Sunbathing Boosting Testosterone in Men
February 5, 2010
BBC News
The bulk of this essential nutrient is made by the skin on exposure to sunlight. The rest comes from the diet.
A study in Clinical Endocrinology journal of 2,299 men found those with enough of the vitamin had more of the male sex hormone than those with less.
Blood levels of both dipped in the winter and peaked in the summer.
Low testosterone levels can impact on a man’s libido as well as zap energy levels.
It also performs essential functions in both men and women such as maintaining muscle strength and bone density.The researchers from the Medical University of Graz, Austria, found men with at least 30 nanograms of vitamin D per millilitre of blood had much more testosterone circulating than those lacking in vitamin D.
Across the 2,299 men studied, testosterone and vitamin D levels appeared to peak in the month of August, and drop off in the winter, hitting their lowest levels in March.
Professor Winfried Marz and colleagues, who ran the study, said scientists should now look at whether vitamin D supplements would have the same effect on testosterone.
Ad Brand of the Sunlight Research Forum in The Netherlands, a non-profit organisation set up to inform the general public on latest medical research on sun and health, said: “Men who ensure that their body is at least sufficiently supplied with vitamin D are doing good for their testosterone levels and their libido among other things.”
Cancer experts warn that too much sun exposure is damaging for the health.
Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: “We know that medically we can increase the libido and general well-being of men who have low levels of testosterone by giving them testosterone replacement therapy.
“However, this is for a defined set of medical circumstances where testosterone production is low.
“Whether healthy men notice a significant changes throughout the year is less clear and I would urge men to be sensible about using sunbeds in the winter months given the known risks of using them excessively.”
Jessica Harris of Cancer Research UK said: “Enjoying the sun safely while taking care not to burn should help people strike a balance between making enough vitamin D and avoiding a higher risk of skin cancer.
“People can also top up their levels of vitamin D by eating more foods like oily fish such as salmon, trout or mackerel.”
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Medical Study Recommends Fewer Cancer Screenings
December 15, 2009
NaturalNews
by Paul Louis
The U.S. Preventative Task Force posted findings online in the November 17 Annals of Internal Medicine to determine the validity of various health screenings and recommend their frequency. The following five screening tests are now considered virtually useless.
PSA Tests: Most men have used this blood test to determine the protein antigen count as a staple for prostate health assurance or prostate cancer early warning. But this association is unreliable. The positive PSA tests lead to unnecessary procedures with negative side effects, and negative PSA test results are not total assurances of healthy prostates. Despite the prostate cancer rate of 20 percent, only 3 percent die from it.
DEXA: Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DXA) to determine bone density and bone strength. There are too many variables from individual to individual and even among the machines used. This one lacks enough uniform science.
Full-body scans: A very expensive and unreliable way to determine if anything is wrong with you. Commercial CT scans are very unreliable. CT scans should only be used by specialists to determine specific problems.
Home menopause test: This one is popular among women who had used home pregnancy tests. It measures follicle stimulating hormone or FSH in urine. The kit doesn’t even do this well. Since pre-menopausal female hormones vary considerably, this makes an even efficient FSH urine test unreliable.
Home Alzheimer’s test: This one wins the hokum award. It is simply a scratch and smell test. The premise is the loss of smell as a warning of imminent Alzheimer’s. Olfactory inabilities with Alzheimer’s occur occasionally, but it’s far from being a reliable indicator. It could be simply a problem with smelling. Besides, one could sniff anything to determine olfactory capacity!
Not surprisingly, the recommendation to decrease mammograms drew the American Cancer Society’s objection. Despite the Task Force’s recommendation to start mammograms once every two years at age 50, the Cancer Society is sticking to its recommendation of mammograms once a year from age 40.
The Preventative Task Force has examined data that indicates there has been over diagnosis for breast cancer leading to unnecessary expensive and painful treatments. Often tumors are benign or so slow growing they don’t require harsh treatment. Many health practitioners believe mammograms actually create breast cancer.
Omega-3s Also Needed by Young Boys
November 10, 2009
NaturalNews
by S. L. Baker, features writer
Regular readers of NaturalNews have long been aware of the importance of adequate omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. These healthy fats, abundant in cold water fish like salmon, have been found to prevent and/or treat a diverse list of conditions — from prostate cancer and dementia to heart problems and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Now a study from Sweden provides evidence of yet another benefit of omega-3s. Growing boys who eat foods rich in this “good fat” build denser, stronger bones.
