By Dr. Mercola

In 2006 health agencies such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva began warning of the imminent onset of an avian flu pandemic of lethal proportions. 

The pandemic never materialized, but sales of Tamiflu, touted as effective in reducing complications of flu such as bronchitis and pneumonia, skyrocketed. 

In 2009 it was again presented as the drug of choice to stave off swine flu.

Back in 2006, Dr. Tom Jefferson had issued an analysis concluding that the drug was effective.

But when another physician later pointed out that 8 of the 10 studies he had relied on were still unpublished, Jefferson decided to seek out the raw data -- only to find he was unable to do so. 

His concern turned to outrage when two employees of a communications company admitted that they had been paid to ghostwrite some of the studies, with explicit instructions to come to the "correct" conclusion regarding Tamiflu's effectiveness.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

"After reanalyzing the raw data finally made available (they still don't have it all) ... there was no proof that Tamiflu reduced serious flu complications like pneumonia or death. 

In short, it appears the pharmaceutical companies had been ... conning the public on matters of health..."

Interestingly, the author of this LA Times piece, David Finkelstein, actually sued Genentech Corp. (a U.S. affiliate of Hoffmann-La Roche that holds the marketing rights to Tamiflu) in small claims court for "alleged breach of contract by way of fraud" after he discovered these facts.

And guess what? Genentech settled the case for $200—the price of the drug Finkelstein had purchased but not yet used, plus court costs. If only the remedy was that easy for everyone that has been scammed, not to mention severely harmed, by this modern-day snake oil...

Conning the Public on Matters of Public Health

The source of the information that prompted Finkelstein to sue to get his money back for this fraudulently hawked drug was a story originally published in Discover Magazine in November 2010. The article, titled, "The Problem With Medicine: We Don't Know If Most of It Works," became available online in February last year, and I highly recommend reading through it. It's a very revealing piece...

In it, authors Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee write:

"In a recent poll conducted by the Campaign for Effective Patient Care, a nonprofit advocacy group based in California, 65 percent of the 800 California voters surveyed said they thought that most or nearly all of the health care they receive is based on scientific evidence. The reality would probably shock them.

A panel of experts convened in 2007 by the prestigious Institute of Medicine estimated that "well below half" of the procedures doctors perform and the decisions they make about surgeries, drugs, and tests have been adequately investigated and shown to be effective. The rest are based on a combination of guesswork, theory, and tradition, with a strong dose of marketing by drug and device companies. Doctors are often as much in the dark as their patients when they implant new devices... perform surgery, or write prescriptions."

... Many widely adopted surgeries, devices, tests, and drugs also rest on surprisingly thin data... [A]ccording to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report published in 2001: More than 770,000 Americans are injured or die each year from drug complications, including unexpected side effects, some of which might have been avoided if somebody had conducted the proper research."

The same goes for Tamiflu. Had proper research been conducted rather than concocted, staggering amounts of money could have been saved or allocated for something more useful, and lives could have been spared...

According to Lenzer and Brownlee:

"Although Jefferson had trusted the unpublished study conclusions at the time, the challenge sent him on a hunt for the raw data in 2009. He was stymied when several study authors and the manufacturer gave one excuse after another for why they couldn't supply the actual data. Jefferson's concern turned to outrage when two employees of a communications company came forward with documents showing that they had been paid to ghostwrite some of the Tamiflu studies.

They had been given explicit instructions to ensure that a key message was embedded in the articles: Flu is a threat, and Tamiflu is the answer.

... Health officials around the world had assumed the drug was as effective as claimed and recommended Tamiflu for patients during the recent h1n1, or swine flu, pandemic. That pandemic turned out to be far milder than expected, and it is anybody's guess whether better information about Tamiflu—or better drugs—will appear before a more serious flu outbreak hits. "We shouldn't have taken anybody's word for it. We took it on good faith. Never again," Jefferson says today."

