Health & Fitness

01/15/20

A researcher has developed a computer model of the human brain that more realistically simulates actual patterns of brain impairment than existing methods. The novel advancement creates a digital simulation environment that could help stroke victims and patients with other brain injuries by serving as a testing ground for hypotheses about specific neurological damage.

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'Coolsculpting' inventors develop new non-surgical method for targeting fat

Impaired driving -- even once the high wears off

Elevated leukemia incidence is found in World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers

Responders who worked at the World Trade Center site after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, have an increased overall cancer incidence compared to the general population, particularly in thyroid cancer, prostate cancer, and, for the first time ever reported, leukemia, according to a new study.

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Having less sex linked to earlier menopause

Your pets will never feel lonely again thanks to this new Spotify playlist

Having less sex linked to earlier menopause

Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy may trigger long-term post-traumatic stress

Short Sugar Binges Raise Risk of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune condition with serious consequences. This is not the same as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is a functional bowel disorder with no significant physical conditions that contribute to the problem.

The two most common health conditions falling under the umbrella term of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.¹ While ulcerative colitis often is localized to the large intestines and rectum, Crohn's disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract beginning in the mouth and ending in the anus.

More frequently, portions of the small intestines are affected. Common symptoms of both include persistent diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue and abdominal pain. Physicians use radiographic imaging, endoscopic testing and stool tests to diagnose IBD.

The CDC reports that in 2015 and 2016, 3 million Americans were diagnosed with either Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, which was 1 million higher than the number of people diagnosed in 1999. Women and those who live in suburban areas, who are unemployed, and who are divorced, separated or widowed are at higher risk.

Those with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease may experience complications from the condition.² Complications common with both conditions include a higher risk of colon cancer, blood clots, skin, eye and joint inflammation and primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Complications associated only with Crohn's disease include bowel obstructions, malnutrition, ulcers and fistulas. Those with ulcerative colitis are at higher risk for toxic megacolon, perforated colon and severe dehydration.

Small Changes Raise Risk of Chemical Colitis

One trigger for the rapidly rising incidence of IBD is a Western-style diet that increases inflammatory bowel disease activity. To further understand this pathway, researchers from the University of Alberta undertook an animal study to “identify the effect of a short-term diet high in sugar on susceptibility to colitis.”³

After only two days of eating a high-sugar diet, mice exhibited more severe symptoms to chemically induced colitis. The group was initially fed either regular food or a high-sugar diet. Severity of the disease was assessed daily and tissues were analyzed for cytokine expression. Additionally, gut microbiota were analyzed by RNA sequencing and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations.

Researchers found that the mice who were fed a high-sugar diet demonstrated an increase in gut permeability and a reduction in microbial diversity with concurrent reduction in SCFA. They also had an increased susceptibility to colitis and higher concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines.

Karen Madsen, professor of gastroenterology in the department of medicine at University of Alberta, specializes in the effect that diet has on IBD. She reports that the results of the study are in line with what she has heard from her patients who suffer with colitis: “Small changes in their diet can make their symptoms flare up.” She went on to say:⁴

"It's been previously shown that the type of diet that you are on can change your susceptibility to disease. We wanted to know how long it takes before a change in diet translates into an impact on health. In the case of sugar and colitis, it only took two days, which was really surprising to us. We didn't think it would happen so quickly."

Fiber Feeds Beneficial Bacteria, Forms Short Chain Fatty Acid

Their findings were consistent with those from recent literature, supporting an increased risk of inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups with a high-sugar diet and the additional protective role of SCFAs on the intestinal wall.

In evaluating their results, they found the loss of SCFA-producing microbes were especially meaningful to the symptoms as a high sugar diet reduced the production. The loss of microbial groups was important to the production of SCFAs and may have highly influenced the physiological response.

The symptomatic mice were then given acetate, one type of SCFA, which demonstrated a reduction in symptoms. Eating fiber-rich food acts as a fuel for beneficial bacteria that produce SCFAs. This is crucial to an efficient immune response.

However, eating a high sugar diet feeds the harmful microbes associated with a defective immune response and a higher inflammatory rate. Madsen believes the results debunk the idea you can eat well all week and splurge all weekend, saying:⁵

"Surprisingly, our study shows that short-term sugar consumption can really have a detrimental impact, and so this idea that it's OK to eat well all week and indulge in junk food on the weekend is flawed. There is an increasing amount of evidence that suggests there's a link between the bacteria present in our gut and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Because our study showed that gut permeability increased quite dramatically in the mice on the high-sugar diet — which means that bacterial products are free to move from the gut, where they normally stay, to the rest of the body — it raises the possibility that this phenomenon might be driving these diseases, but this needs to be looked into."

