If you ate chocolate on Valentine’s Day, I have some news for you. You don’t have to feel guilty.

In fact, I have evidence that you may have cut your risk from dying of a stroke nearly in half.

Two studies give us great news about chocolate.

The first study found that people who ate one serving of chocolate per week were 22% less likely to have a stroke.₁

The second study found that people who ate 50 grams of chocolate once a week were 46% less likely to die following a stroke than those who didn’t eat chocolate.₂

About 80% of strokes occur when there isn’t enough blood getting to the brain.₃ Your brain is starved of oxygen and nutrients and begins to die immediately.

Chocolate helps to counteract that in two ways. It’s rich in antioxidants and helps to increase circulation.

You may get a rush of pleasure when you bite into a piece of chocolate. But chocolate gives you more than instant gratification. Chocolate is filled with antioxidants called flavonoids. Flavonoids protect the body.

Flavonoids fight silent inflammation, which is the leading cause of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia, and many others.₄

You can find flavonoids in vegetables, tea, and red wine, but cocoa has more flavonoids.₅ In fact, dark chocolate contains up to four times the antioxidants found in tea.₆

But that’s not all this Valentine’s Day treat can do.

The flavonol-rich cocoa in chocolate is also a vasodilator.₇ It widens blood vessels so circulation is improved. This brings an increased blood flow to the brain. It helps to lower blood pressure and improve heart function. Vasodilators like the cocoa in chocolate also help to increase circulation to sexual organs so they’re ready to respond when you are.

No wonder the scientific name for cocoa translates to “food of the gods.”

When you’re looking for a good source of chocolate, keep this in mind:

• Look for chocolate that contains 70% or more cocoa. This is the ingredient that contains health benefits.
• Check how much sugar is added to the chocolate you choose. Keep it as low as possible. But choose sugar over artificial sweeteners or chocolate labeled “sugar free.”
• Beware of other chemicals in the chocolate. Choose a brand that has pure ingredients and no chemical additives.
• Make chocolate your special treat of choice once a week.
• You can find good quality chocolate at a health-food store. More and more it’s finding its way into grocery and drug stores. Read the label to be sure of the quality and content.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. “Can Chocolate Lower Your Risk of Stroke?” American Academy of Neurology. www.aan.com. Accessed 02 2010.
2. Ibid.
3. “Causes of Strokes.” http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stroke/DS00150/DSECTION=causes.
4. Wang, J.F., Schramm, D. D., et al. “A Dose-Response Effect from Chocolate Consumption on Plasma Epicatechin and Oxidative Damage,” Journal of Nutrition. 2000;130:2115S-2119S.
5. Ki Won Lee, KW., Kim, YJ., et al. “Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine” J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003; 51(25):7292–7295.
6. I.Arts, P.Hollman, D.Kromhout “Chocolate as a source of tea flavonoids,” The Lancet. 354; (9177): 488-488.
7. Fisher, N., Hughes, M., et al. “Flavanol-rich cocoa induces nitric-oxide-dependent vasodilation in healthy humans,” Journal of Hypertension: 2003. 21; (12):2281-2286.

Have you seen the TV commercial? The one where the guy isn’t getting results from one antidepressant, so he’s taking two?

Doctors hand out these drugs like candy.

When I started my practice, this was pretty rare. By the 90s, everyone was on Prozac. Today, patients walk in on two or three antidepressants. And a lot of the times, they’re on other addictive drugs, too.

This is a disturbing trend. We don’t really know what the dangers are when you mix these drugs.

An article in The Archives of General Psychiatry found that doctors today prescribe two or more drugs more often than a decade ago. And, in nine years’ time, the average number of meds per visit rose by over 40%.₁

It’s great for business if you’re a psychiatrist. It keeps patients coming back for more.

But no one knows for sure how they interact. The few studies that are published show there are serious side effects.₂

Take a look at the problems you face if you take just one antidepressant:

1. Addiction: You get withdrawals if you stop. Symptoms include depression and anxiety worse than the original depression.₃

2. Stroke: A major study shows women taking antidepressants are 45% more likely to have a stroke. They are 32% more likely to die of any cause.₄

3. Suicide: In 2003 and again in 2004, the FDA issued a health warning about suicide risk for children and adults taking psychiatric drugs.₅

4. Pregnancy complications: Pregnant women and unborn children may suffer complications and birth defects.₆

5. Motor skill impairment: You can develop permanent body movement disorders. Some lead to Parkinson’s disease.₇ And you can cause a car accident. Up to 15% of accidents are caused by someone taking these drugs.₈

6. Other side effects: Sexual side effects are common. So are weight gain, nausea, and diarrhea.

Now multiply these reactions by two or three, depending on how many different drugs you’re on. And that doesn’t even take into consideration what else might happen when these chemicals are combined. It’s enough to make anyone depressed!

Get back to basics. If you’re on antidepressants, talk to your doctor about weaning off of them under supervision. Then make positive changes in your life:

Step 1: Get some exercise. Regular exercise is an effective stress buster and mood elevator. It releases serotonin – the “feel good hormone” – in your brain.

Step 2: Eat a primal diet. Processed foods are filled with chemicals that affect hormones, brain function, and mood. Choose fresh and natural instead. Protein contains amino acids, which feed the brain and regulate emotions. Skip sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. They cause mood swings, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

Step 3: Go out in the sunshine. Use vitamin D as your natural antidepressant. Ten minutes in the sun a day gives you a whopping 10,000 IU and a sunny disposition.

Step 4: Take a multivitamin. And make sure you get enough B vitamins and minerals like magnesium and Omega-3s. These are important depression fighters.

If you’re still not getting enough relief, take a look at St John’s Wort. It’s a common flowering plant that’s proven to work just as well as a prescription with none of the side effects.₉ It’s best to check with your doctor and take it under supervision.

SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) is another. It’s been used in Europe to treat depression for over 20 years.₁₀ You can get SAMe at your local health-food store. I recommend you take 200 mg a day to start. If after two weeks you’re not seeing considerable improvement, increase to 400 mg.

Two more supplements you might try are Relora and 5-HTP. Relora is made from two plants that have been used in Chinese medicine for 1,500 years. It rivals benzodiazapenes, but doesn’t make you sleepy.₁₁

5-HTP (5-hydoxytryptophan) converts to serotonin, a feel-good chemical in the brain. Start by taking the minimum dose and work up slowly, 20 to 50 mg a day.₁₂

For some people, hormones may be the cause. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman. A low testosterone level means fatigue, low energy, and depression. Estrogen and progesterone imbalances can do the same. Get your hormone levels tested. If your doctor finds an imbalance, consider natural hormone replacement therapy.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. “National trends in Psychotropic Medication Polypharmacy in Office-Based Psychiatry.” Archives of General Psychiatry. Jan 2010.
2. Nemeroff, CB., DeVane, CL., Pollock, BG. “Newer antidepressants and the cytochrome P450 system.” Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:311-320
3. Disalver, S., Greden, J., Snider, R. “Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndromes: Phenomenology and Pathology.” January 1987:2 (1).
4. Smoller J., Allison, M. et al. “Antidepressant Use and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality Among Postmenopausal Women in the Women’s Health Initiative Study.” Arch Intern Med, 2009; 169 (22): 2128-2139.
5. FDA Public Health Advisory: REPORTS OF SUICIDALITY IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS BEING TREATED WITH ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATIONS FOR MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER (MDD). October 27, 2003.
6. Pharmacologic management of psychiatric illness during pregnancy: dilemmas and guidelines. Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:592-606.
7. Caley CF. “Extrapyramidal reactions and the selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors.” Ann Pharmacother. 1997 Dec;31(12):1481-9.
8. Eleanor Kibrick and Reginald G. Smart, “Psychotropic Drug Use and Driving Risk.” Can Fam Physician. 1972 October; 18(10): 47–52.
9. Linde K, et al. “St John’s wort for major depression.” Cochrane Reviews. 2008. 4:CD000448.
10. Roberto Delle Chiaie, Paolo Pancheri, and Pierluigi Scapicchio, “Efficacy and tolerability of oral and intramuscular S-adenosyl- L-methionine 1,4-butanedisulfonate (SAMe) in the treatment of major depression: comparison with imipramine in 2 ulticenter studies,” Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Nov 2002; 76: 1172S – 1176S.
11. Douglas S Kalman, Samantha Feldman, Robert Feldman. Effect of a proprietary Magnolia and Phellodendron extract on stress levels in healthy women: a pilot, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. 21 April 2008 Nutrition Journal 2008.
12. Shaw K, Turner J, Del Mar C. “Tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan for depression.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(1):CD003198.

People love this stuff, so in case you missed this…

I have something that will electrify you… It’s even better than coffee.

When I was hiking through the Amazon Rain Forest last year, I had a first-hand experience with a remarkable healing herb.

This rain forest herb gives you lasting energy – without the crash.

Sacred to the nearby Guarani tribe, it was literally a gift  the gods. According to tribal folklore, the Indians of the Amazon River Basin have been using it to prevent fatigue and increase physical endurance since before recorded history.

