How Glucosamine Helps Your Joints

As we age we notice more aches and pains and the knees don’t bend like they used to - our joints basically start hurting. Why is this?

Our joints are protected by a fluid that allows them to move freely. Without the fluid, there is friction, which then causes pain. As we age, cartilage loses its ability to hold water. What we need is something to help us produce a cushion in the joint, this is where the supplement glucosamine comes in. Glucosamine has been proven to have the ability to create synovial fluid, a thick and gelatinous substance, which allows our joints to hold more water. Glucosamine is formed when glucose combines with an amino acid. It is a building block for cartilage.

Glucosamine also inhibits the breakdown of proteoglycans and may aid in rebuilding damaged cartilage. NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs) such as aspirin, have been shown to do the opposite, actually causing the disease to progress at a faster rate while masking the pain.

Glycosaminoglycans, chondroitan sulphates, collagen, and water make up 90% of the cartilage composition. Recent studies have shown that the introduction of large quantities of glucosamine sulphate have an ability to raise the fluid levels within the cartilage from dangerously low levels to levels that are tolerable, if not favorable to joint health. When the fluid levels are close to the norm, there is a tendency for much less damage to the nerves due to a greater resilience in the disk from the higher water content.

Glucosamine also helps attract and keep water in the joints where it can do the most good.

In addition to lessened nerve protection, higher fluid levels over time (say 12-18 months) will allow the peripheral nervous system to grow into areas where previously little or no feeling was observed. Thus, the theory behind taking the glucosamine supplements is that these dietary supplements help you rebuild your nervous system and cartilage and thus regain a portion of your lost mobility.

The benefit of glucosamine for sufferers of osteoarthritis is backed by many double blind, placebo controlled studies. Although initially painkillers have been shown to decrease pain faster than glucosamine, glucosamine is more effective over time. There is no danger of kidney failure or other extremely harmful side effects with glucosamine either and the body absorbs it rather quickly.

Glucosamine is not expensive (you can find high quality liquid products for under a dollar a day). Dosages may be split up and taken prior to a meal or may simply be taken once a day. Most doctors will suggest you take 1,500 mg of glucosamine per day and this can be taken while undergoing other alternative therapy i.e. chiropractic, acupressure, yoga, physio-therapy, etc.

Some people combine their glucosamine with chondroitin

Chondroitin sulfate exists naturally in your cartilage. It’s thought to draw fluid into the tissue to give our cartilage more elasticity and to slow cartilage breakdown by protecting it from destructive enzymes. As a supplement, it is exclusively derived from cattle sources and is often taken along with glucosamine to assist with maintaining joint health. The combined use is known to produce a "synergistic" effect. It’s been prescribed for pain relief in osteoarthritis in some parts of Europe where it is a prescription drug for decades.

Although chondroitin alone hasn't been proven to help with or reverse cartilage loss, in some studies it appeared to help improve function and ease pain. In one placebo-controlled study, joint narrowing in the knee became stabilized in patients who were put on chondroitin supplement. Another controlled study looked at osteoarthritis of the finger joints for a period of three years. Among the group that took chondroitin, there was a significant decrease in the number of patients with new erosions in their finger joints.

Why put up with aches and pains any longer than you have to when there is a natural solution waiting for you?

R. Fredriksen is the Vice President of Nutrition Dome, a leading provider of Jarrow Formulas, Met-Rx, Pioneer Nutritional Formulas, Lipodrene and other quality supplements. For more information, please visit www.nutritiondome.com.

Milk Thistle and Your Liver

Our liver plays a major role in our body. Not only is it the largest internal organ we have, it also helps our metabolism, works in glycogen storage, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification. The liver also produces bile, which aids in digestion, via the emulsification of lipids.

When we take substances into our bodies such as alcohol, or the least obvious such as medications, our liver must work on removing its toxic properties for us. All of this work can often tax our liver. But there is a natural way to help strengthen your liver and it’s through the herb Milk Thistle.

Milk Thistle is a plant that is native to the Mediterranean region. It has been used for thousands of years as a remedy for a variety of ailments, especially liver problems.

Milk Thistle has also been called Mary thistle and holy thistle, but its Latin name is Silybum marianum

The Milk Thistle’s stem is tall, branched and furrowed but not spiny. The large, alternate leaves are waxy-lobed, toothed and thorny, as in other genera of thistle. The lower leaves are cauline (attached to the stem without petiole). The upper leaves have a clasping base. They have large, disc-shaped pink-to-purple, rarely white, solitary flower heads at the end of the stem. The flowers consist of tubular florets. The phyllaries under the flowers occur in many rows, with the outer row with spine-tipped lobes and apical spines. The fruit is a black achene with a white pappus.

The Milk Thistle has historically been used to treat liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis (liver inflammation), and gallbladder disorders. What makes Milk Thistle so medicinal? An active compound called silymarin.

Besides benefiting our liver, Milk Thistle is also known to:
• Lowering cholesterol levels
• Reducing insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes who also have cirrhosis
• Reduce the growth of cancer cells in breast, cervical, and prostate cancers.
• Reduce the effects of a hangover.

