LinkedIn is a great way for us to connect with the right people about our work at UCLA. You have a similar profile to many of our successful Executive Program graduates, so I wanted to see if the program might also be a fit for you.
Offered since 1954 and taught by the same world-class faculty who teach in our MBAs, the UCLA Executive Program spans five months of once-weekly sessions on campus and is our flagship certificate program in leadership & general management.
The combination of work-friendly schedule, comprehensive curriculum and immediate career impact makes our program unique. And graduates gain coveted UCLA Anderson alumni status with access to UCLA’s powerful global network. If you’re ready to expand your impact and hone your competitive advantage we should talk.
Best,
Nick NICHOLAS TOBEY Associate Director UCLA Anderson Executive Education Nicholas.Tobey@Anderson.ucla.edu
Nick Tobey
Your Future Is Waiting
Hi Dr Olga,
LinkedIn is a great way for us to connect with the right people about our work at UCLA. You have a similar profile to many of our successful Executive Program graduates, so I wanted to see if the program might also be a fit for you.
Offered since 1954 and taught by the same world-class faculty who teach in our MBAs, the UCLA Executive Program spans five months of once-weekly sessions on campus and is our flagship certificate program in leadership & general management.
The combination of work-friendly schedule, comprehensive curriculum and immediate career impact makes our program unique. And graduates gain coveted UCLA Anderson alumni status with access to UCLA’s powerful global network. If you’re ready to expand your impact and hone your competitive advantage we should talk.
Best,
Nick NICHOLAS TOBEY Associate Director UCLA Anderson Executive Education Nicholas.Tobey@Anderson.ucla.edu (310) 206-1996
Shilajit: The Ancient Brain-Boosting, Hormone-Regulating Medicinal Herb
When you consider a new supplement, the first thing that comes to mind is probably not a jar of black, tar-like goo. But maybe it should be, because shilajit is an excellent ancient herb with a host of health benefits.
It’s a common substance used in the ancient practice of Ayurvedic medicine, a 5,000-year-old method of disease prevention and treatment originating in India and still practiced in many Asian countries. Ayurvedic medicine is built on the concept that by keeping equilibrium in the body’s three “doshas,” one can live a long and healthy life without the use of prescription medications.
One reason shilajit is such an effective medicinal herb is due to its high fulvic acidcontent. Fulvic acid has many proven benefits, from improving gut health to keeping skin healthy. This ancient herb contains a huge percentage of fulvic acid and is one of the most common supplements used to increase your intake of this potent acid.
Known for thousands of years as a rejuvenator of the whole body, shilajit has garnered a fairly significant body of research for its impact on various body systems. So, before writing it off for its odd appearance, you should take a read into what it may be able to do for you.
Shilajit Benefits
1. Provides Energy and Revitalization
For millennia, practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine have prescribed shilajit to boost energy and revitalize the body. Because of the level of importance these natural doctors put on this supplement, the body of confirmed scientific research on it is growing steadily.
