Cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of premature death in the Western world, typically develops 10 years later in women than in men. Scientists have long established that the female hormone estrogen protects against the disease but the mechanism of action was unclear.
Professor Kinsella and Dr Elizebeth (Libby) Turner have shown that the prostacyclin receptor is a prime target for estrogen being regulated by the alpha (ERa), but not by the beta (ERb), form of the estrogen receptor protein. Prostacyclin receptor levels can prevent platelet aggregation, or blood clotting, and the narrowing of vessel walls. As such the protein can play a role in protecting the body from cardiovascular disease.
‘We found that prostacyclin receptor levels followed estrogen levels. If estrogen went down, so too did the amount of this prostacyclin receptor ', says Professor Kinsella. 'We now have a clear understanding of one of the ways that estrogen may protect against heart disease. This is really significant in its own right, as it opens up new avenues of investigation for treatment of cardio vascular disease in women and it adds considerable information to the whole debate about the potential benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for post-menopausal women.'
The Health Research Board funded this project. Commenting on today’s publication of the findings, Enda Connolly CEO of the state agency said, ‘Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death in Ireland. Approximately 10,000 Irish people die each year from this disease, so a finding like this, which sheds new light into the very core of the disease, has tremendous potential to create new and more effective treatments for patients.'
More information: Estrogen increases expression of the human prostacyclin receptor with the vasculature through an ERĪ±-dependent mechanism. Elizebeth C. Turner and B. Therese Kinsella J. Mol. Biol. (2010) 396, 473-486.
Provided by University College Dublin
Call my office in Lombard (630) 627-3700 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com
Friday, January 27, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
What is the Truth about Menopause and Bioidentical Hormones? Read Here
I have been treating people with hormone problems for the past four years and the information that I have gathered is critical to your immediate and long term health and well being. Information your doctors don't have and the drug companies certainly don't want you to know.
Menopause is permanent! It is the Permanent Loss of your Sex Hormone System. Your ability to produce estradiol and progesterone depends on if you have any eggs left in your ovaries or if they are function-able! If you leave menopause untreated, it will affect your entire body. It causes numerous, immediate health problems, accelerates aging, and leads to the degenerative diseases of aging that women experience later in life.
I know estradiol and progesterone are essential to our health. They help us to be fit and functional today and over time, helps to prevent degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, blood clots, dementia, autoimmune diseases like arthritis and fibromyalgia. They also slow down the pace at which we age.
My patients who are absent of these two hormones are plagued by fatigue, abdominal weight gain, hair loss, constipation, headaches, digestive problems, brain fog and memory loss, irritability, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, vaginal dryness, insomnia, restless sleep, increased cholesterol, etc etc etc. The list is long ladies!
Some of you think you "skipped menopause" because you don't or didn't have any symptoms. Your body is still experiencing challenges you may be completely unaware of because no woman is escaping menopause. Menopause is permanent loss of your sex hormones. You never regain your ability to produce these two hormones. These hormones ARE essential to your health women!!
My approach to treating hormone loss is probably very different from what you have experienced from your doctor. Please understand, doctors are trained in medical school to treat ONLY THE SYMPTOMS of menopause. Not the cause!! The standard of care treatment is hormone drugs, patches, birth control pills, vaginal creams...Uggg
We can empower each other through education and knowledge. Fear and confusion has led women to believe that their own hormones are dangerous, cancer causing molecules! Oh my!! I really want this to change for women! My goal is to educate you and then you can make a choice. Similar to if you want to take supplements, vitamins, exercise, stop smoking, etc. You have that right to choose whether or not you do certain things that make you healthier. Shouldn't you have the same right to replace your hormones as well?
Read my article about proper levels of hormones in the body and learn what is optimal. Then, use only bioidentical transdermal hormones in cyclic, rhythmic dosing to acquire those levels. The results are self evident.
Call my office in Lombard (630) 627-3700 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com
Menopause is permanent! It is the Permanent Loss of your Sex Hormone System. Your ability to produce estradiol and progesterone depends on if you have any eggs left in your ovaries or if they are function-able! If you leave menopause untreated, it will affect your entire body. It causes numerous, immediate health problems, accelerates aging, and leads to the degenerative diseases of aging that women experience later in life.
I know estradiol and progesterone are essential to our health. They help us to be fit and functional today and over time, helps to prevent degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, blood clots, dementia, autoimmune diseases like arthritis and fibromyalgia. They also slow down the pace at which we age.
