The Importance of Proper Nutrition in Disease Prevention and Treatment

By Gary G. Kohls, MD

For the last decade of my professional life, I practiced what was best termed holistic mental health care, utilizing non-drug, nutritional approaches in aiding the recovery of patients who had various mental illness labels. Having had a number of successes early on in helping patients cut down or even get off certain drugs, my practice attracted, by word of mouth, many other patients who were also wanting to get off their psych drugs, medications that they had recognized as causing a large variety of serious adverse effects - or were addictive (ie caused withdrawal symptoms when they stopped taking the drugs or cut the dosage down). The observations that I made during that decade were many, but one of the most impressive ones was the effect of malnutrition on brain and mental health.

My chosen medical practice turned out to be complex and time-consuming – but very popular. It required a lot of face-to-face clinic time reassessing old diagnoses, obtaining histories, especially regarding past psychological traumas, past prescription or illicit drug use, nutrition, family history, etc. I routinely spent 90 minutes with new patients and often up to an hour with follow-up visits. That meant I could only see 6 – 8 patients per day. Hence I had to practice independently and solo, but that also meant that I was immune from pressures from some clinic director about my “productivity”. It also meant that my practice was only rewarding in a non-financial way.
Getting back to the major point of this column, I need to say that one of the things that impressed me most was how seriously malnourished most of my patients were. They were victims, just like most of the rest of us, of the seductive fast food industry and the commercial food industry that sold to them a lot of heavily marketed, high-profit, mass-produced, highly-processed, non-organic facsimiles of actual “food”. Not only were my patients eating poorly nourishing food, but they were also eating foods with dangerous additives in them that certainly were helping to make them feel ill, both mentally and physically.

Happily, another observation that I made was how much they improved, even to the point of cure, with appropriate changes in diet and targeted, short-term nutritional supplementation (along with psychoeducational psychotherapy and the gradual tapering down of medications).

Eating poorly nourishing food that has toxic additives in it will adversely affect our brains as well as out bodiesHaving dealt with over 1,200 malnourished patients who had been labeled with mental illness diagnoses, I agree with that assessment.My message to readers is that no matter what the diagnosis is, and no matter what the modality of treatment is, proper nutrition is essential. It may not be sufficient, but it is essential.
Initially my therapeutic recommendations tried to address the specific nutritional needs of my patient’s brains. Unfortunately, many of my patients were living in poverty and on Medical Assistance (which explains the common dilemma that many patients faced, that of continuing to ingest the free brain-altering prescription drugs versus purchasing healing food and supplements that they had to pay for out of their nearly empty pockets).

Many of my patients were subsisting on nutritionally deficient foods, eating highly processed, carbohydrate-laden foods that usually contained toxic preservatives, synthetic food dyes and chemical flavor enhancers like MSG, Splenda and NutraSweet. Most of my patients, like most of us Americans, had very little knowledge of what constituted good nutrition, so a lot of clinic time was spent teaching brain nutrition.

Having attended an American medical school back in the late 60s, I only heard a couple of lectures about nutrition (although I can’t recall learning anything from them). So I had to do a lot of research about brain nutrition myself. I learned that the brain is a high fat, high cholesterol (cholesterol is an essential component of the nervous system) organ that has heavy-duty nutritional requirements.
The brain represents less than 5% of body weight, but it utilizes 20 – 25% of the body’s glucose and oxygen. Brain cells die quickly if they are deprived of glucose or oxygen for just a few minutes. Likewise, chronic deprivation of certain nutrients can also cause temporary, reversible and even curable brain dysfunction that can be misdiagnosed as a mental illness “of unknown cause”. And certainly, chemicals that are toxic to brain cells, including many legal and illegal psychotropic drugs, can cause symptoms of brain dysfunction or “mental illness”.

Other important lessons that I applied to my practice I found in the neuroscience research literature, research that didn’t seem to ever appear in the mainstream medical journals that most prescribing physicians read. That research showed that psychoactive drugs are capable of causing certain amino acid depletions and, therefore, deficiencies that needed replacement, achievable only through dietary means. Certain important brain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine can only be manufactured by brain cells out of amino acids that are in the foods we eat.  In addition to amino acids, (the building blocks of proteins), the brain needs vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fatty acids, all obtainable from healthy food and/or nutritional supplements.

Therefore, many of my nutritional prescriptions were based on my assessment of the likelihood of dietary and/or drug-induced amino acid deficiencies. That required knowledge of how psychoactive drugs worked at the cellular level. Fortunately, nutritional therapy with food-based or food-derived substances is a thousand times safer than synthetic drug therapy, so therapeutic trials were often used.
One of the dramatic findings that became obvious after awhile was that, after even a short therapeutic trial of brain nutrient supplements, patients would often return, asserting that many of their physical problems had improved along with the mental symptoms. Migraine headaches, fibromyalgia, insomnia, bowel symptoms, fatigue symptoms, etc were unexpectedly getting better along as were many of their mental health symptoms.

All these observations made me more and more certain that what constituted our all-American diet was a major cause of sickness that ran the gamut of disorders of body, mind and spirit.

Malnourished children are mentally less healthy than well-nourished children

Among the many studies in the literature was one that proved that malnourished children had increased symptoms of aggression, delinquency, violence and antisocial behavior. It was actually published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Psychiatry. Briefly stated, compared to well-nourished children in a control group, “the malnourished children showed a 41 percent increase in aggression at age 8, a 10 percent additional increase in aggression and delinquency at age 11 and a 51 percent increase in violent and antisocial behavior at age 17. Researchers also found that the more indicators of malnutrition there were, the greater the antisocial behavior.

“While social class did not play a significant factor in behavior, intelligence level did, (One of the authors of the study) said. ‘Poor nutrition, characterized by zinc, iron, vitamin B and protein deficiencies, leads to low IQ, which leads to later antisocial behavior,’ he said. ‘These are all nutrients linked to brain development.’

“Although this study was done in another country, the nutritional statistics in the U.S. indicate serious implications. According to the author, 7 percent of U.S. toddlers suffer from iron deficiency, a number that jumps to between 9 percent and 16 percent in adolescent and female groups, and rises to between 19 percent and 22 percent in black and Mexican American females. ‘This is a problem in America. It's not just a problem in the far-away Indian Ocean,’ the author said. ‘If it's causal, there's an intervention implication there. At a societal level, should parents be thinking more about what kids are eating?’

“Although the author acknowledges that there is more to antisocial behavior than nutrition, he says ‘we argue that it is an important missing link. Biology is not destiny. We can change the biological disposition to antisocial and aggressive behavior.’”

Good advice for everybody

So I always told my patients “Eat as organic as you can afford, as vegetarian as you can tolerate, eat as much home-grown food as you can but be sure to ingest adequate amounts of high-quality protein. And if you are uncertain of the nutritional quality of your diet, consider supplementing it with Omega-3 fatty acids (fish/flaxseed oil), a high quality multiple vitamin/mineral supplement, B-complex vitamins and extra magnesium.” And, equally importantly, I would also warn about ingesting the known toxic synthetic no-calorie sweeteners, Splenda and NutraSweet, both of which, interestingly enough, have insecticide properties.