Jefferson's update was published in December 2009, in which he concluded that:

"Neuraminidase inhibitors have modest effectiveness against the symptoms of influenza in otherwise healthy adults. The drugs are effective postexposure against laboratory confirmed influenza, but this is a small component of influenza-like illness, so for this outcome neuraminidase inhibitors are not effective. Neuraminidase inhibitors might be regarded as optional for reducing the symptoms of seasonal influenza. Paucity of good data has undermined previous findings for oseltamivir's prevention of complications from influenza. Independent randomised trials to resolve these uncertainties are needed."

The Dangers of Tamiflu

Back in 2008, the FDA started reviewing reports of abnormal behavior and disturbing brain effects in more than 1,800 children who had taken Tamiflu. The symptoms included convulsions, delirium and delusions. In Japan, five deaths were reported in children under 16 as a result of such neurological or psychiatric problems. Seven adult deaths have also been attributed to Tamiflu, due to its neuropsychiatric effect.

According to a 2009 study, more than half of children taking Tamiflu experience side effects such as nausea and nightmares. Other more rare and bizarre side effects have also been reported, such as the case of a 19-year old British girl who developed toxic epidermal necrolysis and blindness after taking Tamiflu last year.

A few years ago, Dr. Lawrence G. Roberts, the authentic "father of the internet" also shared his first-hand experience with Tamiflu with me:

"A few years ago, as I returned from Japan, I took Tamiflu on the plane as I arrived into SFO. I thought my symptoms felt like the flu and I (at that time) carried it. As I drove home, I was observed drifting off the road from time to time, but all I noticed was I suddenly was over too far and I corrected. Then at the exit, which was a slow right turn, I blanked out just into the turn and went straight into a tree.

I totaled my BMW and caused some knee damage ... I realized somewhat later that the blank out was due to the Tamiflu, but not until other reports came out. Too late to argue the point. Anyway, this was a $100 K side effect caused by the drug, and there most likely have been many more that were never connected to Tamiflu."

Studies Show Flu Vaccines are Also Ineffective and NOT an Ideal Form of Prevention

While antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu have been used with greater frequency, the traditional first line of defense against the flu has been vaccines. Alas, when you start looking around, you'll realize that the evidence against flu vaccines is rapidly mounting as well.  In recent years, we've seen a number of truly damaging studies published in the medical literature—although you've not seen them publicized in the media!

Here's a sampling of studies demonstrating the ineffectiveness of flu vaccines. Many of these studies also explain that earlier positive results appear to have been due to various types of bias, and when the bias is removed, the alleged benefits of vaccinating against the flu disappear. There are many more... For another list of additional studies demolishing the claim that the flu vaccine is an effective prevention strategy, see this previous article:

Functional status is a confounder of the association of influenza vaccine and risk of all cause mortality in seniors. Int J Epidemiol. 2006 Apr;35(2):345-52 According to the authors: "... disability indicators tended to be associated with both a higher risk of death and a decreased likelihood of vaccination. Consequently, adjustment for the functional status indicators moved the estimate of the association of influenza vaccination and risk of death closer to the null..."	Influenza vaccination and risk of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent elderly people: a population-based, nested case-control study. Lancet. 2008 Aug 2;372(9636):398-405. The authors concluded that "... influenza vaccination was not associated with a reduced risk of community-acquired pneumonia during the influenza season"
Evidence of bias in estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness in seniors. Int J Epidemiol. 2006 Apr;35(2):337-44 The authors concluded that, "The reductions in risk before influenza season indicate preferential receipt of vaccine by relatively healthy seniors. Adjustment for diagnosis code variables did not control for this bias. In this study, the magnitude of the bias demonstrated by the associations before the influenza season was sufficient to account entirely for the associations observed during influenza season. "	Benefits of examining influenza vaccine associations outside of influenza season Comment on: Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep 1;178(5):527-33. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep 1;178(5):439-40. The authors explain how their approach "show that the lower risks of all-cause mortality and pneumonia hospitalization consistently observed in studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated community-dwelling seniors during influenza season are largely, or perhaps entirely, due to bias..."
Mortality benefits of influenza vaccination in elderly people: an ongoing controversy. Lancet Infect Dis. 2007 Oct;7(10):658-66 According to the authors: "Recent excess mortality studies were unable to confirm a decline in influenza-related mortality since 1980, even as vaccination coverage increased from 15% to 65%... We conclude that frailty selection bias and use of non-specific endpoints such as all-cause mortality have led cohort studies to greatly exaggerate vaccine benefits. The remaining evidence base is currently insufficient to indicate the magnitude of the mortality benefit, if any, that elderly people derive from the vaccination programme."	Relation of study quality, concordance, take home message, funding, and impact in studies of influenza vaccines: systematic review. BMJ. 2009 Feb 12;338:b354 According to the authors: "Evidence is of poor quality, and studies with conclusions in favor of vaccines are of significantly lower methodological quality. Influenza vaccines studies sponsored by industry are published in journals with higher impact factors and are cited more but are of similar size and quality to the others."

