The Food and Drug Administration recently changed its rules to allow dairy processors and other food manufacturers to make new health claims about vitamin D in combination with calcium, but recent scientific evidence indicates that the recommended daily allowances (R.D.A.s) for vitamin D fall short. Because vitamin D accumulates in the body, the F.D.A. regulates the amount of vitamin D that can be in a product.

However, some studies show that the R.D.A. of 400 International Units (I.U.s) —or about 10 micrograms — per day should be increased to as much as 1,000 to 2,000 I.U.s per day.

Why could this be significant?
Advances in science have made it much easier to measure vitamin D levels in individuals and to interpret the significance of these levels in individual populations and region’s.

There are only a few naturally occurring sources of vitamin D. The simplest source is exposure of the skin to sunlight. The body will naturally produce a highly-bioavailable form of vitamin D when exposed to the sun. The problem is however, that most people work early and/or work late inside buildings with little to no sunlight exposure. Also, living outside of the tropics they do not receive adequate amounts of sunlight exposure, especially during the morning hours (before 10am) and in the evening hours (before sunset).

There are fortunately, significant amounts of vitamin D in oily fish, fish oils, milk fortified with vitamin D, and vitamin D supplement’s, but consumer’s may not supplement or eat the necessary amount of vitamin D to regularly benefit from these sources.

So get some sun when you can, eat healthy foods and beverages that are good sources of vitamin D and other nutrients to maintain & improve your health.

Tieman’s “Better Coffee, Better For You”

The study, led by Norwegian researchers, randomly assigned 250 patients with chronic low-back pain to daily 1,500 mg doses of glucosamine or a look-alike placebo for six months. All participants were subject to MRI scans to verify spine degeneration.

Before the study, patients took a standardized test that measured their back pain on a scale from 1 to 24. Most rated their pain between 9 and 10. Six months later, participants took the same test and while both groups showed improvement, those who took glucosamine didn’t report more relief than those on placebo pills.

“Based on our results, it seems unwise to recommend glucosamine to all patients with chronic low-back pain,” the researchers write in JAMA.

Duffy MacKay, ND, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for CRN, said the mysterious nature of what exactly causes low-back pain makes examining the effects of glucosamine on this area of the body difficult.

“To generalize, you can take 100 people with low-back pain and only half will have arthritis, the other half will not,” he said. “Similarly, you can take a group of 100 people experiencing no low-back pain and find evidence of arthritis in half. The presence of arthritis does not always translate to low-back pain because a person may also experience pain due to muscle spasms, bulging disks, poor posture or subluxations for which glucosamine would not be the right treatment. These conditions, in my clinical experience, require a multi-modality approach.”

MacKay pointed to a study published by the American Academy of Family Physicians that showed glucosamine to be beneficial for those with arthritis of the knees—an area of the body, he said, where the cause of pain is much easier to isolate.

The Norwegian study relied on symptoms reports from patients, which MacKay said should have been combined with objective information such as measures of joint space narrowing and inflammatory markers in the blood, to gauge the effects of the supplement.

Additionally, studies are currently examining the role vitamin D plays in inflammation in the body and chronic pain. If those who participated in the study were vitamin-D deficient, this might have also played in role in the researchers’ findings, MacKay said.

While Andrew Avins, MD, MPH, of Northern California Kaiser-Permanente, praised the study as well-designed and well-conducted in an editorial accompanying the study report, he agreed more research is needed to help doctors better understand how to treat low-back pain.

Tieman’s Fusion Coffee. “Better Coffee, Better For You”

If your like most, you’ve been feeling more tense than usual lately, your blood pressure may be up a bit, and your probably blaming it on that extra cup of coffee, or on the stress caused by the bleak and anemic U.S. economy, but did you know that the culprit that may be contributing to your hypertension could be your intake of High Fructose? Read the latest below and if you don’t already, start reading ingredient labels for High Fructose, after all, it’s what you don’t know about that can hurt you.
Take Care,
David

AURORA, Colo.—As fructose consumption has increased, so has incidence of hypertension, leading researchers at the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center to determine whether eating a diet high in fructose increases the risk of high blood pressure. For the study, which appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology, the researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2006).

