For several years we have been advising people with Sickle Cell,a genetic illness, to drink a medium glass of beetroot juice daily because it has some very interesting properties and huge benefits. This article in the Daily Mail just supports what we’ve known for years.

Patients who drank a glass of beetroot juice a day were found to have significantly lower blood pressure just 24 hours later.

The findings, published in Hypertension, the journal of the American Heart Association, could now see beetroot juice being used as a treatment.

Researchers at William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University in London compared patients who were given a 250ml glass of beetroot juice a day with those who took nitrate tablets.

They found that the two methods were equally successful in reducing blood pressure.

The researchers concluded that the nitrates which naturally occur in beetroot are the cause of its beneficial effects.

They produce a gas known as nitric oxide in the blood which widens blood vessels and arteries and lowers blood pressure.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects 16million Britons – one in five – and is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

Amrita Ahluwalia, Professor of Vascular Biology at the William Harvey Research Insti tute, said: ‘We showed that beetroot and nitrate capsules are equally effective in lowering blood pressure indicating that it is the nitrate content of beetroot juice that underlies its potential to reduce blood pressure.

‘We also found that only a small amount of juice is needed – just 250ml – to have this effect, and that the higher the blood pressure at the start of the study the greater the decrease caused by the nitrate.

‘Our previous study two years ago found that drinking beetroot juice lowered blood pressure; now we know how it works.’

Scientists have already showed how drinking beetroot juice can boost stamina.

Last year researchers from the University of Exeter and Peninsula Medical School found that it could have as much effect as a punishing training regime.

They found that healthy young men were able to increase their stamina by up to 16 per cent after drinking a glass of beetroot juice for a week.

Beetroot juice is found in most health food shops and usually costs around £2 a bottle.

Though very good for your body, it has one rather alarming side-effect.

Those who consume large amounts are likely to experience purple urine, or beeturia as it is known to scientists.

To add weight to our long term approach of using functional carbohydrates, plant sugars, to provide measurable benefits I now refer you to  GlycoMimetics

who are in phase 2 trials of a carbohydrate mimicking drug for sickle cell.

Quoting from their own website – you can begin to see some patterns:

GlycoMimetics is focused on discovering and developing novel medicines based on an understanding of the role carbohydrates play in important biological processes. Almost all human proteins that are expressed within the cell are modified by the post-translational addition of complex carbohydrates to the protein surface. Many of these carbohydrate structures affect the functions of these proteins and their interactions with other molecules. One of the keys to understanding many complex biological interactions, therefore, is to understand the functional role that is played by specific carbohydrates. This field of study is known as glycobiology, and some in the field have recently coined the terms “glycome” and “glycomics” to refer to the complete set of carbohydrates within a given cell and to the analysis of those carbohydrates.

The structures of carbohydrates account for much of the complexity and functionality of proteins and protein activity. Many cell surface complexes contain carbohydrates, which extend much further out from the cell surface than the protein layer. These carbohydrates possess structural information that is used in many recognition events among cells, pathogens, toxins, regulatory proteins, enzymes, antibodies, adhesion molecules, and receptors on other cells. Carbohydrate-mediated interactions are complex, and glycobiologists are now beginning to define the roles played by carbohydrates in some of the key biological processes that are relevant to various diseases. Defining the roles played by specific carbohydrates will enable the design of specific molecules that can act on these biological processes.

The term “glycomimetics” refers to molecules that mimic the structure and activity of carbohydrates. It is important to note that GlycoMimetics is discovering and developing compounds that are mimetics of carbohydrates (glycomimetics), and not natural carbohydrates. Our products are rationally designed to function more like traditional therapeutics, exhibiting good bioavailability and pharmacokinetics, and to enhance the key biological activity over the native carbohydrate structures. Some of the potential applications of carbohydrate mimics include the following: 1) to inhibit the activity of certain proteins or cells by blocking or otherwise preventing binding events; 2) to induce a biological process by mimicking a binding event; or 3) to target therapies through carbohydrate ligands.

For the millions of people who have sickle cell the wiat may be long, at best, and forever at worst before this drug gets to the market. In my opinion it will get there but I have 2 questions:

1. why wait 5-10 years – we’ve been seeing similar results with naturally ocurring plant sugars for almost 5 years

2. why have the medical ‘experts’ been so slow to support carbohydrate based approaches – is it something to do with the money?

I’m sure I’ll be attacked for what I’ve said but if you’d like to talk with people who are seeing real benefits today from carbohydrate based approaches then get in touch.

