Are you inflammaging?

Symptoms such as [QID NO=45 C=Antiox D=14], [QID NO=47 C=Antiox D=14], [QID NO=48 C=Antiox D=14], [QID NO=74 C=Antiox D=14], [QID NO=69 C=Antiox D=14] [QID NO=66 C=Antiox D=14], [QID NO=81 C=Antiox D=14].

Inflammation is a bit like rusting. It slowly damages one’s body parts – be it joints, lungs, arteries or the brain.

By increasing your intake of antioxidants, reducing oxidants, stabilising your blood sugar by eating a low GL diet, increasing omega-3 fats and the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6, you reduce your inflammatory potential. In the HEALTHY GUT domain, we’ll also explore whether you are eating any foods that your immune system fights, which is what a food allergy or intolerance is.

©Patrick Holford & Piatkus

Read the Report Are you Inflammaging?  in your Library to understand to understand how to reduce your inflammatory potential, which you may experience as pain, redness or swelling.

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How to quit smoking

We know you smoke and obviously you know it’s not good for you. With a trillion oxidants per puff you’d have to eat a lot of antioxidant rich foods to counteract this effect. As a crude measure, every cigarette smoked consumes about 25mg of vitamin C. So, if you smoke 10 a day you certainly need to supplement 2.5 grams a day to counteract this.

But the real reason for this email is that if you would like to quit, but have failed in the past, probably due to the pangs of withdrawal fuelled desire and habit, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve that might make it a lot easier. After all, would you quit if you didn’t have to experience abstinence symptoms you experienced last time you tried?

Did you know, for example, that vitamin B3 (called niacin or nicotinic acid) reduces craving for tobacco, as does vitamin C? Here’s an extract from a case study: “ To quit smoking, I chose a time when I had no tobacco in the house. My lungs hurt and I was motivated. From the local pharmacy, I purchased some Vitamin C and Niacin – both very cheap. I chose the B3 “flush” variety – and proceeded to load up with both. For three days, every time I went to urinate, I took 500 units of Vitamin C (one pill, 500 mg) and 100 to 250 mg of Niacin. I experienced some uncomfortable itchy skin flushing, but nothing too painful. I was delighted to find that Vitamin C detoxed my body, and I had no craving for nicotine. They say that after 3 days, nicotine is no longer in your system, and I have never smoked again.”

Read the Report How to Quit Cigarettes in the Cognition Library.

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Vitamin C is your best friend

Ever since the beginning of oxygen-based life, there has been vitamin C. All plants make it from fructose. All animals from glucose. That’s right. Animals make it and in large amounts. 1 gram (1,000mg) is what you get in about 20 oranges. Goats make the human body weight equivalent of over 10 grams and rats about 3 grams.

Why? Because vitamin C is not only an powerful antioxidant, but also has anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. This is the main reason why vitamin C-producing animals have such a low risk of viral diseases and cancer, and why the experimental animal of choice for mimicking human biology is the guinea pig. Guinea pigs, fruit-eating bats, red-vented bulbul birds, a couple of Amazonian fish and all primates have lost the ability to make vitamin C.

Gorillas make up for it by eating 4.5 grams of vitamin C a day from leaves, fruits and roots. Most primates eat at least 1 or 2 grams a day.

We live in a concrete jungle, not a tropical jungle, and eat much less food because we don’t need to as we don’t have to exercise. Modern-day ‘push-button’ life, complete with cars and the internet, is easy. You can just stay at home. No wood chopping, water carrying or need to walk. So, we eat less and less fresh,  vitamin C rich food.

So no, a well balanced diet doesn’t give you all the nutrients you need. Whichever way you look at it we need at least 500mg of vitamin C a day (10 oranges worth) for minimal risk of disease (heart disease, cancer, dementia). Studies show that those with good cognitive status consistently have higher vitamin C levels in their diet or bloodstream, while those cognitively impaired have less. [1]

There’s also a compelling case to take more, circa 8 grams + a day, when under viral attack (see www.vitaminC4covid.com).

If you take more vitamin C than you need, or can absorb, you get looser bowels. That’s called your bowel tolerance level. Most people won’t reach this with up to 3 grams a day. Since vitamin C is water-soluble it is generally in and out of the body in 6 hours. So you get better use of supplements by taking them twice a day, in the morning and afternoon, perhaps with breakfast and lunch.

Most nutritionists take either 1 gram or 500mg twice a day. We recommend you do the same.

If you’d like to know more about vitamin C listen to this podcast interview where Patrick Holford, one of our trustees, interviews vitamin C expert Dr Tom levy, author of Curing the Incurable: Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins. He explains how vitamin C and other antioxidants are the cornerstone of a healthy life – good for brain health – read the article https://www.patrickholford.com/advice/vitamin-c-the-infection-fighter/

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Crucify your vegetables

Vegetables whose leaves grow as a cross (cruciferous) are all part of a special food family that enhances the liver’s capacity to detoxify. They are profoundly cancer protective.

They includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale. This is because they contain substances called glucosinolates and glucarate that help a critical liver detox process called glucuronidation. This is possibly the most important detox pathways of all, dependent on something called calcium-d-glucarate, found in apples, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, and bean sprouts.

Let’s make this real. Some ingenious scientists managed to extract the glucosinolates from Brussels sprouts and fed volunteers either regular Brussels sprouts, with glucosinolates, or without. Those fed the glucosinolate-containing Brussels sprouts had 30 per cent more active antioxidant enzyme function showing just how powerful these glucosinolates are. That’s why we recommend a serving of cruciferous vegetables every day.

Your homework today, and for the next three days, is to have a serving of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale or tender stem. Tender stem, also called broccolini, is a cross between Chinese kale and broccoli containing 45% more glucosinolates than ordinary broccoli. Recipe ideas include whole roasted cauliflower (leaves kept on), chargrilled cabbage and air-fried Brussels sprouts.

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Vegetables with the most antioxidant power

Which vegetables pack the biggest punch as far as polyphenols and antioxidants are concerned? Also, which fruit, are those lower in sugar?

Foods that are high in ‘polyphenols’ which refers to the structure of a plant-based chemical, seem especially beneficial for protecting your brain. You might have heard of flavonoids in berries, quercetin in red onions, anthocyanidins in blue/red foods and isoflavones in beans. These are all examples of polyphenols. Herbs and spices such as peppermint, basil, oregano, cumin and curcumin in turmeric are also loaded with polyphenols and potent antioxidants.

But there are other criteria to judge a plant by including its ability to ‘activate’ anti-ageing genes called sirtuin. Olives, blueberries and kale, for example, are sirtuin activators.

Then, there’s a group of compounds called ‘salvestrols’, generally only found in organic fruit, veg, herbs and spices, which turn out to have anti-cancer properties. They’re produced in plants as part of its self-defence system against invaders such as fungi. If the plant is sprayed with fungicides, it won’t produce them.

The Report Which are the Best Fruit and Veg in your Library analyses fruit and veg across these five criteria:

• Low GL
• High antioxidants
• High polyphenols
• High salvestrols
• Sirtuin activating

The winner is olives, followed by blueberries and kale. Read the report to find the top ten.

When did you last eat an olive, some blueberries or a serving of kale?

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The best fruit to keep you young

Eating fruit can be seen a a slightly double-edged sword. People following very low carb diets avoid it thinking it’s too high in sugar. But nature never puts in fruit sugar without fibre. So eat it, don’t drink it.

A glass of orange juice is three orange’s worth of sugar and can be drunk in a gulp. Have you ever eaten three oranges?

From the sugar-content point of view  be careful with tropical fruits, such as bananas, grapes, and dried fruit such as raisins and dates – they’re high sugar.

© Patrick Holford & Piatkus

All the servings above have the same ‘5’ GL (glycemic load) effect on your blood sugar. The lowest GL fruits are all berries, cherries and plums. Eat as much as you can, especially in season. Blueberries and cherries are exceptionally high in antioxidants and polyphenols and are good for your brain. Frozen berries can be a great option as they are cheaper and frozen quickly after harvest.

Apples and pears are the next best. Conference pears are lower sugar and don’t need spraying. Try to eat all fruits organic where possible, especially those with edible skins, which are full of nutrients. Peaches and nectarines, in season, are good too.

Go easy on bananas, unless you’re climbing a mountain! Have mango and papaya as a treat. Or just eat a smaller portion. Avoid raisins and foods with added raisins or sweetened with grape juice concentrate. This is another name for sugar.

Make sure you eat a serving of these lower sugar, high antioxidant fruits a day. A handful of berries is a serving.

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Go for the rainbow

You’ve heard it before but did it really sink in? The trick is to really start thinking of the colours you’re eating and gravitate towards the strong colours.

Mustard and turmeric, for example, are strong yellows. Dijon mustard is great – no sugar. But if you like good old fashioned English mustard go for it. Have a teaspoon every other day.

Add turmeric to almost any steam-fry, curry, soup. You can even make a turmeric latté. But watch out. It stains clothes and even cups if you don’t wash them up quickly. As with all herbs and spices, quality is also important.

Bright oranges include butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots – but do try to buy organic wherever possible. Intensively produced carrots can be tasteless and full of water. Carrot tops are good in salads and made into pesto for drizzling on soup.

Tomatoes are particularly good for you and one of the few vegetables (fruit, really) that benefit, nutritionally from light cooking. Buy seeded, not seedless watermelons. Blend the flesh in a blender, perhaps with some ice. The black husk of the seeds drops to the bottom. The flesh of the seeds, full of essential nutrients, becomes part of this mouth-wateringly refreshing drink. Strawberries are a low GL fruit. Red, yellow, green and orange peppers are all rich in vitamin C.

©Patrick Holford

Anything purple, magenta or blue is especially good for you. From beetroots (eat them raw, grated into salads) to blueberries, blackberries, raspberries.

