LadyBex Nutrition

July 23, 2008

5 Months Old Babies

Filed under: Parenting — ladybex @ 6:23 am

Wash turned 5 months today. He started a new game tonight. I call it “Flying Boy”. He squats down, kicks off, I make blast-off noises, and he kicks his legs as I hold him above my head. Sometimes he squats and kicks off right away. Sometimes he stands there smiling for a few minutes first. I always make him “ask for it” by kicking off.

Baby Center

Your baby now realizes where sounds come from, and he’ll turn quickly toward a new one. One of the easiest ways to engage him is to jingle a set of keys. Wind chimes are great attention-getters, too.

Your baby may now be able to recognize his own name and understand that you’re speaking to him when you say it. You may notice that your little one turns his head when you call him or talk about him with others.

If you want to engage and entertain your baby, all you need to do is talk to him. At this age, babies don’t learn language from the television or radio, so turn them off and use real dialogue instead.

A growing range of emotions

Your baby can’t express his emotions in the same complex way that you can. Although he can let you know in clear ways when he’s angry, bored, or happy, his ability to show love and humor are just developing.

Your baby also shows a strong attachment to you by raising his arms when he wants to be picked up and by crying when you leave the room. He may also give you hugs and kisses.

And he’s beginning to get the joke — he’ll laugh at funny expressions and try to make you laugh, too. Keep the laughter flowing with your silly faces! Remember, your baby is an individual

All babies are unique and meet milestones at their own pace. Developmental guidelines simply show what your baby has the potential to accomplish — if not right now, then soon. If your baby was premature, keep in mind that kids born early usually need a bit more time to meet their milestones. If you have any questions at all about your baby’s development, ask your healthcare provider.

Enfamil

For your five-month-old baby, life’s an adventure. And the world is a playground. This month, he’ll become better at tuning out interruptions so he can stay focused on playing, exploring, and learning.

And your baby’s got enough control over his body to make things happen. By the end of the month, he may start moving objects from one hand to the other. He may even wrap his hand around his small baby bottle and try to bring it to his mouth.

Five-month-olds have clear vision and good depth perception. Which may be part of the reason they’re so fascinated by moving toys. This month, your baby will realize that his teddy bear is still his teddy bear, even when it’s sideways or upside down. Scientists call this skill form constancy.

Learning to Crawl
Your baby’s spirit of adventure makes him want to crawl. But he probably won’t really get moving this month. Instead, he’ll “swim” on the floor. He’ll “scooch” an inch or two. He’ll do “pushups.” All these movements are good exercise for his strengthening neck, shoulder, and upper chest muscles.

Discovering His Own Limits
Exploring and learning are exciting. You may notice your baby wriggles and babbles with anticipation now. Especially when he sees an interesting new toy. He also reaches for and grabs things with enthusiasm. He knows what he wants. That means he’s more likely to get frustrated when he discovers his own limits.

Imagine what it’s like to be stuck on your tummy all the time, with a thousand interesting things just out of your reach. You can make life a little easier for your little explorer. Helping him isn’t “cheating.” Your baby will soon be doing plenty on his own.

Brain Teaser
Did you know…that babies learn to control their arms first, then their legs? These milestones occur because of their motor and learning experiences, which help promote their maturing brain.

Your Baby Today

This month, your baby will be much more active as he begins to push-up and rock-and-roll around on his own. All that wiggling around even may help baby move forward or backward. One of your baby’s favorite playthings this month may be his toes. He’ll delight in reaching out and grabbing them to put in his mouth. While lying on his stomach, your baby will learn that he can crane his neck to see what’s going on around him. There’s a lot happening in the world, and he wants to see it all!

Milestones this month*
Your baby is able to reach accurately for an object.

He can hold his head steady when sitting upright.

Baby can raise his chest with arm support while lying on his stomach.

He can roll over in one direction.

Baby can grasp a rattle.

He pays attention to very small objects.

Baby squeals with delight.

He spontaneously smiles.

Baby mimics sounds and gestures.

He turns towards the source of a sound or voice.

Baby gets attention by babbling.

