Wikipedia’s article on Lactoferrin lists several benefits that we can receive from lactoferrin.

• Transfer iron into the cell
• Iron regulation in the blood
• Antibacterial properties
• Antiviral properties
• Antifungal properties

One benefit that the article doesn’t list that I see written about in other places is lactoferrin as a prebiotic.

Lactoferrin’s job in the body is to bind with free iron and carry it into the cell so that it can be used there. Its iron regulation and antibacterial properties, and possibly the prebiotic properties too, are a side-effect of that primary function. Since lactoferrin binds with free iron to transfer it, lactoferrin thereby controls the amount of free iron in the blood. I once met a person who had to have blood taken regularly because his body produced too much iron. Based on this I wonder if his problem may have actually been a lactoferrin deficiency.

Harmful bacteria have a huge appetite for iron, and that is where lactoferrin’s antibacterial properties come from. Once the harmful bacterial population is back under control, the beneficial bacteria that are much less needy for iron can take over. That is one thing that a prebiotic can do.

The Wikipedia article says that lactoferrin can be helpful against viruses like hepatitis, HIV, herpes, and rotaviruses. This apparently happens through a variety of mechanisms. Lactoferrin can bind to the receptors on the cell membrane thereby blocking the virus, bind to the virus itself, or even affect the proteins in the virus reducing its ability to replicate.

Proof from Clinical Studies

Here’s an abstract on PubMed that lays it all out for us what lactoferrin can do for our immune system.

Lactoferrin, a multifunctional iron binding glycoprotein, plays an important role in immune regulation and defence mechanisms against bacteria, fungi and viruses. Lactoferrin’s iron withholding ability is related to inhibition of microbial growth as well as to modulation of motility, aggregation and biofilm formation of pathogenic bacteria. Independently of iron binding capability, lactoferrin interacts with microbial, viral and cell surfaces thus inhibiting microbial and viral adhesion and entry into host cells. Lactoferrin can be considered not only a primary defense factor against mucosal infections, but also a polyvalent regulator which interacts in viral infectious processes. Its antiviral activity, demonstrated against both enveloped and naked viruses, lies in the early phase of infection, thus preventing entry of virus in the host cell. This activity is exerted by binding to heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycan cell receptors, or viral particles or both. Despite the antiviral effect of lactoferrin, widely demonstrated in vitro studies, few clinical trials have been carried out and the related mechanism of action is still under debate. The nuclear localization of lactoferrin in different epithelial human cells suggests that lactoferrin exerts its antiviral effect not only in the early phase of surface interaction virus-cell, but also intracellularly. The capability of lactoferrin to exert a potent antiviral activity, through its binding to host cells and/or viral particles, and its nuclear localization strengthens the idea thatlactoferrin is an important brick in the mucosal wall, effective against viral attacks and it could be usefully applied as novel strategy for treatment of viral infections.

I found another abstract on PubMed from a study done to see the effects of Lactoferrin on the flu virus. At the time that I’m writing this we are approaching the flu season, so this one is rather appropriate. It says that the flu virus invades our cells, replicates itself, then kills the cell through apoptosis – it programs the cell to die. The study showed that lactoferrin inhibited the programmed cell death and blocked the virus from being able to replicate itself.

Here is another study on PubMed about the effect of Lactoferrin on candida. Many people suffer from an overgrowth of candida yeast in the body, so I thought this one would be appropriate too. Basically it says that candida requires iron to grow and “lactoferrin showed significant antifungal effect”.

If you don’t already take one, this is the lactoferrin supplement that I take.

Wayne Woodworth

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor and I don’t make any medical claims that lactoferrin will do anything for you. The information is from Wikipedia and the study abstracts are all from PubMed, the website from the National Institutes for Health. I also own the website with the lactoferrin supplement and may earn income from any links you click on that site or this one.

I received a link to this article in my email today – Prostate Cancer Linked to High Triglyceride Levels at Renal & Urology News. They make it pretty clear:

Men aged 60 years or older who have elevated triglyceride levels are at increased risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa), according to Japanese investigators. They also are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive PCa.

I had already done some research about Citrus Bergamia Risso, or Bergamot juice extract, and found that it can have a significant effect on triglyceride levels. A study on PubMed, the National Institutes for Health website, shows that Citrus Bergamia juice can affect triglyceride levels.

