What you consumed is what you are now

effect on your daily food!


We have discovered seven strategies to not only increase testosterone and growth hormone levels, but also put "X" in sex and in this report we'll cover three of them.
Our staffer Sam Fields and his report on testosterone made our group dig some more. What we found was nothing short of amazing.
Inside of each man lives a muscle-bound ape who can lift mountains in the weight room, please a dozen women at a time, then sleep like a bear during its hibernation for 8 hours and be ready to do it all again the next day.



The research is in and we've found that the right foods can jack up your testosterone and growth-hormone levels while also shutting down estrogen production in men. If you're not feeling as "manly" as you used to, and you have more than your fair share of days when you just feel plain weak, most likely your anabolic hormones are lying dormant.

Testosterone is the currency of a young and viril man and with it comes lean muscles and erections of iron. Growth hormone (GH) on the other hand, strengthens connective tissue, meaning stronger tendons and a boost in power and muscle mass. Even better, GH seeds up muscle repair, jump-starts your immune system and improves skin elasticity for a tighter, younger, firmer looking physique.



What you eat, how you eat it and what you supplement your food with can bring to the forefront that "animal" inside of you. In this report, we give you seven keys to making it happen.

Protein
It's no secret that protein builds muscle, but the type of protein you choose can be very important. Protein that comes from whey or egg hydrolysates can increase testosterone hormone levels.

Hydrolysates are predigested proteins rich in dipeptides (two amino acids joined together) and tripeptides (three joined together). Dipeptides and tripeptides can escape digestion and go directly to the liver where they increase production of the powerful anabolic hormone insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1).



As a result, hydrolysates do a better job of building muscle than whole proteins or free-form amino acids so be sure to look for these when you purchase protein supplements.

Vegetables
Fat, it turns out, is not only ugly but also a threat to your manhood because it's rich in aromatase, an enzyme that turns testosterone into various estrogens.
Just to make clear, so that all of us are on the same page:
[estrogens = female hormone]

To boost your masculinity and enhance your body's normal disease-fighting ability, eat more broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. A recent study showed these veggies to be rich in indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a phyto-chemical known to turn "bad" estrogens (which shut down testosterone production) into good ones which help to restore it's production.
[in some dietary coloumn, bitter melon / momordica also good for the health, andy]



Fact: bad estrogens were cut in half when
seven healthy men took 500 milligrams of I3C a day for a week.

Jon Michnovicz, M.d., Ph.D, from Rockefeller
University Hospital
stated "we have strong evidence to suggest that
indole-3-carbinol is active;
it's doing the right things to the body's
hormone system and it's doing them in
a safe and gentle way".

That does this mean to you? Aim for two servings a day of the various cruciferous vegetables which include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, cress, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, bak choy, radishes, turnip greens and watercress. If you can't handle these, 300mg of another supplement diindolylmethane (also called DIM or diindolin) which is derived from I3C does much the same thing.

Meat
Although science doesn't know why,
evidence suggests that eating meat boosts testosterone levels.
In one study, two groups of men pumped iron for 12 weeks; one group ate a vegetarian diet and the other a meat diet. Strength improved by the same amount in both groups, but only the meat eating group enjoyed marked fat loss and muscle gain. If you decide to eat meat to bulk up, avoid fatty red meat, pork and lamb which are loaded with saturated fat and instead choose fish, poultry or lean cuts of beef.

Soy full of estrogen

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular. Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless it's organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food.

The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore. I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you're also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.



Estrogens are female hormones. If you're a woman, you're flooding your system with a substance it can't handle in surplus. If you're a man, you're suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your "female side," physically and mentally.

In fetal development, the default is being female. All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen.

If you're a grownup, you're already developed, and you're able to fight off some of the damaging effects of soy. Babies aren't so fortunate. Research is now showing that when you feed your baby soy formula, you're giving him or her the equivalent of five birth control pills a day. A baby's endocrine system just can't cope with that kind of massive assault, so some damage is inevitable. At the extreme, the damage can be fatal.

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products.
(Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because
"I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.

Doctors used to hope soy would reduce hot flashes, prevent cancer and heart disease, and save millions in the Third World from starvation. That was before they knew much about long-term soy use. Now we know it's a classic example of a cure that's worse than the disease. For example, if your baby gets colic from cow's milk, do you switch him to soy milk? Don't even think about it. His phytoestrogen level will jump to 20 times normal. If he is a she, brace yourself for watching her reach menarche as young as seven, robbing her of years of childhood. If he is a boy, it's far worse: He may not reach puberty till much later than normal.

Research in 2000 showed that a soy-based diet at any age can lead to a weak thyroid, which commonly produces heart problems and excess fat. Could this explain the dramatic increase in obesity today?

Recent research on rats shows testicular atrophy, infertility and uterus hypertrophy (enlargement). This helps explain the infertility epidemic and the sudden growth in fertility clinics. But alas, by the time a soy-damaged infant has grown to adulthood and wants to marry, it's too late to get fixed by a fertility clinic.

Worse, there's now scientific evidence that estrogen ingredients in soy products may be boosting the rapidly rising incidence of leukemia in children. In the latest year we have numbers for, new cases in the U.S. jumped 27 percent. In one year!

There's also a serious connection between soy and cancer in adults – especially breast cancer. That's why the governments of Israel, the UK, France and New Zealand are already cracking down hard on soy.

In sad contrast, 60 percent of the refined foods in U.S. supermarkets now contain soy. Worse, soy use may double in the next few years because (last I heard) the out-of-touch medicrats in the FDA hierarchy are considering allowing manufacturers of cereal, energy bars, fake milk, fake yogurt, etc., to claim that "soy prevents cancer." It doesn't.

P.S.: Soy sauce is fine. Unlike soy milk, it's perfectly safe because it's fermented, which changes its molecular structure. Miso, natto and tempeh are also OK, but avoid tofu.

Posted: December 12, 2006
1:00 am Eastern

source: www.wnd.com

piercing

Info about Penis Piercing.
dont forget to
click for the complete posting


Depending on the anatomy of the individual, there are many different options available in male genital piercing. Some genital piercings are mainly for decorative purposes, while others can enhance the sexual pleasure of the wearer and/or his partner. Your piercer can help you determine which piercings are anatomically possible for your body. Due to the sensitivity, number of veins, and amount of blood flow to the area, it is essential that you only receive genital piercings from a licensed professional body piercer.



When you are healing a genital piercing, it is extremely important to use a condom during sex, including oral sex, to minimize the risk of infection. Here you will find brief descriptions of the most common male genital piercings. The minimum safe size for all of the following piercings is 12 gauge, regardless of the type of jewelry (such as a barbell or a captive bead ring), or the length, that is appropriate for the individual piercing. For most of these piercings, the wearer can choose a thicker gauge of jewelry if he wishes.

One of the most popular genital piercings is the frenum piercing; a barbell inserted horizontally through the loose skin on the underside of the penis shaft. Many men wear more than one frenum piercing, and the combination of two or more is often called a frenum ladder. The piercing can be located anywhere along the shaft, and in many cases it increases the sexual partner’s pleasure. Frenum piercings can also be done near the base of the shaft, and this piercing is sometimes called a lower frenum or lorum. After the piercing is healed (typically in 2 to 3 months), a captive bead ring can be worn instead of a barbell. Return to your piercer if you would like to wear a ring; s/he can determine the appropriate diameter.

