Gold,Frankincense, and Myrrh

In the ancient world Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh were common gifts for a king or as offerings to gods.  They each have a great deal of symbolism and useful purposes in healing.  I recently tried to find frankincense and myrrh to buy and they are really expensive.  The great value of these gifts were due to their rarity and difficulty in procurement.  Gold was usually mined while frankincense and myrrh were taken from tree sap or resin that only grows in arid regions with morning mist as water.  These trees often grew on hillside and rocky areas and thus it was often dangerous and tedious to acquire the resin.

These treasures have many symbolic meanings.

Hoard of ancient gold coins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gold-balance/justice, symbol of immortality, divine nature and thus many cultures had sun deities; symbolic of the sun, power, strength, vitality, clarity, wisdom and aging, vitality, life, health, radiance, wealth, flexibility, the human quest to perfect, illuminate, and refine; virtue and light; symbolic of alchemy’s desire to change common metals into gold as humanity changes from greed, hate, and selfishness into love, virtue, and compassion; symbolic of the soul’s transition from base or earthly to celestial.

Frankincense tree (Photo credit: Brangdon J)

Frankincense tree (Photo credit: Brangdon J)

Frankincense-a high priest would use in worship as incense, the smoke taking the prayers and souls to heaven; also known as luban or oil of Lebanon, this rare treasure was thought to awaken consciousness,enhance spirituality, meditation, and prayer.

Foliage of myrrh (Commiphora sp.) (Photo credit: Joel Abroad)

Foliage of myrrh (Commiphora sp.) (Photo credit: Joel Abroad)

Myrrh-first and last, Alef and Tov, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end; for the dying and dead, used to embalm or anoint a dead body for burial; bitter aspects of life including death due to its bitter taste.

Each of these treasures has significant healing properties.

Gold-reducing inflammation and slowing diseases such as arthritis.

Frankincense-anti-inflammatory, anti-infection, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal; known in ancient medicine from China to India and throughout the

Bag of Frankincense at Spice Souk. Dubai. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Middle East; insect/mosquito repellent; the bark was used to attract fish into nets.

Myrrh-also known from ancient medical texts of Egypt 2,800 BC; Associated with St. Nicholas, 4th century AD, who used it to heal people; anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory; good for oral health including gum disease and bad breath; ulcers, colitis, clearing sinus congestion, also yeast infections and eczema.

(Before using these you should consult a health care practitioner.  Learn the side effects of each

Frankincense I bought in Yemen on 15/Jul/2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

of these before use.)  Extensive studies have been done with these ingredients and they have been proven effective for many of the items above.

These kingly gifts were well used by the King of Kings, highest of high priests, and the master physician.

Article Re:http://abundantnurturing.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/

©Darcy Dee Drogorub

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The story of the wise men offering frankincense to the Christ child is told in Matthew 2:1-18.

When Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, wise men came from the east to worship him.  Bible scholars believe that the wise men were from Persia. In Persia wise men were well regarded and often occupied roles in the king’s court, e.g., Daniel was considered a wise man in the Babylonian court (Daniel 2:48). The visiting wise men were astrologers – they followed a star that first appeared in the east. They believed that the star was a sign that a Jewish king was born.

Not surprisingly, the wise men went to Jerusalem, capital of the Jewish nation, and ask King Herod to see the newborn king. King Herod was not a Jew, but he and the high priests were aware of the Jewish prophecy that a king would be born who would rule over Israel. Jealous for his kingship, Herod learned from the priests that the promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Herod shared this location with the wise men and requested that they contact him after they found the child. Ostensibly, Herod wanted to go and worship the new born babe.

The wise men left Jerusalem and followed the star to Bethlehem where it stopped over the home where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus lived. Seeing the Christ child, the wise men fell on their knees and worshipped him. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Advised by God in a dream, the wise men returned to Persia without going through Jerusalem or seeing Herod. When Herod realized that he was outwitted by the wise men, he commanded Roman soldiers kill all baby boys in and round Bethlehem two years of age and under. Herod hoped to rid himself the Christ child and a possible threat to his rule over Judea.

In a dream God told Joseph to take Mary and the young child to Egypt. The family was to stay in Egypt until God told Joseph it was safe to return to Judea. Probably Joseph used the wise men’s gifts to help subsidize the family’s trip to Egypt and life in Egypt.

Frankincense

The frankincense of Matthew 2:11 is the Boswellia sacra plant, also known as B. thurifera and incense. Both the plant and its resinous product are called frankincense. It is native to the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula (Southwestern Oman and southern Yemen) and the north-eastern regions of Africa. The first record of frankincense is dated to the reign of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, around 1500 B.C. The Queen sent an expedition south to bring back frankincense trees. She had the trees planted in a temple near Luxor (Natural History Museum, 2012). The Boswellia sacra plant was not present in three Israeli plant databases (Danin, 2012; Modzelevich, 2012; and Wild Flowers in Israel, 2012). 

Boswellia sacra are small trees that grow to a height of 26 feet. In nature the tree grows where rainfall is 4-20 inches per annum and at elevations less than 4035 feet (Plants as Medicine, 2012). The Boswellia can be stunted or killed by heavy frosts. In Arabia and Africa, the plant can grow on steep slopes or from cracks in surrounding limestone. Trees that grow on rock faces and boulders develop a cushion at the base of the main branch. The cushion adheres to the rock and ensures stability of the tree.

The frankincense tree can have a single trunk, but normally has a multi-stemmed trunk.  Bark is paper thin and peels easily. Older branches are brown and young stems are a light pea green.   Compound leaves are clustered at the tips of branches and attach to stems by a petiole. Leaflets grow opposite each other with a solitary leaf at the end. New leaves are covered with a fine down.

Individual flowers are small with five spreading yellow-white petals. Each flower has about 10 stamens and one ovary set in a fleshy disk in the base of the flower (Kew, 2012). Flowers grow in simple inflorescences, each about 4 inches long. Generally, flowers open in succession toward the apex. The fruit is an angled capsule approximately .4 inches long. B. sacra can be propagated from seeds but seed germination is relatively low. New trees can grow from cuttings.

Almost all frankincense is harvested from wild trees. Ideally, harvesting does not occur until the tree if 5-7 years old (Plants as Medicine, 2012). Harvested trees should be at least 13-16 feet tall and have a trunk diameter of 6 inches. Overharvesting of trees has resulted in a decrease in the population of frankincense trees. Heavily harvested trees produce seeds that germinate at a rate of 16% while seeds of un-harvested trees germinate at more than 80% of the time.  In 2008 in Oman, Yemen, and Somalia, B. sacra trees were placed on the Near Threatened list of trees by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). More recently, tree harvesters allow B. sacra trees to rest every fourth year.

Commercial production of frankincense involves cutting a horizontal incision into the tree and peeling off a patch of bark. To preserve the health of trees, harvesters make as few cuts in the bark as possible. The scarring causes larger than normal amounts of sap to form which evaporates to form frankincense. Frankincense is hard and resinous and can be an opaque, white or yellow crystalline. Generally frankincense is described as smelling like aromatic pine.

Symbolism: Sanctity, Saint

Frankincense was used in important religious rituals and occasions from the time of the Tabernacle to the present. So complete is the link between frankincense and religious occasions that frankincense is known as the “odor of sanctity” and associated with sainthood (Natural History Museum, 2012). Sanctity implies a holy life and character, a life worthy of religious veneration. Sanctity encompasses reverence, respect, and inviolability. The opposite of sanctity is accursed. The New International Version Study Bible (2002) defined a saint as a person who is faithful to the Lord (I Samuel 2:9 study note). From the time of Christ’s birth, he inspired individuals to live reverent, respectful lives. That’s why we have saints. 

Christian denominations place different emphasis on saints.  Our Roman Catholic brethren have a formal recognition system for sainthood and believe saints can have a significant influence on the lives of the faithful.  Often there are statutes of saints in Catholic churches and buildings, e.g., hospitals. Although not a Catholic church, my church is named after Saint John, the Beloved apostle.  St. John’s life and writings are worthy of respect and we can learn from them.             

At the same time that we learn from the lives of saints, we need to keep in mind that there is one mediator between God and man and that mediator is Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came to earth as a baby and was born in a stable. His birth was announced by choirs of angels. Eastern wise men recognized him as a king and brought him valuable gifts including frankincense.

Saints are recognized in both the Old and New Testaments. God knows his saints and watches over them. The Psalms aver that God delights in the saints (Psalm 16:3), preserves them (Psalm 31:23), and that they lack nothing (Psalm 34:9). Samuel wrote that God will guard the feet of the saints (1 Samuel 2:9). The Holy Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints so their prayers and actions will be consistent with God’s will for our lives (Romans 8:26-27). Loving words from God are, “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalms 116:15).  

Christians who are faithful to God (the saints) have been given instructions on how to live.  God’s saints are to fear and love the Lord, to sing to the Lord and praise his name, and to rejoice in the Lord (Psalm 30:4; 31:23; 34:9; 149:5).  God expects us to love and pray for the saints (Ephesians 1:15, 6:18).  When Paul wrote to Philemon, he noted that Philemon’s love refreshed the hearts of the saints (Philemon 1:7).  Many times we do not think that our love is refreshment to a hurting heart or to a person under stress.

Daniel (7:18) reassured readers that God’s saints will receive the kingdom and possess it forever, while Paul warned that the saints will judge the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). Judging the world seems like a huge task and certainly many of us do not feel up to it. Yet, when that time comes, God will be with us – his saints — as he is with us now when we think activities or situations are too big for us to handle.

Reflection. In one of Saint John’s visions, he saw 24 elders around the throne of heaven (Revelations 5:8).  Each elder was holding a bowl full of incense.  The incense was the prayers of the saints! Amazingly our prayers are incense – sweet aroma – to God.

Orange orchard Rehovot Israel. The high cost of water makes growing and selling citrus unprofitable, leaving hundreds of thousands of tons of fruit to fall unharvested each year, free for the picking.

Israel and Ethiopia both gave us perfect weather. Cool bright mornings, with the first rays of sunlight gently warming. Bright sunny days that would be sweltering if not so perfectly moderated by a cooling breeze. In Israel it came off the Mediterranean, morning and afternoon, In Ethiopia it was like an endless bubbling spring of refreshing air flowing up and over the many mountain ranges that cradle Addis Ababa.

In my home town of Rehovot, in Israel, I stocked up on the hard to get “Yemeni chewing gum”, A.K.A. Boswellia Frereana, or Somali “Maydi” Frankincense. Brought in fresh from Yemen by those of the last Jewish immigration wave from Yemen. From what I hear they carry dual citizenship and freely go back and forth between Israel and Yemen doing business and visiting friends there.

Boswellia Frereana, Yemeni chewing gum. From Somalia Oman and Yemen

The same spice shop,”Gedasi’s, who has been there since I was a teen, also carries another variety of Frankincense at half the price. They say it also is from Yemen. It looks like Boswellia Sacra/Carterii, but does not compare to the sample I received in Ethiopia which came from Somalia. There are only so many kinds of Frankincense trees. I am still not certain from which this type comes.

We spent two days touring the desert and the Dead Sea. Wow! What dramatic, beautiful, stark vistas!

View from the ruins of Masada

Desert trees

This was the first time I had gone as a tourist in decades.