How to Effectively Prevent Influenza

Avoiding influenza and flu-like illness during the flu season or any season doesn't require a flu vaccine. By following the simple guidelines below, you can help keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to get sick or, if you do get sick, you are better prepared to move through it without complications. For more details, follow the hyperlinks provided.

• Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency is likely the TRUE culprit behind the seasonality of the flu -- not the flu virus itself. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. Regularly monitor your vitamin D levels to confirm your levels are within the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml.
  
  Ideally, you'll want to get all your vitamin D from sun exposure or a safe tanning bed, but as a last resort you can take an oral vitamin D3 supplement. According to the latest review by Carole Baggerly (Grassrootshealth.org), adults need about 8,000 IU's a day.
• Avoid Sugar, Fructose and Processed Foods. Sugar impairs the function of your immune system almost immediately, and as you likely know, a healthy immune system is one of the most important keys to fighting off viruses and other illness. Be aware that sugar is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice.
• Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
• Have Effective Tools to Address Stress . We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
• Take a Good Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also crucial to avoid excessive and/or oxidized omega-6 fatty acids, as well as trans fatty acids commonly found in processed foods, as they will seriously damage your immune response.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this -- antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
• Use Natural Antibiotics. Examples include colloidal silver, oil of oregano, and garlic. These work like broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacteria, viruses, and protozoa in your body. And unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, they do not appear to lead to resistance.
• Avoid Hospitals. I'd recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you're having an emergency and need expert medical care, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infectious microorganisms of all kinds. The best place to get plenty of rest and recover from illness that is not life-threatening is usually in the comfort of your own home.

Taken together, these strategies lay the groundwork for a robust immune system that can stand up to all kinds of viral and bacterial assaults. However, there are also a number of all-natural therapies that can help you combat colds and flu's on a more short-term basis. Here's a listing of some of the most effective ones:

Zinc—According to a Cochrane Database Review of the medical research on zinc, when taken within one day of the first symptoms, zinc can cut down the duration of a cold by about 24 hours	Mushrooms—Beta glucans and proteoglycans are the primary biologically active compounds in the mushroom fruit body and mycelia that support your immune system	Oregano Oil: The higher the carvacrol concentration, the more effective it is. Carvacrol is the most active antimicrobial agent in oregano oil	A tea made from a combination of elderflower, yarrow, boneset, linden, peppermint and ginger; drink it hot and often for combating a cold or flu. It causes you to sweat, which is helpful for eradicating a virus from your system
Chicken soup—Chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine, which can thin the mucus in your lungs and make it less sticky so you can expel it more easily	Vitamin C: A very potent antioxidant; use a natural form such as acerola, which contains associated micronutrients. You can take several grams every hour till you are better unless you start developing loose stools	Propolis: A bee resin and one of the most broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds in the world; propolis is also the richest source of caffeic acid and apigenin, two very important compounds that aid in immune response	Olive leaf extract: Ancient Egyptians and Mediterranean cultures used it for a variety of health-promoting uses and it is widely known as a natural, non-toxic immune system builder

• Los Angeles Times January 15, 2012

• Discover Magazine February 11, 2011

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A guide to serve as a goal for good nutrition and as a yardstick by which to measure progress toward that goal has long been needed. The Committee on Food and Nutrition of the National Research Council was established in 1940 to advise on nutrition problems in connection with national defense. One of its first concerns was to work out recommended daily allowances for the various dietary essentials, for people of different ages. Recommended Dietary Allowances develops a table of allowances that represents the best available evidence on the amounts of the various nutritive essentials desirable to include in practical diets. These values represent the combined judgment of nutrition authorities in various parts of the country. This information serves as a guide for planning adequate nutrition for the civilian population of the United States.