In my lectures and seminars on brain nutrition and mental ill health, I always show this slide on how to shop for food:

1. If you can't pronounce the ingredients on the label, don't eat it.

2. If it wasn't available hundreds of years ago, don't eat it.

3. If it has a long shelf life, don't eat it.

4. If it's heavily marketed, don't eat it.

5. If it’s man-made (synthetic), don't eat it.”

­­­­­­­­______________________________________________________________________

Caveat:

 

As desperate and motivated as were many of my patients, not everybody was able to quit their medications. In my experience, the likelihood of any given patient being able to get off their psychotropic drugs was related to these non-nutritional, drug-related factors: the duration of drug use, brain damage that might have occurred, the nature of any illicit drugs that were used, how high were the dosages of the drugs used, how addictive were the drugs used, what combination of drugs had been used, the age of onset of initial drug use and, of course, the ability to afford - or stay on - proper nutritional therapy. The patients who had been on anti-psychotic drugs long-term somehow had the poorest prognosis of any other drug group.

 

Disclaimer

The above article may have contained information about the risks associated with certain psychiatric drugs.
If you are taking one or more psychotropic drugs, DO NOT suddenly stop taking them.

Some people can experience serious, even life-threatening reactions during the discontinuation of such drugs.

Any attempt to get off such medications should be done under the guidance and supervision of a qualified health care practitioner who has an understanding of the possible dangers of drug usage, the symptoms that can occur during drug withdrawal and the nutritional and mental health support that is needed.

__________________________________________________________

NOTE: If any recipient of this message prefers to not receive future emailings from this address, please type "unsubscribe" and your name in the subject line and hit "reply

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gary G. Kohls, MD, Duluth, MN

Mental health-related essays: http://www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/search.aspx?sp=GARY+G.+KOHLS&displayType=articles
Mental health-related videointerviews of Dr. Kohls available
at http://www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/search.aspx?sp=GARY+G.+KOHLS&displayType=videos
and http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gary+kohls&aq=f

Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women: A Response.

A recent study, “Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women,” published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011, Volume 171(18):1625-1633, has caused some concern among the public about the safety of dietary supplements. We have thoroughly reviewed this study and share the following analysis in order to help you better understand the study’s design and its findings, and to help allay any concerns you may have.

The Study’s Design

This study is an analysis of data gleaned from 38,772 postmenopausal Caucasian women enrolled in the then-ongoing Iowa Women’s Health Study. The data for the study is based on the responses obtained through a self- administered questionnaire initially distributed in 1986, with two follow-up questionnaires distributed over the next 18 years, in 1997 and 2004. The questionnaires inquired about lifestyle practices, food intake, dietary supplement use, weight, smoking status, hormone replacement therapy, and the presence of diabetes or heart disease.

Although study participants were asked about their intake of dietary supplements, the study did not report how much of any specific nutrient was consumed. Nor was information elicited from the women regarding the chemical form of the supplement (e.g., picolinate versus sulfate) or the quality of the supplements that were taken. Furthermore, although the women were asked whether they took a “multivitamin,” the study does not define this term; i.e., the mineral, vitamin, and botanical content of the study’s universal “multivitamin” cannot be determined.

Finally, no attempt was made to verify the accuracy of the answers provided in the questionnaires, nor were any of the participating women asked why they were taking supplements, and no attempt was made to determine the impact of taking—or not taking—supplements on any specific individual.
One possible flaw to consider. It is well known that when an individual is diagnosed with a serious disease, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer, beginning or increasing the use of dietary supplements occurs commonly. If the new or increased supplement use were reported on a questionnaire, and then subsequent mortality resulted because of the underlying disease, the situation
could very possibly exist such that the individual’s death, while properly attributed to the disease, would also be “associated” with the use of a dietary supplement. Such an erroneous scenario is a highly likely flaw in the study’s design.

The Study’s Findings

The results of the study’s analysis claim to show a slightly higher risk of all-cause mortality associated with the use of multivitamins, iron, and copper. In weighing the study’s findings, however, it must be emphasized that the Iowa Women’s Health Study is a retrospective study of already collected data. It is not a prospective, controlled intervention study, i.e., it is not a “clinical trial,” in which participants would be given a specific dietary supplement or a placebo and then followed closely over time to observe not only the specific outcomes but also the factors possibly contributing to those outcomes.

As can only be surmised retrospectively, individual circumstances change over time, and a significant number of the women participants likely either changed or began new dietary supplement regimens over the course of the 18 years they were studied. And since there was no direct contact with the participants outside of the mailed questionnaires, general information surrounding individual deaths had to be obtained from public records; it was not ascertained by direct medical investigation.
With regard to iron and copper, it has been known for decades that both metals can be potentially toxic, as exemplified by the multi-system disease states that can result from hemochromatosis and Wilson’s disease, respectively. For this reason, many postmenopausal women, like men, probably should not take an iron supplement in the absence of anemia or a documented deficiency. At the very least, iron and copper supplements should be taken concurrently with antioxidants and/or antioxidant-rich foods to prevent a potential increase in oxidative stress. Each of these circumstances points to the merits of dietary supplements being recommended and overseen by medical professionals.

With regard to multivitamins, there is simply insufficient data that can be gleaned from the study to make any serious conclusion about the impact of multivitamins on mortality. This is due to the fact that there are literally thousands of different combinations of vitamins, minerals, and botanicals that can be considered a “multivitamin,” as well as a whole host of considerations such as quality, potency, dosage, protocol, and indications for use, among others.

Practitioner and Patient Concerns

We believe there are serious flaws in the methodology, analysis, and findings on which this study is based. Retrospective surveys such as this—in which people are asked to recall years of dietary habits or supplement use—are notoriously inaccurate. The only conclusion that can realistically be drawn is that a slight  statistical association was found based on a limited data set of questionable reliability—and a simple association does not reflect causation. The study’s authors do not disagree, stating the following in their commentary to the study: “It is not advisable to make a causal statement of excess risk based on these observational data...” We heartily agree with this advice. When made by a quality manufacturer, when recommended by a knowledgeable health-care practitioner, and when taken for the appropriate indication, dietary supplements promote, enhance, support, and help maintain overall good health and well-being. The “results” of the recent study do not diminish this conclusion.

Alan Miller, ND Director of Medical Education & Research
Thorne Research, Inc. 10-17-11
For further commentary on this study:
The Alliance for Natural Health The Council for Responsible Nutrition
Robert Rountree, MD Chief Medical Officer

These 5 Exercise Mistakes Constitute a MASSIVE Waste of Your Time and Energy...