SCFAs play a crucial role in the prevention of disease.⁶ Since SCFAs have a large effect on health and their levels are regulated by food consumed, researchers believe they may provide a basis for the explanation of an increasing incidence of inflammatory disease in those eating a Western diet.

What Came First — Disruption or Disease?

Historically, disease research begins after the disease presents itself. Past studies have catalogued microbiome disturbances in those with IBD. Researchers from Harvard University⁷ sought to understand why these changes occur with IBD and how the changes may provoke the inflammatory reaction.

Their study was part of the second phase of the National Institutes of Health’s Human Microbiome Project. The goal of the project was to characterize the gut microbiota found in healthy adults and in those with diseases associated with disturbances in the microbiome.

In this study researchers followed 132 people over one year and compared those with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis to a control group of healthy individuals. Stool samples were collected every two weeks and blood samples every quarter. At the beginning and end of the analysis each participant had a colon biopsy.

During flare-ups, those with IBD had fewer chemicals produced by the microbiome. The researchers speculated it may be due to a combination of a reduced microbial metabolism, poor nutrient absorption and higher levels of fluid in the bowels. Their findings provided a detailed look at gut microbiota activity during active and inactive disease states of IBD.

Other researchers have also found dysregulation in the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in the origination and development of IBD.⁸ These changes are fueled by the foods you eat and, as Madsen commented, they happen more quickly than you may have imagined.

Since the majority of your immune system originates in your gut, optimizing your gut microbiome is a worthwhile pursuit with far-reaching effects on your physical and emotional health. As pointed out in the featured study, your first stop should be to eliminate sugar from your diet, especially from processed foods.

Sugar Responsible for Remarkable Amount of Disease

Unfortunately, consuming sugar has become a daily habit for most of us over the past 100 years. Before this, it was not consumed on a daily basis and reserved only as a treat for the wealthy. From a nutritional standpoint, your body does not require refined sugar, as it manufactures all the glucose it needs in your liver through a process called gluconeogenesis.

In addition to changing your gut microbiome, sugar in the diet has demonstrated the potential for feeding the growth of cancer cells. Research from Belgium has shown a strong link between high levels of glucose and mutated proteins inside human tumor cells, increasing cell growth in cancer cells.

The scientists pointed out that while added sugar increases aggressive cancer growth, it does not prove that sugar is the original factor in the mutation for cancer cells. However, results from past research demonstrate the mutations as a downstream effect of mitochondrial dysfunction, and excessive sugar consumption as one trigger for mitochondrial dysfunction.

Sugar is a primary factor in the development of other health conditions and chronic diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, chronic liver disease and Alzheimer's disease. Although all forms of sugar are harmful in excess, the most commonly found sugar in processed foods — processed fructose — appears to have the most harmful effect.

While high fructose corn syrup tastes like sugar, your body metabolizes it differently, placing a greater burden on your liver. Over the long term, sugar promotes chronic inflammation, disrupts normal functioning of the immune system and raises your risk of other diseases.

Feed Your Gut Microbiome and Protect Your Health

There are two basic ways to protect your gut microbiome and your overall health, and it's important to pay attention to both. You can positively impact beneficial gut bacteria by providing them with the nutrients they need to flourish — prebiotics — and by helping to improve or restore the gut flora by providing probiotics.

Prebiotic foods provide the beneficial bacteria with the nutrition they need to thrive and are primarily found in fiber-rich foods. There are two different types of fiber important for your digestive system. For more information about how to incorporate healthy fiber to reduce your risk of disease, see “Higher Daily Fiber Intake, Less Risk for Disease.”

Healthy foods with high amounts of fiber include artichokes, baked sweet potatoes with the peel intact, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and many other vegetables. As I often mention, you can help promote beneficial gut bacteria populations by eating fermented foods. Culturing vegetables is easy and inexpensive and can be done at home.

Some fermented foods are outstanding sources of vitamin K2, which helps prevent osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. Fermented foods are also powerful detoxifiers and contain a natural variety of microflora.

