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The Importance of Proper Nutrition in Disease Prevention and Treatment

2012-01-04T12:38:00.001-06:00

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.

2011-10-23T10:45:00.003-06:00

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...

2011-06-03T08:28:00.000-06:00

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

2011-03-19T15:27:00.002-06:00

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.

Sugar Addiction? It Might Be Genetic

2011-02-06T21:18:00.000-06:00

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.

7 Tips to Fix Your Cholesterol Without Medication

2011-01-29T17:57:00.000-06:00

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

2011-01-19T12:33:00.002-06:00

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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.

Vitamin D Council Statement on Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Food and Nutrition Board's (FNB) Vitamin D Report

2010-12-03T16:03:00.000-06:00

Today, the FNB has failed millions...

3:00 PM PST November 30, 2010

After 13 year of silence, the quasi governmental agency, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Food and Nutrition Board (FNB), today recommended that a three-pound premature infant take virtually the same amount of vitamin D as a 300 pound pregnant woman. While that 400 IU/day dose is close to adequate for infants, 600 IU/day in pregnant women will do nothing to help the three childhood epidemics most closely associated with gestational and early childhood vitamin D deficiencies: asthma, auto-immune disorders, and, as recently reported in the largest pediatric journal in the world, autism. Professor Bruce Hollis of the Medical University of South Carolina has shown pregnant and lactating women need at least 5,000 IU/day, not 600.

The FNB also reported that vitamin D toxicity might occur at an intake of 10,000 IU/day (250 micrograms/day), although they could produce no reproducible evidence that 10,000 IU/day has ever caused toxicity in humans and only one poorly conducted study indicating 20,000 IU/day may cause mild elevations in serum calcium, but not clinical toxicity.

Viewed with different measure, this FNB report recommends that an infant should take 10 micrograms/day (400 IU) and a pregnant woman 15 micrograms/day (600 IU). As a single, 30 minute dose of summer sunshine gives adults more than 10,000 IU (250 micrograms), the FNB is apparently also warning that natural vitamin D input — as occurred from the sun before the widespread use of sunscreen — is dangerous. That is, the FNB is implying that God does not know what she is doing.

Disturbingly, this FNB committee focused on bone health, just like they did 14 years ago. They ignored the thousands of studies from the last ten years that showed higher doses of vitamin D helps: heart health, brain health, breast health, prostate health, pancreatic health, muscle health, nerve health, eye health, immune health, colon health, liver health, mood health, skin health, and especially fetal health.

Tens of millions of pregnant women and their breast-feeding infants are severely vitamin D deficient, resulting in a great increase in the medieval disease, rickets. The FNB report seems to reason that if so many pregnant women have low vitamin D blood levels then it must be OK because such low levels are so common. However, such circular logic simply represents the cave man existence (never exposed to the light of the sun) of most modern-day pregnant women.

Hence, if you want to optimize your vitamin D levels — not just optimize the bone effect — supplementing is crucial. But it is almost impossible to significantly raise your vitamin D levels when supplementing at only 600 IU/day (15 micrograms).

Pregnant women taking 400 IU/day have the same blood levels as pregnant women not taking vitamin D; that is, 400 IU is a meaninglessly small dose for pregnant women. Even taking 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D will only increase the vitamin D levels of most pregnant women by about 10 points, depending mainly on their weight. Professor Bruce Hollis has shown that 2,000 IU/day does not raise vitamin D to healthy or natural levels in either pregnant or lactating women. Therefore supplementing with higher amounts — like 5000 IU/day — is crucial for those women who want their fetus to enjoy optimal vitamin D levels, and the future health benefits that go along with it.

For example, taking only two of the hundreds of recently published studies: Professor Urashima and colleagues in Japan, gave 1,200 IU/day of vitamin D3 for six months to Japanese 10-year-olds in a randomized controlled trial. They found vitamin D dramatically reduced the incidence of influenza A as well as the episodes of asthma attacks in the treated kids while the placebo group was not so fortunate. If Dr. Urashima had followed the newest FNB recommendations, it is unlikely that 400 IU/day treatment arm would have done much of anything and some of the treated young teenagers may have come to serious harm without the vitamin D.

Likewise, a randomized controlled prevention trial of adults by Professor Joan Lappe and colleagues at Creighton University, which showed dramatic improvements in the health of internal organs, used more than twice the FNB's new adult recommendations.

Finally, the FNB committee consulted with 14 vitamin D experts and — after reading these 14 different reports — the FNB decided to suppress their reports. Many of these 14 consultants are either famous vitamin D researchers, like Professor Robert Heaney at Creighton or, as in the case of Professor Walter Willett at Harvard, the single best-known nutritionist in the world. So, the FNB will not tell us what Professors Heaney and Willett thought of their new report? Why not?

Today, the Vitamin D Council directed our attorney to file a federal Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the IOM's FNB for the release of these 14 reports.

Most of my friends, hundreds of patients, and thousands of readers of the Vitamin D Council newsletter (not to mention myself), have been taking 5,000 IU/day for up to eight years. Not only have they reported no significant side-effects, indeed, they have reported greatly improved health in multiple organ systems.

My advice, especially for pregnant women: continue taking 5,000 IU/day until your 25(OH)D is between 50–80 ng/mL (the vitamin D blood levels obtained by humans who live and work in the sun and the mid-point of the current reference ranges at all American laboratories).

Gestational vitamin D deficiency is not only associated with rickets, but a significantly increased risk of neonatal pneumonia, a doubled risk for preeclampsia, a tripled risk for gestational diabetes, and a quadrupled risk for primary cesarean section.

Today, the FNB has failed millions of pregnant women whose as yet unborn babies will pay the price. Let us hope the FNB will comply with the spirit of "transparency" by quickly responding to our Freedom of Information requests.

Cancer Research: New Science on How to Prevent and Treat Cancer From TEDMED 2010

2010-11-08T09:12:00.000-06:00

published Huffington Post November 8, 2010

Mark Hyman, MD

Conventional medicine has lost its battle with cancer. But that doesn't mean the war is over. Let me explain why we may finally be heading in the right direction.
I just returned from TEDMED, an extraordinary gathering of brilliant minds from science, medicine, business and technology--a veritable intellectual orgy. During the conference, there was a theme that emerged: synthesis. Instead of dividing everything into diseases and labels, emerging science is pointing to a different way of thinking about diseases. The thread that ran through the conference was that disease is a systemic problem and we have to treat the system, not the symptom; the cause, not the disease. This completely redefines the whole notion of disease. The landscape of illness is changing.

At TEDMED I spoke about a new way to define disease, to navigate the landscape of illness. It is called functional medicine, which is a systems-biology approach to personalized medicine that focuses on the underlying causes of disease. That definition of functional medicine is a mouthful. But in a word, it is the medicine of WHY, not WHAT.
Conventional medicine is focused on naming diseases based on geography, body location and specialty, instead of by the cause, mechanism or pathway involved. Doctors say you have a liver, kidney, brain or heart disease. But this approach to naming disease tells you nothing about the cause, and it is quickly becoming obsolete as we understand more about the mysteries of human biology.
Instead of asking what disease you have and what drug should be used to treat it, we must ask WHY the disease has occurred--what are the underlying causes that lead to illness and how do we look under the hood to find out what's going on. Modern medicine is like trying to diagnose what's wrong with your car by listening to the noises it makes without ever looking inside to see what's going on. Functional medicine allows us to look under the hood. It gives us a method for identifying the conditions in which disease arises and shows us how to begin changing those conditions.
This shift toward a more functional, systems-based, environmental approach to treatment is happening in cancer research right now, and this change was one of the main topics explored at TEDMED this year.
Looking at Cancer a New Way: Treatment in the 21st Century
The problem with conventional cancer treatment is simply this: We look at the disease the wrong way. This reality was illustrated over and over again by the leading thinkers in the field of cancer treatment at TEDMED. For example, Greg Lucier, Chairman of Life Technologies, talked about how thinking about specific cancers is essentially flawed. How we label cancer is no longer synced up with what we know about the origins of cancer or the fact that two people who have cancer with the same name--like breast cancer--can have two completely different diseases which require different treatments. Just because you know the name of your disease, it doesn't mean you know what's wrong with you or what to do about it. Classifying tumors by body site--lung, liver, brain, breast, colon, etc.--misses the underlying causes, mechanisms and pathways involved in a particular cancer. The fact that cancer appears in a given region of the body tells us nothing about why the cancer developed in the first place. What's more it gives us no information about how it manifested in a given patient. Two people with cancers in different parts of the body may have developed it for same reasons. Similarly, two people with cancers in the same part of the body may have developed it for different reasons. A patient with prostate cancer and one with colon cancer may have more in common with each other than two patients who have colon cancer. Historically we have practiced medicine by geography--where a disease occurs in the body. That doesn't make scientific sense anymore. Now we have the potential to treat illness by understanding the underlying mechanisms and metabolic pathways.
These and other misconceptions about cancer and cancer treatment are leading to terrifying results. From the perspective of curative and preventive therapy, we have lost the war on cancer. Clinton Leaf explained how fancy statistics manipulate the data to show that cancer deaths are going down, while they are in fact going up. Overall cancer rates or incidence is significantly increasing. Deaths from cancer are also increasing. In 2008, there were 565,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. One in three people will get cancer in their lifetime. While few are aware that solid tumors grow slowly for 30 years before they can be detected, 17 million Americans are walking around with cancer somewhere along the continuum from initiation of a cancer cell to detectable tumor.
In the "war" on cancer, we are fighting a losing battle for one simple reason: We're focusing on the wrong target. As a physician I was trained to focus on the tumor--to burn, poison or cut it out, and then wait, watch and pray for the cancer to stay at bay. Newer gene-targeted treatments will help to improve chemotherapy and improve survival rates, but they won't prevent cancer in the first place or even prevent it from coming back once you've had it. Hope is not the only way to straddle the scary territory between remission and recurrence. There is a different way of thinking about how to treat the system, not just the cancer that holds promise for a proactive approach to helping both prevent occurrence as well as recurrence.
Tending Your Garden: Treating the Soil in Which Cancer Grows
Dr. Anna Barker, deputy director of the National Cancer Institute, explained how new groups of researchers are collaborating to think differently about cancer--to understand and treat it as a systemic problem. The problem with cancer--one which almost no oncologists think about--is not the tumor, but the garden in which the tumor grows. In caring for a garden, if the weeds get too big, we pull them out, just as we do with cancer using conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation. But then what? Traditionally, we have focused on late-stage curative care, and in doing so, we have missed the thinking and the treatments focused on changing the underlying conditions that led to the cancer in the first place. Diet, lifestyle, thoughts, and environmental toxins all interact with our genes to change the landscape of our health.
We have been asking the wrong question about cancer. We have asked "what": What tumor do you have? What kind of chemotherapy, surgery or radiation is needed for that tumor? What is your prognosis? Instead, we need to be asking "why" and "how": Why did this cancer grow? How can you change the conditions that feed and support cancer-cell growth? How did the terrain of your garden become a host to such an invasive weed?
Surprisingly, scientific literature is abundant with evidence that diet, exercise, thoughts, feelings and environmental toxins all influence the initiation, growth and progression of cancer. If a nutrient-poor diet full of sugar, lack of exercise, chronic stress, persistent pollutants and heavy metals can cause cancer, could it be that a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet, physical activity, changing thoughts and reactions to stress, and detoxification might treat the garden in which cancer grows? Treat the soil, not the plant. It is a foundational principle of sustainable agriculture, and of sustainable health.
In my oncology rotation in medical school, I asked my professor what percentage of cancer was related to diet. Expecting a gracious but insignificant nod to the role of diet as a cause of cancer, I was surprised when he said that 70 percent of all cancers were related to diet. The 2008-2009 report from the President's Cancer Panel found that we have grossly underestimated the link between environmental toxins, plastics, chemicals, and cancer risk. They have yet to acknowledge how thoughts, emotions and overall stress impact that risk--but it is sure to come. The facts that gravitate around cancer support evidence that will motivate us all to take a deeper look.
Consider this fact: Sixteen percent of all cancers are new, primary cancers in patients who have already had one cancer, not recurrences. This means that people who have cancer are more likely to get a second and independent cancer. Could it be the garden? I recently saw a patient after her third cancer, wondering what she could do to prevent cancer rather than waiting around for another one.
Consider this fact: The lifetime risk of breast cancer of those with the "breast cancer gene" or BRCA1 or 2 is presently 82 percent and increasing every year. Before 1940, the risk of getting cancer for those with the cancer gene was 24 percent. What changed? Our diet, lifestyle, and environment--both physically and emotionally. Might these factors be a better place to look for answers on how to address our cancer epidemic?
Cancers arise from a disturbance in your physiological state. Addressing that disturbance is the foundation of future cancer care. This approach might be called milieu therapy. Rather than treating cancer per se, we treat the milieu in which cancer arises.
And this is manageable. We can enhance immune function and surveillance through dietary and lifestyle changes, nutrient or phytonutrient therapies. We can facilitate our body's own detoxification system to promote the elimination of carcinogenic compounds. We can improve hormone metabolism and reduce the carcinogenic effects of too much insulin from our high sugar and refined carbohydrate diet. We can help the detoxification of toxic estrogens through modulation of diet, lifestyle and elimination of hormone-disrupting xenobiotics or petrochemicals.
We can also alter how our genes are expressed by changing the inputs that control that expression: diet, nutrients, phytonutrients, toxins, stress and other sources of inflammation. And we can focus on less divisive and more generative thoughts that, in turn, create more uplifting emotions--all good fertilizer for the soil in the garden of our body.
The future of cancer care must use medicine's understanding of the mechanisms of disease and we must use this information to create physiologic and metabolic balance, to design treatments that support and enhance normal physiology. The future of cancer care lies not in finding the best cocktail of chemotherapeutic agents, the right dose of radiation, or a new surgical technique, (all of which are still important and will continue to be refined) but in finding the right way to personalize treatment according to the individual imbalances in each person.
The pieces of the puzzle that hold the answers for cancer prevention and treatment are strewn about the landscape of medical science. They need only be assembled into a story that can guide clinical care. The time is ripe to accelerate this process. Thankfully, more scientists are now exploring the story of how to tend the gardens of our body, mind and soul.
To learn more about how to tend your garden and create metabolic and physiologic balance for yourself see www.drhyman.com.

