Non-GMO Food Month & The Importance of Bile

[Guest guest]

Two things to be aware of today.

1) Today is the first national Non-GMO Month (10-10-10) bringing awareness

to the concerns of genetically modified foods. I have blogged about the

importance of this day - " Non-GMO Month-Take Charge of your Food "

http://www.oasisadvancedwellness.com/health-articles/2010/10/non-gmo-month-t

ake-charge-of-your-food.html which includes several very informative videos

from ( Institute for Responsible Technology -

http://www.responsibletechnology.org ). In my opinion, the concern with

genetically engineered food and its health implications relates to

absolutely EVERY health issue. o matter what health concern one is dealing

with, if the quality of food is not addressed then most likely it will take

much longer for good health to be restored. If you are concerned about

staying healthy and keeping your children/grandchildren healthy then please

become educated about GMO food. Feel free to pass this important

information along to others.

2) The following is from Dr. concerning the importance of

bile when considering hypothyroidism, weight and a healthy digestive tract.

(Very important for those without a gallbladder -- one of the most common

surgeries performed in America.)

You've (Hopefully) Got Some Gall

Dr.

If you ask most doctors about bile, the common response would be that it's

simply a digestive fluid put out by the liver that aids in the absorption of

fats and fat-soluble vitamins. However, research from the Baylor College of

Medicine indicates that your body's ability to regenerate liver tissue

depends on signals that indicate there is an imbalance in bile levels.

While bile is made in the liver, it is stored and concentrated in the

gallbladder-another component that most doctors feel patients can easily

live without. As a result, over half a million people each year in the US

alone lose their gallbladder to surgery and are still being told there will

be few, if any, long-term negative consequences. This should be a crime.

Bile acids are produced from cholesterol in your liver and then flow into

your gallbladder where they are stored and concentrated as much as fivefold.

As your body senses the movement of fat into the small intestine, the

gallbladder releases the bile to emulsify the fat-making it easier to

absorb. As the bile continues through the digestive tract, 90 to 95% of it

is reabsorbed from the large intestine and returned to the liver, where it

is reused as many as 20 times.

With a healthy gallbladder, proper amounts of bile are released into the

digestive tract as needed. Without a gallbladder, there is a continuous

trickle of bile into your system regardless of the presence or absence of

fat. The failure to match bile output to fat presence jeopardizes one's

ability to properly digest fat and, eventually, leads to deficiencies in

fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids, poor cholesterol metabolism,

and the absorption of improperly digested fat globules.

This latest research has shown that exposure to higher relative amounts of

bile acids triggers regeneration in damaged portions of the liver-which

helps explain why individuals who take drugs that sequester bile acids, such

as cholesterol-lowering drugs, can't regenerate liver tissue.

Interestingly, animals that were bred with the inability to regenerate their

liver-due to a lack of ability to recognize increased bile acid

levels-regained the power of regeneration when they were given bile acids in

their diet.

This is another prime example that illustrates the long-term consequences of

unnecessary surgery and drug use. Continuing to take cholesterol-lowering

medication in the presence of liver disease could be disastrous. Example

conditions, as indicated by deteriorating liver function tests, include

hepatitis, cirrhosis, cysts, Reye's syndrome, liver cancer, sarcoidosis,

's disease, and hemochromatosis.

An Imbalance of Bile Can Unbalance Your Scale

On a related front, researchers have demonstrated that an imbalance of bile

acids might be contributing to the current pandemic of obesity in the

Western world.

As I stated before, the classic role of bile acid is thought to be one of

enhancing fat absorption in the intestine. Just recently in France, however,

researchers clearly demonstrated that bile acids also regulate the

metabolism of fat by stimulating the production of active thyroid hormone

within fat cells. When animals were given bile acids, their metabolism in

brown fat tissue increased. The intake of the bile acids also prevented

obesity and insulin resistance.

Many scientists now feel that bile acids, through natural metabolic

stimulation and fat breakdown, may be one of the safer and more effective

tools to increase fat loss and help control body weight. When you put the

number of people who have hypothyroidism together with the ability of bile

acids to increase thyroid hormone production, it makes perfect sense. (Dr.

Broda , an acclaimed physician whose work helped identify many of the

dangers of hypothyroidism decades ago, estimated in the 1970s as many as 40%

of the adult population suffered from hypothyroidism. Personally, I think

that was a conservative estimate, and the numbers haven't gone down any

since.) Research has also shown that anything you can do to improve thyroid

function will decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease, improve energy

levels, improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and provide a long list

of other benefits.

I strongly suggest that you check your current multivitamin/mineral

supplement and make sure it contains bile as one of its ingredients. Bile

supplementation is particularly crucial if you take cholesterol-lowering

drugs, no longer have your gallbladder, and/or have problems digesting fatty

foods. There are several bile salt products on the market, and many can be

found in your local health food store. I use the product called Cholacol

from Standard Process. I recommend taking two tablets immediately before a

meal.

Beets Can't Be Beat

When talking about the need for bile acids, vegetarians often express their

reluctance to use supplements that contain ox bile. Unfortunately, it is

often the true vegetarians who demonstrate the greatest need for additional

bile acids. I suspect this situation is due in part to the fact that their

diet generally includes more fiber, which tends to bind with the bile salts

and causes them to be excreted rather than reabsorbed. Diets like these

require an increase in the production of bile salts.

Beets and beet juice are often used as substitutes for bile supplementation.

While beets may be very beneficial for your health, they are not a

substitute for bile acids and salts. Beets are rich in betaine, which

stimulates liver cell function and provides a protective effect for the

liver and bile ducts. One recent study found that ingesting beets can have a

significant tumor-inhibiting effect and help prevent cancer.

One benefit of betaine that has recently come to light is its ability to

reduce homocysteine levels. Homocysteine, you'll recall, is the toxic amino

acid that increases your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Betaine, also known as trimethylglycine (TMG), is a minor " mood enhancer. "

Through a series of events, it increases serotonin levels and can be used to

help relieve many cases of depression. Beets (cooked, raw, or juiced) are

highly underutilized in this country as a medicinal food-and it seems that

hardly anyone praises the benefits of the leaves of the beet plant. Beets

belong to the same plant family as spinach, and they are just as nutritious,

even though they have never received the positive publicity that spinach

received because of the old Popeye the Sailor Man character.

By the time E.C. Segar created Popeye in the 1920s in his " Thimble Theatre "

comic strip, spinach had already become a growing favorite among the health

crowd. He picked the vegetable as Popeye's secret for strength-a view that

was reinforced by Max Fleischer's Popeye cartoons in the 1930s-and beet

leaves subsequently fell by the wayside. If you juice, definitely try a

mixture of beets and carrots, and use the beet leaves as you would spinach.

Just don't expect to get the same results as Popeye.unless you include the

bile acids in your daily routine.