By Dr. Mercola

Humans evolved with a staple source of the essential omega-3 fat docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in their diets, namely seafood.

Animal based omega-3 fats are considered essential because they cannot be synthesized in appropriate quantities by your body and must be supplied through your diet.

The introduction of high-quality, easily digested nutrients from seafood into the human diet coincided with the rapid expansion of grey matter in the cerebral cortex -- a defining characteristic of the modern human brain.

The DHA molecule has unique structural properties that provide optimal conditions for a wide range of cell membrane functions, and grey matter is a particularly membrane-rich tissue.

There's no doubt you need omega-3 fat for proper brain function. In fact, mounting evidence suggests that deficiency in this essential fat may lead to brain degeneration. According to a recent article published in the journal Nutrients¹:

"An emerging body of research is exploring a unique role for DHA in neurodevelopment and the prevention of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders."

Plant-Based versus Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats

Before we go any further, it's important to recognize that animal-based omega-3 fat is not interchangeable with plant-based sources of omega-3. And while you do need both in your diet, animal-based omega-3 fats are particularly important for your brain health.

Dietary fish and marine oil supplements such as krill oil are a direct source of EPA and DHA. Plants, on the other hand, contain the parent omega-3, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which can be converted into eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA). However, as stated in the featured article, this conversion is ineffective in general, and appears to get progressively more ineffective with age:

"Unlike the photosynthetic cells in algae and higher plants, mammalian cells lack the specific enzymes required for the de novo synthesis of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the precursor for all omega-3 fatty acid syntheses. Endogenous synthesis of DHA from ALA in humans is much lower and more limited than previously assumed.

... [A]fter much intense research, the 1989 NATO Advanced Research Workshop on dietary n-3 and n-6 fatty acids on biological effects and nutritional essentiality, agreed by consensus that n-3 fatty acids generally: (1) have anti-inflammatory properties; (2) lower serum triglycerides and cholesterol; and (3) decrease thrombosis and platelet aggregation. Therefore administration was recommended as beneficial in cardiovascular disease, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis.

Since then, however, there has been a wealth of evidence to support the notion that the omega-3 fatty acids are not bioequivalent and that the longer chain EPA and DHA are much more important than their precursor ALA." [Emphasis mine]

The reason why EPA/DHA are more important is because although ALA (that you get from plant sources) is an essential nutrient, the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA is typically severely impaired by inhibition of delta 6 desaturase; an enzyme necessary for the conversion. Elevated insulin levels impair this enzyme, and over 80 percent of the U.S. population has elevated insulin levels, so chances are high that you'll be part of this significant majority... Therefore, you want to make sure you get the bulk of your omega-3 from animal sources, not plant sources, to make sure you won't develop a deficiency.

DHA: One of the Most Important Nutrients for Brain Function

Sixty percent of your brain is fat. DHA alone makes up about 15 percent to 20 percent of your brain's cerebral cortex, as well as 30 percent to 60 percent of your retina, making it an essential nutrient for both brain and eye health.

It's found in high levels in your neurons; the cells of your central nervous system, where it provides structural support. When your omega-3 intake is inadequate, your nerve cells become stiff as the missing omega-3 fats are substituted with cholesterol and omega-6 instead. Once your nerve cells become rigid, proper neurotransmission from cell to cell and within cells become compromised.

