Chromium is one of the most popular nutrients purchased today, and for very good reason. It plays a vital role in human health, as well as modifying disease progression. The following is a brief outline of its history and the supporting research on its benefits.We all need to have appropriate chromium levels in our bodies.
BACKGROUND. Healthy people can have low levels of cobalamin (vitamin B12) without symptoms or signs of cobalamin deficiency. Early detection of deficiency is imperative for results to be effective. Development of radioimmunoassay tests has greatly improved accurate determination of cobalamin (Cbl) levels. Nevertheless, results of studies of Cbl deficiency vary widely because of the variety of populations studied.
Folate and vitamin B12 are required both in the methylation of homocysteine to methionine and in the synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine. S-adenosylmethionine is involved in numerous methylation reactions involving proteins, phospholipids, DNA, and neurotransmitter metabolism. Both folate and vitamin B12 deficiency may cause similar neurologic and psychiatric disturbances including depression, dementia, and a demyelinating myelopathy.
A current theory proposes that a defect in methylation processes is central to the biochemical basis of the neuropsychiatry of these vitamin deficiencies.
Homocysteine, an atherogenic amino acid, is either remethylated to methionine or metabolized to cysteine by the transsulfuration pathway. The biochemical conversion of homocysteine to cysteine is dependent upon two consecutive, vitamin B-6-dependent reactions.
To study the effect of a selective vitamin B-6 deficiency on transsulfuration, we performed oral methionine load tests on 22 vitamin B-6-deficient asthma patients treated with theophylline (a vitamin B-6 antagonist) and 24 age- and sex-matched controls with a normal vitamin B-6 status.
Background— Few studies have examined associations of fish consumption with ischemic heart disease (IHD) risk among older adults or how different types of fish meals relate to IHD risk.
Methods and Results— In a population-based prospective cohort study, usual fish consumption was ascertained at baseline among 3910 adults aged 
65 years and free of known cardiovascular disease in 1989 and 1990.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is essential for the growth and functional development of the brain in infants. DHA is also required for maintenance of normal brain function in adults. The inclusion of plentiful DHA in the diet improves learning ability, whereas deficiencies of DHA are associated with deficits in learning. DHA is taken up by the brain in preference to other fatty acids.
OBJECTIVE: Hypertriglyceridemia is associated with cardiovascular disease in diabetes. Fibrates effectively lower, but do not always normalize, serum triglyceride levels. Fish oil supplements may then be added to lower serum triglyceride levels. Doubt remains whether the net effect of fish oil intake on glycemic control is beneficial in diabetes. We therefore performed a meta-analysis from published clinical trials.
ABSTRACT: The present study investigated the usefulness of a combination of Panax ginseng, vitamins and minerals in reducing fatigue-induced deficits to cognitive functionand mood. A shift-work model was developed in which nurses were repeatedly evaluated on a variety of cognitive tests and questionnaires immediately prior to undertakinga three-night shift and then again immediately afterwards.
Since the first AHA Science Advisory “Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Lipids, and Coronary Heart Disease,”1 important new findings, including evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), have been reported about the beneficial effects of omega-3 (or n-3) fatty acids on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with preexisting CVD as well as in healthy individuals.
New information about how omega-3 fatty acids affect cardiac function (including antiarrhythmic effects),
Background The ability of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) to stimulate leukocyte–endothelium interaction is considered to be an important aspect of its proatherogenic action. Using intravital fluorescence microscopy in the dorsal skinfold chamber model in hamsters, we have previously shown that systemic administration of oxLDL stimulates leukocyte adhesion to microvascular endothelium through a mechanism that involves the generation and action of reactive oxygen species (ROS).