When your gut microbiome becomes unbalanced it affects your immune system, mental health and even your brain function. If you choose to use a probiotic supplement, these factors will help identify a high-quality option:

Seek out a trustworthy brand manufactured according to current Good Manufacturing Practices; be sure the manufacturer sources non-GMO ingredients
Look for a potency count (colony forming units or CFUs) of 50 billion or higher
Check the shelf life of the CFUs and avoid capsules only declaring CFUs at the "time of manufacture"
Choose a product containing multiple species of bacteria; products containing species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria are generally recommended

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Most Seniors Are Taking Too Many Prescriptions

The New York Times¹ reports that the average person in their mid- to late 60s today is taking 15 prescription drugs a year — and that doesn’t even count the number of over-the-counter products they may be taking.

That’s a lot of medications, especially when you consider that a survey released by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)² not quite four years ago, in 2016, indicated that 75% of the respondents — all over age 50 — said they take at least one prescription medication on a regular basis.

In that AARP survey, more than 80% reported taking at least two, and more than 50% took four or more. Compared to a 2005 Gallup survey,³ which showed 52% of all Americans said they were taking at least one prescription medication, it’s obvious that seniors are taking more drugs than they did in the past.

Specifically, from 1988 to 2010, adults over age 65 doubled the number of prescriptions they took from two to four.⁴ The proportion of adults taking five or more tripled in that same time period. Yet, despite the rising number of prescriptions, more drugs don’t add up to better health.

According to the researchers, “Contemporary older adults on multiple medications have worse health status compared to those on fewer medications, and appear to be a vulnerable population.” This translates to a negative effect on activities of everyday living as well as increased confusion and memory problems.

The term used to describe a condition in which a person takes multiple medications, drugs, supplements and over-the-counter remedies is polypharmacy. As evidenced by the quoted research, the clinical relevance and consequences of polypharmacy — of seniors taking fistfuls of medications each day — are far-reaching as the aging population across the world continues to grow.

Polypharmacy Raises Safety Risk

Polypharmacy is common among the elderly, especially for those who reside in nursing homes. Some end up in a nursing home because of adverse drug reactions, which places financial and emotional burdens on communities and families. They also may result in a significant number of hospitalizations with a high number of complications, increased rates of death and excessive health care costs.⁵

What’s worse, you may believe the federal government, medical associations or pharmaceutical companies have tested the effects that combinations of drug chemicals would have in your body but, unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.

Researchers report these adverse drug reactions are responsible for up to 12% of all hospital admissions of seniors. Yet, even being in the hospital doesn’t ensure against, or reduce, polypharmacy.

In one study,⁶ a team in Italy evaluated 1,332 inpatients who were at least 65 years old and who took at least five medications. They found polypharmacy was present in 51.9% of the patients when they arrived at the hospital; this increased to 67% by the time they left.

Taking One Drug to Offset Side Effects of Another Drug

One of the hidden dangers of polypharmacy is the chemical interactions that occur in the body when medications are mixed. Another problem is the number of times one drug is prescribed to take care of the side effects of another. This has become known as a “prescribing cascade.” The New York Times writes:⁷

“One common example is the use of anti-Parkinson therapy for symptoms caused by antipsychotic drugs, with the anti-Parkinson drugs in turn causing new symptoms like a precipitous drop in blood pressure or delirium that result in yet another prescription.”

To that end, drug interactions can cause hospitalizations in and of themselves — and sometimes these interactions can even lead to death. The authors of one study⁸ noted a 50% increase in this problem when seniors are taking five to nine medications.

Dr. Michael Stern, geriatric emergency medicine specialist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, told a New York Times reporter that polypharmacy accounts for more than one-fourth of all admissions to the hospital and that it would be considered the fifth leading cause of death if it were categorized that way.⁹

Antidepressant Use Has Doubled in Seniors

In a study¹⁰ published in 2013, scientists looked at participants who were prescribed antidepressants by their physicians. Of those who were over age 65, only 14.3% met the DSM-4 criteria for having had a major depressive episode — indicating they most likely were overprescribed or not necessary. The authors noted the importance of providing better diagnoses to patients as well as more appropriate treatments of their symptoms.

And again, statistics show more prescriptions don’t translate into fewer depressive illnesses. For example, in a 2017 study,¹¹ researchers reviewed data from 1990 to 2015 that had been gathered in England, Canada, the U.S. and Australia and found the incidence of symptoms had not decreased despite an increase in the number of prescriptions of antidepressants.