The influence of omega-3 fat on physical and mental health has been the subject of intense research over the last four decades, and there's compelling evidence that animal-based omega-3 fats can help reduce the symptoms of a variety of psychiatric illnesses and degenerative brain disorders. For example, low DHA levels have been linked to:

• Memory loss
• Alzheimer's disease
• Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder

EPA: Of Particular Importance for Depression...

The EPA found in animal-based omega-3 also plays a very significant role in the signaling within nerve cells, and it has been suggested that normalizing communications within nerve cells may be an important factor for alleviating depressive symptoms. Additionally, EPA can lower the levels of three important immune chemicals; all of which are elevated in depression:

1. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa)
2. Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1ß)
3. Prostaglandin E2

DHA Found to Significantly Improve Cognition in the Elderly

In more recent years, researchers discovered that DHA is a precursor for a newly identified signaling molecule called protectin. (When found in your central nervous system it's referred to as neuroprotectin, or NPD1.) This molecule is synthesized in response to oxidative stress.

As explained in the featured article:

"NPD1 induces nerve regeneration, reduce leukocyte infiltration and maintains homeostasis through ageing by reducing pro-apoptotic and pro-inflammatory signaling. NPDI is induced by oxidative stress and protects retinal and neuronal cells from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Many mechanisms have been implicated, including suppression of the IL-1β induced stimulation of COX.

The discovery of NPD1 offers new therapeutic opportunities for a range of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease. It also provides an exciting potential for DHA in helping to delay or minimize the "normal" cognitive decline during ageing."

This is great news, as it's becoming quite clear that degenerative conditions can be not only prevented but also reversed. For example, in one study, 485 elderly volunteers suffering from memory deficits saw significant improvement after taking 900 mg of DHA per day for 24 weeks, compared with controls.² Another study found significant improvement in verbal fluency scores after taking 800 mg of DHA per day for four months compared with placebo³. Furthermore, memory and rate of learning were significantly improved when DHA was combined with 12 mg of lutein per day.

Interestingly, research suggests that the unsaturated fatty acid composition of normal brain tissue is age-specific, which could imply that the older you get, the greater your need for animal-based omega-3 fat to prevent mental decline and brain degeneration. According to the featured article:

"The glycerophospholipids in the cerebral cortex of the normal ageing brain show steady increases in the concentration of DHA with corresponding reductions of AA [arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fat]. Svennerholm demonstrated⁴, in tissue samples from 11 brains from fetal to 82 years, that the percentages of AA and DHA methyl esters in cerebral cortex ethanolamine glycerophospholipids was roughly equal or 1:1 (16.5 percent AA and 16.1 percent DHA) in the one month old human infant, but by the 82nd year the percentage of DHA has more than doubled and increased in proportion to AA close to approximately 1:4 (10.3 percent AA and 33.9 percent DHA)."

What's the Best Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fat?

It is typically a wise practice to obtain most of your nutrients from the food you eat. However, animal-based omega-3's are one exception where I believe taking a supplement is very important, for a couple of reasons.

First, the food source of omega-3, which is fish and other seafood, is just not a safe option anymore. The vast majority of our fish supply is now so heavily contaminated with industrial pollutants and toxins like mercury, PCBs, heavy metals and radioactive poisons that I just can't recommend it any longer. Even the slow-to-react FDA and EPA have put out health advisories warning against certain fish and shellfish consumption for young children, women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, and nursing mothers...

The second major reason why a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat supplement is so important is because so many people are deficient. In fact, omega-3 deficiency is likely the sixth biggest killer of Americans, and may be a significant underlying factor of up to 96,000 premature deaths each year. In my view, krill oil is your best option when it comes to obtaining important high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats for the following reasons:

• Krill oil contains essential EPA and DHA in a double-chain phospholipid structure that makes it far more absorbable than the omega-3s in fish oil
• It also contains vitamin E, vitamin A, and vitamin D
• Krill oil naturally contains astaxanthin, a potent antioxidant. Research has shown the antioxidant potency of krill oil is, in terms of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorptance Capacity) values, 48 times more potent than fish oil. So with krill oil, you can ensure that you're getting the incredibly healthy yet highly perishable fats (EPA and DHA) without having to worry about oxidation issues
• Your risk of getting any mercury contamination is much lower than with fish oil as the krill are so small they don't have the chance to accumulate toxins before being harvested