The silymarin, which can be extracted from the seeds (fruit), are used to prepare capsules containing powdered herb or seed; extracts; and infusions (strong teas). The silymarin is found in the milk thistle seeds and in this form is difficult to absorb. The more concentrated the solution of silymarin, the more easily it is absorbed and the more readily it enters the bloodstream.

Standardized capsules are the most concentrated form and, therefore, should be used whenever possible.

Preliminary research with a new form of silymarin (BioSorb Silymarin) indicates a much greater bioavailability in both animal and human studies. These studies show that BioSorb Silymarin to enhance peak silymarin blood concentrations by 290% in just 1.5 hours. Even more impressive, concentrations remained elevated by 342% for 12 hours, making Biosorb Silymarin the state of the art antioxidant promoting enhance liver health with 5 times more absorption.

So does your liver need a tune-up? Go the natural way and give the ancient herbal practice of using Milk Thistle a shot.

R. Fredriksen is the Vice President of Nutrition Dome, a leading provider of Jarrow Formulas, Met-Rx, Pioneer Nutritional Formulas, Lipodrene and other quality supplements. For more information, please visit www.nutritiondome.com.

Putting Down the Cigarettes

Has the cost of cigarettes or the new laws having you ask whether you should put down the smokes for good? If so, there are some things to know that will help you on your way.

The first thing to know is that nicotine is a very addictive substance that one doesn’t realize the affects of until they decide to remove it from their life. If you have heard that it is more addictive than cocaine or heroin, you heard right

Since 1988, nicotine dependence and withdrawal have been recognized as disorders by the American Psychiatric Association, legitimizing the experience of the millions who have tried, successfully and otherwise, to put smoking behind them while kibitzers told them to use more willpower.

It's not just a habit, the medical and scientific communities now fully agree, but an addiction, comparable in strength to hard drugs and alcohol.

The news, however, isn't all bad. For the last 20 years, the proportion of Americans who smoke has dropped continuously, for the first time in our history. In America today, there are nearly 45 million ex-smokers, about as many as are still puffing away.

These quitters, perhaps surprisingly, are for the most part the same folk who tried and failed before. The average person who successfully gives up smoking does so after five or six futile attempts, says Fiore. "It appears that many smokers need to go through a process of quitting and relapsing a number of times before he or she can learn enough skills or maintain enough control to overcome this addiction."

Never underestimate the power of your enemy. Although nicotine may not give the taste of Nirvana that more notorious drugs do, its effects on the nervous system are profound and hard to resist. It increases levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine, brain chemicals that regulate mood, attention, and memory. It also appears to stimulate the release of dopamine in the reward center of the brain, as opiates, cocaine, and alcohol does.

Addiction research has clearly established that drugs with a rapid onset -- that hit the brain quickly -- have the most potent psychological impact and are the most addictive. "With cigarettes, the smoker gets virtually immediate onset," says Jack Henningfield, Ph.D., chief of clinical pharmacology research for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The cigarette is the crack cocaine of nicotine delivery."

Physiologically, smoking a drug, be it cocaine or nicotine, is the next best thing to injecting it. In fact, it's pretty much the same thing. The blood extracts nicotine from inhaled air just as efficiently as oxygen, and delivers it, within seconds, to the brain.

For many, nicotine not only gives pleasure, it eases pain. Evidence has mounted that a substantial number of smokers use cigarettes to regulate emotional states, particularly to reduce negative affect like anxiety, sadness, or boredom.

Acute withdrawal is over within four to six weeks for virtually all smokers. But the addiction is by no means all over. Like those who have been addicted to other drugs, ex-smokers apparently remain susceptible to "cues.” Just as seeing a pile of sugar can arouse craving in the former cocaine user, being at a party or a club, particularly around smokers can rekindle the lure of nicotine intensely.

The same process may include "internal cues” as well. If you smoked in the past when under stress or depressed, the act of being depressed can serve as a cue to trigger the urge to smoke.

What works? About 90 percent of people who give up smoking do so on their own. But the odds for success can be improved. Programs that involve counseling typically get better rates, and nicotine replacement can be a potent ally in whatever method you use.

More than 4 million Americans have tried the patch, which replaces the nicotine on which the smoker has become dependent, to ease such withdrawal symptoms as irritability, insomnia, inability to concentrate, and physical cravings that drive many back to tobacco.

However nicotine replacement is not a magic bullet. It will take the edge off the tobacco-withdrawal syndrome, but it won't automatically transform any smoker into a nonsmoker.

Other requisite needs vary from person to person. A standard approach teaches behavioral "coping skills," simple things like eating, chewing gum, or knitting to keep mouth or hands occupied, or leaving tempting situations. Ways people cope cognitively are as important as what they do.

So if you are ready to quit, there are nutritional supplements and alternative ways to assist you on you way, don’t give up hope and try and try again if needed.


About the Author: R. Fredriksen is the Vice President of Nutrition Dome, a leading provider of Met-Rx, Pioneer Nutritional Formulas, Lipodrene and other quality supplements. For more information, please visit www.nutritiondome.com.