Neurogenesis: How to Change Your Brain

2010-11-04T19:38:00.000-06:00

by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM

"In adult centers the nerve paths are something fixed, ended, immutable. Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated."
-- Santiago Ramon Y Cajal, "Degeneration and Regeneration in the Nervous System," 1928
This long-held tenet, first proposed by Professor Cajal, held that brain neurons were unique because they lacked the ability to regenerate.
In 1998, the journal Nature Medicine published a report indicating that neurogenesis, the growth of new brain cells, does indeed occur in humans. As Sharon Begley remarked in her book, "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain," "The discovery overturned generations of conventional wisdom in neuroscience. The human brain is not limited to the neurons it is born with, or even the neurons that fill in after the explosion of brain development in early childhood."
What the researchers discovered was that within each of our brains there exists a population of neural stem cells which are continually replenished and can differentiate into brain neurons. Simply stated, we are all experiencing brain stem cell therapy every moment of our lives.
As one might expect, the process of neurogenesis is controlled by our DNA. A specific gene codes for the production of a protein, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which plays a key role in creating new neurons. Studies reveal decreased BDNF in Alzheimer's patients, as well as in a variety of neurological conditions including epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Fortunately, many of the factors that influence our DNA to produce BDNF factors are under our direct control. The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of factors including physical exercise, caloric restriction, curcumin and the omega-3 fat, DHA.
This is a powerful message. These factors are all within our grasp and represent choices we can make to turn on the gene for neurogenesis. Thus, we can treat ourselves to stem cell therapy by taking control of our gene expression.
Physical Exercise
Laboratory rats that exercise have been shown to produce far more BDNF in their brains compared to sedentary animals. And there is a direct relationship between elevation of BDNF levels in these animals and their ability to learn, as one might expect.
With this understanding of the relationship of BDNF to exercise, researchers in a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, entitled "Effect of Physical Activity in Cognitive Function in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease," found that elderly individuals engaged in regular physical exercise for a 24-week period had an improvement of an astounding 1,800 percent on measures of memory, language ability, attention and other important cognitive functions compared to an age-matched group not involved in the exercise program.
The mechanism by which exercise enhances brain performance is described in these and other studies as sitting squarely with increased production of BDNF. Just by engaging in regular physical exercise, you open the door to the possibility of actively taking control of your mental destiny.
Caloric Restriction
In January, 2009, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a study entitled "Caloric Restriction Improves Memory in Elderly Humans." In this study, German researchers imposed a 30 percent calorie reduction on the diets of elderly individuals and compared their memory function with a similar age group who basically ate whatever they wanted. At the conclusion of the three-month study, those who ate without restriction experienced a small, but clearly defined decline in memory function, while memory function in the group consuming the calorie-reduced diet actually increased, and fairly profoundly. In recognition of the obvious limitations of current pharmaceutical approaches to brain health, the authors concluded, "The present findings may help to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for maintaining cognitive health into old age." What a concept. Preventive medicine for the brain.
Curcumin
Because curcumin, the main active ingredient in the spice turmeric, increases BDNF, it has attracted the interest of neuroscientists around the world. Interestingly, in evaluating villages in India where turmeric is used in abundance in curried recipes, epidemiological studies have found that Alzheimer's disease is only about 25 percent as common as in the U.S. There is little doubt that the positive effects of enhanced BDNF production on brain neurons is at least part of the reason why those consuming curcumin are so resistant to this brain disorder.
DHA
Like curcumin, DHA enhances gene expression for the production of BDNF. In a recently completed double-blind interventional trial, 485 healthy older individuals (average age 70 years) with mild memory problems were given a supplement containing DHA from marine algae or placebo for six months. Lead researcher of the study, Dr. Karin Yurko-Mauro, commented, "In our study, healthy people with memory complaints who took algal DHA capsules for six months had almost double the reduction in errors on a test that measures learning and memory performance versus those who took a placebo ... The benefit is roughly equivalent to having the learning and memory skills of someone three years younger."
Harnessing the expression of our DNA is empowering, and the tools to better brain health are available to us all -- right now!
Sources:
Results of the MIDAS trial: Effects of docosahexaenoic acid on physiological and safety parameters in age-related cognitive decline. Karin Yurko-Mauro, Deanna McCarthy, Eileen Bailey-Hall, Edward B. Nelson, Andrew Blackwell, MIDAS Investigators
Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, July 2009 (Vol. 5, Issue 4, Supplement, Page P84).
David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM is a Board-Certified Neurologist and Fellow of the American College of Nutrition who received his M.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine where he was awarded the Leonard G. Rowntree Research Award. After completing residency training in Neurology, also at the University of Miami, Dr. Perlmutter entered private practice in Naples, Florida.

If You Want to Age Gracefully, Don't Eat This

2010-09-21T12:21:00.000-06:00

by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Physician and author

Posted at Huffington Post September 21, 2010

Death is surely inevitable, but I do believe you can live far longer than the average life expectancy tables (1) would predict, which in the U.S. is about 78. Genetics may play a role, but it is NOT the final determining factor for whether you'll live a long healthy life.
Barring an accident, your lifestyle has everything to do with your longevity.
It's already been established that diet can override genetic predispositions for disease (2), so don't fall into the trap of believing your health and longevity is somehow inescapably tied to what's polluting your gene pool.
The Leading Cause of Premature Aging and Death
Increased insulin and leptin receptor resistance (3) has clearly become the leading cause of premature aging and death. This results from two primary conditions: too much sugar and processed foods, combined with insufficient exercise.
Interestingly, controlling these two factors will likely eliminate more than 90 percent of the following medical conditions:
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High cholesterol
Of all the molecules capable of inflicting damage to your body, probably the most damaging are sugar molecules. Fructose in particular is an extremely potent pro-inflammatory agent that accelerates aging.
Today's excessive sugar consumption is mostly an artifact of the postindustrial agricultural revolution.

More than 30 years ago, scientists learned how to cheaply produce sugar from corn, and now it is loaded into nearly all processed foods and has become the number one source of calories in most developed countries.
Fructose is a major contributor to:
• Insulin resistance and obesity
• Elevated blood pressure (4)
• Elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL (5)
• Cardiovascular disease (6), liver disease, cancer, arthritis and even gout
How Fructose Accelerates Aging
Fructose adversely affects your body in a number of ways, but one of the mechanisms that causes significant damage is glycation, a process by which the sugar bonds with proteins and forms so-called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. It's a fitting acronym because--along with oxidation--it's one of the major molecular mechanisms whereby damage accrues in your body, which leads to disease, aging and eventually death.
When sugar glycates, it creates inflammation, which activates your immune system in a defensive maneuver. Macrophages are scavenger cells that are part of your immune defense, and as such they have special receptors for AGEs, aptly called RAGEs (think: raging inflammation). These RAGEs bind to the AGEs and get rid of them.
Unfortunately, this process can leave its fair share of battle scars.
Inside your arteries, for example, the scar tissue created from this process is called plaque. This process underlies the strong connection between diabetes and heart disease.
As a standard recommendation, I strongly recommend keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.
However, most people would be wise to limit their fructose to 15 grams or less, particularly if you have elevated uric acid levels, which can be used as a predictor for fructose toxicity. (For more information on the fructose/uric acid connection, please see this recent article.)
This includes keeping track of your fructose intake from whole fruits. For a helpful chart showing the fructose content of many common fruits, please see this link. I recommend this lower level simply because if you consume processed foods or sweet beverages at all, you're virtually guaranteed to consume "hidden" sources of fructose.
Read this if you believe fruit is healthy and you can consume unlimited amounts:
Many people who eat large amounts of fruit are not convinced that fruit can be dangerous. However many fruits have a large amount of fructose that can worsen insulin resistance if you consume too much of it. It is also important to realize that 80 percent of Americans have diseases resulting from insulin resistance which are listed at the beginning of this article.
If you have one of these conditions you would be wise to limit your total grams of daily fructose to 15 grams per day until you resolve the insulin resistance. If you are still unconvinced you can measure your blood uric acid level and it will typically be greater than 5.5 if you are eating too much fructose.
New research has shown that uric acid is a far more accurate predictor of heart disease than your total cholesterol level and the more it is higher than 5.5 it is, the greater your risk. If your uric acid is between 3 and 5 than you do not need to be concerned about your current fructose intake, as you likely have a metabolism that can adjust for it and not cause you harm.
Fresh fruit is nearly always preferred to fruit juices as the processing destroys many of the nutrients in the fruit and many commercial fruit juices are also highly adulterated or deceptively labeled.
Additionally it is important to understand that most commercial fruit juices should be avoided as fruit juice typically has large amounts of methanol, which is wood alcohol, and a metabolic poison. Often the methanol is bound to pectin and when you consume fresh fruits the methanol passes through your body and causes you no harm. However, after the fruit is processed into juice and put into containers, the methanol gradually dissociates from the pectin and dissolves in the juice.
The longer the fruit juice is in the container, or the more heat it is exposed to, the more methanol that is released into the juice.
Next, in order to better understand the cause of aging, you need to become familiar with some nasty little compounds called "free radicals."
Free Radicals on a Mission to Damage Your DNA
The most widely accepted idea for life extension is the free radical theory, which says that as you age, you begin to "self destruct," courtesy of free radicals. Free radicals are aggressive chemical compounds, created as a byproduct of your natural metabolism, that damage your DNA.
Poor lifestyle choices (7) such as smoking, consuming processed foods laden with trans fats and other harmful chemical additives, along with pesticide and other chemical residue, further add to your free radical burden.
With time, your DNA eventually becomes damaged beyond your body's ability to repair it; and once your biological processes fail, you die.
Antioxidants continually combat these free radicals--which is why a diet high in natural antioxidants is so important for your health and longevity. Antioxidants are abundant in a number of foods, and your BEST source of high quality antioxidants is fresh, raw organic vegetables and fruits (especially berries).
To Supplement, or Not to Supplement
I have never been a fan of taking fistfuls of supplements in lieu of altering your diet to get the nutrients you need. However, supplementation can sometimes be useful.
There are three nutrients that have special importance with respect to aging:
1. Resveratrol
2. Coenzyme Q10
3. Glutathione (GSH)
Resveratrol is one antioxidant that I often recommend as a supplement.
Sometimes referred to as a "fountain of youth" nutrient, resveratrol appears to be particularly potent (8) for extending lifespan. It is unique among antioxidants because it can cross the blood-brain barrier to help protect your brain and nervous system.
Another important but often overlooked antioxidant is coenzyme Q-10--but more specifically the reduced version, called ubiquinol.
Your liver produces CoQ10, which is actually an essential nutrient for health and longevity because it provides energy to every single cell in your body. Unfortunately, after age 25, your natural levels of this critical compound begin to decline, which is why I personally take ubiquinol every day.
CoQ10 is also an absolute necessity if you're on statin drugs as they can quickly deplete your body of this vital antioxidant. This is partly why statins are so harmful to your heart.
Glutathione is another important and underutilized antioxidant. Interestingly, increased glutathione levels may actually play a role in stopping telomere (9) shortening, which is one of the most exciting anti-aging discoveries in recent years.
Glutathione is one nutrient I believe you can optimize with proper diet, so it is probably unnecessary to supplement. If you are recovering from a serious illness, you certainly could consider supplementation.
I have reservations about most glutathione supplements, in general.
You can obtain it from raw organic milk, free-range animal foods and eggs. But probably your best source of glutathione (10) is a high quality whey protein.
If you want to use a whey product, realize there are vast differences among them. Many whey proteins on the market are highly processed and contain a number of undesirable additives. Make sure your whey protein is derived from grass-fed cows and is very carefully processed to preserve the fragile amino acid precursors.
I am so impressed by the research on telomeres and glutathione that I take a high quality organic grass fed whey protein called Miracle Whey protein every morning, and a second dose before my twice-weekly strength training sessions.
Learning from Those Who've Lived the Longest
Longevity researchers (11) have long searched for the magic common denominators that might explain the extended life spans of centenarians.
What they've found is the people who've lived the longest tend to eat large amounts of whole unprocessed minimally cooked plants and live in areas that promote regular physical activity, such as daily walking. They also tend to have effective strategies for coping with the inevitable stresses of life, such as prayer, meditation and strong social networks.
In fact, being able to effectively cope with stress, it turns out, is one of the MAJOR common denominators for people who live long, robust lives.
One of the proposed reasons for this strong link is that stress, just like fructose, promotes inflammation in your body.
Indeed, most of the research indicates that longevity hinges on preventing chronic inflammation. Avoiding sugar/fructose while consuming antioxidant-rich whole foods, together with physical exercise and stress reduction, will do just that.
Adopt the Anti-Aging Lifestyle
Of all the healthy lifestyle strategies I know of that can have a significant impact on your longevity, normalizing your insulin and leptin levels is probably the most important. And that means modifying your diet to avoid excessive amounts of fructose, grains and other pro-inflammatory ingredients like trans fats.
Here are the rest of my top "anti-aging" recommendations:
1.Learn how to effectively cope with stress. As discussed earlier, stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Therefore, developing effective coping mechanisms is a great strategy for increasing your longevity.
Meditation, prayer, physical activity and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium. I also strongly believe in using energy psychology tools such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to address deeper, oftentimes hidden emotional scars.
2.Eat a healthful diet based on your nutritional type. My nutrition plan should be your first step. This is so important that I now offer the full nutritional typing program for FREE (12).
3. Optimize your vitamin D levels (13) . This is another very powerful and inexpensive intervention that can have profound benefits to your health. You can either optimize your levels by carefully managed direct sun exposure, or use an oral supplement (typically 5-10,000 units of vitamin D3 for most adults).
4.Eat plenty of animal-based omega-3 fat (14) . Correcting the ratio of omega-3 to healthful omega-6 fats is a strong factor in helping people live longer. This typically means increasing your intake of animal based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil, while decreasing your intake of damaged omega-6 fats (think trans fats).
I do not, however, recommend the new prescription-strength fish oil medication, sold under the name Lovaza (15) . Don't be fooled by their "all natural" PR campaign. This is actually a drug to treat very high triglyceride levels.
As with most other drugs, Lovaza comes with potentially dangerous side effects that you would not experience with a natural fish oil or krill oil supplement. Side effects include flu-like symptoms, infections, back pain, skin rashes, upset stomach, taste changes, digestive issues, chest pain, migraines and respiratory problems.
Additionally, new research strongly suggests that 500 mg of krill oil is more potent and far less expensive.
5. Get your antioxidants from real foods. Good sources include blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and most intensely pigmented vegetables.
6. Use coconut oil(15) . Another excellent anti-aging food is coconut oil, known to reduce your risk of heart disease and lower your cholesterol, among other things. In fact, it's doubly beneficial because it can be both eaten and applied directly to your skin. Coconut oil can be used in place of other oils for most of your cooking needs.
7. Get your resveratrol naturally. Resveratrol is one of the forerunners in the anti-aging pill race, but more than likely, by the time they've manipulated it into a synthetic pill (like the fish oil discussed above), it won't be healthy for you.
Although resveratrol is found in red wine, I can't recommend drinking wine regularly, in the hope of extending your life because alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain and harm your body's delicate hormonal balance. Instead, get your resveratrol from natural sources, such as whole grape skins and seeds, raspberries, and mulberries.
8. Exercise regularly, and correctly. Studies repeatedly show that regular, moderate-to-vigorous exercise can help prevent or delay the onset of hypertension, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis and the falls that lead to hip fractures.