More Tips for Maintaining Healthy Brain Function

More than 5 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's, and by 2050 that could increase to between 11 million and 16 million people in the United States alone. But neither dementia nor Alzheimer's are a normal part of aging! Truly, your memory and brain functioning do not have to decline simply because you are getting older. This is especially true if you make sure you supply your brain with the essential nutrients it needs to perform its job, namely DHA and EPA.

Aside from optimizing your omega-3 intake, ideally by taking a krill oil supplement, the following guidelines can also greatly increase your chances of avoiding any kind of cognitive decline:

• Eat a nutritious diet with plenty of vegetables, paying special attention to avoiding all forms of sugar, especially fructose. Experts are starting to look at memory problems like Alzheimer's as a form of brain starvation, and glucose metabolism appears to play an important role in the disease. It's already known that diabetics have four times the risk of developing Alzheimer's, and  those with prediabetes have triple the risk.
• Avoid and remove mercury from your body. Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed. Once you have adjusted to following the diet described in my Nutritional Plan, you can follow the mercury detox protocol and then find a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed. ONLY see a high-quality biologically trained dentist to remove your amalgams or your health could get ruined.
• Avoid aluminum, such as in antiperspirants, cookware, etc.
• Exercise for three to five hours per week. According to one study, the odds of developing Alzheimer's were nearly quadrupled in people who were less active during their leisure time, between the ages of 20 and 60, compared with their peers.
• Avoid flu vaccinations as they contain both mercury and aluminum!
• Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
• Challenge your mind daily. Mental stimulation, such as traveling, learning to play an instrument or doing crossword puzzles, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer's. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease.

REFERENCES:

• ¹ Nutrients May 2011; 3(5): 529-554
• ²Alzheimer's and Dementia 2010 Nov;6(6):456-64
• ³Nutritional Neuroscience 2008 Apr;11(2):75-83
• ⁴Journal of Lipid Research 1968 Sep;9(5):570-9

• Nutrients May 2011; 3(5): 529-554

• Green Med Info

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By Dr. Mercola

It's becoming common knowledge that vitamin D is important for far more than bone health.

In the last several years, research has been pouring showing that higher levels of vitamin D are necessary to provide protection from serious chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, infections, multiple sclerosis and, now, researchers have revealed an important role in aging -- particularly eye aging.

Vitamin D is Good for Your Eyes

When most people think of nutrients and eye health, they immediately think "vitamin A. or beta carotene."

However, new evidence suggests that vitamin D may be more crucial.

New research from the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London revealed striking eye benefits from vitamin D3 supplementation in older mice.

Specifically, after receiving the supplement for just six weeks. Improvements included:

• Improved vision
• Reductions in retinal inflammation and levels of amyloid beta accumulation, which is a hallmark of aging
• Significant reductions in retinal macrophage numbers and marked shifts in their morphology (macrophages are immune cells that can cause inflammatory damage)

The findings suggest vitamin D3 may very well help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. AMD is associated with both amyloid beta accumulation and inflammation, and vitamin D supplementation appears to benefit both of these conditions.

Researchers concluded:

"These changes were reflected in a significant improvement in visual function, revealing that vitamin D₃ is a route to avoiding the pace of age-related visual decline. Excess amyloid beta deposition and inflammation are risk factors leading to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the largest cause of blindness in those older than 50 years in developed countries. Recently, vitamin D₃ has been linked epidemiologically to protection against age-related macular degeneration.  Hence, vitamin D₃ enrichment is likely to represent a beneficial route for those at risk."

