A new male enhancement product is created with the powerful properties of arginine, a precursor to nitric oxide, the smooth muscle relaxer and blood flow encourager.

It’ll be fascinating to see what we think of next for this wonderful little substance.

In a startling discovery, researchers have found that bone marrow stem cells, which can travel to the stomach to help heal inflammation or injury (such as the infection that starts ulcers), may also play a part in the origins of stomach cancer. In the experiment, the “rescue” bone marrow stem cells became infected themselves and eventually turned into stomach cancer.

This research belies the long-held belief that cancerous tumors originate from the cells that surround the site of the tumor–in this case, it would have been stomach cells. So in another dramatic case of what’s good for us can also be bad for us, the incredible power of stem cells to heal is turned around into a destructive force.

What is the message of finding that so many substances are both good and bad for us? Seems like it might simply be a vivid illustration of the old adage… moderation in all things.

It’s been around for only a little while, but now some Seattle physicians are saying using CT angiography (computed tomography of the blood vessels around the heart) is really valuable for evaluating patients potentially at risk for coronary heart disease–and that it will save money and save lives as well. “Every year in the United States about 1.4 million invasive, expensive cardiac catheterizations are performed to evaluate for heart disease.” These procedures increase the risk of stroke and of damaging the vessels you’re trying to see. The new technique has none of those risks, is far less traumatic to the patient, and costs a great deal less money.

Not everyone will be a good candidate, they say, but you should know about this option when you talk with your personal physician or cardologist.

Less invasive testing is an exciting trend that many researchers are trying to follow. What a blessing to those already struggling with disease to at least get a break on the front end. Now if we can just keep up the trend of finding less invasive ways to harvest stem cells and apply those to more and more conditions, we’ll be well on our way to the science fiction world of taking a pill, or touching a button, or entering a quiet chamber to cure all our ills.

Wonder what we’ll start dying of then….

Happy Thanksgiving to all the U.S. folks who celebrate…

Infertility is rampant and the incidence of it is growing as more women delay childbearing. At last count more than 6 million couples a year suffer from this heartbreaking condition, according to The National Center for Health Statistics (a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). That’s 1 out of every 10 couples–that’s more than 12 million people suffering the devastation of being unable to have a family of their own.

Not surprisingly, many couples pay substantial amounts of money for medical help to overcome this disability. But interestingly, most health insurance plans will cover the cost of tests to determine whether a couple is infertile, but there the assistance stops. Almost no health plans at this time cover the drugs and therapies required to try to become pregnant.

In Cleveland, Ohio there’s a large city chamber of commerce with a division called COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises) that provides health care plans for small businesses. Notice was sent out to members this week that, contrary to previous provisions, all coverage for fertility drugs will be removed from all COSE health plans effective January 1, 2005.

These kinds of discrepancies send very mixed messages. You have to wonder what the motivation is behind this withdrawal of coverage in Ohio, when nationally the trend is towards more generous assistance. A state government agency in New York is already supporting infertility treatments in the form of grants to private medical practices that do the work.

Having heard from an official spokesperson for Medicare recently that the goverment is really big on supporting Health Savings Plans (HSAs) as a way for people to cut the cost of healthcare, and this announcement of withdrawing fertility coverage coming in the same letter that announced more advanced HSA options for COSE members almost makes you think that the federal government’s position had some influence on this decision.

Let’s hope this isn’t a trend. Bioscience could develop some new stumbling blocks to free business development if it is.

Turkey is good for you, say the scientists. Not only is it high in protein and low in bad fat, “Turkey is also a good source of the amino acid arginine. The body needs arginine to produce nitric oxide, a compound that helps dilate blood vessels.

Now they hasten to tell us they don’t know for sure if eating foods rich in arginine actually helps keep your arteries clear. But hey, we hear practically every day some new way that nitric oxide is beneficial; so they just haven’t gotten around to exploring the next step down the chain. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you’re probably safe to assume turkey is really good for you.

So buy a big one, cook it with love, and have a great holiday.

More evidence that grape juice may have some of the same beneficial effects on your heart as red wine (the good news on that’s been in for some time now). Both can reduce inflammation and raise levels of good HDL cholesterol, according a small study reported in a recent issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. Superoxide, one indicator of inflammation, was lower in subjects after they’d drunk grape juice for a couple of weeks; and now there’s a new one: CD40 ligand. Ligand is a word scientists use loosely to describe a molecule that binds to a receptor (though it’s apparently somewhat arbitrary as to which they decide to call the ligand and which the receptor). Anyway, CD40 ligand, described in this WebMD article as “an emerging indicator of heart disease,” was also lower in the grape-juice-slugging folks.