By Jeff Spencer, MA, DC

One of the most overlooked and powerful ways to get faster and better workout results is to do the workout exercises in a specific order that boosts their individual benefits and workout results as a whole.
You're probably saying to yourself that sounds kind of crazy, and, almost too good, and since exercises are just exercises the order they're done in during a workout doesn't really influence the workouts overall benefit since a workout's just a collection of exercises anyway. 
Fair enough question, but, that's not really the way it works, as the body prefers to progressively ramp up its intensity during a workout so it can do the workout from beginning to end safely and effectively, and feel better at the end than the beginning, while getting the maximum benefit and enjoyment from the workout.

The Variable Intensity Workout Principle

The premise of this article is that exercise selection and exercise placement in a workout determine a significant portion of the workout's success. A workout is more than a collection of exercises; it's a synergy between the exercises and their placement in relationship to each other that creates a holism more favorably impacting the body than the individual impact of the exercises by themselves.  

The Downside of Exercise Random Workout Placement

When workout exercises are done in random order without regard to where the exercises are placed in the workout in relation to each other, downside risks can occur that at the very least can limit the effectiveness of the workout, and at the extreme create injury.
Here are some of the most common risks of random exercise placement in a workout:
1. Too hard a workout. The overall strain, often referred to as the Total Training Load, on your body's joints, muscles and tissues from a workout is dependent mostly on two factors: 1.) the specific exercises themselves and 2.) where those exercises are placed in a workout. An exercise's perceived intensity on paper by itself doesn't tell the whole story. For example, a bench press done at the end of a workout when your body is fatigued and joints, muscles, and tissues already strained places much more strain on the joints and muscles than it would if the bench press was done near the beginning of the workout when your body was more fresh.
2. Too easy of a workout. Another downside to random placement of exercises in a workout is failure to provide the resistance and challenge your body needs to build itself to a higher level. Unless the "strain" of the workout is sufficient to stimulate a training effect, your body will not build itself back to a higher level to successfully lift a heavier weight or run a faster mile during the recovery period after the workout.
3. Over-training. It only takes a few extra minutes of training at too high intensity or too long of a workout to burn someone out and throw them into an over-training condition that can take weeks or months to recover from. One of the quickest and most deceptive ways to increase the strain on the muscles, joints and tissues to cross the line into overtraining is to haphazardly place exercise in a workout without consideration to the overall strain on your body.
4. Starting the workout with too much intensity, too early. Perhaps the most classic way random exercise placement compromises a workout's effectiveness is by starting the workout too fast with too much intensity, too early in the workout that overwhelms your body consuming too much energy too quickly, risking not leaving enough energy to complete the workout effectively and injury free.
5. Increased risk of injury. Randomly constructed workouts often don't allow for adequate time to warm up your muscles, joints and tissues and place too much stress on them too early, leading to unnecessary injury.

The Upside of Purposeful Exercise Placement

Constructing workouts with purposeful synergistic placement of exercises creates the best workout results by enabling your body to safely, effectively and progressively engage greater training intensities throughout the workout to achieve maximum workout benefits.
The following are important benefits of well-organized workouts:
1. Easier on your body as it's not too hard, too fast. Beginning a workout progressively and gradually increasing its intensity is the easiest and most prudent means of reducing the risk of workout injury and conserving energy to complete the entire workout as prescribed.
2. Less risk of injury. Workout injury from random exercise placement most often happens for two reasons. The first is too much effort too soon in a workout from putting an exercise too close to the start of the workout. The second reason is just plain too much effort throughout the entire workout leading to premature fatigue putting the body at risk for needless workout injury. Properly placed workout exercises dramatically reduce that risk.  
3. Less risk of overtraining. Over-training's best friend is the hidden load of haphazardly placed exercises that on paper looks simpler and easier than the load it places on your body when the workout is performed. Well-constructed workouts side-step this common cause of over-training as they take the guess work out of what the impact of the workout will be on your body.
4. Feeling better at end of workout than beginning. Workouts synergistically constructed leave you more vibrant and vital at the end of your workout than the beginning. The classic outcomes of a guess-work constructed workout leave you feeling trashed at workout's end from workout overload or being left feeling that no training benefit occurred if the workout was too easy.
5.  More enthusiasm to workout from positive success. Motivation to workout is intimately tied to the feelings and results your workouts provide. Great workouts and seeing positive results from your efforts inspire you to want to workout more!
6. Will inspire others to start working out. Beneficial workout results are contagious! Many times after a great workout people are inspired to encourage others to start working out to improve their health.  

Organizing Your Workout for Better Results with Less Effort

The most successful workouts always contain specific elements in specific orders that have proven to produce superior and consistent workout results. The following is an approach to workout structure that has proven to consistently provide fitness gains while limiting the risk of over-training and injury.
The workout's six elements are presented in order.
a.  Warm Up Element. The purpose of the warm up is to increase the pliability and temperature of muscles to be able to get the most out of the workout with least risk of injury. A proper warm up is done by doing any cardio activity, such as elliptical, rower, stationary bicycle, treadmill, running or swimming for 10-minutes, with the first 5-minutes at an easy pace and the last 5-minutes at a moderate pace. Your heart rate should gradually increase until a faint sweat is felt at the end of the warm up.
b.  Adaptation Element. The adaptation exercises are those exercises that increase the function of the three major muscle zones of your body to effectively prime them to do the most intense part of the workout safely in the next workout element. Adaptation exercise examples include dumbbell woodchoppers, standing free squats, and sit-ups. These exercises are only examples and any similar exercises will do. The exercises are done one after another in succession for three sets of 10 repetitions.  
c.  High Intensity Element – This workout element is the most intense of the workout. It's placed 3^rd in line after the warm up followed by the Adaptation Element as your body is now fully warmed up and ready to get the most benefit from the high intensity exercise that occurs in this element with least risk of injury from the high intensity. Suggested exercises for this element include the bench press, leg press, squats, dead lift or shoulder press done doing three sets of 10-repetitions.
d.  Relief Element – The Relief Element is where the muscles that were used in the High Intensity Element are given an active rest to recover from their high intensity effort in the previous element. The active part of the Relief Element that speeds muscle recovery back to baseline are exercises that take the strain off joints such as the Dumbbell Incline Fly and Hanging Knee to Chest, done in three sets of 10-repetitions.
e.  Stretch Element – The Stretch Element is the easiest element and designed to stretch out your body's muscles and tissues that have shortened in the previous four workout elements. Suggested exercises for this element include doing the lat pull down, low row, and tricep down, doing three sets of 10-repetitions.
f.  Cool down Element – The final phase of the workout is the cool-down, which sets the body up to begin it's recovery after the workouts finished. This element is achieved by doing 10-minutes of cardio at easy effort that when finished completes the workout.
The world of fitness training is constantly evolving and looking for more innovative ways to get fit faster with less effort and time. A proven way to meet those objectives and achieve best workout results is to organize workouts so the exercises work together to build the body and support recovery by balancing the exercise intensities throughout the workout so the body never becomes excessively over-loaded and gets maximum benefit.
The results from this approach to working out often inspires those who have experienced its benefits and results to encourage others to join the ranks of the physically fit to have a better life through better health. Is there anything better than that? I think not.
About the Author
Dr. Jeff Spencer, Olympian, ICA "Sports Chiropractor of the Year", and author is one of America's top builder of champions.
"Dr. Magic", as Dr. Spencer's often referred to, has been directly involved in 40+ World, Olympic, National and Tour de France championships. He has worked with NASCAR champion Bobby LaBonte, World Series MVP Troy Glaus, rock legend U2, and most known for helping Lance Armstrong win all 7 of his Tour de France victories on site. Spencer has also worked his "magic" with PGA, WTA, and Supercross champions, ultra-successful entrepreneurs and business standouts, NFL, MLB athletes, as well as Motocross and Formula 1 drivers. 
Spencer received his master's in physical education and his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and his doctor of chiropractic degree summa cum laude from Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles. He has taught post-graduate sports rehabilitation courses and frequently lectures on health, fitness, and wellness.
Dr. Spencer is author of the acclaimed book, Turn It Up! How To Perform At Your Highest Level For A Lifetime and audio program "The Top 10 Tactics From The Champions Playbook".