I saw it with different eyes and enjoyed it in new ways. We decided we didn’t want to stay in a stuffy mainstream hotel, so we found something that was more like a Bedouin encampment. A true oasis in the middle of the desert. After miles and miles of barren rocky hills and sweeps of sandy desert, a lush stand of 50 date palms stood out green and inviting from the dry desert. Very cool!, literally, and inviting.

Dead Sea Vista

They offered authentic Bedouin tents in different areas of the encampment, tents that would hold a hundred or so guests, with traditional woven camel-hair covers that were huge! As in the Bedouin tradition you could light fires under the tent for warmth at night, cooking food and of course for making that strong sweet tea they love. Lots of room for sleeping bags and blankets on the ground. Their main occupants and guests were busloads of high school kids out to climb Masada in the morning. I think we were an oddity there, and were given a modest single room that was likely used by counsellors and chaperons.
One with with a real roof and hot water.

Bedouin Style accommodations

The decor was local and unusual. Light shades made from big chunks of solid sea salt from the Dead Sea. Date Palm frond stalks for bars on the bunk beds, stools from date palm trunks etc..It was definitely different.

The food was served by local Bedouins in a vast communal dining room. Traditional Bedouin fare with a bit of an Israeli twist.

Breakfast was an Israeli style Kibbutz spread with everything from Shakshuka, (eggs simmered in a tomato sauce, to European pickled herring. French toast to Pita, humus and mediterranean salads. All through the drive desert plants were surprising in their diversity and sheer will to live. Winter rains were bringing the desert back to life. Most photos I took were of specimens I have yet to identify. So, more to come on that subject.

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Health Research Report

53rd Issue Date 31 MAR 2009

Compiled By Ralph Turchiano

www.healthresearchreport.me www.vit.bz

www.youtube.com/vhfilm http://www.facebook.com/engineeringevil

www.engineeringevil.com

Editors Top Five:

1. Common fragrance ingredients in shampoos and conditioners are frequent causes of eczema

2. Frankincense oil — a wise man’s remedy for bladder cancer

3. Review of probiotic trial research finds only Bifantis able to claim efficacy for IBS symptoms

4. Long-term L-carnitine supplementation prevents development of liver cancer

5. Exposure to insecticide may play role in obesity epidemic among some women

In This Issue:

1. Frankincense oil — a wise man’s remedy for bladder cancer

2. Studies show that nice guys finish first in business world

3. Conflicts of interest in clinical research

4. Majority of fire and ambulance recruits overweight

5. Exposure to insecticide may play role in obesity epidemic among some women

6. Cognitive Decline Begins in Late 20s, U.Va. Study Suggests

7. Mayo Clinic study suggests those who have chronic pain may need to assess vitamin D status

8. Gulf War veterans display abnormal brain response to specific chemicals

9. Proteins from garden pea may help fight high blood pressure, kidney disease

10. Licorice extract blocks colorectal cancer in mice

11. Eating red and processed meat associated with increased risk of death

12. Review of probiotic trial research finds only Bifantis able to claim efficacy for IBS symptoms

13. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce risk of advanced prostate cancer

14. Long-term L-carnitine supplementation prevents development of liver cancer

15. New Discovery Raises Doubts About Use of Certain Targeted Therapies in Bladder Cancer

16. Study: Morbidly Obese Sedentary For More Than 99 Percent of Day

17. Common fragrance ingredients in shampoos and conditioners are frequent causes of eczema

18. Tea tree oil and silver together make more effective antiseptics

19. Melatonin may be served as a potential anti-fibrotic drug

Public release date: 17-Mar-2009

Frankincense oil — a wise man’s remedy for bladder cancer

Originating from Africa, India, and the Middle East, frankincense oil has been found to have many medicinal benefits. Now, an enriched extract of the Somalian Frankincense herb Boswellia carteri has been shown to kill off bladder cancer cells. Research presented in the open access journal, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, demonstrates that this herb has the potential for an alternative therapy for bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is twice as common in males as it is in females. In the US, bladder cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in men, whilst in the UK it is the seventh most common cause of death amongst males.

HK Lin and his team, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Oklahoma City VA Medical Center, set out to evaluate frankincense oil for its anti-tumour activity in bladder cancer cells. The authors investigated the effects of the oil in two different types of cells in culture: human bladder cancer cells and normal bladder cells. The team found that frankincense oil is able to discriminate between normal and cancerous bladder cells in culture, and specifically kill cancer cells.

Gene expression analyses were performed to determine how frankincense oil affects bladder cancer cell survival. The team found that the oil suppresses cancer cell growth by arresting cell cycle progression and induces bladder cancer cell death by activating multiple cell death pathways.

Dr Lin said, “Frankincense oil may represent an inexpensive alternative therapy for patients currently suffering from bladder cancer.”

Public release date: 17-Mar-2009

Studies show that nice guys finish first in business world

When it comes to leading a team tasked with developing new products and bringing them to market, new research from North Carolina State University shows that being nice and playing well with others gives you a very real competitive advantage. One new study shows that project managers can get much better performance from their team when they treat team members with honesty, kindness and respect. A second study shows that product development teams can reap significant quality and cost benefits from socializing with people who work for their suppliers.

The first study, co-authored by NC State’s Dr. Jon Bohlmann, focused on cross-functional product development teams, which bring together engineers, researchers and business personnel. The diverse backgrounds of the team members means there is a focus on finance and marketing, as well as design and functionality, from the beginning of the product-development process. But that diversity also makes effective communication essential, in order to ensure that team members are collaborating rather than working at cross-purposes.

The Bohlmann study finds that “interactional fairness perception” affects “cross-functional communication.” In other words, Bohlmann explains, “If you think you are being treated well, you are going to work well with others on your team.”

Bohlmann, an associate professor of marketing at NC State, says that the study evaluated whether team members felt they were being well treated by their project leader. This evaluation included questions as to whether team members felt their leader was honest, kind and considered the viewpoints of team members. Bohlmann says the results of the study show that if a team’s leader was perceived as “basically being a nice guy,” then “team members showed a significant increase in commitment to the team’s success and to the project they were working on.” This increase in commitment is important, Bohlmann explains, because it leads to enhanced performance in meeting team goals.

If the Bohlmann study tells us that nice guys finish first, a study co-authored by NC State’s Dr. Rob Handfield finds that playing well with others can give a company an edge when it comes to product development. Specifically, the Handfield study shows that significant cost and quality benefits can result from informal socializing between employees of a product-development company and those companies that supply the product developers with material and labor.

Handfield explains that informal socializing, “like going out to dinner after a meeting,” can lead to considering new ideas that take advantage of the different perspectives and experience that suppliers can provide – and ultimately provide product developers with meaningful input. For example, Handfield says, “Suppliers may point out that components which are already being produced in bulk would serve as well as the custom-made, and expensive, parts being envisioned by product designers. Why reinvent the wheel? We already have one that works fine.” Handfield is the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at NC State.

Public release date: 18-Mar-2009

Conflicts of interest in clinical research

ATLANTA— Although paying finder’s fees to researchers and clinicians to identify study participants could compromise the recruitment process and harm human lives, many medical schools fail to address this conflict of interest in their Institutional Review Board (IRB) policies.

Leslie Wolf, an associate professor of law at Georgia State University, studied the IRB policies posted on the Web sites of 117 medical schools that received National Institutes of Health funding. Among the study’s findings, Wolf revealed that less than half of the IRB policies discuss finder’s fees or bonus payments as conflicts of interest, where research sponsors pay members of the research team or clinicians to identify potential participants or for meeting predetermined enrollment targets.

“Since IRBs must review research protocols, and also are in a position to educate investigators about these issues, I thought their policies were an important place to look,” Wolf said. “I thought they would have tried to address it more frequently than they did. That’s a gap in IRB guidance.”

Finder’s fees raise concern because researchers and their colleagues may be tempted to enroll individuals in studies for which they are ineligible, Wolf said.

Wolf is also concerned that only 26 of the IRBs in the study mentioned potential conflicts when physicians recruit their own patients and that only four percent ask doctors to tell their patients that they are not obligated to participate.

“It was talked about much less frequently than either the employer/employee or the teacher/student role conflict. It’s been in the literature and patients may be particularly vulnerable,” Wolf said.

Concerns about conflicts of interest are only continuing to grow as more stories appear in the news, Wolf said. For instance, Ellen Roche, a healthy 24-year-old who died from lung failure in 2002, while in a study sponsored by her employer, the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center. Roche became ill after she inhaled an experimental compound as part of a study to understand the cause of asthma.

An external committee that reviewed the circumstances of the death expressed concerns that there were “subtle coercive pressures” on employees to enroll in the Center’s studies. Employees who participated in the study not only received compensation for participation, but were given time off from the workday to undergo study procedures.

“There have been situations that people have talked about in the media that undermine our confidence in research and could prevent important research from going forward,” Wolf said. “We need to have a trustworthy research enterprise so that we can get good research that hopefully improves the lives of the rest of us.”

Public release date: 19-Mar-2009

Majority of fire and ambulance recruits overweight

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), Boston Medical Center, Harvard University and the Cambridge Health Alliance found that more than 75 percent of emergency responder candidates for fire and ambulance services in Massachusetts are either overweight or obese. The findings, which appear online in the journal Obesity on March 19, have significant consequences for public health and safety.

Emergency responders (firefighters, ambulance personnel and police) are expected to be physically fit to perform strenuous duties without compromising the safety of themselves, colleagues or the community. Traditionally, these professions recruited persons of above- average fitness from a pool of healthy young adults. However, given the current obesity epidemic, the candidate pool is currently drawn from an increasingly heavy American youth.

The researchers reviewed the pre-placement medical examinations of firefighter and ambulance recruits from two Massachusetts clinics between October 2004 and June 2007. Candidates older than 35 and those who had failed their services’ minimum criteria were excluded from the study in order to focus only on young recruits and those most likely to go on to gain employment as emergency responders. Among the 370 recruits, only about 22 percent were of normal weight; 43.8 percent were overweight, and 33 percent were obese. According to the study’s results, today’s young recruits are significantly heavier than older veteran firefighters from the 1980s and 1990s.

The researchers showed that excess weight as measured by body mass index (BMI) was associated with higher blood pressures, worse metabolic profiles and lower exercise tolerance on treadmill stress tests. All normal weight recruits achieved a National Fire Protection Agency’s recommended minimum exercise threshold of 12 metabolic equivalents, while seven percent of overweight and 42 percent of obese recruits failed to reach this criteria.

“These findings are strong evidence against the common misconception in the emergency responder community that many of their members have BMI’s in the overweight and obese ranges simply on the basis of increased muscle mass. Even in these young recruits we documented a very strong association between excess BMI and an increased cardiovascular risk profile,” said senior author Stefanos Kales, MD, MPH, FACP, FACOEM Medical Director, Employee & Industrial Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, and assistant professor, Harvard Medical School & Director, Occupational & Environmental Medicine Residency, Harvard School of Public Health.

“Our findings regarding recruits’ excess weight have important implications, especially when superimposed upon expected future effects of aging and career span,” said lead author Antonios Tsismenakis, BS, MA, a second-year medical student at BUSM. “First, cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal injury are important causes of morbidity and mortality in emergency responders, and excess body fat is associated with higher risk for both. Second, because of the nature of emergency response work, any health condition suddenly incapacitating an emergency responder also potentially compromises the safety of his or her coworkers and the community,” he added.

