With Americans growing fatter and more sleep-deprived, researchers are beginning to search for a correlation between the two. Francesco P. Cappuccio, MD, of the Warwick Medical School in the United Kingdom, and some other researchers conducted a review of publications concerning the relationship between short sleep duration and obesity risk. According to a press release by The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the research showed that children and adults from around the world who don't get enough sleep show a consistent, elevated risk of obesity.

Dr. Cappuccio provides some explanation about the research. "By appraising the world literature," he states, "we were able to show some heterogeneity amongst studies in the world. However, there is a striking consistent overall association, in that both obese children and adults had a significantly increased risk of being short sleepers compared to normal weight individuals. The size of the association was comparable (1.89-fold increase in children and 1.55-fold increase in adults)."

He is careful as he explains his conclusions. "This study is important as it confirms that this association is strong and might be of public health relevance. However, it also raises the unanswered question yet of whether this is a cause-effect association. Only prospective longitudinal studies will be able to address the outstanding question," said Dr. Cappuccio.

Obesity is a serious problem. According to the NIDDK, being overweight or obese is a risk factor for many diseases including diabetes, coronary heart disease, high blood cholesterol, stroke, hypertension, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and other breathing problems, and some forms of cancer (breast, colorectal, endometrial, and kidney). The NIDDK also reports that obesity is associated with pregnancy complications, menstrual irregularities, hirsutism (presence of excess body and facial hair), incontinence, depression and other psychological disorders, increased surgical risk, and increased mortality. Additionally, the NIDDK discloses that obese individuals also have between a 10 and 50 percent increased risk of death from all causes, when compared with healthy-weight individuals.

Therefore, while no cause-effect association between obesity and lack of sleep has been proven, it seems prudent for individuals to get an appropriate amount of sleep. Given all of the dangerous side effects of sleep medications, it also makes sense to regulate sleep using natural methods. Many of the natural ways of regulating sleep may also have some other health benefits, as well.

In an article about insomnia, Mike Adams states, "I strongly encourage you to avoid the seduction of using herbs or drugs to get your sleep. Instead, take the more difficult journey: a journey of detoxing your diet, of taking a good, hard look at everything that's going on in your life, what foods you're putting into your body, what drugs or psychoactive substances you might be consuming, how much physical exercise you're getting, how much sunlight you're getting, how much water you're drinking on a regular basis, and so on. This is a difficult journey for a lot of people, but it is the only journey that can really cure insomnia." Sounds like good advice.

About the author

Joanne Waldron is a computer scientist with a passion for writing and sharing health-related news and information with others. She runs the Naked Wellness: The Gentle Health Revolution forum, which is devoted to achieving radiant health, well-being, and longevity.

Source: http://www.NaturalNews.com/023530.html

Dr. Stuart Richer OD, PhD, Chief, Optometry Section at the Veterans Medical Center in North Chicago, speaking at the 111th annual American Academy of Optometry meeting in Seattle, says this may be the first time an intervention has been shown to reverse aging changes in the retina.

The patient, an 80-year-old male, came to the eye clinic complaining of loss of night vision. Commonly prescribed nutriceuticals, such as lutein, vitamin E and fish oil were employed with no positive result.

After 5 months on the dietary supplement regimen, five measurable parameters of vision improved to varying but significant degrees including night (contrast) vision, visual acuity, color and side vision. Upon testing, it was also found the patient's mental capacity had improved. The patient said, "My night vision and thinking have gotten much better."

The underlying cause

A broad body of evidence exists to assert the claim that the human eye and all other organs "rust and calcify" with advancing age. Dr. Richer prescribed a nutraceutical matrix (Longevinex® -pronounced long-jev-in-ex) designed to remove excess minerals by a process called chelation (key-lay-shun), particularly calcium, iron and copper, that build up in retinal tissues over time.

About lipofuscin

Dr. Richer explains that the retina of the eye begins to show signs of retinal aging, usually beginning in the third decade of life, with the progressive accumulation of lipofuscin, the medical term for cellular "garbage" that pollutes cells as they age. Researchers believe lipofuscin is not an innocent bystander – that it generates free radicals, gene mutations and even cell death.

Molecular medicine

The use of natural iron-chelating polyphenolic molecules, such as resveratrol, quercetin and rice bran employed in this case, has been proposed as an intervention that addresses a wide range of age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cardiovascular and immune compromised disease. These molecules work by their mineral chelating (key-lay-ting) properties.

Older patients can't wait for a cure

Dr. Richer says this case may serve as an early example of the potential for molecular medicine to make an impact in eye care. "While only one case, these patients do not have time to wait for controlled long-term studies and 'best available evidence' needs to be employed, given there are no foreseeable side effects or undue cost."

While Dr. Richer says this is not a proven cure yet, he thinks modern medicine may soon be able to prevent the onset of age-related retinal disease decades before vision is lost.

Macular degeneration: the numbers

Macular degeneration of the human eye is prevalent among senior Americans. About two-thirds of the 37 million senior adults in the U.S. exhibit signs of the retinal disease and about 9% of these subjects (~2.5 million) will eventually lose some central vision. Patients with macular degeneration do not go completely blind as they generally retain their side vision. Only their central vision for reading and driving is impaired.