Although a lifetime of regular exercise is ideal, it's never too late to start. It's been shown that even individuals in their 70s can substantially increase both strength and endurance with exercise.
I'm very excited about the research showing how high-intensity interval training can increase longevity as this specific style of training (Peak 8) promotes human growth hormone production--yet another aspect of the longevity puzzle.
9. Avoid as many chemicals, toxins, and pollutants as possible (17). This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
10. Avoid pharmaceutical drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs kill thousands of people prematurely every year--they are now the largest cause of fatal drug overdoses (18). If you adhere to a healthful lifestyle, you are less likely to "need" drugs since a healthy immune system will protect you from chronic disease.
Incorporating these simple guidelines will help set you squarely on the path to optimal health and give you the best shot at living a long, happy life.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder and director of Mercola.com. Become a fan of Dr. Mercola on Facebook, on Twitter, and check out Dr. Mercola's report on sun exposure!
References:
(1) "List of countries by life expectancy," Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
(2) Dai J, et al. "Mediterranean dietary pattern is associated with improved cardiac autonomic function among middle-aged men: A twin study," Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2010;3:366-373 http://circoutcomes.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/3/4/366
(3) Olatunbosun ST and Dagogo-Jack S. (April 16, 2010) "Insulin resistance." eMedicine from WebMD http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/122501-overview
(4) "Higher fructose intake tied to increased hypertension risk" (July 2, 2010) Modern Medicine http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Higher-Fructose-Intake-Tied-to-Increased-Hypertens/ArticleNewsFeed/Article/detail/677401
(5) Mercola.com, "This Common Food Ingredient Can Really Mess Up Your Metabolism" http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/26/sugar-may-be-bad-but-this-sweetener-is-far-more-deadly-part-2.aspx
(6) Bakalar N. (April 22, 2009) "Fructose-sweetened beverages linked to heart risks," New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/health/23sugar.html
(7) Kvaavik E, et al. "Influence of individual and combined health behaviors on total and cause-specific mortality in men and women: The United Kingdom health and lifestyle survey" Arch Inern Med. 2010 Apr 26;170(8):711-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20421558
(8) Daniells S. (September 14, 2009) Science: Resveratrol's miraculous promise" NutraIngredients http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Science-Resveratrol-s-miraculous-promise/?c=YcPaFAqXDgt92iRxXsRniQ%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_special_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BSpecial%2BEdition
(9) Mercola.com, "Science Finally Reveals How You Can Actually REVERSE Aging" http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/23/science-finally-reveals-how-you-can-actually-revese-aging.aspx

(10)Palkhivala A. (July 30, 2001) "Glutathione: New Supplement on the Block" WebMD http://www.nutritionadvisor.com/web_md.htm
(11) Mercola.com, "See My Presentation at the Anti-Aging Conference" http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/03/18/see-my-presentation-at-the-antiaging-conference.aspx
(12) Mercola.com, "The Secret that is Stunning Nutritionists" http://products.mercola.com/nutritional-typing/

(13) Vitamin D Council http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

(14) Herper M. "What you need to know about fish oil." Forbes http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/09/omega-fatty-acids-lifestyle-health-heart-disease.html

(15) Lovaza.com, http://www.lovaza.com/

(16) "Research on coconut oil" http: //www.coconutoil.com/research.htm

(17) Centers for disease control and prevention, National report on human exposure to environmental chemicals, the fourth report, July 2010, http://www.cdc.gov/exposurereport/

(18) Szabo L. (August 10, 2010) "Prescriptions now biggest cause of fatal drug overdoses" USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-09-30-drug-overdose_N.htm

Follow Dr. Joseph Mercola on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mercola

The Endocrine System: The Adrenal Glands

2010-07-27T08:11:00.000-06:00

Date: 07/26/2010 Posted By: Jon Barron

In our last newsletter, we examined the pancreas and the disease most commonly associated with it: diabetes, which is one of the fastest growing diseases in the world today. In this issue, we conclude our series on the endocrine system with an exploration of the adrenal glands. Surprisingly, the adrenals get far less "publicity" than the pancreas, and yet adrenal fatigue affects far, far more people than diabetes. Just consider the fact that the energy drink market has exploded from non-existent 25 years ago to become today's multi-billion dollar juggernaut. And for all that, energy drinks and energy shots are dwarfed by the $70 billion plus in sales of coffee as a stimulant that fuels much of the world's office workers.

And driving all of these billions and billions of dollars in sales in stimulant drinks is the underlying condition of adrenal fatigue. In today's newsletter, we will explore the anatomy and physiology of the adrenal glands, and how the abuse of these glands has led to a dependency on stimulants that goes far beyond the world's illicit drug trade.

General anatomy

The adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney; hence, the terms "ad renal" -- as in "added" to the renal glands. They are small glands, about 2 inches (5 cm) in length, and weighing about 5 gm each. As part of the kidneys, they are located way, way to the back of the body (as any good martial artist knows) and are abundantly supplied by three sets of blood vessels to ensure redundancy:

Inferior phrenic arteries off the aorta.
Middle suprarenal arteries off the aorta.
Inferior suprarenal arteries of each renal artery.

Like the pituitary gland, the adrenal glands are composed of two entirely separate sections (the cortex and the medulla), and like the pituitary gland, the two sections actually evolve during embryology from two entirely different types of tissue. The adrenal cortex evolves from fetal mesodermal cells (essentially cells that produce connective tissue). The adrenal medulla, on the other hand, evolves from the nervous system. In fact, the adrenal medulla actually consists of modified neurons (neural crest cells). In the fifth week of fetal development, neuroblast cells migrate from the neural crest to form the sympathetic chain and preaortic ganglia. The cells then migrate a second time to the adrenal medulla. Forgetting all the technical names of cells and cell sources, the key point to remember here is that the two parts of the adrenal glands form two entirely different types of cells and share little in common -- other than location.

The adrenal cortex is the outer layer.
The adrenal medulla is the inner layer.

The adrenal glands, or at least the cortex of the glands, are absolutely essential for life. Then again, although it is possible to survive without the inner layer, the adrenal medulla, the quality of life would be severely compromised.
Let's now examine the adrenal cortex and medulla in more detail.

Adrenal cortex

The adrenal cortex produces three hormones in three separate zones.
Mineralocorticoids
Aldosterone is 96% of this group, and it controls water and electrolyte (sodium and potassium) balance in the body. Without the action of the mineralocorticoids in maintaining electrolyte homeostasis, you would die since this has a direct effect on regulating blood pressure. The action of the mineralocorticoids is on the kidneys, which under the direction of these hormones excrete sodium or potassium as required to maintain optimal balance. Adrenal adenomas (benign, actively secreting growths in the cortex) cause hyper-production of aldosterone, which may account for as much as 25% of high blood pressure patients. Treatment involves removal of the tumor, and positive results are virtually instantaneous. The trick, of course, is arriving at the correct diagnosis. Most adrenal adenomas are discovered by chance when an abdominal computed-tomography (CT) or magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) scan is done for unrelated symptoms.
Glucocorticoids
Cortisol (also called hydrocortisone) is 95% of the total, plus corticosterone, and cortisone.

Cortisol depresses the immune system.
It is an anti-inflammatory (as a result of depressing the immune system).
It retards allergic overreactions, but as a result slows wound repair.
It promotes the breakdown of protein (catabolism).
It promotes lipolysis, the conversion of triglycerides to stored fatty acids.

Many weight-loss supplements sold today theoretically address this problem by relieving stress, thereby reducing cortisol production and correspondingly eliminating excess fat storage. Although the theory is sound, how well any individual supplement works, of course, is open to debate.

It promotes glucose formation (gluconeogenesis).
It promotes resistance to stress, resulting in higher blood pressure.

Addison's disease results from acute adrenocortical insufficiency.

The symptoms are lethargy, low blood pressure, weight loss, anorexia, and low blood sugar.
Addison's disease is treated with a steroid hormone (cortisol in various forms, natural and synthetic) replacement.
John F. Kennedy may be history's most famous Addison's disease patient and required regular cortisone injections to deal with stress. Since one of the side effects of cortisol injections is a "tanning" of the skin, JFK looked his best (tanned and relaxed) during times of stress -- immediately after injections.
Full blown Addison's disease is extremely rare. However, "low level" adrenal fatigue is extremely common, and we will be discussing it in more detail later.

Cushing's syndrome, on the other hand, results from excessive adrenal cortical function. It results in spindly arms and legs, a moon-face,a buffalo hump on the back, flushed skin, hypertension, osteoporosis, and decreased resistance to infection or stress.
Androgens
Androgens are masculinizing hormones that occur in insignificant amounts in the adult male. The primary and most well-known androgen is testosterone. In men, the vast majority of androgens are produced in the testes, but in women, the adrenal glands are responsible for the overwhelming quantity of androgen production. Surprisingly, for women, the masculinizing hormones produced by the adrenal glands are essential for well being. In females, androgen accounts for sexual drive, energy, and "joie de vivre." It is converted into female hormones (estrogens) after menopause.
Incidentally, old treatments for breast cancer involved removing the pituitary gland to prevent the adrenal glands from producing estrogen by stopping release of ACTH that would normally have stimulated the adrenals. Nowadays, this is accomplished with pharmaceuticals.

Adrenal medulla

Hormones in the medulla are produced in the chromaffin cells ("chromium + affinity"). They get their name from the fact that they stain readily in the presence of chromium salts. Chromaffin cells are neuroendocrine in that they are activated by neurotransmitters released by nerve cells located in the autonomic nerve fibers coming directly from the central nervous system. In response to this input, the chromaffin cells of the medulla release hormone messenger molecules into the blood. In this way, they integrate the nervous system and the endocrine system, a process known as neuroendocrine integration.
Because the chromaffin cells are directly activated by the nerve fibers from the autonomic nervous system, they respond very quickly -- as is necessary in a system that responds to emergency situations. On the other hand, chromaffin cells continue to secrete adrenal hormones "long" after nervous stimulation has passed. In fact, hormonal effects can last up to ten times longer than those of neurotransmitters. In a sense, neurotransmitters respond in the short term to emergencies, whereas the medullary hormones cover the longer term. In this way the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system and the medullary secretions function together.
So which hormones are we talking about?
The adrenal medulla releases two hormones: adrenaline (80%) and noradrenaline (20%), more commonly known among the medical establishment as epinephrine and norepinephrine. Collectively, they are called catecholamines. As I mentioned earlier, unlike the adrenocortical hormones, the medullary hormones are not essential for life -- at least when the body is in the resting state. Without stress, you don't need these hormones -- with one primary exception. Standing up from a reclining or sitting position would entail an unsustainable drop in blood pressure, as blood pooled in the feet and legs, if not for a compensating action governed by the medullary hormones. (We will talk more about this in a moment.)

Adrenaline

Epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) increases heart rate, contracts blood vessels, dilates air passages and participates in the fight-or-flight response of the sympathetic nervous system. As a hormone, epinephrine acts on nearly all body tissues. Its actions vary by tissue type and by the differing responses of the various receptor sites scattered throughout the body. For example, epinephrine causes smooth muscle relaxation in the airways, but causes contraction of the smooth muscle that lines most arterioles.

Noradrenaline

Norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline) both complements the actions of adrenaline and adds its own stimulus to the brain. Along with adrenaline, noradrenaline also responds to the fight-or-flight stimulus by directly increasing heart rate, triggering the release of glucose from energy stores, and increasing blood flow to skeletal muscle. In addition, though, noradrenaline affects parts of the brain where attention and responding actions are controlled. Noradrenaline also works as an anti-inflammatory agent in the brain.

I've fallen down, and I can't get up

When a healthy individual stands up, gravity, if not accounted for, would cause approximately 10-15% of their blood to settle in the stomach and limbs. This blood pooling would mean that less blood reaches the brain -- resulting in lightheadedness, seeing stars, tunneled vision/darkening, and even fainting. In healthy individuals, however, this does not happen because special pressure sensors in blood vessels instantaneously act (via the involuntary nervous system) to trigger important responses in the body. These responses maintain normal blood pressure and flow to the brain and body primarily by pumping adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream. As we discussed earlier, these hormones cause the smooth muscle that lines most arterioles to contract. They also cause the veins of the lower body to contract. The net result of all this contraction is the raising of blood pressure and the forcing of blood up into the head. Also, the heart is stimulated to increase its output by increasing the number of heart beats per minute, the volume of blood pumped per beat, and the force with which each beat squeezes. We can actually feel this happening, from time to time. (Pay special attention and check it out the next time you stand up.) The end result is more blood returning to the brain and heart. Usually, if all components of the circulatory reflexes are working properly, the move from lying to standing proceeds without symptoms.

Common adrenal problems

For the most part, the adrenal glands function so well, and can handle almost any abuse we throw at them, that we barely give them a thought. But if pushed too far, they will crack. Addison's disease, which we've already discussed, is the primary "disease" of the adrenals, but there are several "lesser" problems worth discussion. Although not normally recognized by the medical community, they actually represent the vast majority of adrenal problems people face in today's high stress world. We're talking about non-clinical adrenal fatigue, weight gain, and caffeine addiction.

Adrenal Fatigue

According to the Mayo Clinic, adrenal fatigue is a term applied to a collection of nonspecific symptoms, such as body aches, fatigue, nervousness, sleep disturbances, and digestive problems. The term often shows up in popular health books and on alternative medicine Web sites, but it isn't an accepted medical diagnosis. The "unproven theory" behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands are unable to keep pace with the demands of perpetual fight-or-flight arousal. As a result, they can't produce quite enough of the hormones you need to feel good. Existing blood tests, according to this theory, aren't sensitive enough to detect such a small decline in adrenal function -- but your body is. That's why you feel tired, weak, and depressed. However, the only real, diagnosable, medically accepted form of adrenal fatigue is Addison's disease (discussed earlier).
But is that true?
What I find absolutely delicious in the Mayo Clinic's commentary on adrenal fatigue is their conclusion. "Unproven remedies for so-called "adrenal fatigue" may leave you feeling sicker, while the real cause -- such as depression or fibromyalgia -- continues to take its toll." How wonderful to include fibromyalgia as a "real" condition. Lest anyone forget, it was just a few years ago that the medical establishment was dismissing fibromyalgia as an alternative health fantasy…just like adrenal fatigue. And many doctors still dismiss it as such. So with that in mind, what is adrenal fatigue?
First of all, contrary to what the Mayo Clinic claims, adrenal fatigue probably affects as many as 80% of adults at some point in their lives. These patients often end up going from doctor to doctor trying to find out why they feel exhausted and sick. Too often they're told after extensive testing, as the Mayo Clinic would do, that there is nothing wrong with them -- or perhaps that they are suffering from stress and need to relax more. The problem is that, from a medical point of view, adrenal fatigue has a broad spectrum of non-specific, yet often debilitating symptoms, including:

Fatigue, lethargy:

Difficulties getting up in the morning.
Lack of energy in the mornings, and also in the afternoon between 3 and 5 pm.
Often feel tired between 9 and 10 pm, but resist going to bed.
Sleep difficulties.
Difficulty concentrating or remembering (brain fog).

