How Toxic Is Your Home?

You may not realize it, but the air inside your home could be more polluted than the air outside. That’s right. Thanks to the ultra high-efficiency homes being built these days, they can trap in the contaminants and pollutants that get pumped in from outside air. The problem is, they have no way of escaping. So, your home’s air can become concentrated with pollutants. Plus, when you use traditional chemical cleaning products or own pets, the problem can just become worse. What can you do? One thing you should always do is check your furnace and air conditioning filters at least once every six months, changing them out as needed or cleaning them as needed. There are also specialized ultra-violet light filters that can be installed into many home heating/cooling units that can kill up to 99.9% of all airborne contaminants, including viruses, bacteria and other nasty little critters. You can also give up those chemical cleaners for a eco-friendly approach like the e-cloth, which uses nothing but tap water to clean up dirt and grime from kitchen and bath surfaces.

 

Step Up & Green Up for The Earth

“Going green” has been all the rage for many years now. Whether you believe in global warming or not, taking small, painless steps to help protect the natural beauty and bounty of our world is something with which we can all get on board. Here are a few small steps that you can take to green up your daily life:

 

• Change out old traditional light bulbs with energy efficient light bulbs (compact fluorescent light bulb, or CFLs for short).
• When buying new appliances or electronics like TVs or computers, check for the ENERGY STAR, which signifies that they use less energy to run and are therefore more efficient.
• Whenever possible, as the season permits in many cases, eat locally grown foods from your local farmers market. Not only will you be supporting your local economy, you’ll be saving the environment from more emissions as a result from less transportation costs.
• Buy recycled products - and recycle your trash. In addition, steer clear of products that use excessive packaging. Swanson Health Products is proud of the fact that we don’t waste space in our packaging or bottles. Unlike potato chip bags, we fill our bottles right to the top!

 

If You’ve Lost Your Focus, Go Play

Back when you were young, what did your mother make you do when you got a little rambunctious in the house? She made you go outside and play, right? Well that little spark of wisdom may be far brighter than you might think. Not only is going outside to play a whole lot of fun, it can help you clear your mind and refresh your thinking. If you’re stuck on a project at work, staring at a blank screen or just can’t seem to figure out a solution to a problem that has been nagging you for some time, take a break, get up and go outside for a walk. This little bit of exercise refreshes your whole body and gets the blood pumping again (to your brain especially). Don’t fight the child instincts in you that are leading you to get up and get out. Instead, follow these instincts and come back to work more focused and tackle your project with a fresh set of eyes.

 

Can Chewing Gum Kill Your Stress?

Feeling overly stressed lately? There might be a simple little trick you can do to help relieve some of that built-up tension. Try popping in a stick of gum and chew it out. That’s right, new research is looking at the potential stress-relieving benefits of chewing gum. Scientists have been studying the psychological benefits of gum chewing. One study used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to test for changes in study participants’ levels of stress as they relate to gum chewing. The perception of stress dropped for those who chewed gum. Feeling less relaxed and tenser was reported by participants who did not chew gum. It also seems that fast gum chewing is more beneficial than leisurely slow gum chewing. So chew on that the next time you’re feeling stressed out.  

 

Where did it all go?

You probably don’t know off hand what level of vitamin D you have in your body. Chances are, however, that you could use more. We say that because a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine states that vitamin D levels have dramatically decreased among Americans in the past two decades. “We found a marked increase in vitamin D deficiency over the past two decades,” Dr. Adit Ginde, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine said. He expanded on the statement: “Over three out of every four Americans now have vitamin D levels below what we believe is necessary for optimal health. African-Americans and Hispanics are at particularly high risk—nearly all have suboptimal levels.” The researchers found that average vitamin D levels were 30 nanograms per milliliter from 1988 to 1994, but decreased to 24 nanograms per milliliter between 2001 and 2004. Moreover, vitamin D levels of less than 10 nanograms per milliliter increased from two percent to six percent over the study period.