Radioactive Fallout From Japan

Radioactive Fallout From Japan | Natural Health Newsletter

Date: 03/18/2011 Written by: Jon Barron Subscribe to Newsletter

Radioactive Fallout Update: Fear is the Mind Killer

Since I first wrote about the nuclear disaster in Japan, many things have changed -- and yet little has changed. By that I mean there have been countless breaking news stories and changing events appearing hour by hour. Panic is spreading. There has been a worldwide rush on iodine supplies. Stories have broken that workers have fled the nuclear plants. Then stories appeared saying that was a mistranslation of Japanese press releases. Then we learned that workers have returned to the nuclear plants, fighting to regain control of the situation. Today we learned that alert levels have risen from Level 4 to Level 5. And television broadcast after television broadcast informs us that radioactive death clouds have rolled across the Pacific Ocean raining terror down on confused citizens in the US.
But the bottom line is that despite all these events, little has changed since I first wrote about the situation. It is indeed a great tragedy for the Japanese people, but it is still primarily a local event for Japan, with only the smallest of chances that there will be any substantial health impact on the rest of the world. With that in mind let's quickly look at some of the events and rumors that are circulating and what the truth is behind them -- and what steps you can take to prepare for whatever might happen.

Truth and rumors and what they mean

• Alert level climbs from Level 4 to Level 5.
  • That's absolutely true. Japan has raised the alert level at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from Level 4 to Level 5, based on a seven-point international scale for atomic incidents. In truth, though, nothing has changed. Upping the status to Level 5 is merely an acknowledgment of the reality on the ground that has existed almost from day one.  Level 5 is used to describe an accident with "wider consequences." For perspective, the Chernobyl disaster was Level 7. In fact, the current disaster is now ranked equivalent to the Three Mile Island incident in the US. Officially, there were no recorded deaths from Three Mile Island. Also "officially," a 13-year comprehensive evaluation of 32,000 people living in the area found no adverse health effects or links to cancer as a result of the incident. Unofficially, there were reports of increased skin diseases and tumors and 2,400 families filed a class action lawsuit for "death and disease" claimed as a result of the incident. The bottom line is that the only previous Level 5 incident generated somewhere between zero and 2,400 deaths, all local to the event…at the outside.
     
• Radioactivity escapes containment.
  • Yes, that is true, but that is not the same thing as a breach in the containment domes. The word "containment" actually has two different meanings in this situation. So far, most of the radioactivity released has come from deliberately vented steam resulting from water sprayed on the hot fuel rods to cool them down. As yet, there has been no breach of the actual containment domes, although there is the possibility that the concrete may be cracked in one of the domes. But even if true, there is no indication that the metal part of the dome has been damaged. In other words, the dome is still doing its job. In any case, although certainly not a good thing that any radioactivity is escaping, it means that the amounts of radioactivity escaping at the present time do not come close to the levels seen at Chernobyl. Just for some perspective, even in Tokyo, radiation levels are still reading at "background levels." None of this is to say that things can't get worse, but even then the odds are still overwhelming that "the worst" will still be a local issue, not a worldwide issue.
     
• This is Chernobyl all over again.
  • Not even close. First, there were no containment domes at the Chernobyl reactor. Second, the amount of radioactivity released at Chernobyl was vastly higher than is likely to be released from the Japanese reactors, even if things get worse. But most important of all, Chernobyl was located in the heart of Europe. The significant range of contamination was 1,000 miles around the event. Yes, radioactivity from Chernobyl spread all over the world, but it was only notable for about 1,000 miles around Chernobyl. With the Japanese reactors, the prevailing winds mostly blow west to east, which will carry the radioactivity across the Pacific Ocean. 1,000 miles, the extent of Chernobyl's significant consequences, only takes you a third of the way across the ocean. You still have 2,000 more miles for the radioactivity to travel in which time it will spread out, be increasingly diluted in concentration, drop out of the sky into the ocean, and fall in the rain. The net result will likely be very, very low levels of radiation reaching the US. And for those in California, don't panic, all of the radiation reaching the US won't suddenly drop out of the sky exclusively on the West Coast. Some will deposit on the West Coast, but the rest will spread out across the rest of the US, then across the Atlantic Ocean and reach Europe. The net result is likely to be barely noticeable in any one location.
     
• Radioactive cloud reaches US.
  • Yes, Japan's radioactive fallout has indeed already reached Southern California, but first readings are "about a billion times beneath levels that would be health threatening". In fact, according to some physics professors, the readings are so low, they could actually be "coming from our own reactors in California" and not from Japan at all.

• Airline passengers arriving from Japan are setting off radioactivity alarms at airports
  • Not quite. Some airports have begun specific testing of passengers arriving from Tokyo, along with their clothes and baggage upon arrival. And when specifically tested, they show radioactivity levels slightly above normal -- very slightly above normal. But that actually contains three pieces of good news.
    • The radioactivity is only found in passengers from Japan, which means the consequences are still local to Japan.
    • It is not every passenger from Japan
    • And the levels detected on that handful of passengers are still extremely low.
       
• This is the worst disaster in the history of mankind!
  • Please! Not even if you total up all the deaths from the earthquake, the tsunami, and from any radioactivity. At the moment, there are 7,000 confirmed deaths in Japan and some 11,000 people estimated to be missing. But what about deaths from the nuclear accident? Let's take a look at Chernobyl for perspective.
    
    Didn't several hundred thousand people die as a result of the Chernobyl accident as is frequently rumored? Not even close. A joint WHO-IAEA report, prepared by an international team of more than 100 scientists, stated that through mid-2005 less than 50 deaths could be directly attributed to radiation from the accident, and almost all of those were the highly exposed rescue workers who died within months of the accident. The report, estimated that a total of 4,000 people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl disaster. It should also be noted that there have been some 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer in children attributable to radioactivity from the disaster. But almost all of those were preventable. They resulted from the children drinking contaminated milk after the disaster.  Also, thyroid cancer is 97% curable in children.
    