He makes different sounds for different needs.
*All babies have their own internal developmental timetable. If your 5-month-old hasn’t yet reached these milestones, rest assured that he will in time. If you have concerns about your baby’s development, discuss them with his doctor.

Coordination cues
Your baby’s ability to reach out accurately is a signal that his coordination is more keen. He now can transfer a toy or object from hand to hand. To reinforce this new talent while you change his clothes, encourage baby to transfer a favorite toy from one hand to the other as you put each arm in a shirtsleeve. With his increased control and dexterity also comes the ability–and inclination–to bring toys and other objects to his mouth.

Your baby also is gaining a new understanding of how to grasp and hold objects. The way baby shapes his hand to grasp a round object will be different than the way he grasps a flat object like a page. Baby also will begin to use his hands more often to push away things he doesn’t want, like that dropper full of medicine.

Strength training
Your baby’s strength is increasing, too. He’s now strong enough to roll over from his stomach onto his back, push himself up so part of his chest and stomach are off the floor, and rock himself on his stomach. Leg strength is growing as well. With you there to balance him, your baby is able to stand and support his own weight for short periods of time.

Sounds are golden

This month, your baby will stay alert for longer periods of time, which means he’ll need more attention from mom and dad than he did in months past. Keep these thoughts in mind as your family life begins to become more routine:

Your baby is becoming a better communicator. He may begin to mimic and express his own range of sounds based on his needs. You’ll soon be able to tell whether or not these vocal gestures mean he’s happy. If your baby wants attention, he’ll babble away to get it. If you laugh every time he makes a cute little coo or sound, your 5-month-old will learn to repeat it to get your reaction.

Your baby also is learning to locate the source of your voice. Talk to him from across the room and he’ll turn his head toward you. He’ll begin to watch your mouth when you talk, and increasingly he’ll be able to tell where your voice is coming from.

Your baby’s new ability to distinguish and mimic different sounds and gestures are examples of his new vocal coordination and control. Vocal play can be an entertaining activity this month while you encourage and reinforce these new skills.

July 22, 2008

19 Years!

Filed under: General — ladybex @ 6:09 am

Ben, Becky & WashWe’ve been married 19 years today!

July 21, 2008

Gender Differences

Filed under: Nutrition — ladybex @ 8:31 am

A couple of my friends were talking with me, separately, on this topic. Interestingly, I didn’t bring it up either time, and neither friend knew the other had discussed it. One was male, one was female. Both agreed that men and women are designed and operate differently, and our society is crazy to act like we are unisex and the same.

I have three older girls and three younger boys. When my girls were little, I ruled with an iron hand, and didn’t let any monkey business happen in my household. I looked down my nose at mothers of boys who let their sons run wild all over everywhere. I thought they needed to take control of those boys and MAKE them behave.

I noticed a difference between raising boys and raising girls when my son turned three. He got a dump truck for his birthday, and it was big enough to sit in. He jumped in the dump truck and rode it down our downward sloping driveway. I watched in terror, waiting for the carnage at the end of the experience. Luckily for him, the dump truck rolled up on the stepping stones, causing the truck to gently dump him out at the bottom of the driveway. I raced down the driveway, ready to comfort him, since that must have been scary. Instead, he leaped out of the dump truck and yelled with great enthusiam, “THAT was FUN!”

I had company over a few weeks ago, a friend from high school. She brought her well-behaved 11-year-old son. I was horribly embarrassed, as Benjer climbed all over the couch, seemingly unable to keep his feet on the floor. They laughed. Apparently her son keeps climbing their furniture, and he is 11.

Gender

The big issue is the difference in the spatial abilities between men and women. It seems that men find it much easier to visualise and deal with spaces, the position of objects, relative heights and dimensions. In a test involving a three dimensional mechanical apparatus, only a quarter of the women could perform the task better than men. It is as well to remember that at least some of the women could perform the task as well as the men and it isn’t recorded if any men were actually worse.

Out of the plethora of papers that had been produced up until 1974, about differences between boys and girls, Maccoby and Jacklin (8) found only the following main differences:

Males are more aggressive than females.