I took it in the early morning before we hit the trail. After 18 hours through the jungles of Peru my mind was crystal clear and I had no feeling of fatigue. Looking back, I had covered 15 miles of rugged terrain without feeling tired or worn out.

I realized that combining this ancient herb with cutting edge brain nutrients would create a powerful new formula. Not only would it give you more energy without crashing, it would help your memory too.

But the story gets better… After I got home, I started putting the pieces together. Working nights and weekends I had a trial formula within the first six weeks. Using myself as a test subject, I gave it a try.

Right  the start I knew I was on to something. I tapped into a deep source of mental energy, heightened memory and a laser-like focus throughout the day.

All the individual components of my formula are backed up by modern clinical studies. And now for the first time, you can feel the startling results for yourself.

Here’s how it works.

Better Than Coffee: Kick Start Your Morning Without Feeling Nervous or Jittery

The Amazon herb that kept me alert yet relaxed comes  a seed called Paullina cupana. The active compound is guaranine, a member of the caffeine family. But unlike regular caffeine, it’s full of healthy fatty acids.

The good fat gives guaranine a slow release. Its effect will gradually increase over a period of hours. It doesn’t pick you up and throw you down like quick release caffeine. There’s no crash with this stuff… and you don’t get any of the nervous, jittery energy you do with caffeine.

Caffeine gets a bad rap sometimes but it’s the most widely used drug in the world. And it’s a proven mental performance booster. The studies number in the hundreds. One published in Neurology found that three cups of coffee a day cuts your risk of mental decline by over 50%.₁

But there’s a catch. Coffee gives you a short burst of energy, but overheats and excites your body. Guaranine has a cooling action that revitalizes and relaxes. The end result is more beneficial to your body. You get all the energy and alertness but remain calm, cool and collected.

A team of Brazilian scientists studied the effects on rats. Their results were not surprising. Guaranine increased their physical activity, increased their physical endurance under stress and improved their memory.₂

But like I said, the story gets even better…

Better Than Coffee: Give Your Brain the Power of Total Recall and Extreme Alertness

The effect of the Paullina cupana seed was amazing. It gave the endurance to trek through the Amazon and left me with a wonderful feeling of clarity. But I was starting to see the bigger picture.

The Rain Forest herb works its magic by releasing acetylcholine in your brain. Acetyl-choline is a neurotransmitter. It’s the brain chemical that lets your nerve cells fire through the synapse or gap that exists between the trillions of neurons in your brain.

If you have lots of acetylcholine, your mind is sharp and your memory is clear. When you drink coffee in the morning, the release of acetylcholine gives you the buzz that gets you going.

But there’s a problem… coffee will burn you out because it depletes your reserve of acetylcholine. Guaranine is slow acting with none of the caffeine side effects but it works in the same way. Eventually you lose your reserve of acetylcholine.

But if you trigger a release of acetylcholine and then rebuild your reserves you can sustain the amazing rush of clarity over the long term.

That’s the Realization I Had While Hiking Through the Forest…

I knew I could get the best of both worlds if I combined guaranine with powerful brain nutrients. One of them is choline, the building block required for the synthesis of acetylcholine. Introduce choline into the mix and you give your body the ability to manufacture this incredibly powerful neurotransmitter.

When you combine choline and guaranine you get a bigger release of acetylcholine – even more than taking guaranine on its own. That’s what gives you the feeling of energy and mental power. But instead of depleting your reserves and burning out, you build them up.

That means you can take my formula every day and get the same effect every time.

Getting More Choline Is Essential –Your Brain Needs It for Thinking and Remembering

Your brain has a huge appetite for choline. It’s the primary building block for acetylcholine. You burn it up 24/7 as your brain uses it to maintain clear communication between trillions of neurons.

You need it for all the basics like thought, memory and sleep. It even controls how you move. Your muscles receive commands  your brain via acetylcholine. That means your sense of balance and stability is controlled by this key transmitter.

Like many nutrients, your supply of choline drops as you get older. As this happens, you can expect some or all of these symptoms:

• Poor recall and memory loss
• Fatigue or lack of energy
• Brain fog and/or a sense of confusion
• Problems falling asleep, tossing and turning
• Unable to catch on, or learn new things
• Feeling distracted or irritable
• Walking with a wobbly or shaky gait, unable to stay balanced

Better Than Coffee: When Your Brain Doesn’t Get Enough Choline

It Starts to Destroy Itself…

To survive, your body will scavenge materials  other sources when it can’t get enough  its main supplier. When choline levels drop off, your brain goes on a scavenger hunt and extracts choline  nerve cell membranes. This last resort is called “auto-cannibalism” and it’s very dangerous.

In the short term, your brain will use this technique to keep your memory and other functions up and running. But in the long run, your nerve cells end up badly damaged. It’s not surprising that Alzheimer’s patients have very low levels of acetylcholine. As the disease progresses, it’s the choline neurons that show the most damage.

In the graph below, you can see how the nutrients DMAE and choline turn into the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine. DMAE is another powerful brain nutrient I will tell you about a little later. It’s also in my formula. First, I want you to see the direct connection choline has to its end product acetylcholine.

As you can see, choline is one small step away  acetylcholine. Put more choline into your body and your brain gets more of the neurotransmitter that keeps your mind alert and your memory fresh.

Clinical Studies Prove Connection Between Choline and Memory

It’s very possible you’ve never heard of choline. Most people haven’t. But it’s one of the most important nutrients on the planet. And it’s well researched. There are dozens of studies testing both animals and humans.

Here are just a few:

• Researchers who gave rats a choline supplement found they developed a sharper and longer memory than rats that didn’t have extra choline. On day one, both groups of rats were performing their tasks successfully. This included avoiding electric shock as they moved through a maze.

On day two, the rats that didn’t have the extra choline forgot about the electric shock and got zapped. But the rats that had the extra choline remembered the booby traps and successfully avoided getting shocked.₃

• In a human study, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago tested people with a choline deficiency. They gave them a series of memory tests and found below average scores. In the next stage, they divided the same people into two groups. One group received extra choline, the other didn’t.

After 24 weeks, both groups repeated the memory tests. Not surprisingly, the group with the extra choline performed with flying colors and their results showed a dramatic improvement over the first round. The group that received no extra choline performed poorly. Their results showed no improvement over the first round.4

Better Than Coffee: Burn Through Your Crossword with Lightning Speed…

My unique blend of choline and guaranine is like rocket fuel for your brain. Not only does it give you a better boost than your morning cup of coffee, it gives you the clarity of a mental giant.

You’ll notice the lift right away. If you do crosswords you’ll finish them in a fraction of the time. Things like organization, recall and comprehension just fall into place.

When you read something, you “get it.” When someone is explaining something, you understand what they’re getting at before they even get to the point. You move into a feeling of extreme alertness. You’re aware of everything and it’s all so clear.

The processing speed of your brain gets a twin-turbo boost. It’s like stepping up to one of those super-computers NASA uses for space flight.

One of the experiences I appreciate most is the “alert but calm” feeling. Your mind can relax and let go. Your focus becomes almost laser like. And it lasts throughout the day. It’s not a short-lived spike like coffee or other caffeine drinks.

I could have stopped there… choline and guaranine are enough to repair and rejuvenate your aging brain. But there’s another key brain booster essential to my formula.

Better Than Coffee: This Nutrient Works So Well It Even Caught the Attention of the Bumbling Bureaucrats at the FDA…

A little earlier I mentioned DMAE. It’s a natural, brain-stimulating nutrient found in anchovies, sardines and other fish. Studies show it increases levels of acetylcholine. As you know, acetylcholine is critical for learning and memory.₅

I’ve been following the story of DMAE for decades. It works so well the FDA finally took notice and planned to approve it to treat learning problems, behavioral problems and impaired motor conditions associated with a variety of diseases – even aging.

So what happened? The FDA discontinued it in the late 1970s after the manufacturer didn’t agree to the expensive retesting required. Since the manufacturer wouldn’t pay, the FDA dropped DMAE like a hot potato in exchange for Ritalin® and Alzheimer’s drugs.

What a shame. Unlike prescription drugs, DMAE provides a safe and non-addictive solution to a variety of cognitive and behavioral problems.

I already pointed out the connection between the mental decline of Alzheimer’s and the loss of acetylcholine. In part the disease is due to the loss of brain cells that produce acetylcholine. DMAE replaces this chemical naturally and can ease symptoms.₆

DMAE can also temper mood and ease behavioral and learning problems. In one study, 50 hyperactive kids showed improvement in just 10 weeks.₇ In another study, children with learning disabilities did better in concentration and skill tests with this nutrient.₈ And there were no side effects like jumpiness, or an increase in heart rate and blood pressure like with drugs.₉

It’s easy to see why I added DMAE to my formula. It’s one of the best memory boosters available. In combination with choline and guaranine, it’s unbeatable. It has a synergistic quality that makes the three ingredients more than the sum of their parts.

