Mind that matters, misleading AARP... take it or leave it list

The quick lists of 5 things to do and 5 things not to do often provide inaccurate or even misleading information. AARP usually provides a nice sound bite of information about various things. Mental health comes up every year with a interesting brain health infographic in October 2016 (discover, connect, move, nourish, and relax). The December 2017 edition of AARP had a big section on brain health and avoiding Alzheimer’s disease. (Also see risk factors related to Alzheimer’s.) The Guard Your Mental Health section by Marty Munson offered a “take it” or “leave it” for several items. The thumbs up items were exercise, friends+family, manage blood pressure, and nutrition (Mediterranean diet as an example). Evidence shows that stimulating your brain met with mixed results; the way how you stimulate your brain is important so some things – even listening to music – work better than others.

The last three items really were surprising, and questionable.  Don’t sweat the aluminum in your antiperspirant since there is no evidence to link the trace aluminum from deodorants to mental health issues. (The lack of friends because you don’t use deodorants might also be a factor in the use-vs-don’t-use antiperspirant decision.) This is interesting, and it appears to be accurate. Trace amounts of aluminum should not be a big issue; aluminum is a very common element and we are continually exposed to it.

The idea to leave Ginseng was intriguing. It does not appear to help significantly with brain function; and, as with many supplements, there could be side-effects, especially for people with other health factors like diabetes. This sent me to look at the Shaklee product, MindWorks®, and the active ingredients that are rather strongly promoted with positive research. The ingredients in MindWorks all show pretty strong evidence to support a healthier body and brain: chardonnay grape seed extract, Guarana extract, blueberries, and green coffee bean extract. These ingredients have been shown to reduce cholesterol, improve blood flow, offer anti-oxidation, and improve cognitive function.

True, Ginseng has very little evidence to contribute to brain health (and reduced Alzheimer’s), but many other supplements do. Shaklee provides one of the best overviews on the subject of Alzheimer’s. Of course, general health, is critical. Anti-oxidants like B, E, and C are critical. There is a lot of support showing benefits from Gingko. So “leave it” related to Ginseng, seems accurate, but highly misleading, because it implies that there are no natural health remedies.

The really big erroneous and misleading factor; however, is the “leave it” for supplements. Not to fault Munson, specifically, there are several studies that show that people who take supplements are no more healthy than those who don’t take any supplements. However, the biggest landmark study on the issue compared people who took multiple Shaklee supplements (not just a multivitamin) with those who did not take any supplements at all. This landmark study (Block, et al., 2007) was conducted in 2007, but ongoing research continues to support its accuracy. The people who took the multiple vitamins were far healthier, even compared to people taking only a single multivitamin. Being general healthier is also directly correlated to brain health.

Shaklee recommends that people have an active and healthy lifestyle. If you don’t consistently eat well, then you should take supplements. For people worried about aging well, Shaklee offers a trifecta of products: MindWorks® as discussed above; Vivix® which is a patented resveratrol blend that is 13x more effective than resveratrol alone (vs gallons of red wine daily); and OmegaGuard® which provides a pharmaceutical grade omega-3 that helps to improve heart health. 

You will notice that many of the labels on Shaklee supplements are unique. The DTX Liver Health® does not say “active ingredient” it actually says “medicinal” information! They can only say that with actual clinical support. MindWorks™ says “Helps improve mental sharpness & focus and protect against age-related mental decline.**”.

Resveratrol (Shaklee’s Vivix®) is the one supplement you should take for age-related protection. There are literally thousands of studies showing the health and age-protection associated with resveratrol. You could drink a dozen or so glasses of Muscatine wine (or juice) each day which, arguably, might have its own set of side-effects; or you could take Vivix. With Vivix being magnitudes (13x) more effective than the available resveratrol alternatives, it seems like the best available alternative, even if it is a little pricy.

While we are on the miracle of Vivix, there are two new categories of products from Shaklee: Youth™ for rejuvenation of skin care which actually rebuilds the collagen layer of the skin (without Botox surgery); and treatment for eye health where age-related macular degeneration is actually reversed/improved.

Of  course, changes in unhealthy lifestyle should come first, and foremost. Quitting smoking, for example, will start saving money instantly, and extend your life dramatically.

Okay, okay. This looks like it is an advert for Shaklee. A place that is usually great for unbiased information is Wikipedia. But several entries on the Great Wiki in the sky are not only misleading, they are inaccurate. Look at the health benefit for resveratrol. Cancer is one sentence that says that resveratrol won’t cure cancer. HUH!?? That may, or may not be true, but what about the hundreds of studies that show it will lower the risks of you getting cancer in the first place… One sentence that misrepresents a single study in 2011 (Fernandez & Fraga) to say there is no evidence in any way related to longevity in humans. There is evidence in mammals, according to their review of available research, and further research in humans will likely find similar support (which this study didn’t find because they apparently weren’t looking very hard).

