The Killer Called Sugar A


new animal study from the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, reports daunting results. Female mice that consumed the equivalent of a human drinking three cans of soft drinks a day doubled their death rate from all causes. The study further showed that fertility rates dropped dramatically in male mice and their innate ability to defend their territory diminished. All of the sugar-saturated mice performed poorly on cognitive tests. The lab mice received a diet in which 25 percent of their total calories came from sugar (not high fruc- tose corn syrup, which carries substantial additional health risks). That’s an amount com- monly consumed in the Stan- dard American Diet, easy to do in one sitting via a super-sized soft drink.


A


WALNUTS STRENGTHEN SPERM


dding a handful of walnuts to a man’s daily diet might just increase the chance of pregnancy for couples with fertility problems. Scientists attribute male infertility as the central issue in 30 to 50 percent of the 70 million couples worldwide experiencing such difficulties. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles,


investigated whether increasing intake of the polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish, flax seed and walnuts that are critical for sperm maturation and membrane function would increase sperm quality in men consuming a typical Western-style diet. They found that less than three ounces of walnuts added to a man’s daily diet improved sperm strength, size and motility (swimming ability). The men eating the walnuts also showed fewer chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm.


natural awakenings


November 2013


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