Clinical studies show DMAE can:₁₀

• Boost IQ
• Accelerate mental speed and your ability to process thoughts and ideas
• Improve your concentration and eliminate early morning “fogginess”
• Relieve the symptoms of mild depression
• Decrease irritability and over activity
• Increase attention without causing drowsiness

Eliminate Your Biggest Risk Factors for Heart Attack and Stroke

There’s one more thing you need to know about this formula… It has a very unique and clinically proven “side effect”: Your risk of heart attack and stroke plummets.

How is this possible?

Boosting the level of choline in your blood has a powerful effect on homocysteine and C-reactive protein (CRP). If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably heard about these powerful markers. They are both better predictors of heart attack and stroke than anything else – including cholesterol.

Homocysteine is not only a predictor, but also an initiator of cardiac events. It irritates the lining of blood vessels. Excess homocysteine inhibits blood vessels  dilating. This decreases blood flow at critical times of stress. Inadequate blood flow to the heart causes heart attacks. Inadequate blood flow to the brain causes strokes.

Your body produces C-reactive protein as part of its overall defense. When part of your body is injured, it sends signals to the rest of your body for help. Your immune system then sends out white blood cells and inflammatory molecules including CRP to the injured area.

Once there, the defense cells try to fix damaged areas and fight off the intruder. But this defensive response causes inflammation. The inflammatory response needs energy in the form of oxidative “fire” which can damage surrounding tissues. Inflammation of blood vessel cells is the major process leading to heart disease.

Spikes in CRP levels are an early sign of inflammation in your body. That’s why CRP is such a good indicator. We can detect hidden heart disease using CRP levels better than with cholesterol levels.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a massive study on CRP. Almost 28,000 people participated in the trial. Researchers tried to predict cardiac events like heart attack and stroke by looking at LDL cholesterol and CRP levels in the blood. They found that CRP predicted cardiac events better than LDL cholesterol.₁₁

Here’s the good news: The choline in my formula brings down your levels of both homocysteine and CRP. As the level of these markers drop, so does your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Here are a few of the studies that back this up:

• An experiment published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed two groups of men. One group ate a diet with no choline. The other group took a choline supplement. The men with no choline saw a steep rise in homocysteine. After just 10 days, their homocysteine went up by 35%.₁₂
• Researchers discovered that people who consume higher amounts of choline have lower levels of homocysteine and CRP. The study followed two groups of people. One group averaged less than 250-mg of choline a day. The other group averaged more than 310-mg of choline a day. The group who averaged above 310-mg saw their CRP drop by 22%.₁₃

Not only does choline ramp up your mental energy and protect your memory, it helps wipe out the two predictors of coming disaster.

Here’s Another Mental Boost: Confidence

If this is the first time you’ve heard about choline, you may be surprised to hear it does so much. But once you feel the results for yourself you’ll understand.

After taking my choline formula, many of my patients tell me they feel more confident about the future. Instead of sitting around the house worrying about what might happen, they feel like they’re back in the driver’s seat. That’s what happens when you have real options.

Knowledge is power. But I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes you feel like you’re being kept in the dark. Many doctors make their patients feel like children or fools. Or both. They hand out prescriptions and give you an attitude if you ask questions. I’ve always believed real medicine is about empowerment. Not secrecy.

With this blend of super nutrients, you have the power to keep your mind clear and strong as you age. It keeps your brain young and well fed. And when it’s working in peak condition your risk of problems drop dramatically.

Greet the Morning with a Clear Head and a Warm Smile

Since I’ve been using my choline formula I haven’t touched a cup of coffee. I don’t need to. The feeling of “awakeness” I get is far better than anything  Starbucks.

And the effect lasts all day.

To get your own taste of clarity, go here now.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

P.S. – As always, you’re protected by my personal unconditional guarantee. You can try out my new formula without taking any risk. When it arrives in your mailbox, take it inside and open it up. Use it. Get down to the bottom of the barrel and if it’s not for you just let me know. You’ll get back every dime. (Try doing that at your local vitamin store…)

1. Ritchie, K., et al. The neuroprotective effects of caffeine: A prospective study (the Three City Study). Neurology 69. 2007 Aug 7:536-545.
2. Espinola EB, et al. Pharmacological activity of Paullina cupana in laboratory animals. J Ethnopharmacol. 1997 Feb;55(3):223-9.
3. Gossell-Williams M, et al. Choline supplementation facilitates short-term memory consolidation into intermediate long-term memory of rats. West Indian Med J. 2006 Jan;55(1):4-8.
4. Buchman AL, et al. Verbal and visual memory improve after choline supplementation. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2001 Jan-Feb;25(1):30-5.
5. Dean Ward M.D. ‘Anti-Aging Nutrient Review and Update Part 4: DMAE Cognitive-Enhancing, Life Extending Nutrient’ Vitamin Research News, September 2004, Vol. 18, Number 8, p. 1-4.
6. Ferris SH, Sathananthan G, Gershon S, Clark C. Senile dementia: treatment with deanol. J Am Geriatr Soc 1977; 25:241-4.
7. Coleman N., Dexheimer P., Dintascio A. Redman W. And Finnerty R., ‘Deanol in the treatment of hyperkinetic children’, Psychosomatics 1976, 17:68-72.
8. Geller S. J., ‘Comparison of a tranquilizer and a psychic energizer’ JAMA 1960, 174:89-92
9. Oettinger L., ‘The use of Deanol in the treatment of disorders of behavior in children. J Pediat 1958, 53:761-675.
10. Ibid.
11. Ridker P., et al. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. NEJM 2002 Nov 14; 347(20): 1557-1565
12. Choline deficiency in mice and humans is associated with increased homocysteine concentration. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Feb;81(2): 440-444.
13. Detopoulou P, et al. Dietary choline intakes in relation to concentrations of inflammatory markers: the ATTICA study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Feb;87(2):424-30.

This past holiday season, I had a few patients come to me after taking antidepressants.

The drugs weren’t doing anything for them. This is something I see all too often.

Antidepressants are prescribed for everything under the sun. Many times for symptoms that don’t even fall under the prescription guidelines.

But it’s big business. In a recent study, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that antidepressant drugs are the most prescribed drug in America.₁

Unfortunately, they rarely work. In fact, they can do more harm than good.

A study, known as the Woman’s Health Initiative, followed 136,000 women aged 50 to 79.

Researchers found that the women taking antidepressants were 45 percent more likely to experience stroke, and 32 percent more likely to die overall.₂

I’m never surprised by findings like this.

Antidepressant drugs have been linked to several negative side effects in the past, including birth defects in pregnant women and increased suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

What’s more, if you’re already on antidepressants and stop taking them, chances are you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms. Ironically, these can include depression and anxiety.

And get this – when you experience depression as a withdrawal symptom, it’s usually worse than the depression that originally caused the need for the drug in the first place!₃

The benefits antidepressants provide simply don’t outweigh their risks.

I always tell my patients they need to ditch the drugs and start making real changes in their life.

If you’re not already, start exercising. Get your heart rate up. This makes your body release serotonin – the “feel good hormone” – and your mood will improve.

Avoid heavily processed foods. They’re laden with chemicals that can cause hormonal imbalances and leave you feeling less than stellar. Also, avoid alcohol or limit your consumption. It’s a depressant and will only intensify your feelings of depression.

Finally, you can also try any one of these three safe, all-natural “depression busters”:

St. John’s Wort – This common flowering plant is just as effective as prescription drugs when it comes to improving your mood. It’s also safer. German researchers found that those who took St. John’s wort for 4 to 12 weeks felt just as good as those taking prescription drugs for the same period of time.4 Even though this alternative is far safer, make sure to take it with medical supervision. St. John’s wort is chemically active and can have an impact on your body – especially if you’re taking other medications. Check with your doctor first.

SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) – For over 20 years, SAMe has been widely used in Europe to treat depression. And in 2002, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study that confirmed its efficacy. The study gave one group of people SAMe and the other the antidepressant imipramine for 6 weeks. Both groups reported the same amount of improvement in mood. Better yet, the SAMe group also reported significantly less side effects.₅ You can get SAMe at your local health-food store. I recommend you take 200mg a day to start. If after two weeks you’re not seeing considerable improvement, increase to 400mg.

Testosterone – It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman. Low testosterone levels can mean fatigue, low energy, and overall feelings of depression. Get your hormone levels tested. If your doctor finds an imbalance, consider natural hormone replacement therapy. If you’re interested in having your testosterone measured, you can become a patient at my Florida clinic by calling Gigi at 561-784-7852.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/09/antidepressants/index.html
2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6809697/Antidepressants-linked-to-increased-stroke-risk.html
3. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/medications_depression.htm
4. Linde K, et al. “St John’s wort for major depression.” Cochrane Reviews. 2008. 4:CD000448.
5. Roberto Delle Chiaie, Paolo Pancheri, and Pierluigi Scapicchio, “Efficacy and tolerability of oral and intramuscular S-adenosyl- L-methionine 1,4-butanedisulfonate (SAMe) in the treatment of major depression: comparison with imipramine in 2 ulticenter studies”, Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Nov 2002; 76: 1172S – 1176S.

