Soy and How it Effects our Body

As we continue to learn more and more about the foods we eat and how they interact with our bodies, ideas about whether a particular food is good or bad for us can get a little confusing. We heard that eggs were bad because of the cholesterol, but now we know that cholesterol isn’t the demon it was once touted to be. Margarine was supposed to be a better substitute for butter because of the saturated fat, but the trans fat in margarine is now recognized as far more dangerous. And the debates on other foods will continue as time goes on. One that is still talked about with mixed reactions is soy.

Soy was initially touted as a health food, primarily as a meatless source of protein. It is vegetarian friendly, less damaging for the environment versus the impact of raising animals with their associated waste and costs, and it does provide a source of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals — without the cholesterol and saturated fat found in meat. There was even a time when the American Heart Association used to advocate eating soy as part of a "heart healthy diet" because it showed decreases in the LDL cholesterol levels of test subjects. But they have since retracted the recommendation because the effects turned out to be minimal, only lowering LDL by 3% at an intake of 50 grams per day.

The type of soy foods eaten also have a bearing on how healthy they are. Snacking on edamame, which is soy in its natural form, is healthier than eating something like tofu hot dogs that have been processed and may include additives, preservatives and other undesirable non-food ingredients. Different cultures have eaten soy for centuries and not shown the same ill effects as we have seen in our country, but again, it is being eaten in a “cleaner” state.

Whether soy can be beneficial is also dependent on a particular person’s physiology. Soy contains isoflavones — a type of phytoestrogren that mimics the effect of estrogen on the body. When you eat lots of soy, it has the potential to disrupt estrogen-sensitive systems in your body, including the reproductive system (which includes the brain, the pituitary gland and the reproductive organs). Too much estrogenic activity in the body can disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle or be a possible contributing factor in breast cancer risk. It can also have an impact on our thyroid function. Soy flavonoids (soy isoflavones) reduce the activity of thyroid peroxidase, the enzyme required to insert iodine into thyroid hormone. Decreased thyroid function can then lead to weight gain, brain fogginess, decreased libido and other symptoms.

As you can see, the jury is still out on a definitive as to whether it is fully safe to eat or whether it should be left alone. If you do prefer to add soy to your diet, keep it in its most natural state and avoid overindulging or making it a large staple of the foods you eat. If you have any questions as to whether it is safe for your particular body, consult with one of our doctors who will be able to give an opinion that takes into consideration any health conditions or problems that you have.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski 

4 Health Tests You Should Have Monitored Regularly

If you aren’t regularly paying the best attention to your health, issues are likely to creep up on you before you know it. Everything from your diet, exercise routine (or lack thereof), water intake, sleep habits and stress levels will either positively or negatively affect your state of well-being. The best way to safeguard your long-term health is to catch troublesome issues early, so monitoring certain lab values regularly can tell you whether you are going in the right or wrong direction.

BLOOD SUGAR
Produced primarily from the carbohydrates you eat, blood sugar (a.k.a. glucose) is the primary source of your body's fuel. To use this fuel for energy, your body needs the hormone insulin to take sugar from the bloodstream and produce energy inside the cells. With pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes (the most common form), the cells have decreased their sensitivity to insulin and less gets inside the cells. Glucose then builds up, leading to problems with the heart, kidneys, eyes, nerves, brain, muscles and blood vessels. Early warning signs are you might feel thirstier and hungrier than usual, become tired and cranky, or have to make more trips to the bathroom. In fact, 7 million Americans have diabetes but don't know it.
YOUR TARGET: Hemoglobin A1c below 5.7 (ideally around 5.1), Glucose in the 85-100 mg/dL range.

CHOLESTEROL
Cholesterol is a waxy, fatty substance that is necessary to produce most of your hormones, build healthy cell membranes and protect nerve cells in your brain. But whatever the body doesn't use to perform those vital jobs can cause harm. The "bad" form (LDL) cattaches to the arteries when oxidized or the vessels are damaged due to inflammation, sabotaging blood flow to your heart and triggering more inflammation. The "good" form (HDL) removes excess cholesterol and protects the vessels. Proper lifestyle modification will help keep the numbers in good balance.
YOUR TARGET: Total cholesterol 150-200 mg/dL; LDL below 100 mg/dL; HDL above 60 mg/dL

IRON
Iron is the key ingredient to the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to every cell in your body. If hemoglobin is low, you may experience symptoms such as increased fatigue, lack of energy, muscle soreness, achy joints, and sliding performance. Other values like your serum ferritin, which indicates your storage capacity for the iron you absorb, may also be low. Insufficient iron may indicate poor intake, poor absorption or be a result of increased loss, so it is always important to know the cause as supplementation alone may not fix the problem. If iron stores aren't returned to a healthy state, heart problems may arise.
YOUR TARGET: Ideally between 85-135 ug/dL

