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Insightful perspectives and sage advice from Dr. Jonathan Selzer, lead research scientist at HerbaSway. This is the place to stay current with the latest developments in dietary and nutritional supplements. Feel free to join the discussion to share your own opinions and experiences!

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The effects of stress on obesity

October 30th, 2009
by drselzer

How does stress effect weight gain? Nothing could be more complicated! Well, almost nothing. Let’s see what we can do.

Stress initiates a state of disharmony in the body, as it defends itself from whatever is causing the stress (the stressor). There are both physiological and behavioral changes that occur in response to stress. These are the “fight or flight” responses for survival, and include:

increased mental focus
increased cardiac output
increased respiration rate
increased catabolism
decreased digestion
decreased immune response

The stressors can be biological (diseases, hunger, exhaustion…), physical (exercise, over-eating, smoking…) and psychological (emotional, anxiety, rage and anger…). Whatever the source, stress causes an increase in the amount of steroid hormones in your body, particularly cortisol. Cortisol has some important functions, including the fight or flight responses mentioned above. However, these are meant to be short term phenomena to help you escape a dangerous predator. Chronic stress causes chronically high cortisol levels, which then has some nasty effects.

your body’s ability to store fat increases
your overal blood sugar levels go up and an increased risk of insulin resistance
there is an increase in inflammation in your body
decrease in metabolism
increase in cravings
increase in abdominal fat storage (visceral adiposity)
decrease in lean body mass
increased hypertension
decrease in HGH (human growth hormone)

The result is weight gain and a greater risk of obesity. In fact, a vicious cycle is established, in which stress causes obesity, which causes an increase in oxidation and inflammation, which causes more stress.

How to avoid Stress?

There are things you can do to help avoid stress and its health implications.

change in life style to reduce stress and increase relaxation
- meditation
- yoga
- Tai chi
- regular exercise
- naps and more comfortable sleep
Drink green tea, which has been shown to reduce stress, increase wellness and relief
Drink chamomile tea, passion flower tea or other dietary supplement, such as L-theanine tea
Drink superfruit teas, such as Cranberry, Acai, Mangosteen and Pomegranate
Lose weight with a weight loss program that includes supplements such as bitter orange, L-carnitine and green tea.

By reducing stress, you will feel better, lose weight and help slow down the process of premature aging. It is a great goal to have, but don’t worry too much about it.

How Do You Spell Relief?

October 28th, 2009
by drselzer

G*R*E*E*N*space*T*E*A!

It has long been understood that green tea provides a sense of relief. Now scientists are beginning to understand how. The catechin EGCG, the major polyphenol in green tea, helps to inhibit the activity of an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase. This enzyme breaks down one of the chemicals in your brain that helps send signals from nerve cell to nerve cell. Without this chemical, signals are not relayed efficiently and other crippling symptoms can occur. More EGCG means less enzyme, which means better communication between cells. The result is both a sense of relief and a possible treatment for Parkinson’s Disease!

Zhang L, et al. Green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate enhances the inhibitory effect of huperzine A on acetylcholinesterase by increasing the affinity with serum albumin. Nutr Neurosci. 2009 Aug;12(4):142-8.

Dr. Selzer’s Delicious Green Tea Pudding

October 21st, 2009
by drselzer

1/2 c. sugar, whey sugar (optional or to taste)
3 tbsp. rounded cornstarch
2 1/2 c. soy milk

1 egg, beaten
Dash of salt
3 - 4 doses of Peach HerbaGreen Tea
1 tsp. Vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, HerbaGreen Tea and soy milk in a saucepan. Bring to simmer over LOW heat, stirring almost constantly (to avoid burning to the bottom) until thickened.

Stirring vigorously, add hot mixture spoonful by spoonful to the beaten egg. Return to the saucepan and bring to almost-a-boil while gently stirring. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Allow to cool or eat piping hot.

Green Tea Increases Longevity: The Pudding

October 21st, 2009
by drselzer

There is often a gap between theory and reality, especially with health claims from dietary supplements. This is primarily because scientific proof lags way behind the “common knowledge” of traditional and alternative therapies. It is aways exhilarating when the scientists finally catch up. This is the case with green tea.

The consumption of green tea was shown to reduce mortality (death!) from all causes and cardiovascular diseasein elderly Japanese. This long-term study began in 1999 with 22,200 participants, who had a long history of drinking green tea, throughout the Shizuoka region of Japan. Over 14,000 people were studied again in 2002 and 2006. The results were remarkable:

Those, who consumed less than one cup of green tea per day suffered 42.3 overall deaths per 1000. Never-the-less, this represented a benefit of 55% lower than those, who did not drink green tea.

Those, who drank 7 cups or more of green tea per day suffered only 14.4 overall deaths per 1000. This is a huge savings of 75% lower than those, who did not drink green tea.

In terms of specific diseases, the following results from green tea consumption were observed:

the risk of cardiovascular disease was reduced (consistant with previous studies in the literature);
decreased risk of colorectal cancer mortality (first cohort study to show this relationship).

So we can conclude that we’ve been right all along. Green tea is not only good for you, it can help prolong your life. The proof is in the pudding.

Suzuki E, et al. Green tea consumption and mortality among Japanese elderly people: the prospective Shizuoka elderly cohort. Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Oct;19(10):732-9.