One way shilajit helps provide the body with energy is the way it increases the function of mitochondria within the body. Mitochondria are organelles that serve as the “power source” of cells in the body because they convert oxygen and nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the substance that actually powers body cells. Shilajit encourages the function of mitochondria, helping them oxygenate more efficiently. (1) Not only does it help mitochondrial function on its own, but it’s been found to create a powerful effect on mitochondrial oxygenation when combined with supplemented CoQ10, an antioxidant naturally found in all human cells. (2)
As this substance helps increase the production of ATP, it increases overall energy and stamina. In fact, it’s commonly used to enhance athletic performance. (3) Chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder classified by at least six months of inescapable fatigue, has been successfully treated with shilajit supplementation, also evidenced by the way it enhances mitochondrial function. (4)
In addition to mitochondrial efficacy, this herb revitalizes the body with its strong antioxidant properties. By fighting disease-causing free radicals, it repairs internal damage to the body caused by chemicals and other dangerous agents you’re exposed to, and it reduces the levels of fat in the blood. (5)
2. Promotes Brain Health
Shilajit seems to have a targeted mechanism for protecting brain cells in particular. Initial studies show it has “distinct and marked neuroprotective activity.” (6) In a 2013 study conducted by the Physiology Research Center at the Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Iran on the effects of shilajit on risk factors following a traumatic brain injury, researchers discovered that it has positive effects on the three most indicative factors of death following traumatic brain injury: brain edema, blood-brain barrier permeability and intracranial pressure. (7)
This incredible nutrient may also present a novel treatment option for patients suffering from mild cases of Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of fulvic acid and a treatment protocol including administration with B complex vitamins have shown promising results in pilot studies. (8)
In addition, shilajit exhibits anti-epileptic properties and potentially antipsychotic effects, as it adjusts GABA levels (a naturally occurring acid in the brain) to normal. (9)
3. Regulates Hormones and Immune System
Another important function of shilajit is the way it regulates various body systems, such as your immune system and the balance of hormones. Many researchers agree that it impacts so much of the body because of the way it helps these systems remain in equilibrium. (10)
In particular, shilajit affects reproductive hormone functions. In healthy males, supplementation increases blood testosterone and encourages the production of sperm. (11) When tested in pilot studies involving rats, it was also associated with ovulation in adult female rats, indicating that shilajit powder or resin may be an agent to consider for those struggling with infertility. (12)
4. Alleviates Pain Response
Ayurvedic medicine has long praised shilajit for its ability to reduce pain levels, but research has been limited until the last few years. Because of its interaction with GABA levels in the brain, this herb has a significant effect on orofacial pain (pain of the face, mouth or jaws), acting as a “sedating agent.” (13) A 2015 study on mice found it to relieve and lessen chronic pain over the course of time, dependent on the size of the dose. (14)
One feature that I’ll discuss more in depth in a moment is its interaction with medications. Regarding pain, shilajit interacts positively with morphine, minimizing the buildup of tolerance to morphine and, therefore, reducing the amount of this medication that one in serious pain would need to introduce into his or her system for effective pain relief. (15)
5. May Help Manage Diabetes
Those with diabetes may be interested to know that shilajit can help reduce blood glucose and lipid profiles in diabetes patients, especially when taken in conjunction with diabetes medications. (16, 17)
Shilajit is a main ingredient in a supplement known as D-400, Diabecon or GlucoCare. This supplement is designed to combine the most powerful Ayurvedic natural treatments into one pill. D-400 reduces blood glucose levels and shows potential to repair damage to the pancreas caused by diabetes. (18)
Twelve weeks later, I returned to City University to see whether my daily pill-popping had made any difference to my eyesight. The results surprised even Prof Barbur. There were significant improvements in several different aspects - my blue and yellow colour perception was back to normal and my night vision was much better. The levels of my protective macular pigments were also boosted.
The results were less of a surprise to Prof John Nolan, who I went to meet in Waterford, in south-east Ireland. His team has been studying macular pigments for many years, and recently completed a year-long trial with over 100 participants in which they had seen similar results to mine.
They found that boosting the diet with the three macular pigments - lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin - led to significant improvements in the protection of the delicate macula, as well as improved eyesight.
There is also some evidence that such supplementation may help slow or possibly even prevent, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the leading cause of vision loss in the UK. However, this is still controversial.
Should we all, then, be taking supplements to protect and even improve our eyesight?
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionIt's a good idea to eat kale
Well, the research certainly shows that supplements work. Even for someone like me, who has a relatively healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and whose blood levels of the compounds that weren't particularly low, the supplements helped. However, some researchers believe that diet can simply be enough, if we eat the right things.
More research needs to be done on the best dietary sources for each of the three macular pigments.
Lutein is a yellow compound made only by plants. They make it in order to absorb blue light, as part of their mechanism to capture energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. Animals then get it from eating plants - good sources are green kale and spinach, or the yellow yolks of eggs.
It is used as a supplement to feed industrially-reared chickens to make their yolks a more attractive yellow (and, being fat-soluble, ends up turning their skin and fat yellow too).
Zeaxanthin is another yellow compound, almost identical to lutein, made by plants to absorb light. It is the chemical that gives corn, bell peppers and saffron their yellow colour.