Need coffee or stimulants to get going in the morning.
Feel better suddenly for a brief period after a meal.
Cravings for salty, fatty, and high protein food such as meat and cheese.
Lowered blood pressure and blood sugar.
Lightheadedness (including dizziness and fainting) when rising from a sitting or lying-down position.
High frequency of getting the flu and other respiratory diseases -- plus a tendency for them to last longer than usual.
Tendency to tremble when under pressure.
Pain in the upper back or neck with no apparent reason.
Increased symptoms of PMS for women; periods are heavy and then stop, or are almost stopped on the 4th day, only to start flow again on the 5th or 6th day.
Reduced sex drive -- particularly in women.
Tendency to gain weight and unable to lose it, especially around the waist.

The bottom line is that being consistently under stress eventually exhausts the ability of the adrenal glands to produce sufficient amounts of hormones -- particularly cortisol. As the Mayo Clinic indicated, because they are prepared only to diagnose extreme dysfunction in the adrenals such as Addison's disease, conventional endocrinologists and medical tests cannot diagnose adrenal fatigue. But that does not mean that it is untestable. Beyond the symptoms themselves, natural healers can conduct a saliva cortisol test to evaluate your adrenal function. This will pick up more subtle dysfunctions in your adrenal glands than the typical medical tests.
If you are diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, or simply believe you have it, you will want to consider the following steps.

Relax! Chill out! Find some way to reduce your stress levels. Remember, adrenal fatigue is almost always the result of unrelenting stress.
Eliminate, or cut way back, on your use of stimulants such as coffee and energy drinks. They work by stimulating the adrenals. If your adrenals are already exhausted, stimulants merely drive your adrenals further into "the red."
Switch to a low glycemic diet since high sugar levels increase stress on the body and consequently increase cortisol levels. In turn, elevated cortisol levels interfere with the body's ability to handle sugar -- thus raising blood sugar levels and locking you into a vicious circle.
Consider using a formula such as Standard Process' Drenamin to "feed" the adrenals.
Supplement with a formula that contains adaptogenic herbs to help rebuild the adrenals. It would also be useful if the formula helped free up bound testosterone since this would take a burden off of the adrenals as they would no longer have to "make up the difference" caused by low free testosterone levels.

Weight gain

Cortisol is elevated in response to stress. The adrenal glands are not particular, any kind of stress will do. The stress can be physical, environmental, chemical, dietary, or imaginary. The human brain is hard wired with automatic responses to protect the body from harm. All forms of stress produce the same physiological consequences.
As we mentioned earlier, one of the primary roles of cortisol is to promote the conversion of triglycerides into stored fatty acids. It also promotes glucose formation (gluconeogenesis). The bottom line is that chronically elevated cortisol levels contribute to the accumulation of abdominal fat and make it very difficult to eliminate.

Lowering cortisol levels requires the same five steps mentioned above for relieving adrenal fatigue.

Caffeine

Last year, I devoted an entire newsletter to caffeine. In summary, the way caffeine works on the adrenal glands is as follows:
Caffeine works by blocking adenosine's ability to slow nerve cell activity in preparation for sleep, and instead increases the speed of nerve cell activity and of the neuron firing in the brain. (The caffeine molecule is structurally similar to adenosine, and binds to adenosine receptors on the surface of cells without activating them -- an "antagonist" mechanism of action.) The pituitary gland "sees" all of the increased neuron firing in the brain and thinks some sort of emergency must be occurring, so it releases hormones that tell the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline, which gives your body a boost, so it can remain active and alert in response to the perceived "emergency."
If you're drinking five, six, ten cups of coffee a day, or if you're slugging down five or six energy drinks a day, you've put your body in a state of continual "alert." This produces a constant drain on the adrenals -- eventually leading to adrenal fatigue.
So yes or no on consuming caffeine? Unfortunately, when it comes to caffeine, the devil is in the details.

Natural caffeine is preferable to "added" caffeine. Natural caffeine comes packaged with a number of powerful antioxidants such as:

Chocolate: flavonoids, procyanidins, epicatechin, cocoa phenols.
Tea: epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin. Not to mention theanine, which is not an antioxidant, but rather, a profoundly beneficial amino acid.
Coffee: chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and melanoidins.

The Mayo Clinic says under 300 mg a day is fine. I set the figure much lower -- at about 100 mg a day. That still allows for 3 cups of green tea a day. The exception to this guideline is that if you take your caffeine bound to fiber, as in guarana (not guarana extract), the caffeine releases over time rather than in powerful bursts, which allows you to consume more without the negative side effects.
Don't use caffeine as part of a daily ritual such as "every morning" to start the day. Use it selectively, if possible, to get a boost only when needed. And take at least two days off each week -- totally caffeine free -- to allow all caffeine to clear from your body on a weekly basis.
And if you're already in a state of adrenal fatigue, you might want to consider stopping all caffeine consumption at least until you give your adrenals a chance to rebuild some of their lost reserves.

And that concludes today's newsletter on the adrenal glands and our series on the endocrine system. There are several other glands in the body that have endocrine functions--such as the sex glands -- but we will cover those when we focus on the primary systems involved.

Glutathione: The Mother of All Antioxidants

2010-04-12T18:00:00.002-06:00

by Mark Hyman, M.D.

It's the most important molecule you need to stay healthy and prevent disease -- yet you've probably never heard of it. It's the secret to prevent aging, cancer, heart disease, dementia and more, and necessary to treat everything from autism to Alzheimer's disease. There are more than 89,000 medical articles about it -- but your doctor doesn't know how address the epidemic deficiency of this critical life-giving molecule ...

What is it? I'm talking about the mother of all antioxidants, the master detoxifier and maestro of the immune system: GLUTATHIONE (pronounced "gloota-thigh-own"). The good news is that your body produces its own glutathione. The bad news is that poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections and radiation all deplete your glutathione.

This leaves you susceptible to unrestrained cell disintegration from oxidative stress, free radicals, infections and cancer. And your liver gets overloaded and damaged, making it unable to do its job of detoxification. In treating chronically ill patients with Functional Medicine for more than 10 years, I have discovered that glutathione deficiency is found in nearly all very ill patients. These include people with chronic fatigue syndrome, heart disease, cancer, chronic infections, autoimmune disease, diabetes, autism, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, arthritis, asthma, kidney problems, liver disease and more.

At first I thought that this was just a coincidental finding, but over the years I have come to realize that our ability to produce and maintain a high level of glutathione is critical to recovery from nearly all chronic illness -- and to preventing disease and maintaining optimal health and performance. The authors of those 76,000 medical articles on glutathione I mentioned earlier have found the same thing!So in today's blog I want to explain what glutathione is, why it's important and give you 9 tips that will help you optimize your glutathione levels, improve your detoxification system and protect help yourself from chronic illness.

What is Glutathione?
Glutathione is a very simple molecule that is produced naturally all the time in your body. It is a combination of three simple building blocks of protein or amino acids -- cysteine, glycine and glutamine. The secret of its power is the sulfur (SH) chemical groups it contains. Sulfur is a sticky, smelly molecule. It acts like fly paper and all the bad things in the body stick onto it, including free radicals and toxins like mercury and other heavy metals.

Normally glutathione is recycled in the body -- except when the toxic load becomes too great. And that explains why we are in such trouble ...In my practice, I test the genes involved in glutathione metabolism. These are the genes involved in producing enzymes that allow the body to create and recycle glutathione in the body. These genes have many names, such as GSTM1, GSTP1 and more.
These genes impaired in some people for a variety of important reasons. We humans evolved in a time before the 80,000 toxic industrial chemicals found in our environment today were introduced into our world, before electromagnetic radiation was everywhere and before we polluted our skies, lakes, rivers, oceans and teeth with mercury and lead.

That is why most people survived with the basic version of the genetic detoxification software encoded in our DNA, which is mediocre at ridding the body of toxins. At the time humans evolved we just didn't need more. Who knew we would be poisoning ourselves and eating a processed, nutrient-depleted diet thousands of years later? Because most of us didn't require additional detoxification software, almost of half of the population now has a limited capacity to get rid of toxins. These people are missing GSTM1 function -- one of the most important genes needed in the process of creating and recycling glutathione in the body. Nearly all my very sick patients are missing this function. The one-third of our population that suffers from chronic disease is missing this essential gene. That includes me. Twenty years ago I became mercury poisoned and suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome due to this very problem. My GSTM1 function was inadequate and I didn't produce enough glutathione as a result. Eventually, my body broke down and I became extremely ill ...
This is the same problem I see in so many of my patients. They are missing this critical gene and they descend into disease as a result. Let me explain how this happens ...

The Importance of Glutathione in Protecting Against Chronic Illness
Glutathione is critical for one simple reason: It recycles antioxidants. You see, dealing with free radicals is like handing off a hot potato. They get passed around from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then finally to glutathione which cools off the free radicals and recycles other antioxidants. After this happens, the body can "reduce" or regenerate another protective glutathione molecule and we are back in business. However, problems occur when we are overwhelmed with too much oxidative stress or too many toxins. Then the glutathione becomes depleted and we can no longer protect ourselves against free radicals, infections, or cancer and we can't get rid of toxins. This leads to further sickness and soon we are in the downward spiral of chronic illness.

But that's not all. Glutathione is also critical in helping your immune system do its job of fighting infections and preventing cancer. That's why studies show that it can help in the treatment of AIDS.(i)
Glutathione is also the most critical and integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool -- and out of your body.
And lastly, it also helps us reach peak mental and physical function. Research has shown that raised glutathione levels decrease muscle damage, reduce recovery time, increase strength and endurance and shift metabolism from fat production to muscle development.

If you are sick or old or are just not in peak shape, you likely have glutathione deficiency.
In fact, the top British medical journal, the Lancet, found the highest glutathione levels in healthy young people, lower levels in healthy elderly, lower still in sick elderly and the lowest of all in the hospitalized elderly. (ii) Keeping yourself healthy, boosting your performance, preventing disease and aging well depends on keeping your glutathione levels high. I'll say it again ... Glutathione is so important because it is responsible for keeping so many of the keys to UltraWellness optimized.
It is critical for immune function and controlling inflammation. It is the master detoxifier and the body's main antioxidant, protecting our cells and making our energy metabolism run well.
And the good news is that you can do many things to increase this natural and critical molecule in your body. You can eat glutathione-boosting foods. You can exercise. And you can take glutathione-boosting supplements. Let's review more specifics about each.

9 Tips to Optimize your Glutathione Levels
These 9 tips will help you improve your glutathione levels, improve your health, optimize your performance and live a long, healthy life.
Eat Foods that Support Glutathione Production
1. Consume sulfur-rich foods. The main ones in the diet are garlic, onions and the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, etc.).
2. Try bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis. As you know, I am not a big fan of dairy. But this is an exception -- with a few warnings. The whey protein MUST be bioactive and made from non-denatured proteins ("denaturing" refers to the breakdown of the normal protein structure). Choose non-pasteurized and non-industrially produced milk that contains no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Immunocal is a prescription bioactive non-denatured whey protein that is even listed in the Physician's Desk Reference.
Exercise for Your Way to More Glutathione
3. Exercise boosts your glutathione levels and thereby helps boost your immune system, improve detoxification and enhance your body's own antioxidant defenses. Start slow and build up to 30 minutes a day of vigorous aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, or play various sports. Strength training for 20 minutes 3 times a week is also helpful.
Take Glutathione Supporting Supplements
One would think it would be easy just to take glutathione as a pill, but the body digests protein -- so you wouldn't get the benefits if you did it this way. However, the production and recycling of glutathione in the body requires many different nutrients and you CAN take these. Here are the main supplements that need to be taken consistently to boost glutathione. Besides taking a multivitamin and fish oil, supporting my glutathione levels with these supplements is the most important thing I do every day for my personal health.
4. N-acetyl-cysteine. This has been used for years to help treat asthma and lung disease and to treat people with life-threatening liver failure from Tylenol overdose. In fact, I first learned about it in medical school while working in the emergency room. It is even given to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.
5. Alpha lipoic acid. This is a close second to glutathione in importance in our cells and is involved in energy production, blood sugar control, brain health and detoxification. The body usually makes it, but given all the stresses we are under, we often become depleted.
6. Methylation nutrients (folate and vitamins B6 and B12). These are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione. Methylation and the production and recycling of glutathione are the two most important biochemical functions in your body. Take folate (especially in the active form of 5 methyltetrahydrofolate), B6 (in active form of P5P) and B12 (in the active form of methylcobalamin).
7. Selenium. This important mineral helps the body recycle and produce more glutathione.
8. A family of antioxidants including vitamins C and E (in the form of mixed tocopherols), work together to recycle glutathione.
9. Milk thistle (silymarin) has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels.
So use these nine tips and see how they work to help you optimzie your glutathione levels. When you do, you will take one more step to lifelong vibrant health.

References
(i) De Rosa SC, Zaretsky MD, Dubs JG, Roederer M, Anderson M, Green A, Mitra D, Watanabe N, Nakamura H, Tjioe I, Deresinski SC, Moore WA, Ela SW, Parks D, Herzenberg LA, Herzenberg LA. N-acetylcysteine replenishes glutathione in HIV infection. Eur J Clin Invest. 2000 Oct;30(10):915-29
(ii) Nuttall S, Martin U, Sinclair A, Kendall M. 1998. Glutathione: in sickness and in health. The Lancet 351(9103):645-646
Mark Hyman, M.D. practicing physician and founder of The UltraWellness Center is a pioneer in functional medicine. Dr. Hyman is now sharing the 7 ways to tap into your body's natural ability to heal itself. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on Youtube and become a fan on Facebook.

The Spread of Superbugs

2010-03-07T15:54:00.000-06:00

New York Times March 7, 2010

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Op-Ed Columnist

Until three months ago, Thomas M. Dukes was a vigorous, healthy executive at a California plastics company. Then, over the course of a few days in December as he was planning his Christmas shopping, E. coli bacteria ravaged his body and tore his life apart. Mr. Dukes is a reminder that as long as we’re examining our health care system, we need to scrutinize more than insurance companies. We also need to curb the way modern agribusiness madly overuses antibiotics, leaving them ineffective for sick humans.