Though this finding has been challenged, and the definition of aggression itself questioned, it is a fairly common feature, both of human cultures and of the more complex species, that male offspring are more likely to engage in play fighting and adults more likely to fight. Many workers challenge this, while others assert that it is the primary indicator of masculinity or femininity.

Females have more verbal ability than males, while males have better visuo-spatial skills.

The distinction seems to appear at about the age of eleven and, because of the relevance to education, it has received a great deal of attention. Although girls and boys seem to have the same ability for computational arithmetic, teenage boys also seem to do better at the more abstract maths. It might seem that a childhood of social experience is the primary factor. However, the biological argument suggests that the hormonal changes of puberty activate previous dormant differences.

Science Daily

ScienceDaily (July 10, 2008) — Female soccer players and soccer players who have had a previous concussion recuperate differently from males or players without a history of concussion, new research released today at the 2008 American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes shows. The study found that prior history of concussion and gender account for significant differences in test results following the injury.

The study found that females performed significantly worse than males on tests of reaction time. Females were also significantly more symptomatic than males. Additionally, there was a trend, although not significant, towards females testing poorly regarding verbal memory and processing speed when compared to males.

“There’s a theory that males typically have a stronger neck and torso that can handle forces better,” said Dr. Colvin. “But when we accounted for Body Mass Index in this study, we still found a difference between males and females. Therefore, there are differences in recovery between genders that cannot simply be attributed to size difference. More studies are needed to determine the reason for differences in recovery between males and females.”

Cornell

NEW YORK (July 1, 2008) — Women may respond less favorably than men to cardiovascular disease (CV) drug-treatments for enlarged heart, according to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center physician-scientists.

For the first time, researchers have uncovered that women derive a lesser benefit than men from two common high-blood-pressure-lowering drugs — losartan and atenolol — for the reduction of left-ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). The condition is a thickening and enlargement of muscle of the left ventricle of the heart and a marker for future heart disease. The observations were made despite results showing that blood pressure reduction was similar between genders.

These important findings might explain how this underlying condition puts women at greater risk for heart disease later in life. CV is the leading cause of death in Western countries in both sexes. However, following a period of relative protection, before menopause, a woman’s risk becomes significantly larger.

“Women have a greater chance of dying of their first heart attack and from stroke, and they tend to have more cardiovascular problems later in life compared with men,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Peter M. Okin, a noted cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of medicine in the Greenberg Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. “Certain tell-tale indicators of high-blood pressure, like LVH regression, clearly show that men and women do not respond the same to hypertension drugs.”

July 20, 2008

10 Foods to Avoid

Filed under: Nutrition — ladybex @ 9:18 am

Blacklisted News

I think this doctor is blood type O. He advocates red meat and no grains. However, he has a lot to say about poisons in your food, and I agree with all the health points he has. I personally don’t avoid non-organic meats and dairy. It’s because of price. However, I agree with him that there are toxins in non-organic meats and dairy. I thought what he had to say about phosphoric acid in soda is necessary to some people was fascinating. Although he points out there are healthier ways to get the phosphoric acid.

Make sure you watch the video. I couldn’t find it at first. Click on the picture of soy milk and goat milk at the bottom.

Health coach Dr. Asa Andrew has a different way of looking at health. Here’s that list:

1) Trans fats
Read your labels! Anything that says “partially hydrogenated” is a trans fat.
Trans fats cause clogged arteries, type 2 diabetes, and other serious health problems. Only cook with organic butter or extra-virgin coconut oil as all other oils will turn into trans fat when used for cooking (including olive oil).

2) Artificial sweeteners
Contribute to diabetes because they prompt you to eat more.
Aspartame and sucralose (Splenda) should be avoided completely due to their toxic effects on the body. Alternatives are raw honey, agave nectar, stevia extract, and xylitol.

3) High fructose corn syrup and processed sugars
Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar.
This may be one of the reasons Americans continue to get fatter.

4) Soy products
Creates hormonal imbalances in men and women by affecting estrogen levels.
Instead of soy milk for drinks and for infants, use goat’s milk. It is the closest to a human mother’s milk and is highly anti-allergenic.