Meso-zeaxanthin is a form of zeaxanthin not generally found in plants, but it is made in the body from lutein. More research needs to be done on how efficient this process is. It is found in some fish (particularly in the skins), but in supplements containing marigold extract, it appears that the industrial processing that the marigolds undergo can create meso-zeaxanthin (and it has been found to be in some marigold-extract supplements, even when not listed on the label).
Our volunteers taking the smoothie containing amounts of plant sources calculated to give them a boost of lutein and zeaxanthin did indeed boost their lutein levels, but not their zeaxanthin. Clearly more work needs to be done to refine the recipe. So, this might be a rare occasion where, given the current state of research, I might end up on the side of supplements - especially for those who don't eat as many leafy greens as they should, and for older people (who absorb nutrients less efficiently).
However, for all of those whose mothers and grandmothers told them that carrots would improve their vision the message is this - although lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin are all chemicals known as "carotenoids", and carrots do owe the yellow portion of their colour to them, these particular key compounds are found mainly in the green parts of plants above ground.
So, if you want to improve your eyesight, I'm afraid it's munching on leafy greens (taken with some fats to help absorb these fat-soluble chemicals) that will do the best job.
Michael Mosley presents Trust Me, I'm A Doctor which is on Thursday 8 September on BBC Two at 20:00 BST
Twelve weeks later, I returned to City University to see whether my daily pill-popping had made any difference to my eyesight. The results surprised even Prof Barbur. There were significant improvements in several different aspects - my blue and yellow colour perception was back to normal and my night vision was much better. The levels of my protective macular pigments were also boosted.
The results were less of a surprise to Prof John Nolan, who I went to meet in Waterford, in south-east Ireland. His team has been studying macular pigments for many years, and recently completed a year-long trial with over 100 participants in which they had seen similar results to mine.
They found that boosting the diet with the three macular pigments - lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin - led to significant improvements in the protection of the delicate macula, as well as improved eyesight.
There is also some evidence that such supplementation may help slow or possibly even prevent, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the leading cause of vision loss in the UK. However, this is still controversial.
Should we all, then, be taking supplements to protect and even improve our eyesight?
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionIt's a good idea to eat kale
Well, the research certainly shows that supplements work. Even for someone like me, who has a relatively healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, and whose blood levels of the compounds that weren't particularly low, the supplements helped. However, some researchers believe that diet can simply be enough, if we eat the right things.
More research needs to be done on the best dietary sources for each of the three macular pigments.
Lutein is a yellow compound made only by plants. They make it in order to absorb blue light, as part of their mechanism to capture energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. Animals then get it from eating plants - good sources are green kale and spinach, or the yellow yolks of eggs.
It is used as a supplement to feed industrially-reared chickens to make their yolks a more attractive yellow (and, being fat-soluble, ends up turning their skin and fat yellow too).
Zeaxanthin is another yellow compound, almost identical to lutein, made by plants to absorb light. It is the chemical that gives corn, bell peppers and saffron their yellow colour.
Meso-zeaxanthin is a form of zeaxanthin not generally found in plants, but it is made in the body from lutein. More research needs to be done on how efficient this process is. It is found in some fish (particularly in the skins), but in supplements containing marigold extract, it appears that the industrial processing that the marigolds undergo can create meso-zeaxanthin (and it has been found to be in some marigold-extract supplements, even when not listed on the label).
Our volunteers taking the smoothie containing amounts of plant sources calculated to give them a boost of lutein and zeaxanthin did indeed boost their lutein levels, but not their zeaxanthin. Clearly more work needs to be done to refine the recipe. So, this might be a rare occasion where, given the current state of research, I might end up on the side of supplements - especially for those who don't eat as many leafy greens as they should, and for older people (who absorb nutrients less efficiently).
However, for all of those whose mothers and grandmothers told them that carrots would improve their vision the message is this - although lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin are all chemicals known as "carotenoids", and carrots do owe the yellow portion of their colour to them, these particular key compounds are found mainly in the green parts of plants above ground.
So, if you want to improve your eyesight, I'm afraid it's munching on leafy greens (taken with some fats to help absorb these fat-soluble chemicals) that will do the best job.
Michael Mosley presents Trust Me, I'm A Doctor which is on Thursday 8 September on BBC Two at 20:00 BST
'via Blog this'
REUTERS