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Join us at the 15th Annual World Congress On Anti-Aging Medicine 2007, where we’ll be speaking with attendees, and serving up samples of savory Vital Choice wild Salmon from booth #4068.

It’s an exciting event that features talks by innovative thought leaders, and draws 6,000 attendees, including more than 1,000 physicians and healthcare practitioners.

WHEN: December 12-15, 2007

WHERE: Las Vega, Nevada

HOW: Register by clicking here.

Boasting a rich golden color, these scrumptious, oven-ready steaks are infused with delicate alder wood smoke flavor — and cook fully from frozen in mere minutes!

Sablefish is rarely seen in standard fish markets, and this buttery, flaky, white fish boasts its own rich texture and mind-blowing flavor—and even more omega-3s than wild salmon!

And for those who prefer it, we also offer irresistible, certified Earth Kosher natural-style sablefish.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, after Alzheimer’s disease.

The National Parkinson Foundation estimates that 1.5 million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease, and that 60,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. The disease affects roughly equal numbers of men and women.   

The immediate cause of Parkinson's disease is damage to dopamine-producing neurons (brain cells), which are concentrated in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra.

Dopamine is required for proper muscle function and body movement. 

Symptoms include tremors, muscle rigidity, poor balance, cramped handwriting, stiff facial expression, shuffling walk, muffled speech, and depression. And the signs don’t usually manifest until some 80 percent of the dopamine-producing cells are already destroyed or damaged.

Key Points Parkinson’s disease is characterized by loss of dopamine-producing cells, which are concentrated in a specific part of the brain. Diets high in omega-3s protected mice injected with a chemical that kills dopamine-producing cells where they are most abundant. The actual cause of damage to dopamine-producing cells in Parkinson’s patients remains uncertain, so the new results are intriguing but inconclusive.

Parkinson's disease usually develops after the age of 65, but about 15 percent of cases occur in people younger than 50.

The actor Michael J. Fox is perhaps the best-known younger patient. He developed Parkinson's symptoms at age 30, and has become a leading advocate for research.

Other high profile patients include Booth Gardner, the former governor of our company’s home state, Washington, and Time magazine columnist Michael Kinsley.

Kinsley joins Fox in calling for unfettered stem cell research in the hope that it might produce implantable dopamine-producing neurons, while Gardner is campaigning to legalize suicide for people with Parkinson’s and other crippling, currently incurable conditions: a fight covered in last Sunday’s edition of The New York Times Magazine.

There is a family history of Parkinson’s disease in about 10 percent of patients, and researchers suspect that the disease results from a combination of genetic factors and unknown environmental toxins.

Epidemiological research links higher risk of Parkinson’s to rural living, well water, herbicide use, and exposure to pesticides. Contamination of well water by pesticides such as atrazine is common in farming states.

No known treatment can slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's. The primary medicines – L-dopa and similar drugs, called dopamine agonists – either replace dopamine or mimic its effects, to partial extents. 

 

Have hopes for stem cell therapy been raised too high? The available evidence indicates that loss of dopamine-producing neurons – which produces some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s – is only one of many kinds of brain damage caused by the disease.   In fact, the brain’s dopamine-producing neurons are affected only later in the course of the disease. And some of the disabilities seen in Parkinson’s do not even involve dopamine deficiencies.   Accordingly, as the author of one recent evidence review observed, “We have reached the point of diminishing therapeutic returns with drugs acting on dopamine systems ...” (Ahlskog JE 2007)   And these findings led him to sound a pessimistic note concerning the hope that transplanted dopamine-producing neurons produced by stem cell research could prove curative: “… the benefits from transplantation surgeries aimed at restoring dopaminergic neurotransmission [by implantation of healthy neurons] will be limited ...” (Ahlskog JE 2007)   As with other diseases, the greatest benefits may flow from discovering any environmental causes of the disease, and finding drugs or nutrients that might delay or deter its development.

Researchers from Université Laval in Canada and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) divided mice into two groups, and fed them different diets from two to 12 months of age:

• Mouse chow supplemented with omega-3 DHA.
• Normal mouse chow, which is relatively low in omega-3s and high in omega-6 fatty acids.