    So let's assume for a moment that governments lie. After all, many people assume that all governments lie all the time. Let's assume that governments deliberately understated the number of deaths at Chernobyl by an astounding factor of ten. That would mean that Chernobyl might have produced as many as 40,000 deaths. That's not even close to the quarter of a million people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami or the quarter of a million people who died in the Tangshan earthquake in China in 1976. But the granddaddy of all disasters would probably be the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 with an identified death toll of soldiers and civilians that totaled, according to official records of the time, a staggering 830,000. The unidentified death toll beyond that was assumed to be far higher, but was uncountable.
    
    The bottom line is that what we're looking at in Japan today is indeed a great tragedy for those affected by it, and certainly the greatest disaster that Japan has faced since World War II, but it is not the greatest disaster in human history.  However, if worse comes to worst and the reactor actually blows, history may look at it differently, especially if large areas of Japan are rendered uninhabitable for many lifetimes.
     
• Evacuate the West Coast
  • A number of people have advocated getting in your car and evacuating the west coast if the reactors blow. But where are you going to go? You can run but you can't hide. It's not like the radioactivity is going to stop in California. Heck, California is having a hard enough time keeping businesses in California. What makes you think that it's going to be able to keep all the radioactivity for itself? Any radioactive "cloud" is going to pass through California and on to the rest of the country. And if we have a worst case scenario and the nuclear plant blows its containment dome and shoots massive amounts of radioactivity into the jet stream, getting in your car and fleeing may be the worst thing you can do. Once in the jet stream, the radioactivity would reach the US in a matter of hours -- travelling at about the same speed as a slow jet plane. It's highly likely that you would be caught in your car on the open road, tied up in a massive traffic jam when the radioactivity began to fall from the sky. In your car, you would be totally exposed and totally without supplies. Far better to hunker down in your house with an emergency supply of water and food for a few days until the levels of radioactivity begin to drop. Which brings us to the issue of half-life.
     
• Half-life of radioactive isotopes
  • There's another problem you have if you decide to evacuate your home and flee east. How long do you expect to stay away? The half-life for the radioactive isotopes that will be emitted in a nuclear disaster include: (Note: half-life means how long it takes for an isotope to lose half its radioactivity.)
    • Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days.
    • Cesium-137 attacks the muscles and produces cancer, and cesium contamination has already been detected outside the Fukushima power plant.  Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years. This means it would take about 200 years for something contaminated with cesium 137 to lose all signs of radioactivity. Ultimately, cesium may present the greatest danger if the plant blows.
    • Strontium-90 attacks the bones and causes leukemia. Its half life is 28 years. Again, you're looking at close to 200 years to totally decay.
    • Plutonium-239 tends to settle in the lungs and can cause lung cancer. It takes very little plutonium to cause health problems. Its half-life is 24,000 years. The time to total decay is beyond what you need to think about unless you believe in reincarnation.

Recommendations

Once all of the rumors are set aside, there are only a handful of steps that make sense, and most of those are really of the "be prepared" sort of thing as opposed to the do it now or die sort of thing.

• Be ready to use supplemental prophylactic iodine as described in the previous newsletter. That time is not now and is not likely to occur at all as a result of what's happening in Japan. That said, there is a whole lot of panic and nonsense about iodine circulating about. I've heard from people who have been told by people working in health food stores that although they're out of iodine tablets, seaweed will work just as well. All you have to do is eat 5-10 sheets of nori seaweed and it will protect you just as well as the tablets since nori is high in iodine. Utter piffle! There's about 16 micrograms of iodine in a sheet of nori. That means you would have to eat approximately 8,000 sheets of seaweed in one sitting to get an effective prophylactic dose of iodine. Let's get real here. Also, if you're over 40, extra iodine probably isn't going to do anything for you anyway. The younger you are, the more at risk you are. Also, taking a prophylactic dose too soon isn't going to help since iodine clears the thyroid in about 24 hours. But most important of all, the odds are extremely low that radioactive iodine is going to be the biggest problem you face outside of Japan, even if the reactor's containment dome does blow. Your biggest concern is probably cesium, which can hang around for a couple of hundred years and make its way into the food supply. It has a strong affinity for bones and will ultimately cause bone cancer. And iodine offers zero protection from radioactive cesium.
   
• Use a good colon detox formula that contains substantial amounts of apple pectin and montmorillonite clay. As I've said for years, apple pectin actually draws radioactive waste from your body and passes it out through your colon. It's one of the reasons I include it in my Colon Detox formula -- to remove contamination from everyday exposure to radiation. This is not wishful alternative health thinking. Apple pectin was used in the aftermath of Chernobyl to reduce the load of radioactive cesium in children. Montmorillonite clay, another ingredient in a good detox formula, also has a strong affinity for radioactive matter. Regular use of a good detox formula will help remove any long term radioactive isotopes such as cesium and strontium that make their way into your food supply.
   
• Use a supplement such as a good antioxidant formula or blood cleansing formula that contains chaparral extract. The primary biochemical in chaparral, NDGA (nordihydroguaiaretic acid), has been shown to protect the body against genetic damage caused by exposure to radioactivity. Don't get hung up on iodine and the thyroid. The thyroid is only one organ that is affected by radioactivity (and by only one isotope at that). And remember, thyroid cancer has a 97% cure rate in children. Many other organs such as your lungs, skin, sexual organs, bones, and even your DNA are also at risk. And unlike with radioactive iodine, that risk can last for years.
• Keep in mind that plutonium, cesium, and strontium are all heavy metals and so, to some degree, can be chelated from the body. Look for a heavy metal detox formula that contains both chlorella and cilantro. Chlorella breaks the electrical bond that ties radioactive material to your soft tissue. And cilantro then carries the radioactive material out of your body and into your urine, where it can pass from your body. Along with apple pectin, chlorella was used with notable success after the Chernobyl disaster. Keep a supply of a chlorella/cilantro metal detox formula on hand and use it regularly. If the unthinkable happens, you probably would want to use something like a bottle a week for the first four weeks after exposure, and then a bottle a month indefinitely for as long as any danger remained. But once again, let me emphasize, the odds of the unthinkable happening outside of Japan are currently very, very low.
   
• Watch what you eat if the unthinkable happens. Radioactivity, like most toxins, concentrates up the food chain. That means levels tend to be highest in meat, fish, and dairy, and lowest in grains, fruits, and vegetables. In addition, the fiber in unrefined grains, fruits, and vegetables tends to carry out radioactivity, particularly fruit pectin (think apple pectin). Also, it's vital to avoid sugar if exposed to any long term radioactivity since sugar, as we've discussed many times before in previous newsletters, robs calcium from your body. Strontium-90 in particular has a similar atomic structure to calcium, which means your body will pull it into your bones in place of calcium if there is any shortage of calcium -- thus dramatically increasing your chances of developing bone cancer. In that regard, of course, cola drinks, which are both high in sugar and phosphoric acid, would be about the worst thing you could consume.
   