The study involved 4,528 U.S. adults ages 18 and older with no prior history of hypertension. Study participants answered questions related to their consumption of foods and beverages such as fruit juices, soft drinks, bakery products, and candy. Results showed that people who consumed a diet of 74 grams or more per day of fructose (the equivalent of 2.5 sugary soft drinks) had a 26 percent, 30 percent, and 77 percent higher risk for blood pressure levels of 135/85, 140/90, and 160/100 mmHg, respectively. (A normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg.)

“Our study identifies a potentially modifiable risk factor for high blood pressure. However, well-planned prospective randomized clinical studies need to be completed to see if low fructose diets will prevent the development of hypertension and its complications,” said Dr. Diana I. Jalal.

Sources:
Journal of the American Society Nephrology: Increased Fructose Associates with Elevated Blood Pressure

The numerous and remarkable health properties of Rooibos is why Tieman’s Fusion Coffees uses this amazing plant as one of it’s “fusion” superfoods that is fused to the coffee been along with Matcha and Goji to create Tieman’s super antioxidant coffees.

So, whether you drink Tieman’s Fusion Coffees or Rooibos tea straight or with milk you will still get tremendous health benefits for your heart health as well as for immunity, anti-aging, and digestive health.

So drink up a bit of the O’l Roy and enjoy!

Great Health To You,

David Tieman

Like a battery that has been over-used without recharging, your body begins to fail (adrenal insufficiency and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the result).

So if you like your “energy drink” of choice
ask yourself is this supporting my bodies energy reserves while giving me the energy I need or is it essencially “robbing” my body of the energy reserves that I would normally have if I just ate a little better, slept a little longer, and exercised a little more?

“Prebiotics” which you may not have heard of before, are the non-digestible nutrients or “food” that immune-supporting bacteria and micro-organisms live-on and use to proliferate in the colon. These Prebiotic non-digestible nutrients help revitalize and optimize these bacteria which in-turn enhances our immune response and immune system function. This is a “communal relationship” and has been shown to help with reductions in cholesterol, bone loss and cancers.

Foods like Matcha, Rooibos, Goji, Agave, have very high Prebiotic benefits that give these gut bacteria (Probiotics) the nutrients they need to thrive in the correct range to help us with our immune response to invading organisms that are “parasitic” to the body and cause disease.

So, in essence, you really have (2) digestive systems.

(1) for the assimilation of “digestible” nutrients “into” the bloodstream and cells

(2) digestive system/function for the non-digestible Pre & Probiotic immune enhancing functions of the body.

There you go, everything you wanted to know about your G.I. tract but were afraid to ask in health class…. : )

1. Tieman’s Fusion Coffees both whole bean and ground are “nitrogen flushed” to evacuate oxygen from the bag at the moment of packaging so there is no “staling” that occurs to the beans OR grounds before they are opened (by you).

Here’s the secret to keeping your coffee the freshest it can be:

Put your whole bean and ground coffees (once opened) into a FoodSaver™ freezer bag that uses vacuum technology and heat sealer (model V1085 works great). Using this bag and vacuum system will draw almost all of the oxygen out of the bag and will greatly reduce staling while improving your coffees shelf life and preserving flavor. This is a little known technique that works amazingly well. Remember to leave enough room (about 3 inches) at the top so that each time you use/open the bag to get coffee you have plenty of space to vacuum re-seal the bag.

Always store these vacuumed bags of coffee away from light and at ambient room temperature, a dark cabinet will do nicely, do NOT put your coffee in the refrigerator (coffee absorbs moisture).

That’s it!… now go and enjoy a cup!

Stay 100% natural and stay safe and healthy.

David Tieman