Red Wine, Heart Disease, Hungry Sharks and Knights in Shining Armor

What is so special about wine? What is it that makes it potentially more protective against coronary heart disease, and perhaps other diseases, that other forms of alcohol?

In recent years, scientists have concluded without doubt that many human diseases such as heart disease, cancer and the aging process is caused or stimulated by a ravenous group of chemicals called free radicals, that act like hungry sharks. These highly charged little villains prowl the body and attack healthy cell membranes through a process that is called oxidation. In this scenario, there is however a knight in shining armor that jumps to the rescue and purges these ever hungry little killers. The name of our crusader is antioxidants.

Without getting too technical, the oxidation process in our bodies is crucial for health, without it, for instance, we would not be able to extract energy from our food. But if there are too many free radicals in our bodies this can be harmful.

Our body has its own defenses against free radicals, in the form of enzymes that are able to turn the hungry little sharks into harmless water. However, sometimes our body’s natural defense mechanisms can’t cope. Other times, external events can cause huge increases of free radicals within our bodies, such as x-rays, cigarette smoke and exposure to toxic substances. At times, this surge of free radicals can swamp our defenses and illnesses such as radiation sickness may take place.

So what does oxidation and free radicals have to do with heart disease?

Low density lipoproteins, commonly know as “bad” LDL, can penetrate and gather against the inner walls of our arteries, under certain conditions, forming fatty streaks and plaque. Taken alone, LDL particles aren’t so dangerous it seems, however, when attacked by free radicals they turn into dangerous and somewhat aggressive cells, capable of actually penetrating and harming the smooth inner walls of our arteries. This process is called oxidation. Oxidized LDL is known to be the culprit in stimulating atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke.

Antioxidants, as the name suggests (anti-oxidants) can help stop the oxidation process, which are the results of free radicals doing their stuff. Most antioxidant research has been carried out on vitamins (A, E, beta carotene) but quite a lot of work has also been done on the healthy benefits of red wine. While most research on red wine has been done in relation to coronary heart disease, it seems that the benefits of wine don’t stop there.

Red wine and Coronary Heart Disease

Red wine contains a wide range of flavanoids; these are the chemicals that give the wine its particular taste and character, making one different from another. Many of these flavanoids act like antioxidants. Perhaps the forerunner of wine research was carried out by a certain Serge Renaud, who discovered the French Paradox, which suggested that wine was the decisive factor in protecting the people in southern France from their very high fat diets and ultimately coronary heart disease. Even if these people do eat large quantities of high fat cheese, pâté, and salami they have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.

Another study, statistical rather than practical, by a Professor Grey of the University of Bern in Switzerland focused on the low, medium and high coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality figures of the World Health Organization.

What did he find? Well from among the high mortality areas were Finland and Scotland, the middle areas included Ireland, and the low CHD areas included Spain, Italy and France. He then compared heart attack rates with antioxidant levels in blood samples taken from men living in those areas.

Vitamin E and Heart Disease

What he found was very interesting, the results showed that high antioxidant levels, in particular vitamin E, coincided with low death rates of heart disease. Moreover, his results showed that vitamin E levels were 94% more accurate in predicting CHD rates than were cholesterol levels or blood pressure figures! Apart from diet, the high CHD regions drink very little, if any wine, whereas the low regions traditionally accompany their meals most days with wine.

It certainly seems strange that two much studied cities; Glasgow in Scotland and Toulouse in France show many similarities and yet many differences. The inhabitants of both cities eat tremendous amounts of high fat foods, traditionally take little exercise and drink alcohol. The surprising difference is that while the people of Glasgow have one of the highest rates of CHD in the world, the fortunate people of Toulouse have one of the lowest. Traditionally beer and spirits are the preferred drinks in Glasgow, while the folks in Toulouse drink red wine.

It has also been suggested that drinking in moderation together with meals is beneficial, while binge drinking at bars in the evening is harmful. It seems the southern Europeans don’t drink for the alcohol buzz, but just as a pleasant accompaniment to their meals.

At first the large heart institutions such as the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association ignored both antioxidants and frowned upon wine. While it is clear that it could be potentially dangerous for a physician to recommend his patients start drinking alcohol, it is also strange that they pretended for so many years to ignore the evidence. Well, now even if they don’t promote the taking of vitamin pills; antioxidants and free radicals are now recognized. However, according to the AHA “There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace conventional measures. No direct comparison trials have been done to determine the specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke. Just ask yourself who would pay for such studies. Clinical Trials have the purpose of showing one thing to be better than another, or whether a certain substance is beneficial to health. The costs of clinical trials is so high that only the pharmaceutical industry have the financial clout to invest in them – invest is the correct word. What a surprise.

http://www.allabout-heart-disease.com - the site that tells you how it is, about getting your life back and living it to the full! Articles, tips, advice and the latest news on how to take care of your heart. You can get articles like this in your mailbox each month by submitting to our eZine “The Web’s Heart” by clicking here.