They injected both groups with an opiate chemical called MPTP. After entering the brain, MPTP is converted to another opiate called MPP+, which kills dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra.

(Two other groups of mice, which did not receive MPTP, served as controls.)

The results were striking, and favored the omega-3-rich diet:

• The mice fed the omega-3-rich diet suffered no ill effects.
• The mice fed an ordinary, omega-6-rich diet developed symptoms of Parkinson's disease after losing 31 percent of their dopamine-producing neurons and half their dopamine production.

The researchers determined that DHA was the likely protective factor in the fish oil ...

Last week, health advocacy groups took advantage of a hearing at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take the agency to task and call for stricter regulations on sodium in food.

Like most natural, traditional foods, salt enjoys “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status under US law, so its use in foods is essentially unregulated, except for the existing requirement to disclose the amount of sodium in packaged foods.

The groups pressed the FDA to require more effective sodium-content labeling and to regulate salt as a food additive.

Key Points Landmark study links salt to cardiovascular disease strongly for first time. Research links salt to rises in children’s blood pressure that have been linked to adult hypertension. Ulcers are worsened by the effects of high-salt diets on the genes of ulcer-inducing bacteria. Health advocates press the FDA to regulate salt as a food additive, and use that power to restrict and highlight the sodium content of packaged foods.

The American Heart Association (AHA) told the FDA it should require prominent disclosure of sodium content, by placing it on the fronts of food packages.

America’s salty (and risky) situation

The average American consumes 12 to 36 times more salt than is needed to maintain health. This equates to between one and three teaspoons of salt a day – that is, 6,000 to 18,000 mg, versus the 500 mg per day considered healthy and adequate.

And most of us aren’t getting this excess salt from shaking it onto our food.

Americans get up to 77 percent of their dietary sodium from processed foods (soups, canned foods, mixes, condiments, etc.) and from prepared or restaurant meals (Mattes RD, Donnelly D 1991).

Some 20 percent of the average person’s salt intake comes from meat and meat products, and, surprisingly, about 35 percent comes from cereal and cereal products.

The Heart Association says that this excess salt consumption contributes to heart disease and strokes, which are the first and third most common causes of death in the US.

And the American Medical Association (AMA) estimates that 150,000 US deaths could be prevented annually by cutting the amount of salt in American food products in half.

Heart-health claims for salt reduction bolstered by novel study

Vital Choice Spares the Salt We now offer a no-salt-added version of our wildly popular Organic Salmon Marinade Mix, and of course none of our flash-frozen seafood contains added salt.   Compared with national brands, our canned and smoked fish are substantially lower in sodium.   Canned Fish with Less Salt Vital Choice Albacore Tuna contains only 100 mg per two-ounce serving, compared with 250 mg of sodium in Starkist® or Bumblebee® Albacore. Vital Choice No-Salt-Added Albacore Tuna has only 28 mg per two-ounce serving, versus 100 mg in Starkist® Low-Sodium Albacore and 35 mg in Very Low Sodium Albacore from Bumblebee®. Vital Choice Wild Red Sockeye Salmon has about 35 mg less sodium per serving, compared with Bumblebee® Salmon (all types). Vital Choice Sardines contain two-thirds less sodium than Bumblebee® Sardines – only 93 mg of sodium per serving, versus 281 mg. To see our No-Salt-Added canned Tuna, Salmon, and Sardines, click here.   Less Salt in Our Smoked Salmon Compared with supermarket and natural market counterparts, our Smoked Salmon and Nova Lox contain substantially less salt: A serving of any of our smoked Salmon products contains less than the daily sodium intake (500 mg) deemed necessary and healthful by the American Heart Association. (Our Nova Lox and Smoked Salmon contain 300 mg 443 mg per two-ounce serving, respectively.) As a result, our smoked Salmon products contain 1/3 to 1/2 less sodium than supermarket and natural market counterparts, which typically contain 600 to 900 mg of sodium per two-ounce serving.   Sources: Del Monte Foods/Starkist® 2007, Bumble Bee Foods, LLC 2007, and http://www.vitalchoice.com.

There is clear evidence that reducing salt intake lowers blood pressure in most people.