The 12-year study found that people with the lowest leptin levels were approximately four times more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than people with the highest levels.

This raises the possibility that leptin may have a protective role in the brain and may even be a contributing factor to memory.

So, what is leptin and how do you get some of it?

The word “leptin” comes from the Greek word leptos, which means “thin.” Leptin is a hormone (made primarily in fat cells) that regulates the way your body uses energy. Your appetite, your metabolism, and whether or not you store fat on your body all are affected by leptin.

It’s a delicate balance. As you begin to store fat, leptin is released, signaling you to eat less.

• If you starve yourself, your body produces less leptin, so you have less control to stop eating.
• If you eat too much and become too overweight, it sets up inflammation in your body, and you become leptin-resistant – which also means you have less control to stop eating.

Now, for just a moment, consider another recent study that looked at obesity and dementia over the course of 36 years and found three times the risk of developing dementia if you were obese! And the bigger your waistline, the bigger the risk!₃

So what does this mean to you?

The best way to increase and maintain your leptin levels is to avoid the root cause of leptin resistance: inflammation.

Chronic inflammation prevents leptin from crossing the blood-brain barrier. That means leptin has no communication with the part of the brain that controls weight gain and cognitive function. This lack of communication in the brain is what sets up obesity and dementia.

The worst offenders include sugar, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils, and farm-raised fish, especially salmon.

So stay away from high-fructose corn syrup, processed foods, and fried foods. And eat only wild-caught fish.

You can also follow a low-inflammation diet.

It’s easier than you think. You can often tell if a food is inflammatory by the effect it has on your breathing.

A Stuffy Nose Can Tell You
Which Foods to Avoid

Ever had a crème-filed donut or pizza and soda – only to find that a few minutes later it’s harder to breathe through your nose? That’s probably evidence of an immediate inflammation response.

The tissue and blood vessels in your nose are very sensitive, so it’s easy to tell when a certain food triggers that kind of inflammation. But when inflammation happens elsewhere in your body over time, the symptoms may be harder to pinpoint – and their results can be more severe – like the leptin resistance that leads to obesity and Alzheimer’s.

Your cells make both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory chemicals. How much of the various compounds are produced depends a lot on the foods you eat.

Certain foods lead your body to produce more compounds that are inflammatory. Other foods lead your body to generate anti-inflammatory compounds. When you know which foods are which, you can use this to your advantage.

The IF (Inflammation Factor) Rating system is a tool created by noted nutritional researcher Monica Reinagel. This system, which evaluates 20 different nutritional factors that have an impact on inflammation, makes it easy to stay on an anti-inflammatory diet.

Foods with a negative rating are inflammatory, and foods with a positive rating are anti-inflammatory. The higher the number, the stronger the effect.

The following table shows some of the best-rated foods:

1. Dementia” accessed 12/23/09 http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9090
2. Lieb, W., Beiser, A. “Association of Plasma Leptin Levels With Incident Alzheimer Disease and MRI Measures of Brain Aging.” JAMA. 2009;302(23):2565-2572.
3. Whitmer, R. A., Gustafson, D. R., et. al. “Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later” NEUROLOGY 2008;71:1057-1064

Did you ever hear that suicides increase on Christmas? Well, how about some good news? It’s just not true. I looked it up in every database I could find. And, well … it’s a myth.

But it is true that when Christmas rolls around, and the days are shorter, your bodily rhythms get out of kilter, and you may experience Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD syndrome. SAD is what we used to call the “winter blues.” Even here in sunny Florida, the days aren’t quite as bright or as long, and we start feeling the effects.

The thing about SAD is you may not even know you have it. You just know you feel a little down. And the added stress of the holidays can add to the problem.

Don’t count on your doctor to recognize it either. Your symptoms may not be severe enough to fall into the “official” standards, so they may be downplayed or go completely unaddressed.₁

The good news is you don’t need to fall into an official category to feel better. Taking a simple mineral can be a big help.

Lithium orotate is a safe and simple way to help beat the blues.

You may have heard of lithium in medical circles – it’s used to treat mental disorders such as depression and bi-polar disorder. Lithium itself is not a drug; it’s a naturally occurring mineral salt like potassium, and something you need for proper mental and physical health.

But don’t worry… lithium orotate is not the same lithium used to treat bi-polar disorder. It’s a different animal altogether.

The forms of lithium used for treating mental disorders are generally lithium carbonate or lithium citrate. And both have to be handled with kid gloves. That’s because these types of lithium do not readily enter the cells, and patients have to take very high doses to “force” it into their cells. At the same time, these high doses are extremely close to toxic levels and must be used under the close supervision of a physician.

The safe form of lithium – lithium orotate – provides just the right boost for winter blues, or whenever you want to be mentally sharp.₂ It’s much safer than its prescription-strength counterparts, yet it’s just as effective. Because of this, you can get a similar lift on a much lower and completely safe dose.

Lithium orotate differs from the carbonate and citrate forms mainly in the ion it’s bound to. But this tiny distinction makes all the difference in the world where safety is concerned.

The mineral can also improve your spacial memory,₃ increase your brain mass and function (providing excellent “everyday” brain cell protection and re-growth), and alleviate the pain of migraine and cluster headaches, low white blood cell counts, juvenile convulsive disease, alcoholism, and liver disorders. If you suffer from nearsightedness or glaucoma, you may benefit from the slight dehydrating effect of lithium on the eye, which can improve your vision and reduce intraocular pressure.₄

So now there’s no need to take the winter blues lying down.

To keep your brain functioning at peak performance, and maintain an optimistic mood, just take 10 to 20 milligrams of elemental lithium per day. Many lithium supplements contain ₅ milligrams of elemental lithium (be sure to read labels carefully), so you would need two to four tablets or capsules for the correct dose.₅

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

Happy Holidays from all of us at Dr. Sears’ Center for Health & Wellness!

1,3 Barker, Jason E. ND, “Lithium Orotate The Mood-Enhancing Mineral,” Vitamin Research Products, http://www.vrp.com

4,5 Nieper HA. The clinical applications of lithium orotate. A two-year study. Agressologie. 1973;14(6):407-11

3 “Lithium and spatial memory: A new pathway?” Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 2001; 27(1): 845

4 Nieper, H.A. “The clinical application of lithium orotate,” Agressologie 14(6). 407-411, 1973

5 Wright, Jonathan V., “The elements of lithium supplementation,” Nutrition & Healing, http://www.wrightnewsletter.com/etips/ht200812/ht20081210b.html

When I was hiking through the Andes, I saw people chatting on their cell phones. In Kerala, India, I saw fishermen call into shore  their boats to negotiate a price for the day’s catch. They even send pictures!

Cell phones are ubiquitous. Especially in the third world, they give people that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it access to the internet. And in that way, the cell phone is one of the greatest inventions of our time.

But I’m conflicted about the health consequence.

A new study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) warns that many of the new internet phones bombard your brain with dangerous electromagnetic waves.₁

These waves penetrate your skull and can double your risk of a brain tumor.2

Back in 2003, the Food and Drug Administration assured us that cell phones do not cause brain cancer. Unfortunately, they based their study on only three years of cell phone use.

But if you use a cell phone for a decade or more, your risk goes up. Researchers in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom discovered that people who used cell phones for more than 10 years had a significantly higher risk of developing brain tumors.3

Even more alarming is what happens to kids that use cell phones.

Young skulls are less than half the thickness of adults, making it much easier for radio waves to penetrate and damage the brain. Multiple studies show young children absorb more radiation than adults do, putting them at high risk for brain tumors.4

A two-minute call can alter the natural electrical activity in your child’s brain for one hour. Multiply this by the average 2,600 minutes a month your child is on the phone…and you get 22 hours (nearly a day) of unnatural brain activity.

Wireless earpieces and keeping the phone in your pocket are not good options. The earpiece relies on radio waves for transmission – these go into your brain. The phone in your pocket is emitting radio waves straight to your vital organs, especially your genitals.

So what should you do? I for one don’t want to give up my cell phone. And I don’t suggest you give up yours either. But I do take certain steps to limit my radiation exposure.

Here’s are some steps you can take:

• Check what kind of radiation your phone emits. The lower, the better. EWG has an updated list of the best and the worst phones.
• Put your phone in “airplane” mode when you”re in places you can’t (or shouldn’t) use your phone – driving, theaters, meetings, and doctor’s offices. This reduces the number of radiation exposure hours.
• Go “hands-free”. The further away your phone is from your body – the less radiation penetrates you. Twelve inches (one foot) is the closest you should be to your phone.
• Use a wired head set for all calls – make sure the cord is long enough so your phone is at least twelve inches away from you.
• Send text messages instead of calling. Or keep your calls short.
• And possibly the hardest advice of all to implement… limit use of cell phones by your children and teens. I tell my son Dylan to text instead of call. This limits his exposure.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Cell Phone Radiation – Science Review on Cancer Risks and Children’s Health – Environmental Working Group http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation
2. Khurana VG, Teo C, Kundi M, Hardell L, Carlberg M. “Cell phones and brain tumors: a review including the long-term epidemiologic data.” Surg Neurol. 2009 Sep;72(3):205-14
3. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2008; Lahkola 2007
4. deSalles 2006; Gandhi 1996; Kang 2002; Martinez-Burdalo 2004; Wang 2003; Wiart 2008

A new study reveals that healthy kids who take Ritalin have a whopping 500 percent greater risk of sudden death. These aren’t kids with pre-existing heart conditions. The results would have been worse if they were included.