June 9, 2010 — The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) announced it has stopped a clinical trial in children with sickle cell disease and iron overload because the newer treatment being evaluated, hydroxyurea with regular phlebotomy, was found to be unlikely to prevent recurrent strokes better than standard therapy combining blood transfusion with deferasirox.

The trial, called Stroke With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (SWiTCH), had enrolled 133 children from 26 US sites and was comparing the 2 treatment regimens.

“Protecting our participants is an important factor in determining whether to stop a trial,” Susan B. Shurin, MD, acting director of the NHBLI, said in a statement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dated June 3. About one third of participants had completed the study, during which they were treated and monitored for about 30 months.

The study’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board reviewed interim results from the trial and recommended halting the trial; the NHLBI accepted the recommendation and stopped the trial May 6, the statement notes. The board pointed out that no strokes occurred in 66 participants treated with blood transfusions and deferasirox, whereas 7 strokes occurred in the 67 children receiving hydroxyurea and phlebotomy.

Study participants and their families have been contacted and will discuss their future options with their healthcare providers, the NIH release notes.

Previous research has shown that hydroxyurea helps prevent pain crises and some lung complications in adults, and it is the only US Food and Drug Administration–approved drug for treating sickle cell anemia. Preliminary studies had suggested hydroxyurea may also reduce the risk for stroke recurrence in children.

The SWiTCH trial included children between 5 and 18 years of age, all of whom had had a previous stroke. All had been receiving standard therapy with blood transfusions for at least 18 months before enrolment, and all had high levels of iron. The study compared hydroxyurea with standard transfusion therapy and also compared 2 approaches to reduce the iron overload that results from transfusion therapy: phlebotomy, simple regular blood removal, and deferasirox, an iron chelation agent.

Preliminary findings showed phlebotomy did not reduce liver iron better than deferasirox, and analysis of the data available suggested continuing the trial was unlikely to show that phlebotomy would provide a greater benefit in controlling iron accumulation. “Without the ability to provide benefits for the management of liver iron, the potential risks of continuing study treatments were no longer warranted,” the NIH statement notes.

The study was scheduled to run until 2012. Rho Inc, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, served as the SWiTCH statistics and data management centre. “Researchers will analyse and publish the final data in the coming months,” the statement concludes.

The study was funded by the NHLBI. Novartis US donated the deferasirox (Exjade). Bristol-Myers Squibb and UPM Pharmaceuticals Inc provided the hydroxyurea for the trial.

See the full announcement from NHLBI on the NIH Web site.

Have a watch of the video yourself and see what you think – my mind is now racing to see if there is a facet of our work with sickle cell that we can improve upon.

The research found that cloves have substantial levels of phenolic substances, that possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-clotting properties. This was a major factor in marking cloves the finest all-natural anti-oxidant, however the investigation found that cloves additionally have some other beneficial properties.

“Out of the 5 anti-oxidant properties tested, cloves have the highest capacity to give off hydrogen, reduced lipid peroxidation well, and was the best iron reducer,” says Juana Fernandez-Lopez, one of the writers of the study and a investigator at the UMH.

Lipid peroxidation is actually the method in which free radicals take electrons from the lipids in cell membranes. The end outcome of this process is cellular deterioration. The fact that cloves assist to inhibit this destructive cycle is one that helped drive them to first position. In addition, the capability to decrease iron is yet another profound attribute of cloves.

Iron insufficiencies are rather easy to treat with adequate supplementation or nutritional alterations, but excessive iron in the body can be very challenging to treat. Many individuals suffer from too much iron in the blood stream, and many of which develop hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is a serious illness that is a consequence of neglected iron overload. Hemochromatosis may lead to rheumatoid arthritis, abnormal liver function, diabetes, or even heart failure and is a serious issue for people with Sickle cell.

Another objective of the research is to persuade big corporations to begin introducing cloves to their food products. Cloves are really inexpensive and have been a major component of the Mediterranean eating habits for hundreds of years.

“The results show that use of the natural anti-oxidants found in spices used in the Mediterranean diet, or their extracts, is a workable option for the food industry, as long as the organoleptic qualities of the food product are not affected”, adds Juana.

Cloves may be what people are looking for when it comes to getting an affordable and practical spice.

I use to have a lot of crisis then, when I was back home in Nigeria then, it was when I got married that I returned to the United Kingdom. In those days I had to manage with paracetamol, because that was the only painkiller given to me. I used miss college a lot and when I had a crisis it took me three days of chronic pain and agony before the pain began to go away. I was always afraid to do any sort of activity, so that I do not have a crisis, but I found that any thing could bring it on, when I fall as sleep during the day and  wake up I wake with a crisis coming on. But above all this I pulled through, I determined that it would not have the best of me.