Antibacterial drugs were revolutionary when they were introduced in the United States in 1936, virtually eliminating diseases like tuberculosis here and making surgery and childbirth far safer. But now we’re seeing increasing numbers of superbugs that survive antibiotics. One of the best-known — MRSA, a kind of staph infection — kills about 18,000 Americans annually. That’s more than die of AIDS.

Mr. Dukes, 52, picked up a kind of bacteria called ESBL-producing E. coli. While it’s conceivable that he touched a contaminated surface, a likely scenario is that he ate tainted meat, said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-diseases specialist and the author of “Rising Plague,” a book about antibiotic resistance.

Vegetarians are also vulnerable to antibiotic resistance nurtured in hog barns. Microbes swap genes, so antibiotic resistance developed in pigs can jump to microbes that infect humans in hospitals, locker rooms, schools or homes. Routine use of antibiotics to raise livestock is widely seen as a major reason for the rise of superbugs. But Congress and the Obama administration have refused to curb agriculture’s addiction to antibiotics, apparently because of the power of the agribusiness lobby.

The ESBL E. coli initially remained in Mr. Dukes’s colon, causing no particular damage. But then he suffered an inflammation that perforated his colon — and the bacteria escaped. Mr. Dukes began suffering stomach pains and saw his doctor, who gave him Cipro, a strong antibiotic that had previously worked against the infection. This time, the pain grew worse. The next evening, he was in surgery to remove eight inches of his colon. A culture attributed the infection partly to ESBL E. coli. Doctors inserted a tube to administer an intravenous antibiotic in an effort to save his life.

If ESBL E. coli is frightening, there are even more potent superbugs emerging, like Acinetobacter.
“We are seeing infections caused by Acinetobacter and special bacteria called KPC Klebsiella that are literally resistant to every antibiotic that is F.D.A. approved,” Dr. Spellberg said. “These are untreatable infections. This is the first time since 1936, the year that sulfa hit the market in the U.S., that we have had this problem.”

The Infectious Diseases Society of America, an organization of doctors and scientists, has been bellowing alarms. It fears that we could slip back to a world in which we’re defenseless against bacterial diseases. There’s broad agreement that doctors themselves overprescribe antibiotics — but also that a big part of the problem is factory farms. They feed low doses of antibiotics to hogs, cattle and poultry to make them grow faster.

A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets, the study found. More antibiotics are fed to livestock in North Carolina alone than are given to humans in the entire United States, according to the peer-reviewed Medical Clinics of North America. It concluded that antibiotics in livestock feed were “a major component” in the rise of antibiotic resistance Legislation introduced by Louise Slaughter, a New Yorker who is the only microbiologist in the House of Representatives, would curb the routine use of antibiotics in farming. The bill has 104 co-sponsors, but agribusiness interests have blocked it in committee — and the Obama administration and the Senate have dodged the issue.

After weeks of receiving intravenous antibiotics, Mr. Dukes is now recovering at home in Lomita, Calif. He must use a colostomy bag, but he hopes to be patched up and ready to return to work next month. Still, he knows that the ESBL E. coli remains in his gut. “As long as it’s contained in my colon, I’m a happy camper,” he said. “But if it gets out again, I’m in trouble.”

Dr. Martin J. Blaser, chairman of the department of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center, and a former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, agrees that agricultural use of antibiotics produces cheaper meat. But he says the price may be an enormous toll in human health. “You could have very lethal pandemics,” he said. “We’re brewing some perfect storms.”

•

Sugar May Be Bad But This Sweetener Is Far More Deadly

2010-02-17T09:17:00.001-06:00

by Dr. Joe Mercola

Posted: February 17, 2010 08:32 AM

Study after study are taking their place in a growing lineup of scientific research demonstrating that consuming high-fructose corn syrup is the fastest way to trash your health. It is now known without a doubt that sugar in your food, in all it's myriad of forms, is taking a devastating toll.
And fructose in any form -- including high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and crystalline fructose -- is the worst of the worst!
Fructose is a major contributor to:
• Insulin resistance and obesity
• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL
• Depletion of vitamins and minerals
• Cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis and even gout
A Calorie is Not a Calorie
Glucose is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium -- and in fact, every living thing on the Earth--uses glucose for energy.
If you received your fructose only from vegetables and fruits (where it originates) as most people did a century ago, you'd consume about 15 grams per day -- a far cry from the 73 grams per day the typical adolescent gets from sweetened drinks. In vegetables and fruits, it's mixed in with fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and beneficial phytonutrients, all which moderate any negative metabolic effects.
It isn't that fructose itself is bad -- it is the MASSIVE DOSES you're exposed to that make it dangerous.
There are two reasons fructose is so damaging:
1. Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver.
2. People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound.
Today, 55 percent of sweeteners used in food and beverage manufacturing are made from corn, and the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of HFCS.
Food and beverage manufacturers began switching their sweeteners from sucrose (table sugar) to corn syrup in the 1970s when they discovered that HFCS was not only far cheaper to make, it's about 20 percent sweeter than table sugar.
HFCS is either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, and sucrose is 50 percent fructose, so it's really a wash in terms of sweetness.
Still, this switch drastically altered the average American diet.
By USDA estimates, about one-quarter of the calories consumed by the average American is in the form of added sugars, and most of that is HFCS. The average Westerner consumes a staggering 142 pounds a year of sugar! And the very products most people rely on to lose weight -- the low-fat diet foods -- are often the ones highest in fructose.
Making matters worse, all of the fiber has been removed from these processed foods, so there is essentially no nutritive value at all.
Fructose Metabolism Basics
Without getting into the very complex biochemistry of carbohydrate metabolism, it is important to understand some differences about how your body handles glucose versus fructose. I will be publishing a major article about this in the next couple of months, which will get much more into the details, but for our purpose here, I will just summarize the main points.
Dr. Robert Lustig[i] Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, has been a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism. His work has highlighted some major differences in how different sugars are broken down and used:
• After eating fructose, 100 percent of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. But with glucose, your liver has to break down only 20 percent.
• Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose. Therefore, much of it is "burned up" immediately after you consume it. By contrast, fructose is turned into free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat.
• The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Insulin resistance progresses to metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
• Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate. In other words, fructose converts to activated glycerol (g-3-p), which is directly used to turn FFAs into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat you store. Glucose does not do this.
• When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!
• The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.
• Glucose suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain's communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.
If anyone tries to tell you "sugar is sugar," they are way behind the times. As you can see, there are major differences in how your body processes each one.
The bottom line is: fructose leads to increased belly fat, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome -- not to mention the long list of chronic diseases that directly result.
Panic in the Corn Fields
As the truth comes out about HFCS, the Corn Refiners Association is scrambling to convince you that their product is equal to table sugar, that it is "natural" and safe.
Of course, many things are "natural" -- cocaine is natural, but you wouldn't want to use 142 pounds of it each year.
The food and beverage industry doesn't want you to realize how truly pervasive HFCS is in your diet -- not just from soft drinks and juices, but also in salad dressings and condiments and virtually every processed food. The introduction of HFCS into the Western diet in 1975 has been a multi-billion dollar boon for the corn industry.
The FDA classifies fructose as GRAS: Generally Regarded As Safe. Which pretty much means nothing and is based on nothing.
There is plenty of data showing that fructose is not safe -- but the effects on the nation's health have not been immediate. That is why we are just now realizing the effects of the last three decades of nutritional misinformation.
As if the negative metabolic effects are not enough, there are other issues with fructose that disprove its safety:
• More than one study has detected unsafe mercury levels in HFCS[ii].
• Crystalline fructose (a super-potent form of fructose the food and beverage industry is now using) may contain arsenic, lead, chloride and heavy metals.
• Nearly all corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn, which comes with its own set of risks.
The FDA isn't going to touch sugar, so it's up to you to be proactive about your own dietary choices.
What's a Sugarholic to Do?
Ideally, I recommend that you avoid as much sugar as possible. This is especially important if you are overweight or have diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure.
I also realize we don't live in a perfect world, and following rigid dietary guidelines is not always practical or even possible.
If you want to use a sweetener occasionally, this is what I recommend:
1. Use the herb stevia.
2. Use organic cane sugar in moderation.
3. Use organic raw honey in moderation.
4. Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than fructose.
5. Avoid agave syrup since it is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose. Your blood sugar will spike just as it would if you were consuming regular sugar or HFCS. Agave's meteoric rise in popularity is due to a great marketing campaign, but any health benefits present in the original agave plant are processed out.
6. Avoid so-called energy drinks and sports drinks because they are loaded with sugar, sodium and chemical additives. Rehydrating with pure, fresh water is a better choice.
If you or your child is involved in athletics, I recommend you read my article Energy Rules for some great tips on how to optimize your child's energy levels and physical performance through good nutrition.
[i] Robert H. Lustig, MD: UCSF Faculty Bio Page, and YouTube presentation "Sugar: The bitter truth" and "The fructose epidemic" The Bariatrician, 2009, Volume 24, No. 1, page 10)
[ii] "Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup?" 20 Feb 2009, Grist
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder and director of Mercola.com. Become a fan of Dr. Mercola on Facebook, on Twitter and check out Dr. Mercola's report on sun exposure!

Pre and Post Workout Nutrition Shake

2010-02-11T11:23:00.001-06:00

This from Greg Peterson at Nutrition Dynamics. These are are very high quality products which we carry in the store. I have been using them and the results have been great!

The pre and post workout shake is the same as the nutrients needed to get a strenuous workout in are the same as for recovery. With good nutritional loading before your workout, your body can be in a simultaneous catabolic/anabolic state, meaning it can begin immediate rebuilding as it's broken down, if it has an abundance of recovery nutrients:

* Two scoops of Ultimate Protein. A blend of concentrated whey protein, whey protein isolate, and hydrolyzed whey protein. A blend of the types of whey protein is your best for muscle repair, as well as glutathione enhancement as a antioxidant, for detoxification, and immune enhancement. Approximately 30-40 grams of protein at a time seems to be about as much as the body can use.
* Two scoops of Kre-Alkalyn (alkaline form of creatine-scooper in bottle) mixed in your drink. Regular creatine starts with a low PH, then when creatine gets into the acidic PH of the stomach, it becomes even more acidic. This is problematic because at a low PH, creatine converts to the waste product creatinine, which doesn't work as creatine, but also slightly stresses the kidneys. Creatine has been shown to increase ATP during exercise, as well as reduce inflammation, stimulate satellite cell formation (important for muscle growth), and increase gene activity that boosts protein synthesis and cell repair.
* One tablespoon of Glutamine (P330) added to drink. This pharmaceutical grade glutamine promotes a positive nitrogen balance needed for muscle repair, as well as reducing the catabolic hormone cortisol, while increasing natural secretion of reparative growth hormone.
* One scoop of Dynamic Greens (concentrated plant nutrients) added to drink. A great tasting combination of vegetables and fruits that provide a powerful supply of antioxidants and phytonutrients. Exercising intensely breaks down tissue, increases free radicals, and increased oxidation. This dramatically increases the need for antioxidants to repair cells, reduce oxidation and aging of tissue, reduce chronic inflammation, speed recovery and detoxification. Dynamic Greens aids in all these areas.
* One Teaspoon of EPA-DHA Balanced Liquid added to the drink. These omega 3 oils are essential for fluidity of cells, meaning the cell is able to uptake nutrients, as well as eliminate toxic waste materials. EPA-DHA is also incredible effective in reducing chronic inflammation, cellulite, damage to cartilage, as well as reduced risk to heart disease.

Add the above to 4 ounces of a 100% juice (organic preferable), 4 ounces of quality water, and ice cubes 30 minutes before your workout as well as soon after your workout as possible (at least within the hour). OR I use yogurt, organic frozen fruits (blueberry, strawberry, black cherry) and a banana for sweetner.

For men in at least their mid twenties or older, consider using our Tribestan (tribulus terrestris) for a natural increase in testosterone levels. Tribestan is the brand name tribulus that the medical research has been done on. They have a proprietary method of extracting the plant sterols that naturally increase LH to direct the testes to produce optimal levels of testosterone. Testosterone is the grandaddy of all hormones for recovery from workouts and muscle repair. Take Tribestan at 1 tablet per 50 Ibs. of body weight per day (including days you are not working out).

After especially intense workouts, take Protrypsin or Inflamase (proteolytic enzymes) @ 3-4 capsules (empty stomach) to reduce muscle soreness, reduce muscle strength losses, and speed recovery. It does this by increasing leukocyte activity (leukocytes are white blood cells used in the healing process) that breakdown injured tissues so that the muscle can be repaired.

Finally, consider using Chondro Joint Aide packets for joint repair and joint pain relief at 2 packets per day. These daily packets contain nutrients/herbs to prevent joint damage, repair cartilage and connective tissues, and reduce pain/inflammation such as glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, hyaluronic acid, ginger, curcumin, and 5-loxin from boswellia.

Eye Health

2010-02-02T16:08:00.000-06:00

A common concern among CNF customers is vision health. The macula is the center of the retina & is responsible for central vision. It is also the most sensitive part of the retina, prone to deterioration as we age. Nutrition plays a very important role in eye health. Our retinas are partly composed of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (rich in fish oils) & Lutein & Zeaxanthin. These latter two are carotenoids, stored in high amounts around the macula, which provide potent antioxidant protection & help stop harmful oxidation from diminishing our macular pigment density, thus our vision. Our bodies cannot make these nutrients which are found in colorful fruits & vegetables or supplements. At least 10 mg of Lutein, 400 mg of zeaxanthin & 600 mg of DHA are recommended daily. Ocu-Support by NOW, a comprehensive eye-nutrient formula, is on sale this month at CNF. Take as recommended w/ two Carlsons Fish Oil capsules (or the equivalent) for the required DHA. Another related common customer question at CNF is what to do about dry eyes. It is very important to support eye moisture “from within” w/ fish oil (600 mg EPA/DHA), 200 mg GLA (found in evening primrose oil or borage oil), a good quality multivitamin w/ at least 5000 IU of Beta Carotene & other Carotenoids (or a product like Ocu-Support) and Vitamin D. Symptomatic relief can be obtained w/ homeopathic drops such as Dry Eye Relief by Similasan.

Divine Daisy A Transpersonal Tale

2009-11-15T18:50:00.020-06:00

Creating Divine Daisy

Eighteen months ago I began working on a children's book about a special dog. The story itself came to me in a series of early morning images that appeared over a period of months. No matter how hard I tried to ignore them they continued to re-appear with a vividness that compelled me to act. I outlined the story and then began looking for an illustrator who could bring the story to life.

After a futile two-month search I wandered into a student exhibit at the Tweed Museum in Duluth and was immediately captivated by the artwork of Ginny Maki. I contacted her and briefly described the story to her and without a moment’s hesitation she joined the project. Her initial drawings had an uncanny, even eerie resemblance to those first images that had haunted me months earlier. The writing process that followed was joyful as the story flowed through me almost verbatim as it appears in the book today.

