OMEGAGUARD - How the Story Began

The first in-depth study of Greenland Eskimos was conducted in the early 1970s by two intrepid scientists with the names of Bang and Dyerberg. They researched a district in Greenland with a population of 2,600 and found that from 1963 to 1967 there were only three deaths from heart attacks. Lacking a better explanation, they theorized that the Greenland Eskimos had some sort of inborn "genetic protection."

The inadequacy of this explanation became clear as members of this population group left Greenland and moved to the United States and Europe. When these transplanted Eskimos adopted a standard Western diet, their rate of coronary heart disease increased to equal the American and European rate.

Astonished by their findings, these two scientists determined that there had been no deaths from heart disease throughout the decade of 1968 to 1978. During this same decade, heart disease was the number one cause of death among Americans!

Bang and Dyerberg were so intrigued that they examined the statistics of all of Greenland and compared them to Americans of the same age and sex. The percentage of deaths from coronary disease in Greenland was 5.3% and in the United States 40.4%. The American population studied had nearly eight times the death rate from heart disease as the Greenland population!

It Had to Be The Diet!
Bang and Dyerberg diligently studied the diet of the Greenland people. After extensive surveys and research, they found "seafood to be the backbone of the diet." The particular type of seafood eaten was cold-water fish. Much of the Eskimo diet is whale, seal and cold-water fish---obviously not the standard American fare!

Science has come a long way from these first inspired exploratory studies. We have discovered the fish have the vital heart-protecting oils wiht the tongue twisting names of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). But, as we shall see EPA and DHA have many more benefits for us than just protecting against heart disease.

Heart Disease
Since heart disease prevention was the first major benefit discovered with the use of fish oils, it became the most studied. Little did we know of the amazing benefits of these fish oils that were yet to be discovered.

In the last 30 years more than 8,000 reports and nearly 900 clinical trials have been completed. Numerous studies have shown strong evidence that omega-3 fatty acids reduce cardiovascular mortality, heart attacks and sudden death which are generally due to electrical problems. Sudden death has always been a bit of a mystery. Why does a person of proper weight, who exercises and doesn't smoke, suddenly drop dead of a heart attack? This where we get the phrase "in 50% of the heart attacks, the fist symptom is death." Whey should this sudden death occur? It was found that these patients had a heat not beating in a regular rhythm, and the membrane of the cardiac tissue was not very stable. All of this was probably due to irritation caused by inflammation of these tissues. Here is the good news. Studies support that supplementing with omega-3 reduces the rate of sudden death by a significant number.

What in the World is Going on Here?

There Are Two General Classes of Fatty Acids
The American diet is predominately made up of omega-6 fatty acids found in corn oils, cottonseed oils and meat. These are the bad guys which cause inflammation in our bodies. Greenland Eskimos' diet is mainly omega-3 fatty acids, the good guys. Countries with high omega-3 fish intakes have much lower heart disease than those whose diet is predominately omega-6.

After 30 years of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Heart Disease, What Have We Learned?
Populations with a high omega-3 intake have over a 50% lower rate of heart attack than those with low omega-3.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids:

• Slow or stop the beginning of plaque build-up in the arteries
• Decrease triglyceride levels
• Decrease the chance of a blood clot forming in an artery
• Improve arterial elasticity and general health
• Lower blood pressure
  
• Decrease the rate of plaque build-up in the heart vessel
  
• Reduce sudden death from a heat attack by 50%
• Lower cholesterol
• Raise the levels of "good" HDL cholesterol
• Stabilize heart muscle and reduce cardiac membrane irritability

The amazing effects of omega 3 fatty actid on both heart attacks and heart attack deaths are without question. There are hundreds of articles to back up the remarkable ability of omega-3 fatty actids to prevent heart disease.

"From the Womb to the Tomb"
For pregnant women a wide range of studies show improvement in pre-term delivery, birth weight, lack of preeclampsia and a reduction recurrent miscarriages..

A large, multi-country observational study of postpartum depression found the hight the levels of DHA, the lower the levels of depression. DHA is highly recommended for lactating females. The literature is clear the DHA is required for cognitive and visual development due to the close associatin of the brain and retina. Omega-3 fatty actids are especially abundant in nerve tissue---60% of the brain is comprised of DHA This fatty acid is essential in visual and neurological development.

Testing has been done showing the positive long-term effects of early DHA supplementation. These children performed significantly better on standard neurological motor function tests than did those with low DHA. We have known since 2000 that children low in omega-3 fatty actids are more apt to have behavioral and learning problems. In studies with ADHD those with the lowest levels of omega-3s scored the highest in behavioral problems, including hyperactivity,impulsivity, anxiety, temper tantrums and sleep problems. At age four the DHA group had higher IQ's. At age six the DHA group continued to outperform the non-DHA group.

Due to mothers' diets, the United States has some of the lowest level of DHA in human milk in the world. Finally --- in 2002 the United States was one of the last countries to add DHA to infant formula.

Alzheimer's, Dementia and Cognitive Decline
Approximately 60% of the fatty acids in the brain are DHA. Individuals with dementia consistently have lower levels of brain DHA compared to controls. Supplements of DHA could have a dramatic effect on the ravages of Alzheimer's.

In one study of 6,158 patients aged 65 or older, the rate of cognitive decline was measured. Those who consumed omega-3 fatty acids reduced the rate of decline by three to four years.

Inflammatory Diseases
Since omega-3 fatty acids help produce anti-inflammatory chemicals in the body, one would expect improvement in diseases involving inflammation. The evidence is quite strong regarding rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), eczema, psoriasis and migraines.

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Sources
Obviously cold-water fish is number one food choice. Some with high omega-3 fatty acid contents are anchovies, salmon, sardines, sea bass, and trout. Authorities suggest the following cold-water fish need to be consumed in only limited amounts because of mercury and other toxins: swordfish, king mackerel, shark, tilefish, tuna red snapper.

In addition, in 2001 the FDA recommended that children, pregnant or nursing women and women who may (who knows?) become pregnant should not eat swordfish and other species known to accumulate high levels of mercury. Now listen, if these fish are not safe for this huge group of people, whey should you or I be consuming them when all of have a healthy alternative? The healthy answer for us is and omega-3 fish oil supplement.

How Do You Choose a Suprior Omega-3 Fish Oil Supplement?
The finest fish oil supplement I have found on the market is OmegaGuard by the Shaklee Corporation. This company has been on the cutting edge of fish oil suplement since the very first ones were release on the market. Each time scientific tecnology improved, Shaklee has brought out new EPA supplements. OmegaGuard is the very best by far!

OmegaGuard is certified, pharmaceutical-grade fish oil. Distillation helps remove both impurities and the fishy odor. Shaklee is the only corporation I know of to use a triple molecular distillation and purification process. They even use a low temperature process (half that of the industry standard) to further concentrate the oil and avoid formation of transfats. All the of the above contribute to very low odor, no aftertaste and easy digestion.

OmegaGuard is a complete fish oil supplement. Let me explain. We are learning there are families of nutrients. There are eight members of the B complex family and six members of the vitain E family. Shaklee products which contain these nutrients contain the whole family unit. The same is true with omega-3 fish oils. OmegaGuard contains DHA, EPA, ALA and four other members of the omega-3 family. Each synergizes the other.

I have examined a number of other fish oil supplements on the market and none come close to the potency and purity of OmegaGuard.

MGM Supplement: An Asprin a Day??

Another popular myth has been busted!

Many doctors advise their patients to take a baby aspirin every day to reduce their risk of heart attack. And this recommendation has been repeated so often in the media and in self-help books and web sites that even more people are taking an aspirin every day without even waiting for their doctor to recommend it.

Is this good advice? Probably not, accordingly to a new study done by Dr.Gerry Fowlkes of the Wolfson Unit for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Edinburgh Scotland. In a study that he presented at the most recent meetingof the European Society for Cardiology in Barcelona Spain he and his colleagues followed 3,000 men at very high risk for developing heart disease for an averageof eight years. Half of the group was randomly assigned to take an aspirin every day and the other half was given aplacebo. At the end of eight years there was no difference in the rate of heart attacks or stroke - or risk of death from any cause - between the two groups. In other words, an aspirin a day did not decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke and had no discernable health benefits in this study. Even worse, there were 34 major bleeds in people taking the aspirin compared to only 20 in people taking theplacebo.And if you looked at internal bleeding that was soserious that it required hospitalization, the risk was almost double for the aspirin users compared to the placebo users. The conclusion of this study was that for otherwise healthy people the risks of taking aspirin outweigh the benefits. The scientists cautioned that for people who have already had a heart attack the benefits of taking anaspirin a day might outweigh the risks.

I would encourage you to investigate natural alternates rather than relying on a drug to reduce your risk of heart disease. For example several recent clinical studies have shown that as little as 500 mg/day of omega-3 fatty acids, whether from fish or from supplements, can reduce the risk of a second heart attack in someone who hasalready had one heart attack by 30-40%.And, of course, the Landmark study showed that people who have used the Shaklee supplements for 20 years or more have 1/3 the incidence of angina, heart attack, stroke or congestive heart failure as people do from using other company’s multivitamins or no supplements at all.

To your health!

Buy Shaklee Products Online..

MGM Supplement: Are you at Risk for Heart Disease?

Virtually all Americans either have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, are overweight, smoke or exercise too little, the team led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"Unfortunately, the limited strides that were made toward this goal during the 1970s and 1980s were eroded by the increases in excess weight, diabetes and hypertension during more recent decades," the CDC's Dr. Earl Ford, who led the study, said in a statement.

Ford's team looked at four national studies covering tens of thousands of Americans aged 25 to 74.

Only 10 percent had low risk scores in all five categories, they reported in the journal Circulation.

"Until the early 90s, we were moving in a positive direction, but then it took a turn and we're headed in a negative direction," said Ford.

"When you look at the individual factors, tobacco use is still headed in the right direction and so are cholesterol levels, although that has leveled off. The problem is that blood pressure, BMI (body mass index, a measure of obesity) and diabetes are all headed in the wrong direction."

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States and many other countries.

(Reuters September 14, 2009)

What are the major risk factors you can modify, treat or control by changing your lifestyle or taking medicine?

* Tobacco smoke — Smokers' risk of developing coronary heart disease is 2–4 times that of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking is a powerful independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death in patients with coronary heart disease; smokers have about twice the risk of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking also acts with other risk factors to greatly increase the risk for coronary heart disease. People who smoke cigars or pipes seem to have a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease (and possibly stroke) but their risk isn't as great as cigarette smokers'. Exposure to other people's smoke increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers.

* High blood cholesterol — As blood cholesterol rises, so does risk of coronary heart disease. When other risk factors (such as high blood pressure and tobacco smoke) are present, this risk increases even more. A person's cholesterol level is also affected by age, sex, heredity and diet.

* High blood pressure — High blood pressure increases the heart's workload, causing the heart to thicken and become stiffer. It also increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and congestive heart failure. When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high blood cholesterol levels or diabetes, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases several times.

* Physical inactivity — An inactive lifestyle is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity helps prevent heart and blood vessel disease. The more vigorous the activity, the greater your benefits. However, even moderate-intensity activities help if done regularly and long term. Physical activity can help control blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, as well as help lower blood pressure in some people.

* Obesity and overweight — People who have excess body fat — especially if a lot of it is at the waist — are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if they have no other risk factors. Excess weight increases the heart's work. It also raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lowers HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. It can also make diabetes more likely to develop. Many obese and overweight people may have difficulty losing weight. But by losing even as few as 10 pounds, you can lower your heart disease risk.

* Diabetes mellitus — Diabetes seriously increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Even when glucose (blood sugar) levels are under control, diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, but the risks are even greater if blood sugar is not well controlled. About three-quarters of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood vessel disease. If you have diabetes, it's extremely important to work with your healthcare provider to manage it and control any other risk factors you can.

What other factors contribute to heart disease risk?

* Individual response to stress may be a contributing factor. Some scientists have noted a relationship between coronary heart disease risk and stress in a person's life, their health behaviors and socioeconomic status. These factors may affect established risk factors. For example, people under stress may overeat, start smoking or smoke more than they otherwise would.

* Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure, cause heart failure and lead to stroke. It can contribute to high triglycerides, cancer and other diseases, and produce irregular heartbeats. It contributes to obesity, alcoholism, suicide and accidents.

The risk of heart disease in people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol (an average of one drink for women or two drinks for men per day) is lower than in nondrinkers. One drink is defined as 1-1/2 fluid ounces (fl oz) of 80-proof spirits (such as bourbon, Scotch, vodka, gin, etc.), 1 fl oz of 100-proof spirits, 4 fl oz of wine or 12 fl oz of beer. It's not recommended that nondrinkers start using alcohol or that drinkers increase the amount they drink.

Taking Shaklee supplements is a great way to get your health back on track. Just a basic Vitalizer pack and Shaklee's pattented Vivix, can really improve your health. Shaklee also has one of the best healthy weight loss tools on the market, Cinch. The Cinch plan is a tasty, yet proven way to shed those unwanted pounds while staying healthy.

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