Dr. Jonny Bowden

Tag: prevention

  • Grilling Your Way to Cancer? You don’t have to.

    Grilling Your Way to Cancer? You don’t have to.

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    Everyone says grilling meat causes cancer. Read what to do about it.

    By Jonny Bowden

    Barbeque season has arrived, which brings me to my annual message on healthy grilling.

    There is a smart way to grill, and a dumb way to grill. The first helps protect your health, the other does exactly the opposite.

    I recently had the opportunity to discuss healthy grilling when I appeared on Sacramento’s KCRA News and KXTVNews. During both interviews, I suggested that the single most important thing viewers could to protect themselves against cancerous compounds formed while grilling was to make a marinade:  of herbs, spices and Malaysian palm oil.

    The first commandment of grilling: Don’t leave food on the grill until it blackens. Those big flames licking your hamburgers may make the burger look mouth-watering, but what those flames are doing to the burger from a health standpoint is a disaster.

    See, the single biggest danger with grilling is high heat. Those big, attention-getting flames interact with the meat to form compounds called heterocyclic amines, which are carcinogenic.

    There are safer ways to prepare your meal.

    Making a marinade from oils and spices is a great grilling strategy. There’s solid research showing the protective effects of a good marinade as it really cuts down on all the compounds that you don’t want from your barbecue.

    As with everything, details matter, and in this case the details are in the choice of oil and choice of herbs and spices. Some oils work better than others for the marinade. Our diet is way too high in pro-inflammatory omega-6s, which are exactly what we’re consuming when we use vegetable oil. You are much better off switching to some better oils, like Malaysian palm oil. This red oil is filled with carotenoids and tocotrienols and I also like using it because of its sustainability. Malaysia protects 50 percent of their forests, which means there, no orangutan habitats are harmed in the making of palm oil.

    Adding herbs and spices with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory qualities to a better quality cooking oil can spruce up the marinade too. If you look on any nutrition data site, you’ll see that pound for pound, herbs and spices are more nutritionally rich than practically any other class of food. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but I particularly like using turmeric, oregano… or both.

    As Dr. Masley and I wrote in our recent book, Smart Fat, spices are like a medicine cabinet, stocked with terrific, health-giving, natural remedies that we don’t use nearly as much as we should. Use them! Cover whatever you’re grilling with Malaysian palm oil and then just go to town with any or all of the herbs and spices you’ve got on hand. Keep the heat a little bit lower than normal—eat meat, fish and chicken just a tiny bit rarer, and you’ll be doing yourself—and everyone at your BBQ—a tremendous service!

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  • Protect Your Brain with… Onions!

    Protect Your Brain with… Onions!

    A new study suggests that compounds in onions may protect the brain from additional damage linked to stroke.


    This is hardly the first good news about onions, which I wrote about in depth in my book, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”. In a number of impressive published studies, the consumption of onions (and other members of the allium vegetable family) demonstrated protective effects against stomach cancer.

    In one study, eating onions (as well as other members of its family like garlic, scallions, chives, and leeks) significantly lowered the risk for prostate cancer. Onions (and their close relatives have also been shown to have the same effect against esophageal cancer. In the new study, Korean researchers reduced blood flow in the brains of two groups of mice and then fed one of them onion extracts. The results showed that the onion group had significantly reduced brain edema (water in the brain, a common effect of stroke). No such reduction in brain edema was seen in the mice that didn’t get the onions. Other stroke-like damage was also reduced in the group that consumed the onion extracts.

    Onions belong to the allium family, which also includes leeks, garlic, and shallots. They contain a whole pharmacy of compounds with health benefits, including thiosulfinates, sulfides, sulfoxides, and other smelly sulfur compounds. (Sulfur is great for you, but it stinks—think the New Jersey Turnpike!)

    But those same smelly compounds offer a lot of nutrition bang for the relatively small price of a little eye-watering. In a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, onions are one of a very select group of foods that in combination was found to reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by an impressive 20 percent (the others included broccoli, tea, and apples).

    Onions contain powerful antioxidants and are anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antiviral.

    They are a great source of quercetin, one of my favorite anti-inflammatory compounds and one that is associated with beneficial effects on chronic disease like cancer and heart disease.

    This quercetin + stinging nettles combo is terrific for treating allergies.

    The class of chemicals that quercetin belongs to—flavonoids—have antiallergic properties as well, and quercetin in particular is frequently used by nutritionists as part of their arsenal for treating allergies with natural substances.

    Quercetin can help relieve asthma and hay fever by blocking some of the inflammatory responses in the airways.

    Quercetin is one of the most anti-inflammatory plant compounds on the planet.

    Our bodies absorb quercetin from onions very easily, though you’ll probably need quercetin supplements if your main interest is using it therapeutically as an anti-inflammatory.

    Onions also contain a number of sulfides very similar to those in garlic, which may lower blood lipids and blood pressure.