THYROID-STIMULATING HORMONE
An underactive or overactive thyroid can make major changes to your quality of life. That's because the thyroid hormone regulates how much energy reaches all cells: Too little TSH (hypothyroidism) can leave you feeling weak, foggy, cold and gaining weight while high levels of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) speed up your heartbeat, cause excessive weight loss and can make you jittery. There are many levels to assessing the thyroid, including checking that T4 is being properly converted to the active T3 form and making sure that there isn’t an autoimmune component by checking thyroid antibodies. It’s a good idea to perform a full panel if thyroid complications are suspected.
YOUR TARGET: TSH level are optimal between 1.8 and 3.0 mIU/L

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski 

Characteristics of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an inflammatory condition of the skin, which is characterized by severe itching that is worse at night, with a red and scaly rash that is referred to as plaques.    Psoriasis may affect small areas of skin or the entire body.  Bacterial infections and pressure or trauma to the skin can aggravate psoriasis.  This can occur at any time in a person’s life, often beginning in infancy and may sometimes become dormant for decades.   (Mercola)

Psoriasis is worsened by stress and more so by weather.  Cold, dry winter weather aggravates it, whereas sunny, hot humid conditions improve the symptoms.  Due to psoriasis’s autoimmune nature, when a person develops an infection, their psoriasis will often flare up as well.   Some other environmental factors and external irritants can also trigger psoriasis to flare up.  These include: laundry detergent, soaps, household chemicals, perfumes, animal dander and metals in jewelry.  (Mercola)

In Health, 

Dr. Amber Watson 

Works Cited

Mercola, Dr. Mercola.com. 1 December 2004. 21 August 2015 <http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/12/01/ease-that-itch.aspx>.

Coffee.......Friend or Foe?

That delicious, aromatic drink that wakes up a large number of people, and keeps many more running, has a split persona. There are numerous health benefits being discovered that coffee helps with. However, with any good thing, it is possible to cause harm, and with coffee, there are some negative aspects to the dark liquid. With Americans drinking on average 3 cups of coffee per day, a little information can go a long way. Coffee beans start off as a bright red fruit and then go through a series of steps, drying, roasting, to bring out the flavors and dark rich color people are familiar with.

Health Benefits

There have been studies demonstrating that the antioxidants and bioflavonoids found in coffee can help reduce the risk of several diseases including type II diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, several different cancers, stroke and improve the function of good gut flora. But the research is still extremely limited as to the extent of the effect of coffee relative to each of these conditions, so don't ditch the meds for a cup of joe yet. These studies are often on a small scale and cannot account for too many outside variables. Many people will enjoy a cup as part of morning routine, but stick with a high quality organic bean that you grind yourself and brew at home for maximum benefit, because this will reduce the likelihood of introducing contaminants, which will ruin both the health benefits and the flavor.

Drawbacks

For every study there is demonstrating the health benefits of coffee, there is likely to be at least one study contradicting the results.  There are studies demonstrating that individuals dealing with heart disease, high cholesterol, chronic dehydration, autoimmune diseases, strokes, insomnia, and anxiety should be avoiding coffee. Many of these are because of how coffee acts as a stimulant affecting many of these conditions. There is also research regarding how coffee can interfere with the body's ability to regulate cholesterol and homocysteine. The suggested mechanism is that it disrupts or inhibits the actions of select B vitamins.

Caffeine - The good and the bad

Caffeine, the most used and abused drug in our culture, with over half the American population drinking coffee every day, this doesn't include the caffeine consumed in other sources such as sodas, chocolate and energy drinks. In moderation, a little bit of caffeine can do some good. As a mild stimulant, it can give an individual a boost by inhibiting adenosine, an amino acid that slows brain activity and induces sleepiness. This can prove to be beneficial when used occasionally, but not relied on as the sole source of energy. Caffeine also acts a mild vasodilator, which has been shown to help mitigate several types of headaches with a vascular cause.

Caffeine does have a less appealing side. Because caffeine is a stimulant, it puts additional stress on the adrenal glands and will force the body to manage an artificial fight or flight response. This will consequently raise heart rate and blood pressure in individuals. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic, increasing urine output. So, if an individual has a medical history involving the cardiovascular, endocrine or urinary systems, they should evaluate their caffeine intake and strongly consider reducing or eliminating it all together.

  

Additives

All this talk of coffee operates under the assumption, that one will consume a single 6 oz serving of black coffee. Not many individuals enjoy their more brew this way. Of the five types of taste, bitter is the one that humans have developed an aversion for, and that is because many poisonous or un-ripened fruits have a bitter taste. And because coffee is naturally very bitter, most people find the need to add something to 'take the edge off.' And this is where any health benefits are negated. Cream and sugar is what most people will add to their coffee, often times to excess. Now include the head-spinning list of concoctions that can be found in the local coffee shops with super-human sized drinks. A 30 oz coffee is the equivalent of 5 standard cups, then add in all the sugar needed to make it palatable with some whipped cream and artificial caramel syrup on top for good measure, it's a wonder more people aren't walking around with severe tremors. Recently, there has been a trend of adding butter and coconut oil to strong coffee stimulating ketosis, reporting improved energy, increased mental focus and weight loss. But often times these results are often short lived.

In Health, 

Dr. Sean  McKnight