The best-known male genital piercing is the Prince Albert or PA piercing, which is a ring or bent barbell that enters the penis through the urethra and exits at the base of the glans. It is normal for this piercing to bleed intermittently for one to three days after it is performed. Many men find that it is difficult to control the direction of their urine while the piercing is healing, so some prefer to sit down to urinate for the first few weeks. Since an individual’s urine is sterile to his or her own body, the risk of infection with a PA piercing is low, and the healing time is usually only 4 to 6 weeks.

An apadravya piercing is a barbell inserted through the head of the penis from top to bottom; wearing large balls on the barbell (5mm or larger) can increase the sexual pleasure of the wearer’s partner. The horizontal equivalent of the apadravya is the ampallang, a barbell inserted horizontally through the head of the penis. Usually the ampallang piercing is placed above the urethra, whereas the apadravya usually intersects with the urethra. Each of these piercings usually takes 4 to 6 months to heal.

Dydoe piercings are short barbells worn vertically through the edges of the glans of a circumcised penis, usually in a pair with one piercing on each side. This piercing is only appropriate for men with a well-developed glans; dydoe piercings performed through a flat glans or on an uncircumcised man could easily migrate or reject. Foreskin piercings are the equivalent of dydoes for uncircumcised men; they are also usually worn in pairs, though a captive bead ring is a more common and comfortable choice than a barbell for a foreskin piercing. Dydoe piercings tend to take 2 to 3 months to heal. Foreskin piercings may take longer to heal and have a high rate of migration or rejection. Dydoe and foreskin piercings are largely decorative but may be sexually pleasurable for the wearer.

There are several options in male genital piercing that do not involve the penis. The hafada piercing is a ring worn through the edge of the scrotum, near the base of the penis; these are also usually worn in pairs, one on each side. It is important that any scrotum piercing be superficial, penetrating only the skin of the scrotum, because a deep scrotum piercing would be dangerous and would not heal correctly. A hafada or scrotum piercing generally heals in 2 to 3 months; however, these piercings also have a high rate of migration or rejection from the body.

A guiche piercing is a ring worn through the perineum (the ridge of skin between the scrotum and anus). Because wearing pants or underwear can irritate the piercing, a guiche piercing can take up to 6 months to heal. It is very important to clean this piercing exactly as instructed by your piercer; due to the piercing’s location, it is easy to contract an infection through improper hygiene.

Pictures of male genital piercing:

Prince Albert (PA) & Reverse PA:


Frenums:



Ampallangs:



Guiche:



Hafada:



here you can see this guy's penis is pierced:

Kawasaki Disease - Jett Travolta

let's break for a while, i need to put this info to know more
about Jett Travolta - 16 years old, John Travolta's son, who died
on his bathtube in Bahamas, predicted that he suffered from Kawasaki Syndrome, which caused him to have seizures. But Joey Travolta (john's brother) believes that Jett suffered from autism, which has been associated with seizures as well as epilepsy.
ok i included these term of kawasaki disease and also autism disease in here
to know more about this, let's check out:



"Kawasaki disease is an illness that involves the skin, mouth, and lymph nodes, and most often affects kids under age 5. The cause is unknown, but if the symptoms are recognized early, kids with Kawasaki disease can fully recover within a few days. Untreated, it can lead to serious complications that can affect the heart. Kawasaki disease occurs in 19 out of every 100,000 kids in the United States. It is most common among children of Japanese and Korean descent, but can affect all ethnic groups"

Signs and Symptoms
Kawasaki disease can't be prevented, but usually has telltale symptoms and signs that appear in phases. The first phase, which can last for up to 2 weeks, usually involves a persistent fever higher than 104° Fahrenheit (39° Celsius) and lasts for at least 5 days.

Other symptoms that typically develop include:

severe redness in the eyes
a rash on the stomach, chest, and genitals
red, dry, cracked lips
swollen tongue with a white coating and big red bumps
sore, irritated throat
swollen palms of the hands and soles of the feet with a purple-red color
swollen lymph nodes

During the second phase, which usually begins within 2 weeks of when the fever started, the skin on the hands and feet may begin to peel in large pieces. The child also may experience joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain. If your child shows any of these symptoms, call your doctor.

Complications
Doctors can manage the symptoms of Kawasaki disease if they catch it early. Symptoms often disappear within just 2 days of the start of treatment. If Kawasaki disease is treated within 10 days of the onset of symptoms, heart problems usually do not develop.

Cases that go untreated can lead to more serious complications, such as vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels. This can be particularly dangerous because it can affect the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart.

In addition to the coronary arteries, the heart muscle, lining, valves, and the outer membrane that surrounds the heart can become inflamed. Arrhythmias (changes in the normal pattern of the heartbeat) or abnormal functioning of some heart valves also can occur.

Diagnosis
No single test can detect Kawasaki disease, so doctors usually diagnose it by evaluating the symptoms and ruling out other conditions. Most kids diagnosed with Kawasaki disease will have a fever lasting 5 or more days and
at least four of these symptoms:

redness in both eyes
changes around the lips, tongue, or mouth
changes in the fingers and toes, such as swelling, discoloration, or peeling
a rash in the trunk or genital area
a large swollen lymph node in the neck
red, swollen palms of hands and soles of feet

If Kawasaki disease is suspected, the doctor may order tests to monitor heart function (such as an echocardiogram) and might take blood and urine samples to rule out other conditions, such as scarlet fever, measles, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, or an allergic drug reaction.

Treatment
Treatment should begin as soon as possible, ideally within 10 days of when the fever begins. Usually, a child is treated with intravenous doses of gamma globulin (purified antibodies), an ingredient of blood that helps the body fight infection. The child also might be given a high dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of heart problems.

Reviewed by: Joel Klein, MD
Date reviewed: October 2008

and here is the definition about Autism:



briefly: a mental condition characterized by great difficulty in communicating with others and in using language and abstract concepts
[a mental disorder (=problem) that makes people unable to communicate properly, or to form relationships]



Also Epilepsy:

ep‧i‧lep‧sy [uncountable-noun]
1. a disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions.
2. a medical condition affecting your brain, that can make you suddenly become unconscious or unable to control your movements for a short time
DERIVATIVES epileptic adjective & noun.
ORIGIN Greek epilepsia, from epilambanein ‘seize, attack’.



* Muscle spasm: an involuntary muscular contraction
[done contrary to or without choice]
** Neuron: a grayish or reddish granular cell with specialized processes
that is the fundamental functional unit of nervous tissue
*** Neurotransmitter: a substance (as norepinephrine or acetylcholine)
that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse
**** Norepinephrine: a monoamine C8H11NO3 that is a neurotransmitter
in postganglionic neurons of the sympathetic nervous system and in some parts of the central nervous system, is a vasopressor hormone of the adrenal medulla, and is a precursor of epinephrine in its major biosynthetic pathway
***** Acetylcholine: a neurotransmitter C7H17NO3 released at autonomic synapses and neuromuscular junctions and formed enzymatically in the tissues from choline

the matter is, is that true if jett's death has something to do with these syndromes?
so many people included here in indonesia who live with epilepsy or autism
and they are not died becoz of these.
what i believe is something more than these Kawasaki, Autism and Epilepsy thing.
but anyway, i really feel so sorry for this incident.
if i were john, i will be so sad. hope John is hardy, calm down and withstand to this situation until he have the precise and accurate information about the cause of his son's death. hope Jett is rest in peace. amen

Chart of Acitivities

Burn fat. having plan of getting better look
or get the calories burnt
by doing some sports or exercise.
i will choose run than any exercise.
but how do we know what exercises and activities are
going to give us the biggest bang for the calorie-burn buck?