The future

If this paper foretells what is to come, at-risk adults may soon be able to obtain a non-invasive retinal/lipofuscin assessment many decades prior to the development of macular degeneration and even determine which therapies may exert a preventive or reversing effect.

Furthermore, it becomes evident that by measuring lipofuscin deposits, that not only the biological age of the human eye can be assessed apart from its chronological (calendar) age, but that such measurement may serve to help determine the biological age and the "speed of aging" of an individual. Lipofuscin accumulates in all tissues of the body with advancing age. System-wide age-reversing effects could also be estimated in this non-invasive manner. With this discovery optometry offices may soon become anti-aging centers.

This case presentation is scheduled to be published later in the year (2008) in Optometry-Journal of the American Optometric Association. Dr. Richer has no financial interest in the product. Resveratrol Partners LLC, makers of patent-pending Longevinex®, provided the nutriceuticals for this patient. You are invited to visit www.longevinex.com to learn more about Longevinex®.

It provides mega information about over-the-counter and prescription drugs and dangerous interactions.

Click Here For Drug Digest Site

Good carbs versus bad carbs

Carbohydrates have gotten a bad rap, and that's a shame. Eat the right kind of carbs — the low-glycemic index (GI) kind — and you'll lose weight and lower both LDL and total cholesterol. Eat the wrong kind and you will suffer the consequences both in heart and eye problems. GI index refers to how quickly starches break down and affect your blood sugar. Opt for low-GI lentils, beans, bran cereal, and high-fiber fruits and veggies to reach your lighter, heart-healthier goals.

Don't be swayed by low-carb diets. You need carbs to supply your body with energy, fiber, B-vitamins, magnesium, and other important nutrients. Completely eliminating carbs from your diet isn't healthy. Instead, go for low-GI carbs, the kind your body digests slowly, to help keep your blood sugar steady. You'll stay full longer, have more consistent energy, and feel better overall.

Researchers recently tested this out with four groups of obese men and women. Each group followed a different diet, but calorie intake was the same (women 1,400 calories a day, men 1,900). The diets varied in their percentage of protein, high-GI carbs, and low-GI carbs. After 12 weeks, all groups lost weight, but the people who got the most calories from low-GI carbs also lowered their LDL and total cholesterol levels. The people in the high protein/fewer carbs (mostly high-GI carbs) group experienced an increase in LDL and total cholesterol levels. Ouch!

Here's a great Table that will break down the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) value

We have been asked by many people what a good vitamin regimen is. Aside from one of Nutraceutical Sciences Institute® (NSI®) Synergy Multi-Vitamins we consume NSI Mega EFA®, an excellent omega-3 essential fatty acid product as well as with NSI's combination of alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-L carnitine and NSI Longevatrol® . This resveratrol and red wine polyphenol complex in a very stable Licap®. We also add extra nutrients, especially if there have been some recent favorable studies on them. NSI Synergy nutraceutical multis are one of the only multis on the market with alpha lipoic acid, not to mention effective levels of natural trans form CoQ10, as well as many other powerful antioxidants not found in other multis. In fact, the new version of Synergy NeuroPower® has 600 mg of alpha lipoic acid combined with 1,000 mg of acetyl-L carnitine, 200 mg of CoQ10 and over 34 other beneficial nutrients.

Why do other multi vitamins fail to include such important nutrients at effective levels? Some of the nutrients utilized in Synergy are thousands of times more expensive but also far more powerful when compared to the primary ingredients in other multis. Why can Vitacost.com provide these NSI products at such a great value? By being 100% direct to consumer with zero retail stores, VitaCost is able to remove the mark ups distributors and retail stores add on to the price of products. In fact, did you know the average price paid at a retail store is 500% more than it costs to make the product? Multilevel or network marketing products are even worse, the typical markup is 1,000% or more.

This is from an article by Dr. Allen S. Josephs "For Your Health" Newsletter.
http://www.vitacost.com/newsletter/newsletter.cfm?nl=379&csrc=EM-FYH20080523:main

Many of the medications used to treat these diseases make things even worse for your sex life. For example, psychotropic drugs are notorious for causing significant sexual dysfunction. Studies suggest that up to 60 percent of the men and women taking Prozac and related SSRI antidepressants have difficulty achieving orgasm. Also problematic are some blood pressure–lowering drugs, and this is especially true for beta blockers but includes stimulants, narcotics, antihistamines, sleeping pills, and peptic ulcer and heart medications.

Harvard researchers have found that men who eat a good diet, exercise regularly, and maintain their optimal weight are able to delay age-associated erectile dysfunction by 10 years or so. Among the bad habits that contribute to sexual problems are drinking too much alcohol, overeating (obesity), and smoking. As you can see, anything you can do to improve your overall health will also improve your sexual function. Men who are having sexual difficulties should give supplemental testosterone a try. Testosterone production tapers off throughout adulthood. This decline is linked not only with sexual problems but also with increased risk of obesity, loss of muscle and bone mass, heart disease, diabetes, and even death. Supplemental testosterone is an amazing libido lifter. (High levels of this hormone explain why young men think about sex so often.) If lack of interest is your problem, I can almost guarantee it will work. But sexual desire isn’t the main problem for most men—it’s erectile dysfunction (ED). And testosterone can also improve function. If testosterone doesn’t work, you can move on to alternatives such as Viagra, Cilas and other ED drugs.