This is important because the risks associated with depression in seniors include cognitive decline, dementia and poor medical outcomes. Those suffering from depression in any age group also experience higher rates of suicide and mortality.

This is one reason the American Psychiatric Association writes that in some cases, treatment for the elderly “should parallel that used in younger age groups.”¹² Unfortunately, even though therapy for depression can include psychotherapy and alternative treatments, such as addressing vitamin deficiencies, good sleep habits, proper nutrition and exercise, too often, seniors are only prescribed medication — and that only adds to the multiple prescriptions they’re probably already taking.

Studies Link Depression to Inflammation

In related studies, researchers have found that inflammation contributes to many chronic diseases including heart disease and dementia.¹³ They also have found a link between inflammation and depression. The authors of one literature review¹⁴ included results from 30 randomized control trials with a total of 1,610 participants. Data analysis showed anti-inflammatory agents could reduce depressive disorder when compared to a placebo.

Results from another large meta-analysis¹⁵ revealed similar findings: Anti-inflammatory medications were helpful for those dealing with depression.

Yet another group of researchers¹⁶ found that those treated with immunotherapy for an inflammatory disorder experienced symptomatic relief of depressive symptoms. All of this points toward other ways of addressing depression than resorting to a prescription antidepressant. For a discussion of how to reduce inflammation naturally, see the articles below and consider optimizing your melatonin, adding fiber to your diet and grounding.

Seek Out the Root of the Health Condition

Before adding one more prescription medication or over-the-counter drug to your daily regimen, consider seeking the help of a natural health physician who can help get to the root of the problem. Too often medications mask symptoms but do not address the underlying condition. A vicious cycle may begin when the first medication triggers a side effect that a second medication will be prescribed to treat.

While your pharmacy computer may flag some drug interactions, the chemical complexity involved when more than three drugs are prescribed make it unnecessarily challenging to avoid adverse reactions. The real solution is to take control of your health and introduce foundational strategies to improve your overall health.

There is no magic pill that will fix symptoms, remove your illness and restore the vigor of youth. However, there are lifestyle choices you can make that will go a long way toward achieving your health goals. Consider starting with the strategies in the following articles to move toward better health:

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Iron Overload Destroys Mitochondria and Sabotages Health

Iron is necessary for life as it essential to transfer oxygen into your tissues. Hemoglobin, the protein in your red blood cells that contains iron at its core, reversibly binds to oxygen and supplies your tissues with it. Without proper oxygenation, your cells quickly start dying.

Iron is also a key component of various proteins and enzymes, and is involved in energy production, immune function, metabolism and endocrine function. For these reasons, low iron (anemia) can cause significant health problems.

However, what many don't realize is that excess iron is actually more common than too little, and iron overload can be even more problematic, as detailed in "Why Managing Your Iron Level Is Crucial to Your Health," which features my interview with Gerry Koenig, former chairman of the Iron Disorders Institute and the Hemochromatosis Foundation.

Because your body has a limited capacity to excrete iron, it can easily build up in organs like your liver, heart and pancreas. This is dangerous because iron is a potent oxidizer that can damage your tissues and contribute to a variety of health problems, including but not limited to:

Cirrhosis¹	Cancer, including bowel,² liver³ and lung cancer⁴ — Elevated ferritin is associated with a 2.9 times higher risk of death from cancer⁵ and blood donors have been shown to have a lower likelihood of developing certain cancers than nondonors^6,⁷
Hepatitis C⁸ — As noted in a 2007 paper,⁹ even "mild or moderate increase of iron stores appears to have significant clinical relevance" in this and other conditions	Gouty arthritis¹⁰
Cardiac arrhythmia¹¹	Cardiovascular disease¹²
Type 2 diabetes¹³ and metabolic syndrome — Elevated ferritin has been linked to dysfunctional glucose metabolism,¹⁴ raising the risk of diabetes fivefold in men and fourfold in women, a magnitude of correlation similar to that of obesity.¹⁵ High ferritin also doubles your risk of metabolic syndrome,¹⁶ a condition associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, liver disease and heart disease	Alzheimer's disease¹⁷

Iron Overload Impairs Mitochondrial Function

Iron causes significant harm primarily by catalyzing a reaction within the inner mitochondrial membrane. When iron reacts with hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl free radicals are formed.