Here’s proof that what you’ve been told for decades – that Ritalin is safe for kids – couldn’t be further from the truth.

Ritalin is a stimulant. It causes the heart to beat faster. And that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Ritalin acts exactly like amphetamines such as crystal meth and cocaine.

In spite of evidence that it could stunt their growth₁, and cause irreversible brain damage₂ and that it is linked to serious cardiovascular events, the FDA remains silent.

Still, the FDA refuses to take action. No new warnings are planned and prescriptions for Ritalin continue to spiral upward.

Objections to the FDA’s sluggishness are even starting to appear in conservative medical journals like JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a recent editorial, they criticized the FDA by saying the FDA is “interpreting the results cautiously.”

Plus, JAMA notes that the FDA funded and approved the design of the study. Only when the results came out did they have a problem with the design of the study. I guess the FDA didn’t like the results their own design produced.

This is the big point for all of us: Doctors hand out Ritalin prescriptions every day. And too often you aren’t told of the dangers.

ADHD is still the most commonly diagnosed disorder in children.

What’s more, studies show that the drugs don’t work. The same study that found Ritalin stunts kids’ growth also found that it has no beneficial effect on behavior over a three-year period.

So what do you do for children who have trouble concentrating, focusing, or calming down? Here are a few easy, safe, and natural ways to bring kids “to attention” without endangering their mental and physical health.

1. Ramp up the amount of omega-3 in their diet. Studies show that many children with ADHD don’t get enough omega-3. Cod liver oil and fish-oil capsules deliver the two kinds of omega-3s the body needs.

You can also get them to eat more lean meats, eggs, and nuts, preferably free-range, grass-fed and organic. These are all great sources of omega-3. I recommend 1,000 mg of omega-3s daily.

2. Pine bark extract is another natural supplement that works. One European study using pycnogenol, an organic compound found in the bark of the French maritime pine tree, showed that after only one month, children’s behavior improved significantly on as little as 1 mg per day.₃

3. Finally, certain naturally occurring amino acids can treat ADHD.

One of them is 5-HTP. It’s a precursor to serotonin, one of the chemicals in the brain that relieves anxiety and depression (popular antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, and Lexapro all boost serotonin levels). I recommend 50 to 100 mg three times per day with meals.

Another is tyrosine. It works like 5-HTP, increasing levels of various chemicals in the brain connected to mood and the ability to concentrate. The optimal dose is 5,000 mg per day for children and up to 10,000 mg per day for adults.

These are natural and safe alternatives that I use in my medical practice every day. They aren’t harmful or addictive, and unlike all those ADHD drugs, they actually work. They are easy to find at health food stores.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Jensen et al, “3-Year Follow-up of the NIMH MTA Study.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2007. 46(8):989-1002.
2. Gray et al, “Methylphenidate Administration to Juvenile Rats Alters Brain Areas Involved in Cognition, Motivated Behaviors, Appetite, and Stress,” Journal of Neuroscience, 2007, 27(27):7196-7207.
3. Trebatická et al, “Treatment of ADHD with French maritime pine bark extract, Pycnogenol.” European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2006. 15(6):329-35.

My alarm is ringing. I headed to the kitchen for a glass of Choline Punch. It gives me more energy than coffee without the jitters, shakes or crashes.

And it fires up my brain, gives me better memory, better recall and focus and concentration.

Choline is the fuel your brain uses to create acetylcholine, the neural transmitters that let your brain cells talk to each other.

Choline is not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

And with the added kick of getting you fired up in the morning, Choline Punch is a sure thing. And it’s safe enough to use every day.

Keep reading. This special report shows you how to get started.

When I was hiking through the Amazon Rainforest last year, I had a first-hand experience with a remarkable healing herb.

Sacred to the nearby Guarani tribe, it was a gift  the gods. According to tribal folklore, the Indians of the Amazon River Basin have been using it to prevent fatigue and increase physical endurance since before recorded history.

I took it in the early morning before we hit the trail. After 18 hours through the jungles of Peru my mind was crystal clear and I had no feeling of fatigue. Looking back, I had covered 15 miles of rugged terrain without feeling tired or worn out.

I realized that combining this ancient herb with cutting-edge brain nutrients would create a powerful new formula. Not only would it give you more energy without crashing, it would help your memory too.*

But the story gets better. After I got home, I started putting the pieces together. Working nights and weekends I had a trial formula within the first six weeks. Using myself as a test subject, I gave it a try.

Right  the start I knew I was on to something. I tapped into a deep source of mental energy, heightened memory and a laser-like focus throughout the day.

All the individual components of my formula are backed up by modern clinical studies. And now for the first time, you can feel the startling results for yourself.

What I discovered during my trek through the Amazon will send your energy to new heights…it has the power to boost your memory and power of recall too.

Here’s how it works.

Kick Start Your Morning without Feeling Nervous or Jittery

The Amazon herb that kept me alert, yet relaxed, comes  a seed called Paullina cupana. The active compound is guaranine, a member of the caffeine family. But unlike regular caffeine, it’s full of healthy fatty acids.

The good fat gives guaranine a slow release. Its effect will gradually increase over a period of hours. It doesn’t pick you up and throw you down like quick release caffeine.

There’s no crash with this stuff… and you don’t get any of the nervous, jittery energy you do with caffeine. Caffeine gets a bad rap sometimes, but it’s the most widely used drug in the world.

And it’s a proven mental performance booster. The studies number in the hundreds. One published in Neurology found that three cups of coffee a day cuts your risk of mental decline by over 50%.1

But there’s a catch. Coffee gives you a short burst of energy, but overheats and excites your body. Guaranine has a cooling action that revitalizes and relaxes. The end result is more beneficial to your body. You get all the energy and alertness but remain calm, cool and collected.*

A team of Brazilian scientists studied the effects on rats. Their results were not surprising. Guaranine increased their physical activity, increased their physical endurance under stress and improved their memory.2*

Give Your Brain the Power of Total Recall and Extreme Alertness

The Paullina cupana seed gave me the endurance to trek through the Amazon and left me with a feeling of clarity. But I was starting to see the bigger picture.

The rainforest herb works its magic by releasing acetylcholine in your brain. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. It’s the brain chemical that lets your nerve cells fire through the synapse or gap that exists between the trillions of neurons in your brain.

If you have lots of acetylcholine, your mind is sharp and your memory is clear. When you drink coffee in the morning, the release of acetylcholine gives you the buzz that gets you going.*

But there’s a problem. Coffee will burn you out because it depletes your reserve of acetylcholine. Guaranine is slow acting with none of the caffeine side effects, but it works in the same way.

Eventually you lose your reserve of acetylcholine.

But if you trigger a release of acetylcholine and then rebuild your reserves, you can sustain the amazing rush of clarity over the long term.*

That’s the Realization I Had While Hiking Through the Forest.

I knew I could get the best of both worlds if I combined guaranine with powerful brain nutrients. One of them is choline, the building block required for the synthesis of acetylcholine. Introduce choline into the mix and you give your body the ability to manufacture this powerful neurotransmitter.

When you combine choline and guaranine you get a bigger release of acetylcholine – even more than taking guaranine on its own. That’s what gives you the feeling of energy and mental power. But instead of depleting your reserves and burning out, you build them up.*

That means you can take my formula every day and get the same effect every time.

Getting More Choline is Essential –

Your Brain Needs it for Thinking and Remembering

Your brain has a huge appetite for choline. It’s the primary building block for acetylcholine. You burn it up 24/7 as your brain uses it to maintain clear communication between trillions of neurons.

You need it for all the basics like thought, memory and sleep. It even controls how you move. Your muscles receive commands  your brain via acetylcholine. That means your sense of balance and stability is controlled by this key transmitter.

Like many nutrients, your supply of choline drops as you get older. As this happens, you can expect some or all of these symptoms:

• Poor recall and memory loss
• Fatigue or lack of energy
• Brain fog and/or a sense of confusion
• Problems falling asleep, tossing and turning
• Unable to catch on, or learn new things
• Feeling distracted or irritable
• Walking with a wobbly or shaky gait, unable to stay balanced

When Your Brain Doesn’t Get Enough Choline It Starts to Destroy Itself.

To survive, your body will scavenge materials  other sources when it can’t get enough from its main supplier. When choline levels drop off, your brain goes on a scavenger hunt and extracts choline from nerve cell membranes. This last resort is called “auto-cannibalism” and it’s very dangerous.

In the short term, your brain will use this technique to keep your memory and other functions up and running. But in the long run, your nerve cells end up badly damaged.