Related Sexual Health Topics:

Having an Active Sex Life into your 60's can Benefit your Overall … - Having an active sex life into your 60's can benefit your overall health. There are plenty of statistics to show this can help encourage a person to live a very healthy lifestyle. They will be more concerned about their overall …

Having Sex into your 60's and Beyond can help you Feel Younger - It is agreed that all adults can certainly benefit from that. A healthy sex life also helps you to feel good about who you are. There are few things in life that are as intimate between two individuals as having sexual relations. …

10 WAYS TO MAKE HEALTHY SEX LIFE - Evidence points to the many health benefits of an active sex life. Sex Made Easy, an article published in Men's Health Magazine, gives 10 healthy reasons to hop into bed — a reminder that making love is good for both body and soul. …

Well imagine if there were a natural substance that operated at many different biochemical levels at once, providing all the following health benefits (yes, from a single source!):

• Reduces proliferation of breast cancer tumor cells by 40%
• Protects the brain from dementia and Alzheimer's
• Greatly reduces inflammation and joint pain
• Reduces oxidative damage to your DNA by 40% (even at low doses)
• Greatly increases endurance, muscle recovery and workout performance
• Reduces the risk of cancer
• Reduces blood sugar level in diabetics and prediabetics
• Improves fertility while decreasing the rate of stillborn births
• Promotes cardiovascular health, reduces C-Reactive Proteins (CRP)
• Reduces or eliminates carpal tunnel syndrome
• Boosts immune function and helps the body resist infections
• Protects the stomach from ulcers and invasive bacteria
• Protects the kidneys from damage due to high blood sugar
• Causes cancer cells to commit suicide (apoptosis)
• Greatly improves sperm quality, motility, and sperm count
• Prevents asthma by normalizing histamine levels
• Protects the body from highly oxidative foods like fried foods

In addition, I've found that this natural medicine:

• Greatly protects eye health, reduces cataracts and prevents UV damage to the eyes

• Makes skin look younger and functions as a natural internal sunscreen that prevents DNA damage and sunburn

• Protects the body from the dangerous oxidizing effects of Vioxx and COX-2 inhibitors, meaning that is can actually reduce the harmful side effects and deaths caused by other anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals

Now, if all that is really true — and I'll show you in a minute that it is true — that would make this one of the most miraculous medicines ever discovered by modern science, wouldn't it? For any one substance to prevent and treat so many different diseases — and to protect the human body in so many different ways — is nothing short of truly miraculous. So why isn't this nutrient front-page news?

The answer, of course, is because it can't be patented. This natural substance (which I will reveal below) is created by microalgae, so it's not something that was invented by a drug company scientist for patenting purposes. And the sad fact of the matter is that drug companies aren't interested in medicines that can't be patented, no matter how helpful or miraculous they may really be.

And yes, all the health benefits I've described for this supplement are, indeed, quite true. And they're backed by clinical trials and research papers that are fascinating in what they contain, and yet have never been picked up by the mainstream media. In other words, this nutrient may be the most powerful natural medicine you've never heard about!

Maybe you have heard about it already, but here's something else…
It's possible of course, that you have heard about it. Especially if you've been reading NaturalNews for some time (I've mentioned it on this website before). But until recently, I never fully understood the health benefits of taking larger doses of the nutrient.

Previously, I was only taking 2mg - 4mg per day. But for a while now, I've been taking 16mg per day (400% more than before), and I've discovered something truly astounding: The health benefits of this natural medicine keep increasing as the dose increases (to a limit, of course). I've found that 16mg a day is the ideal dosage for me to experience maximum benefits from this supplement… benefits that include outstanding athletic performance, a significant reduction in muscle soreness and joint pain, radical improvements in resistance to UV sun exposure, stabilized blood sugar and many more.

So what is this mystery nutrient? It's astaxanthin, a deep red-colored phytonutrient synthesized by microalgae called Haematococcus. It's grown in fresh water using sophisticated techniques that encourage the algae to grow its own powerful medicines that protect it from oxidation, UV radiation and other environmental stresses. When harvested from the algae and concentrated into a liquid, astaxanthin becomes the most powerful antioxidant known in the natural world, demonstrating 550 times the antioxidant power of Vitamin E, for example. (I reveal my No. 1 recommended source and how to get astaxanthin at a discount, below…)

Now why is antioxidant power important? Think about it: Much of what goes on during the aging of the human body is due to oxidation. Every time you breathe, you're inhaling some oxygen, right? That oxygen reacts with your cells to create energy, but the byproduct of that energy is the creation of free radicals. These free radicals cause DNA damage, nerve cell damage, accelerated aging of internal organs and more.

The way to stop those free radicals is with antioxidants, which bind to them, neutralizing their damaging effects. Astaxanthin, it turns out, is so good at halting free radicals that it seems to confer miracle-class health benefits to the human body… benefits that might be described as "anti-aging" or "reversing disease."