But despite assertions from the AHA and AMA, there has, until recently, been no strong evidence that cutting sodium intake reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

That lack of evidence was significantly redressed last April, with publication of the results of an “interventional” study that tested the long term effects of reduced salt intake on the risk of developing cardiovascular disease or dying from any medical cause (Cook NR et al 2007).

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and other American universities reported that decreased salt intake among study participants slashed their risk of cardiovascular disease over a 10 to 15 year period by up to 35 percent.

The trial involved more than 3,000 participants aged 30 to 54 with “high-normal” blood pressure levels, which typically lead to hypertension.

The participants were divided into two subgroups, both of which reduced their sodium intake by 25 to 35 percent, while a control group didn't cut back on salt.

One subgroup did this for 18 months, and a larger subgroup observed the salt-restricted regimen for three to four years.

The participants who finished the study were followed for 10 to 15 more years, to record their health status.

Compared with the control group, the salt-cutting groups were 25 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular problems over the next 10 to 15 years, and were 20 percent less likely to die from any cause.

As the authors wrote, “Our study provides unique evidence that sodium reduction might prevent cardiovascular disease ...” (Cook NR et al 2007)

Excess salt linked to ulcers and childhood hypertension

Heart woes aren’t the only risk of excess salt, as seen from two recent studies.

Salt raises kids’ blood pressure

Children and adolescents consuming higher levels of salt in their diets have ...

Until 10 years ago, the medusa jellyfish was known primarily as a colorful pest that afflicts bathers in warm Mediterranean waters.

They began appearing in the ocean off Britain and Ireland in the late 1990’s, albeit uncommonly.

Last week, these minor, anomalous incursions turned into a swift, massive, and deadly invasion.

Billions of medusa jellyfish swarmed fish pens at a salmon farm anchored about a mile offshore in Northern Ireland’s Glenarm Bay and Red Bay, north of Belfast on the eastern coast

The jellyfish formed a dense pack about 10 square miles and 35 feet deep.

According to John Russell, managing director of The Northern Salmon Co. Ltd., workers tried to rescue the salmon, but their boats couldn’t get through the thick mass of jellyfish in time.

When the boats finally pushed through to the pens, all of the farm’s approximate 120,000 fish – worth about $2.1 million – were dead or dying from stings and stress.

Russell said he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years in the salmon farming sector.

As he told the Associated Press, “It was unprecedented, absolutely amazing. The sea was red with these jellyfish and there was nothing we could do about it, absolutely nothing.” (Pogatchnik S 2007)

All the company could do was collect and incinerate the mountains of stinking, dead salmon.

Mediterranean jellyfish had never previously been reported in Northern Ireland, but smaller swarms have occurred in western Scotland, western Ireland and ...

Winter’s here, and that means it’s time for hot, hearty soups and stews.

The original version of this recipe called for mild Italian pork sausage, but we’ve substituted our own unique Sockeye Salmon Sausage.

While our Italian Style Salmon Sausage fits the original recipe most closely, our Savory Country Style is significantly milder, if that better suites your taste. Or go to the spiciest end of our Salmon Sausage selection with Chorizo Style patties.

Alaskan Halibut Stew with Salmon Sausage

Makes 4 Servings

3-4 Alaskan Halibut fillets (6 oz. each), fresh, thawed or frozen

Two Patties (3 oz. each) Vital Choice Sockeye Salmon Sausage

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 can (14 oz.) fat-free chicken broth

1 can (15 oz.) whole kernel corn

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (28 oz.) peeled diced tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon organic cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Vital Choice Organic Salmon Marinade mix or any seafood seasoning

1/2 to 1 teaspoon organic dried dill weed

• Thaw halibut and salmon sausage patties. (To speed thawing, place fish and sausage in separate watertight zip lock bags and immerse in cold water for 20-30 minutes until flexible.) Cut halibut into 1-inch pieces.
• Cook sausage in large soup pot over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, breaking into chunks.
• Add onion, green pepper, chicken broth, corn, black beans, and tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes.
• Add seasonings and halibut. Simmer an additional 7 to 10 minutes until halibut is cooked.