Now there’s new hope for Parkinson’s patients. Vitamin K2, which is produced in our guts by the conversion from Vitamin K1 intake (the component of vitamin K that originates in plants), has been demonstrated to reverse a genetic defect that leads to Parkinson’s.

“It appears from our research that administering vitamin K2 could possibly help patients with Parkinson’s. However, more work needs to be done to understand this better,” says Patrik Verstreken from Northern Illinois University.

Even though the cause of Parkinson’s is still unknown, several genetic defects have been identified, and this knowledge has been instrumental in helping scientists unravel the mechanisms underlying the disease process.

Vitamin K is found abundantly in fresh fruits and vegetables and helps with blood clotting, maintaining healthy calcium levels in bones, reducing cardiac risks, and prevention of cancer.

Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and other berry fruits have been shown to help the brain stay healthy and may even help prevent age-related memory loss.

A recent article in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry pointed out the many benefits that berries have on brain health:

• Berry fruits have high levels of antioxidants that protect brain cells from damage by harmful free radicals

• They improve the way neurons communicate within the brain

• Berries prevent inflammation in the brain that contribute to neuronal damage and improve both motor control and cognition

• Blueberries and grapes have been shown to help improve mild mental impairment in older adults

Recent research increasingly shows that eating berry fruits can benefit the aging brain, but further research is needed to show whether these benefits are a result of individual compounds shared between berry fruits or whether the unique combinations of chemicals in each berry fruit simply have similar effects.

As part of a healthy weight loss diet, desserts have long been taboo. Until now, that is. In a surprising discovery, researchers from Tel Aviv University found that when dessert is incorporated into a 600-calorie breakfast, balanced with proteins and carbohydrates, dieters are able to lose more weight — and keep it off in the long run.

Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz, Dr. Julio Wainstein, and Dr. Mona Boaz of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Diabetes Unit at Wolfson Medical Center, and Prof. Oren Froy of Hebrew University Jerusalem, say that the key is to indulge in the mornings when we’re able to expend the extra calories throughout the rest of the day. Indulging early in the morning will also help control cravings, and it provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism. Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, explains Prof. Jakubowicz.

The TAU researchers conducted a 32-week study which allowed clinically obese, non-diabetic adults to add cookies, cake, and chocolate to their breakfast, and found the participants lost an average of 40 lbs., compared with a control group that abstained from sweets. The study also showed they were able to keep the weight off longer.

One of the biggest challenges that people face is keeping weight off in the long-term, says Prof. Jakubowicz. Ingesting a higher proportion of our daily calories at breakfast makes sense. It’s not only good for body function, but it also alleviates cravings. Highly restrictive diets that forbid desserts and carbohydrates are initially effective, but often cause dieters to stray from their food plans as a result of withdrawal-like symptoms. They wind up regaining much of the weight they lost during the diet proper.

Prof. Jakubowicz suggests, based on the results of the sudy, that curbing cravings is better than deprivation for weight loss success.

Excessive consumption of soft drinks – such as Coke, lemonade, flavored mineral water, Powerade, and Gatorade – are linked with an increased chance of asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Zumin Shi, MD, PhD, of the University of Adelaide, and fellow researchers interviewed almost 17,000 participants in South Australia and found that one in ten adults drink more than half a liter of soft drink daily. Results showed the amount of soft drink consumption is associated with an increased chance of asthma and/or COPD. There exists a dose-response relationship, which means the more soft drink one consumes, the higher the chance of having these diseases.

The odds were derived by comparing those who consumed more than half a liter of soft drinks and those who abstained.

“Our study emphasizes the importance of healthy eating and drinking in the prevention of chronic diseases like asthma and COPD,” Zumin concludes.

Source: Association between soft drink consumption and asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among adults in Australia.

Brain shrinkage is typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies hinted at the role that nutrition may play in staving off the disease, but this study, the first of its kind, measured 30 different blood nutrient levels, reflecting a much wider range of nutrients, and adds specificity to the findings.

“This approach clearly shows the biological and neurological activity that’s associated with actual nutrient levels, both good and bad,” said Maret Traber, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute and co-author on the study.