Right to the muscles and tissues that need them
It gets even better: Unlike most antioxidants, astaxanthin is fat-soluble, meaning it gets carried by fat molecules directly to tissues and organs in your body where it can do the most good, like your retina, your brain, your breast tissue, prostate tissue, and skeletal muscles. You know what makes the flesh of salmon pink? Astaxanthin. And guess what gives salmon the seemingly superhuman ability to achieve marathon swimming feats, leaping up waterfalls against the current? Astaxanthin, of course. Without astaxanthin, salmon are mere average performers, and their survival rate drops to less than one in five. But with astaxanthin, they become superstars of the aquatic world, performing feats of physical strength and endurance that, in proportion, dwarf the greatest achievements of the world's top human athletes. (And their survival rate on salmon farms leaps from 17% to an astonishing 98%!)

You see, when astaxanthin is present in muscles and other tissues, it prevents oxidation right where it's needed: Right at the site of stress or potential oxidation. Ever notice how you breathe more air when you're exercising? That's more oxygen you're pumping through your tissues, and more oxygen means more oxidation. So the more you exercise, the more you need powerful antioxidants like astaxanthin. This helps explain why some athletes who work out hard but don't supplement with superfoods and antioxidants seem to age faster than everyone else. Exercising without antioxidants is like putting yourself on an aging acceleration program!

The fact that astaxanthin goes right to the muscles gives it the ability to protect muscles from all sorts of degenerative conditions. A horse suffering from a severe muscle conditions called rhabdomyolysis, for example (which can also be caused by statin drugs), was given 30mg of astaxanthin a day. In merely a few weeks, he was 100% symptom free and running again! (The owners were no doubt astonished.)

In fact, astaxanthin has been used in all kinds of ways to enhance the health of animals. In animal tests, it has been shown to:

• Greatly increase the longevity and survival rate of salmon and chickens
• Increase egg production by a whopping 300% in salmon
• Significantly lower salmonella infections in chickens
• Reduced infections by increasing immune resistance in every animal it's been tested with
• Accelerated the growth of farmed salmon by 600%! (Seems impossible, but it's true…)

The animals who have been fed a small amount of astaxanthin in their diet, it seems, experience phenomenal health benefits. Every type of animal given astaxanthin lives longer, grows faster, exhibits greater fertility and shows much stronger immune system function. Do these sound like benefits you'd like to experience, too?

How to get astaxanthin as an exclusive discount
Here at NaturalNews, I'm always looking for the best products and supplements I can recommend to readers. Again, I must repeat the fact that I have absolutely no financial ties with any of the products I'm recommending here, and I earn absolutely nothing if you decide to purchase astaxanthin. My sole motivation here is in demonstrating my value to you, the NaturalNews readers, by bringing you great deals like this (so you keep coming back to my website!)

Here's the deal I've put together for you on astaxanthin. I have a very positive journalistic relationship with the folks at Cyanotech who manufacture astaxanthin. I've even toured their aquaculture farms in Hawaii, observing their farming methods, cleaning methods and research labs. So I have a lot of truth in Cyanotech and how their products are grown and harvested. That's the brand of astaxanthin I recommend: BioAstin is the brand name.

For where to get it, the online vitamin retailer I recommend is Vitacost (www.vitacost.com) because they have great prices, fast shipping and they carry almost 10,000 different health-related products, allowing you to do a lot of your supplement shopping in one place.

The folks at Vitacost were thrilled to put together a time-limited coupon code that gets you 10% off their astaxanthin products. It's good from right now through close of business this Friday. To get the coupon code, just check your e-mail, since I already sent it to NaturalNews subscribers last night.

Not yet a NaturalNews subscriber? Just sign up right now (it's free!) and you'll instantly see the Vitacost discount code on the subscription success page. Sign up here: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRegist…

It only takes ten seconds. Enter your e-mail address and confirm it, then you're in! You'll have the Vitacost coupon code and the ability to save 10% on these phenomenal astaxanthin products. Be sure to act now since not only does this special end this Friday, but with so many readers discovering this same article today, Vitacost is likely to be hit pretty hard on their astaxanthin inventory. In the past, announcements like this have wiped out the inventories of smaller companies, and some people had to wait weeks to get their products. To avoid that, order early.

To use the coupon code, simply go to either of these pages:

http://www.vitacost.com/Nutrex-Hawaii-B…
(For the BioAstin brand of astaxanthin, made by Cyanotech)

http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Natural-Astaxanthin
(For VitaCost's in-house brand of astaxanthin, which is also natural astaxanthin)

Remember, the coupon code gets you 10% off the already low prices offered by VitaCost! Check your e-mail for the coupon code, or subscribe here to get it now: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRegist…

(Ahh, you knew there'd be some catch to the discount, right? Well, it's true: Even though I don't make any money on astaxanthin, I do ask that readers who want to receive these great savings we negotiate for you at least make a small commitment to NaturalNews by subscribing to our e-mail newsletter. It's a fair exchange: You subscribe to our e-mail newsletter, and we keep bringing you fantastic discounts on outstanding products. It's the least we can do for each other, wouldn't you agree?)