Story Summary

Divine Daisy is the magical story of a dog whose special gift is awakened when she is kissed by a rabbit. It’s the story of a lonely boy who takes her home, the rabbits who she befriends and who share their secrets with her. It is a story of love, hope and truth told with heartbreaking honesty that does not gloss over the more difficult emotions of sadness and grief. The story is about our cosmic connection to something greater than ourselves – a world beyond logic and reason that resonates with how children see the world. Divine Daisy is an affirmation of the mystery of life and a book that will enchant children each time they read it.

The book is for people of all ages, big and small. It is a book that parents will want to read and discuss with younger children. It is a book that adults will find joy in reading themselves. Most of all it is a book to be shared with someone special. The watercolor illustrations are heartfelt and bring the story to life in a way that engages the imagination. In each image the artist has captured the essence of Divine Daisy. Like a holograph each illustration contains the whole story. Taken together story and image carry us into a transpersonal realm of universal harmony.

Books can be purchased at BUMBLEBEE HOLLOW PRESS

Foods You Can Trust

2009-01-12T18:49:00.007-06:00

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Two days ago I posted my 08 Food Awards Hall of Shame and since every coin has two sides here's the flip: the best foods you can eat and why. Though it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell us that fruits & vegetables win hands down on the health scale but there are still quite a few surprises in the nutrient quiver!

There are basically two groups of foods that you can eat ad nauseam without piling on the dreaded calories: vegetables and fruits. Eat your fruits and vegs with fiber and you get nutrients. Another super-nutrient is protein. It's becoming more scientifically accepted that protein helps to control appetite. Protein also offers greater staying power, and can boost your metabolism. Come check my list (not in alphabetical or preference)

Most doctors and nutritionists agree that fiber is good for us, and for this reason we should eat fruit, which contains fiber. But both fruit and vegetable also contain a lot of carbohydrate. One apple, for example, contains about 3 grams of fiber and 16 grams of carbohydrate. A banana has approximately 3 grams of fiber and 22.84 gr of carbohydrates per 100gr.

A note for folks afflicted with either type 1 and type 2 diabetes: as you know, as little as one gram of carbohydrate can raise blood sugars so keep this in mind as eating too much carbohydrate at one time from any source can raise your blood sugar so spacing those carbohydrates throughout the day will help control your blood sugar and blood glucose levels. A good friend of mine has type 2 and she has discovered years ago that eating several small meals a day not only kept her BG to acceptable levels but also kept her weight down. For instance she would eat a single baked potato and two hours later she would make herself a large tomato salad with a few bits of avocado thrown into it. Three hours after that she would make a "milkshake" with red berries, 1 passion fruit and use butter milk instead of regular (good for the skin, she'd say).

My number 1 on the all time scale of greatness:

the humble sweet potato! Or yam as it's known in some countries. It packs a wallop! Simply cut lengthways in four or six, drop a little olive oil and a pinch of rock salt and bake till tender. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and ot course a ton of fiber (highest fiber vegetables: avocado (though some see this as a fruit), beans, broccoli, eggplant (aubergine), lima beans, Brussel sprouts & cabbage (both green and red), carrot, chick peas - garbanzo to you)

Quinoa. This grain may well save us from famine if it were given the attention it deserves, grows in poor soil (like amaranth, the other wonder grain), and demands little water. A half cup of cooked quinoa has 5 grams of protein, more than any other grain, plus iron, riboflavin and magnesium. A half-cup has 320 calories, 5 grams of fat and 5 grams of fiber. Great also in stir-fries and soups, and it is reasonably priced!

Kale: the truly amazing greens! These leafy greens are jampacked with vitamins A, C, and K, folate, potassium, magnesium, iron, and lutein among other goodies. Great in stews, soups or baked with potatoes, or simply steamed by itself and served with a dash of olive oil and crusty bread.

Praise the Gods: Garlic, the magic bullet! I can talk and write endlessly on garlic and its powers. The sulfur compounds that give garlic its pungent flavor can also lower bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure and even reduce your risk of stomach and colon cancer. A clove has 4 or 5 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. Make a puree by baking a few heads (skin on) into a medium oven and use it a spread on bread, vegetables, anything that you like. Never mind the smells and the breath, it's more important to be healthy. Also use liberally in stews, soups and stir-fries.

Can't talk about garlic without mentioning onions! Quercetin is one of the most powerful flavonoids (natural plant antioxidants) and the humble onion is blessed with large amounts of it. Studies show it helps protect against cancer. 1 single cup has 60 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Onion soup, onion tart laced with anchovy, onion marmalade, the options are endless. And since onions are a conductor of oxygen, let me give you this hangover tip: juice 1 onion, 1 tomato, half a lemon, half a chili and drink asap. You will feel discombobulated for a moment but the headache will go.

The wonders of the tomato: lycopene, one of the strongest carotenoids, acts as an antioxidant. Research shows that tomatoes may cut the risk of bladder, stomach, prostrate and colon cancers in half if eaten daily (both my grandfather & great grandfather died of prostate so I'm eating tomatoes like there's no tomorrow). 1 tomato has 28 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. You can be liberal the use of olive oil, because lycopene is best absorbed when eaten with a little fat.

King Broccoli: broccoli has heaps of vitamin C and beta-carotene, indole-3-carbinol and sulforaphane, which help protect against breast cancer. 1 cup has 25 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. You can eat it raw in salads, cook it in soups and stir-fries and every time you munch on it think of Bush 1 who hated it with passion. I bet he could do with some now as his face is a little past

The power of Apricots: filled with beta-carotene, which helps prevent free-radical damage. One apricot has 17 calories, 0 fat, 1 gram of fiber. Eat them fresh or dried (make sure they're free of sulphites), my favorite way of eating apricots is to combine them with some berries and cherries and make a cold summer soup using either molasses or acacia honey to sweeten it.

Which brings me to berries, in this case raspberries.
These berries are packed with vitamin C and are, oddly, high in fiber. 1 cup has only 60 calories, 1 gram of fat and 8 grams of fiber. Eat them fresh in season, try some with muesli and yogurt, in tartlets and smoothies, and frozen the rest of the year (great for ice-cream, sorbets, smoothies and cakes/muffins).

Lentils & protein: lentils pack a punch! 1 cup of cooked lentils will deliver an astonishing 18 grams of protein and 0 fat (120 calories, 8 grams of fiber) Filled with isoflavones (which inhibit estrogen-promoted breast cancers) they even hold up through processing. Use in soups, stews and my favorite, a warm lentil and chicken breast salad laced with a tomato & onion salsa. A drop of Balsamic vinegar and olive oil complete the deal.

Green Tea: researchers suppose that the catechins in the tea may trigger weight loss by stimulating your metabolism. The body will burn calories so drink copiously as tea or as iced-tea, with a little fresh mint thrown into it.

Figs & fig bars: a great source of potassium and fiber, figs also contain vitamin B6, which is responsible for producing mood-boosting serotonin, lowering cholesterol and preventing water retention. One fig has 37 to 48 calories, 0 fat and 2 grams of fiber. A healthy fig bar would have around 60 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of fiber. I love dried figs as well as use them with lamb, and as a snack.

Citrus, lovely citrus: lemons, limes and grapefruit all have limonene, furocoumarins and vitamin C, all of which help prevent cancer. A wedge has 2 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber. I don't have to tell you how to deal with citrus, everyone has an idea on how to eat or drink it. It's all good.

Spices: ginger is known to ward off migraines and arthritis pain by blocking inflammation-causing prostaglandins. I use it in tea, stir-fries, soups, stews, you name it, ginger will be in it. I use other spices and one that is prevalent is the chili, fresh or flaked. I could write an entire book on chili and still not cover everything it does.

Spinach & Bok Choy: though quite different they both pack major vitamins. Spinach is rich in lutein, zeaxanthin and carotenoids that help fend off macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in older peopleb (Popeye was not wrong!) 1 cup has 7 calories, 0 fat and 1 gram of fiber. 1 cup of Bok Choy will give you 160mg of calcium (16 percent of your daily recommended requirement) to help beat osteoporosis. 1 cup has 20 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Bok Choy is not understood properly and should be on the menu quite frequently, in soups and stir-fries.

Wild salmon, if you can get it: it is a superior food, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce the risk of cardiac disease. A 150 gram portion (cooked) has 130 calories, 4 grams of fat, 0 fiber. It's great baked with a little olive oil, a few sliced tomatoes and 1 sliced lemon or lime, moderate oven, add a dash of white wine and you're in heaven.

Other super foods I also like: watercress, arugula (I'm an elitist, duh!), squash, roasted pumpkin seeds, almonds, bananas, celery, and more...and here's a last entry: wheat germ. 1 tablespoon gives you about 8 percent of your daily magnesium, which helps prevent muscle cramps. It's also a good source of vitamin E. One tablespoon has 28 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of fiber. I stick some on my muesli, along with a tablespoon of powdered lecithin....for the memory, you know!

The star juices: cranberry, pineapple, mango and pomegranate: 1 glass has 144 calories, 0 grams of fat and 0 fiber.

A note on skim milk: drink in moderation, riboflavin is important for good vision and along with vitamin A might help improve eczema and allergies. Plus, you get calcium and vitamin D, too. 1 glass has 90 calories, 0 fat and 0 fiber.

And finally we arrive at water (unbottled, please) Water is your body's lifeblood and it has zero calories. What more can I say on this? Oh, yes: water is life.

Posted from http://www.lavidalocavore.org/frontPage.do 1-12-09

Why Cancer's Gaining on Us

2008-10-29T22:04:00.000-06:00

Published on Monday, October 27, 2008 by The Boston Globe
by Rita Arditti

For all the pink ribbons, breast-cancer awareness events, fund-raisers, and celebrations of "survivorship," the facts remain grim. In this country, a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer is one in eight. In 1975, the risk was about one in 11.

Outside of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women. It is estimated that in 2008 there will be 250,230 new cases of breast cancer among women. An estimated 41,000 women will die of metastatic breast cancer in 2008. Because we still do not know what the causes of breast cancer are, primary prevention remains an elusive goal while mammography and early detection are the focus of attention.

Since World War II, the proliferation of synthetic chemicals has gone hand-in-hand with the increased incidence of breast cancer. About 80,000 synthetic chemicals are used today in the United States, and their number increases by about 1,000 each year. Only about 7 percent of them have been screened for their health effects. These chemicals can persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies. According to a recent review by the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, 216 chemicals and radiation sources cause breast cancer in animals.

Nearly all of the chemicals cause mutations, and most cause tumors in multiple organs and animal species, findings that are generally believed to indicate they likely cause cancer in humans. Yet few have been closely studied by regulatory bodies. There is concern about benzene, which is in gasoline; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are in air pollution from vehicle exhaust, tobacco smoke, and charred foods; ethylene oxide, which is widely used in medical settings; and methylene chloride, a common solvent in paint strippers and glues.

There is also broad agreement that exposure over time to natural estrogens in the body increases the risk of breast cancer, so it is important to consider the role of synthetic estrogens in breast cancer development. Many other chemicals, especially endocrine-disrupting compounds -- chemicals that affect hormones, such as the ubiquitous bisphenol A, which is found in plastic bottles and cans -- are also thought to raise breast cancer risk. Endocrine-disrupting compounds are present in many pesticides, fuels, plastics, air pollution, detergents, industrial solvents, tobacco smoke, prescription drugs, food additives, metals, and personal-care products including sunscreens.

Is there definitive evidence that these substances cause breast cancer? Have they been sufficiently studied? Well, no. We need to know more about the timing, duration, and patterns of exposure, which may be as important as dosage. But shouldn't we do everything possible to reduce exposure to the suspected chemicals? Shouldn't we take precautionary measures, as we continue and deepen the research? In Massachusetts, the leading cause of death in 2006 was cancer. It is time for action.

In our state, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a coalition of more than 160 organizations, has worked for the passage of the Safer Alternatives Bill, which would create a program to replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives when feasible. The bill would establish a pragmatic, gradual approach to reducing health impacts from many of the toxic chemicals that we are exposed to in everyday life. The bill passed the Senate unanimously this year, but was not voted on by the House. The alliance will introduce it again in the 2009 legislative session.

Yes, we need early detection but also primary prevention, and, of course, effective treatments for those of us with extended disease. Rachel Carson, who herself died of breast cancer in 1964, said it best: "For those in whom [cancer] is already a hidden or a visible presence, efforts to find cures must of course continue. But for those not yet touched by the disease and certainly for the generations as yet unborn, prevention is the imperative need."

Rita Arditti is one of the founders of the Cambridge-based Women's Community Cancer Project, a grassroots organization committed to cancer prevention. She has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 1979.

Broccoli may undo diabetes damage

2008-08-10T13:26:00.001-06:00

Broccoli may help ward off prostate cancer

Eating broccoli could reverse the damage caused by diabetes to heart blood vessels, research suggests.

A University of Warwick team believe the key is a compound found in the vegetable, called sulforaphane.

It encourages production of enzymes which protect the blood vessels, and a reduction in high levels of molecules which cause significant cell damage.

Brassica vegetables such as broccoli have previously been linked to a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes

Professor Paul Thornalley
University of Warwick

People with diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes; both are linked to damaged blood vessels.

The Warwick team, whose work is reported in the journal Diabetes, tested the effects of sulforaphane on blood vessel cells damaged by high glucose levels (hyperglycaemia), which are associated with diabetes.

They recorded a 73% reduction of molecules in the body called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).

Hyperglycaemia can cause levels of ROS to increase three-fold and such high levels can damage human cells.

The researchers also found that sulforaphane activated a protein in the body called nrf2, which protects cells and tissues from damage by activating protective antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes.

Countering vascular disease

Lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley said: "Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes.

"In future, it will be important to test if eating a diet rich in brassica vegetables has health benefits for diabetic patients. We expect that it will."

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, stressed that research carried out on cells in the lab was a long way from the real life situation.

However, he said: "It is encouraging to see that Professor Thornalley and his team have identified a potentially important substance that may protect and repair blood vessels from the damaging effects of diabetes.

"It also may help add some scientific weight to the argument that eating broccoli is good for you."

Tuesday, 5 August 2008 00:12 BBC News

Industrial/Environmental Toxins

2008-05-17T17:33:00.000-06:00

How to Avoid the Top 10 Most Common
Industrial/Environmental Toxins

By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege

There are many upsides to living in a modern, high-tech society (like having access to the Internet and digital cameras and MP3 audio players to name a few of my favorites.) But as with most things in life and in nature, whether you call it yin and yang, balance or the principle that opposites attract, with the upside comes a significant downside.

For all of the conveniences and advances that we have grown so accustomed to comes a slew of environmental toxins -- chemicals and other materials largely from industry and carelessness -- that have very much saturated our water, our food and the very air we breathe.

