Hello and welcome to Health
For A Lifetime, I'm Your Host
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Don Mackintosh and I'm
glad you are with us today.
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We Are Talking with
Doctor Neil Nedley and
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Doctor Nedley
Welcome. - Thank You.
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We are going to be looking
at some current studies as of
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2008 and just brand new studies.
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We are going to be
looking at things that are kind
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of a hodgepodge, these
are fascinating studies
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and very helpful.
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We are going to look in
the first half here at high
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caffeine drinks, maybe
you have heard about those.
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We are also going to
be looking at vitamin D.
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It might not seem like it
is important stuff but it is
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very important
isn't it? - absolutely.
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So why don't we just
start with a high dosage of
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a caffeine drink here
and see what that does to us.
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We actually have
a graphic that goes
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along with this study.
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There is a drink called
Red Bull, it is an energy drink
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that is used by a lot of
university and college students
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as well as athletes and
those in extreme sports and even
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race car drivers.
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The problem with that is it
can increase the risk of heart
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attack and
strokes significantly.
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Even in younger
individuals who do not have any
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cardiovascular disease.
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So this study was just published
and it actually was done
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by a group in Australia.
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This Australian group
was studying this drink that
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actually comes out Austria.
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I didn't realize how
pervasive Red Bull is
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but it actually sold 3.5
billion cans in 143 countries.
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Wow! So lots of people are
drinking this and what does it
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do to you? Well what it
does is it actually tightens
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blood vessels, and it makes
your blood vessels and your
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circulation as if you
already have heart disease and
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atherosclerosis even
if you don't have it.
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It causes the blood
platelets to get sticky and the
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viscosity of the blood to go up.
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The platelets are those
things that come out when you're
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going to have a clot?
That's right, you want to have
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platelets that work well
in the problem with them is if
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they work too well they
get toward a more narrow area
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where you might have some
calcium in the blood vessel,
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those blood platelets can
think that the blood vessel was
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damaged and they all gather
together and cause an artery
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to actually close off.
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Platelets which is the clotting
factor in viscosity which
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means that it is really thick,
in other words the blood is
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clumping together and how
does that cause that to happen?
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How does caffeine
cause that to happen?
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Well caffeine does actually
play, it is a drug when it
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ends in ine, anyplace
with little things on platelet
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molecules called adenosine, it
blocks adenosine receptors and
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that makes the platelets not
work like they are supposed to.
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So is this true
with any caffeine drink?
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Not just Red Bull? While
the study was done on Red Bull
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and Red Bull has 80 mg of
caffeine in it in one drink.
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That is equivalent to a
cup of coffee and so the study
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researchers said we need to
study a cup of coffee in the
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same way, maybe
it has the same risk.
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We do know that coffee has
the same amount of caffeine
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and we know caffeine is the main
problem with Red Bull but coffee
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might have some advantages
over Red Bull and that is
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coffee has cocoa
which is an antioxidant.
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Antioxidants can
mitigate against it slightly.
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So the bad things are kind
of weighed out by something else
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that makes it a little less bad?
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Right, but with Red Bull
you are not getting any of the
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good stuff, and it turns
out that one hour after they
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drink Red Bull their blood
vessels were no longer normal
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and it increased their
risk of heart attack and stroke
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after just one drink.
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And is this even with
kids, teenagers and whatnot?
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With teenagers as well and
the problem with this is it is
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being marketed to
this young age group.
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In fact it is even formula
on racing advertises Red Bull
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says it will give you wings.
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Young people are wanting
to get the sprout wings and
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they think the caffeine
will make them feel like
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they have those wings
and in a sense because of the
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stimulation that it does
they might get that feeling.
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But unfortunately that
feeling is not associated with
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the same benefits to the
hardens blood vessels in fact
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it is the opposite benefit.
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So basically the take-home
message is, no matter what the
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brand name is something that
is high in caffeine is going
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to try and excite you and
set you up for real problems and
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you could rue the day
you ever drank the drink.
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Yeah exactly and it is
unfortunate that a lot of people
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who sell caffeine have
been trying to talk about
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the benefits of caffeine drinks.