What I really love about Vitacost, by the way, is the fact that they have super fast shipping times, and they ship any number of products to you for a flat fee of just $4.95. That only applies to the continental U.S., but shipping fees are very reasonable to other destinations, too.

Please note that this 10% discount is currently limited to only the astaxanthin products, not the entire Vitacost product line, but their everyday prices on other products are very good to begin with, so feel free to pick up some other products if you want. They just happen to have a really incredible price on Ola Loa drinkable vitamins, which I've recommended for several years. Their price is 45% off retail. Wow! That's the best price I've seen on Ola Loa in a long time. Get that at: http://www.vitacost.com/Ola-Loa-Energy-Drink

Cyanotech's natural astaxanthin receives our Editor's Choice award
When you visit the web pages at Vitacost (www.Vitacost.com), you'll notice that two of the natural astaxanthin products there have been given a Natural News Editor's Choice award. This is an award we grant to the most outstanding products we find. In a week or two, we'll be announcing numerous awards for products and companies that deserve that recognition. For example, we'll be giving awards on Dr. Bronner's soap products, the new unsweetened hemp milk called Hemp Bliss, online superfood retailers like Transition Nutrition (www.TransitionNutrition.com) and many more.

The award logo has been given to both the BioAstin brand and Vitacost's in-house brand, because they both use the same source of natural astaxanthin. What this logo means is that you can trust the product to be made with very high quality ingredients and offered by a reputable source that we've checked out.

Supercritical extraction means no toxic solvents!
Speaking of high quality ingredients, I think it's important to know how nutrients are extracted from their natural sources. Sadly, some companies use toxic, explosive chemicals to extract their nutrients. A famous provider of DHA oils, for example, uses highly toxic hexane to extract the oils. That's just plain awful.

Supercritical CO2 extraction, on the other hand, is safe and far more "natural." It uses compressed CO2 to pull out key nutrients, after which the CO2 evaporates harmlessly into the ambient air (from which the CO2 was gathered in the first place). Thus, it introduces no new chemicals into the environment, and it leaves nothing in the resulting product that might be harmful to you. This process — called "supercritical CO2 extraction" — is the best extraction process in the business, and it's used on premium-quality supplements like neem oil. It also happens to be the process used by Cyanotech to extract their astaxanthin from the Haematococcus algae.

That means this astaxanthin contains no toxic solvent chemicals whatsoever! That's one of the many reasons why we gave it our Editor's Choice award: Because it's an honest product, with zero chemical contaminants (or as close to zero as you can get on the planet today), that offers astounding health benefits. Cyanotech's astaxanthin deserves every bit of publicity we can bring it. I truly consider it to be one of the most important nutrients ever discovered for human health.

My top 3 nutrients for human health
Speaking of top nutrients for human health, would you like to know what I think are the top 3 most important nutrients for human health? They are:

#1: Vitamin D
#2: Omega-3 fatty acids
#3: Astaxanthin

Vitamin D is crucial, of course, due to its miracle-class ability to halt cancer (77% of ALL cancers are prevented by vitamin D alone!), to ease depression, boost bone health, enhance heart health and much, much more. It's the single most impressive nutrient I've ever found. Nothing beats vitamin D in terms of the number of important health benefits derived from a single substance.

Next comes omega-3 fatty acids, which have proven to be miraculous, too, in terms of preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, depression and much more. Plus, you can get these from plant sources (like chia seeds or flax seeds) or animal source (fish oil, krill oil, etc.).

And now, astaxathin joins my list as the third most important nutrient for human health. It is the "King of the carotenoids," as they say, and it has the ability to ease systemic inflammation, protect the eyes and brain from oxidative damage, prevent cancer, protect the body from dangerous foods, enhance skin health and even protect the skin from excessive UV sun exposure. It's truly miraculous.

I've heard some ignorant conventional medical doctors (and FDA bureaucrats) say there are no miracles in the world of supplements, herbs and natural medicine. The only miracles in the world, they claim, are found in pharmaceuticals. I think that's nonsense: Nature is full of miracles! Growing a baby in the womb is a miracle. Automatic skin repair following a scratch or scrape is a miracle. The nanotechnology in your immune system is a miracle. The building of a highly complex organism from microscopic DNA is a miracle, too. Nature abounds with miracles! And astaxanthin is simply one miracle among many that have been provided for us by Mother Nature.

If you'd like to experience the miracle of astaxanthin for yourself, get it at:

http://www.vitacost.com/Nutrex-Hawaii-B…
(For the BioAstin brand of astaxanthin, made by Cyanotech)

http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Natural-Astaxanthin
(For VitaCost's in-house brand of astaxanthin, which is also made of natural astaxanthin)

Get a 10% savings coupon code — good through this Friday only! — by subscribing to the NaturalNews e-mail newsletter (it's free!) at: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRegist…

If you're already a subscriber, just check your e-mail in box, because I e-mailed the coupon code to you before this article went live.