C. bergamia juice provoked a significant reduction in the plasma levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL, and an increase in HDL levels, versus hyperlipidemic controls (p < 0.05).

The study itself is about protecting the kidneys in people with high cholesterol. The important thing for us that we can take from the study is that C. bergamia can reduce triglycerides in the blood, which according to the Renal & Urology News article should reduce this risk factor for prostate cancer.

Here is one source for bergamia juice extract.

Wayne Woodworth

I watched a video recording of a Nikken meeting that was help somewhere up in Washington this weekend. During the meeting Dave Balzer explain some things about some of Nikken’s products and technologies.

How Does Bergisterol Taste?

Dave Balzer says that Bergisterol tastes like grapefuit juice with a little more kick. My first bottles of Bergisterol arrived on Thursday last week, so I have had a chance now to try it myself. I don’t think I have ever tried grapefruit juice, so I asked my wife and she agrees with Dave’s assessment. From my perspective, it is a bit bitter and it definitely has a bite, but it isn’t really too bad. Dave said that if you don’t care for the taste then you can mix it with orange juice or any other cold drink. Just don’t mix it with anything hot because the heat will start to kill off the plant sterols that give the juice its benefits.

The New Nikken PiMag Sports Bottle

Distributors are very excited about the new PiMag water bottle becoming available. It has been delayed a lot from when we first heard about it, probably more than a year ago now. On July 1st it will finally be here. He said that it holds about 26 ounces of water, or about 3/4 of a liter. It is squeeze bottle made of LDPE plastic (its reclycling number is 4) and is BPA free. The plastic is also bio-green so that it is biodegradable if it ends up in a landfill.

Unlike in the old bottle, the filter cartridge in the new bottle is replaceable as is the spout. The bottle will come with 2 filter cartridges and 2 spouts and Dave said that they are each good for about 40 gallons of water, or about 200 refills. He said that the filter is specified to alter the pH of the water to between 8.5 and9.5 pH depending on the source water and the filter also reduces the water’s redox potential by about 200 mV giving the water the ability to act more like an antioxidant when you drink it.

The filtration also meets NSF 42 and NSF 53 standards.

Why Neodymium Magnets in the Sleep System?

I learned something interesting about why Nikken used neodymium magnets in the RAM (radial axis magnet) disks in the Naturest mattress toppers. To create the RAM disks they force 6 magnets into a confined space with their poles oriented in 6 different directions. Dave Balzer said that they they used something like iron magnets then in a fairly short period of time they would begin to accommodate each other and their poles would move until they all pointed in the same direction. By using neodymium magnets they prevent this. He said that in 100 years their poles will not have moved, so the effectiveness of the RAM technology in the Naturest pads will remain constant for the lifetime of the pad.

Why are the KenkoTherm Wraps So Effective?

I’ll be honest. I tend to not think much about the KenkoTherm wraps that Nikken offers. I have more respect for them now though. There are four things that you want to do for a muscle injury. You want to apply compression to help stabilize the area. The elastic nature of the wrap will do that quite nicely. The second thing is to increase blood flow to the area so that the body can get the resources to the area to repair the damage. The third factor is also handled by increased blood flow and that is to get the toxins and waste products out of the area. The far-infrared quality of the wraps helps to trigger vasodilation, which means that the heat helps the blood vessels open wider so that they allow more blood through.

The fourth factor is acceleration, that is to accelerate the body’s healing ability. Again, this is done through heat. The far-infrared material in the wraps absorbs body heat, sunlight, and any other energy and reflects it back out in the far-infrared range so that it can penetrate into the area and warm it. It’s kind of like turning on your Bunsen burner beneath your beaker in chemistry. Heat speeds up chemical reactions, and in this case those chemical reactions are the ones that heal the body.

So that’s everything I learned by watching Dave Balzer this morning. I hope you found it helpful.

Wayne Woodworth

Nikken has added a new video about the benefits of Bergisterol to their YouTube channel.

Bergisterol is a new liquid nutritional supplement from Nikken made from bergamot (citrus bergamia risso) extract to support the body’s cardiovascular health*.

You can click here to find out more about Bergisterol and to place an order.

*Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

I was told that there are studies that show that the liquid extracts of bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) are more potent than the dried powder and crystalline forms of of bergamot. While searching for that I stumbled upon another one that I thought was interesting.