My patients who are absent of these two hormones are plagued by fatigue, abdominal weight gain, hair loss, constipation, headaches, digestive problems, brain fog and memory loss, irritability, anxiety, depression, loss of libido, vaginal dryness, insomnia, restless sleep, increased cholesterol, etc etc etc. The list is long ladies!
Some of you think you "skipped menopause" because you don't or didn't have any symptoms. Your body is still experiencing challenges you may be completely unaware of because no woman is escaping menopause. Menopause is permanent loss of your sex hormones. You never regain your ability to produce these two hormones. These hormones ARE essential to your health women!!
My approach to treating hormone loss is probably very different from what you have experienced from your doctor. Please understand, doctors are trained in medical school to treat ONLY THE SYMPTOMS of menopause. Not the cause!! The standard of care treatment is hormone drugs, patches, birth control pills, vaginal creams...Uggg
We can empower each other through education and knowledge. Fear and confusion has led women to believe that their own hormones are dangerous, cancer causing molecules! Oh my!! I really want this to change for women! My goal is to educate you and then you can make a choice. Similar to if you want to take supplements, vitamins, exercise, stop smoking, etc. You have that right to choose whether or not you do certain things that make you healthier. Shouldn't you have the same right to replace your hormones as well?
Read my article about proper levels of hormones in the body and learn what is optimal. Then, use only bioidentical transdermal hormones in cyclic, rhythmic dosing to acquire those levels. The results are self evident.
Call my office in Lombard (630) 627-3700 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
How To Control Diabetes
In my medical training I was taught that we should eat a low fat diet high in complex carbohydrates and that prevented weight gain and disease. I have since discovered that I have been mislead down the wrong path. It isn't fat that makes us fat or have diabetes. In fact, it is the carbohydrates that we are eating. A diet high in fruit, milk, bread, and very little fat sets you up for higher blood sugar levels, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, weight gain, and abnormal cholesterol profiles. Carbohydrates increase the release of insulin to bring blood sugar levels down. Insulin is a fat storing hormone. Weight gain, along with high insulin levels cause blood pressure to increase. The blood pressure medications often used often increase blood sugar levels even more.
You could test this yourself by monitoring your own blood sugar levels. Do an experiment of your own. Check your blood sugar levels when you get up in the morning before you eat and if you are not diabetic your blood sugar level should be "normal" which is between 70-100. Then eat a perfect American Diabetes Association breakfast, a bowl of shredded wheat with non fat milk, a banana and a glass of orange juice. Wow! Now watch your blood sugar rise one hundred to two hundred points. A normal blood sugar response to any meal is no more than ten to twenty points.
So it must be food that is the problem. It isn't protein. Protein will eventually turn into sugar, but not that quickly. It isn't the fat. We aren't eating any fats, or hardly any, and fats do not turn into sugar that quickly either. Carbohydrates are the only nutrient group that can be converted into sugar so fast. All carbohydrates are recognized as sugar by the body, whether they are in the form of grains, starches, dairy, fruits, or sweets. So basically we are telling diabetics to eat SUGAR!
Why is sugar so destructive to diabetics? To understand and appreciate why, you need to understand the role of insulin in the human body. Insulin is the hormone responsible for tightly regulating the amount of sugar going to the brain after you eat. Insulin accomplishes this in two ways. First, the presence of insulin alerts the liver to incoming high amounts of sugar so that the liver does not let this high sugar pass through to the brain. Second, insulin stows away sugar into cells, thereby decreasing blood sugar levels. Also, when sugar is stowed, insulin levels normalize. This system keeps blood sugars and insulin levels balanced.
Diabetics are insulin resistant. This means that cells will not allow insulin to unload sugar from the bloodstream. Because the cells do not respond to insulin, the pancreas reacts by secreting even more insulin in an attempt to open up the closed cells. The result is type 2 diabetics have both high insulin levels and high blood sugar levels. Now, ask a type 2 diabetic to eat more carbohydrates and it further increases both their blood sugar levels and insulin levels.
You can try this for yourself. Eliminate all obvious carbohydrate foods, such as potatoes, rice, legumes, cereals, breads, fruit, low fat yogurt, milk, and of course refined sugar. Add more eggs, egg substitutes, fish, chicken, red meat, nuts, non starchy vegetables, real mayonnaise, real cheese, real butter and healthy oils. See what happens. You will see that your blood sugar numbers will fall dramatically and you may even lose body fat.