• And finally, you should have a written disaster preparedness plan for you and your family. And I'm not talking about just plans for a nuclear disaster. I'm talking about plans for what happens during and after earthquakes, floods, tornados, monsoons, major flu epidemics, plague, or a terrorist event in your hometown -- basically, whatever is possible in your neck of the woods. Where does everyone meet? How do they get there? Do you have emergency supplies of water, food, batteries, first aid, lanterns, AM/FM/shortwave radios, and emergency shelter and blankets to get you over the hump just in case? I'm not talking about survivalist multi-year supplies necessarily. But what about supplies to cover 3-7 days? Do you have an emergency kit in each car in case you or anyone in your family gets stranded on the road? Can you survive if your house is washed away? The bottom line is that you need a plan before something happens, and you have to already have everything you need in place just in case the 7-Eleven down the street isn't open when you need it. If nothing else, the events in Japan offer a great chance to focus on getting your act together and preparing your own family to survive the unthinkable in case it ever happens to you.

And as before, please, please remember, that outside of Japan, we do not have an emergency situation yet -- or anything close to it. There is no need to panic. Outside of Japan, nothing has happened yet, and the odds of it happening are very, very low. Chill out. And with that in mind, let's finish this update with a quote from the Bene Gesserit's litany against fear, taken from the Frank Herbert novel, Dune.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Or to translate that into more mundane terms, "Chill out, dudes! Take time to look at the glowing of the roses."
And finally, one last note. The fear outside of Japan is mostly imaginary at the moment, but inside Japan it is very real -- and the nuclear issue may end up being the smallest part of the problem. Many thousands of people have already lost their homes, possessions, power supplies, and even family members as a result of the original earthquake and tsunami. And temperatures in northern Japan, the center of the damage, have already dropped into the low 30's. This might be a good time to step back from your fear for a moment and send some prayers their way. And then contribute to the charity of your choice that can provide some help to those in Japan who are already suffering. Keep in mind there's one great benefit to helping others: it takes your mind off your own fear, and that's always a good thing.

Mark Hyman, MD

Practicing physician

Posted: February 6, 2011 11:45 AM

Sugar Addiction? It Might Be Genetic

Read More: Addicted To Sugar , Addiction To Sugar , Break Sugar Addiction , Mark Hyman MD , Sugar Addict , Sugar Addiction , Sugar And Addiction , Sweet Tooth , Health News

We are all programmed to like sugar. New research shows some are genetically much more prone to sugar and food addiction than others. I have observed this in my patients, but now it is becoming clear why some have more trouble kicking the sugar habit than others.
As I reviewed in my previous article on food addiction, the science demonstrating that people can be biologically addicted to sugar in the same way we can be addicted to heroin, cocaine or nicotine is clear. Binging and addictive behaviors are eerily similar in alcoholics and sugar addicts. In fact, most recovering alcoholics often switch to another easily available drug: sugar.
It seems that we all vary a bit in our capacity for pleasure. Some us need a lot more stimulation to feel pleasure driving us to a range of addictive pleasures that stimulate our reward center in the brain - drug and alcohol addictions, compulsive gambling, sex addiction and, of course, sugar, food addiction and compulsive eating. We often see these as moral failures or results of character defects. In fact, it may be that addicts of all stripes are simply unlucky and born with unfortunate genetic variations in our reward and pleasure mechanisms.
The Genetics of Pleasure
In our brain, a little receptor, the dopamine receptor D2 or DRD2 for short, must be activated or switched on for us to feel pleasure. The amino acid dopamine triggers this response. Sugar and other stimulating addictions increase dopamine in the short term. The only problem is it appears that those with sugar addictions, compulsive eating and obesity have DRD2 systems that need much more stimulation to feel pleasure. Those who have sugar addiction, it seems have fewer D2 dopamine receptors and they need extra stimulation to make them "turn on".(i)
Functional MRI studies of teenagers, both lean and obese, found that the obese teenagers whose brains didn't light up as much in the dopamine reward centers were more likely to be obese and gain weight later.(ii) They also were more likely to have the DRD2 gene that coded for fewer receptors.
Some studies have pointed to drugs or nutrients that can modulate this defective dopamine reward response. In one study, naltrexone, an opioid blocker (blocks the effects of heroin and morphine on the brain) was used in sugar addicts. When they took this drug, which prevented them from getting the temporary high from sugar, they craved less and ate less.
We also know that amphetamines are natural appetite suppressants and reduce cravings. That is why children who take stimulant ADHD drugs (which are actually just fancy amphetamines) that stimulate dopamine receptors have trouble gaining enough weight as they grow.  There are also some promising studies of nutraceuticals(iii) that can modulate dopamine receptor function and appetite regulation.(iv) Bruce Ames, Ph.D. found that high levels nutrients can reduce disease in people with 50 different gene variants, nutrients may modulate the function of our genes, improve their function, or affect the activity of enzymes that genes produce.(v) In fact, one third of our entire DNA has one simple job: To code for and produce enzymes controlled by nutrient co-factors. This means that nutrients have a powerful ability to modify the expression of your genes. This is the important field of nutrigenomics.
Overcoming Your Addiction to Sugar
Despite being stuck with the sugar addiction low pleasure gene, you may be able to modify its activity by modulating your brain chemistry and receptor function with the use of specific nutrients that either improve gene expression, or modify the activity, the enzymes, or the receptors, even if they are somewhat impaired.
I have used some of these in my practice, such as glutamine and other amino acids, with success. Regulation of hormones and neurotransmitters that affect appetite and cravings is complex and involves many factors including how quickly food spikes our blood sugar, stress, getting enough sleep, nutritional deficiencies, chemicals such as artificial sweeteners, food sensitivities which drive inflammation, and more.
For those with personal struggles with food addiction, remember it is not a moral failing or lack of willpower. Here are a five suggestions I offer my patients to help them break their food addictions.
1. Balance your blood sugar: Research studies say that low blood sugar levels are associated with LOWER overall blood flow to the brain, which means more BAD decisions. To keep your blood sugar stable:
• Eat a nutritious breakfast with some protein like eggs, protein shakes or nut butters. Studies repeatedly show that eating a healthy breakfast helps people maintain weight loss.
• Also, have smaller meals throughout the day. Eat every 3-4 hours and have some protein with each snack or meal (lean animal protein, nuts, seeds, beans).
• Avoid eating three hours before bedtime.
2. Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners and your cravings will go away: Go cold turkey. If you are addicted to narcotics or alcohol you can't simply just cut down. You have to stop for you brain to reset. Eliminate refined sugars, sodas, fruit juices, and artificial sweeteners from your diet. These are all drugs that will fuel cravings.
3. Determine if hidden food allergies are triggering your cravings. We often crave the very foods that we have a hidden allergy to. For a simple allergy elimination program, consider trying The UltraSimple Diet, or The UltraSimple Diet Challenge Home Study Coaching Program.
4. Get 7-8 hours of sleep. Research shows that lack of sleep increases cravings.
5. Optimize your nutrient status with craving cutting supplements:
• Optimize your vitamin D level: According to one study, when Vitamin D levels are low, the hormone that helps turn off your appetite doesn't work and people feel hungry all the time, no matter how much they eat.
• Optimize omega 3s: Low levels of omega 3 fatty acids are involved in normal brain cell function, insulin control and inflammation.
• Consider taking natural supplements for cravings control. Glutamine, tyrosine, 5-HTP are amino acids that help reduce cravings. Stress reducing herbs such as Rhodiola can help. Chromium balances blood sugar and can help take the edge off cravings. Glucomannan fiber is very helpful to reduce the spikes in sugar and insulin that drive cravings and hunger.
To learn more about the addictive properties of food, how you can overcome them, and how you can optimize your nutrition, see www.drhyman.com.
Now I'd like to hear from you.
Have you ever been addicted top sugar? What was it like?
Do you think the food industry is feeding us products we become addicted to so they can increase profits?
Have you tried overcoming food addiction using any of these steps? How did they work for you?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) Stice, E., Yokum, S., Zald, D., and A. Dagher. 2011. Dopamine-based reward circuitry responsivity, genetics, and overeating. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 6: 81-93.
(ii) Stice, E., Yokum, S., Bohon, C., et al. 2010. Reward circuitry responsivity to food predicts future increases in body mass: moderating effects of DRD2 and DRD4. Neuroimage. 50(4): 1618-25.
(iii) Blum, K., Chen, A.L., Chen, T.J., et al. 2008. Activation instead of blocking mesolimbic dopaminergic reward circuitry is a preferred modality in the long term treatment of reward deficiency syndrome (RDS): a commentary. Theor Biol Med Model. 5:24. Review.
(iv) Blum, K., Chen, A.L., Chen, T.J. et al. 2008. LG839: Anti-obesity effects and polymorphic gene correlates of reward deficiency syndrome. Adv Ther. 25(9): 894-913.
(v) Ames, B.N., Elson-Schwab, I., and E.A. Silver. 2002. High-dose vitamin therapy stimulates variant enzymes with decreased coenzyme binding affinity (increased K(m)): relevance to genetic disease and polymorphisms. Am J Clin Nutr. 75(4): 616-58. Review.
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.