And I love this one. An author berates a New York Times writer for stating inaccuracies about the effectiveness of adult stem cells. In a very user-friendly style, Michael Fumento describes the “miraculous” healings that are taking place on a regular basis using adult–that is, not politically loaded embryonic–stem cells. The article on the Heartland Institute site explains how stem cells–even those taken from fat, for heaven’s sake–can be used to heal wounds and improve functioning in muscle, veins and arteries in the heart and in other areas of the body. He says the technology is sufficiently advanced that when his bypass goes bad in a few years Clinton won’t have to undergo another open-heart surgery–a process the article outlines with gruesome clarity and describes as “positively medieval” compared to inserting stem cells via a catheter.

This is incredibly encouraging and exciting news.

No kidding. A manufacturer, Medical Research Institute, which makes health and strength supplements, invested in proving that its nitric-oxide-enriched product works. The company created and funded a study to prove that its NO2 product, sold in GNC stores around the country, actually did what it’s claimed to do: enhance strength and endurance for exercise enthusiasts who use it.

This article about the Baylor University study of how NO2, the MRI nutritional supplement, increases strength at the bench press by nearly 350% over a placebo. Read the article for more startling findings.

The point is that MRI is setting a precedent: shifting the burden of proof of effectiveness from the consumer’s hands into its own. The supplements and other industries will never be the same again. Makers will now all be challenged to design studies that support their claims–or run the risk of losing consumers’ confidence–and their dollars.

This move creates a bit of an Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit hole. Will it significantly change the way consumers behave? For some, certainly the answer is yes. But the truth is, we humans are so passionately in pursuit of easy answers that many of us will simply let the “proof” part slip by and continue purchasing products that make bold claims and promise dramatic solutions we can achieve without working too hard.

While searching for a preventive agent for the contaminant “Florida red tide” (microscopic cells that get dispersed in the air and irritate human mucus membranes–lungs, eyes, nose, etc.), researchers discovered anit-toxins that actually seem to help clear mucus from the lungs.

They are thinking this discovery could be really important for treating cystic fibrosis (a fatal disease) and other respiratory illnesses that produce excess mucus. All that mucus is bad because it harbors bacteria and facilitates infections–besides making it hard to breathe. The anti-toxins, ?-Naphthoyl-brevetoxin (manmade) and brevenal (produced by the organism itself), work by causing “a combination of increased movement of the cilia, the tiny hair-like structures that line the airways, and a thinning of mucus.”

Since there are so many diseases, including congestive heart failure, that affect people’s ability to breathe freely, it seems reasonable to hope researchers will eventually be able to extend this discovery and one day apply it those other illnesses–and maybe even to things like the flu and the miserable condition we all know as the common cold.

A long-term study has determined that smoking and high salt intake contribute somehow to the development of acid reflux [stomach acid causing heartburn, belching, etc.]. Tea and alcohol, long thought to be responsible, have no identifiable effect on the disease.

Seems that nitrites in the stomach (from a salty diet) can cause an excess of nitric oxide–which, as we know, is good for relaxing blood vessels–also relaxes the muscle at the bottom of the gullet and thus encourages reflux. Astonishing what a single substance can do–both positive and negative–in our bodies. Apparently you can decrease your risk, though, by regularly eating fiber and exercising.

Geez, will they never run out of reasons for telling us to eat healthy and exercise?

This nitric oxide is amazing–it rushes to help rebuild your tissues after injury, but it can get too enthusiastic. Just read this in a press release from a company called LymphaCare (good, descriptive name…kind of like BioMedNews) that’s making a more effective–and cheaper–way to deliver “non-visible and visible infrared light energy to promote regeneration and revascularization of damaged capillaries by releasing excess nitric oxide [emphasis added]from cells.

The system uses a combination of lights because each type penetrates the skin to different depths. Visible light helps heal infections as it reaches problems near the surface like wounds, cuts, scars, “trigger points, and acupuncture points.” I’m putting quotes around that because it’s key to realize that the concepts of Eastern “that-stuff’s-only-for-weirdos” medicine is creeping its stealthy way into the everyday language of Western professionals.

This reminds me of the way the Catholic Church announced one day that “a sin” it had been condemning people to hell for for generations (eating meat on Friday) was no longer a sin–and offered nothing in the way of explanation or apology. Oh, well, it’s okay. At least this marriage is coming off, no matter that we may choose not to acknowledge it.

The other light, the Invisible Infrared light, goes deeper and helps heal bones, joints, deep muscles, etc. in the same way as the visible light.

It makes sense that light would heal–look how we feel to walk out into a sun-drenched day, especially after a few days of cloudy weather (let alone we midwesterners, after weeks of the gray, rainy stuff). And isn’t it strange–and wonderful–that now we know one of the reaasons: ’cause nitric oxide responds to it, too.