5) Pork products
Creates toxic cells. Never meant for consumption.

6) Shellfish
Shellfish are scavengers ingesting countless toxins from the water in an attempt to keep our oceans and lakes clean.

7) Processed wheat and white flour
You used flour and water in elementary school to make glue paper mache hard as concrete. It has a similar affect on the body. Choose sprouted grain bread as an alternative.

8) Soft drinks
Sodas (even diet ones) poison the body. They don’t reduce your hunger as solid food does, so your caloric intake is even higher. Regular soft drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and diet drinks use artificial sweeteners. A great alternative to the fizz you crave is to add fresh lime or lemon to sparkling water along with approved sweeteners.

9) Unfiltered tap water
Regular tap water is filled with chemicals and infused with chlorine. Always drink fresh spring water or filtered water and use a water filter for your home (even for bathing and washing clothes).

10) Non-organic dairy and meat products
Animals that are not raised organically are fed chemical and hormone-laced foods and by eating them, those harmful toxins go directly into you.

July 19, 2008

Rising Produce Costs

Filed under: Nutrition — ladybex @ 7:55 am

When we met some friends of ours for the first time four years ago, he warned that economical hard times were on the horizon. His hobby was studying economics, and the trends predicted hard times.

Gas prices continue to rise, and I knew that since produce is trucked, prices for produce would have to rise too. I braced myself, and compared prices. To my surprise, the only major difference was in green beans. Usually 99 cents a pound, they had rocketed to $2.50 a pound. All the other prices remained about the same.

After three weeks, I asked the owner, “How are you keeping prices the same?” He told me HIS prices were rising, but he was keeping our prices the same because word was spreading that he was the cheapest place in town for produce, and everybody was shopping there and telling their brother to shop there too.

But then, it was bound to happen. It started with apples. Apple trees don’t grow very well in St. Louis. Most of our apples come from Michigan and Washington. What used to be 59 cents a pound had turned into $1.79 a pound. I quit buying apples. I have a rule that I buy 28 oranges per week, 14 grapefruit a week, 14 bananas, and 18 pounds of fruit that is 99 cents a pound or less. Each child gets 7 1/2 ounces of fruit per day (3 slices of grapefruit is part of that 7 1/2 ounces), and my husband and I get 1 pound of fruit per day. We buy one pound of veggies per day for the adults and 7 1/2 ounces of veggies per kid.

I noticed that pears were 99 cents a pound, so instead of buying apples, I started buying pears. That was still 40 cents a pound more, on 18 pounds of fruit. I started plotting and planning how to cut back on the produce bill. I spent $10 too much on produce one week. I had been steadily paying $75 a week for produce, and suddenly that week it was $85. I said to myself, “I am going to have to change something. I think we will cut back to 5 a day instead of 6. We will consume 5 ounces of fruit per day for kids and 10 ounces per day. I also had started giving Benjer an extra banana and an extra orange daily, because I couldn’t be guaranteed he would eat his three servings of vegetables per day. Now he is eating 15 ounces of produce daily AND an orange AND a banana. That has to stop. Jim is eating too much fruit too. Wait, no, he isn’t eating 7 1/2 ounces of veggies per day. I will leave him at 15 ounces of fruit per day, and let him snack on veggies and get what he needs.” I thought it all through that week, but didn’t change anything.

The next week, the produce bill was $95! Ouch! I had to make drastic changes. I had already bought the bananas and oranges, but the grapes, nectarines and plums would keep more than a week. I put the grapes into the freezer. I gave Benjer the decision on what 5 ounces of fruit he wanted to eat. Some days he picked 1/2 a banana, and 1/2 an orange. Other days, we made smoothies and put in 5 ounces per kid and 10 ounces for me. One day, we made a fruit salad and put all of it in the salad.

Yay! The next week, we had plenty of oranges and plenty of grapefruit leftover, more than a week’s worth of 99 cent fruit, and I only needed to buy a watermelon and bananas. I determined I did not to buy any fruit, except watermelon and bananas.