I have put together a list of various activities to give you an idea of
how each affects your burn. Sitting still (aka at rest),
most people expend roughly 1-2 calories per minute,
depending on your body weight, sex, etc.
I have included both activities that burn a lot of calories,
and also a separate chart that shows activities that don’t burn very many

and also check out these 2 other tables:

Porn Industry, Actor & HIV

Use condoms or be made to use them,
porn industry told

A California assembly member has said he will campaign for state legislation requiring porn performers to use condoms unless the industry voluntarily adopts them as standard. Democrat Paul Koretz, who represents the city of West Hollywood, has written to 185 porn producers saying that condoms represent the kind of elementary health and safety precaution that workers in other fields are entitled to by law.
Koretz' letter followed findings that only 17 percent of performers in heterosexual porn films are using condoms. This is exactly the same proportion as before the "HIV scare" this April, when five performers, four of whom had had sex with each other on set, acquired HIV. For a brief period, the number using condoms jumped by 5 percent, but it has now reverted to normal. During the scare, Republican assembly member Tim Leslie introduced Bill 2798, which would have compelled all performers to use condoms, but this was dropped in May when Koretz, who is chair of California's Labor and Employment Committee, said it had been put together "too hastily."

But now Koretz is warning that he will introduce legislation too, unless practices change. "I fully expect the adult entertainment industry to require the use of condoms," he wrote to the producers. "Failure to do so ... invites the legislature to exercise its authority to mandate more stringent actions"Koretz' letter and accompanying guidelines were drawn up by Thomas J. Coates, a professor of infectious diseases at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. He said: "Health care workers exposed to body fluids are required to wear gloves. Workers in the adult industry deserve protection, just like any other workers"However, adult-film producers poured scorn on Koretz' proposals. Porn mogul Larry Flynt said: "I appreciate what the assemblyman is doing. But I want to know who is going to put the condoms on the actors. Is he going to come down here and do it himself?"

Other producers said they would carry on making films without condoms. Lexington Steele, president of Mercenary Pictures, said: "I don't think it's the place of the authorities to decide whether actors are to use condoms or not." He said that requiring condom use might hit profits and encourage the development of underground "bareback" studios. Gay-porn filmmakers are similarly concerned that legislation compelling condom use will undermine the voluntary code adopted by mainstream gay companies, which require condoms and will not hire actors who have appeared in bareback movies. Titan Media president Bruce Lahey told Gay.com in May that, although 30-50 percent of gay porn actors have HIV, there had never been a transmission case on one of his sets-- though he could not say the same of the bareback studios. It is estimated that around 1,200 performers work as porn stars in the San Fernando area of Los Angeles, the epicenter of the U.S. porn industry.
by Gus Cairns

Good news from Yahoo health

AIDS
BERLIN - An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

"German hematologists Eckhard Thiel and Gero Huetter of Berlin's Charite Medical University attend a news conference about a successful treatment of a HIV infected patient in Berlin, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008."

While researchers — and the doctors themselves — caution that the case might be no more than a fluke, others say it may inspire a greater interest in gene therapy to fight the disease that claims 2 million lives each year. The virus has infected 33 million people worldwide.

Dr. Gero Huetter said Wedneday his 42-year-old patient, an American living in Berlin who was not identified, had been infected with the AIDS virus for more than a decade. But 20 months after undergoing a transplant of genetically selected bone marrow, he no longer shows signs of carrying the virus.

"We waited every day for a bad reading," Huetter said.

It has not come. Researchers at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school say tests on his bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues have all been clean.

However, Dr. Andrew Badley, director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said those tests have probably not been extensive enough.

"A lot more scrutiny from a lot of different biological samples would be required to say it's not present," Badley said.

This isn't the first time marrow transplants have been attempted for treating AIDS or HIV infection. In 1999, an article in the journal Medical Hypotheses reviewed the results of 32 attempts reported between 1982 and 1996. In two cases, HIV was apparently eradicated, the review reported.

Huetter's patient was under treatment at Charite for both AIDS and leukemia, which developed unrelated to HIV.

As Huetter — who is a hematologist, not an HIV specialist — prepared to treat the patient's leukemia with a bone marrow transplant, he recalled that some people carry a genetic mutation that seems to make them resistant to HIV infection. If the mutation, called Delta 32, is inherited from both parents, it prevents HIV from attaching itself to cells by blocking CCR5, a receptor that acts as a kind of gateway.

"I read it in 1996, coincidentally," Huetter told reporters at the medical school. "I remembered it and thought it might work."

Roughly one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have inherited the mutation from both parents, and Huetter set out to find one such person among donors that matched the patient's marrow type. Out of a pool of 80 suitable donors, the 61st person tested carried the proper mutation.

Before the transplant, the patient endured powerful drugs and radiation to kill off his own infected bone marrow cells and disable his immune system — a treatment fatal to between 20 and 30 percent of recipients.

He was also taken off the potent drugs used to treat his AIDS. Huetter's team feared that the drugs might interfere with the new marrow cells' survival. They risked lowering his defenses in the hopes that the new, mutated cells would reject the virus on their own.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases in the U.S., said the procedure was too costly and too dangerous to employ as a firstline cure. But he said it could inspire researchers to pursue gene therapy as a means to block or suppress HIV.

"It helps prove the concept that if somehow you can block the expression of CCR5, maybe by gene therapy, you might be able to inhibit the ability of the virus to replicate," Fauci said.

David Roth, a professor of epidemiology and international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said gene therapy as cheap and effective as current drug treatments is in very early stages of development.

"That's a long way down the line because there may be other negative things that go with that mutation that we don't know about."

Even for the patient in Berlin, the lack of a clear understanding of exactly why his AIDS has disappeared means his future is far from certain.

"The virus is wily," Huetter said. "There could always be a resurgence."
(This version CORRECTS spelling of doctor's name to Huetter throughout.)

Recognize if he is gay or not?

There is a highly accurate way a casual observer
can tell if a man is gay:
Just pay attention to his body type and the way he walks.

Both offer subtle cues about sexual orientation,
but casual observers seem to be able to read
those cues better in gay men than in lesbians,
according to a study from researchers at UCLA,
New York University and Texas A&M.

The study: Eight male and eight female volunteers,
half of whom were gay and half of whom were straight, participated.
Led by Kerri Johnson of UCLA, the team measured their hips, waists and shoulders.
Then each volunteer walked on a treadmill for
two minutes while being filmed by a 3D motion-capture system that
allowed researchers to track the precise
amount of shoulder swagger and hip sway in their gait.


The results: In terms of body motion or gait, gays and lesbians tended to have body types that were unusual for their gender. That is, gay men had hourglass figures, while the lesbians had more tubular bodies. In addition, the gay men tended to sway their hips, while the lesbian women swaggered their shoulders more than their straight counterparts.


The team then showed the treadmill videos--with only the volunteers' backsides visible--to 112 undergraduate observers. These students determined the volunteers' sexual orientation with an overall accuracy rate that exceeded chance, even though they could not see the volunteers' faces or the details of their clothing. Specifically, the students correctly categorized sexual orientation 60 percent of the time for men; however, their accuracy for women did not exceed what they would do just by chance.


"We already know that men and women are built differently and walk differently from each other and that casual observers use this information as clues in making a range of social judgments," Johnson said in a statement announcing the findings. "Now we've found that casual observers can use gait and body shape to judge whether a stranger is gay or straight with a small but perceptible amount of accuracy."

