Clean Eating with the Tower Garden

Grow Your Own Food Using Aeroponic Gardening

Aeroponics is a unique and increasingly popular gardening technique.  The reason why it is appealing is because it is soil-less and therefore, amenable to a vertical irrigation design.  In an aeroponic garden, the plants can be suspended in a Tower-like apparatus where the water softly trickles on to the roots.  This, in turn, promotes improved air circulation which expedites plant growth.  This horticulture technology is so simple and efficient that it is sanctioned by NASA and you may have even noticed it in the Living with the Land attraction at Disneyworld.

 As part of a Healthcare initiative to promote clean eating I have been traveling among school and civic communities to tout the benefits of growing your own fruits, vegetables and herbs using aeroponic gardening. This growing method is extremely efficient because it uses far less water and space than any other methodology and the plants are as clean and organic as they can get.  I personally, don’t even wash the food that I harvest from my garden and just about any edible plant can be grown including cantaloupe and watermelon, but excluding root vegetables. 

One variety of this gardening system, The Tower Garden®, comes with a conveniently proportioned food tonic consisting of the same minerals that you find in soil, along with organic Nitrogen sources.  It requires minimal maintenance other than adding water to the trough when it gets low, adding food tonic every two weeks or so, and harvesting, which ensures continued growth.

 Recently, I set up a Tower Garden® with the students and Physical Education teacher at St. John the Apostle school in Clark, New Jersey.  The garden was initially set up outdoors but recently was moved to one of the Science classrooms for the winter where the plants are still growing like gang-busters.  These students are not only learning about the benefits of growing your own food but also acquiring an appreciation of the science behind Aeroponic gardening.

Cholesterol and Statins

What you should know about cholesterol and statins

A friend of mine stopped by the office the other day.  She shared that she was concerned that her total cholesterol was ~ 210 and her doctor wanted to put her on a Statin. I have known this friend for many years and was disappointed that the Doctor who made this suggestion did not bother to ask her a few probing Health History questions.  My friend swims for one hour 4-5 times per week, and she had done so for many decades.  Needless to say, she is at a healthy weight and has a heathy blood pressure, which she has enjoyed her entire life.  Furthermore, her HDL level is an enviable 64, likely due to all that swimming.  May I remind you that HDL (aka High-Density Lipoprotein) is the good cholesterol.  It functions like a vacuum (think H for Hoover) removing LDL from the blood and transporting it to the liver where is can be reprocessed. I am very happy to see the tide shifting on what is considered a healthy cholesterol level but am disturbed by the blithe manner in which prescriptions for statins are still written.

I have no doubt that Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein truly deserved to win that Nobel Prize for showing a correlation between plasma cholesterol and atherosclerosis.  I even wrote my dissertation on Cholesterol biosynthesis (and was tongue-tied during my thesis defense when a professor asked me if I thought that drinking red wine could lower cholesterol levels-a provocative concept in the early 90s).  Based on my own research I can tell you that statins are life-saving medicines for those who are genetically pre-disposed to high cholesterol levels.  This would include individuals who have heterozygous or homozygous mutations in the gene that codes for LDL-receptors.   These are cell surface proteins that remove LDL from the blood and target LDL for degradation. 

But there is a lot that we have yet to understand about the complete mechanism of statins.  They do indeed function to inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis, and to stimulate the synthesis of LDL receptors, but what exactly leads to the decrease in mortality?  Other agents that lower cholesterol through different mechanisms, such as Niacin or Zetia, do not show the same clinical outcomes.  It has been reported that statins have anti-inflammatory properties (Curr Pharm Des. 2012;18(11):1519-30) and so prevent heart disease. Good news for those who present with symptoms for Metabolic disease, but what about my friend who lacks even a single risk factor? 

In order for statins to do their magic they need to penetrate the liver where cholesterol synthesis takes place.  Among the many adverse side effects caused by statins, damage to the liver is one of the more concerning.  Other unpleasant side effects include muscle pain and weakness (myalgia), disturbed sleep and neurological deficiencies such as memory loss and confusion.  The chemical properties of statins are uniquely designed so that they do not penetrate the blood-brain-barrier.  That’s a good thing because your brain needs cholesterol to function properly.  However, I suspect that certain individuals lack this barrier function (leaky brain) and may exhibit memory loss as a result of reduced cholesterol levels in the brain.

