Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Muscle soreness alleviated by cold-water baths, but safety data scanty


Muscle soreness alleviated by cold-water baths, but safety data scanty

Plunging into cold water after exercise may be an effective way to reduce muscle soreness, but it is unclear whether there are harmful side effects. These are the conclusions of a new systematic review of cold water immersion interventions published in The Cochrane Library.
Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is associated with stiffness, swelling and soreness a day or more after exercise. One increasingly popular method that both elite and amateur athletes use to try to prevent or reduce soreness is immersing themselves in cold water or ice baths. The claim is that this cold water immersion technique, sometimes referred to as cryotherapy, reduces muscle inflammation and its ensuing effects. The researchers wanted to assess the strength of clinical evidence about how well it works, and whether there is any evidence of harm.
The authors included 17 small trials involving 366 people in their review. Participants were asked to get into a bath or container of cold water after running, cycling or resistance training. In most trials, participants spent five to 24 minutes in water that was between 10ºC and 15ºC, although in some cases lower temperatures were used or participants were asked to get in and out of the water at set times. In the studies that compared cold water immersion to resting or no intervention, there was a significant reduction in soreness one to four days after exercise. However, few studies compared cold water immersion to other interventions.
“We found some evidence that immersing yourself in cold water after exercise can reduce muscle soreness, but only compared to resting or doing nothing. Some caution around these results is advisable because the people taking part in the trials would have known which treatment they received, and some of the reported benefits may be due to a placebo response,” said the lead author of the study, Chris Bleakley of the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences department at the University of Ulster in Country Antrim, Northern Ireland. “There may be better ways to reduce soreness, such as warm water immersion, light jogging or using compression stockings, but we don’t currently have enough data to reach any conclusions about these interventions.”
The range of different exercises, temperatures and timings employed by the various studies made it difficult to establish any clear guidelines for safe and effective cold water immersion. There was also a lack of evidence about any harm that could be caused by the intervention, as most studies failed to report ill effects. The authors say higher quality studies are needed.
“It is important to consider that cold water immersion induces a degree of shock on the body,” said Bleakley. “We need to be sure that people aren’t doing anything harmful, especially if they are exposing themselves to very cold water for long periods.”

Why stretching makes sense, deconstructed


Why stretching makes sense, deconstructed

The proteins actin, myosin and titin are big players in the business of muscle contraction. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg, Germany, have now examined another muscle protein – myomesin – which they discovered can stretch up to two-and-a-half times its length, unfolding in a way that was previously unknown. The study is published 14 February in the open-access, online journal PLoS Biology.
Myomesin links muscle filaments, which stretch and contract, so it has to be elastic. Matthias Wilmanns, Head of EMBL Hamburg, and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, and The Institute of Cancer Research in the UK, used X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering, electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to reveal the mechanism behind the protein’s ability to stretch. The stretchy part of myomesin, analysed by Wilmanns and colleagues, is like a string of pearls, with immunoglobulin (Ig) domains spaced out along an elastic band of structures known as alpha helices.
“Looking at these alpha helices was self-suggestive in itself,” says Wilmanns. When the protein is pulled, the helices unfold, whereas the Ig domains do not – a finding that could help to solve an ongoing debate in the field about the potential elasticity of Ig domains.
Next, Wilmanns and his group would like to explore myomesin’s role in the body and how it interacts and communicates with other muscle components.
###

Funding: The work has been supported by the grant PITN-GA2009-238423 from the European Commission to M.W. and M.R., and by grants Wi1058/8-1 (FOR 1352) and RI 990/4-1(FOR1352) from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to M.W. and M.R., respectively. Felix B. has been supported by Elitenetzwerk Bayern. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Pinotsis N, Chatziefthimiou SD, Berkemeier F, Beuron F, Mavridis IM, et al. (2012) Superhelical Architecture of the Myosin Filament-Linking Protein Myomesin with Unusual Elastic Properties. PLoS Biol 10(2): e1001261. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001261

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Brooklyn Massage Therapist Rosemarie Zarrillo


