NEW! ANTI-CELLULITE VIDEO
Nutrients You Need to Nix Lumps

We have a new addition to the Dole Nutrition Institute video gallery: an interview with world renowned dermatologist Dr. Howard Murad, Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology at UCLA, author of The Cellulite Solution and founder of Murad skincare. Our video highlights how proper diet can provide your body with the building blocks needed to repair your skin and underlying connective tissue on a cellular level.

As Dr. Murad explains in the video (and in his full interview featured in this issue's Director's Corner), cellulite occurs when the skin is weakened to the point that underlying fat cells are able to push through the middle layer of skin and cause ripples on the skin's surface. Dietary imbalance can aggravate the problem and prevent the breached network of cells from repairing itself.

Nutrients like lecithin (found in soy foods, spinach, cauliflower and apples), essential fatty acids (found in nuts and cold-water fish) and a variety of antioxidants (found in fruits and vegetables) should be included in your edible arsenal against lumps, bumps and dimply skin.

Want to help your child do better in school? After homework, take junior for a bike ride - or offer to play a game of catch.

New research suggests that a sound body provides a solid foundation for academic success. A University of Illinois study found that kids who lagged in physical fitness assessments also did poorly on state achievement tests.

"We have found a strong relationship between academic achievement and fitness scores," said lead researcher Darla Castelli. Given the fact that nearly one-third of students aren't getting the minimum hour of exercise each day, considered essential by the National Institutes of Health, any education reform geared toward improving academic excellence ought to include physical fitness as part of the equation.

You don't need to be a Harvard professor to see how fitness could boost brainpower - but I guess it helps. "Physical exercise causes the release of nerve growth factors in the brain,'' says Dr. John Ratey, of Harvard Medical School. "Exercise is like Miracle-Gro, like fertilizer for the brain,'' Ratey said. "It keeps nerve cells healthy and helps them bind together, which is the basis for learning.''

So encourage your child to be a smart jock - and make physical activity part of the climb to the head of the class.

The company behind the diet that bankrupts your health has filed for Chapter 11. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. has been reeling from the sharp decline in low-carb dieters, from a peak of 9% of American adults last year to just 2% last month. "Now there is almost no market for low-carb food products," observes industry-analyst Bob Goldin, of Technomic Inc. "The low-carb trend has sort of died on the vine."

This comes as no surprise to DNN readers, who will remember my prediction back in February of 2004 that "The Atkins Bubble Too Will Burst." As I said then, "in the long run there are no magic formulas - either for making money or losing pounds. In the end it comes down to counting calories...and keeping an eye on the bottom line." More writing on the wall came when we reported that low-carb quitters came to outnumber low-carb dieters back in April of 2004.

Other intimations of imminent demise included bad publicity surrounding a lawsuit filed by a heart patient who complained that the high-fat regimen sent his cholesterol soaring and led to clogged arteries. Reports that Dr. Atkins himself was severely overweight at the time of his death - and had suffered a history of heart disease that may have been aggravated by obesity - were hardly a persuasive testimonial for the efficacy of the late doctor's dietary advice.

Most damning of all, of course, has been the steady stream of studies confirming the health dangers of the Atkins diet. The DNN has featured such findings on a regular basis, including reports of frequent headaches, muscle fatigue, and gastrointestinal problems suffered by Atkins dieters.

Other research associated excessive consumption of protein and animal fats with an increased risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

More concern over carnivorous diets has been voiced by doctors who worry that the low-carb diet might endanger the unborn, by discouraging women from eating fortified grain products as well as fruit and vegetables - foods which contain folic acid, a key nutrient for avoiding birth defects. Of course, you won't need to worry about birth defects if your high-protein diet prevents you from getting pregnant in the first place, as we discussed in a recent Dole TV video on reproductive health.

We summed up much of this information in our Health & Wellness brochure on Carb Confusion, though no one is more eloquent on the subject than Dr. Dean Ornish, who dished diets with us in an exclusive interview (also check out our video version).

Kids undergoing chemotherapy for the most common form of childhood cancer, leukemia, might fare better during treatment if they dosed their diet with antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Columbia University researchers found that chemo causes kids' blood levels of certain antioxidants to dip during treatment - yet those children with highest concentrations of vitamins A, E and carotenoids tend to have fewer infections, reduced toxicity and improved quality of life.

Authors of the study published in the April 2005 issue of Pediatric Blood and Cancer emphasized the importance of deriving essential nutrients from fruits and vegetables - rather than from popping pills. Columbia's Dr. Kara M. Kelly said "It's not like we can say, 'Take a supplement and it will take care of these side effects'...we really need to focus on improving the children's diet...to get them to eat more fruits and vegetables. That way you're going to get a more balanced mix of antioxidants, which may help to minimize some of the side effects of therapy." Here's how:

Vitamin A/Total Carotenoids: Top sources include kale, spinach, pumpkin, collards, butternut squash and sweet potatoes

Vitamin E: Top sources include almonds, sunflower seeds, red bell peppers, chicory, soybean oil

For mothers who want to help reduce their child's chances of developing leukemia in the first place, regular consumption of oranges and/or bananas in the first two years of life have been found to provide protective benefits, while eating fruits and vegetables during pregnancy may also play a role.

