Dear Healthy Friend,

I often watch my almost-16 year old niece wolf down food that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot barge pole! In fact, as I watch her I can feel the fat firmly plant itself on my thighs and rear... Besides the fat-factor, I often wonder about the health-factor of further down the line for her... I mention this to here, but she just rolls her eyes at me and carries on guzzling. I really hope that one day neither her mother nor I will have to say "I told you so"...

Today, Christine O'Brien reveals the facts and research...

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. We're advocates for all things natural... So imagine our pleasant surprise when we saw the headline about popping pills... Keep reading to find out what these are....

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Can teenagers really eat what they want?
Christine O'Brien
Contributor, Nutrition & Healing

How many times have you watched your teenage son or grandson wolf down a pizza bigger than his head and wash it down with a bucket of fizzy cold drink and thought to yourself, "These kids can just eat whatever they want"?

It's just common knowledge, right? Teens can eat any manner of horrifying foods and they'll just burn it off. Of course, you relish telling them it will all catch up with them one day. "You won't be able to eat like this forever," you warn. "Just you watch."

Well - you're right.

But not just because their metabolism will slow down and they'll pack on the kilos, as we're fond of telling the kids.

In fact, even if they adopt healthy eating habits as they enter adulthood, the damage could already be done.

All the excess sugar you might think just melts off teens could set them up for serious heart problems later in life.

A new study appearing in the journal Circulation reports that teens who consume high levels of sugar in drinks and foods are more likely to have poor cholesterol and triglyceride profiles, which could lead to heart disease as they get older.

Overweight or obese teens who took in the most added sugar showed signs of insulin resistance, which we all know is a diabetes-precursor.

Many teens get about 20% of their calories in the form of sugar - that's 20% that could be devoted to nutrients but instead is piling on the future problems (not to mention what it's doing to their bodies TODAY).

On average, teens aged 12 to 18 take in 119g of added sugars per day. Can't picture that? We're talking over 28 teaspoons, which adds up to 476 calories.

This is the first study to look at the link between added sugars and heart disease indicators in children, but I'm sure it won't be the last.

It's pretty clear that the habits we develop in childhood set the stage for our adult lifestyles. But this goes beyond the "once a junk-food-eater, always a junk-food-eater" line of thinking.

Of course, you're probably thinking of what happened the last time you tried to tell a teenager what to do. Chances are, it wasn't pretty. Still, this is advice that could save his life down the road. And maybe, just maybe, he'll thank you.

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"Popping pills may pave way to good memory"
Jenny Thompson
Diretor, Health Sciences Institute

When I came across that headline I thought, "Oh brother-what now? Statins for memory? Aspirin? Anti depressants?"

Surprisingly, however, the headline refers to folic acid and vitamin B-12 supplement pills. Much better!

In a large two-year study, more than 900 seniors diagnosed with various levels of mental distress were given placebo or 400mcg of folic acid along with 100mcg of vitamin B-12 daily.

In tests that examined memory and mental processing speed, subjects in the B-12/folic acid group improved significantly compared to the placebo group.

Of course, these two supplements are known to be beneficial for heart health because they reduce homocysteine - the amino acid that promotes artery plaque build up. And that same benefit is most likely behind the memory advantages.

A few years ago, Oxford researchers took blood samples and gave memory performance tests to more than 2,100 seniors.

The results: Subjects who tested poorly generally had higher homocysteine and lower folate levels than subjects who scored higher on memory tests. Also, higher test scores were associated with a decline in homocysteine over a six-year follow up period.

So go ahead and pop those memory pills. The most pronounced side effect will be a healthier heart.

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