October 2011: News and Correspondence

Sleep Interruptions Erode Memory

Continuity of sleep, not just the total hours of nightly slumber, is crucial to forming and retaining memories, a new study in mice suggests. Mice couldn’t remember objects they’d seen before after a night of interrupted sleep, Asya Rolls of Stanford and her colleagues report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Even though the mice got just as much sleep as normal and slept as intensely as usual, breaking that sleep into one-minute chunks was enough to erase the memory of toys the animal had seen in the past.

The results emphasize that sleep is a process, says Paul Shaw, a neuro-scientist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the study. “Whatever biological function sleep serves takes time,” he says. “So if you wake up, you disrupt that process and have to start from scratch again.”

Scientists already had inklings that continuous bouts of sleep were important for learning and memory, Shaw says. But previous experiments had disrupted sleep in ways that made it hard to tell whether learning and memory problems stemmed from fragmented snoozing or from stress or other confounding conditions. In the new study, the Stanford researchers used a “really cool” genetic trick to interrupt the mice’s sleep without all the problems associated with previous studies, Shaw says.

Rolls and her colleagues introduced a light-sensitive protein called channel-rhodospin-2 into certain brain cells. Shining a pulse of blue light on the cells through fiber-optic cables implanted in the brain activated the cells and briefly woke the animals. Outwardly, the mice didn’t even appear to wake up. “They maybe just twitched a muscle,” says Rolls. But the researchers could detect the brief arousals by monitoring the mice’s brain waves.

Mice that got continuous sleep or that were woken up every two minutes over four hours remembered objects they’d seen before. The mice crawled on, sniffed, tasted and played with new objects far more than familiar objects. Mice that woke up every minute explored old objects just as much as new toys, indicating that the animals didn’t remember which object they had encountered before.

Humans and other animals may need much more than two minutes of uninterrupted sleep to keep memories intact, Shaw says. Mice typically sleep only a few minutes at a time. Fruit flies in Shaw’s lab seem to need at least 30 minutes of continuous sleep to learn and remember things. People may need even longer snooze periods than that.

Source: By Tina Hesman Saey Science News, April 27, 2001.

Number Of Children Poisoned By Medication Rising Dramatically, Study Says

The number of young children admitted to hospitals or seen in emergency departments because they unintentionally took a potentially toxic dose of medication has risen dramatically in recent years, according to a new Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study published online Sept. 16 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The rise in exposure to prescription products has been so striking that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established the PROTECT Initiative, intended to prevent unintended medication overdoses in children.

According to Randall Bond, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Cincinnati Children’s, “The problem of pediatric medication poisoning is getting worse, not better. More children are exposed, more are seen in emergency departments, more are admitted to hospitals, and more are harmed each year.”

Dr. Bond found that exposure to prescription products accounted for most of the emergency visits (55 percent), admissions (76 percent) and significant harm (71 percent). Levels of ingestion of opioids, most often prescribed to treat pain; sedatives-hypnotics, frequently prescribed as sleep aids; and cardiovascular medications were particularly high.

“Prevention efforts at home have been insufficient,” says Dr. Bond. “We need to improve storage devices and child-resistant closures and perhaps require mechanical barriers, such as blister packs. Our efforts can’t ignore society’s problem with opioid and sedative abuse or misuse.”

Dr. Bond studied patient records from 2001 to 2008 in the National Poison Data system — an electronic database of all calls to members of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Dr. Bond studied children 5 years old and younger exposed to a potentially toxic dose of a single pharmaceutical agent, either prescription or over-the-counter. A total of 453,559 children were included in the study.

The largest part of increasing admissions, injuries and death was due to children finding and ingesting medication on their own. Therapeutic errors at home were uncommon and increased only minimally.

The most likely explanation for these trends is a rise in the number of medications around small children, he says. A 1998-99 survey found that half of adults had taken at least one prescription medication in the preceding week and 7 percent had taken five or more. In 2006, the same surveyors found that 55 percent had taken at least one prescription medication in the preceding week and 11 percent had taken five or more.

There are 57 poison control centers in the United States. Together they provide free, 24-hour poison expertise and treatment advice by phone. All poison centers can be reached by calling the same telephone number 1-800-222-1222. Poison centers are staffed by pharmacists, physicians, nurses and poison information providers who are toxicology specialists.

The PROTECT Initiative is a collaboration among public health agencies, private sector companies, professional organizations, consumer/patient advocates and academic experts to keep children safe from unintentional medication overdoses. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 70,000 emergency visits each year result from unintentional overdoses among children under the age of 18.

Source: G. Randall Bond, Randall W. Woodward, Mona Ho. The Growing Impact of Pediatric Pharmaceutical Poisoning. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2011.

Saw Palmetto No Benefit in Major Prostate Study

Saw palmetto failed to relieve symptoms of enlarged prostate, even when men took the herbal supplement in very high doses, according to a new study published Sept. 28, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About half of all men over age 50 have BPH, which becomes more common as men age. Many men in the U.S. take saw palmetto extract to reduce symptoms of a swollen prostate, such as frequent urination and a sense of urgency. Its use in Europe is even more widespread because doctors often recommend saw palmetto over more traditional drug treatments.

Results of the new study question the effectiveness of saw palmetto for a condition known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Earlier studies of saw palmetto have produced conflicting results, and none had evaluated its benefits in high doses. In the current study, however, men took up to three times the standard dose of saw palmetto.

“Now we know that even very high doses of saw palmetto make absolutely no difference,” said study co-author Gerald Andriole, MD. “Men should not spend their money on this herbal supplement as a way to reduce symptoms of enlarged prostate because it clearly does not work any better than a sugar pill.”