“These professionals perform highly psychologically and physically stressful work and are therefore at high risk for cardiovascular events,” added Kales. “Sudden incapacitation during duty puts these emergency responders, as well as their colleagues and the public, in danger. In addition to the dangers posed to public safety, these findings have important economic implications, as state and federal legislation exists for the awarding of benefits to emergency responders who die or are disabled by cardiovascular events, malignancies and work-related orthopedic problems; and the risk of all of these are increased by obesity,” explained Kales.

Public release date: 19-Mar-2009

Exposure to insecticide may play role in obesity epidemic among some women

Contact: Jason Cody, University Relations, Office: (517) 432-0924, Cell: (734) 755-0210, Jason.Cody@ur.msu.edu; Janet Osuch, Surgery and Epidemiology, Office: (517) 353-5440, janet.osuch@hc.msu.edu

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Prenatal exposure to an insecticide commonly used up until the 1970s may play a role in the obesity epidemic in women, according to a new study involving several Michigan State University researchers.

More than 250 mothers who live along and eat fish from Lake Michigan were studied for their exposure to DDE – a breakdown of DDT. The study, published as an editor’s choice in this month’s edition of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, analyzed DDE levels of the women’s offspring.

Compared to the group with the lowest levels, those with intermediate levels gained an average of 13 pounds excess weight, and those with higher levels gained more than 20 pounds of excess weight.

“Prenatal exposure to toxins is increasingly being looked at as a potential cause for the rise in obesity seen worldwide,” said Janet Osuch, a professor of surgery and epidemiology at MSU’s College of Human Medicine, who was one of the lead authors of the study. “What we have found for the first time is exposure to certain toxins by eating fish from polluted waters may contribute to the obesity epidemic in women.”

Though DDT was banned in 1973 after three decades of widespread use, the chemical and its byproducts remain toxic in marine life and fatty fish. The study was funded by a $300,000 grant from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Osuch said the study’s findings can have a huge impact on how researchers treat – and seek to prevent – obesity. The research team has been awarded a $1 million grant from the same federal agency, the ATSDR, to assess the impact of pollutants and toxins on a wide variety of disorders by determining the importance of second- and third-generation health effects.

“This line of research can transform how we think about the causes of obesity and potentially help us create prenatal tests to show which offspring are at higher risks,” she said.

The mothers who were studied are part of a larger cohort of Michigan fish eaters along Lake Michigan who were recruited in the early 1970s. In 2000, Osuch and research partners approached the cohort and began to identify daughters aged 20 to 50 years old.

“These findings not only apply to the offspring of women in our cohort but to any woman who has been exposed to high levels of DDE when she was growing in her mother’s womb,” Osuch said. “Mothers with the highest DDE levels are women who have consumed a lot of fish or high-fat meats.”

Current recommendations for eating fish call for limiting it to two meals per week; including tuna fish sandwiches. The study also looked at the effects of a second pollutant, PCBs, but found no correlation with weight and body mass index.

Public release date: 19-Mar-2009

Cognitive Decline Begins in Late 20s, U.Va. Study Suggests

March 18, 2009 — A new study indicates that some aspects of peoples’ cognitive skills — such as the ability to make rapid comparisons, remember unrelated information and detect relationships — peak at about the age of 22, and then begin a slow decline starting around age 27.

“This research suggests that some aspects of age-related cognitive decline begin in healthy, educated adults when they are in their 20s and 30s,” said Timothy Salthouse, a University of Virginia professor of psychology and the study’s lead investigator.

His findings appear in the current issue of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

Salthouse and his team conducted the study during a seven-year period, working with 2,000 healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 60.

Participants were asked to solve various puzzles, remember words and details from stories, and identify patterns in an assortment of letters and symbols.

Many of the participants in Salthouse’s study were tested several times during the course of years, allowing researchers to detect subtle declines in cognitive ability.

Top performances in some of the tests were accomplished at the age of 22. A notable decline in certain measures of abstract reasoning, brain speed and in puzzle-solving became apparent at 27.

Salthouse found that average memory declines can be detected by about age 37. However, accumulated knowledge skills, such as improvement of vocabulary and general knowledge, actually increase at least until the age of 60.

“These patterns suggest that some types of mental flexibility decrease relatively early in adulthood, but that how much knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating it with one’s abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no pathological diseases,” Salthouse said.

However, Salthouse points out that there is a great deal of variance from person to person, and, he added, most people function at a highly effective level well into their final years, even when living a long life.

One of the unique features of this project in the University of Virginia Cognitive Aging Laboratory is that some of the participants return to the laboratory for repeated assessments after intervals of one to seven years.

“By following individuals over time, we gain insight to cognition changes, and may possibly discover ways to alleviate or slow the rate of decline,” Salthouse said. “And by better understanding the processes of cognitive impairment, we may become better at predicting the onset of dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.”

Salthouse’s team also is surveying participants’ health and lifestyles to see if certain characteristics, such as social relationships, serve to moderate age-related cognitive changes.

They hope to continue their studies over many more years, with many of the same participants, to gain a long-term understanding of how the brain changes over time.

— By Fariss Samarrai

Public release date: 20-Mar-2009

Mayo Clinic study suggests those who have chronic pain may need to assess vitamin D status

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic research shows a correlation between inadequate vitamin D levels and the amount of narcotic medication taken by patients who have chronic pain. This correlation is an important finding as researchers discover new ways to treat chronic pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States. These patients often end up taking narcotic-type pain medication such as morphine, fentanyl or oxycodone.

This study found that patients who required narcotic pain medication, and who also had inadequate levels of vitamin D, were taking much higher doses of pain medication — nearly twice as much — as those who had adequate levels. Similarly, these patients self-reported worse physical functioning and worse overall health perception. In addition, a correlation was noted between increasing body mass index (a measure of obesity) and decreasing levels of vitamin D. Study results were published in a recent edition of Pain Medicine.

“This is an important finding as we continue to investigate the causes of chronic pain,” says Michael Turner, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study. “Vitamin D is known to promote both bone and muscle strength. Conversely, deficiency is an under-recognized source of diffuse pain and impaired neuromuscular functioning. By recognizing it, physicians can significantly improve their patients’ pain, function and quality of life.”

Researchers retrospectively studied 267 chronic pain patients admitted to the Mayo Comprehensive Pain Rehabilitation Center in Rochester from February to December 2006. Vitamin D levels at the time of admission were compared to other parameters such as the amount and duration of narcotic pain medication usage; self-reported levels of pain, emotional distress, physical functioning and health perception; and demographic information such as gender, age, diagnosis and body mass index.

Further research should document the effects of correcting deficient levels among these patients, researchers recommend.

This study has important implications for both chronic pain patients and physicians. “Though preliminary, these results suggest that patients who suffer from chronic, diffuse pain and are on narcotics should consider getting their vitamin D levels checked. Inadequate levels may play a role in creating or sustaining their pain,” says Dr. Turner.

“Physicians who care for patients with chronic, diffuse pain that seems musculoskeletal — and involves many areas of tenderness to palpation — should strongly consider checking a vitamin D level,” he says. “For example, many patients who have been labeled with fibromyalgia are, in fact, suffering from symptomatic vitamin D inadequacy. Vigilance is especially required when risk factors are present such as obesity, darker pigmented skin or limited exposure to sunlight.”

Assessment and treatment are relatively simple and inexpensive. Levels can be assessed by a simple blood test (25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]). Under the guidance of a physician, an appropriate repletion regimen can then be devised. Because it is a natural substance and not a drug, vitamin D is readily available and inexpensive.

In addition to the benefits of strong muscles and bones, emerging research demonstrates that vitamin D plays important roles in the immune system, helps fight inflammation and helps fights certain types of cancer.

Public release date: 20-Mar-2009

Gulf War veterans display abnormal brain response to specific chemicals

DALLAS – March 20, 2009 – A new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers is the first to pinpoint damage inside the brains of veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome – a finding that links the illness to chemical exposures and may lead to diagnostic tests and treatments.

Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study, said the research uncovers and locates areas of the brain that function abnormally. Recent studies had shown evidence of chemical abnormalities and shrinkage of white matter in the brains of veterans exposed to certain toxic chemicals, such as sarin gas during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The research, published in the March issue of the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging,enables investigators to visualize exact brain structures affected by these chemical exposures, Dr. Haley said.

“Before this study, we didn’t know exactly what parts of the brain were damaged and causing the symptoms in these veterans,” he said. “We designed an experiment to test areas of the brain that would have been damaged if the illness was caused by sarin or pesticides, and the results were positive.”

In designing the study, Dr. Haley and his colleagues reasoned that if low-level sarin or pesticides had damaged Gulf War veterans’ brains, a likely target of the damage would be cholinergic receptors on cells in certain brain structures. If that was so, administering safe levels of medicines that stimulate cholinergic receptors would elicit an abnormal response in ill veterans.

In the study, 21 chronically ill Gulf War veterans and 17 well veterans were given small doses of physostigmine, a substance which briefly stimulates cholinergic receptors. Researchers then measured the study participants’ brain cell response with brain scans.

“What we found was that some of the brain areas we previously suspected responded abnormally to the cholinergic challenge,” Dr. Haley said. “Those areas were in the basal ganglia, hippocampus, thalamus and amygdala, and the thalamus. Changes in functioning of these brain structures can certainly cause problems with concentration and memory, body pain, fatigue, abnormal emotional responses and personality changes that we commonly see in ill Gulf War veterans.”

A previous study funded by the U.S. Army found that repetitive exposure to low-level sarin nerve gas caused changes in cholinergic receptors in lab rats.

“An added bonus is a statistical formula combining the brain responses in 17 brain areas that separated the ill from the well veterans, and three different Gulf War syndrome variants from each other with a high degree of accuracy,” Dr. Haley said. “If this finding can be repeated in a larger group, we might have an objective test for Gulf War syndrome and its variants.”

An objective diagnostic test, he said, sets the stage for ongoing genetic studies to see why some people are affected by chemical exposures, and why others are not. New studies would also allow the selection of homogenous groups of ill veterans in which to run efficient clinical trials for treatments.

Dr. Haley first described Gulf War syndrome in a series of papers published in January 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In previous studies, research from Dr. Haley showed that veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome had lower levels of a protective blood enzyme called paraoxonase, which usually fights off the toxins found in sarin. Veterans who served in the same geographical area and did not get sick had higher levels of this enzyme.

Dr. Haley and his colleagues have closely followed the same group of tests subjects since 1995. In 2006, UT Southwestern and the Department of Veterans Affairs established a dedicated, collaborative Gulf War illness research enterprise in Dallas, managed by UT Southwestern.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a longtime supporter of Gulf War research, facilitated that agreement and secured a $75 million appropriation over five years for Gulf War illness research.

Public release date: 22-Mar-2009

Proteins from garden pea may help fight high blood pressure, kidney disease

SALT LAKE CITY, March 22, 2009 — Researchers in Canada are reporting that proteins found in a common garden pea show promise as a natural food additive or new dietary supplement for fighting high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Those potentially life-threatening conditions affect millions of people worldwide.

The study, which will be presented here today at the American Chemical Society’s 237th National Meeting, is the first reporting that a natural food product can relieve symptoms of CKD, the scientists say.

Peas long have been recognized as nutritional superstars, with healthful amounts of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins wrapped in a low-fat, cholesterol-free package. The new research focuses on the yellow garden pea, a mainstay pea variety enjoyed as a veggie side-dish and used as an ingredient in dozens of recipes around the world.

“In people with high blood pressure, our protein could potentially delay or prevent the onset of kidney damage,” says study presenter Rotimi Aluko, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. “In people who already have kidney disease, our protein may help them maintain normal blood pressure levels so they can live longer.”