Strong greens are always good for you – from spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, tender stem, watercress, rocket, asparagus, artichoke, green beans, peas, kohlrabi, and cauliflower (although not green). If you have an airfryer, brussels sprouts are a crispy treat, as are green beans!

If there’s anything on this list you’ve NEVER eaten, buy some now and experiment. If there’s anything on this list you haven’t had for more than two weeks, get some and give it a go.

Almost everything can be eaten raw or lightly cooked.

Here’s a quick win for kale or spinach. Melt a tablespoon of coconut butter or olive oil in a wide steam fry pan with a lid (or a frying pan with a lid). Add a clove of crushed garlic per person. Stir in a packet (300g) of kale or spinach for a minute. Then add a pre-mixed dessertspoon each of lemon juice, water and tamari (soya sauce). The whole mixture steams and sizzles. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and leave to cook for 2 minutes. You can sprinkle on some pine nuts, or add pesto when you add the leaves to add more flavour and antioxidants.

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Increasing your intake of ANTIOXIDANTS starts today

In the weeks that follow, starting now, we’re going to guide you in taking simple steps to increase your intake of brain-protective antioxidants and polyphenols in fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Life is a balancing act between making energy by combusting glucose with oxygen, then generating ‘oxidant’ exhaust fumes, and disarming them. In the end, we lose, which is why all oxygen-based life forms have a finite life.

However, you can not only add years to your life, but also life to your years by improving your intake of antioxidants and polyphenols.

Watch this film: ‘Keeping Your Brain Young with Antioxidants’ in the Cognition Library here

In the weeks that follow, we want to turn you into a vegetable and fruit super-fan, using a lot more fresh herbs and spices. We’ll also explain the value of antioxidant supplements, especially vitamin C, and how to reduce sources of oxidation to tip the balance of life in your favour.

Optimum nutrition is really primarily about optimum antioxidant status. As you regain this, you’ll reverse inflammation and, with that the ageing processes that lead to degeneration of different parts of the body, from the joints to your brain.

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Your B vitamin domain – how have you progressed?

Congratulations. You’ve finished a month focussing on optimising your methylation, supported by your intake of B vitamins and reflected by a lower homocysteine level. This should have a positive knock-on effect on your memory, concentration and mental clarity.

If you have tested, or re-tested your Homocysteine level how has it improved? You want this below 10mcmol/l and closer to 7mcmol/l or less if you are under 70. Don’t forget to enter your results in the questionnaire which will also alter your score for this domain.

To see how much reduction you’ve achieved in your Dementia Risk Index click th,utton below to complete only the ‘B vitamin’ related questions. This will show you, specifically, what level of improvement you’ve made over these past 4 weeks, what effect that has on your ‘B vitamin’ domain score, and your overall Dementia Risk Index.

You will then be asked to choose the next domain you’d like to focus on for the next 4 weeks. Note: if you got distracted and didn’t make many changes such that ‘B vitamin’ is still in your top two weakest domains you can choose to focus on this again with more resolve.

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B vitamins, Homocysteine, Strokes & Heart attacks

Did you know that two out of three 3 in 4 heart attack patients don’t have high cholesterol and that two thirds of heart attacks in the elderly are predicted by high homocysteine? This is even more true for cerebrovascular diseases such as strokes.

Just to recap, roughly two thirds of dementia is called Alzheimer’s disease where there’s a specific degeneration on the ‘medial temporal lobe’ so you need a brain scan to diagnose it. Roughly one fifth of dementia is called cerebrovascular dementia, in other words, blocked arteries in, and leading to the brain. If you’ve got raised homocysteine, your chances of both developing Alzheimer’s and cerebrovascular disease is correspondingly high.

© Patrick Holford & Piatkus

Fortunately, everything you’ll learn in COGNITION will give you the tools to help reduce both your risk for heart disease, strokes and, of course, dementia.

While normalising methylation, reflected by a healthy homocysteine level, is something that should always be checked in anyone with cardiovascular (heart) or cerebrovascular (brain) disease, it’s not only homocysteine that counts. In the diagram below you can see how the other domains, LOW GL, ANTIOXIDANTS and BRAIN FATS, all contribute towards brain cell death, but also arterial damage.

© Patrick Holford & Piatkus

Heart disease doesn’t occur because of an ‘accumulation’ of cholesterol, as is widely believed, nor is it ‘cured’ by blocking cholesterol production with drugs. Blood fats accumulate because they are made from eating too many carbs (and/or alcohol), and put into storage as ‘triglycerides’, which is what’s measured in the blood.

Cholesterol itself gets damaged, both by sugar and by oxidants (think smoking and fried foods). Arteries get damaged by raised homocysteine due to lack of B vitamins. It’s a combination of these factors that lead to heart disease and strokes, as nutritional therapist Patrick Holford, author of Say No to Heart Disease, explains in this one minute film: The Real Cause of heart Disease

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