If you are certain that you are not a candidate for atherosclerosis, owing to a healthy lifestyle, but are concerned about your plasma cholesterol levels, then add more fiber to your diet.  The average adult should be consuming 20-30 g of fiber per day.  Fiber has natural cholesterol lowering properties and is found in whole grains, fruits and vegetables.  My personal preference is to focus on fruits and vegetables as the 1000’s of phytonutrients found in this food group have many, wonderful anti-inflammatory properties. You might also want to increase consumption of fresh fish or take an Omega-3 fatty acid supplement.  Omega-3 fatty acids, which are NOT synthesized by the body like cholesterol, will improve the health of all of your cells, in the brain and heart in particular…with NO side effects.

A Balanced Understanding of Vaccination

Why do we live so long?  If you question the value of vaccines then please read this:

In 1800 the average lifespan was about 30 years old.  By 1900 that number increased to 47 but by the turn of the 21^th century life expectancy increased to a whopping 77.  What were the primary contributors to this increase in longevity?  We may thank the advent of antiseptics, antibiotics, and vaccines.  Modern medicine has not nearly had the impact on human health as these fortuitous discoveries.

Prior to the discovery of antiseptics entire generations were wiped out by plagues that likely, were caused by infectious agents such as influenza, cholera and typhus.  Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin, and the introduction of the first Small Pox vaccine by Edward Jenner, ultimately vanquished the kiss of death for those impacted by these bacterial and viral infections.  This blog will largely focus on current concerns regarding vaccination.  Efficacy and outcomes of antibiotic use will be addressed in a future blog. 

The first vaccination campaigns were met with broad cooperation.  Young people today may be amused by the depiction of Polio in the movie Forest Gump but make no mistake, a Polio infection is no laughing matter.  Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus that initially presents with minor symptoms such as fever and headache but ultimately, may lead to complete muscle paralysis.  During an outbreak in the early 1950’s iron lungs were used to help the infected breathe.   The discovery of a vaccine that could irradiate this infection was met with global support and as result, Polio is almost completely eradicated.

So what exactly is propelling our fear of vaccines?  It appears that after many decades of reduced bacterial and viral infection our immune systems have let down their guard.  Our killer T cells and natural killer cells simply are not the stealth fighters that they used to be.  Although we are no longer susceptible to infectious disease we are MORE prone to immunological and immune-based diseases such as allergies and asthma, along with inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and even Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  Lately, I have noticed a perceptible uptick in diagnosis of Lupus (aka Lupus erythematosus), an autoimmune disease caused by a hyperactive immune system that attacks normal, healthy tissues.  These diseases tend to be chronic, and not as pronounced as infectious disease, but diagnosis rates are growing at an alarming rate with no abatement in sight.

During the fledgling days of vaccination campaigns our immune systems were primed to respond exactly as predicted to vaccine exposure.  Almost every individual immediately mounted an active immune response that would prevent future infection upon viral exposure.  However, as our immunity has evolved so has our response to vaccines.  This is particularly apparent in infants whose developing immune systems are largely dictated by the health of the Mother.  If Mommy does not pass on a healthy immunity to baby then some infants with undiagnosed immune deficiencies may respond adversely to a vaccination.  The response may be triggered by the vaccine itself or by a non-active ingredient, both of which are perceived as foreign.

This relatively recent observation calls for more research to better understand the biological response to vaccines so that we can conclusively demonstrate cause and effect.  It would be a pity to see even a minor reversal in viral infection rates due to our lack of understanding of Immune Biology.  I fully empathize with parents concerned about adverse events related to vaccination.  These are not trivial yet are not fully understood.

