The quick lists of 5 things to do and 5 things not to do
often provide inaccurate or even misleading information. AARP usually provides
a nice sound bite of information about various things. Mental health comes up
every year with a interesting
brain
health infographic in October 2016 (discover, connect, move, nourish, and
relax). The December 2017 edition of AARP had a big section on brain health and
avoiding Alzheimer’s disease. (Also see
risk
factors related to Alzheimer’s.) The
Guard
Your Mental Health section by Marty Munson offered a “take it” or “leave
it” for several items. The thumbs up items were exercise, friends+family, manage
blood pressure, and nutrition (Mediterranean diet as an example). Evidence
shows that stimulating your brain met with mixed results; the way how you stimulate
your brain is important so some things – even listening to music – work better
than others.
The last three items really were surprising, and
questionable. Don’t sweat the aluminum
in your antiperspirant since there is no evidence to link the trace aluminum from deodorants to mental health issues. (The lack of friends because
you don’t use deodorants might also be a factor in the use-vs-don’t-use
antiperspirant decision.) This is interesting, and it appears to be accurate.
Trace amounts of aluminum should not be a big issue; aluminum is a very common element
and we are continually exposed to it.
The idea to leave
Ginseng was intriguing. It does not appear
to help significantly with brain function; and, as with many supplements, there
could be side-effects, especially for people with other health factors like
diabetes. This sent me to look at the Shaklee product, MindWorks®, and the
active ingredients that are rather strongly promoted with positive research. The ingredients in MindWorks all show pretty strong evidence to
support a healthier body and brain:
chardonnay
grape seed extract,
Guarana extract,
blueberries,
and
green
coffee bean extract. These ingredients have been shown to reduce
cholesterol, improve blood flow, offer anti-oxidation, and improve cognitive
function.
True, Ginseng has very little evidence to contribute to brain
health (and reduced Alzheimer’s), but many other supplements do. Shaklee
provides one of the best overviews on the
subject of
Alzheimer’s. Of course, general health, is critical. Anti-oxidants like B,
E, and C are critical. There is a lot of support showing benefits from
Gingko. So
“leave it” related to Ginseng, seems accurate, but highly misleading, because
it implies that there are no natural health remedies.
The really big erroneous and misleading factor; however, is the
“leave it” for supplements. Not to fault Munson, specifically, there are
several studies that show that people who take supplements are no more healthy
than those who don’t take any supplements. However, the biggest
landmark study on the issue compared
people who took multiple Shaklee supplements (not just a multivitamin) with
those who did not take any supplements at all. This landmark study (Block, et al., 2007) was
conducted in 2007, but ongoing research continues to support its accuracy. The
people who took the multiple vitamins were far healthier, even compared to
people taking only a single multivitamin. Being general healthier is also
directly correlated to brain health.
Shaklee recommends that people have an active and healthy
lifestyle. If you don’t consistently eat well, then you should take supplements. For people worried about aging well, Shaklee offers a trifecta of
products: MindWorks® as discussed above; Vivix® which is a patented resveratrol
blend that is 13x more effective than resveratrol alone (vs gallons of red wine
daily); and OmegaGuard® which provides a pharmaceutical grade omega-3 that helps
to improve heart health.
You will notice that many of the labels on Shaklee
supplements are unique. The
DTX
Liver Health® does not say “active ingredient” it actually says
“medicinal” information!
They can only say that with actual clinical support. MindWorks™ says “Helps
improve mental sharpness & focus and protect against age-related mental
decline.**”.
Resveratrol (Shaklee’s Vivix®) is the one
supplement you should take for age-related protection. There are literally
thousands of studies showing the health and age-protection associated with
resveratrol. You could drink a dozen or so glasses of Muscatine wine (or juice)
each day which, arguably, might have its own set of side-effects; or you could
take Vivix. With Vivix being magnitudes (13x) more effective than the available
resveratrol alternatives, it seems like the best available alternative, even if
it is a little pricy.
While we are on the miracle of Vivix,
there are two new categories of products from Shaklee: Youth™ for
rejuvenation of skin care which actually rebuilds the collagen layer of the
skin (without Botox surgery); and treatment for eye health where age-related macular
degeneration is actually reversed/improved.
Of
course, changes in unhealthy lifestyle should come first, and foremost.
Quitting smoking, for example, will start saving money instantly, and extend
your life dramatically.
Okay, okay. This looks like it is an
advert for Shaklee. A place that is usually great for unbiased information is
Wikipedia. But several entries on the Great Wiki in the sky are not only
misleading, they are inaccurate. Look at the health benefit for
resveratrol. Cancer is one sentence that says that resveratrol won’t cure cancer.
HUH!?? That may, or may not be true, but what about the hundreds of studies
that show it will lower the risks of you getting cancer in the first place…
One sentence that misrepresents a single study in 2011 (Fernandez & Fraga)
to say there is no evidence in any way related to longevity in humans. There is
evidence in mammals, according to their review of available research, and further research in humans
will likely find similar support (which this study didn’t find because they apparently
weren’t looking very hard).
[At some point, I expect to come back to
Wikipedia to fix some of these entries, it is in everyone’s best interest to
have accurate and factual info there; unfortunately, the resveratrol “article”
requires a total rewrite.]
So, yes, I trust the Shaklee information
as a great place to start, and a trustworthy source of nutritional information.
They are in the business of selling products too, but a well-educated, health
and wellness conscious consumer/distributor is critical to Shaklee’s mission
and ongoing success. Shaklee has been producing vitamins/supplement organically
for decades, environmentally friendly household products for about a century
and has operated at a zero carbon footprint since Y2K.
Shaklee is a nice picture of sustainability.
Living healthier and longer, sounds good too.
We at SustainZine would like to
wish you a healthy, wealthy and happy 2018.
References
Agustín F. Fernández & Mario F. Fraga (2011) The effects of the dietary polyphenol
resveratrol on human healthy aging and lifespan, Epigenetics, 6:7, 870-874,
doi: 10.4161/epi.6.7.16499
Block, G., Jensen, C. D., Norkus, E. P., Dalvi, T. B., Wong,
L. G., McManus, J. F., & Hudes, M. L. (2007). Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple
dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study. Nutrition Journal, 6(1).
doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-30