The findings build on recent research that shows that casual observers can often correctly identify sexual orientation with very limited information. A 1999 Harvard study, for example, found that just by looking at the photographs of seated strangers, college undergraduates were able to judge sexual orientation accurately 55 percent of the time.


"Studies like ours are raising questions about the value of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Johnson said. "If casual observers can determine sexual orientation with minimal information, then the value in concealing this information certainly appears questionable. Given that we all appear to be able to deduce this information to some degree with just a glance, more comprehensive policies may be required to protect gays against discrimination based on their sexual orientation."

The study findings were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

DHT : The Fact & The Myth

"For many people, it is NOT something that you want to reduce
or eliminate in the body. For some others though,
keeping DHT levels under control is probably a prudent course of action"

A considerable chunk of my workday is always spent answering people's questions about prohormones and steroids. Of course, one of the biggest concerns people have is about estrogen and estrogen related side effects. Right behind that however are questions about DHT. It seems that people have the misconception that DHT is some evil androgen byproduct that serves no purpose in the body but to make our prostates blow up and our hair fall out.

The real situation is of course much more complex. DHT is one of those good guy/bad guy hormones that is sorely misunderstood. For many people, it is NOT something that you want to reduce or eliminate in the body. For some others though, keeping DHT levels under control is probably a prudent course of action. Knowing the facts about DHT will help you decide just which group you belong to.

Testosterone Is A Prohormone?
The main androgen secreted by the testes is of course testosterone. However, in most of the body, the androgenic signal is not carried through by testosterone. In these tissues, which include the brain (CNS), skin, genitals—practically everything but muscle—the active androgen is actually DHT. Testosterone in this case simply acts as a prohormone that is converted to the active androgen DHT by the action of the enzyme 5alpha reductase (5-AR).

5-AR is concentrated heavily in practically every androgen dependent area of the body except for skeletal muscle. This results in very little testosterone actually getting through to these parts of the body to bind to androgen receptors. Instead, it is quickly transformed into DHT, which then interacts with receptors.

This transformation serves a very important biological function in these tissues. You see, DHT is a much stronger androgen than testosterone - it binds about 3-5 times more strongly to the androgen receptor. If you took away 5-AR from these tissues and blocked the formation of DHT, then you would see some dramatic changes in physiology.

A good case in point is demonstrated in male pseudohermaphroditism due to congenital 5-AR deficiency. This is a relatively rare disorder, however it is actually quite common in the Dominican Republic. In this disorder, males are born with little or no 5-AR enzyme. They have ambiguous genitalia and are often raised as girls. When puberty occurs, their testosterone levels elevate normally although their DHT levels remain very low. Their musculature develops normally like that of other adults, however, they end up with little or no pubic/body hair and underdeveloped prostate and penis. Their libido and sexual function is often disrupted also.

Testosterone Is The Active Androgen In Muscle
Skeletal muscle is unique from other androgen dependent tissues in the body. It actually contains little or no 5-AR, so little or no DHT is actually formed in the muscle. In addition to this, any DHT that is formed, or that is already present in the blood and travels to the muscle, is quickly deactivated by an enzyme called 3alpha-hydroxysteroid reductase (3a-HSD).

So at least as far as muscle is concerned, testosterone is the primary active androgen. This is not to say that administering exogenous DHT is not without any anabolic effect. It actually does have some anabolic activity in the muscle, albeit significantly weaker than that of an equal amount of testosterone. This is due to its quick breakdown by 3a-HSD into the weak metabolite 5alpha-androstan-3a, 17b-diol. If this enzyme were somehow blocked, it is likely that DHT would exhibit very potent anabolic effects on muscle.

It is important to understand that even though testosterone is the active androgen in muscle, and DHT exhibits relatively little direct anabolic effects on muscle in men, DHT is still very important for the full performance enhancement effects from testosterone. What I specifically mean here are the effects of DHT on the central nervous system that lead to increased neurological efficiency (strength), and increased resistance to psychological and physical stress—not to mention optimal sexual function and libido.

I have heard several anecdotal reports of individuals who have stacked testosterone with Proscar (a 5-AR inhibitor) and have noticed significantly reduced performance enhancement effects. What's going on here? We know it couldn't be due to the inhibition of the direct anabolic activity of testosterone on muscle anabolism. Most likely it is due to the reduction of androgenic effects in other parts of the body that contribute to the ergogenic effects. Specifically the CNS, which is stimulated by androgens to increase neural output leading to greater strength and greater recoverability. Another possibility is a reduction in the production of androgen dependent liver growth factors (such as IGF-1), since DHT is an important androgen in the liver.
Anti-Estrogen Effects Of DHT
One important function of DHT in the body that does not get much discussion is its antagonism of estrogen. Some men that take Proscar learn this the hard way—by developing a case of gynecomastia. By reducing DHT's protection against estrogen in the body, these men have fallen victim to its most dreaded ramification-bitch tits.

How does DHT protect against estrogen? There are at least three ways that this likely occurs. First of all, DHT directly inhibits estrogens activity on tissues. It either does this by acting as a competitive antagonist to the estrogen receptor or by decreasing estrogen-induced RNA transcription at a point subsequent to estrogen receptor binding.

Second of all, DHT and its metabolites have been shown to directly block the production of estrogens from androgens by inhibiting the activity of the aromatase enzyme. The studies done in breast tissue showed that DHT, androsterone, and 5alpha-androstandione are potent inhibitors of the formation of estrone from androstenedione. 5alpha-androstandione was shown to be the most potent, while androsterone was the least.

Lastly, DHT acts on the hypothalamus/pituitary to decrease the secretion of gonadotropins. By decreasing the secretion of gonadotropins you decrease the production of the raw materials for estrogen production testosterone and androstenedione (DHT itself cannot aromatize into estrogens). This property of DHT comes into particular utility when it is administered exogenously, and this is to be discussed in further detail in the next section.

DHT, Estrogen, And The Prostate
When it comes to sex hormones, few things are as misunderstood by the general consumer as the relationship of the prostate to DHT. The inaccurate and overly simplistic attitude that DHT is responsible for prostate hypertrophy, and even prostate cancer predominates amongst most people.

The real situation is, of course, much more complex. One must understand that there are marked differences between healthy prostate growth (developmental growth), prostate growth due to BPH, and cancerous prostate growth.

The first period of prostate growth, deemed developmental growth, is connected to puberty and the testicular secretion of androgens. This takes the prostate from its prepubertal dormancy to the normal sized, healthy, and functional prostate gland of an adult. During the early and mid adult years the prostate stays at this stage, despite the constant levels of high levels of androgens in the body. However, if androgens are blocked in the body then the adult prostate will shrink in size. This can occur by castration, or even by blockade of 5-AR (recall that DHT is the active androgen in the prostate).

Later in life, there is often a second stage of growth. This growth is deemed benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and this growth occurs in a wholly different hormonal environment than that of developmental growth. Evidence is mounting that the existence of a high estrogen/androgen ratio—a condition common in older men—is highly correlated to the development of BPH.

Experimental studies have shown the inability of androgens with saturated A rings (DHT related) to induce an initial condition of prostate hypertrophy. These compounds are non-aromatizable. While, aromatizable androgens on the other hand, such as testosterone or androstenedione can induce hyperplasic modifications of the prostate of monkeys, but these effects are reversed by addition of an aromatase inhibitor.