In the meantime, I would like to emphasize the benefits of vaccination for those with a healthy immune system.  The herd immunity theory dictates that the more healthy people that are vaccinated the less likely the unvaccinated people will become infected.   Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that response to new viral infections will be very different from what we have seen in the past.  Once new infections become increasingly more common, our response to these infections may not mirror what we have seen in the previous century.  So many people, baby-boomers in particular, remember acquiring measles, mumps and chicken pox and thinking-no big deal.  Since viral infections, other than influenza, are a relatively rare occurrence, we have no idea how the current immune system will respond.  If the current response to influenza* is any indication, then a new round of viral infections will not be pleasant.  Keep in mind also, that in the previous century most Moms stayed home and took care of their sick family.  Today, these exposed Moms and Dads will return to work possibly carrying infection to their place of employment.  Managing outbreaks is sure to be a challenge.

So what is the solution to vaccination?  As a healthy adult and parent I fully endorse vaccination of myself and my family.  The very young, the very old and the immunocompromised deserve special consideration while we support research to understand the root cause of adverse outcomes of vaccination.

* The CDC estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-associated deaths in the US ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.

Deconstructing Sugar

Sucrose, fructose, glucose:  What’s the difference?

 

How do you sweeten your tea or coffee (if at all)?  Table sugar, honey, agave, etc.?  In order for your body and brain to function properly you absolutely need glucose for energy.  Although your body has the enzymatic machinery to make its own glucose this can be somewhat of an arduous task. Immediate demands for energy can be met by the sugars that you eat.  Back in my day the only sugar in my Mom’s pantry was white Table sugar. 

The sweetener in Table sugar is sucrose, a disaccharide composed of fructose and glucose in equal proportion.  A brief walk down the baking aisle of your local supermarket today will avail you to a much larger variety of sucrose containing sweeteners (Table 1):  Brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, evaporated cane juice (or raw sugar), maple syrup and molasses.  All the same thing but dressed differently.  Corn syrup, on the other hand, is composed entirely of glucose while Agave is largely composed of fructose.  Sweeteners composed of individual fructose and glucose monosaccharides include high fructose corn syrup, honey and invert sugar (used in making candies and fondant which require a smoother product). 

Both glucose and fructose provide energy but the process to do so differs.  Glucose readily passes through the gut barrier into the bloodstream and provides instant gratification to meet your energy demands.  It is the sugar that powers your muscles to give you strength, and your brain so that you can think.  Fructose, on the other hand, requires assistance from a transporter called GLUT5.  Once absorbed in the gut, fructose is processed by the body and stored in the liver as a back-up energy source called glycogen.  Your liver has the capacity to store roughly 2000 calories of sugar.  Excess sugars, above this amount, are converted to lipids and stored in fat cells which have an infinite storage capacity.  This is largely why consumption above and beyond what the body needs, leads to obesity.

An excess of fructose has a number of additional adverse effects as well.  Excess fructose can swamp GLUT5, preventing its absorption.  Fructose that remains in the digestive track serves as a feast for bacteria residing in the gut.  The bacteria will ferment the fructose giving off a variety of gases such as hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide which contributes to feelings of bloating, distention, bowel discomfort or abdominal pain.  Furthermore, as the excess fructose travels along the bowel it also draws along with it excess water, which has a laxative effect on the bowel, causing diarreah.

In addition, excess fructose, along with excess glucose, can overwhelm the liver’s capacity to store sugar and to regulate insulin secretion.  Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that tells the body to take glucose out of the blood and deliver it to muscles and other body tissues so that they can function properly.  Carbohydrate and sugar-laden diets ultimately disrupt the ability of the pancreas to make enough insulin to support energy demands or, despite an ample insulin supply, the body loses its ability to respond to insulin, both of which are hallmark features of type 2 diabetes.  While insulin serves a critical role in energy production, excess insulin, either secreted by the pancreas or taken by injection if you are Diabetic, will eventually lead to a host of metabolic and inflammatory conditions.

Fructose found in fruit and vegetables deserves special attention. Soluble fiber that is naturally found in these foods slows the absorption of fructose and subsequent spike in insulin.  Not only are these foods healthy for you but they are also healthy for the bacteria in your gut.  And when you take good care of the bugs in your gut, they will take good care of you.  Benjamin Franklin definitely was on the right track when he said “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”.

 

Table 1.  Composition of Sweeteners