Genetics Coffee and Craving
The amount of caffeine you consume might be influenced by DNA. Researchers have come to realize that DNA might be playing a very huge role in the way people are consuming beverages with caffeine such as coffee, foods like chocolate and tea. The research has some interesting explanations as to the reason some people are always taking many beverages with caffeine such as many coffee cups or cans of soda in a specific day. Of all the explanations, the fact that taking more cups could be a result of genetic variability is something that many were not aware of.
The study was done by a group of institutions such as the National Cancer Institute and the renowned Harvard School of Public Health as well as a couple of others. It was discovered there are two gene variations affecting caffeine metabolism and associated with the amount of caffeine some people take. Those individuals having variations of the two genes end up taking more caffeine, in this case, drinking more beverages containing the substance, as suggested by Cornelis C. Marilyn, PhD, a researcher in Harvard School of Public Health and the head of the study.
The two genes have been identified as CYP1A2 and AHR, where the first one has been determined for some time now as being effective in some role within caffeine metabolism. For AHR, it usually plays its influence on CYP1A2. An important aspect of the genes is that all the people have the same genes but the amount of caffeine drank is much different across the two gene variables. For instance, those with the highest consumption of gene variant for any of the two genes usually consume more milligrams of coffee (40) than those individuals who have gene varieties of the lowest consumption genotype. To get a clear picture of the amount consumed, a third of caffeinated soda or a third of coffee cup is equivalent to 40 milligrams.
The research was also very instrumental in giving more information on coffee intake in particular. For example, a person who takes many coffee cups in the office, home or across town in a single day might be carrying corresponding variations geared towards consumption of higher caffeine because of high intake. Many people probably think this high intake of coffee might be to enjoy some good feeling. The researchers did elaborate that such an intake of coffee might be in trying to have levels brought into the right proportion to have withdrawal symptoms done away with. In case such a person lacks a cup of coffee, they mostly become sullen, lack sleep and develop some hurtful headache. An individual with such a high intake of coffee can be confirmed as a caffeine metabolizer, while it is very clear this is not the only area genetics play some role. This genetic variability could also be playing a huge role in the way some behaviors are developed and maintained, such as smoking and consumption of alcohol.
The details on the research are gathered from five studies that were conducted from 1984 to 2001 with the conclusions derived from consumption of caffeine but in an average fashion through chocolate, sodas with caffeine, tea and coffee. The research had 47,000 participants drawn from Americans mostly from the white community of whom 80% got their caffeine from coffee as does a similar number of the adult population in the United States. What is much clear is that these variants of genetics have been affecting the way the body usually processes caffeine levels.
Caffeine is not only implicated in body processes but clear in the fact that the variants have an effect on other areas as well. For example, caffeine manifests in physiological and medical conditions as well, ending up influencing body moods, energy levels, physical performance, and mental ability and sleep patterns. These major conditions are usually affected or disrupted in case caffeine is withdrawn or dwindled. This is also true with products that contain caffeine such as coffee and their implication in a number of health conditions.
Researchers have also indicated that studying the effects of caffeine on body systems, for example within the cardiovascular systems is bound to be really tough if all the people being studied were processing the levels of caffeine in their bodies rather differently.
The new knowledge in genetics has been discovered to be very important in that it is able to advance research on caffeine while potentially being able to identify subgroups and in the definition via genotype of the part of the human population mostly susceptible to the use of caffeine. Researchers also indicated there might be other genes within the facets of caffeine yet to be discovered and more research is needed to give exact function of the required variants. The research does open the door for more research on genetics and their effect on the way people consume, process and maintain caffeine levels.