Many of these toxins are things that you can't see, smell or feel, at least not right away. One of the major problems with them is just that. We don't realize that we're being affected until we come down with a chronic disease after years of subtle and often consistent exposure to a combination of these toxins.

This makes it almost impossible to pinpoint a specific environmental toxin as the source of illness, yet when you look at the facts -- the increasing numbers of cancers, immune system disorders, neurological problems, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities, allergies and hormonal disturbances that are facing the nation -- it is hard NOT to take notice. Consider these statistics:

Some 77,000 chemicals are produced in North America
Over 3,000 chemicals are added to our food supply
More than 10,000 chemical solvents, emulsifiers and preservatives are used in food processing
1,000 new chemicals are introduced each year
Where do all of these chemicals end up? They are absorbed into our groundwater, rivers, lakes and oceans, spewed into our air, and added, quite intentionally, to our food supply.

The Effects of Toxins on Your Body

A study in last year's British Medical Journal estimated that perhaps 75 percent of most cancers are caused by environmental and lifestyle factors, including exposure to chemicals. Another report, this one by the Columbia University School of Public Health, estimated that 95 percent of cancer is caused by diet and environmental toxicity.

This is really not surprising when you consider that estimates show most Americans have somewhere between 400 and 800 chemicals stored in their bodies, typically in fat cells. Some of the short- and long-term effects of these toxins include:

Neurological disorders (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, depression, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, etc.)
Cancer
Nutritional deficiencies
Hormonal imbalances
Enzyme dysfunction
Altered metabolism
Reproductive disorders
Fatigue
Headaches
Obesity
Muscle and vision problems
Immune system depression
Allergies/Asthma
Endocrine disorders
Chronic viral infections
Less ability to tolerate/handle stress
The 10 Most Common Toxins

The following toxins are among the most prevalent in our air, water and/or food supply. This list is by no means all-inclusive, as thousands of other toxins are also circulating in our environment. Keep reading to find out tips to avoid these toxins and others as much as possible.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls): This industrial chemical has been banned in the United States for decades, yet is a persistent organic pollutant that's still present in our environment.

Risks: Cancer, impaired fetal brain development
Major Source: Farm-raised salmon. Most farm-raised salmon, which accounts for most of the supply in the United States are fed meals of ground-up fish that have absorbed PCBs in the environment and for this reason should be avoided.

Pesticides: According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 60 percent of herbicides, 90 percent of fungicides and 30 percent of insecticides are known to be carcinogenic. Alarmingly, pesticide residues have been detected in 50 percent to 95 percent of U.S. foods.
Risks: Cancer, Parkinson's disease, miscarriage, nerve damage, birth defects, blocking the absorption of food nutrients
Major Sources: Food (fruits, vegetables and commercially raised meats), bug sprays

Mold and other Fungal Toxins: One in three people have had an allergic reaction to mold. Mycotoxins (fungal toxins) can cause a range of health problems with exposure to only a small amount.
Risks: Cancer, heart disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis, diabetes
Major Sources: Contaminated buildings, food like peanuts, wheat, corn and alcoholic beverages

Phthalates: These chemicals are used to lengthen the life of fragrances and soften plastics.
Risks: Endocrine system damage (phthalates chemically mimic hormones and are particularly dangerous to children)
Major Sources: Plastic wrap, plastic bottles, plastic food storage containers. All of these can leach phthalates into our food.

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): VOCs are a major contributing factor to ozone, an air pollutant. According to the EPA, VOCs tend to be even higher (two to five times) in indoor air than outdoor air, likely because they are present in so many household products.
Risks: Cancer, eye and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, and memory impairment
Major Sources: Drinking water, carpet, paints, deodorants, cleaning fluids, varnishes, cosmetics, dry cleaned clothing, moth repellants, air fresheners.

Dioxins: Chemical compounds formed as a result of combustion processes such as commercial or municipal waste incineration and from burning fuels (like wood, coal or oil).
Risks: Cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders, chloracne (a severe skin disease with acne-like lesions), skin rashes, skin discoloration, excessive body hair, mild liver damage
Major Sources: Animal fats: Over 95 percent of exposure comes from eating commercial animal fats.

Asbestos: This insulating material was widely used from the 1950s to 1970s. Problems arise when the material becomes old and crumbly, releasing fibers into the air.
Risks: Cancer, scarring of the lung tissue, mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer)
Major Sources: Insulation on floors, ceilings, water pipes and healing ducts from the 1950s to 1970s.

Heavy Metals: Metals like arsenic, mercury, lead, aluminum and cadmium, which are prevalent in many areas of our environment, can accumulate in soft tissues of the body.
Risks: Cancer, neurological disorders, Alzheimer's disease, foggy head, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, decreased production of red and white blood cells, abnormal heart rhythm, damage to blood vessels
Major Sources: Drinking water, fish, vaccines, pesticides, preserved wood, antiperspirant, building materials, dental amalgams, chlorine plants

Chloroform: This colorless liquid has a pleasant, nonirritating odor and a slightly sweet taste, and is used to make other chemicals. It's also formed when chlorine is added to water.
Risks: Cancer, potential reproductive damage, birth defects, dizziness, fatigue, headache, liver and kidney damage.
Major Sources: Air, drinking water and food can contain chloroform.

Chlorine: This highly toxic, yellow-green gas is one of the most heavily used chemical agents.
Risks: Sore throat, coughing, eye and skin irritation, rapid breathing, narrowing of the bronchi, wheezing, blue coloring of the skin, accumulation of fluid in the lungs, pain in the lung region, severe eye and skin burns, lung collapse, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS) (a type of asthma)
Major Sources: Household cleaners, drinking water (in small amounts), air when living near an industry (such as a paper plant) that uses chlorine in industrial processes.

Tips to Avoid Toxins

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Learn More About Way Healthier Air Purifiers

It's impossible in this day and age to avoid all environmental toxins. What you can do, however, is limit your exposure as much as possible with the following tips:

Buy and eat, as much as possible, organic produce and free-range, organic foods. If you can only purchase one organic product it probably should be free range organic eggs. Fortunately most grocery stores now have these available. If they don't contact the store manager and encourage them to carry them. Additionally I believe raw milk products are a key to staying healthy. They are best obtained locally but many people have a great challenge finding them. I have made special arrangements with a dairy in the only state that raw milk products are legal, California, so you can easily obtain them.

Rather than eating fish, which is largely contaminated with PCBs and mercury, consume a high-quality purified fish or cod liver oil like Carlson's. Contact your favorite health food store for it or another high quality brand or use our store for your immediate convenience. Another option is to have your wild-caught fish lab tested to find out if it is a pure source (we've found a delicious Alaskan wild red salmon that is mercury- and PCB-free and safe).

Avoid processed foods -- remember that they're processed with chemicals!

Only use natural cleaning products in your home. Most health food stores will have these available or you can search online for them. You can also choose the PerfectClean ultra-microfiber cleaning cloths. Due to their ultra-microfiber construction, you can use them with only water (so you eliminate the need for cleaning your home with chemicals).

Switch over to natural brands of toiletries, including shampoo, toothpaste, antiperspirants and cosmetics. Same sources here, either your local health food store or you can search on line.

Avoid spraying insect repellants that contain DEET on your body. There are safe, effective and natural alternatives out there, like Neem-Based Botanical Outdoor Gel.

Remove any metal fillings as they're a major source of mercury. Be sure to have this done by a qualified biological dentist. Although nearly any dentist is technically qualified to replace your amalgam fillings, far less than 95 percent have any clue on how to do it properly so your risk of mercury exposure is minimized. Please avoid the mistake I have seen THOUSANDS of patients make and have your fillings replaced by a non-qualified dentist. I made this mistake myself nearly 20 years ago. Do it right the first time and save yourself the expense and grief. If you don't personally know a qualified biological dentist, many people find one by contacting several of the health food stores in their area and asking the employees who they know. This is typically an excellent resource as they are usually networked quite well in the local health community.

Avoid using artificial air fresheners, dryer sheets, fabric softeners or other synthetic fragrances as they can pollute the air you are breathing.

Avoid artificial food additives of all kind, including artificial sweeteners and MSG

Get plenty of safe sun exposure to boost your vitamin D levels and your immune system (you'll be better able to fight disease).

Have your tap water tested and, if contaminants are found, install an appropriate water filter on all your faucets (even those in your shower or bath).

Seek to build your health up through the nutrition insights detailed in my Total Health Program, and then limit your use of drugs (prescription and over-the-counter) as much as possible. Drugs are chemicals too, and they will leave residues and accumulate in your body over time.

DANGERS OF HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP- HFCS

2008-04-25T07:31:00.002-06:00

DANGERS OF HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP- HFCS

HFCS high fructose corn syrup is responsible for a dangerous epidemic of obesity and diabetes. People under the age of 45 are “children of the corn.” Like Stephen King's thriller, they are reaping the consequences of the food industry’s high fructose corn syrup. They were children or young adults in the late 70s, 80s and 90s when high fructose corn syrup was introduced to the American food supply as a cheap replacement for sugar. Now many of them are struggling with an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, also being referred to as diabesity.

In a recent chemical analysis of eleven carbonated soft drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), researchers from Rutgers University found very high levels of reactive carbonyls.

Reactive carbonyls, which have been linked to tissue damage and complications of diabetes, are elevated in the blood of people with diabetes. A single can of soda, however, has five times that concentration of reactive carbonyls. Old-fashioned table sugar, on the other hand, has no reactive carbonyls.

When people from Iceland visit the United States, the first thing they notice is the number of fat people they see. The average weight of American women (164 pounds) and men (191 pounds) has increased 25 pounds since 1960. We are the fattest people on earth, thanks to Coke, Pepsi and ADM - Archer Daniels Midland - the largest producer of HFCS.

Due to federal agribusiness subsidies, every dollar of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10. Of the $113.6 billion in taxpayer commodity subsidy payments distributed by the USDA between 1995 and 2004, corn drew $41.8 billion -- more than cotton, soy, and rice combined. What's wrong with this picture? Maybe it's the Iowa presidential primary. Where do the presidential candidates and your congress people stand on corn subsidies? Who sucks up to ADM?

The occurrence of new cases of type 2 diabetes has doubled over the past three decades, according to a report in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation - June 2006. The percentage of overweight children in the United States has tripled since 1980. The epidemic of type 2 diabetes cases across the nation is likely to lead to a substantially higher incidence of strokes among middle-aged adults and newly diagnosed diabetics.

"Most, but not all, of the increase in diabetes occurred in people who were obese - those with a body mass index of 30 or more," according to the National Lung, Heart, and Blood Institute in Framingham, Massachusetts.

A person with diabetes has a 50 percent chance of having a heart attack compared with a risk of 5 percent for people without diabetes or who don’t know if they have a vascular disease. In fact, diabetes puts you at the same risk for a heart attack as a non-diabetic who has had a heart attack and whose risk of another is substantially higher.

More than one out of every three individuals in the United States has diabetes or impaired fasting glucose, a condition that increases the risk of developing diabetes.

The CDC estimates that diabetes costs the United States $92 billion in medical costs and $40 billion in indirect costs.

It is getting difficult to find a food product at the grocery store or McDonalds that is not loaded with HFCS. One 20-ounce bottle of Coke, Pepsi, Mt Dew, Sprite or Dr. Pepper is the equivalent of pouring 17 teaspoons of sugar straight into your body. HFCS is the leading ingredient after carbonated water in these beverages. Women who drink at least one regular soda a day are 85 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drink less. It also leads to tooth decay.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is found in fruit drinks like Capri Sun, Sunny Delight, Snapple, Hawaiian Punch, Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice and in most energy drinks. It is also found in chocolate drinks like Yoohoo, Arizona Tea, SoBe Beverages, cookies, ice cream, Campbell soup, Heinz Ketchup, Ragu, Aunt Jemima Syrup, Hershey's Syrup, Breyers Yogurt, Kraft Barbecue Sauce, Smucker's Preserves and some breakfast cereals.

High fructose corn syrup masquerades under the name of crystalline fructose in Glaceau Vitamin Water and some energy drinks. Naive teenagers guzzle this "poison" because they think it is good for them. Then they go on a diet and wonder why they are still gaining weight.

Have you seen the new commercials on TV for Capri Sun? The ad suggests that Capri Sun is now healthy for you because they have added antioxidants. As long as they continue to sweeten Capri Sun with HFCS, they are lying to you.

People who use HFCS as a sweetener increase their triglycerides 32 percent relative to people who use mostly sugar, according to University of Minnesota professor John Bantle. The body metabolizes high fructose corn syrup differently than sugar. It blunts the body's ability to recognize when it is full and increases a person's appetite.

High Fructose Corn Syrup puts people at risk for metabolic syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, "Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing your risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Having just one of these conditions — increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, excess body fat around the waist or abnormal cholesterol levels — contributes to your risk of serious disease. In combination, your risk is even greater."

There is a a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream that occurs after fructose is consumed. The temporary spike of HFCS blocks the action of insulin, which typically regulates how body cells use and store sugar and other food nutrients for energy. If uric acid levels are frequently elevated, over time features of metabolic syndrome may develop, including high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood cholesterol levels.

Research by the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that high fructose diets shorten the life span of laboratory mice from the normal two years to a mere five weeks.

Overweight Hispanic-American children who consume lots of sugary foods and drinks show signs of pancreatic beta cell decline - a forerunner of type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at the University of Southern California came to that conclusion after studying 63 overweight Hispanic children, ages 9 to 13, all without diabetes. The team tracked the children's eating habits and also took blood samples before and after giving them sweets.

Beta cells in the pancreas create insulin in response to sugar obtained from food. When beta cells start to function less effectively, they produce less insulin, leading ultimately to diabetes. The USC team found that about 40 percent of the sweets consumed by the children in this study came from sugary drinks such as soda or sweetened juices.

If you compare the population of non-diabetics to diabetics, the average life span is 10 years less. There are many complications that occur with diabetes. They include coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, blindness, kidney disease and loss of sensation in the hands and feet.

Older people may have something to worry about also. The leading theory about the cause of Alzheimer's Disease implicates insulin. Insulin concentrations in the brain drop significantly in early Alzheimer's and continue to fall as the disease worsens, suggesting that Alzheimer's Disease may be Type 3 diabetes. Researchers found that insulin is not just produced in the pancreas, but also in the brain.

If you wish to prevent diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, the prudent thing to do is to read the label of food items and beverages before you buy them at the store. If you see High Fructose Corn Syrup or crystalline fructose - Don't Buy It!

One tip is to try an ethnic grocery store - such as an Asian or Latino food store, if you have trouble finding HFCS free foods that you like. The American food industry doesn't give two "toots" about your health.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, MD "Immediate action is needed to address this problem on a societal level. The time for blaming the victim, for putting the entire responsibility of the obesity epidemic on a gluttonous population is over. The science is clear, and we have the means to save lives and millions in health care dollars.”

