Lower lipid peroxide levels in practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation program.

OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress or free radical activity may contribute to the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and other chronic diseases associated with aging. Because psychosocial stress has been shown to increase oxidative stress, we conducted an exploratory study to investigate the effects of stress reduction with the Transcendental Meditation program on serum lipid peroxide levels in elderly subjects. METHOD: Forty-one normally healthy subjects (aged 56 to 74 years, average 67 years) were recruited from the same Midwest city. Eighteen were long-term practitioners of the TM program (average 16.5 years). Twenty-three controls were not practicing a formal stress management technique. Venous blood samples were analyzed for lipid peroxides by the TBARS assay. A dietary questionnaire was used to assess fat intake, red meat consumption, antioxidant vitamin supplementation, and smoking. Differences between groups and subgroups were analyzed by t test, and correlations. RESULTS: Significantly lower serum levels of lipid peroxides were found in the TM practitioners compared with controls (-15%, p = .026). No significant differences were found between groups on smoking, fat intake, or vitamin supplementation. TM practitioners also had lower red meat consumption but matched subgroup analysis and partial correlations did not confirm a relationship between red meat intake and lipid peroxide levels. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that lower serum lipid peroxide levels may be associated with stress reduction using the Transcendental Meditation technique. Prospective controlled trials are needed to confirm that this effect is because of TM practice rather than other lifestyle factors, such as diet.

A controlled study of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on cardiovascular reactivity and ambulatory blood pressure.

Cardiovascular responses to stress reactivity has been proposed as a risk factor for hypertension. In this study, we evaluated the effects of stress reduction on both laboratory cardiovascular reactivity and ambulatory blood pressure in real life on 39 normotensive male subjects who were pretested for ambulatory blood pressure and cardiovascular reactivity to stress using a battery of laboratory stressors. Thereafter, subjects were randomly assigned to practice either the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique or a cognitive-based stress education control (SEC) for four months. After 4 months, there was no change in cardiovascular response to stressors between the TM and control groups. However, the subjects regularly practicing TM demonstrated a significant reduction of 9 mm Hg (p < .04) in average ambulatory DBP compared to controls. Since ambulatory BP monitoring has been shown to be a better predictor of cardiovascular complications of hypertension than clinic BP, this finding may have important implications for primary prevention of CVD in normotensive subjects.

Usefulness of the transcendental meditation program in the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease.

Twenty-one patients with documented coronary artery disease were tested at baseline by exercise tolerance testing, and assigned to either stress reduction using the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program or to a wait-list control, After 8 months, the TM group had a 14.7% increase in exercise tolerance, an 11.7% increase in maximal workload, an 18% delay in onset of ST-segment depression, and significant reductions in rate-pressure product at 3 and 6 minutes, and at maximal exercise compared with the control group.

A model for extraction of both lipid and water soluble toxins using a procedure from Maharishi Ayurveda.

Environmental toxicity from xenobiotic compounds is a major health concern today. This paper presents a hypothetical model for the removal of toxins from the physiology employing procedures of Maharishi Ayurveda, a comprehensive system of natural medicine, which is undergoing renewal. This model combines the use of principles similar to those which are found in lipid extraction, dialysis and bulk flow. A means of testing the hypothesis is also presented.

Selective growth inhibition of a human malignant melanoma cell line by sesame oil in vitro.

Ayurveda, an ancient and comprehensive system of natural medicine, recommends regular topical application to the skin of sesame oil, above all other oils, as a health-promoting procedure. We examined the effect of sesame oil and several other vegetable oils and their major component fatty acids on the proliferation rate of human normal and malignant melanocytes growing at similar rates in serum-free media. We found that sesame and safflower oils, both of which contain large amounts of linoleate in triglyceride form, selectively inhibited malignant melanoma growth over normal melanocytes whereas coconut, olive and mineral oils, which contain little or no linoleate as triglyceride, did not. These oils were tested at a range of 10-300 micrograms/ml. We found that of the fatty acids tested, only linoleic acid was selectively inhibitory while palmitic and oleic were not. These fatty acids were tested in the range of 3-100 micrograms/ml. These results suggest that certain vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid, such as the sesame oil, recommended for topical use by Ayurveda, may contain selective antineoplastic properties which are similar to those demonstrated for essential polyunsaturated fatty acids and their metabolites. This suggests that whole vegetable oils may have potential clinical usefulness.

The use of sesame oil and other vegetable oils in the inhibition of human colon cancer growth in vitro.

Sesame contains large quantities of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), linoleic acid, in the form triglycerides. The antineoplastic properties of many PUFAs such as linoleic acid and their metabolites are known. We tested the hypothesis that natural vegetable oils, such as sesame oil and its component linoleic acid, when added to human colon adenocarcinoma cells growing in tissue culture would inhibit their growth and that normal colon cells would not be similarly affected. Three human colon cancer cell lines and one normal human colon cell line were exposed to the following: (1) pure linoleic acid; (2) lipase-digested sesame oil; (3) undigested sesame oil; (4) five additional common vegetable oils; (5) mineral oil. Linoleic acid inhibited the in vitro growth of all three malignant human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines. The normal colon cell line showed dramatically less inhibition of growth. Lipase-digested sesame oil (LDSO) and undigested sesame oil (UDSO) produced greater inhibition of growth of all three malignant colon cell lines than of the normal colon cells. Five other common vegetable oils containing various amounts of PUFAs such as corn, soybean, safflower, olive and coconut oils, all in their lipase-digested form, were found to dramatically inhibit the growth of the HT-29 malignant human colon cell line. Undigested olive and safflower oils also inhibited the HT-29 cells although not as markedly as the lipase-digested oils. Mineral oil did not inhibit the growth of HT-29 cells. Both lauric and palmitic acid, which are saturated fatty acids found in abundance in coconut oil inhibits the HT-29 cells more strongly than linoleic acid, while oleic acid did not inhibit. We conclude that many vegetable oils including sesame contain in vitro antineoplastic properties and that this finding warrants further investigation both in vitro and in vivo to assess their possible chemotherapeutic potential.