The title of the study is:

Bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) fruit extracts and identified components alter expression of interleukin 8 gene in cystic fibrosis bronchial epithelial cell lines.

The plain English form of that statement is that some of the components of bergamot fruit extract may be able to reduce the inflammation in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.

From Wikipedia, cystic fibrosis is named from the cysts and scarring that occurs in the pancreas of people who have the condition and is caused by a mutation in a gene that regulates the components of sweat, digestive juices, and mucus. The mucus is what causes the problems in the lungs, to the point that lung transplants are often needed as the condition worsens.

While the study, which you can see the abstract of on PubMed here, doesn’t claim that Citrus bergamia Risso could cure cystic fibrosis, if it can in fact reduce the inflammation in the lungs of sufferers then it could go a ways toward giving them a better quality of life.

You can find one source for Bergamot juice extract here.

Wayne Woodworth

The bergamot, or bergamot orange, is a citrus fruit that mostly grows in the Calabria region of southern Italy. According to Wikipedia, the tree blossoms in winter and the juice is less sour than a lemon but more bitter than a grapefruit.

It looks like the primary use for this fruit is to create essential oils, like for aromatherapy, and is thought to help with depression, stress, tension, fear, hysteria, infections, anorexia, psoriasis, and eczema. Bergamot is also used to flavor Earl Grey tea.

More importantly for us, extracts of the bergamot fruit also have beneficial effects for our cardiovascular health. Clinical tests have shown that bergamot extract can help to maintain levels of triglycerides, blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

Here is an abstract I found on PubMed:

Bergamot juice produces hypolipemic activity in rats though the mechanism remains unclear. Here we investigated on the effect of bergamot extract (BPF) in diet-induced hyperlipemia in Wistar rats and in 237 patients suffering from hyperlipemia either associated or not with hyperglycaemia. BPF, given orally for 30 days to both rats and patients, reduces total and LDL cholesterol levels (an effect accompanied by elevation of cHDL), triglyceride levels and by a significant decrease in blood glucose. Moreover, BPF inhibited HMG-CoA reductase activity and enhanced reactive vasodilation thus representing an efficient phytotherapeutic approach in combating hyperlipemic and hyperglycaemic disorders.

“produces hypolipemic activity” in plain English means that it reduces fat, or cholesterol, in the blood. “combating hyperlipemic and hyperglycaemic disorders” means that it helps helps people who are dealing with problems of high blood fat and high blood sugar.

Here is where I get my bergamot juice extract.

Wayne Woodworth

PS. You can safely assume that any links on this site are affiliate links and that I make some income from orders placed on the sites that I link to. I only link to and endorse products that I use myself and have found supportive.

I received an email from Dr. Norm Shealy yesterday and it had some interesting information about mushrooms that I want to share with you today.

First, if you don’t know who Dr. Shealy is, you can check out his website to find out more about him. For our purposes, he is a doctor and he is very critical of the FDA and the mega drug companies.

Anyway, his email yesterday was promoting a book called Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, a book about how mushrooms can deal with a lot of the toxicity problems that we have today, both inside and outside of the body. I haven’t read the book yet but I am considering ordering it. If you decide to check it out, go to Amazon because it is an expensive book and Amazon makes it almost affordable. The print version is less expensive than the Kindle version too.

So, what I wanted to share was a few of the facts that Dr. Shealy shared about mushrooms.

Talking about edible mushrooms, “some have excellent immune enhancing properties such as Cordyceps, shitake, and Ganoderma.”  Ganoderma is another name for Reishi mushrooms.

He also says that “the broadest spectrum of anticancer properties is found in Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) followed closely by Cordicepe sinensis and Lentinula edodes (Shitake).”

I get my mushrooms from Nikken’s Kenzen Immunity (or Kenzen 14 Mushroom Complex as it is called in Canada). It contains the three mushrooms mentioned by Dr. Shealy as well as 11 other mushrooms known to support the immune system. Now, I’m not a doctor like Dr. Shealy and I cannot tell you that this will cure cancer and or anything like that. And as a supplement, Kenzen Immunity is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you believe you may have a medical condition then please see a doctor.

Wayne Woodworth

I very recently bought a copy of Barley Grass Juice by Barbara Simonsohn and have read just the first few pages. I have already learned a lot about barley grass, either the juice or the powder, in those few pages.