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for CKD, a condition that has been affecting an increasing number of people in the United States and other countries. Estimates suggest that 13 percent of American adults — about 26 million people — have chronic kidney disease, up from 10 percent, or about 20 million people, in the 1990s. CKD is difficult to treat, and may progress to end-stage kidney disease that requires kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant. That situation is fostering a search for new ways of treating CKD and preserving kidney function.

Working with University of Manitoba colleague Harold Aukema, Ph.D., Aluko purified a mixture of small proteins — called pea protein hydrolysate — from the yellow garden pea. The researchers fed small daily doses of the protein mixture to laboratory rats with polycystic kidney disease, a severe form of kidney disease used as a model for research on CKD. At the end of the 8-week-long study period, the protein-fed rats with kidney disease showed a 20 percent drop in blood pressure when compared to diseased rats on a normal diet, the researchers say.

“This is significant because a majority of CKD patients actually die from cardiovascular complications that arise from the high blood pressure associated with kidney malfunction,” Aluko notes.

In both rats and humans with polycystic kidney disease, the condition causes urine output to be severely reduced and the kidneys are unable to properly remove dangerous toxins. The researchers showed that their pea extract caused a 30 percent boost in urine production in the diseased rats, bringing their urine to within normal levels.

“That’s a huge improvement,” says Aluko, adding that there were no obvious adverse side effects from the pea protein.

Based on those promising results, the researchers plan to test the protein extract in humans with mild hypertension within the next year at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, University of Manitoba, in collaboration with co-investigator Dr. Peter Jones. Scientists do not know exactly how the pea extract works. However, it appears to boost production of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), a protein that boosts kidney function, the researchers say.

Aluko points out that eating yellow peas in their natural state won’t produce the same potential health benefits as the purified protein extract. The potentially beneficial proteins exist in an inactive state in natural peas, and must be activated by treatment with special enzymes.

But the pea extract does have a very welcome social advantage over fresh peas: “It won’t give you gas,” notes Aluko. That’s because the purified proteins don’t contain the complex plant-sugars found in fresh beans that are known to trigger flatulence. The extract itself does not appear to have any unpleasant taste or odor, he adds.

If studies continue to show promise, Aluko estimates that the extract could hit the consumer market within the next two to three years. The extract could be made into a soluble powder that can be added to foods and beverages or it could be developed into a pill, the scientists say.

Public release date: 23-Mar-2009

Licorice extract blocks colorectal cancer in mice

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ibuprofen, and drugs that selectively target a protein known as COX-2 prevent the development of intestinal polyps, the precursors of colorectal cancer. However, these drugs have severe side effects that preclude their routine use in the prevention of colorectal cancer. But now, a team of researchers, at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, has found that inhibiting an enzyme known as 11-beta-HSD2 (both genetically and using an extract from licorice) blocks COX-2 activity in human and mouse colorectal tumor cells, inhibiting their growth and metastasis in experimental models of colorectal cancer. Importantly, long-term inhibition of 11-beta-HSD2 did not have side effects on the heart and blood vessels of mice, as long-term treatment with selective COX-2 inhibitors does. The authors therefore suggest that inhibiting 11-beta-HSD2 might provide a new approach to preventing colorectal cancer.

In an accompanying commentary, Paul Stewart and Stephen Prescott, highlight the importance of these data for the development of a potential new therapeutic option in colorectal cancer.

Public release date: 23-Mar-2009

Eating red and processed meat associated with increased risk of death

Individuals who eat more red meat and processed meat appear to have a modestly increased risk of death from all causes and also from cancer or heart disease over a 10-year period, according to a report in the March 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In contrast, a higher intake of white meat appeared to be associated with a slightly decreased risk for overall death and cancer death.

“Meat intake varies substantially around the world, but the impact of consuming higher levels of meat in relation to chronic disease mortality [death] is ambiguous,” the authors write as background information in the article.

Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Md., assessed the association between meat intake and risk of death among more than 500,000 individuals who were part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants, who were between 50 and 71 years old when the study began in 1995, provided demographic information and completed a food frequency questionnaire to estimate their intake of white, red and processed meats. They were then followed for 10 years through Social Security Administration Death Master File and National Death Index databases.

During the follow-up period, 47,976 men and 23,276 women died. The one-fifth of men and women who ate the most red meat (a median or midpoint of 62.5 grams per 1,000 calories per day) had a higher risk for overall death, death from heart disease and death from cancer than the one-fifth of men and women who ate the least red meat (a median of 9.8 grams per 1,000 calories per day), as did the one-fifth of men and women who ate the most vs. the least amount of processed meat (a median of 22.6 grams vs. 1.6 grams per 1,000 calories per day).

When comparing the one-fifth of participants who ate the most white meat to the one-fifth who ate the least white meat, those with high white meat intake had a slightly lower risk for total death, death from cancer and death from causes other than heart disease or cancer.

“For overall mortality, 11 percent of deaths in men and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their red meat consumption to the level of intake in the first quintile [one-fifth]. The impact on cardiovascular disease mortality was an 11 percent decrease in men and a 21 percent decrease in women if the red meat consumption was decreased to the amount consumed by individuals in the first quintile,” the authors write. “For women eating processed meat at the first quintile level, the decrease in cardiovascular disease mortality was approximately 20 percent.”

There are several mechanisms by which meat may be associated with death, the authors note. Cancer-causing compounds are formed during high-temperature cooking of meat. Meat also is a major source of saturated fat, which has been associated with breast and colorectal cancer. In addition, lower meat intake has been linked to a reduction in risk factors for heart disease, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

“These results complement the recommendations by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund to reduce red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer incidence,” the authors conclude. “Future research should investigate the relation between subtypes of meat and specific causes of mortality.”

Editor’s Note: This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Cancer Institute. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Editorial: Reducing Meat Consumption Has Benefits Beyond Better Health

“The publication by Sinha et al is timely,” writes Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in an accompanying editorial. “There is a global tsunami brewing, namely, we are seeing the confluence of growing constraints on water, energy and food supplies combined with the rapid shift toward greater consumption of all animal source foods.”

“Not only are components of the animal-source foods linked to cancer, as shown by Sinha et al, but many other researchers have linked saturated fat and these same foods to higher rates of cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Popkin writes. “What do we do?”

Because there are health benefits to eating some red and white (although not processed) meats, the consensus is not for a complete shift to vegan or vegetarian diets, Dr. Popkin concludes. “Rather, the need is for a major reduction in total meat intake, an even larger reduction in processed meat and other highly processed and salted animal source food products and a reduction in total saturated fat.”

Public release date: 23-Mar-2009

Review of probiotic trial research finds only Bifantis able to claim efficacy for IBS symptoms

Study adds to growing evidence of B. infantis 35624 efficacy in IBS population

CINCINNATI – March 23, 2009 – A review by researchers at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL.) and University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) of the utility of probiotics in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) found that Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 was the only probiotic strain out of 13 different individual strains or preparations reviewed to significantly improve symptoms of IBS, including abdominal pain, bloating and bowel movement difficulty. Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 is marketed as Bifantis® and can be found in a daily probiotic supplement by Procter & Gamble. The researchers reviewed 16 random-controlled-studies, evaluating the efficacy, safety and tolerability of probiotics in the treatment of IBS. With the exception of the Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 studies, researchers found the other trials did not use an appropriate study design and did not adequately report adverse events. The article was published on the American Journal of Gastroenterology website in advance of appearing in the publication’s April 2009 issue1.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome affects one in five Americans and treatment options are limited. Darren. M Brenner, Division of Gastroenterology and Department of Internal Medicine, at Northwestern University and lead investigator of this study, hypothesized that alterations in gut microflora may contribute to the development of IBS symptoms, and believed these symptoms could be improved by probiotics. “Probiotics are gaining popularity for the treatment of multiple gastrointestinal disorders, including IBS,” said Brenner, MD. “After assessment of the methodological and statistical designs of these studies, B. infantis 35624 was the only probiotic that showed repeated efficacy.”

Clinical evidence and support for Bifantis continues to grow

Bifidobacterium infantis 35624, discovered in the early 1990s by microbiologists at Alimentary Health in Cork, Ireland in partnership with P&G, has been independently tested and evaluated in several clinical trials conducted with humans. This latest review provides continued clinical evidence of Bifantis efficacy in helping to manage a range of gastrointestinal issues including abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, gas and urgency. Bifantis efficacy data has been published or referenced in several medical journals, including the American Journal of Gastroenterology2 , Gastroenterology3 , New England Journal of Medicine4 , Public Library of Science (PLoS)5 and Nutrition in Clinical Practice6. Bifantis is found in the number one gastroenterologist recommended probiotic supplement in the United States7 .

Susan Abeln, Principal Scientist at Procter & Gamble said, “P&G has worked with Alimentary Health to study and develop a supplement with Bifantis because we firmly believe in the benefits of this strain for the millions of Americans struggling to manage digestive upsets each day. We’re excited to make Bifantis available to consumers nationwide this spring.”

Further credentialing the probiotic strain, P&G recently announced that Bifantis meets the probiotic guidelines established by The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP). These guidelines include five key criteria that consumers should consider when selecting a probiotic product – strain specificity, clinical proof, packaging, and the quality and quantity of probiotics in a product. Bifantis is proven to fully meet these guidelines, making it a good option for those who want to build and maintain a natural defense against abdominal discomfort and episodic digestive upsets such as constipation, diarrhea, urgency, gas and bloating.

Public release date: 24-Mar-2009

Omega-3 fatty acids reduce risk of advanced prostate cancer

PHILADELPHIA – Omega-3 fatty acids appear protective against advanced prostate cancer, and this effect may be modified by a genetic variant in the COX-2 gene, according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“Previous research has shown protection against prostate cancer, but this is one of the first studies to show protection against advanced prostate cancer and interaction with COX-2,” said John S. Witte, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco.

For the current study, researchers performed a case-control analysis of 466 men diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and 478 healthy men. Diet was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and researchers genotyped nine COX-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Researchers divided omega-3 fatty acid intake into four groups based on quartiles of intake. Men who consumed the highest amount of long chain omega-3 fatty acids had a 63 percent reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer compared to men with the lowest amount of long chain omega-3 fatty acids.

The researchers then assessed the effect of omega-3 fatty acid among men with the variant rs4647310 in COX-2, a known inflammatory gene. Men with low long chain omega-3 fatty acid intake and this variant had a more than five-fold increased risk of advanced prostate cancer. But men with high intake of omega-3 fatty acids had a substantially reduced risk, even if they carried the COX-2 variant.

“The COX-2 increased risk of disease was essentially reversed by increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake by a half a gram per day,” said Witte. “If you want to think of the overall inverse association in terms of fish, where omega-3 fatty acids are commonly derived, the strongest effect was seen from eating dark fish such as salmon one or more times per week.”

Public release date: 24-Mar-2009

Long-term L-carnitine supplementation prevents development of liver cancer

A study will be published on March 21, 2009 in World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses the question. A research group in King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia investigated, for the first time, the role of carnitine, a naturally occurring compound that is synthesized mainly in the liver, during the development of hepatocarcinogenesis. Authors of the study reported that carnitine deficiency is a risk factor and should be viewed as a mechanism in hepatic carcinogenesis, and that long-term L-carnitine supplementation prevents the development of liver cancer. Therefore, carnitine supplementation alone or in combination with other natural chemopreventive compounds could be used to prevent, slow or reverse the occurrence of liver cancer.