Let's take this even further. Numerous studies reveal that diabetic patients have a very high rate of heart disease. These studies span three decades relating high insulin levels and heart disease, high insulin levels and hypertension, high insulin levels and excessive body fat gain and many other problems. What is interesting to me is that many people after a heart attack are told to go on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. This increases their blood sugar levels which then increase the insulin levels. High insulin levels are associated with increase in weight, increase in blood pressure, degenerative diseases of aging such as osteoarthritis, various cancers, cholesterol abnormalities, coronary artery disease, less lean body mass with excess body fat, osteoporosis, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Could it be that we are accelerating the aging process through poor eating and lifestyle habits that raise insulin levels?
Of course there are genetic variables. However, this is clinically significant only when eating and lifestyle habits consistently cause insulin levels to rise. In other words, a genetic predisposition to disease is not a "guarantee" that you will develop that disease. Instead, what you do and how you live your life determines your risk for developing insulin resistance and the degenerative diseases of aging.
To learn more give me a call!
Call my office in Lombard (630) 627-3700 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com
You could test this yourself by monitoring your own blood sugar levels. Do an experiment of your own. Check your blood sugar levels when you get up in the morning before you eat and if you are not diabetic your blood sugar level should be "normal" which is between 70-100. Then eat a perfect American Diabetes Association breakfast, a bowl of shredded wheat with non fat milk, a banana and a glass of orange juice. Wow! Now watch your blood sugar rise one hundred to two hundred points. A normal blood sugar response to any meal is no more than ten to twenty points.
So it must be food that is the problem. It isn't protein. Protein will eventually turn into sugar, but not that quickly. It isn't the fat. We aren't eating any fats, or hardly any, and fats do not turn into sugar that quickly either. Carbohydrates are the only nutrient group that can be converted into sugar so fast. All carbohydrates are recognized as sugar by the body, whether they are in the form of grains, starches, dairy, fruits, or sweets. So basically we are telling diabetics to eat SUGAR!
Why is sugar so destructive to diabetics? To understand and appreciate why, you need to understand the role of insulin in the human body. Insulin is the hormone responsible for tightly regulating the amount of sugar going to the brain after you eat. Insulin accomplishes this in two ways. First, the presence of insulin alerts the liver to incoming high amounts of sugar so that the liver does not let this high sugar pass through to the brain. Second, insulin stows away sugar into cells, thereby decreasing blood sugar levels. Also, when sugar is stowed, insulin levels normalize. This system keeps blood sugars and insulin levels balanced.
Diabetics are insulin resistant. This means that cells will not allow insulin to unload sugar from the bloodstream. Because the cells do not respond to insulin, the pancreas reacts by secreting even more insulin in an attempt to open up the closed cells. The result is type 2 diabetics have both high insulin levels and high blood sugar levels. Now, ask a type 2 diabetic to eat more carbohydrates and it further increases both their blood sugar levels and insulin levels.
You can try this for yourself. Eliminate all obvious carbohydrate foods, such as potatoes, rice, legumes, cereals, breads, fruit, low fat yogurt, milk, and of course refined sugar. Add more eggs, egg substitutes, fish, chicken, red meat, nuts, non starchy vegetables, real mayonnaise, real cheese, real butter and healthy oils. See what happens. You will see that your blood sugar numbers will fall dramatically and you may even lose body fat.
Let's take this even further. Numerous studies reveal that diabetic patients have a very high rate of heart disease. These studies span three decades relating high insulin levels and heart disease, high insulin levels and hypertension, high insulin levels and excessive body fat gain and many other problems. What is interesting to me is that many people after a heart attack are told to go on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet. This increases their blood sugar levels which then increase the insulin levels. High insulin levels are associated with increase in weight, increase in blood pressure, degenerative diseases of aging such as osteoarthritis, various cancers, cholesterol abnormalities, coronary artery disease, less lean body mass with excess body fat, osteoporosis, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Could it be that we are accelerating the aging process through poor eating and lifestyle habits that raise insulin levels?
Of course there are genetic variables. However, this is clinically significant only when eating and lifestyle habits consistently cause insulin levels to rise. In other words, a genetic predisposition to disease is not a "guarantee" that you will develop that disease. Instead, what you do and how you live your life determines your risk for developing insulin resistance and the degenerative diseases of aging.
To learn more give me a call!
Call my office in Lombard (630) 627-3700 to set up an appointment or email me at jones.gretchen@gmail.com