These are among the most damaging free radicals known, causing severe mitochondrial dysfunction, which in turn is at the heart of most chronic degenerative diseases. The hydroxyl free radicals are an oxidative stress that will also damage your cell membranes, stem cells, protein and DNA.

In addition to all this damage, recent research¹⁸ shows excessive iron also promotes apoptosis and ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes. Apoptosis is the programmed cell death of diseased and worn-out cells, and as the name implies, ferroptosis refers to cell death that is dependent on and regulated by iron specifically.¹⁹

Cardiomyocytes are muscle cells in your heart that generate and control the rhythmic contractions in your heart, thus allowing it to maintain a healthy rhythm.²⁰ In short, this tells us that excess iron has the ability to impair your heart function by inducing mitochondrial abnormalities and the death of muscle cells in your heart.

How Iron Overload Affects Your Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Aside from raising your risk of heart-related problems, iron overload is also of particular concern in Alzheimer's disease,^21,^22,²³ the prevalence of which has dramatically risen in recent decades.

According to research^24,²⁵ published in 2018, buildup of iron — which increases oxidative stress and has a type of "rusting effect" in your brain — is common in most Alzheimer's patients. As noted by the authors:²⁶

"In the presence of the pathological hallmarks of [Alzheimer's disease], iron is accumulated within and around the amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, mostly as ferrihydrite inside ferritin, hemosiderin and magnetite.

The co-localization of iron with amyloid-beta has been proposed to constitute a major source of toxicity. Indeed, in vitro, amyloid-beta has been shown to convert ferric iron to ferrous iron, which can act as a catalyst for the Fenton reaction to generate toxic free radicals, which in turn result in oxidative stress."

Other research ²⁷ suggests elevated cerebrospinal fluid iron levels are strongly correlated with the presence of the Alzheimer's risk allele APOE-e4, and that elevated levels of iron in your brain may actually be the mechanism that makes APOE-e4 a major genetic risk factor for the disease.

A primary focus of conventional treatment so far has been to clear amyloid proteins, but while that approach seems logical, such attempts have met with limited success.

Researchers now suggest clearing out excess iron may be a more effective way to reduce damage and slow or prevent the Alzheimer's disease process. You can learn more about this in "How Excess Iron Raises Your Risk for Alzheimer's."

Iron Dysregulation Is Surprisingly Common

It's easy to get too much iron as it's commonly added to most multivitamins. Many processed foods are also fortified with iron. Two servings of fortified breakfast cereal may provide as much as 44 milligrams (mg) of iron in some cases,²⁸ bringing you dangerously close to the upper tolerance limit of 45 mg for adults, and well over the recommended daily allowance, which is a mere 8 mg for men and 18 mg for premenopausal women (i.e., women who still get their monthly period).²⁹

Unfortunately, many doctors don't understand or appreciate the importance of checking for iron overload. One of the greatest risk factors for iron overload is having a condition called hemochromatosis³⁰ — one of the most prevalent genetic diseases in the U.S. — which impairs your body's iron regulation, causing you to absorb higher than normal amounts.

The C282Y gene mutation is thought to be responsible for the majority of hemochromatosis cases. It takes two inherited copies of the mutation (one from your mother and one from your father) to cause the disease (and even then, only some people will actually get sick).

More than 30% of Americans are thought to have two copies of this defective gene³¹ and, according to one study,³² an estimated 40% to 70% of those with two defective C282Y genes will develop clinical evidence of iron overload.

If you have just one copy, you won't become ill but you will still absorb slightly more iron than the rest of the population,^33,³⁴ thus placing you at increased risk for overload and the complications associated with it.

Common Factors That Increase Your Risk of Iron Overload

Virtually all adult men and postmenopausal women are also at risk for iron overload since they do not lose blood on a regular basis. Blood loss is the primary way to lower excess iron, as the body has no active excretion mechanisms. Other potential contributors to high iron levels include:

Cooking in iron pots or pans — Cooking acidic foods in these types of pots or pans will elevate iron absorption.
Eating processed food products like cereals and white breads fortified with iron — The iron used in these products is inorganic iron, not much different from rust, and it is far more dangerous than the iron in meat.
Drinking well water that is high in iron — The key here is to make sure you have some type of iron precipitator and/or a reverse osmosis water filter.
Taking multiple vitamins and mineral supplements, as both of these frequently have iron in them.
Regularly consuming alcohol, as this will increase the absorption of iron in your diet.