Omega-3s have been linked to bone health before but previous studies have looked mostly at older adults and young men. This time, however, researchers investigated the effect of omega-3 intake on the bones of children — specifically, 85 eight-year-old boys. Scientists in the department of pediatrics at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg’s Institute of Clinical Sciences used x-rays and blood samples to analyze markers indicating the bone mineralization density in the boys’ bodies. They found youngsters with higher omega-3 intakes had far better bone mineral density, which is a sign of strong and healthy bones.
But parents should be aware of another key finding in this study, which was recently published in the British Journal of Nutrition. It isn’t only abundant omega-3s in the diet that the scientists found to be important for boys’ bone health. The ratio between omega-3s and another type of fatty acids, omega-6s, appears to be crucial. Those boys with a lower omega-3 intake and a higher omega-6 intake had the lowest bone density. Bottom line: consuming too many omega-6s, which are rampant in the typical American diet, thins bones while eating a diet rich in omega-3s builds bones.
Omega-6s are believed to weaken bones because they interact with a receptor in bone marrow cells known as PPAR-gamma that’s thought to be involved in regulating bone density and formation. Unfortunately, the typical child in the U.S. and many European countries gets far too many omega-6s in his or her diet by eating fast and processed foods made with omega-6 loaded vegetable oils such as corn and soy.
In previous research, the University of Gothenburg scientists also found that milk plays an important role in whether or not youngsters have strong bones. However, the researchers’ conclusion may come as a surprise to those who believe the milk industry advertisements that proclaim milk builds strong bones. The Swedish scientists found that children who drank full-fat milk regularly had lower bone mineral density readings. In fact, kids who seldom or never drank milk had stronger bones.
The explanation for this could lie in the fact milk — in particular, full-fat milk from typically grain-fed dairy cows — is loaded with omega-6 fatty acids. On the other hand, dairy cows that are naturally fed by grazing in a pasture tend to produce milk higher in omega-3s and lower in omega-6s.
Vitamin D – Curing Better Than a Vaccine
November 3,2009
NaturalNews
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The news is out: Vitamin D is better than the swine flu vaccine at halting H1N1 infections. In fact, without vitamin D, chances are that a vaccine won’t generate much of an immune response in the first place. naturally belongs in your body.swine flu vaccine that you might enjoy:The swine flu vaccine was a hoax
All the “science” turned out to be jokes
One quick vaccination
Caused genetic mutation
Turning friendly young girls into blokes
That’s because vitamin D is essential for healthy, active immune function. That’s just one of the reasons smart people are choosing vitamin D instead of the swine flu vaccine. Here are nineteen more reasons:
#1 Vitamin D activates your immune system to respond to any viral exposure (not just one virus).
#2 Vitamin D
#3 Vitamin D has been functioning as medicine in the human body since the beginning of the human species.
#4 Vitamin D is available right now and there’s no shortage of it.
#5 Vitamin D won’t cause your brain to swell and put you into a coma.
#6 Vitamin D doesn’t require an injection with a scary needle.
#7 Vitamin D is found naturally in many foods such as sardines or salmon.
#8 Vitamin D has a perfect safety record. No one ever died from consuming it.
#9 Vitamin D is affordable. You can even get it for free (from sunlight).
#10 Vitamin D doesn’t contain viral fragments from diseased animals (like vaccines often do).
#11 Vitamin D doesn’t contain thimerosal or other chemical preservatives.
#12 Vitamin D doesn’t need a warning sheet describing possible side effects.
#13 Vitamin D doesn’t hurt your arm when you take it.
#14 Vitamin D also improves sugar metabolism, bone density and healthy moods.
#15 Vitamin D is safe for the environment.
#16 Vitamin D doesn’t contain squalene or other inflammatory adjuvant chemicals.
#17 Vitamin D works on everyone and is safe for everyone, including infants and children.
#18 Vitamin D is made in nature, not a laboratory.
#19 Vitamin D is found naturally in breast milk.
#20 You can walk, and chew gum, and generate vitamin D from sunshine all at the same time!
Skip the vaccine. Get more Vitamin D!
And here’s a little limerick I wrote about the