Locating Swift Strategies In New hormone Irisin
Irisin aids weight loss and health without exercise
In research that may alarm gym owners, scientists have found a hormone responsible for many of exercise’s health benefits. The newly discovered hormone”named “irisin” after the Greek messenger goddess Iris”turns ordinary white fat cells into energy-burning brown fat, and helps ward off diabetes by improving glucose tolerance, Time reports. Researchers found that the body produces irisin in response to exercise, and the hormone helps muscle cells “talk” to the body’s fat cells. There has been a feeling in the field that exercise talks to various tissues in the body, Bruce Spiegelman, a cell biologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and co-author of the new study, said in a prepared statement. But the question has been, how? Speigelman and his colleagues found that exercise”in both mice and humans”starts a cascade of signaling changes, including the production of a never-before-described hormone. They dubbed the new hormone irisin, as a nod to the Greek messenger goddess Iris for its ability to send information to surrounding body tissue.
Dr. Spiegelman injected irisin into obese, diabetic laboratory mice and the hormone did indeed switch on genes that would help burn fat, just as exercise would. After 10 days of injections, the irisin-boosted mice had shed a little weight and become more sensitive to glucose”all without exercise. And a later dissection showed that the hormone spike didnt seem to have any negative biological effects.
For example, the hormone does not appear to make muscles stronger, still an important outcome of daily physical exercise. Blood glucose levels are lowered. All KINDS of good implications in fighting obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and a whole host of health problems.
Is Acai Berry Effective
Back in the summer of 2008 I was just getting back to running to try and lose the 30 extra pounds I had gained after medical school, but it was really hurting my knees. Then a fellow doctor who is also a nutritionalist turned me on to Amazon Thunder Acai Juice. Well, what do you know – within a week, my joints did start to feel a LOT better. So, I kept taking the juice and running. Then I started reading about how Acai Berry is being used by all these hollywood celebrities as a DIET aid. Hmnn. I wanted to add some more acai to my diet. After A LOT of research I found the BBB authorized Acai Berry Store ( Use my professional discount code to GET 10% OFF! Just enter ABD234 at checkout )
I got some pills and started taking 2 of those in the afternoon. That helped keep me from getting hungry late in the day and hitting the junk food machine at work.
Kick it up a notch!
At this point I had a good supply, so I began taking 2 more pills late in the day, which helped me avoid late night snacking. Now the pounds were dropping! I lost nearly 10 pounds that month, and 12 the second month. I was pretty close to my target (what I weighed after med school) – That is when this picture was taken. I did gain a few pounds when I pigged out on vacation, but by the 4 month I got below my target weight and haven’t really struggled to stay there since then.
How about you?
If you need to get in shape, daily exercise is definately the number one thing on the list, but I also believe the Acai Berry juice and pills really did the trick for me. I am not running so much these days, but do walk at lunch when the schedule permits, and bike ride on days off. And every morning I still drink some Acai Juice, and take two pills twice a day with a BIG glass of water. And am careful, but not obsessive, about what I eat. That’s it.roduct.
Acai berry has been used as both a juice drink and an acai supplement. Some people prefer to drink it in its natural form as a juice, while others find it simple and easy to swallow a couple capsules to benefit from its amazing nutritional possibilities. Either way, acai berry users quickly notice an increase in energy and feelings of health. Acai affects the body’s metabolism, increasing the rate at which it processes every substance it encounters. An increased metabolism means faster and more efficient energy production on a cellular level within the body. Increased energy is one of the most often reported effects of supplementation.
Another effective use of acai berry is that of using it as an aid in weight loss. When the metabolism is increased, fat burning is also increased, leading to a greater total loss of pounds. Additionally, the increased energy created as a byproduct of this process often leaves those on weight loss programs with an uncommon amount of energy which can then be used to pursue additional weight loss benefits, such as regular exercise. Finally, acai suppresses the appetite, making it a natural and safe alternative to the over-the-counter and prescription weight loss medications on the market today.
The effectiveness of acai berry within the realm of cardiovascular health is likewise well-known. The antioxidants and healthy fats found naturally in acai work to improve heart health. It also improves cholesterol levels and reduces inflammation, both of which play a role in cardiovascular functioning.
Acai is a powerful, well-known super food, providing an array of benefits to users. Though effective in a number of different circumstances, it is especially useful in increasing energy production, aiding in weight loss and maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system.