How to Check for and Address Iron Overload

Checking your iron levels is easy and can be done with a simple blood test called a serum ferritin test. I believe this is one of the most important tests that everyone should have done on a regular basis as part of a preventive, proactive health screen. The test measures the carrier molecule of iron, a protein found inside cells called ferritin, which stores the iron. If your ferritin levels are low, it means your iron levels are also low.

The healthy range of serum ferritin lies between 20 and 80 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). Below 20 ng/ml is a strong indicator that you are iron deficient, and above 80 ng/ml suggests you have an iron surplus. An ideal range is between 40 and 60 ng/ml.

Please note that many health sites will tell you that "normal" can be much higher than that, but as I discuss with Koenig in the earlier referenced article, levels over 300 ng/ml are particularly toxic and will eventually cause serious damage.

If you have hemochromatosis, or if a serum ferritin blood test reveals elevated iron levels, donating your blood two or three times a year is the safest, most effective and inexpensive remedy. If you have severe overload you may need to do more regular phlebotomies.

If, for some reason, a blood donor center is unable to accept your blood for donation, you can obtain a prescription for therapeutic phlebotomy. At the same time, you'll also want to avoid consuming excess iron in the form of supplements, in your drinking water (well water), from iron cookware or fortified processed foods.

You can also limit iron absorption by not eating iron-rich foods in combination with vitamin C-rich foods or beverages, as the vitamin C boosts iron absorption. If needed, you could also take a curcumin supplement. Curcumin acts as a potent chelator of iron and can be a useful supplement if your iron is elevated.

GGT Test Is Also Advisable to Rule Out Iron Toxicity

Aside from a serum ferritin test, a gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) test can also be used as a screening marker for excess free iron and is a great indicator of your risk for sudden cardiac death, insulin resistance, cardiometabolic disease³⁵ and chronic kidney disease³⁶ as well.

In recent years, scientists have discovered GGT is highly interactive with iron. Low GGT tends to be protective against higher ferritin, so if your GGT is low, you're largely protected even if your ferritin is a bit higher than ideal.

When both your serum ferritin and GGT are high, you are at significantly increased risk of chronic health problems and early death,^37,³⁸ because then you have a combination of free iron (which is highly toxic), and the iron storage to keep that toxicity going.³⁹ That said, even if your ferritin is low, having elevated GGT levels is cause for concern and needs to be addressed.

For this reason, getting a GGT test in addition to a serum ferritin test is advisable to rule out iron toxicity. The ideal level of GGT is below 16 units per liter (U/L) for men and below 9 U/L for women. Above 25 U/L for men and 18 U/L for women, your risk of chronic disease increases significantly.

To lower your GGT level you'll need to implement strategies that boost glutathione, a potent antioxidant produced in your body, as GGT is inversely related to glutathione. As your GGT level rises, your glutathione goes down. This is in fact part of the equation explaining how elevated GGT harms your health. By elevating your glutathione level, you will lower your GGT.

The amino acid cysteine, found in whey protein, poultry and eggs, plays an important role in your body's production of glutathione. Red meat, which does not contain cysteine, will tend to raise GGT, as will alcohol, so both should be avoided.⁴⁰

Certain medications can also raise your GGT. If this is the case, please confer with your doctor to determine whether you might be able to stop the medication or switch to something else. General detoxification is another important component if your GGT is high, as your liver's job is to remove toxins from your body. The fact that your GGT is elevated means your liver is under stress.

Annual Ferritin Test Is an Important Health Screen

For adults, I strongly recommend getting an annual serum ferritin test to confirm you're neither too high nor too low. When it comes to iron overload, I believe it can be every bit as dangerous to your health as vitamin D deficiency, and checking your iron status is far more important than your cholesterol.

While a full iron panel that checks serum iron, iron-binding capacity and ferritin can be helpful, you really only need the serum ferritin test, plus the GGT test. Your doctor can write you a prescription for these tests, or you can order them from HealtheIron.com.

Again, if your ferritin is high, the easiest way to lower it is to donate blood two or three times a year. U.S. legislation allows all blood banks to perform therapeutic phlebotomy for hemochromatosis or iron overload. All you need is a doctor's order.

Also, unless you have a lab-documented iron deficiency, avoid iron-containing multivitamins, iron supplements and mineral supplements that contain iron if your levels are already high.

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