How to take astaxanthin for maximum effect
Since astaxanthin is a fat-soluble carotenoid, the best way to maximize its circulation in your body (and thereby make sure it gets to all your cells, tissues and organs) is to take it with some healthy fats. What kind of healthy fats? Plant-based fats, of course: Coconut oil, olive oil, avocados, chia seeds, flaxseed oil or even fish oil if you want to go that route. Taking astaxanthin with fat causes it to be efficiently transported all around your body and delivered to the places where you body needs healthy fat.

And where does your body need healthy fat? Almost everywhere! Every cell in your body, for example, contains fat molecules in its membrane. And did you know that your brain is made of a whopping 60 percent fat? It's true: Your brain is mostly fat and water. So does it make sense to protect your brain with natural antioxidants that can cross the blood/brain barrier and protect your brain cells from oxidative damage? You bet it does, and that's why astaxanthin produces such astounding health benefits for your brain. That's why it has been shown to prevent the deterioration of the brain cells that lead to dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Are you taking enough astaxanthin? I took astaxanthin on and off for a couple of years at a very low dosage: 2mg or 4mg. And I never really noticed much of an effect. The reality of astaxanthin's health benefits didn't kick in for me until I started taking significantly higher doses like 16mg per day. At that level (which is just four tiny gelcaps per day, they're the size of BBs), all kinds of benefits started to kick in. I was able to run farther, exercise with greater intensity, and yet wake up the next morning with surprisingly little soreness. It was like my body was suddenly functioning at a fitness level way beyond what I was used to.

I can still remember running along the path through the open desert here in Arizona, passing by the Chaparral bushes (which can cure many cancers, by the way), smelling the rich, fragrant flowers of the local mesquite bushes (which are the sweetest smell in the whole world, as far as I'm concerned), and suddenly realizing that I wasn't even breathing hard. I was running at a healthy pace, just gliding along the desert pathway, kicking up sand, leaping across small rocks, under the blazing desert sun, and I didn't even feel tired. It was like I had an oxygen infusion keeping me energized and alert. It was like my heart could pump a never-ending supply of energy to all my muscles. The feeling was truly amazing.

Sure, I take a lot of natural supplements. I drink aloe vera every day (my recommended source for premium-quality dried aloe gel is www.GoodCauseWellness.com by the way), and aloe helps your blood carry more oxygen. And yes, I don't eat oxidizing fried foods, or trans fatty acids, or sugar, and I don't take pharmaceuticals of any kind, and yes, my blood flows like water because I gobble a lot of fish oils, and I get all kinds of vitamin D from the sun. So sure, I have a lot of factors going into healthy blood (astaxanthin certainly isn't the only one) that creates this athletic effect, but the point is I'm only human, just like you, and if I can make my cardiovascular system pump along effortlessly, filling my cells with seemingly unlimited oxygen during exercise, then you can experience similar benefits. We're 99.98% genetically identical, after all. My heart is pretty much the same as your heart. The only difference is what we choose to feed it!

Now don't get me wrong, in no way am I saying that after you pop a couple of astaxanthin pills, you will turn into Superman and you can start tearing up the hills of your local hiking path. The benefits of astaxanthin are very real, and I have no need to exaggerate them, so here are some things you need to know about astaxanthin to make sure you understand what it can and can't do for you:

• It doesn't work overnight. I took it for 30 days before I really started to see significant results. You probably won't feel any difference for a few days after you start taking astaxanthin. It takes time for the carotenoids to find their way to your tissues. Once you beging to feel some benefits, those benefits will typically increase for several weeks, so you'll feel better as you continue taking the astaxanthin. At some point, the benefits will level off and as long as you keep taking the astaxanthin, you'll stay there, experiencing those ongoing benefits.

• Astaxanthin won't counteract unhealthy habits like smoking cigarettes, eating fried foods or drinking a fat-laden Starbucks "coffee" that's really more like a 600-calorie milkshake. Don't take astaxanthin as an excuse to pursue unhealthy foods or lifestyle choices (like smoking).

• Don't go overboard with your exercise in an unsafe way. Always work with a qualified health practitioner concerning ANY changes in your exercise or diet. Ease into your exercise slowly and carefully. It's better to slowly ramp up to more exercise over time than to injure yourself because you got overly excited and went too far…

• Astaxanthin needs to be taken throughout the day for maximum effect. I take 4mg every 4 hours. That way, I'm getting a healthy dose of astaxanthin at every hour of the day.

• Always take astaxanthin with healthy fats. Since it's fat-soluble, it needs fat to hitch a ride to your body's cells.

• Remember that if you eat fried foods (including so-called "healthy" snack chips fried at high temperatures), you will "use up" a lot of the antioxidant power in astaxanthin, leaving less to help the rest of your body. Unhealthy foods are often highly oxidizing, so even though I don't recommend eating fried foods, if you do, you may want to consider taking an extra astaxanthin capsule at the same time to protect your body from the fried foods.