In the graph below, you can see how the nutrients DMAE and choline turn into the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine. DMAE is another powerful brain nutrient I will tell you about a little later. It’s also in my formula. First, I want you to see the direct connection choline has to its end product acetylcholine.

As you can see, choline is one small step away from acetylcholine. Put more choline into your body and your brain gets more of the neurotransmitter that keeps your mind alert and your memory fresh.*

Clinical Studies Prove Connection Between Choline and Memory

It’s very possible you’ve never heard of choline. Most people haven’t. But it’s one of the most important nutrients on the planet. And it’s well researched. There are dozens of studies testing both animals and humans.

Here are just a few:

• Researchers who gave rats a choline supplement found they developed a sharper and longer memory than rats that didn’t have extra choline. On day one, both groups of rats were performing their tasks successfully. This included avoiding electric shock as they moved through a maze. On day two, the rats that didn’t have the extra choline forgot about the electric shock and got zapped. But the rats that had the extra choline remembered the booby traps and successfully avoided getting shocked.3
• In a human study, researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago tested people with a choline deficiency. They gave them a series of memory tests and found below average scores. In the next stage, they divided the same people into two groups. One group received extra choline, the other didn’t.
• After 24 weeks, both groups repeated the memory tests. Not surprisingly, the group with the extra choline performed with flying colors and their results showed a dramatic improvement over the first round. The group that received no extra choline performed poorly. Their results showed no improvement over the first round.4*

Burn Through Your Crossword with Lightning Speed…

My unique blend of choline and guaranine is like rocket fuel for your brain. Not only does it give you a better boost than your morning cup of coffee, it gives you the clarity of a mental giant.

You’ll notice the lift right away. If you do crosswords you’ll finish them in a fraction of the time. Things like organization, recall and comprehension just fall into place.

When you read something, you “get it.” When someone is explaining something, you understand what they’re getting at before they even get to the point. You move into a feeling of extreme alertness. You’re aware of everything and it’s all so clear.

The processing speed of your brain gets a twin-turbo boost. It’s like stepping up to one of those super-computers NASA uses for space flight.

One of the experiences I appreciate most is the “alert but calm” feeling. Your mind can relax and let go. Your focus becomes almost laser like. And it lasts throughout the day. It’s not a short-lived spike like coffee or other caffeine drinks.

I could have stopped there. choline and guaranine are enough to repair and rejuvenate your aging brain. But there’s another key brain booster essential to my formula.*

This Nutrient Works So Well it Even Caught the Attention of the Bumbling Bureaucrats at the FDA.

A little earlier I mentioned DMAE. It’s a natural, brain-stimulating nutrient found in anchovies, sardines and other fish. Studies show it increases levels of acetylcholine. As you know, acetylcholine is critical for learning and memory.5

I’ve been following the story of DMAE for decades. It works so well the FDA finally took notice and planned to approve it.

So what happened? The FDA discontinued it in the late 1970s after the manufacturer didn’t agree to the expensive retesting required. Since the manufacturer wouldn’t pay, the FDA dropped DMAE like a hot potato.

What a shame. DMAE provides a safe and non-addictive solution to a variety of cognitive and behavioral problems.

DMAE can also support learning and promote a healthy mood.* In one study, 50 kids showed improvement in just 10 weeks.6 In another study, children did better in concentration and skill tests with this nutrient.7 And there were no side effects like jumpiness, or an increase in heart rate.8*

It’s easy to see why I added DMAE to my formula. It’s one of the best memory boosters available. In combination with choline and guaranine, it’s unbeatable. It has a synergistic quality that makes the three ingredients more than the sum of their parts.

Clinical studies show DMAE can:9*

• Boost IQ
• Accelerate mental speed and your ability to process thoughts and ideas
• Improve your concentration and eliminate early morning “fogginess”
• Promote a healthy mood
• Decrease irritability and over activity.
• Increase attention without causing drowsiness

Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Health

There’s one more thing you need to know about this formula. It has a very unique and clinically proven “side effect”: It supports your heart and brain health.*

How is this possible?

Boosting the level of choline in your blood has a powerful effect on homocysteine and C-reactive protein (CRP). If you’re a regular reader you’ve probably heard about these powerful markers. They are both better indicators for heart and brain health than anything else – including cholesterol.

Research has demonstrated that homocysteine causes oxidative stress to the vascular endothelium and that maintaining healthy levels of homocysteine is important for heart health.*

Your body produces C-reactive protein as part of its overall defense. When part of your body is injured, it sends signals to the rest of your body for help. Your immune system then sends out white blood cells and inflammatory molecules including CRP to the injured area.

Once there, the defense cells try to fix damaged areas and fight off the intruder. But this defensive response causes inflammation. The inflammatory response needs energy in the form of oxidative “fire” which can damage surrounding tissues.

Spikes in CRP levels are an early sign of inflammation in your body. That’s why CRP is such a good indicator. We can evaluate heart health using CRP levels better than with cholesterol levels.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a massive study on CRP. Almost 28,000 people participated in the trial. Researchers discovered that CRP predicted cardiovascular health better than LDL cholesterol.10

Here’s the good news: The choline in my formula brings down your levels of both homocysteine and CRP.*

• An experiment published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition followed two groups of men. One group ate a diet with no choline. The other group took a choline supplement. The men with no choline saw a steep rise in homocysteine. After just 10 days, their homocysteine went up by 35%.11*
• Researchers discovered that people who consume higher amounts of choline have lower levels of homocysteine and CRP. The study followed two groups of people. One group averaged less than 250-mg of choline a day. The other group averaged more than 310-mg of choline a day. The group who averaged above 310-mg saw their CRP drop by 22%.12*

Not only does choline ramp up your mental energy and protect your memory, it helps wipe out the two predictors of coming disaster.*

Here’s Another Mental Boost: Confidence

If this is the first time you’ve heard about choline, you may be surprised to hear it does so much. But once you feel the results for yourself, you’ll understand.

After taking my choline formula, many of my patients tell me they feel more confident about the future. Instead of sitting around the house worrying about what might happen, they feel like they’re back in the driver’s seat. That’s what happens when you have real options.

Knowledge is power. But I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes you feel like you’re being kept in the dark. Many doctors make their patients feel like children or fools. Or both. They hand out prescriptions and give you an attitude if you ask questions. I’ve always believed real medicine is about empowerment. Not secrecy.

With this blend of super nutrients, you have the power to keep your mind clear and strong as you age. It keeps your brain young and well fed. And when it’s working in peak condition your risk of problems drops dramatically.*

Greet the Morning with a Clear Head and a Warm Smile

Since I’ve been using my choline formula I haven’t touched a cup of coffee. I don’t need to. The feeling of “awakeness” I get is far better than anything from Starbucks.

And the effect lasts all day.

To get your own taste of clarity, go here now.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Ritchie, K., et al. The neuroprotective effects of caffeine: A prospective study (the Three City Study). Neurology 69. 2007 Aug 7:536-545.
2. Espinola EB, et al. Pharmacological activity of Paullina cupana in laboratory animals. J Ethnopharmacol. 1997 Feb;55(3):223-9.
3. Gossell-Williams M, et al. Choline supplementation facilitates short-term memory consolidation into intermediate long-term memory of rats. West Indian Med J. 2006 Jan;55(1):4-8.
4. Buchman AL, et al. Verbal and visual memory improve after choline supplementation. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2001 Jan-Feb;25(1):30-5.
5. Dean Ward M.D. ‘Anti-Aging Nutrient Review and Update Part 4: DMAE Cognitive-Enhancing, Life Extending Nutrient’ Vitamin Research News, September 2004, Vol. 18, Number 8, p. 1-4.
6. Coleman N., Dexheimer P., Dintascio A. Redman W. And Finnerty R., ‘Deanol in the treatment of hyperkinetic children’, Psychosomatics 1976, 17:68-72.
7. Geller S. J., ‘Comparison of a tranquilizer and a psychic energizer’ JAMA 1960, 174:89-92
8. Oettinger L., ‘The use of Deanol in the treatment of disorders of behavior in children. J Pediat 1958, 53:761-675.
9. Ibid.
10. Ridker P., et al. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. NEJM 2002 Nov 14; 347(20): 1557-1565
11. Choline deficiency in mice and humans is associated with increased homocysteine concentration. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Feb;81(2): 440-444.
12. Detopoulou P, et al. Dietary choline intakes in relation to concentrations of inflammatory markers: the ATTICA study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Feb;87(2):424-30.

That means all the sewage inside your intestines leaks into your blood stream and activates your immune system, causing you to become allergic to the foods we normally should be able to digest and leaving you to become sick, fat, and even depressed, anxious, forgetful and foggy.

Keeping your digestive system healthy is critical for proper brain function because ultimately you are not only what you eat; you are truly only what you absorb.

When your gut is damaged, your body cannot absorb the crucial nutrients it needs like omega-3 fats, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D and B12. These key nutrients, which are critical for normal brain operation, have the most trouble being absorbed when things go wrong in the gut.

Having a leaky gut is a huge problem and we’re recognizing this more in medicine.

So what can do to fix this problem?