Archives of Internal Medicine 169(6):626-632, 2009

 

Just right for cardiovascular support

How much DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) supplementation supports cardiovascular health? We didn’t know until we read about a study conducted in France. Apparently a 200 mg daily dose of DHA is the answer. “Now that we have a very good idea about how much DHA is just right, the next step is to try it out in an expanded clinical trial,” the editor of the FASEB Journal said. All the information was published in the FASEB Journal an arm of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biologies. (That was a mouthful.) The French researchers rounded up 12 healthy men between 53 and 65 years old and assigned them to consume increasing doses of DHA of 200 400, 800 and 1,600 mg per day for two weeks. Researchers reported that after two weeks of 200 mg per day an “antioxidant effect” was promoted that supported a healthy cardiovascular system.

FASEB Journal 23(9):2909-2916, 2009

 

An eye for an eye and a pound for a pound

This is interesting—astaxanthin, a carotenoid mostly associated with maintaining eye health, may also enhance the burning of fat during exercise and promote muscle endurance. The surprising results came from a study involving lab mice. Why the researchers decided to look at astaxanthin’s relation to metabolism we don’t know, but they investigated astaxanthin’s support of muscle lipid metabolism in exercise. Mice that consumed astaxanthin during exercise were compared to mice who didn’t take axtaxanthin during exercise. What did they find? Results of the study showed that astaxanthin promoted lipid metabolism rather than glucose utilization during exercise, which supported “endurance and efficient reduction of adipose tissue with training.”

Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications 366(4):892-897, 2008

 

Down with weight!

The battle of the bulge has been waged throughout most of history. Losing weight never has been and never will be a simple, easy task. Diet and exercise still lead the way when it comes to maintaining healthy weight. But there are several things we can do to help chip away at those excess pounds. Apparently taking multivitamins can provide needed support. In fact, the good news was reported in a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Researchers found that women who consume multivitamins or dietary supplements as part of a weight-loss program may have reduced appetite. Researchers conducted two studies, a comparison of the characteristics between vitamin or dietary supplement consumption and non-consumption, and the effects of multivitamin and mineral supplementation during a weight-reducing program. While both studies included men and women, the women reported reduced appetite. Sorry men! But both groups experienced lower body weight, fat mass and body mass index following the weight-loss intervention.

British Journal of Nutrition Published online

 

Time to bone-up on bone health

Alright, so you know that calcium is important for maintaining healthy bones and vitamin D enhances absorption of the calcium. But, how many times does the term vitamin K roll off the tip of your tongue? Well, listen up because it appears that vitamin K also plays a role in promoting healthy bones. Researchers have found that children with higher levels of vitamin K in their systems exhibited more support for the maintenance of healthy bones. The study involved 109 children between the ages of 5 and 18 and determined vitamin K status and measured bone health. The study correlated vitamin K status, measured as a ratio of under-carboxylated osteocalcin to carboxylated osteocalcin, to bone mineral content and markers of bone metabolism. Researchers discovered that healthy levels of vitamin K in youngsters may help support long-term bone health as they age.

Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 26(3):484-491, 2008

Taking flavonoids to heart

Flavonoids…what are they? No, they’re not related to The Noid, the pizza-selling character in old TV commercials. They’re compounds found in fruits and vegetables that display a variety of beneficial and antioxidant effects. Why do we care about flavonoids? Because they’re healthy. In fact, supplementing with flavonoids may support the lining of healthy blood vessels. That’s what a group of scientists found. A daily dose of quercetin or (-)-epicatechin appeared to promote healthy endothelial function, a key marker of cardiovascular health. “We have shown that oral administration of pure dietary flavonoids, quercetin and (-)-epicatechin, augment NO (nitric oxide) status in healthy men,” researchers wrote. Nitric oxide is a molecule used by the endothelium to signal surrounding muscles to relax. Flavonoids can be split into a number of sub-classes, including anthocyanins found in berries, flavonols from a variety of fruit and vegetables, flavones from parsley and thyme, flavanones from citrus, isoflavones from soy, mono- and poly-metric flavonols like the catechins in tea and the proanthocyanidins from berries, wine and chocolate.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 88(4):1018-1025, 2008