Chemoprevention is defined as the use of naturally occurring and/or synthetic compounds in cancer therapy in which the occurrence of cancer can be entirely prevented, slowed or reversed. L-carnitine is a naturally occurring compound which is primarily located in mitochondria and possesses potential protective effects against many mitochondrial toxic agents. It is derived from two sources; endogenous synthesis, in the liver and kidney, and from exogenous dietary sources such as red meat and dairy products. L-carnitine is an essential cofactor for the translocation of long chain fatty acids from the cytoplasmic compartment into mitochondria, where beta-oxidation enzymes are located for ATP production. Despite the liver being the main organ responsible for endogenous synthesis of L-carnitine, we were unable to find any studies investigating the role of long-term endogenous carnitine depletion and/or carnitine deficiency during induction of hepatic carcinogenesis.

The research team by Professor Sayed-Ahmed from College of Pharmacy, King Saud University used an experimental model of hepatocarcinogenesis under conditions of carnitine depletion and carnitine supplementation.

In the carnitine-depleted rat model, there were a progressive increase in the activities of liver enzymes as well as massive degenerative changes and evidence of pre-neoplastic lesions in liver tissues including clusters of hepatocytes with atypia and an increased proliferative rate, diffuse bridging fibrosis and nodule formation, bile ducts with marked reactive atypia showing nuclear enlargement, high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio and prominent nucleoli. Interestingly, L-carnitine supplementation resulted in a complete reversal of the increase in liver enzymes compared to normal values, as well as normal liver histology with unremarkable central vein and no evidence of pre-neoplastic lesions in liver tissues.

Due to the fact that liver cancer is one of the major health problems in the world and a large sector of patients seek medical attention at a relatively late stage which increases the cost of treatment, King Saud University granted Prof. Sayed-Ahmed and his colleagues a research project with the following specific aims: (1) to understand the possible molecular mechanisms whereby carnitine deficiency provokes hepatic carcinogenesis. (2) to understand the relationship between hepatic cancer and its resistance to cancer chemotherapy, and (3) to gain knowledge on the possible mechanisms by which carnitine supplementation alone or in combination with other natural chemopreventive compounds could be used to prevent, slow or reverse the occurrence of liver cancer.

Public Release: 25-Mar-2009

New Discovery Raises Doubts About Use of Certain Targeted Therapies in Bladder Cancer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 25, 2009 – Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have found that one of the genes commonly thought to promote the growth and spread of some types of cancers is in fact beneficial in bladder cancer - a major discovery that could significantly alter the way bladder cancers are treated in the future.

Bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the United States, resulting in an estimated 14,000 deaths a year.  A majority of these deaths are due to the cancer spreading, or metastasizing, to other areas of the body such as the lung and liver.

The study, published in the April issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that in bladder cancer the SRC gene may help rather than hinder the natural ability of cells to suppress aggressive tumor growth.

“We found that SRC modifies a recently discovered metastasis suppressor gene called RhoGDI2 making it more potent at slowing bladder cancer’s ability to metastasize,” says lead author Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, professor of urologic oncology and molecular physiology at the UVA School of Medicine.

SRC is a type of oncogene — genes that are known to trigger cancer.  In most cancers SRC has been shown to promote tumor development and contribute to the spread of cancer.  Other genes, called metastasis suppressor genes, block this activity, and only when their levels are reduced is cancer able to spread.

In the study, researchers analyzed human bladder cancer and discovered that SRC levels diminish as bladder cancer progresses.  Furthermore, they found that reduced SRC levels and significant levels of the metastasis suppressor gene, RhoGD12, appear mutually exclusive in individual tumors – providing evidence that both genes are likely involved in the process leading to suppression of bladder cancer metastases.

“Our findings have important implications for the use of targeted therapeutic agents that inhibit SRC in bladder cancer and highlight the general importance of personalizing therapy in cancer,” says Theodorescu.  “Our data suggest using caution for their use in treating bladder cancer until more studies are carried out to define the implications of this form of therapy in bladder cancer.”

Ralph’s note – Thank goodness someone actually checked into it.

Public Release: 25-Mar-2009

Study: Morbidly Obese Sedentary For More Than 99 Percent of Day

Royal Oak, Mich. – March 25, 2009 – A new study appearing in Clinical Cardiology examines the average fitness level of the morbidly obese (body mass indexes between 40.0 and 49.9). The findings show that the tested population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day – far below healthy living guidelines of 10,000 steps per day. The results provide important links between obesity, poor fitness and cardiovascular disease.

The study used a precise body sensor to continually measure physical activity, caloric expenditure and movement minute-by-minute over a 72-hour period within their home environments. Following collection of the data, structured cardiorespiratory fitness testing was performed on each subject.

Most morbidly obese participants in the study were markedly sedentary. On average, 23 hours and 51.6 min per day were spent sleeping or engaged in sedentary activity and the remaining 8.4 minutes were spent in moderate activity. On average, subjects took 3,763 ± 2,223 steps.

The highest level of activity attained by any single individual during one 24-hour period was 28 minutes of moderate activity. No length of time was spent at a high level of activity for any of the individuals while under observation. Two individuals in this study spent the entire monitoring period in sedentary activity.

Obesity contributes to five of the top 10 diseases with the highest mortality rates: cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Increasingly, new technologic advances encourage individuals to move less and expend fewer calories.

However, it has been shown that, despite being obese, individuals with moderate-to-high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have cardiovascular death rates that are 71 percent lower than their unfit counterparts. Moreover, low cardiorespiratory fitness is an independent predictor of mortality in normal weight, overweight and obese individuals alike. Morbidly obese individuals, however, have severely reduced cardiorespiratory fitness that is similar to those with established systolic heart failure.

Despite the lack of moderate or vigorous physical activity in the studied population, lighter amounts of physical activity may yield significant health benefits. Even light walking in speeds of 1 to 2 miles per hour shows significant health benefits. Over time, increasing amounts of light physical activity may improve aerobic capacity and ultimately reduce mortality.

“Our findings have important implications for the relationship between obesity and physical activity,” say authors Thomas Vanhecke, Barry Franklin,Wendy Miller, Adam deJong, Catherine Coleman and Peter McCullough of William Beaumont Hospital. “Our findings will add incentive to increase physical fitness in this population and increase the awareness of healthcare professionals of the need for recommending physical activity in their patients.”

Public release date: 27-Mar-2009

Common fragrance ingredients in shampoos and conditioners are frequent causes of eczema

Considerably more people than previously believed are allergic to the most common fragrance ingredient used in shampoos, conditioners and soap. A thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden found that over 5% of those who underwent patch testing were allergic to the air oxidized form of the fragrance ingredient linalool.

“I would suspect that about 2% of the complete population of Sweden are allergic to air oxidized linalool. That may not sound very much, but it is serious since linalool is so widely used as a fragrance ingredient. Linalool is found in 60-80 percent of the perfumed hygiene products, washing up liquids and household cleaning agents that can be bought in the nearest supermarket, and it can be difficult for people who are allergic to avoid these products”, says dermatologist Johanna Bråred Christensson, author of the thesis.

Around one person in five in Sweden has some form of contact allergy. Nickel is by far the most common substance that causes eczema, but the thesis shows that oxidized linalool occupies third place in the list, after nickel and cobalt.

In the study, oxidized linalool was added at patch testing for more than 3,000 patients who wanted to find out what was causing their eczema. Between 5% and 7% proved to be allergic to the oxidized form of the fragrance ingredient.

“Linalool is present in many products around us, and this is probably the reason that contact allergy to this material is so common. Some people can shower with shower cream that contains linalool but never develop contact allergy, but we know that the risk increases as the exposure to t! he substance increases”, says Johanna Bråred Christensson.

Linalool is a fragrance ingredient found naturally in lavender, mint, and other plants. Linalool breaks down when it comes into contact with oxygen, it becomes oxidized and can cause allergy. Manufacturers do include other substances in the products to delay this oxidation process, but allergenic substances can st! ill be formed from linalool when it is stored.

“One way of trying to minimize exposure to oxidized linalool is to avoid buying large packs of soap and shower cream, and always to replace the top after using a bottle”, says Johanna Bråred Christensson.!

EU legislation states that manufacturers must specify on the labels of hygiene products whether they contain linalool. Previous studies have shown that oxidized linalool may cause contact allergy in about 1% of patients with eczema.

Public release date: 29-Mar-2009

Tea tree oil and silver together make more effective antiseptics

In the fight against infected skin wounds, mixing tea tree oil and silver or putting them in liposomes, (small spheres made from natural lipids), greatly increases their antimicrobial activity and may minimise any side effects.

Wan Li Low and colleagues from the University of Wolverhampton presented research at the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate today (30 March) which showed that although both tea tree oil and silver (in the form of silver nitrate) were effective against a range of micro-organisms, when low concentrations of the two agents were combined, their antimicrobial activity increased. They carried out laboratory tests on pathogens that are involved in skin infections. Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (which is a common cause of skin infections and abscesses), and the yeast Candida albicans, which causes thrush, were killed.

These positive findings led the researchers to use microscopic spherical bodies called liposomes, made of phospholipids, the naturally occurring lipids or fats in the cell wallsmembranes, to deliver the silver and tea tree oil mix to infected wounds the pathogens. This technique allows controlled release and therefore has the potential to use lower, less toxic, concentrations of the antimicrobial agents to treat infected wounds. This may also be of value to treat antibiotic resistant strains such as MRSA.

Used alone, both silver and tea tree oil can cause side effects in patients. Over exposure to silver can cause a bluish-grey discolouration of the skin and applying unregulated amounts of tea tree oil externally can cause skin irritation. With increasing life expectancy, age related conditions such as chronic leg ulcers or bedsores are likely to become more common. Current treatments using traditional silver-based creams and dressings use relatively high metal concentrations. Creams containing lower amounts of the agents could provide safer and readily available over-the-counter antiseptic compounds for effective treatment without damaging the surrounding skin.

Public release date: 30-Mar-2009

Melatonin may be served as a potential anti-fibrotic drug

In China, the incidence of liver cirrhosis is still high. Liver cirrhosis results from fibrosis. If treated properly at fibrosis stage, cirrhosis can be prevented. However, no effective antifibrosis drugs are available at present. Several lines of evidences suggest that oxidative stress plays an important role in the etiopathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis. Melatonin can protect cells, tissues, and organs against oxidative damage induced by a variety of free-radical-generating agents and processes.

A research team led by Professor Jian-Ming Xu from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, China evaluated the possible fibrosuppressant effect of melatonin in rat. Their study will be published on March 28, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

In this study, hepatic fibrosis in rats was successfully induced by subcutaneous injection of sterile CCl4 twice weekly for a total of 12 wk. At the beginning of injection of CCl4, melatonin (2.5, 5, 10 mg/kg body weight) was intraperitoneally administered to the rats daily for 12 wk. Hepatic fibrotic changes were evaluated biochemically by measuring tissue hydroxyproline levels and histopathogical examination. The serum activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were used to evaluate the hepatic injury. Hepatic oxidative stress markers were evaluated by changes in the amount of lipid peroxides, measured as malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in liver homogenates. Serum hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), and procollagen 3 N-terminal peptide (P3NP) were determined as serum markers of hepatic fibrogenesis.

