Does your multi-vitamin contain enough selenium?
An increased intake of selenium may decrease risk factors for metabolic syndrome and inflammation, suggests a new study from Spain. Researchers from the University of Navarra in Pamplona report that selenium status appears to be linked with serum complement factor 3 (C3), which has been reported to be a marker for increased risk of the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension, and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and CVD.

Institute for Progressive Medicine’s Synergy Multivitamin contains 200mcg in a daily dose of 3 capsules per day. To order, please call reception at 949-600-5100.

Source: Selenium intake reduces serum C3, an early marker of metabolic syndrome manifestations, in healthy young adults.

More good news for those with type 2 diabetes.
High-dose vitamin B1 supplements may protect against kidney damage, a condition said to threaten one in three diabetics, according to a new study. Daily 300 milligram doses of thiamine (B1) for three months were found to reduce the rate of albumin excretion in type 2 diabetics by 41%. The results also showed 35% of patients with microalbuminuria saw a return to normal urinary albumin excretion after being treated with thiamine. Microalbuminuria occurs when small amounts of albumin – the most abundant protein in human serum – leaks from the kidney into the urine. It is a marker of early kidney disease development in diabetics.

Vitamin B1 is available through our supplement store in Synergy Multivitamin, B-complex, and by itself as a 500mg tablet.

Source: High-dose thiamine therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria: a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study.

Vitamin D and Heart Disease
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with heart dysfunction, sudden cardiac death, and death due to heart failure, German researchers report. An association between vitamin D deficiency and heart trouble is physiologically plausible, the researchers note. For example, vitamin D is known to affect contractility of the heart. Dr. Stefan Pilz, from the University of Heidelberg, and colleagues assessed vitamin D levels in 3,299 Caucasian patients who were referred for a test used to look for clogged heart arteries called coronary angiography from 1997 to 2000. The subjects were then followed for 7.7 years. During follow-up, 116 patients died from heart failure and 188 from sudden cardiac death, Pilz and colleagues report.

In analyses taking into factors that might influence the results, they found that severe vitamin D deficiency, compared with optimal vitamin D levels, was associated with nearly a three-fold increased risk of death from heart failure and about a five-fold increased risk of sudden cardiac death. “These data strongly indicate that the maintenance of an optimal vitamin D status may be a promising approach for the prevention and/or therapy of (heart) diseases, warranting confirmation in interventional trials with vitamin D supplementation,” the researchers conclude.

Source: Association of vitamin D deficiency with heart failure and sudden cardiac death in a large cross-sectional study of patients referred for coronary angiography.

Vitamin D deficiency and Parkinson’s Disease
A majority of Parkinson’s disease patients had insufficient levels of vitamin D in a new study from Emory University School of Medicine. The fraction of Parkinson’s patients with vitamin D insufficiency, 55 percent, was significantly more than patients with Alzheimer’s disease (41 percent) or healthy elderly people (36 percent).

The finding adds to evidence that low vitamin D is associated with Parkinson’s, says first author Marian Evatt, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Emory.

Source: Prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency in patients with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease.

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