• Not to make this too scatalogical, but at 16mg per day, astaxanthin will turn your poo slightly red, just like when you drink beet juice. Drink some chlorophyll too (which turns your poo green) next December, and you can poo in vibrant holiday colors! (Only recommended for the easily amused…)

• There's virtually no way to overdose on astaxanthin. Remember, this isn't a drug. It's something that's been in the natural food supply for millions of years. The studies that have been done show virtually no toxicity even at ridiculously high doses. However, based on what I've read it seems that the benefits of astaxanthin reach a point of diminishing returns after about 20mg per day for a human being, so that's why I take 16mg a day: It's enough to generate wonderful benefits, but I'm not going overboard with it. In one study, they gave 30mg per day to a horse! So probably, it's a fair guess to say you would need less than a horse. The lighter you are, the less you need, of course. I weigh 190 and take 16mg. If you only weigh 110 pounds, you might only want to take 8mg or 12mg per day. Even 4mg per day produces some benefits, by the way.

Once, again, if you'd like to get your hands on some astaxanthin, the source I recommend in the U.S. is Vitacost. Their pages on astaxanthin are:

http://www.vitacost.com/Nutrex-Hawaii-B…
(For the BioAstin brand of astaxanthin, made by Cyanotech)

http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Natural-Astaxanthin
(For VitaCost's in-house brand of astaxanthin, which is also natural astaxanthin)

If you want a 10% discount, and you're already a subscriber to NaturalNews, just check your e-mail (I already sent you the coupon code good for 10% off). If you're not a subscriber, just sign up right now (it's free!) and you'll instantly receive the coupon code. You can subscribe here: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRegist…

You can also just buy astaxanthin at your local health food store, of course. Or you might have other online retailers if you're living in the U.K., Australia, Canada or another country. Frankly, it doesn't matter to me where you get your astaxanthin, just make sure of one thing, which is VERY important: Always by "natural" astaxanthin, not "synthetic astaxanthin."

You see, there's a lot of synthetic astaxanthin on the market, too, and it's made from — if you can believe this — petroleum! It doesn't provide any health benefits, by the way, just like synthetic vitamin E or synthetic B vitamins. They're all garbage, if you ask me. Only the natural stuff really works to protect and enhance your health. So wherever you buy astaxanthin, make sure you're buying only natural astaxanthin.

Which sources of astaxanthin I really trust
Another note: As a journalist, I've toured the Cyanotech facility on the Big Island in Hawaii, and I've seen their quality first-hand. I've met the people, photographed the processing facility machines and watched how they clean, dry and pack both astaxanthin and spirulina. So I've seen it all first hand at Cyanotech, and I know they do a really great job. I have NOT seen any other facilities making astaxanthin, so I can't say whether or not any other companies are doing as good a job as Cyanotech. Therefore, I personally only buy Cyanotech's astaxanthin because I know I can trust it. I also know they batch test their products to make sure they don't contain heavy metals or other freaky contaminants.

I just can't say whether other manufacturers are doing a good job. They may very well do so, but I haven't had the opportunity to tour their facilities yet. Perhaps after this story runs, I'll be invited to other manufacturers and I'll be able to publish a follow up report to let you know what I find. One thing you can rest assured of, however: I have zero financial ties with Cyanotech, Vitacost or any other company mentioned in this review, because that's my policy of remaining independent and objective, and I stick to it!

Why the FDA wants to censor this
The FDA, of course wants to censor this information outright. They don't consumers learning the truth about how natural astaxanthin makes anti-inflammatory medications virtually obsolete, or how it operates as a natural sunscreen, or an exercise endurance enhancer. They don't want you to know that taking astaxanthin greatly reduces your chances of ever being diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, or that it prevents the oxidation of your cells from eating fried foods or junk foods.

And you know what? If I were selling astaxanthin, I'd be in jail right now. The FDA would raid my warehouse (if I had one), confiscate my inventory (if I had any), seize my product literature (if I had some) and confiscate my bank account profits from selling the product (if I had any). But since I don't have any of that and, in fact, I earn absolutely nothing from telling you these obvious truths about astaxanthin, the FDA is at a complete loss to take any action to censor me and thereby prevent you from learning the truth about this amazing nutrient.

To put it simply: I'm not regulated by the FDA, since I sell no foods, drugs, supplements or other such products. As a result, I'm free to tell you the truth about astaxanthin and other natural medicines in a way that the manufacturers of these products simply cannot (because they're muzzled by the FDA, which is of course a criminal operating engaged in blatant censorhip campaigns designed to keep the public ignorant about nutrition in order to protect the profits of Big Pharma).

So, in essence, the facts that astaxanthin eases arthritis pain, prevents Alzheimer's disease, speeds recovery from exercise, boosts physical endurance, prevents cancer, stabilizes blood sugar and protects the entire cardiovascular system are things that you're not supposed to know, you know. Forbidden knowledge and all that. The FDA has decided that the American population should not have access to this information, thereby ensuring that consumers don't know they have options for their health. When consumers don't realize they have options, they default to taking dangerous (yet profitable) pharmaceuticals. And that, of course, is the whole point of the FDA's campaign of censorship in the first place.

Hey Health Ranger, where are your scientific citations?
By the way, sometimes people ask me why I don't include more citations of the scientific studies supporting what I'm sharing in these articles. The answer to that is simple: The presence (or lack thereof) of a "scientific" citation does not change the nature of what astaxanthin is already and what it does for your body. In other words, including a citation doesn't make astaxanthin work any better, and excluding a citation doesn't make astaxanthin work any worse. It is what it is, and it's been around far longer than humans, or researchers, or scientific journals. Natural medicine, in other words, doesn't just suddenly start to work after it's been publishing in a science journal; it's been working for centuries to keep animals, fish and our human ancestors healthy!

