Dear Health Conscious Friend,

In a previous e-alert (Health Bytes 061009) I told you how a vitamin E deficiency may predict deteriorating artery health in type II diabetics. Recent research confirms that you and your doctor could reliably predict cardiovascular problems with diabetic retinopathy.

Keep reading. Jenny Thompson reveals the research.

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. How much folic acid is enough? Dr Wright tells us how much we should be taking and the best sources of this vital mineral.

Healthy eyes mean healthy heart
Jenny Thompson
Editor of Nutrition and Healing

About one in every five type II diabetes patients will also have retinopathy at the time of their diabetes diagnosis.

Retinopathy is a disorder that blocks blood flow to the eyes. It's the major cause of blindness among diabetics.

Researchers at Australia's University of Melbourne (UM) examined seven years of health records in more than 11,000 middle-aged subjects who had received retinal examinations. Results showed that risk of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) was three times higher among subjects with retinopathy compared to subjects without the condition. The UM team concluded that retinopathy should be considered an independent predictor of CHF, even if a patient has no other CHF risk factors.

The lead researcher of that study recently revisited the retinopathy/heart connection with a group of researchers from the University of Sydney, in Australia.

The Sydney team compared the results of 3,000 retinopathy examinations (mostly among diabetics) with subjects' health records. They found that patients with retinopathy were almost twice as likely to die of heart disease within the 12-year study period.

And whether or not you have type II diabetes, there are several important steps you can take to minimise risk of both retinopathy and heart disease.

1. CONTROL SUGAR
Prevention of retinopathy begins with control of glucose and insulin levels. Of course, this means getting regular exercise and cutting simple carbohydrates and highly refined foods from the diet.

2. VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS
In a previous multiyear study, researchers studied more than 1,300 subjects to see the effects of vitamins C and E on diabetic retinopathy. Subjects who took supplements of these vitamins for three years or more were significantly less likely to develop retinopathy compared to subjects who didn't use supplements. Studies have shown that a deficiency of vitamin B6 may also contribute to retinopathy.

3. PYCNOGENOL
Research shows Pycnogenol – a pine bark extract – to help maintain venous health AND blood sugar control in diabetics.  In another study, subjects who used Pycnogenol had significant reduction in venous pressure, capillary leakage and blood vessel inflammation compared to subjects who didn't use the extract.

4. POLICOSANOL
Policosanol – a compound of fatty alcohols derived primarily from sugar cane – provides key cardiovascular benefits. In one of his Nutrition & Healing newsletters, alternative healthcare pioneer Dr. Jonathan V. Wright wrote: "Policosanol helps prevent strokes by inhibiting platelet aggregation and abnormal blood clotting and may lower blood pressure. And unlike the popular patent medications, policosanol has virtually no side effects and does not seriously interfere with our bodies' ability to produce co-enzyme Q10 as the patent statin medications do."

5. GINKGO BILOBA
Another one of Dr Wright’s recommendations. Ginkgo improves impaired circulation throughout the body. A Taiwanese study examining Gingko's effect on 25 subjects with diabetic neuropathy found that blood flow to retinal capillaries increased by 10%.

But please, talk to your doctor before adding new supplements to your daily regimen.

Get enough folic acid... here's why!

Q: It seems that manufacturers are enriching their products with folic acid. Do I need a separate supplement to get enough?

Dr. Wright: Mainstream medicine finally got around to requiring folic acid "enrichment" of refined grain products a few years ago. But even so, I still see three to five patients a week who have an outright folate deficiency. Obviously, adding it to packaged foods simply isn't enough to do the job. But then, a compulsory "enrichment" programme is just like a tax refund: They take away a lot, waste most on it, give you back a tiny bit and you're supposed to be happy about it.

In this case, though, there's nothing to be happy about: A lack of folate raises your risk of cancer, heart and blood vessel disease, depression, dementia and having children with birth defects. Fortunately, folate deficiency is easy and inexpensive to diagnose and easy to prevent or correct - without medical "help".

Adding more food sources of folate to your diet is a good start. In general, anything green - not just the leafy items - is a good source. Beans, nuts and wheat germ are also good options. Liver is one of the very best sources, along with other organ meats, oysters, salmon and brewer's yeast.

Now for the quid pro quo. These foods are all good sources, if you eat them absolutely fresh and raw. (And yes, technically, that includes even the liver and beans.) You see, folate breaks down rapidly: After picking, just 24-48 hours in storage reduces the folate content of any vegetable by more than 50%. And both freezing and heating destroy even more folate - in some cases up to 90%. But if you're not into raw liver (and most people aren't) or uncooked beans, you'll just need to accept the reduction in folate content that cooking causes. However, even after cooking, there's still enough to make these foods worthwhile sources and eating your liver and beans cooked is still a better idea than not eating them at all.

But if you really want to maximise the folate content in the rest of your foods, it's best to eat them as fresh and raw as possible. For all you aspiring gardeners out there, look at this as the perfect opportunity to try your hand at planting and harvesting your own crops of spinach, green beans, peppers and other folate-rich vegetables.

But, at least partly due to its tendency to break down very easily, researchers have discovered that using folic acid as a supplement is actually more effective than dietary sources of folate alone. So I recommend that everyone include folic acid in their daily supplement regimen.

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