As researchers noted, separate research has also implicated vitamin D deficiency in the development of macular degeneration, with those whose vitamin D intake was among the top one-fifth of participants having a 59 percent lower risk of developing AMD compared to women whose intake was among the lowest fifth.^[i]

How This Might Relate to Alzheimer's, Heart Disease and Other Age-Related Conditions

Interestingly, amyloid beta accumulation is not only associated with blindness; it's also the protein that tends to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, causing plaque buildup. It is believed that amyloid beta destroys nerve cells, contributing to the cognitive and behavioral problems typical of the disease. Given that vitamin D affects accumulation of amyloid beta in the eyes, there is reason to believe it may do so in your brain and other areas as well, and the researchers did find a reduction in amyloid beta in the animals' aorta as well. The study's lead researcher explained, as reported by LifeExtension:

"People might have heard of amyloid beta as being linked to Alzheimer's disease and new evidence suggests that vitamin D could have a role in reducing its build up in the brain. So, when we saw this effect in the eyes as well, we immediately wondered where else these deposits might be being reduced.

… Finding that amyloid deposits were reduced in the blood vessels of mice that had been given vitamin D supplements suggests that vitamin D could be useful in helping to prevent a range of age-related health problems, from deteriorating vision to heart disease."

Additionally, research performed in 2009 and published in the Journal of Alzheimer Disease showed that vitamin D3 enhanced the beta amyloid clearing effect of curcumin in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease.  Considering that optimizing your vitamin D levels is a relatively straightforward and inexpensive fix -- and is linked to numerous other health advantages, including cancer prevention -- there's really no reason to miss out on these important benefits.

Additional Important Nutrients for Eye Health

As with all aspects of health, your lifestyle will play a role in how well your eyes "hold up" as you age. For instance, obesity and diabetes are at epidemic proportions right now, and both can impact your eyesight. Similarly, if you smoke or spend a lot of time in front of the computer, this too can take a toll on your vision health.

Basic healthy lifestyle principles, like eating right, limiting environmental toxins, and exercising, are important for eye health. But if you're looking for more specific strategies to maintain healthy vision, certain antioxidants and nutrients stand out above the rest. Among those that have been shown to be of particular benefit to your eyes are:

Lutein and Zeaxanthin

Of all the carotenoids, only zeaxanthin and lutein are found in your retina, which has the highest concentration of fatty acids of any tissue in your body. This is because your retina is a highly light and oxygen rich environment, and it needs a large supply of free radical scavengers to prevent oxidative damage there.

It is theorized that your body concentrates zeaxanthin and lutein in your retina to perform this duty. The concentration of these two pigments in the macula of your retina are what give it its characteristic yellow color. (The macula is actually called the "macula lutea" which literally means "yellow spot.") Zeaxanthin and lutein both cross the blood-brain-retina barriers, as astaxanthin (see below) does.

It is interesting that your eye preferentially concentrates zeaxanthin over lutein in the central macular retinal area (called the fovea), where the greatest amount of light impinges -- and zeaxanthin is a more effective singlet oxygen scavenger than lutein. Your body seems to naturally "know" this and accumulates it where it's most needed! Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, and also in egg yolks.

Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin is the ultimate carotenoid for eye health and the prevention of blindness. It's even more powerful an antioxidant than both lutein and zeaxanthin, and easily crosses into the tissues of the eye and exerts its effects safely and with more potency than any of the other carotenoids.

Specifically, astaxanthin may help ameliorate or prevent light-induced damage, photoreceptor cell damage, ganglion cell damage, and damage to the neurons of the inner retinal layers. It has also been found to have protective benefits against a number of eye-related problems, including:

Cataracts	Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)	Cystoid macular edema
Diabetic retinopathy	Glaucoma	Inflammatory eye diseases (i.e., retinitis, iritis, keratitis, and scleritis)
Retinal arterial occlusion	Venous occlusion

Astaxanthin is produced only by the microalgae Haematoccous pluvialis when its water supply dries up, forcing it to protect itself from ultraviolet radiation. It's the algae's survival mechanism—Astaxanthin serves as a "force field" to protect the algae from lack of nutrition and/or intense sunlight. There are only two main sources of astaxanthin: the microalgae that produce it, and the sea creatures that consume the algae (such as salmon, shellfish, and krill).