Their results suggested that treatment with melatonin (10 mg/kg) could decrease the scores of hepatic fibrosis grading, reduced the contents of HA, LN in serum and Hydroxyproline (HYP) in liver, treatment with melatonin (5,10 mg/kg ) could decrease serum levels of ALT, AST and blocked the increase in MDA in rats with hepatic injury caused by CCl4.

Their result indicated melatonin could ameliorate CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis in rats. The protective effect of melatonin on hepatic fibrosis may be related to its antioxidant activities. This may provide a basis for further studies on the potentially protective effect of melatonin on liver function in cirrhotic patients

______________________

These reports are done with the appreciation of all the Doctors, Scientist, and other Medical Researchers who sacrificed their time and effort. In order to give people the ability to empower themselves. Without the base aspirations for fame, or fortune. Just honorable people, doing honorable things.

The health benefits of Frankincense Essential Oil can be attributed to its properties like anti septic, disinfectant, astringent, carminative, cicatrisant, cytophylactic, digestive, diuretic, emenagogue, expectorant, sedative, tonic, uterine and vulnerary.

Apart from being used as a cosmetic and as a fragrance, it has numerous medicinal uses, which are summarized as under.

• Anti Septic & Disinfectant: Frankincense Oil is good as an anti septic. Even the fume or smoke obtained on its burning has anti septic and disinfectant qualities and eliminates the germs in the whole place affected with fume. It can be applied on wounds without any harm or side effect to protect them from tetanus and being septic. It is equally good on internal wounds and protects them from infections.

• Astringent: The astringent property of Frankincense Oil has many benefits. It strengthens gums, hair roots, tones and lifts skin, contracts muscles, intestines and blood vessels, thereby giving protection from untimely fall of tooth and hair, wrinkles, loss of firmness of intestines and muscles of abdominal area and limbs associated with age and above all, helps stop flow of blood from wounds and cuts. This astringent property also helps cure diarrhea of certain types.

• Carminative: Frankincense oil drives away gas and also prevents its formation. This removal of gases from intestines also gives relief from associated problems such as stomach ache, pain in the abdominal region and chest, abnormal sweating, uneasiness, indigestion and many such.

• Cicatrisant: This is an interesting property of Frankincense Oil. It makes the scars and after marks of boils, acne and pox etc. on the skin to fade away. This includes fading of stretch marks and surgery marks, fat cracks etc. associated with pregnancy and delivery.

• Cytophylactic: Being a Cytophylactic, Frankincense Oil promotes regeneration of healthy cells and also keeps the existing cells and tissues healthy.

• Digestive: Suffering from indigestion due to that turkey last night? A patient of chronic indigestion and acidity? Fed up of those antacids? Then you are the right person to try Frankincense Oil. I am sure you will benefit. This oil has digestive properties without any side effects. It facilitates digestion the way a medicine should, not like the common antacids which only suppress the symptoms. This oil speeds up secretion of digestive juices (gastric juices, bile and acids) in the stomach and facilitates movement of food stuff in the intestines by stimulating peristaltic motion, thereby aiding all round digestion of food. Its other properties, like being a carminative also helps in digestion.

• Diuretic: If you thought that Lasix and its variants were the only drugs that could help you lose water from the body through urination, you were wrong. They may be instant, but not at all safe. Here is a natural and safe alternative. Yes! The Frankincense Essential Oil. It promotes urination and helps you lose some extra water, fats, sodium, uric acid and some other toxins from the body, with the added advantage of lowering blood pressure. The best part about this is that this oil is totally safe and has no adverse side effects.

• Emenagogue: Opens up obstructed and delayed menstruation and delays menopause. It also helps curing other symptoms associated with menses and Post Menstrual Syndrome, such as pain in the abdominal region, nausea, headache, fatigue etc.

• Expectorant: Drives away cough and phlegm deposited in the respiratory tracts and lungs. Also gives relief in bronchitis and congestion of nasal tract, larynx and pharynx, bronchi and lungs. It also gives relief from body pain, headache, toothache and rise in body temperature associated with cold.

• Sedative: Frankincense Oil is very effective as a sedative. It induces a feeling of mental peace, relaxation, satisfaction and spirituality. It also awakens insight, makes you introvert and ends anxiety, anger and stress.

• Tonic: Frankincense Oil tones and boosts health and therefore is a tonic. It tones up all the systems operating in the body, including respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system and excretory system and also gives strength by aiding absorption of nutrients in the body. It strengthens immune system too and keeps you strong and safe for long.

• Uterine: This oil is very good for uterine health. Since it regulates production of estrogen hormone, it reduces the chances of post-menopause tumor or cyst formation in the uterus, also known as uterine cancer. In pre-menopause period too, it keeps uterus healthy by maintaining proper menstrual cycles.

• Vulnerary: Just apply a diluted solution of this oil on wounds, or use it blended with a skin cream, and get your wounds heal faster and protected from infections. This oil is equally beneficial in healing internal wounds, cuts and ulcers.

• Other Benefits: It keeps skin healthy and young, relieves pain associated with rheumatism, arthritis etc. It helps heal boils, rotten wounds, acne, circulatory problems, insomnia and inflammation.

Few Words of Caution: No known adverse side effects at all. Still, should not be used during pregnancy, being an emenagogue and astringent.

Blending: Frankincense Oil blends well with Lime, Lemon, Orange and other Citrus oils as well as Benzoin, Bergamot, Lavender, Myrrh, Pine and Sandalwood oil.

This article was contributed by Aparup Mukherjee

Young Living’s Sacred Frankincense is very special.  It has a very different aroma than our regular Frankincense.  Sacred Frankincense I also have in  my case here at home.   I have been using it on a dark small mole on my leg.  I love the smell of it.  It is highly regarded as an oil that can facilitate the healing of cancer and other illnesses and diseases.  It is very different from our regular frankincense.  Below, I have posted a link to where you can read all the wonderful  testimonials of people using Sacred Frankincense for their health and well being.  This oil is offered in 5 ml and 15 ml bottles.

Please contact me thru email or phone or my websites, if you want more info or want to order.  You can order directly off my websites, which are at the end of this page!

Thanks!

Please pass on to all those who would be interested!

Alicia
 Watch Video With Dr. Mahoud Sahail:

Click Here - You will find research papers and videos made by Dr. Gary Young – incredible oil! 

The True, Legendary Omani Frankincense: Boswellia Sacra – Posted on May 1, 2012

 Throughout the ages, frankincense has been treasured for its medicinal and spiritual qualities. It was valued more than gold in ancient times, and only those with great wealth and abundance possessed it. There are more than a dozen species of Boswellia trees, commonly called frankincense trees, yet one species reigns supreme: Boswellia sacra of Omani origin.

For nearly 5,000 years, the resin from the Boswellia tree was considered Arabia’s most precious commodity. The allure of frankincense enticed adventurers from afar who sought the irresistible resin, and the Frankincense Trail in Oman’s Dhofar region was purportedly visited by the notable explorers Marco Polo and Lawrence of Arabia.

The finest and most highly prized frankincense resin is produced by the Boswellia sacra species, which grows in Oman. Oman has a reputation for producing superior-quality frankincense trees that deliver the highest-grade resin, the resin reserved for royalty. Historical and archaeological evidence strongly suggest that the frankincense given to the Christ child was either the prized Boswellia carteri species, of African origin, or the more highly prized Boswellia sacra, of Arabian origin.

The historical evidence combined with the superior phytochemical profile and therapeutic values of these two species were key factors behind Young Living’s selection of them for our prized frankincense products: frankincense and sacred frankincense. Moreover, Young Living is proud of the singular opportunity we have to be the first commercial frankincense distiller in Oman in hundreds of years.

Today, frankincense trees in the Dhofar region of Oman are regarded as a gift from God, and those whose land they grow on are considered exceedingly blessed. Oman is the greenest and most fertile land on the Arabian Peninsula. Its peculiar climatic and geological and geographical conditions (warm winters, steady sun, limestone soil with deposits of calcium carbonate, and cooling monsoon winds) provide the ideal conditions for the Boswellia sacra trees to produce the finest resin in the world. In her book Frankincense: Oman’s Gift to the World, Juliet Highet compares frankincense trees from other regions, concluding that “no other trees produce the same pure, exalted fragrance” as those found in Dhofar.

In preparation for the groundbreaking presentation “Frankincense: Separating Fact from Fallacy,” Young Living researchers conducted a thorough review of all available scientific literature on the topic of three frankincense species: Boswellia sacra, Boswellia carteri, and Boswellia frereana, including all 11 USDA references to Boswellia frereana. None of the 11 references reported that Boswellia frereana grows in or was ever cultivated in Oman. We invite you to review the references for yourself.

Our research, combined with existing scientific and historical literature, suggests that Boswellia sacra truly is a precious gift, worthy of legend status. Moreover, Young Living is proud of the singular opportunity we have to be the first commercial frankincense distiller in Oman in hundreds of years.

We at Young Living Essential Oils invite you to experience the unique, spiritual properties of our highly-prized sacred frankincense of true Omani origin.

—Scott Johnson, Product Training Program Manager

Original Blog Post: http://blog.youngliving.com/the-true-legendary-omani-frankincense-boswellia-sacra/

Read Testimonials On Sacred Frankincense Here: http://www.oil-testimonials.com/aromatherapy.php?t=1&q=sacred+frankincense&x=240

 *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

For more information or to order YL products, please contact:

Alicia Warwick

Independent Distributor #513738

Young Living Essential Oils

Northern New Jersey

Phone:  201-247-0723

Email: alicia@marketingscents.com

Websites: www.heavenonearthscents.com & click on “Sign Up Here”

http://heavenonearthscents.younglivingworld.com

http://www.secretofthieves.com/index.cfm/513738

Jackie Carey McLaughlin

Today I’d like to share with you one my new favorites from Young Living – the essential oil blend, Common Sense™.

Common Sense™ is a proprietary blend of pure Young Living essential oils especially formulated by D. Gary Young to increase mental acuity, helping to improve decision-making abilities and strengthen everyday thinking skills.

Common Sense™ can lead to increased wellness, purpose and abundance by enhancing your rational decision-making abilities. 

Common Sense pdf

All the single oils contained in Young Living’s Common Sense™ essential oil blend are fully discussed in the Essential Oils Desk Reference.

This blend contains YLTG Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) which stimulates the limbic part of the brain, which elevates the mind, helping to overcome stress and despair.  It is used in European medicine to combat depression.

YLTG Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata) is relaxing and helps release feelings of anger, tension, and irritability.  It also restores confidence and equilibrium.

YLTG Ocotea (Ocotea quixos) has high levels of alpha-humulene to balance the body’s response to stress and difficult situations.  Did you know that the genus name of ocotea, solidago, comes from the Latin solide, which means “to make whole”?

Ruta (Ruta graveolens) is farmed, harvested, and distilled at the Young Living farm in Ecuador.  It relaxes the mind and body, calms nervousness and rebalances energy.

YLTG Dorado azul (Hyptis suaveolens) has a rich, herbaceous scent that is rich in eucalyptol and beta-pinene.  It strengthens the lungs, promoting calm, easy breathing.

And last, but certainly not least, is YLTG Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) which creates a feeling of happiness that counteracts negativity.

The primary benefits of Common Sense™ from Young Living are:

• Calms, soothes and focuses the mind
• Relieves stress
• Enhances mental clarity and decision making

The best ways to use Common Sense™ from Young Living are to diffuse it up to 30 minutes three times daily, or wear it as a perfume.

When diffusing essential oils, be sure to use a cold air diffuser, not heat or candles, in order to preserve the chemistry in the oil that gives therapeutic benefits!  When you heat the oil, it can destroy this chemistry, and while you will still enjoy the smell – the therapeutic benefits will be diminished or possibly destroyed.  There are many great cold air diffusers to choose from  – to see a great selection, click here.  And use this code at checkout to save 5%:  A324SAVE5

If you enjoy this blog, please take a moment to click on the “like” button at the end of the article – I would greatly appreciate it!

Jackie McLaughlin is an essential oils educator whose passion is to make a difference in the world by helping people find natural, healthy ways to support themselves physically, emotionally & spiritually through the use of essential oils and oil-enhanced products.  As an Independent Distributor with Young Living, Jackie is available to assist those who want to purchase the products at retail, or help them establish a wholesale account and save 24%.  For those who choose to try Young Living through her sponsorship, she offers free guidance and training in the use of essential oils for better health.  Purchases can be made through her sponsorship by clicking HERE.

DISCLAIMER: (Required by U.S. Federal Law): Any information shared here is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is intended for educational purposes only. Nor are the products mentioned meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; they have not been evaluated by the FDA. Please seek advice from a health care professional knowledgeable in your area of concern.

Usage ideas

• Diffuse
• Inhale directly
• Apply topically

 The first oil of our Journey through the “12 oils of the Ancient Scrpiture” by Young Living  is Frankincense.

Plants have been given to us since the third day of creation.  “The Earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees baring fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.  There was evening and there was morning, a third day.”  Genesis 1:12-13.

When one area of our health gets out of balance, our entire body becomes imbalanced.  The 12 oils of the ancient scripture support all 5 areas of our health.  Physical health, Emotional health, Mental health, Social health, and Spiritual health.  

“Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” (Song of Solomon 3:6).

An ancient synonym for frankincense is “olibanum”, derived from the Latin Olium libanum (oil fromLebanon).  Because frankincense symbolizes divinity, it was one of the three gifts given to the Christ child.  The temples of antiquity were fragrant with the aroma of burning frankincense.  It was well known for its healing powers during the time of Christ.  “Used to treat every conceivable ill known to man”, frankincense was valued more than gold during the ancient times.  Frankincense is now being researched and used therapeutically in European hospitals and is being investigated for its ability to improve human growth hormone production.

There are 52 references to frankincense in the bible.  Proverbs 21:20 “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise”  and Matthew 2:10 “…and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; Frankincense, myrrh, and gold”  both refer to Frankincense as “treasures”  Others include Exodus 30:34, Song of Solomon 3:6, 4:6, 14, Leviticus 2:1, 15, 16, 5:11, 6:15, 24:7, Numbers 5:15, and Revelations 18:13 just to name a few.  

Frankincense is extracted from the Boswellia Tree.

 The tree must be 40 years old before one drop can be extracted.  In Biblical times, 40 years was considered to be a generation.  

In recent studies, research has shown that Frankincense suppresses cancer cells, has anti-tumor activity, able to discriminate between normal and cancer cells, and can suppress the growth of cancer cells.

The possibilities of this oil are becoming widely known, and we are still learning of its capabilities.  I definitely recommend this oil be added to your pantry of oils.  

           Action:  Expectorant, anti-tumoral, immune-stimulant, anti-catarrhal, and anti-depressant.

           Traditional Indications:  Asthma, depression, and ulcers.  Supports the immune system.  It increases the activity of leukocytes in defense of the body against infection.

           Historical Uses:  This oil may help with allergies, bites (insect and snake), bronchitis, cancer, respiratory infections, diphtheria, headaches, hemorrhaging, herpes, high blood pressure, inflammation, stress, tonsillitis, typhoid, and warts.

www.youngliving.org/shannonz

www.srziegler.ylwellness.com

shannon_ziegler@yahoo.com

Today we are going to discuss a very powerful Young Living oil blend – Brain Power.  As the name implies, this oil provides some amazing benefits for improved brain function.  According to the Essential Oils Desk Reference, Brain Power promotes deep concentration and channels physical energy into mental energy.  It also increases mental potential and clarity, and long-term use may retard the aging process.  Many of the oils in this blend are high in sesquiterpene compounds that increase activity in the pineal, pituitary and hypothalamus glands and thereby increase output of growth hormone and melatonin.  These oils also help dissolve petrochemicals that congest the receptor sites, clearing the “brain fog” that people experience due to exposure to synthetic petrochemicals in food, skin, hair care products and the air. 

I have seen Brain Power help those suffering with autism, ADD, ADHD, as well as those suffering with mental clarity, focus and memory issues.   Let’s explore the oils that comprise Brain Power, and I think you will begin to get a picture of how amazing this oil blend really is.

Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) stimulates the limbic part of the brain, which elevates the mind, helping to overcome stress and despair.  It is used in European medicine to combat depression.  Frankincense is high in sesquiterpenes, which have been shown to actually penetrate the blood/brain barrier.  Learn more about YLTG Frankincense.

Sandalwood (Santalum album) is high in sesquiterpene compounds, which stimulate the pineal gland and the limbic region of the brain, the center of our emotions and memory.  It is used traditionally in yoga and meditation.

Research at Brigham Young University documented its ability to inhibit many types of cancerous cells.

Melissa (Melissa officinalis) stimulates the limbic part of the brain, the emotional center of memories.  It removes emotional blocks and instills a positive outlook on life.  Anciently, Melissa was used for nervous disorders and many different ailments dealing with the heart or the emotions.

Cedarwood (cedrus atlantica) is high in sesquiterpenes, which can stimulate the limbic part of the brain, the center of emotions and memory.  It stimulates the pineal gland, which releases melatonin, thereby improving thoughts, cognition, and memory.  Terry Friedmann, MD, found in clinical tests that this oil was able to successfully treat ADD and ADHD in children.  It is recognized for its calming, purifying properties.

Blue Cypress (Callitris intratropica) improves circulation and increases the flow of oxygen to the brain, stimulating the amygdala, pineal gland, pituitary gland, and hypothalamus.

Lavender (Lavandula augustifolia) has been documented to improve concentration and mental acuity.  University of Miami researchers found that inhalation of lavender oil increased beta waves in the brain, suggesting heightened relaxation.  It also reduced depression and improved cognitive performance (Diego et al., 1998).  Cautions: True lavender is often extended with hybrid lavender or synthetic linalol and linalyl acetate – NOT SO with Young Living (as these extenders can be harmful).

Helichrysum (Helichrysum italicum) helps improve circulation and stimulate optimum nerve function.  Enhances awareness and cognition and helps release feelings of anger, which allows one to gain focus and concentration.

So, put a couple drops of YLTG Brain Power in your hands, cup them over the nose and breathe in through the nose for 3 to 5 minutes.  Rub Brain Power on the brain stem area – where the back of the head and the neck meet.  See what YLTG Brain Power can do for you!    And be sure to share your experiences with us in the comments section.

Jackie McLaughlin is an essential oils educator whose passion is to make a difference in the world by helping people find natural, healthy ways to support themselves physically, emotionally & spiritually through the use of essential oils and oil-enhanced products.  As an Independent Distributor with Young Living, Jackie is available to assist those who want to purchase the products at retail, or help them establish a wholesale account and save 24%.  For those who choose to try Young Living through her sponsorship, she offers free guidance and training in the use of essential oils for better health.  Purchases can be made through her sponsorship by clicking HERE.

DISCLAIMER: (Required by U.S. Federal Law): Any information shared here is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is intended for educational purposes only. Nor are the products mentioned meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; they have not been evaluated by the FDA. Please seek advice from a health care professional knowledgeable in your area of concern.

Did you know that whatever is holding you back from total success, in all areas of your life, is something inside of you?  That’s right, it’s not all the other circumstances, people and events going on around you that you might be blaming – it’s something inside of you.  Now, before you tune me out and say, “No way” – just give this some serious thought.  It might be an unconscious message that has been running all your life – something you are not even aware of.  Even if you are not aware of the self-defeating subconscious messages running in the deepest recesses of your mind, you can change them.  There are lots of modalities available to help you de-program  those messages that I would advise you to avail yourselves of (like BodyTalk, or NLP, or Christie Marie Sheldon’s home study program – Unlimited Abundance, and many more).

But today we are going to address the emotional brain, how it can keep you from moving forward in life because of fear and disappointment that has taken up residence in your limbic (emotional) brain.  Anytime you have an experience that is less than pleasant, the limbic brain records it and keeps it available for you to review.  This can be a good thing; i.e., let’s say you were driving too close behind someone in the rain and you narrowly escaped running into them.  Your heart was racing and you began shaking because you barely escaped a serious accident.  Your limbic brain reminds you of the danger, and hopefully you make better choices about your driving habits in the future.

But most of the time it’s more insidious than that; for example, say we tried to talk to someone about our business, and they were not interested; so, now we’re afraid to talk to anyone because we fear rejection.  That, my friend, will hold you back from ever being successful because you are going forward in life with a fearful vibration emanating from you, and you will never attract success while you are broadcasting fear.  That’s where essential oils like Believe come in.

When we inhale through the nose and smell an essential oil, we are directly affecting the limbic brain!  The sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic brain through the olfactory bulb.  Have you ever smelled something (maybe like apple pie) and it immediately made you thing of something or someone (like you grandmother baking pies)?  The sense of smell is the key to unlocking emotional issues, and the chemistry of essential oils is your secret weapon.  In addition to having the aroma trigger memories, Therapeutic Grade essential oils from Young Living have maintained the chemistry through the process of distillation to actually affect your emotions – it can actually bring up fond memories to focus on and create a positive vibration that you can emit; or it can help you bring up old, negative memories and emotions that you can choose to let go of.  Either way, it’s a win-win situation for you!

If positive memories come up when you smell a Young Living Therapeutic Grade essential oil, just bask in them – re-experience them in your mind – smile and enjoy them!  It will change your vibration, your attitude and your success:-)

If you have a lot of old emotional baggage to clear, I would suggest that you work a lot with essential oils, especially the “Feelings Kit” from Young Living.  If this is something you need, contact me and I will send you a specific protocol to use to release negative emotions and memories.

But today we are focusing on the positive with the Young Living essential oil blend, Believe.  Let’s look at the oils that comprise this amazing blend.

First is Idaho Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea).  This is one of my favorite oils, for two reasons:  It smells absolutely wonderful, AND I have seen it save someone I love from severe panic attacks that completely disappeared after smelling Young Living Idaho Balsam Fir – an amazingly powerful oil.  The Essential Oils Desk Reference states that it opens emotional blocks and recharges vital energy.  It gives a feeling of strength and inner peace.

Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora) is high in linalool, which has a relaxing, empowering effect.  It is very grounding and stabilizes those with emotional stress.

Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) is considered a holy anointing oil in the Middle East and has been used in religious ceremonies for thousands of years.  It stimulates the limbic part of the brain, elevating the mind and helping to overcome stress and despair.  It is used in European medicine to combat depression.

Now that you see how Young Living Therapeutic Grade essential oils can change your mind – literally; give Believe a try!  And be sure to let me know how it’s going.  I love to hear testimonials and stories about other people’s success!

Jackie McLaughlin is an essential oils educator whose passion is to make a difference in the world by helping people find natural, healthy ways to support themselves physically, emotionally & spiritually through the use of essential oils and oil-enhanced products.  As an Independent Distributor with Young Living, Jackie is available to assist those who want to purchase the products at retail, or help them establish a wholesale account and save 24%.  For those who choose to try Young Living through her sponsorship, she offers free guidance and training in the use of essential oils for better health.  Purchases can be made through her sponsorship by clicking HERE.

DISCLAIMER: (Required by U.S. Federal Law): Any information shared here is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is intended for educational purposes only. Nor are the products mentioned meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; they have not been evaluated by the FDA. Please seek advice from a health care professional knowledgeable in your area of concern.

Young Living essential oil blends are formulated for both physical and emotional health.  Each of the blends are formulated to maximize the synergistic effect between various oils chemistry and harmonic frequencies.  When chemistry and frequency coincide, noticeable physical, spiritual, and emotional benefits can be attained, according to the Essential Oils Desk Reference. 

Today we are going to explore the Young Living oil blend Acceptance.

Acceptance™stimulates the mind with oils specially blended to promote feelings of accepting ourselves and others, regardless of perceived barriers. This blend also helps overcome procrastination and denial.

This is a wonderful oil blend that I love to use when I’m feeling stuck, or feeling like I’m swimming against the tide.  It helps me to let go and let life come to me, instead of me trying to make things happen.

Let’s explore the various oils that are in Acceptance – and remember, just mixing all these oils together willy-nilly will probably not get the same results:  it matters what order to combine them, as well as the amount of each oil.

According to the Essential Oils Desk Reference:  The first oil in this beautiful blend, Acceptance, is Neroli (Citrus sinensis), which was used by the ancient Egyptians for healing the mind, body and spirit.  It is stabilizing and strengthening to the emotions, promoting peace, confidence, and awareness.  It brings everything into focus.

Sandalwood (Santalum album) is high in sesquiterpene compounds, which stimulate the pineal gland and the limbic region of the brain, the center of emotions and memory.  Used traditionally in yoga and meditation.  It may help remove negative programming in the cells.

Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora) is high in linalool, which has a relaxing,empowering effect.   The fragrant influence of Rosewood is empowering and emotionally stabilizing.

Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) helps balance hormones and discharge toxins from the liver, where fear and anger are stored.

          Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) is considered a holy anointing oil and hasbeen used in religious ceremonies for thousands of years.  It stimulates the limbic part of the brain, which elevates the mind, helping to overcome stress and despair.  It is used in European medicine to combat depression.  Learn more about Frankincense.

Almond oil (Prunus dulcis) is used in Acceptance as a carrier oil.  It is sweet to the taste and offers a rich source of vitamine E.  In the ancient Ayurveda system of health care native to India, the almond is considered a nutrient for the brain and nervous system.

Many people have asked me to share with them the study done by Dr. Suhail on Young Living’s Sacred Frankincense.  Here is the study – Enjoy!

1. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011 Dec 15;11(1):129. [Epub ahead of print] Boswellia sacra essential oil induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis and suppresses tumor aggressiveness in cultured human breast cancer cells. Suhail MM, Wu W, Cao A, Mondalek FG, Fung KM, Shih PT, Fang YT, Woolley C, Young G, Lin HK. ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Gum resins obtained from trees of the Burseraceae family (Boswellia sp.) are important ingredients in incense and perfumes. Extracts prepared from Boswellia sp. gum resins have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-neoplastic effects. Essential oil prepared by distillation of the gum resin traditionally used for aromatic therapy has also been shown to have tumor cell-specific anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities. The objective of this study was to optimize conditions for preparing Boswellea sacra essential oil with the highest biological activity in inducing tumor cell-specific cytotoxicity and suppressing aggressive tumor phenotypes in human breast cancer cells. METHODS: Boswellia sacra essential oil was prepared from Omani Hougari grade resins through hydrodistillation at 78 or 100 oC for 12 hours. Chemical compositions were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; and total boswellic acids contents were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. Boswellia sacra essential oil-mediated cell viability and death were studied in established human breast cancer cell lines (T47D, MCF7, MDA-MB-231) and an immortalized normal human breast cell line (MCF10-2A). Apoptosis was assayed by genomic DNA fragmentation. Anti-invasive and anti-multicellular tumor properties were evaluated by cellular network and spheroid formation models, respectively. Western blot analysis was performed to study Boswellia sacra essential oil-regulated proteins involved in apoptosis, signaling pathways, and cell cycle regulation.

RESULTS: More abundant high molecular weight compounds, including boswellic acids, were present in Boswellia sacra essential oil prepared at 100 oC hydrodistillation. All three human breast cancer cell lines were sensitive to essential oil treatment with reduced cell viability and elevated cell death, whereas the immortalized normal human breast cell line was more resistant to essential oil treatment. Boswellia sacra essential oil hydrodistilled at 100 oC was more potent than the essential oil prepared at 78 oC in inducing cancer cell death, preventing the cellular network formation on Matrigel (MDA-MB-231 cells), causing the breakdown of multicellular tumor spheroids (T47D cells), and regulating molecules involved in apoptosis, signal transduction, and cell cycle progression.

CONCLUSIONS: Similar to our previous observations in human bladder cancer cells, Boswellia sacra essential oil induces breast cancer cell-specific cytotoxicity. Suppression of cellular network formation and disruption of spheroid development of breast cancer cells by Boswellia sacra essential oil suggest that the essential oil may be effective for treating advanced breast cancer. Consistently, the essential oil represses signaling pathways and cell cycle regulators that have been proposed as therapeutic targets for breast cancer. Future pre-clinical and clinical studies are urgently needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Boswellia sacra essential oil as a therapeutic agent for treating breast cancer. PMID: 22171782 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22171782

Boswellia sacra essential oil indu… [BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011] – PubMed – NCBI

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To learn more about the therapeutic use of Young Living essential oils and oil-enhanced products, contact Jackie at: oils@earthlink.net

http://www.youngliving.org/jmclaughlin

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To learn more about Young Living Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils and where to get them, CLICK HERE.

DISCLAIMER: (Required by U.S. Federal Law): Any information shared here is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is intended for educational purposes only. Nor are the products mentioned meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; they have not been evaluated by the FDA. Please seek advice from a health care professional knowledgeable in your area of concern.

Frankincense (boswellia carteri) contains sesquiterpenes, which stimulate the limbic system of the brain (the center of memory and emotions) and the hypothalamus, pineal, and pituitary glands.  The hypothalamus is the master gland of the human body, producing many vital hormones , including thyroid and growth hormone.

Young Living's Sacred Frankincense

Now let’s talk about Young Living’s newest frankincense – Sacred Frankincense (boswellia sacra).  Young Living’s Sacred Frankincense oil is the first Omani frankincense to be available to those outside of Saudi royals or the privileged of Oman.  It is regarded the world over as the rarest, most sought-after aromatic in existence.  Young Living now has a distillery in Oman and is producing some of the finest frankincense essential oil in the world.

Omani frankincense is highly regarded as the frankincense of the ancients and the traditional spiritual oil of biblical times.  Historically, it is believed that this beautiful, white hojari resin produced the frankincense that was taken to the Christ Child.

Sacred Frankincense (boswellia sacra) has been tested as an anticancer agent for its ability to turn off the DNA of cancer cells and return the DNA to a healthy state.  Frankincense oil has also been documented to regenerate disc, cartilage, and bone.  Therapeutic-grade frankincense oil contains boswellic acids, which are potent anti-inflammatory agents against rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.  *Essential Oils Desk Reference, 5th Edition can be found at: http://www.lifesciencepublishers.com

This has become my favorite oil – Sacred Frankincense – and I use it every day for various things – thyroid disorder, meditation, healing injuries….. if I could only have one oil, this would be it.

If you would like to read more about how it is being tested in scientific studies for its effectiveness against cancer cells, go to:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22171782

To learn more about Young Living Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils and where to get them, CLICK HERE.

http://www.youngliving.org/jmclaughlin

http://www.oil-essentials.com

http://www.abundanceandwisdom.com/jacquelinemclaughlin

Jackie McLaughlin, YL Independent Distributor #489107

DISCLAIMER: (Required by U.S. Federal Law): Any information shared here is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is intended for educational purposes only. Nor are the products mentioned meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease; they have not been evaluated by the FDA. Please seek advice from a health care professional knowledgeable in your area of concern.

Boswellia sacra

Frankincense (Boswellia sacra spp.) has a long history of intimating peace and well-being. Believed in many religions to bestow divine blessings, this aromatic resin native to Oman has a rich history. In ancient times it was traded for porcelain by the Chinese, used for embalming by the Egyptians, presented to the baby Jesus as a sacred gift and burned by Roman emperors during the height of their reign.

Today, frankincense is heralded for easing tension and anxiety. Roberta Wilson, author of Aromatherapy for Vibrant Health and Beauty (Avery Books, 1995), writes: “Frankincense oil can help to fortify a mind burdened with mental anxiety, nervous tension or stress. It revitalizes the body and mind comforts and soothes the emotions and helps you sever ties with the past that are hampering your personal growth.”

Available as resin granules or essential oil, the granules can simply be tossed into a burning fireplace, or add a few drops of the oil to your bath.

One note: Frankincense is contraindicated during pregnancy due to possible uterine-stimulant effects.

By Lara Evans Bracciante

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For thousands of years the Boswellia trees of Oman have provided the incense that burned in the temples of Egypt, Babylon, Athens, Rome, and of course the holy Temple in Jerusalem. Today, the incense burned in our parish churches at a solemn Mass, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, or at a funeral probably came from Oman. (Yemen has planted groves of Boswellia trees and exports incense, but Oman still dominates the market).

In the temple rituals of the ancient world incense played a symbolic and a practical role. Because it was rare, expensive, and would be completely consumed by fire, it was considered a suitable sacrifice to the gods. Furthermore, priests and people hoped that their prayers would rise to heaven like the great clouds of sweet-smelling smoke. Then there was the practical dimension of burning incense: in temples where animals were sacrificed and their carcasses burned, incense helped mask the stench.

Both the Old and the New Testaments tell us that incense is pleasing to God. In the book of Exodus God commands Moses to build a small, gold-plated altar specifically for burning incense every morning and evening (Exodus 30:1-8). In St. Luke’s gospel we read that St. Zachary the priest was about to offer incense in the Temple in Jerusalem when the archangel Gabriel appeared to announce that he and his wife Elizabeth were about to have a son, the future St. John the Baptist (Luke 1:8-13). And the book of Revelations describes a scene in Heaven in which an angel burned incense in a censer, “and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints … before God” (Revelations 8:3-4). In spite of biblical endorsement of the practice, there is no evidence that Christians during the first three hundred years of the Church used incense at Mass. Most probably Christians worried that clouds of incense billowing from their little house-churches would have attracted unwanted attention. Another reason could be that among the early Christians incense stirred up unhappy memories. During periods of persecution, Roman magistrates always offered a Christian the chance to save his or her life by burning a few grains of incense before an image of a pagan god and Christians who refused were executed.

For reasons that are hard to pin down, by the late 4th century the Church in the East had begun to use incense in worship. Etheria, a nun from present-day France who in 381 began a lengthy pilgrimage to the Holy Land, tells us that incense was burned in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. As the bitter memory of incense’s link to the era of persecution faded, the Church in the West took up the custom, too, censing everything that was considered holy — the bread and wine, the altar, the crucifix, the book of the gospels, the celebrant of the Mass and the sacred ministers, and the congregation.

Today incense serves the same purpose as it did when Moses burned it in the desert — it pays homage to all that is holy, and symbolizes our prayers ascending to God.