Its possible uses extend far beyond these advantages and its list of benefits grows regularly as more and more people try it for the first time and experience its effects.
As more studies are done on this nutritional super star, additional information will surely surface proving its efficacy not just in these, but in myriad health situations.
Where to Buy Acai Berry
Supermarkets and Health Food Stores:
Unless you live near the Amazon it’s unlikely you are going to be able to buy Acai berries directly. The berry does not hold up well to transport, so it is most often sold as Acai pulp, Acai juice, or Acai berry supplements. Most Whole Foods stores carry Genesis brand Acai Juice, which is ok, but at $40 for a bottle of the Juice is really expensive. They also sometimes have the Sambazon frozen Acai pulp, which is a good product. But the Sambazon “acai” juice is mostly Apple and some other juices, and doesn’t even taste good. So far, all other products found in supermarkets and health food stores are overprocessed, watered down juices or low quality (heat processed) pills and powders.
Online Stores:
ACAIBERRYSITE.COM is the BBB Certified Official store and the best place to order such Acai Berry products online. They are one of the very few online sellers you can trust (read about the Acai Scams here). Acaiberrysite stocks Acai Zone, Amazon Thunder, Sambazon and all the top quality brands of Acai Products at the lowest prices we have been able to find.
Pills, Powders, Juice, or ???
Whether you are interested in the acai berry diet, or just for overall health, my favorite way get all the benefits of Acai is through the Acai Puree , which has more of the Omega fats and fiber and I think tastes great. Acai Juice is the second best as far as benefits. But for those on the go like myself a pill (or capsule) is the quick and easy way to take acai.
Some things to consider:
- Is the product FREEZE-DRIED Acai? Acai has become so popular that many companies are pumping out products that are very low in quality. It is very important that the berries are freeze-dried. Other processes use heat to remove the water, which destroys the antioxidants and other nutritional benefits. For more info on processing the acai berries
- Is the main ingredient actually Acai? Many products only contain a small amount of Acai, but claim to be “Acai juice”. While most Acai drinks will contain other fruits in the mixture, you must make sure that the main ingredient is actually Acai. If you’re not careful you could end up buying an overpriced bottle of grape juice. For more info on finding a quality Acai Juice.
When a product gets as popular as Acai has, you need to be careful that you don’t get ripped off, like the Acai Berry Scams mentioned above. This is why I suggest buying acai from trusted vendors like Acaiberrysite.com. The other suppliers of top quality Acai products are Acai Roots and Sambazon, although you will pay more and their product line is not as complete.
For Acai powders, pills, or capsules, it is very important to look for 100% freeze-dried Acai ONLY. For Acai Juice, it’s a little more tricky. You want as high a concentration of the acai berries in the finished product. But even some of the top suppliers of Acai products mix their Acai with other juices. For detailed info about how to find top quality Acai supplements and Acai Juice.
Beware the scams
“Free Trials” aren’t really free –. You are unknowingly signed up for a subscription that charges you $80 or more per month. And it is nearly impossible to cancel! These acai berry scams always push very cheap pills. Read more about free trial scams
Crappy products – Many online retailers like Monavie and nearly all supermarket brands sell a watered down sugary juice that often has less than 10% acai juice. They mix in cheap juices like grape, apple, or pear to cut costs and don’t care how well it works. They use deceptive advertising, but not as bad as the free trial acai berry scams.
Controversy Surrounding Acai Berry Scams
If you have done any other research on this berry, you may have heard about the controversy surrounding some acai berry free trial scams. These scams where running rampant across the internet for most of 2009. In fact, the Better Business Bureau listed it as one of the top 10 scams in America, for that year. These scam companies used the positive press being given to acai, high pressured sales tactics, and various forms of internet advertising to perpetuate their scam across the web.
It all started when a few prominent doctors started recommending this berry on national television. The word about the positive benefits of the acai berry started to spread from reports done on local news channels, and health segments during the big day time talk shows. At this time the berry was relatively unknown, and there were not many acai products available outside of Brazil. You cannot simply go out to the store to buy these berries at the grocery store, like you would grapes, because they are very difficult to import whole.
