The Hemp Connection:
memory

Last week I had the opportunity to hear James May, the founder of Wisdom Natural Brands, based here in Phoenix, tell his story of how he became involved with developing the stevia industry. Below is a white paper he shared with us that is referenced and provides a lot of very interesting information. This is a business paper, not a scientific publication, but it does contain references that can get you started if you're looking for more information.

It's not just a sweetener, apparently it has some endocrine and appetite effects as well (may decrease your appetite for sugar), and a new study suggests it may help to improve memory.

Also, I'm providing a link to a brand new website, Stevia University, which is a resource for all things stevia. Be sure to bookmark it!

Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni Prepared by James A. May and provided as an educational service by Wisdom Natural Brands
Stevia has been correctly framed as the promised sweetener that can help resolve many of the world's sweetener, obesity, and diabetes concerns. Stevia can also solve much of the poverty of the farmers in third world countries by giving them a cash crop to grow, even improving the productivity of their soil and the quality of their other crops.
Stevia can be the next generation of the world's most preferred steetener. Consumers are becoming even more excited as they learn that stevia extract was not originally a chemical invention targeted for a totally different purpose, such as a drug or insecticide, which, after it was tasted, became an artificial sweetener (1).
Stevia, in its various forms has always been a natural sweetener that also offers numerous health benefits. In its natural forms it has been in use in parts of South America for more than 1500 years and, as a high intensity sweetener, in Japan and Asia for over 35 years. (2) Millions of people have ingested stevia daily and there has never been a documented adverse reaction reported (3).
Modern consumers have joyful anticipation for increased use of this sweetener that does not cause fat storage, does not adversely affect blood sugar or blood pressure, reduces caries and gum disease, does no harm, is good for the human body and — can taste great — depending on the extraction methods utilized.
The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the World Health Organization has studied and approved 9 of the numerous naturally occurring glycosides residing in stevia leaves to be safe for human consumption in high intensity sweeteners. They are: stevioside, rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside C, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside F, dulcoside A, rubusoside, and steviolbioside. Any combination of these glycosides totaling a minimum of 95%, the balance being other components of the stevia leaf, meets the standard set.
HECFA refers to steviol glycosides rather than stevia glycosides in determining acceptable daily intake (ADI) amounts of 4 mg per kilogram of body weight. This provides a 100-fold safety factor, meaning the human body can handle 100 times this amount and still be within the safety limits. However, steviol is one of three metabolites (i.e. the breakdown aglycones being steviol, isosteviol, and a unit of glucose) of the stevia glycosides, therefore, this related to 12 mg of the naturally occurring stevia glycosides per kilogram of body weight. Stevia glycosides are broken down into the three metabolites by bacterial action in the intestinal tract. It is well documented that steviol and the other metabolites are entirely excreted from the body.
In a presentation of the recent science regarding stevia at the 2009 annual meeting of the Calorie Control Council, Claire C. Kruger, PhD, DABT, CEO of Spherix Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, reported that"Stevia glycosides have very low toxicity in animals and there is no evidence of risk in humans, including repeat dose systemic toxicity, carcinogenicity, developmental, or reproductive effects. The weight of evidence indicates that steviol glycosides are not genotoxic." She also reported that"Stevia extracts and steviol glycosides show no DNA damage in a broad array of in vitro and in vivo assay," and that the"safety of ingestion of steviol glycosides in hmans has been corroborated in clinical trials; measures of tolerance, body weight, clinical chemistry, hematology and urinalyis did not show any evidence of untoward effects." She reported that critical newly published studies (5) resolve questions about any untoward effects after long term repeated exposure to steviol glycosides.
The Proceedings of the 3rd Stevia Sumposium 2009, held in Belgium reported recent scientific studies that found that,"Stevioside (i.e. the combination of Stevia glyucosides- lowered glucose, insulin and cholesterol. It had no effect on triglycerides or glucose tolerance," and that it"inhibited atherosclerosis by reducing macrophage, oxidized LDL and lipids. Furthermore, stevioside treatment increased the smooth muscle area of the plaque. This increase, together with the reduction of macrophages resulted in an increase of the smooth muscle cell-to-macrophage ratio". The scientists concluded by stating that"this is the first report showing an association between stevioside treatment and increased adiponectin and insulin sensitivity, improved antioxidant defense and reduced atherosclerosis. The decrease of oxidized LDL by stevioside is particularly important in view of our recent observation that LDL is associated with metabolic syndrome components." (6) No allergic reactions to stevia have been reported (7).
A patent application submitted to the US Patent Office, dated February 17, 2011, makes several significant claims, as a result of their scientific research, pertaining to stevia and brain function."Thus to summarize, stevia extract enabled improved learning and memory performance, to a similar, or better, extent as a natural reference substance, ginkgo biloba, and a pharmaceutical positive control compound, rolipram. These data showed that stevia-treated mice not only learned better than other groups but also retained their memory for a longer time period." When the product was given to human subjects they reported that,"Cognitive function, alertness and the ability to focus on work are seen to improve." The product they used was make by cooking leaves in water and is basically the same product sold by SweetLeaf (R), as stevia concentrate, since 1982.
SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener is the only commercially available stevia extract that is made with a revolutionary new technology that uses only cool purified water and a series of filters. All other brands, currently in the market, utilize old technology that incorporates various chemicals, solvents and alcohols, including ethanol and methanol. Because stevia extracts can be between 200 and 300 times sweeter than sugar, they must be blended with other ingredients utilized as a carrier to make them palatable as a table-top sweetener. While all other brands use a sugar product, SweetLeaf(R) uses inulin, extracted from chicory root, which is a natural soluble fiber and prebiotic, thus creating a sweetener that improve health and vitality. SweetLeaf (R) wass the first stevia brand in the United States to acienve the FDA GRAS (Generally Recognied As Safe) designation.
REFERENCES
1. Aspartame was developed in 1965 by GD Searle, a pharmaceutical company, to be a prescription only drug for peptic ulcers. After it was tasted the company began the process to obtain FDA acceptance as a sweetener,which was achieved in 1981. According to Discover Magazine, 20 Things You Don't Know About Sugar, Sucralose (Splenda) was originally developed to be an insecticide (Oct. 2009, 121).
2. May, James A, The Miracle of Stevia, Kensington Publishing Corp. New York City, NY, 2003, 7, 32-42.
3. Geuns, Jan MC. Review: The Safety of Stevioside Used as a Sweetener, Proceeding of the first symposium: The Safety of Steviiside, KULeuven, 2004, 112.
4. http://www.steviauniversity.com/. Health and Healing Benefits of Stevia.
5. Ferri et all 2006; Jeppesen et al 2006; Barriocanal et al 2008; Maki et al 2008.
6. Gerraert, Benjamine et a, Natural Sweetener Stevioside Inhibits Atherosclerosis by Increasing the Antioxidant Defense in Obese, Insulin Resistant Mice, Atherosclerosis and Metabolism Unit, Deptarmtne of Cardiovascular diseases and Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Center Laboratory of Functional Biology, Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium.
7. Geuns, op cit p. 85.