In the introduction the author shares that she learned about barley grass many years ago from a man named David who was juicing barley grass every day to deal with the symptoms of stomach cancer. As long as he drank a little of the juice every day he had no symptoms. That’s pretty cool. I heard from a friend that it helped him with his sensitive stomach, but stomach cancer is a whole different level.

I want to share just a little bit that this book says about barley grass.

“In Japan, barley grass powder is already the most popular food supplement.” I think just about everyone knows that the Japanese are among the healthiest people on our planet. Maybe there’s a connection?

Dr. Yoshihide Hagiwara, the man famous for barley grass, called barley grass powder “nature’s best fast food.” Just mix the powder with water and drink. You can’t get much easier than that.

This is the caption next to a picture of a small girl holding a handful of barley grass. “A supply of vital substances like barley grass juice (or extract) protects our children against disease and provides their bodies with everything that they need to strengthen its defensive and self-healing powers.”

She goes on to talk about how whole foods are more “biologically available” than synthetic vitamins. This is largely due to the fact that synthetic vitamins don’t provide the other chemicals that we need to assimilate those vitamins. Science is constantly identifying new substances in our food and assigning various benefits to them. For example, we have known about the essential vitamins and minerals for a long time. Sugary cereals have been fortified with them since before I was little. Things like “phytonutrients” and “bioflavonoids” on the other hand are fairly recent discoveries. That doesn’t mean that they haven’t been there all along, just that now science has identified them and associated various benefits to them. There are still plenty more chemicals in real food that science hasn’t yet identified, and who knows what benefits they have.

So, the gist of the first 8 pages of the book is that whole foods are much more effective than synthetic vitamins and that barley grass, whether as a fresh juice or a dried powder, is a very potent place to get a lot of the things that our bodies need to stay healthy.

My family takes Nikken’s Jade GreenZymes, an organic barley grass powder, just about every day. I love the stuff.

Wayne Woodworth

I write a new post about green barley grass powder every Spring, actually every Spring allergy season. The reason is that green barley grass is the BEST thing that I have found for dealing with my pollen allergies.

When I was younger I used to take one drug after another for my pollen allergies. I would take one noxious chemical for a few years until it no longer worked then I’d have to switch over to something else. I think by the time I was 13 I quit taking anything at all and just dealt with it. I would be miserable for a few weeks then it would be over.

A few years ago I was introduced to barley grass powder and I was amazed that it actually worked. If I take it two or three times a day then I don’t have the itchy eyes or the sneezing that go along with my allergies, but I’m not exactly the best at remembering to take my nutritional supplements every day. Fortunately, I have also found that if I take the green barley grass powder right when my eyes start to itch then about 30 minutes later I will have forgotten that I was having any allergy symptoms in the first place.

Also, unlike the drugs that I took when I was young, the green barley grass hasn’t lost any of its effectiveness in the 5 years I have been using it. How awesome is that?!

If you have been around here for a while then you already know that the barley grass powder that I use is Jade GreenZymes from Nikken. Jade GreenZymes is the one Nikken product available in the US and Canada that is grown and processed in Japan, so people are concerned about its safety and availability. You don’t have to worry, it’s all good. The barley grass had already been harvested, processed, and delivered to Nikken’s warehouses in California and Toronto before the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear problems that Japan has faced.

One final thing. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a doctor and Nikken’s Jade GreenZymes green barley grass powder is a nutritional supplement. As such… *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Wayne Woodworth

A friend emailed me today with a link to a video about possible PCB contamination in fish oil supplements. People take fish oil supplements for the omega fatty acids that fish oil contains. The problem is that fish oil can also contain everything else that the fish ate during its lifetime, including PCBs and mercury.

The video is from a news story on Good Morning America a year ago.

PCB stands for polychlorinated biphenyls and were used extensively in industry until they were banned in the US in 1976. They were banned because studies showed they potentially caused cancer.  PCBs don’t exist naturally. They are entirely man-made and they are still a problem today because they are very stable compounds, meaning that they don’t break down.

Since dumping industrial waste into rivers and streams was a common practice, fish are an excellent source for your recommended daily allowance of PCBs, just as they are for mercury. Fortunately, fish are not the only source for those essential omega fatty acids. They also can be received from the oil in plants, like flaxseed oil for example.

I get my omega fatty acids from Nikken’s Omega Greens + DHA. It is certified vegan so you know that none of its omega fatty acid content came from fish.