TNS Health Food

Natural Help for Women with Thinning Hair

Women suffer from thinning hair too: especially after menopause. This safe, natural supplement can help.

Female pattern hair loss is the common, but little talked about, thinning of hair on the central scalp of women. The thinning hair increases with age. It is more common than you think: 23% of women in their forties already experience mild hair loss, and the numbers go up with age. Thinning hair is especially associated with menopause.

A new double-blind study has found that the natural supplement Pycnogenol can help. Pycnogenol is a standardized extract of pine bark. It is rich in proanthocyanidin flavonoids, which are very powerful antioxidants.

The study gave 76 menopausal women between the ages of 45 and 60 either a placebo or 50mg pine bark extract three times a day. It then measured their hair density.

The pine bark extract significantly increased hair density. At two months, hair density was 30% greater; at six months, it was 23% greater. There was no significant improvement in the placebo group.
The pine bark extract was safe: there were no adverse events.

This study shows that supplementing pine bark extract could reduce hair loss in menopausal women.

Health Sci Rep. 2023 Jan; 6(1): e1045

Restoring Youth & Vitality in Men

As men age, their testosterone goes down, affecting their s*x life and their quality of life. This exotic herb can help.
The drop in testosterone in men as they age is sometimes called ADAM, which stands for androgen deficiency of aging males. It can bring with it feelings of weakness and fatigue, reduced muscle and bone mass and increased body fat. It can also cause low s***m count, loss of libido and erectile dysfunction. Psychologically, it can manifest as depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia and memory and cognition problems.
Tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia) is a Southeast Asian herb that has been traditionally used in Malaysia as an adaptogen for general well-being. But, as one of its popular names, longjack root, suggests, it is best known as a powerful aphrodisiac.
And it’s not just a tradition. Science has strongly supported the traditional use. A 2017 systematic review of tongkat ali’s s*xual and reproductive powers found that the herb improved erectile function, libido and s*xual activity, satisfaction and well-being. It also significantly improved s***m quality.
Tongkat ali boosts testosterone. 400mg a day of tongkat ali can increase testosterone by 15.1% and free testosterone by 61.1% (Phytother Res 2014;28:544-50). In men who are moderately stressed, half that dose boosted testosterone by a whopping 37% (J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2013;10:28).
In a more recent study, young men with an average age of 24.4 experienced 15% higher levels of testosterone and 34% higher levels of free testosterone than the men in the placebo group when they were given 600mg a day of tongkat ali (Andrologia 2021 May;53(4):e14001).
The powerful herb can also help when there is an abnormal decrease in testosterone production. Men with late-onset hypogonadism had their testosterone levels return to normal when they took 200mg a day of tongkat ali extract. When the study started, only 35.5% of the men had normal testosterone levels. After a month on tongkat ali, 90.8% of theme did (Andrologia 2012;s1:226-30).
A new study wanted to see what would happen when men who were between the ages of 50 and 70 and who had low testosterone were given tongkat ali extract. The 12 week, double-blind study gave 105 men either a placebo, 100mg of tongkat ali or 200mg of tongkat ali.
What happened was that total testosterone went up significantly in both tongkat ali groups compared to placebo. The higher dose produced greater and faster results. Free testosterone went up significantly in both tongkat ali groups but the difference was not significantly better than placebo.
And what effect did that have on their quality of life? The Ageing Male Symptom score improved significantly in both tongkat ali groups compared to placebo. The Fatigue Severity Scale also improved in both tongkat ali groups compared to placebo.
That means it worked! Tongkat ali reduced the symptoms of ageing and fatigue. And it was safe (Food Nutr Res. 2021;65:10.29219/fnr.v65.5647).
Another new study found that tongkat ali increases testosterone and improves erectile dysfunction in men with ADAM. The 6 month, double-blind study found that 200mg of tongkat ali works and that it works even better when combined with exercise (Maturitas. 2021 Mar;145:78-85).

Eat Fiber; Live Longer!

You’ve always been told that getting your fiber is good for you. How good? Now we can tell you exactly how good.

Not getting enough fiber in your diet is associated with a higher risk of several kinds of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. So, it is not surprising that several recent studies have found an association between fiber and both all-cause mortality and death from specific conditions.

This new study was big: it included 86,642 people. Their average age was 62, and the study followed them for an average of 17.1 years.

What it discovered is that compared to the people who got the least fiber in their diet, those who got the most had a significant 29% reduced risk of death from any cause during the study. They also had a significant 27% reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a significant 23% reduce risk of death from cancer.
Several meta-analyses have shown that fiber reduces the risk of all-cause mortality as well as death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. The added discovery of this new study is that the beneficial results were similar for soluble and insoluble fiber.
And the actual benefits of fiber could be even better for you because the average daily intake of fiber by people in this study was only about half the recommended level.

J Transl Med. 2022;20:344

🌞 Vitamin D & Living Longer 🌞

Want to live longer? Try vitamin D!
A massive study followed 307,601 people for 14 years. Risk of death during the study “decreased steeply” with increasing levels of vitamin D. As levels of vitamin D went up, risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease all went significantly down. The researchers conclude that vitamin D lowers the risk of premature death.

(Annals of Internal Medicine 25 Oct 2022;doi.org/10.7326/M21-3324).

Depressed? Try Saffron & a Workout!

Exercise can help depression. And, though not yet much talked about, several studies have shown that saffron is a powerful herb for depression. So, what happens if you add them together?

28 young males either did resistance training alone or did resistance training while supplementing saffron for 6 weeks. The study says it used saffron leaf--which is odd because normally the stigma or petal is used--providing 19.7mg of crocin and 0.25mg of safranal.

Serotonin went up in both group but significantly more in the saffron group. Reported happiness went up in both groups but also improved significantly more in the saffron group.
Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that combats depression: it is the target of most antidepressant drugs. So, this study shows that saffron and exercise can fight depression and make you happy!
Physiol Behav. 2021;233:113352