The multi-center study involved more than 300 men, ages 45 and older, who had moderate symptoms of an enlarged prostate, such as frequent urination, difficulty emptying their bladders and a weak urine stream. The men were randomly selected to receive a daily dose of saw palmetto extract, beginning at 320 milligrams, or a placebo.

After 24 weeks, the saw palmetto dosage was increased to 640 milligrams a day, and after another 24 weeks, to 960 milligrams a day – triple the standard dose. In all, men took saw palmetto or a placebo for nearly 17 months. Neither the physicians nor the patients knew who was taking what regimen until the end of the study.

The researchers found that among men who took saw palmetto, prostate problems improved slightly but not more than in men taking a placebo.

“We commonly see this in clinical trials,” Andriole explains. “Patients often report an improvement in symptoms because they are taking something, even if it is a placebo. But in this study, there was no benefit to taking saw palmetto over the placebo.”

The researchers determined that saw palmetto had no greater effect than the placebo on BPH symptoms as well as other conditions related to an enlarged prostate such as waking at night to urinate, PSA level and bladder control.

Source: Michael J. Barry, Sreelatha Meleth, Jeannette Y. Lee, et.al. Effect of Increasing Doses of Saw Palmetto Extract on Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: A Randomized Trial. JAMA, 2011; 306 (12): 1344-1351.

76-Year-Old Mother Outwalks Her Treadmill

Dear John,

I love all of your products and recommend them to my clients at Peak Performance Nutrition here in Las Vegas. But there is one special client I am particularly pleased has really been helped by your Herbal Boost supplement – my 76-year-old mother!

Twenty years ago she had a bad accident with multiple fractures in her lower spine. They had to put in a titanium cage in order for her to be able to walk again. Since that time she has been in constant pain and not moving around very much. Plus, her legs stayed very swollen, I think, due to poor blood circulation.

Her joints hurt all the time and she had to constantly take pain-killers. The swelling and pain in her hands was so bad that she could not even take off her wedding ring that was always too tight.

On top of all that, she developed Type 2 diabetes and her doctors had her on several medicines to control her high blood sugar. She became very weak recently and was shaky all the time.

I know that exercise is important for blood circulation and to help control weight and blood sugar for diabetics. I continually encouraged her to move more. She did try, but could usually manage only walking on her treadmill for about 20 minutes a few times a week. She always stopped because of the constant pain and tiredness.

I talked to John Steinke, the acupuncturist at Tango, and he recommended she use Herbal Boost because it was a very useful supplement for blood circulation.

I gave her some Herbal Boost about 3 months ago, hoping it would help her, if only just a little bit. She started taking 1-2 capsules once or twice a day.

After only a few weeks on Herbal Boost, she told me she was feeling much better with a lot of the swelling gone and more energy. Then it got better and better because she’s gotten stronger every day.
She now uses her treadmill over 90 minutes a day! And this is outdoors in the heat early each morning in Las Vegas.

She only stops sometimes because the treadmill stops working after about an hour in the heat. I’m going to have to get her a new treadmill.

She complains about sore legs. I’ve told her it's not because of poor circulation but because she is working out too much. I want her to rest more so her muscles can adapt and get stronger. But, she doesn’t want to give up her morning treadmill.

She’s now lost 20 pounds in 3 months – I chart this for her. The swelling is gone from her hands and legs. She can even take her wedding ring off and her hands don’t shake any more.

This part is really important to me – her doctors have reduced her diabetes medicines because her blood sugar stays in normal ranges. Her fasting blood sugar each morning is now between 100-105. They even told her she doesn’t have to come in so frequently for checkups.

I’m very grateful to Tango for Herbal Boost because now my worry about my mother is that she doesn’t do too much exercise, rather than fearing that she would soon be in a nursing home.

Sincerely yours,

Nick Prvulov
Peak Performance Nutrition
Las Vegas, Nevada

Dear Nick,

Thank you so much for your great story on how much Herbal Boost is helping your mother. It’s incredibly inspiring to me and we are glad you shared it with us.

It must be a big relief for you that she is healthier and so active now. I hope you don’t have to buy her a new treadmill!

During the 20 years I practiced sports acupuncture in the SF Bay area, Herbal Boost was one of the most useful supplements I gave to my athletes. I also recommended ImmunoPhase for immune health and GastroCalm for stomach issues to all of them.

Herbal Boost has more herbs than the Tango Vital Cell formula for improving blood circulation, particularly at the capillary or microcirculation level. That’s where all of the exchanges take place between our tissue cells and our blood stream. I think that’s the reason it’s so useful in many different types of recovery and to boost the performance of other supplements. It’s probably also why your mother has experienced such an improvement in so many different ways.

I liked my elite endurance athletes to take Herbal Boost every day because it helps a lot to improve lung function. The lungs are packed with capillaries within the small little lung sacs called alveoli. Our red blood cells pick up oxygen there to deliver to the rest of the body – to our organs, glands, brain and working muscles. Most people also don’t realize that the number one physiological decline in aging is loss of lung function.

It is very likely that bad blood circulation at the capillary level is the central health issue for your mother. But, I think she now qualifies in my book as an endurance athlete with her 90 minutes a day on her treadmill.

Your mom’s results are not typical and we don’t expect everybody to have the same type of noticeable results. But we do recommend Herbal Boost for anyone wanting a bit extra out of the rest of their health programs.

With our best wishes to you, and for continued improvements for your mother.

John Steinke, L.Ac.

 

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