I got to the produce market, just to find that prices had dropped. Nectarines were 50 cents a pound, plums were 99 cents per pound. Grapes were 75 cents per pound. I bought grapes and nectarines, and put them on next week’s list. I put them in the freezer when I got home. I rang up the fruit separate from the veggies, bananas, and watermelon. Woohoo! I recouped all but $3 of the overspent $30.

My husband is concerned that we are not getting enough fruit. I said I thought it was okay, since we are following 5 a day, but we will watch and see. We have had only one cold this year (in 2008). We have had no other sicknesses. We shall see.

Incidentally, I planted a fruit tree in the yard about 8 years ago. I has produced little to no fruit each year, and the 3 or 4 pieces have been stolen by squirrels. This year, the tree is LOADED. Also, we discovered several mulberry bushes in the park. For several weeks daily, the kids picked all they could eat. When the mulberries started becoming fewer and farther between, the blackberry bushes started bearing. God really does supply all our need, according to His riches.

July 18, 2008

More About Infant Potty Training

Filed under: Parenting — ladybex @ 6:12 am

Wash continues to signal every time he has to urinate. He continues to shriek his pterodactyl yell. He wakes me in the wee hours (5 am) to go. I have one daughter who can get him to go for her. As soon as he screams, she runs him to the potty. I have one who never can. We were discussing why. I think I know why. She doesn’t want to take him. She dawdles, messes around, takes her sweet time, and by the time she gets him there, it’s too late.

Yesterday, I recognized his wiggling, squirming, grunting behavior, and quickly sat him on the potty. He had a bowel movement in the toilet. I was so thankful I didn’t have to change that diaper!

Sadly, Jimmers continues to refuse to go. While the girls were gone on a 2-day trip, I faithfully took both babies potty every time Wash screamed. Jim never once went in the potty — even on those occasions where he was dry. I had dreams of training both boys at once. I thought if Jim saw that Wash was being big, Jim would want to be big too. I guess he will have to decide when he is ready.

If Benjer is waked after 10 1/2 hours of sleep, and takes an afternoon catnap, he is dry overnight. At one time when he slept in my bed, he was never wet. When he moved to his big boy bed, he quit waking and started wetting his diaper.

July 17, 2008

Jim turned 2 on Monday!

Filed under: Parenting — ladybex @ 8:17 pm

Jim & Wash

More About Chores — The Rotten Pot

Filed under: Parenting — ladybex @ 6:09 am

I remember lots of years ago when my oldest was very little, a neighbor girl came over and played a game. If you were the loser, you had to go to the Rotten Pot.

Today, I tried a different tack on chores. Usually I have 4 kids doing chores, all at the same time, and I rotate from room to room, checking progress. I have to be careful not to get tied down in one place, or dawdling or piddling happens, but if I am on the move, they usually stay diligent.

Today, instead of having Rene’e do the same old chores she always does, I had her stay by my side while I worked. When I needed to change diapers, I had her help get supplies. Then I had her work on the kitchen, then clean up mess in the hallway. When her time was up, I called Benjer. He did his chore time, and I was cleaning out the refrigerator. I had him help unload it, wash shelves, and reload it. When his time beeped, I called Naomi. She helped me carry Goodwill stuff out to the car. All the while, Victoria was getting breakfast on the table, making a grocery list, ironing shirts, and working on a project in her room. Even Jimmers had his turn in the Rotten Pot. I held his hand while he went for a three-minute walk. As a newly-two-year-old, that was quite a big trip for such short little legs. He was so proud of himself.

I think the Rotten Pot worked well, because the child had my undivided attention for that time period. The other kids were all outside playing, and keeping the babies and the puppy occupied and safe and out of trouble. I almost felt guilty for lavishing such attention on one kid at a time, except that EVERY kid had that turn.

It was a good day, thanks to the Rotten Pot plan.

July 16, 2008

Graduating a Chore

Filed under: Parenting — ladybex @ 6:17 am

I started making routines for me and the kids about 5 years ago, when I started FlyLady.

A houseguest moved in with us three years ago, and stayed for an entire year. During that time, her son unloaded the dishwasher. Her daughter cleaned the kitchen. She did the laundry.