Dr. Hyman, author of the New York Times bestselling book, The UltraMind Solution, has outlined a strategy that can help you fix your gut.

Start by eliminating food allergens from your diet like gluten and dairy for 6 weeks. Then he suggests taking digestive enzymes, zinc and probiotics. All these can help to repair the damaged intestines and bring your digestive system and your brain back into balance.

I’ll explain how you can get more information to fix your gut in a second. I have one more point to show how important your gut is to your overall health.

Take eczema for instance. That’s the scaly rash you can get anywhere on your skin.

Most doctors, know how to put on potions, lotions and salves, which work on the outside, BUT skin problems like eczema really come from the inside.

So unless you address the underlying cause underneath your skin, you won’t fix the problem…

You’ll just deal with the symptoms.

The things that trigger inflammation in your skin are the same things that trigger inflammation in your brain.

In fact some people, if they have an inflamed gut will get eczema while others will get autism or depression.

But the treatment is the same as treating your leaky gut.

So if you want to fix your skin, you need to fix your gut.

Why do I bring this up?

Because these were just two tips Dr. Hyman gave during the live taping of his national public television program which aired on 75% of the nation’s PTV channels last June.

During this 58-minute program, he taught how imbalances in the seven core systems of the body explain all the symptoms and diseases we think are “brain” problems.

In fact, the seven keys that he discussed inside the DVD are not just the seven keys to an UltraMind, but the seven keys to everything.

During this show he teaches you the seven keys to an UltraMind, and what you can do today to fix your broken brain (and your leaky gut).

The information in this DVD is very relevant to our daily lives, because we now have the answer to many of our brain problems… (from depression to dementia, from anxiety to autism, from memory problems to mood swings and from brain fog to trouble concentrating.)

I’ve arranged with Dr. Hyman to making this DVD available to you.

I just got finished watching his DVD and here are just a few of the subjects he talked about…

• How to fix your brain by feeding it the right foods…
• How to rebalance your hormones…
• How to reduce inflammation and renew your body and brain…
• Why your gut has more to do with your happy mood than your brain…
• How toxins may be causing you to be sick, sluggish, overweight and mentally drained…
• How to get more energy without drugs or caffeine…
• Why stress causes brain damage and how you can start relaxing…

The complete DVD with bonus footage isn’t available anywhere except Dr. Hyman’s site.

Click here if you would like to get a copy and supercharge your brain in 58 minutes.

In fact, he has over 30 minutes of bonus footage, which covers a complete Q&A period with the live audience. Many of the questions you have were asked during this special bonus footage.

None of the questions were staged. They were from real people struggling with real problems…

• How to get rid of bacteria and yeast that are overgrowing and creating havoc inside your stomach…
• How to get the right balance of omega-3 fats…
• What may be confusing your immune system and attacking your thyroid…
• Why all the new heavily marketed high-fiber foods are not all they are made out to be…
• The truth about alcohol and your brain (and what extra vitamins you may need to be taking if you drink)…
• Steps to take if you have irritable bowel syndrome…
• How to know if you are allergic or sensitive to gluten…
• How to address autism…

Your body is the best doctor.

It will tell you exactly what to do and how to fix itself. You simply have to listen.

Inside The UltraMind Solution DVD, Dr. Hyman will show you how to uncover how you can incorporate the seven keys to an UltraMind and begin healing your brain.

The complete 58 minute session and 30 minute bonus footage is available today. To grab your copy, please click here and secure your DVD.

Orders will ship today until they run out. So grab your copy today.

P.S. Inside The New England Journal of Medicine, a study showed that there are 55 different diseases you can get from eating gluten. You can have depression, or schizophrenia, autism, autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, osteoporosis or irritable bowel syndrome all from this one thing. Another good reason to cut it out and give your gut a break.

Discover how you can find out if your brain problems are caused by gluten.

More and more of my patients say they’re tired, can’t sleep and feel exhausted all of the time… they just can’t seem to pick their energy levels up again.

The worry over job losses, rising prices and a poor economy has everyone on edge. In fact, a recent American Psychological Association poll showed that 75% of Americans identified money as a significant source of stress in their lives… with the economy, housing costs and job stability following right on it’s heels.

That stress leads to fatigue and a lack of sleep – which creates a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.

I can’t fix your economic woes, but I can give you some useful tips on how to re-energize your batteries and keep your energy levels up.

Here’s how …

Your brain uses a nutrient called choline. It’s the primary building block for acetylcholine … the neurotransmitter that controls all of the basics like thought, memory, sleep … even muscle control and balance. If you have lots of acetylcholine, your mind is sharp, your memory is clear, and you feel energetic.

But your supply of choline drops as you get older. And guess what the symptoms are…

• Fatigue or lack of energy
• Brain fog and/or a sense of confusion
• Problems falling asleep, tossing and turning
• Feeling distracted or irritable
• Poor recall and memory loss

When you boost your stores of choline, you are more able to deal with what life throws at you. Women need at least 425 mg a day, and men need 550 mg. The richest food sources of choline are (in mg per 100 g of food):

• Whole cooked eggs – 272. Make sure you get free-range eggs without antibiotics or hormones. They’ll help fuel your muscles as well as give you much-needed choline.
• Raw egg yolks – 682. Go ahead and crack open a couple eggs into your protein shake. It’s only an urban legend that there’s danger in eating them raw.
• Chicken liver – 290. Though some people get turned off by organ meats, they’re a potent source of high-powered nutrition. And it’s an old wives tale that they store toxins – they don’t.
• Turkey liver – 220. Another great source of nutrition. Just like any liver, it also provides vitamin A, CoQ10 and iron.
• Pork – 130. Just like beef, you want to eat only organic, grass-fed animals for the proper balance of fats and zero hormones and antibiotics.

If you really want to kick your energy into overdrive, I have an easier way to boost your choline levels.

Last year, when I was hiking through the Amazon Rainforest, I discovered an herb that the Indians of the Amazon River Basin use to prevent fatigue and increase physical endurance. They’ve been using it since recorded history, and I can see why! I took it before a jungle hike, and …

… After 18 hours through the jungles of Peru, my mind was crystal clear and I had no feeling of fatigue. Looking back, I had covered 15 miles of rugged terrain without feeling tired or worn out.

The active compound in the herb is guaranine, a member of the caffeine family. But unlike regular caffeine, it’s full of healthy fatty acids.

The good fat gives guaranine a slow release. Its effect will gradually increase over a period of hours. It doesn’t pick you up and throw you down like quick-release caffeine. There’s no crash … and you don’t get any of the nervous, jittery energy you do with caffeine.

The Rainforest herb works its magic by releasing acetylcholine in your brain. When you drink coffee in the morning, the release of acetylcholine is what gives you the buzz that gets you going.

Guaranine works the same way. But it’s slow acting, with none of caffeine’s side effects.

I knew I could get the best of both worlds if I combined guaranine with powerful brain nutrients. So I combined choline and guaranine in a formula I call Choline Punch … to give you an even bigger release of acetylcholine. Then I added energy boosters, like vitamin B12, DMAE and L-Carnitine to keep you going all day.

After taking my choline formula, many of my patients tell me they feel more confident about the future. Instead of sitting around the house worrying about what might happen, they feel like they’re back in the driver’s seat. That’s what happens when you have real options … when you have the feeling of energy and mental power.

And the best thing about it: The effect lasts all day.

To get your own taste of energy and clarity, click here. To get more information, click here.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

You can amplify your brainpower…

I have found a brain booster that gives you the power to read three to five books in a single week. And your memory comes into sharp focus.

It’s a program designed to help you read faster with greater comprehension. But it’s not speed-reading. It gets you to use more of your brain… more of the capacity that’s waiting to be tapped.

Think of it as a “whole brain” activity. You use both the left (logical) and right (creative) sides of your brain. When fired simultaneously you get amazing results.

People who master the course can zip through books at 25,000 words a minute. Imagine how much reading you could handle at those speeds? It’s a very exciting prospect.

I originally received the program as a gift and took it home to have a closer look. I was skeptical at first… 25,000 words a minute sounds a little outrageous. But having tried the program, I can see how it’s possible. It’s called PhotoReading.

One of the core techniques is “photographing” what you see on the page – all at once. You actually train your brain to take a picture of the words on a page. This enables you to go through a book as fast as you can turn the pages.

The other techniques help you take all that information and use it. It’s a completely different way of thinking and using your brain. It’s both innovative and fascinating.

Part of the program includes a memory booster. It’s a simple and effective way of remembering what you read. This easy-to-learn technique is similar to something I used back in medical school. They call it “mind mapping.”

You can try it right now. Get a sheet of blank paper and some colored markers.

Let’s say you wanted to study and remember my PACE program… In the middle of the page you draw a circle and write the word “PACE.” Around that word – and with a different color marker – you draw another circle and write the core concepts of the book. In this case, you might write, “short bursts of intensity,” “12 minutes” and “oxygen debt.”

Then coming out of that circle you draw a curved line, like you’re drawing the pedal of a flower. (Use a different color.) On that line you write one of the chapter names. Let’s take chapter 3 as an example… Write “Jumpstart Your PACE Now!” on the line coming out of the circle.