“The vitamins and nutrients you get from eating a wide range of fruits, vegetables and fish can be measured in blood biomarkers,” Traber said. “I’m a firm believer these nutrients have strong potential to protect your brain and make it work better.”

The study group included elderly people with an average age of 87 with no special risk factors for memory or mental acuity.

The most favorable cognitive outcomes and brain size measurements were associated with two dietary patterns – high levels of marine fatty acids, and high levels of vitamins B, C, D and E. Trans-fatty foods were associated with the worst cognitive performance.

In a study by the University of Bordeaux of 7,625 people aged 65 and older, those who regularly used olive for cooking and as a dressing had a 41 percent lower risk of stroke compared with those who never consumed olive oil.

“Our research suggests that a new set of dietary recommendations should be issued to prevent stroke in people 65 and older,” said study author Cécilia Samieri, PhD, with the University of Bordeaux and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Bordeaux, France. “Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it.”

Olive oil is associated with other proven health benefits as well, such as protective effects against diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

When ursolic acid was added to the food of normal mice for a period of weeks, their muscles grew. The animals also became leaner and had lower blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides.

“Muscle wasting is a frequent companion of illness and aging,” said Christopher Adams of The University of Iowa, Iowa City. “It prolongs hospitalization, delays recoveries and in some cases prevents people from going back home. It isn’t well understood and there is no medicine for it.”

It has not been determined whether the findings in mice will happen the same effect in human patients, Adams says, but his goal now is to “figure out if this can help people.” If so, the next step is determining how much needs to be consumed to have the same health benefits.

Green tea is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, boost immunity, and prevent cancer. Researchers who are currently studying its healing powers now believe this newly discovered mechanism — caused by the compound in green tea, a polyphenol called EGCG — is responsible for much of the tea leaves’ health benefits. While pharmaceutical drugs may provide some of the same benefits, the use of a natural substance such as green tea avoids toxicity issues associated with synthetic chemicals.

“This appears to be a natural, plant-derived compound that can affect the number of regulatory T cells, and in the process improve immune function,” said Emily Ho, a Linus Pauling Institute principal investigator and associate professor in the Oregon State University Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences.

“When fully understood, this could provide an easy and safe way to help control autoimmune problems and address various diseases,” Ho said.

Belgium researchers followed almost 3,700 people for an eight-year period, ending when the participants were approximately 49 years old, and found that those individuals who consumed the lowest amount – approximately 2,500 mg per day – were no more likely to develop hypertension (high blood pressure) compared with individuals who consumed an average of 6,000 mg per day. There was also a higher rate of death from heart disease (4 percent) associated with the lowest amounts of consumption, whereas the rate was only 1 percent among those who consumed the highest amounts.

A couple of other recent studies also point to similar results: A national nutrition survey published September 2008 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that low sodium intake was linked to higher cardiovascular mortality, and a study published in the April 2011 edition of Diabetes Care found that type 1 diabetes patients with the lowest sodium intake were most likely to die during its 10-year duration.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was quick to publicly criticize the Belgium study. “Salt increases blood pressure.  More salt leads to higher blood pressure and higher blood pressure leads to worse cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Briss of the CDC. He also stated the study was too small, the participants too young, and some of the participants were heavy smokers.

U.S. public health officials set the maximum recommended daily consumption at 2,300 mg, while the American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 mg per day.

The “Focus on Fat” panel recommended avoiding “low-fat” terminology and thinking, since diets low in fat are often high in sodium and carbohydrates from sources such as white flour and rice, refined snacks, and sugary drinks. They encouraged the nutritionists to instead focus on eliminating trans fats and educating consumers about healthier fats.

Dr. Ronald Krauss, a senior scientist and the director of atherosclerosis research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, and cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, who co-directs the program in cardiovascular epidemiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and is an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, have been involved in numerous studies measuring the effects of dietary habits on cardiovascular health and disease. They and many of their colleagues have found little evidence that low-fat diets are any better for health than moderate or high-fat diets.