Anthocyanins from Bilberry and Black Currant

The most noted water-soluble antioxidants for the eye are the anthocyanins found in black currant and bilberry. They are important for eye health because they are soluble in the aqueous humor, thick watery substance filling the space between the lens and the cornea. The aqueous humor maintains the intraocular pressure, provides nutrition for other ocular tissues and serves to transport antioxidants.

Anthocyanins can also reduce intraocular pressure and help in maintaining collagen, which is the main component of the eye lens and is the connective tissue that supports your eye.

Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats

Omega-3 fats like those found in krill oil may help protect and promote healthy retinal function. One type, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is concentrated in your eye's retina and has been found to be particularly useful in preventing AMD. Further, inflammation is likely involved in AMD progression, and omega-3 fats have anti-inflammatory effects.

Research has shown that those who had the highest intake of animal-based omega-3 fats had a 60 percent lower risk of advanced AMD compared to those who consumed the least.^[ii] A 2009 study also found that those with the highest consumption of omega-3 fats were 30 percent less likely to progress to the advanced form of the disease over a 12-year period.^[iii] Adding further support for omega-3 fats, another 2009 study showed that participants with diets high in omega-3 fats, along with vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein and zeaxanthin, had a lower risk of AMD as well.^[iv]

A Comprehensive Plan to Optimize Your Eye Health

Keeping your eyes in pristine working order as you get older is more about a comprehensive strategy than simply honing in on one nutrient or another. Ultimately, a multi-faceted approach will protect your eyes on multiple levels. This includes:

• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D from sun exposure is the BEST way to optimize your vitamin D levels; exposing a large amount of your skin until it turns the lightest shade of pink, as near to solar noon as possible, is typically necessary to achieve adequate vitamin D production. If sun exposure is not an option, a safe tanning bed (with electronic ballasts rather than magnetic ballasts, to avoid unnecessary exposure to EMF fields) can be used, or, as a last resort, a vitamin D3 supplement can be taken orally.
• Care for your cardiovascular system. High blood pressure can cause damage to the miniscule blood vessels on your retina, obstructing free blood flow.
  
  One of the primary ways to maintain optimal blood pressure is to avoid fructose. Research by Dr. Richard Johnson, chief of the division of kidney disease and hypertension at the University of Colorado, shows that consuming 74 grams or more per day of fructose (equal to 2.5 sugary drinks) increases your risk of having blood pressure levels of 160/100 mmHg by 77 percent!
• Normalize your blood sugar. Excessive sugar in your blood can pull fluid from the lens of your eye, affecting your ability to focus. And, it can damage the blood vessels in your retina, also obstructing blood flow. To keep your blood sugar in a healthy range, follow my comprehensive nutrition guidelines, exercise and avoid excess sugar, especially fructose.
• Eat plenty of fresh dark green leafy vegetables, especially kale. Studies have shown that a diet rich in dark leafy greens helps support eye health, and those with the highest consumption of carotenoid-rich vegetables, especially ones rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, had increased vision health.
• Get plenty of healthy animal-based omega-3 fat. As noted above, omega-3 fatty acids like those in krill oil are protective of your healthy vision.
• Avoid trans fats. A diet high in trans fat appears to contribute to macular degeneration by interfering with omega-3 fats in your body. Trans fat is found in many processed foods and baked goods, including margarine, shortening, fried foods like French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts, cookies, pastries and crackers.
• Avoid aspartame. Vision problems are one of the many potential acute symptoms of aspartame poisoning.
• Quit smoking. Smoking increases free radical production throughout your body, and puts you at risk for less-than-optimal health in many ways, including the risk of decreased vision.

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• ^[i] Archives of Ophthalmology April 2011, Vol. 129, No. 4
• ^[ii] Opthalmology 117 (12): 2395-2401, December 2010
• ^[iii] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2009 Dec;90(6):1601-7.
• ^[iv] Ophthalmology. 2009 May;116(5):939-46.

• Neurobiology of Aging January 2, 2012

• Life Extension Magazine January 20, 2012

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