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They have to really try to
stretch it to show benefits,
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and yes it does stimulate,
it is a drug and unfortunately
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it causes habituation and
if you withdraw from it and get
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severe splitting headaches
that is a clue that this thing
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is not very good for you.
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No good natural food that
is good for the heart or good
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for the blood vessels
when you withdraw from it
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you get a splitting headache.
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That is just not the way
it is for healthy chemicals,
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but caffeine is
not one of those.
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One last thing before we go
to that vitamin D and that is
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the mental performance of
some of the drinks like this,
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if you are race car driver
and different things where
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they are encouraging people in
athletics, does it make you more
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proficient? Can you focus
more? Is your mental ability
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increased by it?
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Well there have been
studies done on that as well,
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typist a little faster
under the influence of caffeine,
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but they make 10
times as many errors.
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Well I guess that's
not very helpful is it?
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You have to have spell checker.
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If you are line man in a
football game, or you are trying
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to race down the sidelines
the caffeine actually does seem
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to help, but you don't want
to give it to the quarterback.
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Because the quarterback
needs to have good analytical
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thinking, he needs to be
quick but more important than
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quickness is the decision
he is making with that ball.
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You have one decision
which is I got to run this way
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verses 30 options as
quarterback but it is okay for
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the one option person.
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It's okay for the one option
person during that time but
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unfortunately you setting
them up for heart disease and
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problems so really I wouldn't
even recommend it for them.
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But as far as the athletic
performance is concerned
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it doesn't seem to be
adverse except if you are in
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the decision-making role.
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I just can't help
myself one more question
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- that's all right. - I
have actually been you know
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I have attended a lot of
places of worship in my line of
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work and of all
different denominations.
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Some denominations well I
have actually crossed all the
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denominations but there is
this increase like Starbucks
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mentality that the lobby
you have or maybe some kind of
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foods usually high Fatty
and sugary foods along with
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maybe a caffeine type
drink, what does that do to your
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ability to listen to a sermon?
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Or to listen to a
message or a lecture?
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It really decreases the
abilities significantly, in fact
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if you were to drink a
Red Bull before you went to
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a university lecture
trying to explain some advanced
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concept at all
you would lose focus,
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you wouldn't be
able to stand it.
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You'd want to get up and
want to move and you really
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wouldn't want to stay with
the lecture, and stay with the
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learning aspect of things.
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So maybe that's why they
added a little exercise at the
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beginning of the service
sometimes you will have a pep
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rally and is that to calm them
down or maybe they feel like
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they have to do that?
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I don't know the two seem
to work together and I thought
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it was interesting.
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Yeah I wouldn't recommend,
you know the spirituality is to
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be for the enhancement of
the frontal lobes of the brain.
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I mean the frontal lobe
is the crown of the brain and
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this is the area that really
needs to be expanded and when
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the frontal lobe is compromised
we make poorer decisions,
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risk of depression, we
would end up with a greater risk
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of problem children and etc.
when we are parenting them so
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we really want to enhance
the frontal lobe function and
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caffeine does not enhance it.
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Caffeine blocks it the adenosine
reflectors in the frontal
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lobe and studies show that
when you have caffeine on board
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you are more
likely to gossip that when
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you don't have caffeine
on board so even things like
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that are affected by it.
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So I would say if we are
really wanting to enter into
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a worshipful experience,
let's leave the frontal lobes
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suppressants
out of this picture.
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What about vitamin D?
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We've had enough
of that little segment
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so lets go to vitamin D.
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Yes, very interesting study
on vitamin D and we also have
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a graphic in regards to this.
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Vitamin D has now been
shown to help colorectal cancer
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patients and
this is very exciting.
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You can see the man
there getting his vitamin D,
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it is direct sunlight
that is one of the best ways
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of getting vitamin D.
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It produces an active
hormone in the body that
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we know prevents cancer,
but this is now a study done
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on people who
already have the cancer.