Brooklyn Massage Therapist Rosemarie Zarrillo

Rosemarie Zarrillo , LMT
Rosemarie is a NYS licensed massage therapist and an active member of the American Massage Therapy Association. 
In 2007, she graduated from The Swedish Institute where she was trained in both Western and Eastern modalities.
Before becoming a therapist, Rosemarie was an executive at a Fortune 500 company.  In 2009, she left corporate life to practice massage therapy full-time.  Today, her professional experience includes work for the NYC Triathlon, St. Vincent’s Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital, a private practice, and most recently a wellness center on Staten Island, where she developed an interest in sports massage.
Rosemarie combines an intuitive touch with her knowledge of bodywork to create a session specifically tailored to her client’s needs.  Her sessions strive to relieve the accumulated effects that stress can have on our health and wellbeing.  She believes that true healing comes from within the individual and her goal is to facilitate an environment where natural healing can occur.
  • Swedish   
  • Deep Tissue  
  • Myofascial Release  
  • Trigger Point Therapy  
  • Sports Massage  
  • Hot Stones

Set up your Performance Edge Massage today. 

Email: Rosemarie Zarrillo, LMT




Dr. Pietro Baio | 7112 Ave. U, Brooklyn, NY | (917) 309-5464

Massage After Exercise Tamps Down Inflammation That Causes Aches


Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Massage may be as effective as aspirin or other pain medicines to calm the effects of intense exercise, suggested researchers who have found it slows production of chemicals in the body linked to inflammation.
Their analysis in 11 men also showed the rub-downs helped rev up energy centers in muscle cells, according to a report in the journal Science Translational Medicine. What massage didn’t do was remove lactic acid, a substance popularly thought to contribute to muscle soreness, the researchers said.
About 18 million U.S. adults receive massages yearly, according to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention’s 2007 National Health Interview Survey. Although research on use of the therapy is limited, studies have suggested it may be useful in low-back pain and neck pain, and that there are few safety risks from the treatment.
“It may be that massage is as beneficial as commonly prescribed medications, but we just don’t know that yet,” said Simon Melov, a study author and an associate professor and director of genomics at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California, in a telephone interview. “It seems possible. It’s not just psychological.”
It may also be worthwhile to see if chronic muscle inflammation and pain from causes other than exercise can be treated by massage as well, Melov said.
The subjects were exercised to exhaustion, which took about 70 minutes. One leg was massaged; the other wasn’t. Both were biopsied immediately after the therapy and 2.5 hours later. The massaged leg showed slower production of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, both linked to inflammation, according to the report.
New Mitochondria
The researchers also found that the legs receiving the massages showed signals of the process by which new mitochondria are formed. Mitochondria are the engines of the body’s cells, which process nutrients to create energy.
Delayed-onset muscle soreness is usually due to cell damage and tears in the muscle fiber, which cause swelling and soreness from an inflammatory response, Melov said.
--Editors: Reg Gale, Angela Zimm
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

What do supplements really cost?


“Why do these supplements cost so much?”


It’s a question natural products retailers had better be prepared to answer, in an age when the economy is weak and big-box and Internet stores are increasingly giving traditional supplement sellers a run for their money.
Natural foods stores and other specialty supplement sellers still ring up the majority of supplement sales, but that could change in the not-too-distant future. According to Nutrition Business Journal, supplement sales in the natural channel grew 4.7 percent to $10.3 billion in 2010, while the mass market channel posted sales of $8.2 billion, a 4.8 percent increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, online supplement sales are soaring and expected to surpass $3 billion by 2017,NBJ reports.
It’s no wonder comparison shoppers have questions when it comes to supplement prices: A bottle of 250 private-label calcium tablets from big-box store X can cost as little as $9, while consumers might pay more than three times that for the same number of doses from an established brand at a neighborhood health food store. When it comes to multivitamins, the price span can be even more dramatic, with a one-month supply of an organic, liquid multivitamin costing about the same as 500 days worth of generic store-brand tablets from a mass merchandiser.
Sure, larger stores have economies of scale working to their advantage. And smaller retailers have to invest more in knowledgeable staff, money they have to recoup—at least in part—via higher supplement prices. But set those variables aside and supplement industry experts agree: When it comes to dietary supplements, you get what you pay for—at least most of the time.
 “This is one of those industries where there is just no such thing as high-quality, low-price,” says Paul Jacobson, CEO of Thorne Research Inc., which makes supplements for the practitioner channel and select pharmacies. “If consumers want pure, quality ingredients, they have to pay a little more.”
As natural products retailers, you know this. Here’s information that can help you explain to your customers why your supplements might cost more than others they find online or at mass market retailers.