As a teenager, I got frustrated that why do I have to take this medicine or not do this or that, but I guess, God counted me a special person and so did I . I would urge all teenagers suffering from sickle cell to hang in there, You would get through it,  as long as you take special care of yourselves, because no one would do it for you.

So I have an invitation for just a few people to come and work with me. Now the initial period will be unpaid but with the potential to take on a paid role in the medium to long term. The sort of person I’m looking for will be of African decent, have strong values of integrity and a desire to learn. You may be old or young, male or female and be willing to work one-on-one with people long term in support of their quest for better health. You are likely to have some experience of sickle cell and its effects but need not have the illness.

Please include your country, your city, your age, telephone number, and if you have any direct or indirect contact/experience of sickle cell. We will contact everyone who responds.

Environmental stress:

Under the environment, we have the climate, the air we breath in, and our work place.  As for the climate, there are four different seasons, you have the spring, summer, autumn and winter, but the winter and summer are the most important to look out for, because they are the two extremes. And these are the type of climates that cause stress for those with sickle cell. Lets start with winter:

• Always  listen to your body which is the most important point, you will have less problems.
• Before winter comes in start taking antioxidants and glyconutrients, this would help to build your immune system, and prevent you having colds or infections.
• Sudden change of climate or environment is always a shock to the system and it reacts by you having a crisis.
• Avoid drinking cold drinks in winter, drink luke-warm water lots of it, tea without caffeine, fruit juices
• Make sure you keep yourself warm and wrap up very warm if you venture to go out, wear layers of clothes.
• Make sure the house or room where you are is always warm
• When the temperature outside is sub zero, try and stay indoors

Food:

Eating the wrong food or diet may have an impact on the body and cause stress.

• Try as much as possible to have a good diet, food like vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts
• Drink a lot of filtered water, this would do you a lot of good water is the best type of drink to take others are coming behind it, it also helps the body to flush out toxins from the system
• Try as much as possible to stay away from too much carbohydrate, this may stress the digestive system, also over a long period if may cause diabetes
• Always listen to your body, it helps a lot to know your digestive system

Emotions::

I know it is difficult to put our problems behind us, but an advise is not to dwell on them too much that they cause you to have a crisis. Try and keep a positive mind about everything and take things one step at a time.

The 3 main conditions that cause stress are:

1. the environment
2. food we eat
3. emotions

Environment:

here we have the cold and hot weather, and when there are two extremes it makes us have a crisis. The air we breath in, our working places, for those working and so on. All these add stress to the body, and the only way our body reacts to it is by giving us pain called crisis. We can not change the environment, but we can look for a way to live without us having a crisis any-time the weather changes either winter or summer.

Food:

Food plays an important role in our lives, but people do not understand this. Food on the other hand can heal, if you know the right diet to eat. But because we eat the wrong diet most of the time, and do not strive to change our diet, our body goes under the stress of having to process under nourished food. Things like fizzy drinks, spicy and oily food, and over processed food all these are a stress to the system. You would find that most of those with sickle cell have a protruding stomach, this is because our digestive system is compromised and does not do a proper job of digesting the food, our liver does not work properly and  so on, but this is another topic.

Emotions:

It is better to be in a happy mood and environment than anything else. There are a lot of emotions running through our minds, the thought of their whole life before them and many other issues and sometimes self pity also comes on board. Most of those with sickle cell go through emotional stress, and until there is a solution, it may be damaging to the system.

Dr Andrew Adjei Druye, National Focal Person, described the figure as worrying and blamed the situation on public ignorance about the genetic and sickle cell status.

It is estimated that there are currently 400,000 Ghanaians living with the disease.

Dr Druye who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi described the disease as deadly and counter-productive to socio-economic development.

Persistent destruction of the immune system, bones and internal organs hasten the death of patients.

They also suffer chronic anaemia, bodily pains and general “cosmetic” disfigurement.

Dr Druye, who is also the Programmes Director of the Health Education Unit, Ghana Health Service (GHS), said since Ghana is ranked among countries with the highest population of sickle cell patients in Africa, the service is liaising with the United States Agency for International Development to establish Genetic Counselling and Testing centres across the nation.

The centres would be attached to government hospitals with the primary aim to test people for the disease, provide counselling, as well as treatment and management.

He said the GHS would also train health workers especially doctors and nurses to build their capacity, knowledge and skills to give proper care and efficiently manage sickle cell patients.

He advised the youth who want to marry to go for sickle cell test to know their status to help them to give birth to healthy children.

GNA

Source: GNA – Ghana News Agency