After hearing that some people say, "No, Mike, you're supposed to convince me that astaxanthin does all this, and that's why you should cite all these scientific studies."

Actually, I'm not here to convince anyone who isn't already ready to experience phenomenal health in the first place. Some people will stand in their comfort zones and avoid all the healthy things they could be taking right now — superfoods, spirulina, vitamin D, fish oils, astaxanthin — and they'll sit there and insist "I'm not taking anything until it's scientifically proven!" And before long, they waste away with degenerative disease, dying of cancer, or heart attacks or strokes, all because they wanted 100% absolute proof before they would take a single health supplement that might have prevented their disease. It reminds me of a high school friend who never went to college. A few years back, I asked him why he never went to college. He said that Bill Clinton promised a free college education to every student in America, and he was waiting around until Clinton or some other President made good on that promise.

It just makes you wonder: How long will some people wait around to die, waiting for scientists to proclaim they've discovered what Mother Nature has provided us all along? Anybody who waits for corporate America to tell you how to take care of your health is a fool. There is simply no incentive for any industry (like the sick-care industry) to make you aware of the health benefits of astaxanthin. And teaching people how to prevent cancer is certainly no priority of medical journals, most of which are entirely funded by drug companies that profit from cancer in the first place.

Finally, scientific citations were probably really handy a few decades ago when there was no such thing as an instantly searchable online database of scientific studies such as Google Scholar. I mean, c'mon, how hard is it to go online and search for astaxanthin studies, anyway? Here, I'll do the search for you, just click this link: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=astaxanthin

There, you'll see a listing of 9,230 different references to astaxanthin in the scientific literature, including numerous studies about its anti-cancer benefits, antioxidant benefits, prevention of carcinogenesis, and a whole lot more.

Okay, get this: Some people then say, but Mike, you're supposed to interpret all those studies for us and tell us what they mean!

And that, my friends, is exactly what this article is doing in the first place: Interpreting the science and boiling it down to everyday language that honestly and openly shares the benefits of astaxanthin. So you see, in reality, people don't really want a long list of 9,230 scientific studies about a miracle nutrient like natural astaxanthin. What they really want is to understand how can it help me? And that's what I aim to do with articles like this. I'm just working to tell you the honest truth about the remarkable health benefits of natural astaxanthin.

Let's be honest: If I listed 9,230 scientific citations in the space following this paragraph, would it really matter anyway? The skeptical doctors, trained to discredit anything that's not a drug, would dismiss the whole story anyway. Even a million studies cannot overcome a person's own limiting belief system and mental filters. If a person believes natural medicine has no health benefits whatsoever, then they will automatically filter out all evidence that contradicts their stated belief.

On the other hand, a person who understands natural health and the principles of natural medicine doesn't need 9,230 scientific studies listed either, since they realize that Mother Nature is the true authority on human health and natural medicine, not some commercial publication that tries to position itself as a "scientific" journal. The real authority on what heals is, essentially, the nature found inside you right now. You are an extension of nature, and your body was created to live in perfect harmony with the foods and medicines found in the natural world around you. That's why truth is only defined by what's true for you, in your own experience.

So try astaxanthin yourself today, and see what benefits you experience. Don't let someone else tell you what astaxanthin will or won't do for you, find out for yourself! Only you can be the authority on what's true for you, after all.

Here are my recommended sources one more time:

http://www.vitacost.com/Nutrex-Hawaii-B…
(For the BioAstin brand of astaxanthin, made by Cyanotech)

http://www.vitacost.com/NSI-Natural-Astaxanthin
(For VitaCost's in-house brand of astaxanthin, which is also natural astaxanthin)

If you want the 10% discount coupon code, and you're already a subscriber to NaturalNews, just check your e-mail (I already sent you the coupon code good for 10% off). If you're not a subscriber, just sign up right now (it's free!) and you'll instantly receive the coupon code. You can subscribe here: http://www.naturalnews.com/ReaderRegist…

Remember, the discount is only good through this Friday, and it only applies to those astaxanthin products, not the entire Vitacost product line.

Enjoy your astaxanthin!

###

About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher and author with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a manufacturer of mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting products that save electricity and help prevent global warming. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, Pilates and organic gardening.

Reprinted with permission Revealed: The Little-Known Miracle Nutrient for Inflammation, Anti-Aging, Athletic Endurance and More

* Choose fortified foods. Food manufacturers are catching on: We want more D! Check the labels of everything — from orange juice and bread to yogurt and pudding — to see if they're fortified. Become an expert at reading labels with these tips.

* Eat fish. The richest source of D is salmon (360 IU of vitamin D in 3.5 ounces), but tuna and sardines canned in oil are good sources, too. Check this list of low-mercury fish.

* Have an egg. D is in the yolk, and although 26 IU doesn't sound like much, it all adds up.

* Take a supplement. Just stay below 2000 IU per day from food and supplements combined.