I will be the first to admit I have avoided microwaving my food in plastic containers because of warnings making their way around the web - such as one hoax e-mail attributed to Johns Hopkins University about the threat of plastic leaching dioxins. We looked under the lid of such claims and came to some surprising conclusions.

As explored in previous DNNs, dioxins are harmful toxins created by natural and industrial combustion. They're not created by microwaving plastic containers or wraps. "This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastic," says Rolf Halden, PhD, whose credentials with Johns Hopkins (unlike the counterfeit e-mail) are genuine. Similar sentiments are voiced by Kristina Paquette of the FDA: "We are not aware of any plastics that yield dioxin as a breakdown product, absolutely none."

The e-mail alarms also fingered phthalates - chemical compounds that make plastic flexible. While the research on phthalates' potential health risks is mixed, the question is moot: the vast majority of plastic wraps and containers no longer contain such plasticizers, as most manufacturers discontinued their use years ago.

That said, microwaves are powerful machines which can be dangerous if not used properly. If you want to be on the safe side, here are some tips for microwaving your food safely:

* To make sure your wrap contains no plasticizers, choose polyethylene wraps (like Saran or Glad Cling).

* Don't let the wrap touch your food while heating.

* Use "microwave-safe" containers - don't cheat by using old margarine tubs or yogurt containers.

* Follow the "one minute rule" to tell if a dish is "microwave-safe": use it to microwave one cup of water for one minute. If the dish gets hot, it ain't cool to use.

* Another reason to cut fat: it absorbs and stores dioxins and phthalates more readily than non-fatty foods.

For more simple guidelines on microwave safety, click here.

DNI: What is cellulite?

HM: Cellulite is actually a skin condition, not a fat condition, in which the skin has deteriorated to the point that fat cells are able to migrate up to the middle layer of skin and show through the surface causing the cottage cheese look. I've known people who have had liposuction, removed every bit of fat, and they still have cellulite. I have known people who are size 2 or size 22 who have cellulite and people who are size 2 or size 22 who do not have cellulite.

DNI: Does cellulite only affect certain body types?

HM: Cellulite affects only women. Truly about 90% of all women have it and there are a couple of different stages. Stage I is barely visible so people may not even know they have it and stage IV is so bad that it's painful to sit down.

DNI: So how did you create the cellulite solution?

HM: The first thing was understanding the water principle. The "Water Principle" is that regardless of what causes aging or what causes disease, there is one common factor and that is we have less water in our tissues as we grow older. An infant has a body weight of about 75 percent water and an adult could be as low as 45 to 50 percent, 60 percent at the most. So we could define "life" itself as containing water and we could define "disease and aging" as containing less water.

The problem occurs when our cells become damaged, cell membranes become porous and they cannot retain the water we consume. The idea is to repair those cells with food that can attract water and make us healthier.

I also learned a lot from my patients. For example, in areas with cellulite, the skin was colder than in other areas, meaning there was some sort of circulation problem. Also, there was bruising there, which again suggests some sort of damage to the circulation. So the concept was to do things that could strengthen the vascular structure in the cellulite-prone areas along with encouraging collagen production.

DNI: Can our diet help with cellulite? If so, what are some of the key nutrients our body needs to rebuild, rehydrate, and revitalize our skin?

HM: There are many foods that help combat cellulite. Based on the water principle it is important to attract water into the cells. Foods that are rich in lecithin, such as soy, spinach, and tomatoes are very important because that's what the cell membrane is made of. So lecithin can help the body absorb and retain the water that we drink.

We also need essential fatty acids, which come from nuts, seeds, olive oil, canola oil, and things like that. Essential fatty acids attract and reintroduce water into the connective tissue.

DNI: What about trace minerals and B vitamins? Why are those important?

HM: These nutrients are important to manufacture collagen and elastin, which is critical for cellulite reduction because they're the components of skin that have been damaged. You also need amino acids which can come from nuts, seeds and various beans.

DNI: Are there any other foods that can help fight cellulite?

HM: One of the most important foods we need are fruits and vegetables, the more colorful the better. There are two main reasons they are vital: 1) they have antioxidants and anti-inflammatories that help protect your skin cells, 2) the water that is in raw fruits and vegetables is what we call structured water. This is water that your body can absorb into the cells much better than simply drinking tap water or bottled water. So, to combat cellulite, it's better to eat a pineapple or a banana than to have a glass of water.

DNI: Are there foods that we should avoid to prevent cellulite?

HM: Foods to avoid are any fried foods because those can damage your cells by causing inflammation. Foods that are high in animal fats can also be a problem.

DNI: Are there any topical treatments that can help cellulite?

HM: Yes, there are some topical treatments that can help cellulite. One of them, believe it or not, is cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper stimulates circulation, and as we know, circulation is impaired in cellulite-prone areas.

DNI: But the bottom line is that it's all about nutrition, right?

HM: Correct.The most important thing to fight cellulite is nutrition. As I always say, before there was medicine, there was food - and the right foods in the right proportion can make a dramatic difference, not only with cellulite, but in every other aspect of your life.

DNI: Thank you.

To learn more about Dr. Murad's program for losing lumps, bumps, dimples and stretch marks check out The Cellulite Solution - or visit www.murad.com