Coming off the main line, you draw smaller lines, like the veins in the leaf of a plant. On those lines you write the key points of chapter 3 like “adaptive response,” “recovery,” and “greater fitness in less time.”

When you use both parts of your brain at the same time, you’re able to remember the contents of an entire book – just by creating a picture of it.

This mind mapping techniques has dozens of applications. It’s not just for books. You can use it to remember recipes, names, schedules, you name it.

It’s really captured my imagination. And it’s already ramped up my reading power. I can’t wait to get through more of the course.

If you want to find out more about PhotoReading – and I highly recommend it – click HERE.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

Your morning cup o’ joe may protect you from one of the most dreaded diseases of our time.

A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease says that drinking five medium-sized cups of coffee a day could lower your chances of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.1

The study followed mice that were bred to develop Alzheimer’s. After two months of drinking water with 500 mg of caffeine added – the equivalent of five 8 oz. cups of coffee or two venti hot coffees from Starbucks – the mice performed much better on memory and thinking tests compared to mice that were given only water.

In fact, the memories of the caffeinated mice were on par with mice that didn’t have dementia at all.

Plus, the mice taking caffeine had a 50% reduction of beta amyloid, a protein often found in Alzheimer’s patients.2

And it’s not just Alzheimer’s. At least six separate studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s. In fact, the newest Parkinson’s drugs contain a derivative of caffeine.3

I recommend getting your caffeine from an herbal source rather than from caffeine pills.

Here’s how you can take advantage of coffee’s health benefits:

• Drink it fresh. Grind your coffee at the time you wish to drink it. This maximizes the flavor and prevents against oxidation. Coffee’s healing properties are best when brewed fresh.
• Drink it black. The best benefits of coffee are delivered in its purest state. Adding dairy products and sweeteners may alter the taste, but it will also diminish the rewards.
• Don’t drink coffee close to bedtime. The brain, and your body, both require rest. Caffeine stimulation could negatively affect your sleep patterns.
• Steer clear of flavored coffee drinks. The flavors are most likely artificial (i.e., high fructose corn syrups) and are often laden with unwanted calories.

If you’re not fond of coffee, here are few natural caffeine sources to consider:

Black tea/Green tea – Black tea and green tea both contain caffeine. A cup of black tea has roughly 40 mg of caffeine. That’s about half as much caffeine as a regular cup of coffee. Green tea, a popular and healthy drink, contains approximately 20 mg per cup.

Guarana – A popular ingredient in many energy drinks, including my own Choline Punch, Guarana provides solid, energy-boosting benefits without the coffee jitters. The berry that Guarana comes from is high in healthy fatty acids, which are absorbed slower than water-soluble caffeine. This gives Guarana a slower release time than coffee. One 8 oz. glass of Choline Punch has 59 mg of caffeine.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Arendash Gary W. et al. “Caffeine Reverses Cognitive Impairment and Decreases Brain Amyloid-β Levels in Aged Alzheimer’s Disease Mice,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. July 2009
2. Chuanhai Cao et al. “Caffeine Suppresses Amyloid-β Levels in Plasma and Brain of Alzheimer’s Disease Transgenic Mice,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. July 2009
3. Brunilda Nazario, MD. Coffee the New Health Food? April 12, 2004 www.somalibantu.com

The drugs doctors use for diseases of your nervous system don’t work very well. And they probably won’t tell you that combining two simple nutrients could halt or at least slow the effects of two of the most common ones, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

A new animal study published in the Journal of Neurochemistry shows that taking CoQ10 and creatine blocks the loss of dopamine in the brain (a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease), protects cell membranes (they leak with age), and reduces oxidative damage.

In mice with Huntington’s, it improved motor skills and even extended their life.

If the study results apply to humans, this special potion of nutrients and antioxidants has the potential to become a “dynamic duo” for brain health.

Even if you don’t have these diseases, you can safely take CoQ10 and creatine to protect yourself.

Using this duo each day may be a real brain booster. By following these simple guidelines, you can combine CoQ10 and creatine to improve your mental sharpness. It may be one of the simplest and smartest things you do for your brain.

CoQ10 protects every organ in your body, especially your brain. Brain levels of CoQ10 start to decline in your 20s and are lowest in stroke victims and those with brain and nerve cell diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s. So it makes sense that getting more CoQ10 could help combat these diseases.

The best food source is red meat – but make sure that it is grass-fed. Grass-fed beef contains more CoQ10 than any other meat on the planet. But it is still hard to get enough CoQ10 from your diet alone.

I recommend taking 50 mg of ubiquinol CoQ10 daily. The ubiquinol form is 8 times more powerful and stays in your bloodstream longer than conventional CoQ10.

Creatine improves short-term mental performance. You may think of it only as the stuff that bulks up pro athletes and bodybuilders. But creatine is an important ingredient for memory and the brain’s other functions. A 2003 study found that it improved mental performance, especially in the short-term.

Your body – primarily the liver – makes creatine naturally. You can also get it from foods like grass-fed beef, fish and apples. For every 2 lbs. of beef you eat, you will gain 5 grams of creatine.

The amount you should take is related to body weight and gender. See the table below for dosage guidelines.

Creatine Loading and Maintenance

Source: The Colgan Institute, San Diego.

Take the loading dose daily for 10 days. Then continue with the maintenance dose. Be sure to avoid taking your creatine with your morning caffeine as they do not interact well.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Yang L et al. Combination therapy with coenzyme Q10 and creatine produces additive neuroprotective effects in models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. J Neurochem. 2009 Jun;109(5):1427-39.

Today I want to tell you about a great stress and anxiety reliever that doesn’t involve prescription drugs. All you have to do is put on a pair of headphones.

This new technology triggers the low-frequency brain waves you experience during sleep and deep relaxation.

I’ve used this technique before and recently patients have been asking about it. I’ve arranged for you to have a free trial. It’s reliable and fun. And there’s science behind it.

It utilizes the connection between the “speed” of your thoughts and how you feel at any given moment. When you slow down your brain waves, you feel calm, relaxed and worry free.

Your brain is constantly sending out electrical impulses through its network of neurons and synapses. These electrical impulses can be measured by a device called an electroencephalograph (EEG) and seen on a monitor as brain wave patterns.

The speed of the electrical impulses moving through your brain cells is called frequency, and is measured in hertz or cycles per second. The frequency of your brain waves determines your state of mind and how you react to the situation around you.

It can mean the difference between feeling stressed, alone and separate from your environment or feeling calm and centered.

During your day-to-day activities, your brain waves are in the beta range (14 to 32 Hz). But at the high end of this scale, you start to feel stress, pain and anxiety. When you’re relaxed and focused you move into the alpha range (7 to 14 Hz).

As you fall asleep, your brain waves slow down and enter the theta range (3.5 to 7 Hz). When you’re awake, theta ranges are places of deep meditation and spiritual insight. Slowing down even further takes you into the deepest, delta range (0.1 to 3.5 Hz). Most people cannot stay awake during this state. It’s usually associated with dreamless sleep.

It’s possible to alter the frequency of your brain waves. Meditation is one way… or you can use this new technology and simply put on a pair of headphones. My friend Bill Harris invented and developed the system. It’s called Holosync Audio Technology.

By meditating and focusing your mind, you can slow down your brain waves to bring about a sense of peace and well being.

Start by sitting comfortably. Rest the fingers of your left hand on top of the fingers of your right hand and bring your thumbs together. It almost feels as if you’re holding a small bowl. This is one of the classic “mudras” or hand positions for meditation.

Sit with your spine upright and slightly tuck in your chin. Think about the place at the base of your skull and imagine you’re lifting upwards. This allows your top seven vertebrae to straighten. Then simply count each inhalation and exhalation and let your awareness settle on the movement of your breath. Inhale and count “one.” Exhale and count “two.” But don’t count out loud, just to yourself.

Try this for 10 to 15 minutes. You’ll be surprised at how difficult it is at first. Your mind will race and thoughts and feelings will flood your mind. But don’t hold on to them. Just let them go.

Back in the old days, this form of meditation (along with yoga, tai chi, etc.) were the only tools people had to slow their brain waves and feel a sense of calm and joy. But today, Holosync gives you a kind of short cut.

HoloSync uses a technology called “binaural beats” to create a specific frequency that harmonizes both hemispheres of your brain. Binaural beats are pulses of a certain frequency that happen simultaneously – one on the left side and one on the right. You listen to it with headphones and over time it actually slows down your brain waves!

Your ears hear a very soft and relaxing music. But underneath, there is a “carrier frequency” that helps your brain creates slower, deeper brain waves.

I’ve used Holosync for over a year now… and I get a good result every time. Now I rarely feel upset or stressed out. And I’m more productive, too.

You can try Holosync for FREE. I spoke to Bill on the phone the other day and was telling him about you. He said he’ll send you a free Holosync CD. He’ll even pay for shipping.

Click here and give Bill your address. He’ll put your free CD in the mail right away.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD