In a recent study, Florida-based research scientists have suggested that about 500mg of caffeine daily could reverse the memory problems seen in Alzheimer’s.

“The results are particularly exciting in that a reversal of pre-existing memory impairment is more difficult to achieve” said Dr Gary Arendash, University of South Florida, “it may be possible that caffeine could also be a viable ‘treatment’ for established Alzheimer’s disease and not just a protective strategy.”

The use of caffeine showed a nearly 50% reduction in levels of the beta amyloid protein, which forms the destructive clumps in the brains of dementia patients. There was also a suggestion that caffeine suppresses inflammatory changes in the brain which produce an over-abundance of this protein.

Caffeine is a safe drug for most people, with only people with high blood pressure and pregnant women having to limit their intake. 500mg is easily achievable for most people.

Coffee is by far the most common way for people to get caffeine into their systems, but there are other sources. One of the most common alternatives is Guaraná.

Guaraná is a creeping shrub, native to Venezuela and northern Brazil. Guaraná seeds are rich in caffeine containing up to 3 times the amount found in coffee. The seeds are also rich in tannins and the xanthine alkaloids, theophylline and theobromine. Guaraná has been traditionally used as a stimulant and to increase mental alertness, fighting fatigue and increasing stamina and physical endurance. Along with now, it would seem, playing a protective and treating role in mental health.

All-in-all, a much better way to get your caffeine intake up with many other added benefits.

Sources:
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8132122.stm
About.com - Alternative Medicine: http://altmedicine.about.com/
Health Notes: http://www.healthnotes.info/uk_db/healthnotes.cfm?ContentID=2103002

Well, Swine Flu, just like Bird Flu and others are all strains of Influenza, each of differing severity and contagiousness, but nevertheless flu.

Tamiflu has been shown to reduce recovery time by between 1 and 1.5 days if started within 40 hours of the symptoms starting.

Recently there have been three studies using between 6 and 8 grams of vitamin C daily, showing that if taken within 24 hours of the symptoms beginning, this recovery time can be reduced by as many as three days! The anti-viral properties of vitamin C and many other antioxidant nutrients are comparable to many conventional drugs.

For any serious infection we would recommend taking vitamin C to ‘bowel tolerance’. Start with 2 grams (2000mg) every 3 to 4 hours. Some people find Ascorbic Acid (the most common Vit C source) too acidic, in which case I would recommend a combination including Sodium Ascorbate.

Other nutrients that have anti-viral activity and are a great addition to vitamin C include; Selenium (at least 50µg), Zinc (15mg), vitamin A, vitamin E and vitamin D. From a herbal prospective one of the very best anti-viral and health giving products is Mushroom Complex and of course the old favourite Echinacea!

The trick with any infection is not getting it in the first place, so always keep your immune system strong. But if the Swine Flu pandemic really does break out then always keep a stock of vitamin c and other antioxidant near by!

Sources:
Direct Gov UK: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177831
Natural Products: Natural Products Magazine - June ‘09 issue
Centre for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

You are cordially invited to look out for our NEW Product Spotlight section every month.

The idea of the Product Spotlight is to focus on a different product every month. This is done to help you, a) get to know the product range better, b) perhaps find products you didn’t know we did and may well find useful, and c) get you used to having a look round the site in readiness for our upcoming competition, in which you could win £’s worth of prizes!

So please do take a look and let others know as there may be something helpful for them!

Good Health
All at Bio Nutrition

Well it appears that the scientists have finally realised we were onto something. At the beginning of June a group of British scientists released a new pill called ‘Ateronon’ at the national conference of the British Cardiovascular Society. Claiming that in tests these fantastic tomato based pills could ’slash cholesterol levels in eight weeks’ and they were ‘much more effective than Statins’, currently taken by thousands of Britons.

Heart expert Dr Rob Hicks said the pill could ’save lives on a global basis’!

Heart disease is the UK’s biggest killer, with almost 200,000 people dying a year from it and 275,000 suffering heart attacks.

What was in this little pill? Nothing more than 7mg of Lycopene. How much will they charge for this in a chemist? £35 for a months supply!

Lycopene Complex contains 10mg of Lycopene (42% more than Ateronon), together with vitamin E and Selenium, two other essential nutrients, in a easy to take vegetarian capsule.

Gaining all the heart benefits of the Mediterranean diet as well as improved eye health and for the men protection for the prostate.

Is this little wonder expensive? We don’t think so, all those great health benefits at only £11.95 for up to a months supply.

Sources:
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8076556.stm
Daily Express: http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/104633/Tomato-pill-to-beat-heart-disease-

You may have noticed over the past few days, maybe even week or so, that the look of the Bio Nutrition website has been changing.

This is being done to hopefully reflect our feelings toward the world in general and the environment especially, whilst maintaining a natural feeling of health and happiness.

We hope that the look ties us in nicely with our partners like 1% for the planet, and we also hope that it appeals more to our core audience, in other words you guys! We’ve spent a lot of time and effort asking you and holding focus groups on how we get across our core values and you’ll be seeing the results rolled out over the next few weeks, including new labels.

So please, tell us what you think, have we got it right or are we way off the mark? You can be assured you’ll still get our great value, high quality products and you may even see a few more being added.

We look forward to seeing Bio Nutrition moving forward as a brand and promoting health and happiness without impacting on the environment!

Thanks for all your help so far!

I know stop groaning! But it’s true. Men who get more than 1500mg of vitamin C a day reduce their risk of developing the painful joint disease gout by 45%.

US researchers who have recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, believe that vitamin C can help prevent the risk of gout, although they did say that just popping a vitamin C tablet with every beer was unlikely to compensate or indeed constitute a healthy lifestyle!

In a 20 year study of nearly 47,000 men there were significant benefits to two groups especially. Those taking 1000-1499mg of vitamin C, and those taking 1500mg vitamin C.

Although thought of as a Victorian condition, gout has slowly been on the increase over the last 30 years, and currently 1.5% of the UK population has the condition. Lead researcher Dr Hyon Choi, of Boston University School of Medicine, said there were good reasons to believe that vitamin C was having a beneficial effect on the men.

How it works!
Vitamin C appears to reduce the levels of uric acid in the blood - a build up of this naturally occurring compound can form crystal deposits in and around the joints, leading to pain and swelling. Vitamin C expels the acid from the blood via the kidneys.

Rheumatologist, Dr Michael Snaith, of the UK Gout Society, said ‘that does not mean to say that taking whacking great amounts of vitamin C is going to eliminate gout’.

But it couldn’t hurt could it?

Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7932158.stm

The problem with the SSL Certificate was rectified on Monday, but then today the server that our website and blog are hosted was down for a large part of the day which meant that the site was not visible.

I’m happy to say that all of these problems are now sorted out and you can continue to shop with us, safe in the knowledge that we take your data privacy very seriously and do everything we can to protect it.

This means it can be difficult to find what you’re looking for in amongst all the things that you’re not looking for; a Google search for health returns around 1.2 billion webpages, so how are you going to find just the page you want? This is where the modern phenomena of social networking really comes into its own; using sites like Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook you can create networks of friends and online buddies with similar interests and they’ll help you find the stuff you’re really after.

We think it’s a great way to make the Internet come to you, rather than for you to have to go searching, which is why we’ve embraced the social networking aspects of today’s web wholeheartedly. We’re not just a site that wants to provide your nutritional supplement needs; we want to become an indispensable source of news and views on the whole subject of health - including supplements, but also anything that might have a bearing on your day to day health.

You can get involved in many different ways. First of all, you can subscribe to the Bio Blog using your favourite RSS reader; just click the ‘Subscribe’ button at the top of the page. Then, if you’re a Twitter user, you can follow our updates from here, or if you’re a FriendFeed user, our updates on that service are here. Another option is to join our Facebook group, which you’ll find here, or become a fan on our Facebook page which is here.

With all of these ways to interact, we hope that you’ll join us in a growing, evolving dialogue about all things health. There’ll be discussions on the Facebook group, comments on Twitter and FriendFeed and posts on the Bio Blog and we want you to come along and join in.Together, we can make Bio Nutrition not just somewhere to buy supplements, but a whole community of like-minded users working together for the benefit of all.

A team of researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University found that people who slept for seven hours or less trebled their risk of catching a cold compared to those who had eight or more hours of sleep. I know, ‘the chance would be a fine thing’, I hear you say! But it does show how important proper rest and relaxation are for continued good health.

The likelihood of cold also seemed to be directly proportional to the lack of sleep!

The researchers believe that lack of sleep has a big effect on our body’s immune system and therefore decrease our ability to fight infection, showing just how closely related they are.

I do realise that getting over eight hours sleep a night is in most peoples wildest dreams, but I think this is where a good all-round antioxidant supplement comes in to help keep the immune system in tip-top condition.

Scientists at the University of Kentucky found that exposure to grape extract caused leukaemia cells to commit suicide. Within 24 hours, 76% of the leukaemia cells exposed died through a process called apoptosis, leaving healthy cells unharmed!

The researchers believe that the discovery could lead to promising new treatments, but warned it was still early days and much more research would be necessary.

Grape extract contains a number of antioxidants including resveratrol, which is known to have anti-cancer properties, as well as having a positive effect on the heart. The other constituents of grape extract have also been shown to have positive effects on skin, bowel, lung and stomach health.

So keep an eye on the Bio Blog as more information becomes available on the health benefits of this and many other natural products and supplements.