 

 

Mark Hyman, MD

Practicing physician

Posted: January 29, 2011 10:57 AM

Huffingtonpost.com

7 Tips to Fix Your Cholesterol Without Medication

Read More: Foods That Lower Cholesterol , Foods To Lower Cholesterol , How To Lower Cholesterol , How To Lower Cholesterol Naturally , Lower Cholesterol , Lower Cholesterol Naturally , Lowering Cholesterol , Lowering Cholesterol Naturally , Health News

The singular focus on treating cholesterol as a means to prevent heart attacks is leading to the deaths of millions of people because the real underlying cause of the majority of heart disease is not being diagnosed or treated by most physicians.
For example, I recently saw a patient named Jim who had "normal" cholesterol levels yet was taking the most powerful statin on the market, Crestor. Despite this aggressive pharmaceutical treatment, this man was headed for a serious heart attack. Jim's doctors had missed his real disease risks by focusing on and treating his cholesterol levels. All the while they were ignoring the most important condition that put him at dramatically higher risk of heart attacks, diabetes, cancer and dementia. In a moment I will explain what this condition is and what you can do about it.
This craze for treating cholesterol has lead to an onslaught of pharmaceuticals designed to "lower cholesterol." Statins are now the number one selling class of drugs in the nation and new cholesterol medications are produced every day. The latest in a new class of "super" cholesterol drugs, CETP inhibitors, now in the drug approval pipeline from Merck (anacetrapib) burst into the news recently with exclamations from typically restrained scientists. Data on this new drug was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association conference in Chicago.
The study found a 39.8 percent reduction in LDL (or bad cholesterol) and a 138 percent increase in HDL or good cholesterol.(i) Sure, the medications lowered cholesterol. However, the study was not large enough or long enough to answer the most important question: Did the drug result in fewer heart attacks and deaths? Despite this glaring omission, the scientists reporting on these results used words such as "spectacular," "giddy," "enormous," "most excited in decades" to describe their enthusiasm over the medication. Of course, the researchers (as I described in a recent post "Dangerous Spin Doctors") were on the payroll of Merck who funded the study.
Why Lowering Cholesterol May Not Lower the Risk of Death
Unfortunately, these scientists seemed to have short-term memory loss. Just three short years ago in 2007, another new "wonder" drug from Pfizer (torcetrapib) which worked on the same mechanism that anacetrapib does, was found to dramatically lower LDL and raise HDL cholesterol, just like this new drug from Merck. There was only one small problem -- in those taking the drug, deaths from heart attacks increased 25 percent, deaths from heart disease increased 40 percent and overall deaths increased 200 percent.(ii) After spending $800 million in development Pfizer had to walk away from the drug. Oops. How can a drug that does all the right things (dramatically lowering bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol) actually cause more heart disease and deaths?
The answer is simple. Drugs don't treat the underlying causes of chronic illness. It is not our genes which haven't changed much in 20,000 years, although they may predispose us to environmental and lifestyle triggers of illness. The causes of chronic disease are rooted in what we eat, how much we move, how we face stress, how connected we are to our communities and toxic chemicals and metals in our environment.
A wry editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine many years ago remarked that doctors should use new drugs as soon as they come on the market before side effects develop. Perhaps that's what the authors of this study are proposing we do with anacetrapib.
At best this new "super cholesterol" drug will lower cholesterol numbers without killing too many people while increasing health care costs by billions of dollars as millions of new prescriptions are written for this new "super cholesterol drug." Worse it may end up in the same garbage dump Pfizer's drug from three years ago did. Even worse scenarios exist and the reason is startling simple.
These drugs do not address the fundamental underlying cause of heart disease. Heart disease is not a Lipitor or Crestor or even an "anacetrapib" deficiency. It is a complex end result of multiple factors driven by our diet, fitness level, stress and other lifestyle factors such as smoking, social connections, and, increasingly, environmental toxins. Taking a pill won't fix these problems that push our biology steadily along the trajectory of disease. The idea of putting statins at the check out counter of McDonald's is the epitome of reductionist thinking. The problem isn't cholesterol -- it's all the stuff we are putting in our mouths!
Jim, my patient, is a perfect example of how doctors treat the symptoms, not the cause of disease. As I have written about in a previous blog, most doctors focus on the wrong target for preventing and treating heart disease. Abnormal cholesterol levels are just a downstream problem that is mostly a result of "diabesity" or the continuum of blood sugar and insulin imbalances that range from pre-diabetes to full-blown end stage diabetes. Taking a statin or a CETP inhibitor cannot reverse this change in our biology. We cannot use a drug to correct what happens to our biology because of a high sugar and refined flour, low fiber, processed diet, a sedentary lifestyle, excessive stress, lack of sleep or the harmful effects of pollution.
Let's take a closer look at Jim. On 10 mg of Crestor, the most powerful statin on the market, his total cholesterol was a beautiful 173, and his LDL was a respectable 101. But the good news ended there. His triglycerides were 176 (normal is less than 100), and his HDL was 37 (normal is greater than 50).
Jim's number belie a deeper truth about cholesterol that most conventional doctors are ignoring today: Given the current state of scientific understanding, the cholesterol numbers doctors measure today are increasingly irrelevant.
The Real Cause of Heart Disease
Instead of looking just at the cholesterol numbers, we need to look at the cholesterol particle size. The real question is: Do you have small or large HDL or LDL particles. Small, dense particles are more atherogenic (more likely to cause the plaque in the arteries that leads to heart attacks), than large buoyant, fluffy cholesterol particles. Small particles are associated with pre-diabetes (or metabolic syndrome) and diabetes and are caused by insulin resistance. Recent research (see my "Do Statins Cause Diabetes and Heart Disease" blog) indicates that statins may actually increase diabetes.