The demand for an acai supplement obviously skyrocketed after it received such promising reviews by some very trustworthy doctors. The high demand and low supply market for acai was the perfect situation for these scam artists. They quickly came up with a low quality acai berry pill, and started to sell it online. The fact that these supplements where low quality was not the worst part of the scam. The truth is, 90% of supplements you will find in a health food store are almost worthless. The worst part was, that they were using a free trial offer to trick people into paying $80-$100 each month for one bottle of their product.
The offer made by these companies was so irresistible, that it was no surprise that so many people got caught up in the scam. When you landed on their website you would be told that they were running a free trial promotion to get the word out about their product. All you needed to do was pay for shipping and handling. This promotion would only be given out to the next 100 people, and would only be available for the next couple of minutes. However, these restrictions where just a ruse, and they would never change no matter how many times you visited the site.
What most people did not realize was that when they signed up for the free trial they were also agreeing to be added to an auto-ship plan that would cost them up to $100 per month. They could end this by canceling the plan within 14 days of placing the order. The problem was, the companies involved would not pick up their phone or answer their email when you tried to cancel. Customers were no forced to cancel their credit cards, or be charged each and every month.
With this sort of serious credit card fraud, the companies crossed the line of being a legitimate business with a bad product, to being flat out criminals. It did not take very long for the Better Business Bureau to become flooded with hundreds of complaints each week about these scams.
Another way that this acai scam was perpetuated was by the use of fake blogs. Most people consider a blog a trustworthy source of someone’s honest opinions . They fly completely under the radar when used as advertisements. These companies would set up hundreds of fake blogs claiming to be a user review of their product. Most of the time it would be a story of how a mom lost 15-20 pounds in a month only by using XYZ acai product, which they got for free online. They would even go as far as to fill the blog with fake comments talking about how great the product was, and how others have also used it to lose tons of weight.
These blogs looked completely legitimate and did a good job in convincing people that these products were the real deal. I mean, who would not trust the honest review from a mother of two? If it were not for a simple mistake that these companies made, these blogs still might be up and running. It turns out that one of the companies used the same before and after picture on all of their fake blogs. Jenny in Michigan apparently looked exactly the same as Susan in Florida. The pictures were of a German plus sized model who was photo shopped to look much skinnier in the after picture. These fake acai blogs became so rampant that the FDA was forced to release new regulations that banned their use.
The Federal Government was not the only group of people after the acai scam companies. Many of the doctors and celebrities who originally praised the acai berry as the top superfood on earth, sued these scammers for using their images without permission. Many of the web pages that offered the free trials, were also made to look like a specific celebrity or doctor was recommending the product. This was just another technique these scam artists used to make people trust them enough to give up their credit card number. Obviously, these doctors and celebrities wanted to distance themselves as far away as possible from the criminals using their image illegally, and attempted to use legal action to get them to stop.
The combination of a government crack down and serious legal action caused many of these con artists to shut down, or move on to their next scam. However, as long as there are people looking for legitimate acai products, they will still pop up. The information given in this section should paint a pretty clear picture of what to look out for when you are looking for a place to purchase an acai product online, in order to avoid being tricked into becoming another victim of an acai berry scam.
Where Can I Find This Amazing Acai Fruit?
All of these remarkable benefits are the reason why this superfood has exploded in popularity. It is not often that you can find a natural supplement that is so healthy, and has no negative side effects. It is no wonder that so many people are clamoring to get their hands on this fruit.
Sadly, the acai palm only grows in the rainforest and the berries do not hold up well during shipping. This means that the only way for people outside of South America to get acai is through an acai berry juice or acai powder (either loose or in pill form).
Since this is such a delicate fruit, it is very easy for companies to completely destroy its nutritional value in the packaging and shipping process. This means it is essential to buy your acai from a company that uses the best preservation methods, and works with the locals to get the highest quality berries. You can find most of this information on the manufacturers websites. There are many organic acai products sold in stores near you. In addition to acai products recommended here check your nearest super market.