Transparency isn’t cheap

Third-party-testing organization Consumerlabs.com estimates that as many as one-quarter of dietary supplements are adulterated in some way, meaning they’ve been diluted or spiked with ingredients not listed on the label. In recent years, bilberry eye-health supplements have been watered down with carcinogenic dyes, palm oil has been passed off as saw palmetto for prostate health, and the joint health stalwart chondroitin–considered the poster child of supplement adulteration—has been adulterated with cheap gummy compounds and synthetic polymers.

How do retailers make sure they are stocking their shelves with the real thing? They must buy from a manufacturer that knows and trusts their supply chain, and often that costs money, says Larry Kolb, president of U.S. operations for TSI Health Sciences, which specializes in botanicals and joint supplement ingredients.
Manufacturers who bypass this step can save on input costs, but they also risk using ingredients that do not meet quality standards. “A number of ingredient companies in this space are able to offer very low cost ingredients because of the lack of trace-ability and the lack of integrity of their raw materials,” says Kolb, who notes that TSI cannot—nor does it attempt to—compete with such ingredient suppliers on price.  
Rather than buying inputs from the lowest bidders on the open market and passing them through to manufacturers to bottle and sell, TSI employs a team of auditors that rigorously screen raw material suppliers in China—where a vast amount of supplement ingredients are made. TSI also uses state-of-the-art testing to verify that those materials are what they say they are, and the company even makes its own chondroitin sulfate at a TSI-owned, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in China.
Third-party-ingredient screening is another quality-assurance tool that adds to a supplement product’s final price. Scott Steinford, president of ZMC-USA, a supplier whose ingredients can be found in roughly 30 percent of supplements on retail shelves, notes that his company has paid well into the six-figure range to earn ingredient verification from the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), a third-party stamp of approval that its manufacturing plant has been inspected and its ingredients are what they say they are.
As Steinford sees it, retailers—and their customers—are best off paying a bit more for this level of transparency and quality than risking selling—and ingesting—low-quality, questionable products. “It is in the consumer’s best interest for retailers to thoroughly investigate the supply chain behind the supplements they carry and determine if ingredient selection is purely price driven,” says Steinford.

Branding ingredient quality

Doug Kalman, PhD, a supplement researcher with Miami Research Associates, says that products containing patented, branded ingredients also tend to cost more—usually because the companies behind those brands have invested in research to assure that that their specific strain or compound, manufactured in their specific way, actually works. “It’s like when you buy a computer with Intel inside, rather than just buying something generic,” he says. “You are getting a reproducible experience.”

For instance, products containing FloraGlo, a purified form of lutein shown in numerous clinical trials to improve macular pigment density and possibly slow age-related eye disease, can cost more than twice as much as big-box brands containing generic lutein.
Thorne’s new Meriva-500 curcumin supplements, made with Indena’s patented curcumin ingredient Meriva, are said to be manufactured in a way that—according to some research—makes them 20 times more bioavailable than other curcumin preparations. They also cost about $8 more for a bottle of 60 softgels than conventional store brands.
Digestive health products containing Ganeden Biotech’s patented BC30 probiotic strain (shown in numerous trials to survive both manufacturing and stomach acid better than other strains) also tend to cost more, notes Kalman. (Sustenex is one brand that contains BC30).
“You are going to pay a little more for it, but you know you are getting a real ingredient that has undergone studies in the United States for proof of efficacy,” he says.
The source of an ingredient can also affect price: For instance, glucosamine derived from shark costs far more than those from bovine sources (which in the past have raised concerns about Mad Cow Disease). Calcium carbonate is cheap and widely available, but some research shows that other forms—such as the more expensive calcium citrate—may be better absorbed.