So apparently, estrogen is a causative factor in BPH. Or, probably more accurately, estrogen in the presence of a minimum, permissive amount of androgen.

None of this may come as news to many of you, but I bet that very few of you know that DHT can actually be used to treat BPH!! How can it do that? It basically does this by replacing the testosterone in the body, which then has the effect of reducing the amount of estrogen in the body.

"DHT can actually be used to treat benign
prostate hypertrophy (BPH)!"
As I started to explain before, DHT is a strong androgen that will signal the pituitary to decrease the production of gonadotropins. The decrease in gonadotropins will then cause less testosterone to be produced which will in turn cause the estrogen levels to drop. The resulting change in the hormonal milieu (high DHT, low estrogen) then apparently results in a regression of BPH. The clinical application of this theory is discussed in US patent 5,648,350 Dihydrotestosterone for use in androgenotherapy.

The following two paragraphs taken from the patent study illustrates the results:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 27 subjects in which the plasma DHT level was controlled, so as to modulate the administered doses, said levels have been increased to 2.5 to 6 ng/ml. There resulted a decrease in gonadotrophy as well as in the plasma levels of testosterone which exceeded at least 1.5 ng/ ml (from 0.5 to 1.4 according to the case); as to the estradiol plasma levels, these decreased by 50% .
Among this group of subjects, the volume of the prostate diminished significantly, as was evaluated by ultrasound and by PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen). The mean volume of the prostates was from 31.09. + .16.31 grams before treatment and from 26.34. + -. 12.72 grams after treatment, for a mean reduction of 15.4%, the treatment having a mean duration of 1.8 years with DHT (P= 0.01).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The information from this study kind of flies in the face of the traditional thinking concerning BPH now doesn't it?

Conclusion
Unfortunately, people seem to have a natural tendency to classify things as either good or bad, black or white with absolutely no gray areas. DHT (like estrogen) has recently been on everyone's bad list, and is often considered to be a hormone that serves no function in the body except to cause harm. Now that you have all the necessary facts you can ultimately see, this view is far from the truth.

In my opinion, the widespread use of 5-AR inhibitors such as Proscar as a prophylactic agent for people that don't really need it should be highly reconsidered. After reading this I hope you'll agree with me or at least keep an open mind on this sensitive subject. In other words, why don't you just give DHT a break.

By: Reform Mag

Why man has hair in their body?

A little chest hair can be very sexy but a lot of it makes you look like a woolly mammoth! ha2.... and i feel chest hair makes u more stinky!

"At the start of pubery.
Usually ages 12-15 in males, it grows.
Actually, men don't stop developing their body hair
until they are in their 30s,
so it's fairly common to be smooth-chested
for a long time and then in adulthood
find you have a hairier chest
than you did as a teenager" Wiki answer



Vellus hair is already present in the area in childhood, the term chest hair is generally restricted to the terminal hair that develops as an effect of rising levels of androgens (primarily testosterone and its derivatives) due to puberty. Different from the head hair, it is therefore a secondary sexual characteristic. In contrast to women the body of men tends to be covered far more with terminal hair, particularly on the chest, the abdomen and the face.

The development of chest hair begins normally during late puberty, usually between the ages of 16-19. It can also start later, between the age of 20 and 30, so that many men in their twenties have not yet reached their full chest hair development. The growth continues subsequently. In older adult years androgens cause thickening of the hair.

"It has to do with the way testosteron is converted to DHT. There is a genetic prediposition to body hair distribution, but the penetrance is variable. Also, varying hormonal levels in men can lead to changes in hair distribution; which also explains the variation you may observe." yahoo answer


The individual occurrence and characteristics of chest hair depend on the genetic disposition, the hormonal status and the age of the person. The genes primarily determine the amount, patterns and thickness of chest hair. Some men are very hairy, while others have no chest hair at all. Each pattern of hair growth is normal. The areas where terminal hair may grow are the periareolar areas (nipples), the centre and sides of the chest and the clavicle (collarbone).

The direction of growth of hair can make for interesting patterns, akin to depictions of mathematical vector fields. Typical males will exhibit a node on the upper sternum, the hair above which points up and the hair below which points down. Some individuals (of say the pattern in diagram 3) have spirals on their upper pectoral regions (several inches from the nipple towards the neck) which run clockwise on the left breast and counter-clockwise on the right.

Considering an individual occurrence of chest hair as abnormal does not implicitly depend on medical indications but primarily on cultural and social attitudes. An excessive growth of terminal hair on the body of men and women is called hypertrichosis. This medical term has to be distinguished from hirsutism that just affects women. These women can develop terminal hair on the chest following the male pattern as a symptom of an endocrine disease.

There have been occasional studies documenting patterns of chest hair in men and occurrence of these patterns. A study of 1100 men aged 17 to 71 defined and documented ten patterns of chest hair in Caucasoid men. In this study 6 percent of the men were found to have no chest hair. The largest group, 56 percent, displayed pattern four as shown in the accompanying figure. The remaining 38 percent of the men displayed a lesser quantity of chest hair. Seven percent displayed pattern one, 13 percent displayed pattern two and 18 percent displayed various other patterns.

The same study documented the chest hair patterns of 60 African-American men aged 20-40. For these men 22 percent were found to have no chest hair. The largest group, 37 percent displayed pattern four and the remaining 41 percent had a lesser quantity of chest hair. Eight percent displayed pattern one, 12 percent pattern two and 11 percent displayed various other patterns.

"A man's hair pattern follows the men on his Mother's side. So, look at your Mom's Dad or brothers. Chances are, your hair will be similar to theirs. It's all in the genes" yahoo answer

Before puberty, the abdominal region of both males and females is covered with very fine vellus hair. In response to rising levels of androgens (mainly testosterone) during and after puberty, the skin of the abdomen begins to produce coarser, longer and more pigmented hair (terminal hair). This process affects primarily men. Initially hair grows in a vertical line from the pubic area up to the navel and from the thorax down to the navel. Although the development of abdominal hair normally begins during puberty, it may also start later, between the ages of 20 and 30. With some men, the abdominal hair will stay within a clearly defined vertical line, but in others, terminal hair will appear laterally as well as vertically, particularly in the area around the navel. This lateral spreading can continue into middle age. Abdominal hair (particularly the "treasure trail") often signifies young teen men stepping into adulthood, as it represents that their bodies are changing. The study noted below found that two in three young men have a (sagittal) "treasure trail" by the time they are seventeen, and nearly half have one by time they are fifteen.

Some women may develop a small line of hair from the pubic area up to the navel. According to the female sex image in some cultures this is seen as desirable, and in others it is seen as unattractive. Excessive abdominal hair on women, following the male pattern, is called hirsutism.


Various studies of Caucasian subjects have documented four general patterns of pubic and abdominal hair including:

Horizontal - Characterized by upper surface of pubic hair terminating in a horizontal line with no hair extending to the abdomen.
Sagittal - Resembles the first but with the addition of a narrow vertical band of hair extending from the pubic hair towards the navel, often slang called a 'Snail Trail'. (See Photograph)
Acuminate - Characterized by a tapered, inverted 'V' pattern extending upward from the pubic hair. Upper limit may end below the navel, at the navel, above the navel or near the chest. (Example shown in accompanying photograph.)
Disperse (or quadrangular) - Hair is distributed broadly over the abdomen without forming a discrete geometric pattern.
Richard Zickler performed a 1997 study (see citation below) of the above patterns and their occurrence in males and females, paying particular attention to the development of hair during puberty. in In Zickler's study the horizontal pattern was most common in females with an incidence of about 80 percent. This pattern occurred in 6% of males, including 55% of 13-15 year olds and 28% of 16 and 17 year olds. The sagittal pattern was found in 44% of males under 16,67% of males aged 16-17, 20% of males over 17, and 17% of females. The acuminate pattern occurred in about 55 percent of males and occasionally in females. The disperse pattern occurred in about 19 percent of the males studied.

=============
DHT: Dihydrotestosterone
a biologically active metabolite C19H30O2 of testosterone having similar androgenic activity, formed primarily in the prostate gland, testes, hair follicles, and adrenal glands by the enzyme 5α-reductase by means of reducing the 4,5 double-bond,
also commonly called androgenic hormones or testoids

DHT is produced by males in vivo and is responsible for the formation of male sex-specific characteristics. DHT is an important contributor to other characteristics generally attributed to males, including facial and body hair growth, and deepening of the voice. DHT may also play a crucial role in both sex drive and the growth of muscle tissue.[2] Unlike other androgens such as testosterone, DHT cannot be converted by the enzyme aromatase to estradiol[3]. It, therefore, is frequently used in research settings to distinguish between effects of testosterone caused by binding to the androgen receptor, and those caused by testosterone's conversion to estradiol and subsequent binding to estrogen receptors.

DHT is the primary contributing factor in male-pattern baldness. This is not the case for women; female-pattern baldness is characterized by increased rates of production of testosterone, but not of DHT.

Another fact about beer

Beer and Your Health


by Gregg Glaser

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
So said Benjamin Franklin. Happy? Certainly. But healthy as well? Maybe.

The beneficial effects of drinking alcohol have been guessed at from the earliest days of humankind. When the nomadic hunter-gatherers of millennia ago began to settle down as farmers, they knew nothing about sanitation and maintaining a clean water supply. Water-borne diseases must have been widespread. But these same people may have realized empirically that if they drank their fermented beverages--beer and wine--illnesses were not as common. Scientists now know that the boiling of water in brewing, the alcohol present in both beer and wine and the natural acidity in both drinks will either kill or reduce the growth of illness-forming bacteria.

The health benefits of drinking of alcoholic beverages may have become even more significant, as people gathered in more and more crowded conditions. Beer was certainly safer to drink than plain water, from the Middle Ages right through to the Industrial Revolution. Brewers didn't realize it, but in boiling the brew, they'd stumbled on the most fundamental of public health measures.

As a further endorsement of alcohol's beneficial use to humans, beer and wine became a part of almost every religion's sacraments, holidays and feasts. In Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, in the form of its monks and nuns, became the proprietor of vineyards and the provider of wine and beer. Beer, in particular, added nutrients and vitamins--as well as pleasure--to an otherwise sparse diet. Many monasteries continue their brewing pursuits to this day.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, doctors and researchers have sought scientific evidence to understand the association between alcohol and human health. As the studies pile up, we can say something we wouldn't have said twenty years ago: you're better off including alcohol in your diet than not. And beer is a natural choice for the health-conscious 21st century.

ALCOHOL AND THE HEART
Observers have long suspected that drinking alcohol was somehow good for the heart. Just how good and why, they weren't sure until late in the 20th century. To date, over sixty studies throughout the world have investigated in detail if drinking alcoholic beverages did indeed lead to more healthy hearts, and how.

Alcohol and the Elderly
A study conducted in New Haven, CT, between 1982-1996 found that moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased risk of heart failure among the elderly.

Dr. Jerome L. Abramson of Emory University and his team of researchers studied 2,235 elderly men and women with an average age of 74. They found that compared to non-drinkers, those in the group who drank at least 1.5 drinks daily had a 20-50 percent less chance to develop heart failure.

Another study on the effects of drinking alcohol and aging conducted in Germany also found that alcohol was good for the heart. Dr. Wolfgang Koenig of the University of Ulm's German Center for Research on Aging published a report in the July 2001 issue of Epidemiology. Dr. Koenig and his researchers studied 800 men and women, one-third of whom had established heart and blood vessel problems. Blood samples were collected and the results showed that alcohol improves the balance of lipids (fats) in the blood, and reduces blood's tendency to clot.

It turned out that alcohol drinkers had higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, often called the "good" cholesterol, which is a protective form of blood fat. The alcohol drinkers also had lower levels of fibrinogen, a protein that promotes blood clots, as well as elevated levels of other molecules (platelets) that prevent the clotting and stickiness of blood cells.

Beer or Wine?

The discovery--or re-discovery-- that alcohol consumption might be good for you emerged in the early 1990s in a phenomenon known as the "French paradox:" the observation that, although the French diet is higher in fat than ours, rates of coronary disease are lower than in the United States.

Research initially suggested that the red wine that adds so much pleasure to a French meal also helps protect French hearts. Chemical compounds called flavinoids, found in large amounts in the seeds and skins of red grapes, appeared to have positive effects on cholesterol levels (both raising the levels of "good" and decreasing the levels of "bad" cholesterol) and reducing blood platelet aggregation.

Red wine staked out its territory as the "healthy" alcoholic beverage.

Dutch researchers in 2000 offered evidence to counter the widely held belief that red wine was better for the heart than beer. The Dutch study, led by Dr. Henk Hendriks of the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute, studied 11 healthy men who drank four glasses of either beer, red wine, spirits or water with dinner for three months. They switched beverages every three weeks. Despite the small number of subjects in the study, the results were striking.

The men showed a 30 percent increase in vitamin B6 in their blood plasma after three weeks on beer. Drinkers of red wine and Dutch gin received only one-half the increase in the vitamin. B6 prevents the body from building up high levels of homocysteine, a chemical linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Homocysteine levels did not increase in the beer drinkers, but rose for those who drank wine or spirits

A somewhat similar study in Denmark also addressed the "red wine v. beer is better for your heart" debate. The Danish Brewers Association reported that beer works as well as wine in preventing heart disease. "It cannot be proved that there is any health advantage to drinking red wine, for example, rather than beer," according to the study by the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of Muenster. "Studies indicate that light to moderate alcohol consumption from beer, wine or spirits is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality, owing primarily to a decreased risk of coronary heart disease."

Folate and B-Vitamins
In the Czech Republic, a great beer drinking nation, a study published in the July 2001 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition attributed beer's health effects on the heart to its folate content.

Dr. O. Mayer Jr. and colleagues from the Center of Preventative Medicine at Charles University in Pilsen wrote in their report: "Moderate beer consumption may help to maintain the total homocysteine levels in the normal range due to high folate content. Folate from beer may...contribute to the protective effect of alcohol consumption on cardiovascular disease in population(s) with generally low folate intake from other nutrients." (It sounds like the Czechs aren't eating their leafy vegetables.)

The Czech study measured blood levels of folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 in 543 men and women between 35-65 years of age who drank more than 6.3 ounces of alcohol weekly. Since Pilsen is home to Plzensky Prazdroj, brewer of the world-famous golden lager Pilsner Urquell, it's no surprise that the overwhelming majority of these test subjects were beer drinkers. The B-vitamins measured came from the yeast used to ferment beer, and the beer drinkers had the lowest blood levels of homocysteine and the highest levels of folate.

Alcohol After a Heart Attack

The April 18, 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that found that drinkers of alcohol had a lower risk of dying from a heart attack. The study, led by Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, studied 1,913 patients at 45 hospitals between 1989-1994. Each patient had been hospitalized with a heart attack. The report concluded that moderate drinkers had a 32 percent lower risk of dying from a heart attack than those who didn't drink alcohol. Moderate drinkers, according to the researchers, were defined as people who drank at least seven drinks a week. Light drinkers (less than seven drinks a week) had a 21 percent lower risk. The findings were similar for men and women.

As in other studies, Dr. Mukamal's team found that alcohol helps prevent heart disease by boosting levels of HDL cholesterol and by thinning the blood or reducing insulin resistance.

Alcohol and Stroke
In the September 2001 issue of Stroke magazine, Dr Kenneth Mukamal, who had previously reported on alcohol's effects on the heart, found that light to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with fewer brain lesions and so-called silent strokes. Dr. Mukamal wrote that as a blood thinner, alcohol improves blood circulation in the brain and offers protection from silent strokes caused by tiny blood clots.

In the study, 3,376 people aged over 65 were given MRIs to determine their overall brain health. Dr. Mukamal broke the test subjects down into six groups: abstainers, former drinkers, very light drinkers (less than one drink a week), light drinkers (one to six drinks a week), moderate drinkers (seven to 14 drinks a week) and heavy drinkers (more than 15 drinks a week).

The results showed that light and moderate drinkers had the fewest white-matter lesions; heavy drinkers had the most. The fewest signs of silent strokes were suffered by heavy drinkers, followed by light and moderate drinkers, but the heavy drinkers were also more likely to have brain atrophy. "Overall, we found that non-drinkers have the most strokes and white matter disease. Light to moderate drinkers have fewer strokes and the least amount of white matter disease, but somewhat greater atrophy. Moderately heavy drinkers had the fewest strokes but more white matter disease and the most atrophy."

Another study to highlight the brain as well as heart health was conducted by Dr. Monique M. B. Breteler of the Erasmus University Medical School in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The study found that "light to moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke." The six-year study followed 7,983 individuals aged 55 years and older and determined that the effect was the same regardless as to the source of alcohol.

The researchers believe the results may be due to one or both of two reasons: 1) the ethanol in the alcohol might thin the blood and lower cholesterol, thereby reducing the chance of vascular dementia; 2) alcohol may release acetylcholine in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that facilitates learning and memory. Moderation, according to the study, is defined as one to three drinks a day.

Alcohol and Brain Function

Alcohol may not only be good for the heart. The noggin may benefit as well.

A study conducted by Dr. Guiseppe Zuccala of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome found that moderate alcohol use may protect the brain from mental decline associated with aging. In the report published in the December 2001 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Dr. Zuccala studied the mental abilities and alcohol use of nearly 16,000 Italian men and women over the age of 65: approximately 8,700 regular drinkers, and 7,000 non-drinkers. Moderate use of alcohol was associated with a 40 percent lower risk of mental impairment. Dr. Zuccala postulated that the reasons for the difference may be alcohol's beneficial effects on blood pressure and blood flow or perhaps the slowing of arterial disease.

At Indiana University in the United States, medical geneticist Dr. Joe Christian observed 4,000 male twins for 20 years to determine if moderate drinking affected the brain. He administered psychological tests to the brothers at ages 66 and 76 and found no harm done from moderate drinking. It turns out that brothers who drank moderately--one to two drinks a day--scored higher on mental skills tests than those who drank less than one drink a day or more than two drinks. Moderate drinking was deemed helpful in improving memory, problem solving and reasoning ability.

As part of the ambitious Nurses' Health Study at Harvard University, another paper by Dr. Meir Stampfer, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2001, determined that moderate drinking of alcohol seemed to preserve the mental abilities of older women. From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Stampfer interviewed over 9,000 women between the ages of 70-79. He measured their mental functions using seven different tests and collected information about their alcohol use in 1980, which was updated through 1994. The results showed that women who drank moderately had significantly better scores on five of the seven tests, as well on a global score that combined the seven tests.

Alcohol Metabolism

Dr. Meir Stampfer, of Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health, reported in February 2001 in the New England Journal of Medicine that there was a difference in the way people metabolize alcohol and that this difference could help explain some of the variation between people in alcohol's beneficial effects on the heart.

Dr. Stampfer and his team identified two forms of the gene that produces alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. One form of the gene is associated with a slower rate of alcohol metabolism than the other. People who have this gene and who are moderate drinkers retain higher levels of HDL cholesterol and face about half the risk of heart attack than drinkers without the gene. "This is kind of a poor person's randomized trial," said Dr. Stampfer. "The gene is basically distributed at random with respect to behavioral characteristics, including alcohol consumption. So you can't argue that people with this gene exercise more or have a better diet." The study's subjects were 396 male doctors who had suffered heart attacks and 770 controls who had not.

A Little Bit of This/ A Little Bit of That-Beer Helps

At the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dr. Margo A. Denke, an Associate Professor of Medicine, conducted clinical research on the health effects of alcohol, and beer in particular. The results of her 2001 study found that moderate consumption of alcohol can lower risk of heart disease and stroke. "The majority of more recent large population-based studies have observed that moderate drinking in the range of one to three drinks daily is associated with a 30-40 percent lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to non-drinking," wrote Dr. Denke. She cited several reasons for her findings.

* alcohol increases HDL and this could account for 30-50 percent of the moderate alcohol consumption benefit

* alcohol increases bleeding time, acting as blood thinner and reducing the risk of coronary thrombosis

* alcohol lowers insulin levels, which is good for non-diabetics because it reduces the chance of developing atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries

Dr. Denke believes that beer is a more beneficial alcoholic drink than spirits because beer contains many more nutrients per serving, such as protein and B-vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, cadmium and iron. She found that one to two beers a day provides 14 percent of dietary calories, 11 percent of dietary protein, 12 percent of dietary carbohydrates, nine percent of dietary phosphorus, seven percent of dietary riboflavin and five percent of dietary niacin.

Polyphenols in beer, also found in abundance in red wine, are also beneficial for their antioxidant properties that reduce LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) oxidation. Researchers in Denmark have studied the effect of polyphenols in red wine on heart health and concluded that only red wine produced enough of these compounds to be of benefit. Dr. Denke, however, has concluded that beer contains similar levels of polyphenols to red wine, and four to five times as much as white wine. (The Danish researchers agree with Dr. Denke on the white wine findings). Dr. Denke also points out that there are also several polyphenols in hops that have been shown to reduce test tube growth of human cancer cells.

Finally, Dr. Denke reports that beer has isoflavinoids, which are a class of so-called phytoestrogens: plant compounds that mimic the activity of the female hormone estrogen. Isoflavinoids have been found to inhibit test-tube growth of prostate, breast and colon cancers.

Alcohol and Women's Health
Two studies released this year deal solely with the effects of drinking alcohol on women's health.
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine confirmed the benefits for women of drinking alcohol. Data was collected from more than 70,000 nurses aged 25-42 whose health histories were tracked from 1989. The study found that younger women who drink two or three alcoholic beverages a week have a lower risk of developing high blood pressure than women who do not drink alcohol. The women in the group who drank two or three alcoholic drinks a week had a 14 percent lower risk of developing high blood pressure than those who didn't drink at all. (In this study, a drink was defined as either 12 ounces of regular beer, four ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of liquor.)

A study of post-menopausal women found that alcohol helps lower cholesterol levels. The study, led by Dr. David J. Baer, a research physiologist affiliated with the United States Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, included 51 healthy women with an average age of 60. Each woman was randomly assigned to one of three eight-week dietary programs. Those on the control diet drank no alcohol, some drank one drink a day and the third group drank two drinks a day. The women's cholesterol and triacylglyceride levels were measured before, during, and after the study.

Dr. Baer's team's findings showed that the women who drank one drink a day reduced their triacylglyceride level by eight milligrams and their LDL cholesterol level by four milligrams. The women who drank two drinks a day increased their HDL by three milligrams. "The epidemiologic data suggest that increasing consumption above one or two drinks per day is detrimental and not protective," said Baer. "Higher intakes of alcohol appear to increase triacylglycerides and do not appear to improve cholesterol levels."

Beer and the Kidneys
A Finnish-U.S. study of beer-drinking, middle-aged men was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1999. The report stated that an increase in beer consumption may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones. Results showed that there was a 40 percent lower risk of kidney stones in beer drinkers, but the researchers were stumped as to whether the results were due to water, alcohol or hops.

Alcohol and Stress
Perhaps popping off to the pub relieves stress.

At Leeds University in the United Kingdom, Dr. Colin Gill's research showed that the welcoming atmosphere of the local pub helps men get rid of the stresses of modern life and is vital for their psychological well-being. Dr. Gill said that rather than complain, women should encourage men to pop out for a beer. "Pub-time allows men to bond with friends and colleagues," he said. "Men need break-out time as much as women and are mentally healthier for it."

Dr. Gill added that men might feel unfulfilled or empty if they had not been to the pub for a week. The report, commissioned by alcohol-free beer brand Kaliber, surveyed 900 men on their reasons for going to the pub. More than 40 percent said they went for conversation, with relaxation and a friendly atmosphere being the other most common reasons. Only 10 percent listed alcohol as their primary reason.

In Spain, an alcohol and stress study was conducted at Autonoma Universidad in Madrid. Published results showed that moderate drinkers feel better about their health than non-drinkers. In Spain's 1993 National Health Survey of 20,000 adults "the results showed that people who drank alcohol, including beer and spirits, were less likely to report ill health than people who abstained altogether," according the report published in the British Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. "Overall, the higher the consumption of total alcohol the lower the levels of subjective ill health." Of the test subjects, 57 percent drank regularly, with the majority consuming one to two drinks a day. Those who drank regularly were less likely than those who didn't to report "suboptimal" health.

How Much to Drink?
Quantity is the big question. How much should a person drink to benefit from the health effects of alcoholic drinks? The answer overwhelmingly given by all researchers and medical experts is to drink moderately. But, of course, the word "moderate" can be a bit vague.

At a conference on the effects of alcohol on health sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences, Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky, a highly respected researcher on the epidemiology of alcohol, and Dr. Roger Ecker, a practicing physician, presented an "algorithm" for helping doctors advise patients on how much to drink. Their recommendations of moderate drinking for people who have coronary heart disease or two or more risk factors for it, are for one to three drinks a week for men between 21 and 39 years of age and women between 21 and 49. They further suggest that men 40 or older and women 50 or older consider adding moderate amounts of alcohol to their diets if they have heart disease or one or more risk factors for heart disease. Exceptions are made for pregnant women and recovering alcoholics and other preventive measures, such as stopping smoking, are also encouraged.

Dr. Harvey Finkel, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, studies the effects of alcohol on the heart. Dr. Finkel says that men should drink one- to three-ounce servings of alcohol a day (a standard drink being approximately one-half ounce of alcohol), with three drinks being the maximum, and that women should drink half that amount. He claims the difference in quantity is not due to the average differences in body weight between men and women, but due to the difference in men's and women's stomachs' ability to break down alcohol. Dr. Finkel goes on to say that four drinks a day does more harm than good and that death rates are higher for heavier drinkers than for abstainers.

The American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines also recommend moderation in drinking alcohol. Their definition of moderation is an average of one to two drinks a day for men and one for non-pregnant women. A drink is defined as either 12 ounces of regular beer, five ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits or one ounce of 100-proof spirits.

It is worth mentioning that on subjects ranging from the definition of "moderation" to the consumption of alcohol by pregnant or nursing women, US scientists tend to set lower limits than their European colleagues. There seems to be a suspicion in the American medical establishment that people will take any advice on the moderate consumption of alcohol as a license to abuse alcohol, which everyone agrees is bad for you.

Drink to your Health
For many centuries and in many languages, we've raised our glasses to one another and toasted good health. Perhaps we realized subconsciously that our foam-topped mugs were packed with compounds that did us good; perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

Now, a century of observations, and two decades of hard-headed scientific examination have confirmed our best hopes: the beer that bring enjoyment, refreshment, and convivial times with friends can also contribute to a healthier life in which to enjoy those pleasures.

To your health!

---------------------------------
Gregg Glaser is All About Beer Magazine's news editor, and a very healthy fellow.
---------------------------------

Beer as Good Food

Traditionally, beer has been viewed as a nourishing household product like bread, based on grain. One style, doppelbock, was even dubbed "liquid bread" by the monks who relied on it for sustenance during Lenten fasts. In earlier times, beer was the healthful mealtime beverage for young and old alike and a source of valuable nutrients.

Beer's ingredients are so pure that beer has been regarded as inherently kosher--conforming to the highest standards of food purity.

In the 1930s, copy writer Dorothy Sayers (best known for the Lord Peter Wimsey crime novels) coined the advertizing line "Guinness is Good for You!" and the famous Irish stout was dispensed to invalids and nursing mothers.

Somewhere, we lost sight of beer's essential wholesomeness. Now, research has documented beer's medical benefits, but beer's contributions to good nutrition are just as impressive, and just as important to overall health.

If an "average" 12 ounce bottle of beer sported a Nutrition Facts label, this is what it would tell you:

Beer contains 150 calories.
Beer has no fat
Beer has no cholesterol
Beer is caffeine free
Beer contains no nitrate
Beer contains 1 gram of protein and 13 grams of carbohydrates
Beer contains significant amounts of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, and biotin
Beer is chock full of the B vitamins (as anyone who has taken brewer's yeast as a B supplement already knows), with impressive amounts of B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxin), and B9 (folate), with smaller amounts of B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B12 inotisol and choline.
Beer is 92 percent water

There will be variation from one beer style to another, of course. "Light beers" contain fewer calories and carbohydrates. High alcohol beers--barleywines or imperial stouts-- may contain more calories and carbohydrates. Different beer styles--dark styles, wheat beers--will have different levels of trace elements from pale ales or pilsners. But, across the board, beer in moderation is a nutritious beverage, and a great companion for food.

Beer as a Healthful Ingredient in Cooking
Cooks have discovered the array of tastes beer can bring to the kitchen. Not only can different styles of beer add depth to a flavor, but beer can also be used in place of some higher calorie ingredients, enhancing both health and enjoyment.

Substitute a stout or a porter for some of the oils or sugars in a marinade. You'll have all the rich flavors of the original, and nuances from the beer. And beer is an excellent tenderizer.
In baked goods, beer adds moistness, but with fewer calories.
Try a slightly sweet bock beer as a glaze during broiling or grilling, instead of an oil or syrup based glaze. The residual sugars in the beer add sweetness.

Beer can be substituted for wine in stews, soups, and sauces (but avoid the highly-hopped beer styles, which add too much bitterness as the sauce is reduced). In fact, the classic Belgian beef stew Carbonnade ˆ la Flamande gets its distinctive character from beer.
Drizzle a fruit lambic over fresh fruit instead of syrup for
a dessert that is light, but still a satisfying conclusion to a meal.