I've had two different clients share a similar observation in the last couple of weeks, and I thought I'd write about it since it's not uncommon to feel this way in early recovery.

First of all, I want to share with you an article on depression that was recently in the Boston Globe.

This article presents the argument that depression is not about a deficiency of neurotransmitters that need to be balanced with medication, but rather, a condition in which neurons are dying a slow death and gradually losing their function. I've had this premise for awhile; it is the basis of my treatment philosophy for PCOS. Fish oil is the best compound nature has for restoring life to neurons, and when you put it into your diet, the brain begins to function again.

My two clients have both observed that as they began taking fish oil, they felt more alert and their memory and concentration seemed to be better. Signs that Elvis is back in the building!

These two clients also observed, though, that they were feeling more emotional. Not all emotions, especially anger and sadness, are easy to feel. So when you begin to feel these emotions, it can feel like things are getting"worse", not better.

Keep in mind, when neurons are malnourished, that means ALL neurons stop functioning, not just the ones affecting memory. The ones affecting emotion, the ones affecting appetite, and the ones affecting hormones.

If you've had PCOS, your hormones have not been functioning as they should, perhaps for a very long time. And that means you've not had the experience other women have, of fluctuating energy, emotions, you name it. Those fluctuations are normal!

So I often get the question,"What can I do?" The most important advice I can give is, be patient with yourself. Become used to what it means to truly cycle. Get to know what a healthy body feels like. It means it is normal to feel bloated, even constipated, just before your period. Your weight might fluctuate. The cycle should be around 28 days when you're back on track, and every single day within that 28 days may feel different. There may be no such thing as getting on the scale and weighing the same thing every single day.

With regard to your emotions, perhaps as your brain becomes more aware, this is an opportunity to experience what emotions might be about. Emotions are messages from the brain, telling you how you are with regard to balance, and what you need to do to restore balance if it isn't there. Anger is often a clue that a boundary has been violated. Loneliness means you need to seek companionship of some sort. Fear suggests that you need to remove yourself from danger. If they didn't feel uncomfortable, you would not be motivated to engage in behaviors that keep you healthy and safe. So rather than running from emotions, embrace them! They're telling you that your health is returning and things are getting back to normal.

PCOS is so hormone driven that emotions end up on the back burner. Excesses of androgens and stress hormones put anxiety and anger in control. But if you find that these feelings are persistent and do not wane after time, or that they seem to be there even when nothing in your life can explain them, they may be signs of hormone excesses and not really environmentally or event-stimulated emotions. When your hormones have you constantly revved up, it can feel strange to not have that kind of energy rush.

I couldn't figure out why, when I first started recommending yoga to clients, they would come back after one class and tell me they hated it. I figured out eventually, that yoga slowed their bodies down but their heads were still spinning. And being pinned to the floor in a yoga pose while your head is thinking angry thoughts can be a very uncomfortable place to be. Those clients got the same advice I'm giving you. Give the new changes some time. Don't abandon your new lifestyle because it initially feels uncomfortable. It's been a long time since your body has felt normal. Be gentle with your self and get to know/understand that"normal" involves hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly cycles. There is no such thing as being the same weight, temperature, size, or temperament every single minute of every single day.

Our philosophy is a little different than what many physicians will have you do. We're not trying to control your hormones, your weight, or even your diet. We're not trying to force a cycle, a pregnancy, or a clothing size. We're guiding you toward healthy choices that allow your body to be in balance. Sometimes giving up control, and letting the body speak to you instead of the other way around, is the absolute best way to get there.

So if things seem a little chaotic and you feel like you're charting uncharted territory, welcome to the world of female physiology! Ask questions, observe, and embrace the wonderful lesson you're learning, that your body will heal if you let it. There is no such thing as being past the point of no return or"stuck" where you are.