[At some point, I expect to come back to Wikipedia to fix some of these entries, it is in everyone’s best interest to have accurate and factual info there; unfortunately, the resveratrol “article” requires a total rewrite.]

So, yes, I trust the Shaklee information as a great place to start, and a trustworthy source of nutritional information. They are in the business of selling products too, but a well-educated, health and wellness conscious consumer/distributor is critical to Shaklee’s mission and ongoing success. Shaklee has been producing vitamins/supplement organically for decades, environmentally friendly household products for about a century and has operated at a zero carbon footprint since Y2K.

Shaklee is a nice picture of sustainability. Living healthier and longer, sounds good too.

We at SustainZine would like to wish you a healthy, wealthy and happy 2018.

References

Agustín F. Fernández & Mario F. Fraga (2011) The effects of the dietary polyphenol resveratrol on human healthy aging and lifespan, Epigenetics, 6:7, 870-874, doi: 10.4161/epi.6.7.16499

Block, G., Jensen, C. D., Norkus, E. P., Dalvi, T. B., Wong, L. G., McManus, J. F., & Hudes, M. L. (2007). Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study. Nutrition Journal, 6(1). doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-30

Social Irresponsibility: Energy and the cost of carbon

These are all part of a dramatic change in the way that we view carbon emissions.


There are three things that are prominently in the news about carbon emissions and addressing them in June of 2012. These are all part of a dramatic change in the way that we view carbon emissions.

1. Australia is opening up a Carbon Tax at $23 per ton. They are adjusting from the mistakes of Europe when they started cap and trade at too low a price. Undermining the whole process.
2. In the meanwhile, Texas is opening a market for carbon. The Oil capital of the US is also the largest Wind producer of electricity.
3. California credit allowances jump in price dramatically.

Generally there are three ways to address the issues associated with externalities caused by carbon emission (and greenhouse gas emissions)

1. Voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR). Look at Shaklee corporation and Microsoft. Shaklee, a health and nutrition company, is the first company to be certified climate neutral in April 2010. In the meanwhile, Microsoft intends to be carbon neutral by the end of 2013.

2. Cap and Trade exchanges. Texas and California.

a.   Texas is opening a market for carbon. “Bad joke, or perhaps an oxymoron”, right?  Nope, it is the Texas Climate & Carbon Exchange. The Oil capital of the US that produces about 1m barrels of oil per year is also the largest Wind producer of electricity (producing about 6.5m GHw/hr in 2010, nearly twice as much as Kansas). This is one of several exchanges, with the most notable one in the us operating in California.

b.   This headline from Reuters: “California carbon allowances (CCAs) for delivery in 2013 closed at $16.75 per tonne on Thursday, up $1.10 from one week ago on a growing belief that the shutdown of a California nuclear power plant will boost carbon emissions due to higher fossil fuel use.” A 7% jump was followed by $20+ call options that anticipated future CCAs rising aggressively in the future.

3. Tax Mechanism.
“The carbon pricing scheme will impose costs on big polluters, which will result in higher end prices for certain products. Treasury estimates that an average family will pay $9.90 more per week in the first year of the scheme’s introduction.” But 9 out of 10 households will get some level of reimbursements “ through personal income tax cuts and increases in pensions and allowances, as well as other measures”. This will already take effect from May-June 2012. Check out the Household Carbon tax estimator for Australia:  

a.   What is the Carbon Tax? (Australia):  http://www.carbontax.net.au/category/what-is-the-carbon-tax/ A $23 per ton initial tax on heavy polluters.

b.   How will this Carbon Tax affect me? (Australia): http://www.carbontax.net.au/category/how-will-the-carbon-tax-affect-me/

c.   Discussion (Australia). Australia is one of the worst (developed countries) for carbon footprint per capita. Unlike Canada (cold) this is partially because of the sprawl of the country and the abundance of fossil fuels. The tax is directly on the producers of carbon (starting with coal) and this tax is applied directly to those impacted. Those households impacted can spend the money any way they want.  The more accurate costs of dirtier energy (coal and oil) will serve to shift prices to cleaner energy.

So, what does this mean? It means that in lots of places and within lots of organizations (and governments) there is a movement toward addressing carbon emissions. Even the glacial movements in the US are starting gain speed, much like the melting glaciers themselves are.


A market mechanism like Australia's seems like an good approach. There is not a massive initial gift of credits to the coal-burning companies. The government doesn't take all the money and run. The market is given an opportunity to improve the costing to accommodate the externalities of fossil fuels.


Let's see how that plays forward? 


Coming soon to an eBook store near you: Social Responsibility by the www.RefractiveThinker.com.