Other factors to consider

Jacobson notes that the way a supplement is manufactured can also impact its price, and quality. For instance, tablets tend to cost less than capsules but come with their downsides.
“With a tablet you can put in lots of binders and fillers. They tend to be cheaper to make, but also harder to digest,” he says, noting that Thorne uses only capsules for its products.
Even in the production of capsules, the use of additives such as magnesium stearate, lactose and dextrose to hasten the manufacturing process can often inadvertently hamper bioavailability or even aggravate allergies. (Thorne products are all hypoallergenic.)
In contrast, liquid supplements tend to be the best absorbed, but also the most expensive, says Ken Whitman, president of Natural Vitality, which produces supplements in liquid and water-soluble powder form.
In some cases, as with vitamin E, natural sources have been shown to be more bioavailable and cheaper synthetic sources are suspected of possibly aggravating health problems.
Using freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, (which tend to maintain their nutritional value better than drum dried) can also cost more, as can using organic or non-GMO ingredients, notes Whitman.
“In our Organic Life Vitamins, we use organic materials whenever possible from our fruit and vegetable blends to our glycerin,” he says. “The price increase just for using organic glycerin is four times that of non-organic glycerin. The fruit and vegetable blend is at least double if not triple the cost of conventional and the organic flavoring is at least double.”

High price does not mean high quality

All that said, experts agree that a high price tag does not automatically infer high quality. Some manufacturers expect higher profit margins than others and, thus, jack up their prices. Others benefit from economies of scale or vertically integrated manufacturing systems and are able to keep their prices lower as a result.

And for some companies, marketing itself drives up the price, notes Kalman.
His advice to retailers: Ask lots of questions of your manufacturers about what goes into their pricing, and always be suspicious of ultra-cheap offerings.
“To me, anything that is less than $10 for a month’s worth of product makes me wonder about the quality of ingredients going in there,” he says. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”


UM professor’s coconut water study recognized worldwide


UM professor’s coconut water study recognized worldwide

News Reporter
Published: Monday, February 6, 2012
Updated: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 01:02
University of Memphis professor's research shows there is a natural drink alternative that packs a punch equivalent to that of manmade sports drinks – coconut water.
"If an individual is not doing excessive volumes of exercise in the heat, they could get away with simply drinking water. If they were engaged in high-volume or long-duration exercise, coconut water or a sports drink might be beneficial," said Richard Bloomer, director of the cardiorespiratory-metabolic lab at The U of M.
Bloomer's research was featured in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. He collaborated with the minds of Miami Research Associates to conduct a six-month study to determine if coconut water is more beneficial for hydration and physical performance than artificial sports drinks.
Research concluded that few differences could be found between coconut water and bottled water or sports drinks.
"I think this study will distinguish The University in that we are willing to try natural products as opposed to manmade," said Ruth Williams, U of M director of the clinical nutrition masters dietetic internship program. "Coconut water is used in other countries such as Brazil and the Polynesian islands as a drink for maintaining rehydration and electrolyte balance."
Bloomer and Miami Research Associates utilized Vita Coco, an all-natural coconut water drink, to test their research. Williams said she would be willing to try coconut water as an alternative to sports drinks.
"Obviously Gatorade has the corner on the market. It's really filled with sugar—way too much sugar," said Carol Irwin, associate professor of physical education. "Assuming coconut water has lower sugar content, it would definitely be a much better option, for kids especially."
Bloomer said it's flattering to have his study recognized. He said the findings are conclusive and he has no intent to actively campaign to implement coconut water as a part of The University's sports programs.
"We've published multiple articles in international journals. For this particular journal the readership is quite wide, and they denoted that the article as highly accessed. This recognition is a good thing," Bloomer  said.