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In fact for years Don,
there have been many people
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who have tried to give
certain vitamins in pills to
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prevent cancer, you know
the beta-carotene study where
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they were given beta-carotene
to thousands of people and
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the other people were
getting a placebo, no benefit.
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Vitamin C has been tried, a
small benefit with vitamin C,
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maybe a one or two
percentage points at the most.
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But there are nutrients
that you can take that can
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significantly decrease
your risk of cancer and
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we are talking 50% 60%
70% reduction in cancer.
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Those nutrients are vitamin
D and calcium particularly
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together, and these are just
studies done in the last two
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years, but this actual
study that we are quoting
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from 2008 show that
extended lives of people with
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colon and rectal cancer.
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Previous research of course
had shown that they were less
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likely to develop colon
or rectal cancer if they have
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higher amounts of
vitamin D in both women and men.
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Women are much less
likely to develop breast cancer.
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Both women and men are
much less likely to develop
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Hymnologic cancer of the blood.
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It is blood related cancers.
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Now this was a new study
led by Doctor Ing of the Dana-
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Farber Cancer
Institute in Boston.
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He involved 300 to 400
men and women that have been
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diagnosed with colorectal
cancer from 1991 to 2002.
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What they did is that they
went back and looked at their
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vitamin D levels to see if
there was any relationship to
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how long they lived.
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This study was just published
in the Clinical Oncology
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and they found that the
blood vitamin D levels were
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related to how long they lived.
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These vitamin D levels
were tracked for an average of
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about 6-1/2 years and
those in the highest 25% of
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vitamin D levels were
50% less likely to die during
00:12:32.93\00:12:36.55
the study from their cancer
or any other cause compared
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to the patience with the
lowest 25% of vitamin D levels.
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So what if you are just in
the upper fourth of individuals
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after you have cancer you
are going to be able to extend
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your life significantly,
I mean doubling your risk of
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living. - or dying. -
if you have a low vitamin D
00:12:57.35\00:13:01.58
you doubled your risk of dying.
00:13:01.61\00:13:02.94
So vitamin D then you cannot
get it anywhere except from
00:13:02.97\00:13:06.24
sunlight? Or where else?
00:13:06.27\00:13:08.28
Well you can get
it in supplements.
00:13:08.32\00:13:10.12
Which is the best
supplement, one or the other
00:13:10.16\00:13:14.26
or can you overdo it?
00:13:14.29\00:13:15.51
You can overdo vitamin D,
vitamin D is fat soluble so what
00:13:15.55\00:13:19.81
I would recommend as an
internal medicine physician,
00:13:19.85\00:13:22.92
anyone who has cancer
particularly colorectal cancer,
00:13:22.96\00:13:26.29
breast cancer, prostate
cancer I recommend that they get
00:13:26.32\00:13:29.71
their vitamin D. level
drawn and they see with their 25
00:13:29.74\00:13:33.46
hydroxy vitamin D. level,
don't get the 125 because that
00:13:33.50\00:13:37.18
varies a lot throughout the day,
00:13:37.22\00:13:39.22
the 25 hydroxy will tell
00:13:39.26\00:13:41.23
you where your vitamin D.
stores are and then you can see.
00:13:41.26\00:13:43.79
whether you may
need to supplement.
00:13:43.83\00:13:45.45
If you are really low if
you are in the bottom fourth,
00:13:45.48\00:13:48.37
you really need to mega
doses of Vitamin D and sunlight.
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for a few days isn't going to
be enough to get you up there.
00:13:51.52\00:13:54.75
You need some mega doses,
prescription doses of Vitamin D
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to get it up there and maintain
it with either supplements
00:13:58.05\00:14:01.24
or with sunlight.
00:14:01.28\00:14:03.52
We have been talking to Doctor
Neil Nedley, talking about
00:14:03.56\00:14:06.48
vitamin D and it is important.
00:14:06.51\00:14:09.06
When we come back we will
continue a little of that.
00:14:09.09\00:14:11.63
discussion and look at
some more new research.
00:14:11.66\00:14:14.11
Join us when we come back.
00:14:14.15\00:14:15.54