines are yoga and martial arts, I've always been intrigued by Tai Chi. There's something about the slow, disciplined movements that appeal to me. Regrettably, Tai Chi is often associated with elderly practitioners. The first image that comes to mind is several ancient Chinese gentlemen practicing in the park. That's too bad, because the benefits of Tai Chi rank it high on the list of exercises that can help both physically and mentally.

A report published in the May 2010 edition of BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine concluded that "Tai Chi appears to be associated with improvements in psychological well-being including reduced stress, anxiety, depression and mood disturbance, and increased self-esteem."

 

Researchers reviewed 40 prior studies involving 3,817 people that revealed Tai Chi significantly increased psychological well-being including reduction of stress, anxiety and depression and enhanced mood and emotion.

 

That mirrors what the Mayo Clinic said last year when it recommended Tai Chi. "For an investment of 20 minutes each morning, the payback is reduced stress, a sense of calm and peace, improved strength, limberness, better immune function and lower blood pressure."

 

Although you have to be careful when following Mayo Clinic advice (it's all too often locked into the old-style medical paradigm) they were absolutely correct when they explained that:

 

"An important advantage of yoga and Tai Chi is that they combine key elements of exercise -- aerobic, strength training, core stability, flexibility and balance -- into unified approaches. Certain benefits, particularly stress reduction, can be seen in as little as one day. People report better sleep and improvements in digestive health within the first few days. Better digestive health can mean better bowel function and decreased constipation. Practiced regularly, yoga and Tai Chi may help reverse some effects of aging, such as restricted and narrowed movements. After 10 to 12 weeks of regular sessions, practitioners often notice significant health benefits in other areas. For example, a study of yoga and people who experience migraines found that those doing yoga had less frequent and less intense headaches than did those taking medication."

 

For information on Tai Chi, check out the following:

 

Tai Chi Research

 

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Tai Chi paper

 

Wikipedia

 

America Needs Health, Not More Doctors

It's been reported recently that more doctors are needed, even though we are already pouring 20% of our economy into healthcare. But the problem isn't that there is not enough doctors, it's that there's too much sickness. The only way to solve this conundrum is to promote healthy eating, exercising, and lifestyles across the nation, which will drastically improve health nationwide. Perhaps the best thing the government could do is mass distribute vitamin D supplements, which are very inexpensive, do not require a prescription, injection, or doctor's visit and have been proven to prevent nearly heart disease, diabetes, depression, seasonal flu, kidney disease, and nearly four out of five cancers. America has the choice to invest in health of its people and save much-needed revenue, or continue the expansion of the "sick-care industry," and help forge widespread pharmaceutical dependence.

Health begins at home

According to a new article on Inc. Magazine's website, one of the best "industries" for business startups is home health care. Everyone from physical therapists to elder care specialists will be kept busy in the future, as the trend away from hospitals and doctors' offices continues. According to Inc.com, nonmedical home care hiring is expected to grow more than 50 percent before 2018.

 

This trend might also mean a change in the way alternative care is delivered. I can easily see more and more chiropractors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, massage therapists and the like making house calls. Hybrid practices, combining traditional office visits but also offering house calls for routine care sessions, may be a great way to benefit from the home health care trend.

 

Read the article on Inc.com