While measuring cholesterol particle size is a simple blood test that can be done at Labcorp, most doctors do not look at it, even though it is the only meaningful way to evaluate cholesterol numbers. You can have a LDL cholesterol that looks normal, like Jim did at 101, but you may have over 1000 small LDL particles which are very dangerous. On the other hand, you can have the same LDL number of 101, and it may be made up of only 400 large particles which cause no real health risk. Your health risk has less to do with your cholesterol numbers than it does the quantity and size of your cholesterol particles.
Again, we can take Jim as an example. His cholesterol particles were all small and dense because he had severe pre-diabetes. This is also not hard to diagnose. Jim was obese at 285 pounds with a BMI (body mass index) of 36. You are considered obese if your BMI is greater than 30. His waist-to-hip ratio was 1.04 (normal is less than 0.9 for men). He had very high insulin and blood sugar levels after we gave him a test drink of glucose (sugar). All this added up to tell us he had severe pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. As I mentioned before, he also had high triglycerides and low HDL -- another clue that he had metabolic syndrome. We also found he had very low testosterone and growth hormone, further symptoms of pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
Jim reported that despite working with a trainer he kept losing muscle and he was always hungry. This is why.
Let me reiterate: These are measurements and tests that can be done in any doctor's office, but are rarely done. These are not esoteric or expensive labs that can only be done at specialty clinics.
The condition that Jim suffered from, metabolic syndrome, is the most common medical condition in America, but the most rarely diagnosed. It affects over half the population. It is the major cause of heart disease, diabetes, and aging, and it is one of the major causes of dementia and cancer, not to mention infertility and sexual dysfunction. Yet, it is mostly ignored by doctors. Why? The answer is simple and tragic: There are no drugs to treat it effectively, and doctors tend to focus on what they can treat with medications, even if it is the wrong target. This is one of the reasons statins are so popular in America despite the vast research against them.
Seven Tips to Fix Your Cholesterol (and Reverse Metabolic Syndrome Without Medication)
Luckily, this doesn't mean you are doomed, even if you are already suffering from metabolic syndrome and heart problems. High cholesterol and pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome can be successfully diagnosed and treated. I have reviewed this in previous blogs, but here are seven tips to help you get big large fluffy cholesterol particles and reverse metabolic syndrome.
1. Get the right cholesterol tests. Check NMR particle sizes for cholesterol by asking your doctor for this test at Labcorp or LipoScience. You want to know if you have safe light and fluffy cholesterol particles, or small dense, artery damaging cholesterol particles. A regular cholesterol test won't tell you this.
2. Check for Metabolic Syndrome.
• Do you have a fat belly? Measure you waist at the belly button and your hips at the widest point -- if your waist/hip is greater than 0.8 if you are a woman or 0.9 if you are man, then you have a problem
• If you have small LDL and HDL particles, you have metabolic syndrome.
• If your triglycerides are greater than 100 and your HDL is less than 50, or the ratio of triglycerides to HDL is greater than four, then you have metabolic syndrome.
• Do a glucose insulin challenge test. This is very important and most physicians do not test for insulin and glucose. To read more about how to do the right type of testing for metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes please see www.drhyman.com for my information.
• Check your hemoglobin A1c, which measures blood sugar over the last six weeks. If it is greater than 5.5, you may have metabolic syndrome
3. Eat a Healthy Diet. Eat a diet with a low glycemic load, high in fiber, and phytonutrient and omega-3 rich. It should be plant based, and you should consume plenty of good quality protein such as beans, nuts, seeds, and lean animal protein (ideally organic or grass fed). I have described specific diets that abide by these parameters in my books "UltraMetabolism" and "The Diabesity Prescription."
4. Exercise. Enough Said.
5. Get Good Quality Sleep. Sleep is essential for healing your body, maintaining balanced blood sugar, and your overall health.
6. Use Supplements to Support Healthy Cholesterol Particle Size. These include:
• A multivitamin including at least 500 mcg of chromium, 2 mg of biotin and 400 mg of lipoic acid. For most you will take three capsules twice a day.
• 1000 mg of omega-3 fats (EPA/DHA) twice a day.
• 2000 IU of vitamin D3 2000 a day.
• 1200 mg of red rice yeast twice a day.
• 2-4 capsules of glucomannan 15 minutes before meals with a glass of water.
• Broad-range, balanced concentration of plant sterols. You will usually take one capsule with each meal.
7. Consider Using High Dose Niacin or Vitamin B3. This can only be done with a doctor's prescription. It is useful to help raise HDL cholesterol, lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and increase particle size.
8. Use Low-Dose Statins ONLY If You Have Had Heart Disease or are a male with multiple risk factors, while carefully monitoring for muscle and liver damage.
For the vast majority of people this approach is better than simply taking a cholesterol medication. To reduce your risk of heart disease you need to address metabolic syndrome, and that can ONLY be done effectively with a comprehensive diet and lifestyle approach like the one outlined above.
For more information on metabolic syndrome, heart disease, cholesterol, and other essential health topics, please visit www.drhyman.com.
Now I'd like to hear from you ...
Have you taken statins, what has been the effect and do you have muscle pain or any neurologic side effects?
Do you think metabolic syndrome is an important factor to address to reduce the risk of heart disease? Why or why not? Has your doctor ever said, your sugar is a little high and we will watch it? What for what -- until it is so bad you are eligible to take diabetes medication?
What do you think of conventional medicine's tendency to prescribe medications over dietary and lifestyle change for chronic health conditions?
I would love to hear your thoughts. Share them by leaving a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) Cannon, C.P., Shah, S., Dansky, H.M. et al. 2010. Safety of anacetrapib in patients with or at high risk for voronary heart disease. N Engl J Med. 363(25): 2406-2415.
(ii) Barter, P.J., Caulfield, M., Eriksson, M. et al. 2007. Effects of torcetrapib in patients at high risk for coronary events. N Engl J Med. 357(21):2109-2122.
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.

 

The Surprising Supplement You Need: Astaxanthin

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 The Surprising Supplement You Need

The primary astaxanthin benefits come from its anti-inflammatory properties; Dr. Mercola indicated that astaxanthin could be used to treat cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis.The supplement may also enhance athletic performance.  We carry this product by NOW.