  • Vitamin C Can Reduce High Blood Pressure

    Vitamin C Can Reduce High Blood Pressure

    A study in the  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed large amounts of vitamin C could reduce high blood pressure.

    Researchers here gathered data from 29 randomized, controlled clinical trials that looked at how vitamin C versus a placebo affected hypertension.

    They found that 500 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C daily – way more than the painfully low 90 mg recommended daily intake – could lower blood pressure. For people diagnosed with full-blown hypertension, those positive results became even greater.

    For instance, researchers found vitamin C could reduce blood pressure almost as well as ACE inhibitors and diuretics, without the drugs’ side effects. That’s because vitamin C works as a natural diuretic to help blood vessel walls relax and lower blood pressure.

    The study concluded that if people took 500 mg of vitamin C every day, “there would be a lot fewer strokes.”

    That’s enough reason for me to take it. Fortunately, vitamin C does about a zillion other beneficial things.

    Regardless of those positive outcomes, researchers offered the typical fence-straddling reply about needing  “more research to understand the implications of taking [vitamin C and other supplements].” Uh, huh.

    This skepticism is nothing new. Linus Pauling, who a century ago championed mega-doses of vitamin C for heart disease, cancer, infections, and many other conditions, was branded a quack by the medical establishment.

    Despite criticism even today, Pauling’s reputation endures. Dr. Hilary Roberts calls him the greatest ever American scientistand he remains the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes for chemistry and later peace.

    Pauling understood how this vitamin positively impacted numerous conditions way before the medical profession and food manufacturers hopped on the vitamin-C bandwagon.

    Today we have countless studies proving vitamin C’s effectiveness and safety in larger doses. One in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition for instance, found that two grams of vitamin C was completely safe for most adults.

    I know many experts who take three or more grams of vitamin C a day. More progressive practitioners often put people with chronic diseases like cancer and HIV on 10 or more grams with excellent results and no side effects.

    I want you to increase your vitamin C intake, but your go-to source should not be orange juice. I see juices commonly tout they contain 100% of your day’s vitamin C. Most are also loaded with enough sugar (some more than soda) to wipe away what benefits you get from this little bit of vitamin C.

    So skip the juice, but eat plenty of vitamin-C rich vegetables and fruits. The top 10 sources of dietary vitamin C are…

    1. Papaya
    2. Bell Peppers
    3. Strawberries
    4. Broccoli
    5. Pineapple
    6. Brussels Sprouts
    7. Kiwifruit
    8. Oranges
    9. Cantaloupe
    10. Kale

    I want you to eat as many of these foods on a daily basis as possible. With the warm weather approaching, you can find abundant fresh fruits and vegetables at your local farmers market.

    To get therapeutic amounts of this multitasking vitamin, however, you’ll probably need to supplement:

    You can get over 500 mg of vitamin C – the amount these studies confirmed benefit blood pressure – with just one capsule of Stellar C. Unlike those poorly absorbed drugstore brands that can upset your stomach, this powerful formula combines vitamin C with synergistic immune-boosting bioflavanoids like hesperidin, rutin, quercitin, and Ayurvedic fruits.
    If you’d rather get it in a multi, you can take Twice Daily from Designs for Health. Just two capsules a day provide 500 mg of vitamin C as well as numerous other vitamins and minerals.
    I can’t talk about vitamin C without mentioning Lipoic Synergy, also from Designs for Health. Alpha-lipoic acid does a great job recycling vitamins C and E as well as your master antioxidant glutathione, so you need less of these nutrients to do their many jobs. Lipoic Synergy also contains 200 mg of taurine. A study in the journal Amino Acids found taurine created measureable decreases in blood pressure. So you get the anti-hypertensive combo of vitamin-C recycling alpha-lipoic acid and taurine in one capsule.
  • Omega-3’s Reduce Stroke Severity

    Omega-3’s Reduce Stroke Severity

    ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2011) — A diet rich in omega-3s reduces the severity of brain damage after a stroke, according to a study conducted by Université Laval researchers.

    The team, co-directed by professors Jasna Kriz and Frédéric Calon, showed that the extent of brain damage following a stroke was reduced by 25% in mice that consumed DHA type omega-3s daily. Details of the study can be found on the website of the journal Stroke.

    Researchers observed that the effects of stroke were less severe in mice that had been fed a diet rich in DHA for three months than in mice fed a control diet. In mice from the DHA group, they saw a reduction in the concentrations of molecules that stimulate tissue inflammation and, conversely, a larger quantity of molecules that prevent the activation of cell death.

    “This is the first convincing demonstration of the powerful anti-inflammatory effect of DHA in the brain,” underscored Frédéric Calon of Université Laval’s Faculty of Pharmacy. This protective effect results from the substitution of molecules in the neuronal membrane: DHA partially replaces arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid known for its inflammatory properties.

    “The consumption of omega-3s creates an anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective environment in the brain that mitigates damage following a stroke,” summarized Jasna Kriz, of Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine.

    “It prevents an acute inflammatory response that, if not controlled, is harmful to brain tissue.”

    Professor Calon believes that this anti-inflammatory effect is likely transferable to humans.

    “Since DHA is readily available, inexpensive, and reduces the risk of a number of health problems without causing significant side effects, the risk-benefit ratio tends to favor the regular consumption of fish or DHA,” he concluded.

  • Fiber Reduces Risk of Death!

    Fiber Reduces Risk of Death!

    Dietary fiber may be associated with a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases, as well as a reduced risk of death from any cause over a nine-year period, according to a report posted online February 14 that will be published in the June 14 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

    Fiber, the edible part of plants that resist digestion, has been hypothesized to lower risks of heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and obesity, according to background information in the article. It is known to assist with bowel movements, reduce blood cholesterol levels, improve blood glucose levels, lower blood pressure, promote weight loss and reduce inflammation and bind to potential cancer-causing agents to increase the likelihood they will be excreted by the body.

    Yikyung Park, Sc.D., of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from 219,123 men and 168,999 women in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire at the beginning of the study in 1995 and 1996. Causes of death were determined by linking study records to national registries.

    Participants’ fiber intake ranged from 13 to 29 grams per day in men and from 11 to 26 grams per day in women. Over an average of nine years of follow-up, 20,126 men and 11,330 women died. Fiber intake was associated with a significantly decreased risk of total death in both men and women — the one-fifth of men and women consuming the most fiber (29.4 grams per day for men and 25.8 grams for women) were 22 percent less likely to die than those consuming the least (12.6 grams per day for men and 10.8 grams for women).

    The risk of cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases was reduced by 24 percent to 56 percent in men and 34 percent to 59 percent in women with high fiber intakes. Dietary fiber from grains, but not from other sources such as fruits, was associated with reduced risks of total, cardiovascular, cancer and respiratory disease deaths in men and women.

    “A diet rich in dietary fiber from whole plant foods may provide significant health benefits,” the authors conclude.

    Dr. Jonny comments: In my book, “Living Low Carb: Controlled Carbohydrate Eating for Long Term Weight Loss” I have a section on the best supplements for weight loss. Here’s what I said then about fiber: “It’s not expensive, it’s not exotic, and it’s not sexy, but it works like a charm. It’s plain, old-fashioned fiber. More than a dozen clinical studies have used dietary fiber supplements for weight loss, most with positive outcomes”.

    So fiber for weight loss? Absolutely. But as this new research points out, fiber does a lot more than that, protecting against a host of diseases and even lowering the risk of overall mortality. Most health organizations recommend you get between 25-38 grams of fiber daily (more is better!) Our Paleo ancestors probably got more than 50 grams daily. The average American gets between 4-11.

    Fiber supplements can help, and are easy to add to shakes. It’s a great way to get additional fiber in your diet, something just about everyone can benefit from. An alternative to powdered fiber is the pretty tasty chewables known as Fiber Delights, which you can pop like candy. Each chewable contains 4 grams of fiber, about 1/3 to 1/4 the amount in a cup of beans! Not bad!

  • Vegetables and Fruits Lower Risk of Dying by 22%

    Vegetables and Fruits Lower Risk of Dying by 22%

    One of the largest studies of links between diet and heart disease was recently completed. The results were very clear: people who consume more fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of dying from heart disease.

    Most readers already suspected that. But what makes this study great is that it shows exactly how many fruit and vegetables you need and exactly the degree of protection against heart disease you’ll get for your efforts.

    The study—known as EPIC, or European Prospective investigation into Cancer and Nutrition– showed that people who ate at least eight 3-ounce portions of fruit and vegetables a day had a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease than did those who consumed fewer than three portions. (A portion is roughly equivalent to a small banana, a medium apple, or a carrot.

    According to the lead researcher, Dr. Francesca Crowe, every additional portion of fruit or vegetables above 2 a day reduced your risk of dying from heart disease by 4%.

    Each and every portion.

    (A related study found that every two servings of total fruits and veggies also reduces the incidence of cancer by 4%.)

    Think about that for a sec. If there was a pill with no side effects that you could pop a bunch of times a day and every time you took one your risk for dying dropped 4% would you take it?

    In this study—which by the way included 300,000 people in eight different European countries—a person who ate 3 portions a day of veggies or fruits was 4% less likely to die over the course of the study than someone who ate 2 portions; and those 4%’s keep adding up, all the way up to 8 portions a day.

    The researchers found that the average intake of fruit and vegetables was five portions a day; people in Greece, Italy and Spain ate more, and those in Sweden ate less.

    That means, if you’re consuming five a day, you could lower your risk of dying from heart disease a hefty 12% more just by adding three more servings of vegetables a day. (And those are small servings we’re talking about!)

    Sir Michael Marmot head of the UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health writes “There would need to be big shift in dietary patterns to achieve this healthy consumption of eight portions a day. It is worth trying to move in that direction.”