When she moved out, I instructed my 8-year-old to teach the 3-year-old how to unload the dishwasher. I read the Bible to the kids over breakfast, but it was to keep mouths full and closed while I read. It’s hard to train little bitty ones to be quiet for half an hour. Chores have to come before breakfast, (such as passing out food), so I had to make the older kids do chores during breakfast, but silently. Somehow, in an effort to keep silence during Bible time, she never graduated from the dishwasher job, and never taught her younger brother how.

I realized last week, that she is the slowest of all the kids to do her chores, and she can make a 6-minute dishwasher job take an hour, and she still isn’t finished yet. It would help a whole lot in cleaning the kitchen if the 6 minute job took … 6 minutes.

I also noticed that her next younger sibling has never had an opportunity to learn how, and when she is asked to, the nesting “Tupperware” isn’t nested, and some poor unsuspecting sap opens the door to get an unexpected avalanche as the Booby trap is sprung!

I decided this week to consider the slow one “graduated from dishwasher and assigned her temporarily the younger sister’s “lay out Mama’s 8 cups of water” chore. The younger sister was given 7 times to get the dishwasher unloaded correctly in 6 minutes and she too graduates. It has been SO nice to have an empty dishwasher at the end of Bible, and since it is hard to dawdle at laying out water, a LOT of stress is relieved. When the 7 times are over, I will give her the laundry job, and teach my 5-year-old son.

This is so far-reaching. I am thinking of a graduated chore checkerbox sheet, and a reward for mastering all the chores on the chart. It might motivate my “cut corners wherever she can” girl into action as well.

This week has been so much more stress-free.

July 15, 2008

God’s Pharmacy

Filed under: Health — ladybex @ 6:02 am

This hit my e-mail. I’d seen it before, but after searching my blog, if I posted it, I can’t find it. I found it on 4 different sites, but it is the same words each time. Apparently Ed Bagley wrote it.

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

God’s Pharmacy! Amazing!
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye… And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic che mical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries
Oranges , Grapefruits and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

TomatoFest

The best food sources of lycopene according to the Tomato Research Council in New York City: ( Amount of lycopene in one ounce) Tomato Sauce, Spaghetti Sauce, Ketchup (5 mg); Tomato Soup, Canned Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Vegetable Juice (3 mg); Minestrone Soup, Vegetable Soup, Pink Grapefruit (1 mg) *2
Lycopene is an inhibitor to heart disease. *6

Scarpoon

The following information may be pertinent to consider grapes and grape seed extract in heart disease. It is interesting to note that when we did not realize the potential of seeds in grapes, to make it attractive we engineered seedless grapes. Now it is increasingly demonstrated that most of the healthful properties of grapes are in the seeds!!

The active ingredients of grape seed are believed to be due to their antioxidant properties. Oxidation of LDL cholesterol can lead to hardening of arteries. The following publications demonstrate the usefulness of grape, grape seed and grape skin in heart disease and other ailments.
1.The “French Paradox” refers to the observation that the coronary heart disease mortality rate is lower in France than in other industrialized countries with similar prevalences of coronary risk factors. This paradox has been attributed to frequent consumption of alcohol-containing beverages, which increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and inhibit platelet function. Several epidemiologic studies suggest that ingestion of red wine, which contains several hundred different types of flavonoids, is more cardioprotective than beer or spirits.Indeed, the flavonoids found in red wine and purple grape juice (GJ) also inhibit platelet aggregation, and in 1 study, were shown to be powerful antioxidants that improved endothelial function. In that study, however, most subjects were taking vitamin E, so it is unclear if the observed results were due solely to the flavonoids in GJ or a combination of vitamin E and GJ. Furthermore, a high dose of GJ was administered (approximately 8 ml/kg/day) for only 2 weeks. The purpose of this study was to assess the endothelial function and antioxidant effects of 2 doses of purple GJ alone and in combination with vitamin E for 8 weeks.

Abstract from: Chou EJ et al. Effect of ingestion of purple grape juice on endothelial function in patients with coronary heart disease.Am J Cardiol. 2001 Sep 1;88(5):553-5.

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