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A new Ipsos Reid poll, conducted on behalf of alive magazine, showed that in the past 12 months, 68% of Canadian adults have used one or more of the following natural products, with use of each detailed below:

Do You Wake Up in the Middle of the Night...

Do you often find yourself waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep? You’re not alone! The condition is called Sleep Maintenance Insomnia and it is a more common problem than you may realize, which may have you asking what is actually going on and why is it happening to me?

There are many hormones involved with getting a good night’s sleep such as cortisol. It is secreted by the adrenal glands (our stress glands) and it is needed to keep us awake and alert during the day. However, in order to sleep well at night our cortisol levels need to decline to a certain degree that is favorable for sleeping. While we are asleep, specifically between the hours of 3 am — 4 am, our pituitary gland is responsible for releasing another hormone called ACTH. ACTH helps to prepare our adrenals for the next day, so that they can pump out strong levels of cortisol.

The problem of insomnia starts when our adrenal glands become fatigued and as a result become confused. When this happens our adrenals begin releasing cortisol at the first sign of ACTH release, subsequently causing you to wake up at about 3 am and finding yourself frustrated when you can’t get back to sleep. Irregularly secreting cortisol under any scenario can suppress our immunity. Another key hormone affected by high cortisol release is melatonin. Melatonin is our sleep hormone, which is released at night; however, sufficient levels of melatonin cannot be achieved when cortisol is high. Normal insomnia can be caused by high cortisol levels before you go to bed. There are many reasons why our bodies pump out excess cortisol, stress and poor diet being
the main culprits!

Understanding the Cortisol Cycle 

Excess cortisol has been linked to many conditions prevalent today including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Cortisol at normal levels is actually healthy for us, keeping us awake and alert during the day and dropping gradually in the evening to a level that allows us to get a good night’s sleep.

So what constitutes “excess cortisol”? It refers to secreting a higher amount during the day than the amount considered normal (line 2) or secreting certain levels of cortisol  for more hours during the day than we are supposed to (line 3). Secreting an excess amount under either of these scenarios, and some people might do both, over an extended period of time can contribute to the development of health issues. 

References:

1. ACTH and Cortisol Secretory Patterns in Man T. F. GALLAGHER, KOICHIRO YOSHIDA, HOWARD D. ROFFWARG,
DAVID K. FUKUSHIMA, ELLIOT D. WEITZMAN and LEON HELLMAN, Institute for Steroid Research, Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology and Oncology, Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center New York, New York 10467

2. On the Interactions of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis and Sleep: Normal HPA Axis Activity and Circadian Rhythm, Exemplary Sleep Disorders Theresa M. Buckley and Alan F. Schatzberg, Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center (T.M.B.) and Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University (A.F.S., T.M.B.), Stanford, California 94305 

3. Interactions between evening and nocturnal cortisol secretion and sleep parameters in patients with severe chronic primary insomnia
Andrea Rodenbecka,  ,  , Gerald Huethera, Eckart Rüthera, Göran Hajaka, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Goettingen, Von-Siebold-Strasse 5, 37075 Goettingen, Germany Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstrasse 84, 93042 Regensburg, Germany Received 31 December 2001; revised 1 February 2002; Accepted 15 February 2002

4. HPA Axis and Sleep, George P. Chrousos, MD, First Dept of Pediatrics,Director, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes,University of Athens Medical School, Children's Hospital Aghia Sophia,Athens 115 27, Greece. Vgontzas, MD, Penn State University College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry H073, Sleep Research & Treatment Center, 500 Uni versity Dr., Hershey, PA 17033Ilia Kritikou, M.D . Penn State University College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry H073, Sleep Research & Treatment Center, 500 University Dr. Hershey, PA 17033 October 10, 2010
 

Let Chocolate be Your Medicine

By Susanne Morra, RHN

There has been a considerable amount of attention in the media recently about the fact that chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, is actually good for you. As with everything else we hear in the media, we took this information with a grain of salt. As devout chocolate lovers, this was good news, but as inherent sceptics, we wondered “how good is good?” We began to research the subject with very enlightened and, thankfully, pleasant results.

We still have much to learn from our ancestors - or perhaps we have lost sight of the knowledge they gathered for our benefit over many centuries. Medicinal uses of cacao originated among the Olmec, Maya and Aztec civilizations. However, there is evidence of cacao used for medicinal purposes from pre-14th century in the Americas, with introductions into European culture in the mid 1500s. Cacao was used to treat many ailments, including weight problems (yes, weight problems!), to stimulate the nervous systems of weak or exhausted patients and to improve digestions and elimination. It has also been used to treat the loss of appetite (including sexual appetite), mental fatigue, anaemia and kidney stones (1). Cacao powder and extracts have also been found to prohibit the growth of cancer cells in the human colon (2).

Before running to your local variety store to purchase a jumbo pack of your favourite chocolate bars, keep in mind that all cacao products are not created equal. Most readily available cacao products have undergone significant processing including fermentation, Broma processing, or Dutch processing, and have been diluted and processed with ingredients that may not be quite as benign as a dried cacao bean.

Prior to processing, pure cacao is among the most concentrated source of antioxidants. It has one of the highest ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scores of all foods, higher than berries and red wine. However, cacao processing can cause antioxidant deterioration.

Research suggests that drying cacao beans has a minimal effect on the antioxidant value, and while the results of roasting are rather unclear, it seems that roasting cacao beans at temperatures exceeding 70 degrees Celsius results in a very significant loss of antioxidant activity (specifically epicatechin), whereas roasting at 120 degrees Celsius causes a very significant increase (over 600%) in antioxidant activity (3). Natural, non-alkalized cacao powders have the highest ORAC score.

Dutch processing, which originated in the early 1800s, is the most damaging to the antioxidants in cacao. The process involves the addition of alkali to chocolate, which can result in losses of up to 90 percent of the antioxidant properties. Dutch processing gives chocolate a mild and smooth taste and texture which many consider to be pleasing to the palate, and a lighter colour than naturally processed chocolate, which possesses a more bitter quality that is more of an acquired taste for some.

References:

1. Dillinger TL, Barriga P et al. Food of the gods: cure for humanity? A cultural history of the medicinal and ritual use of chocolate. J Nutr. 2000;130(8S Suppl):2057S-72S.

2. Carnésecchi S, Schneider Y, Lazarus SA et al. Flavanols and procyanidins of cocoa and chocolate inhibit growth and polyamine biosynthesis of human colonic cancer cells. Cancer Lett. 2002;175(2):147-55.

3. Payne MJ, Hurst WJ, Miller KB et al. Impact of fermentation, drying, roasting, and Dutch processing on epicatechin and catechin content of cacao beans and cocoa ingredients.J Agric Food Chem. 2010;58(19):10518-27.

4. Keen CL. Chocolate: food as medicine/medicine as food.Am Coll Nutr. 200;20(5 Suppl):436S-439S; discussion 440S-442S.

5. Stahl L, Miller KB, Apgar J et al. Preservation of cocoa antioxidant activity, total polyphenols, flavan-3-ols, and procyanidin content in foods prepared with cocoa powder.J Food Sci. 2009;74(6):C456-61.

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Salvestrols and the Diet

Research suggests that salvestrols are produced by plants in response to fungal infection and are, therefore, most present at the sites where fungi are likely to attack. In fruits, this means on the skin as the fruit is ripening. Salvestrol compounds are also present on the surfaces of the roots of many plants as the roots are continually under threat from fungi in the soil.

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