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Veriuni Advanced Antioxidant
w/Red Wine Extract

There are different ways to take nutrition supplements (dietary supplement) - as a liquid or in a pill, capsule, tablet or liquid form. In recent years, a number of nutritional companies have been making a liquid form of vitamins and minerals.

Personally, I have a "thing" about pills, capsules and tablets, I just do not like them. When I was young I was supposed to take tablets every day, so my mother crushed them and tried to hide them in jam or stew, so I would take them. The taste put me off stew and jam for years.

My dear old grandma took pills every time she had a cuppa tea, which was quite frequent. I could almost hear her rattle when she walked round the house. Watching grandma take them all the time helped put me off also.

My first introduction to vitamin supplements was when I received a postcard in my letterbox, with a picture of a very healthy strong looking 80 year old man, plus pictures of many film stars who took these large vitamin pills to keep them healthy and give them energy. At the time, I was feeling pretty low after a major operation, so I purchased some of those pills and started feeling much better.

Then I found some other vitamins in tablet form which were cheaper and I felt good taking them too.

Only this time, I had to take 30 a day. Now, I was really starting to mimic my grandma. I lined them up on the kitchen counter each morning, then put them in a container for the day - number 2's, 3's, 5's, 6's, round ones, oval ones, light brown, dark brown, white ones. I threw a number of them down all at once before meals. They tasted awful, I used to gag on them, and started dreading mealtimes because of my entree of pills.

After awhile, I discovered a liquid form of vitamins and minerals, which tasted delicious. Many of the liquid supplements produced today replace all the vitamin and minerals that are contained within pills and tablets.

Apart from the taste and ease and convenience of taking them, there is one other major advantage of liquid nutrition supplements. Taking vitamins and minerals in a liquid form is more bio-available (body-ready) than pills or tablets.

To find out more information about the liquid vitamins and minerals Julieanne takes to keep her healthy, go to the following site about a liquid Nutrition Supplements

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julieanne_Van_Zyl

Veriuni Advanced Liquid Nutrition

To lose weight effectively, you're obviously going to have to change your lifestyle. Also, not only does your lifestyle change, so does your body...in a positive way (weight loss, fat burn, muscular physique, etc.), and also possibly in a negative way (which would be J.I.M.). In this article, I'm going to talk about the negative effects on your body and how not to let J.I.M. ruin your efforts to lose weight, burn fat, and gain lean muscle.

What's the burning question running through your mind right now? Is it...what the bleep is J.I.M?! Okay, calm down, I'm going to explain. J.I.M. is:

Sore Joints

Possible Injury

Sore Muscles

Those three culprits which form J.I.M., could keep you from losing weight, burning fat, and getting into the best shape of your life. You must take great care of your body to prevent and fix those problems before they get even worse, which could ultimately keep you from physical activities all together.

Let's talk about prevention. I love prevention. I basically live my life in prevent mode. I drive safe (prevent accidents), I eat healthy (prevent diseases), I go to the gym early (prevent being stuck in a crowded gym and not get access to equipment), etc. Prevention is so important to your fitness efforts. It will cause your muscles to grow more rapidly, and it will keep J.I.M. away. One very important prevention tool is stretching. You MUST stretch after every exercise you do. I do not know how hard I can stress that point...except by putting it in bold letters...YOU MUST STRETCH AFTER EVERY EXERCISE!!

Before you start your weight training routine, you should do at least 3-5 minutes of cardio which will warm up your muscles. I recommend for you to stretch after every set you do within each exercise. Because your muscles tighten up, stretching them after each set will help in restoring them and preventing injury and soreness. A word of caution: Do not stretch, or let alone exercise if you have had a recent fracture, you're experiencing sharp pains, ligament sprains, and muscle strains, soreness, or inflammation.

Also, when you are weight training, it is extremely important to have proper form!!! I can't begin to count how many times I've seen in my gym, some guy standing in front of the mirror with this serious warrior facial expression, and swinging dumbells back and forth like he was about to roll a bowling ball! Apparently, I think they thought their biceps were being worked? You must have proper form when weight training. Having proper form will for one prevent a host of possible injuries and muscle soreness, but will also burn fat faster and give you rapid muscle growth. There are a ton of online forums, magazines, programs, and books that can show you the proper form you should have for particular exercises.

Hopefully you don't get to this point, and that point would be injury. If you are injured you must not exercise. Exercising on top of a injury, will, you guessed it, make it even worse and harder/longer to get fixed. Go to your doctor, physical therapist, etc. to get checked out to see what you're going to need. More than likely, one of the first things your doctor is going to say is rest...and make sure you do so. Not having proper form, and not stretching are two of the most common culprits for injury, so please take heed.

Don't let J.I.M. ruin your weight loss, muscle building, and fat burning efforts. As I always say, take care of your body and it will thank you.

Are you you ready to "lose weight"now? To get started, or to improve your current weight loss efforts, I recommend for you to take a look at this powerful fat burning program. This program is straight to the point and is not your typical "low calorie", "no carb", "don't eat anything all day" type of diet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avy_Barnes

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