Question of the decade: Why doesn't the FDA approve stevia as a sweetener? Stevia was introduced in the 1970s in Japan and accounts for over 40% of the sweetener market there. It is also commonly used in South America. Only 24 percent of Japanese aged 15 and older are believed to be overweight, compared to over 65 percent of adults in the United States.

In 1991, at the request of an anonymous complaint, the FDA labeled stevia as an unsafe food additive. It is truly absurd that the medical establishment and government watch dogs in the U.S. are so myopic as to believe that if a product has not been scientifically proven safe inside the borders of the U.S., then it is dangerous until proven otherwise. What's wrong with this picture?

http://www.femhealth.com/DangersofHFCS.html

Study Finds High Levels of Chemicals in Infants Using Baby Cosmetics

2008-02-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

by Maria Cone

Infants and toddlers exposed to baby lotions, shampoos and powders carry high concentrations of hormone-altering chemicals in their bodies that might have reproductive effects, according to a new scientific study of babies born in Los Angeles and two other U.S. cities.

The research, to be published today in the medical journal Pediatrics, found that as the use of baby care products rose, so did the concentration of phthalates, which are used in many fragrances.

The lead scientist in the study, Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana of the University of Washington’s Department of Pediatrics, said the findings suggested that many baby care products contain a variety of phthalates that enter children’s bodies through their skin.

Manufacturers do not list phthalates as ingredients on labels, so it is unknown which products contain them.

The researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Rochester stressed that the potential effects on babies were uncertain.

But previous animal and human research suggests that early exposure to some phthalates could reduce testosterone and alter reproductive organs, particularly in males.

The three phthalate compounds found in the highest concentrations in babies in the study were linked to reduced testosterone in a 2006 study of newborns in Denmark.

Some scientists theorize such changes in hormones could lead to fertility problems and male reproductive disorders.

Representatives of the fragrance and cosmetics industries said they were surprised by the findings and questioned their validity. They said only one phthalate compound is used in baby products, and it is found in such low levels that they doubt it could explain high concentrations found in the babies.

In the study, doctors tested the urine of 163 children between the ages of 2 months and 28 months born in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Columbia, Mo., between 2000 and 2005. All had detectable amounts of at least one type of phthalate, and more than 80% had seven or more types.

“Phthalate exposure is widespread and variable in infants. We found that mothers’ reported use of infant lotion, infant powder and shampoo was significantly associated with . . . urinary concentrations,” the scientists wrote in the new study.

In the study, babies exposed to baby lotion, shampoo and powder had more than four times the level of phthalates in their urine than babies whose parents had not used the products. The highest levels were reported in babies under 8 months old, and those exposed to lotions.

Previous studies have focused on a different route of exposure for children: sucking on soft, vinyl toys. Phthalates, in addition to helping cosmetics retain fragrance and color, are used as plasticizers in some vinyl. A recently passed California law will ban six types in children’s toys and feeding products, beginning next year. But no federal or state law in the United States prohibits their use in personal care products or cosmetics.

The study is the first to report that skin transfer may be a main route of exposure for babies.

In their report, the scientists advised parents who want to reduce their baby’s exposure to stop using lotions and powders unless their doctors recommend them for medical reasons. They also suggested limiting use of shampoos and other products. Many adult lotions and other personal care products also contain phthalates.

John Bailey, chief scientist for the Personal Care Products Council, an industry trade group, said diethyl phthalate, or DEP, is used in the fragrances of some baby lotions and other baby products.

But DEP is used at “very low levels, in the part-per-million range, below what could possibly account for the levels they are finding” in the babies’ urine, Bailey said. “All of the other phthalates, if they’re present, have to be coming from someplace else,” such as plastics or other products, he said.

Bailey said he couldn’t explain why the researchers found such high concentrations in the babies that used lotions and the other products.

But he said the scientists shouldn’t have advised parents to stop using them because they did not test any products and cannot prove they were the source.

“The results that are being presented and the conclusions being made don’t make a great deal of scientific sense,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot that makes you question whether their findings are valid.”

Europe has banned some phthalates in baby toys and cosmetics, but not the DEP found in fragrances.

More than half the mothers in the new study reported using baby shampoos on their infants within 24 hours of the urine tests, and about one-third had used lotion, and 14% used powder within the same time period.

No link was found to baby wipes or to diaper creams.

The highest concentrations in the babies were for a phthalate known as MEP, which comes from DEP, the compound used in fragrances. One baby had an extremely high level of MEP — 4.4 parts per million.

marla.cone@latimes.com Published on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 by The Los Angeles Times

A Primer on Cholesterol

2008-01-29T17:57:00.000-06:00

No Such Thing as Bad Cholesterol: Dispelling the Marketing Myth

by Al G Smith

(NewsTarget) Cholesterol seems to be one of those things that strikes fear into the hearts of many, so to speak. But is the reputation that this oily substance has acquired truly deserved? What is certain is that the 'little knowledge' that the media often imparts means many folks assume cholesterol is simply a 'bad' thing. Alternately, a good number of us may have heard the terms 'good' cholesterol and 'bad' cholesterol bandied about without knowing much about what this really means. In fact it is a fairly safe bet that if you asked anyone on the street for his or her instinctive response, if asked about cholesterol, they would probably say that we simply need to 'reduce it'.

The 'noddy-science' offered by marketing men to a generally scientifically-naive public has led many people to believe that we should replace certain food choices with specially developed products that can help 'reduce cholesterol'. Naturally this comes at a price and requires those who can afford it to pay maybe four or five times what a 'typical ordinary' product might cost. But is this apparent 'blanket need' to strive towards lowering our cholesterol justified? And, indeed, is it healthy?

For anyone who has had the official diagnosis of 'high cholesterol' in their bloodstream, they may even have embarked upon a program of medicinal intervention. In fact it is quite likely that they may have joined the legions of long-term pill-poppers who are already lining the pockets of the profit-oriented pharmaceutical giants.

But let's take a moment, now, to review some of the facts and fallacies about the much-maligned substance: cholesterol.

First of all, cholesterol is a naturally occurring lipid. This means it is a type of fat or oil and it is in fact an essential component in creating and sustaining the membranes of the cells of all bodily tissues. So this alone means we need cholesterol to survive! Most of the cholesterol that is found in our bodies is actually naturally manufactured within our own cells. However there is also an additional contribution that we get from external 'nutritional' sources - the foods we consume. In a typical diet providing around 400mg of cholesterol per day from food sources, about half to two-thirds of this amount is actually absorbed through the process of digestion. The body will normally secrete about a gram (1000mg) of cholesterol per day into the bile via the ducts, and approximately three-fifths of this is then re-absorbed.

Where our tissues or organs are a particularly dense complex of cells, which have closely packed cell membranes, there will naturally be higher levels of cholesterol. The key organs that need, and contain, these higher amounts of cholesterol include the liver, the brain and the spinal cord - none of which would work well if we reduced cholesterol too much!

In effect cholesterol plays an essential role in the development and maintenance of healthy cell walls. It is also a critical factor in the synthesizing of steroid hormones, which are a key factor in our natural physical development. Cholesterol is used by the adrenal gland and the sex glands to create these necessary hormones. As you may know, hormones are important regulators of many control mechanisms that occur throughout our bodies as we grow, develop and simply function every day.

Being a lipid, cholesterol is fat-soluble, but it is not soluble in blood. However it needs to be transported around the body to the places where it can be utilized. This is why, in order to be moved around, it must become 'associated' with certain lipoproteins which feature a water-soluble (therefore 'blood transportable') coat of proteins. There are two key types of lipoproteins that transport cholesterol around the body: low-density and high-density variants. The essential cellular function of cholesterol requires that sufficient amounts are manufactured by specialized sub-systems (or organelles) within the body's cells called the endoplasmic reticulum. Alternatively, the cholesterol we need must be derived from our diet. During the process of 'digestion and assimilation' of foods, it is the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) that carries dietary cholesterol from the liver to various parts of the body.

When there is sufficient cholesterol for cellular needs, the other key transport mechanism in this amazing 'logistics system' - high-density lipoprotein (HDL) - can take cholesterol back to the liver from where any unnecessary excess can be processed for excretion.

The 'noddy-science' of the so-called 'functional food' manufacturers would have us believe that there is such a thing as 'bad' cholesterol and 'good' cholesterol. This is, in fact, totally untrue. The cholesterol itself, whether being transported by LDL or HDL, is exactly the same. Cholesterol is simply a necessary ingredient that is required to be regularly delivered around the body for the efficient healthy development, maintenance and functioning of our cells. The difference is in the 'transporters' (the lipoproteins HDL and LDL) and both types are essential for the human body's delivery logistics to work effectively.

Problems can occur, however, when the LDL particles are both small and their carrying capacity outweighs the transportation potential of available HDL. This can lead to more cholesterol being 'delivered' around the body with lower resources for returning excess capacity to the liver.

LDL can vary in its structure and occur in particles of varying size. It is the smaller LDL particle sizes that can easily become 'trapped' in the arteries by proteoglycans, which is, itself, a kind of 'filler' found between the cells in all animal and human bodies. This can then cause the cholesterol the LDL carries to contribute to the formation of fatty deposits called 'plaques' (a process known as atherogenesis). As these deposits build up, they restrict the arteries' width and flexibility. This causes an increase in blood pressure and can also lead to other cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks or strokes.

The LDL itself is consequently sometimes referred to as 'bad cholesterol', but you can now appreciate the fact that this is simply incorrect. In fact LDL, HDL and cholesterol are all essential to our health. However, it seems that it has become common for humans to have a preponderance of 'unhealthily' small LDL particles, which can become a precursor to heart and arterial disease due to the mechanisms described. It is apparently healthier to have a smaller number of larger LDL particles carrying the same quantity of cholesterol than a large number of small LDL particles might transport, but for some reason this is less common. This is an interesting area that demands more research.

When LDL becomes retained by the glycol-proteins in the arteries it is subject to being oxidized by 'free radicals'. This is when the process can become health threatening. It has therefore been suggested that increasing the amount of antioxidants in our diet might effectively 'mop up' free radicals, and consequently reduce this harmful oxidation. Although the idea of consuming foods rich in antioxidants, or even using supplements, is now widely promoted, the scientific evidence for their efficacy still remains to be fully established.

Another point to consider is the occurrence of substances called 'very-low-density-lipids' or VLDL, also known as triglycerides. VLDL is converted to LDL in the bloodstream and therefore contributes towards increased levels of LDL and to subsequent potential cholesterol-related health problems. This is why triglycerides are usually measured when a cholesterol test of your blood is undertaken.

The production of VLDL in the liver - which amounts to a combination of cholesterol and low-density apolipoprotein - is exacerbated by the intake of fructose. Fructose is the type of sugar found in many fruits, it is also a component of sucrose and of the widely used food ingredient high-fructose corn syrup. This implies that anyone whose LDL or triglyceride levels are unduly high should cut back on those sweet sugary snacks, and even on the sweeter, fructose laden fruits; not simply reduce their intake of fatty foods!

Vitamin B3, otherwise known as niacin, on the other hand, actually lowers the amount of VLDL, and therefore also LDL. In addition, niacin helps to stimulate the production of helpful HDL, the lipoprotein that carries excess cholesterol back to the liver for excretion. However, in keeping with the best traditions of consuming 'all things in moderation', currently recommended upper limits for daily intake of niacin is 35mg, given that it can have toxic effects in larger amounts. Even so, medical professionals have been known to prescribe niacin in doses as high as 2g, up to three times a day, for treatment of those with dangerously high blood cholesterol levels. Naturally you should never self-medicate with high doses of niacin without taking appropriate medical advice.

Niacin in the diet is typically derived from high protein foods including liver and other meats, as well as significant amounts being found in certain nuts and whole grains.

However one of the fashionable types of pharmaceutical drugs of recent times, introduced to treat the apparently increasing incidence of high cholesterol levels particularly in the West, are Statins. These drugs work by interfering with the liver function and reducing the production of LDL. But Statins are a questionable innovation on at least a couple of accounts. Firstly they are not without side-effects: they can, for example, lead to the breakdown of major muscular material, which can ultimately overwhelm the kidneys and even cause acute renal failure.

Statins also appear to reduce the body's natural levels of the vitamin-like, cellular protection agent known as Co-enzyme Q10. This benzoquinone plays an important role in cellular energy release, particularly in hard worked areas like the lungs, liver and heart. CoQ10 (as it is sometimes called) has also been shown to protect the brain against neurological degeneration. But perhaps most interestingly, with respect to cholesterol, CoQ10 also acts as an antioxidant, particularly active in protecting the system against LDL oxidation and the potential problems associated with this as described above. So whilst Statins might provide a reduction in LDL per se, they might also be causing more problems in the long-term. Naturally, as with many modern drugs, they generally have to be taken for the long-term by anyone who has been prescribed them.

What is particularly disturbing about Statins is, perhaps, the fact that they may be seen as a 'quick fix' for unhealthily high LDL, and consequently cholesterol levels throughout the body. They need to be taken over a long period - which makes them very profitable for drugs manufacturers. But they may also be prescribed without the over-arching message that in order to address any cholesterol problem 'naturally', the sufferer must change their lifestyle and diet. Statins can seem an easy option but may indeed merely be the beginning of a process where the 'negative health pay-off' is simply delayed rather than actively defused! That is not to say that in extreme cases of high blood cholesterol, or hypercholesterolemia, there may not be a useful role for Statin therapy when natural strategies fail or do not prove effective, or feasible.

In truth, and in summary, cholesterol is an important and essential substance that we need for health at a cellular level. It is most likely that any imbalance in our cholesterol transport system comes down to long-term poor dietary and exercise habits. Ensuring that we consume some extra anti-oxidant foods, along with including niacin rich foods, might well be of benefit. But it is perhaps most important to recognize that deliberate and continued levels of activity and the consumption of a healthful diet is a better solution than questionable quick-fix drugs, if we ever are diagnosed with levels of cholesterol and triglycerides that might give cause for concern.

About the author

Al G Smith MSc BSc - Has been working and teaching in the food related sector for over 30 years and is currently a website publisher (http://www.gonaturalandorganic.com) and Independent Representative for the World's first extensive range of Certified Organic skin care and cosmetics (http://www.saferalternative.com). Originally published January 29 2008

Antidepressants May Not Work

2008-01-19T17:39:00.000-06:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Patients and doctors alike may have received some fuzzy truth about the effectiveness of antidepressant medication.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, many studies have found that best-selling antidepressants like Wyeth's Effexor and Pfizer's Zoloft may have little or even no effect on patients. Many of those studies, though submitted to the Food and Drug Administration, were left unpublished.

Researchers accordingly suggested in this week's New England Journal of Medicine that doctors and patients may not have been able to see the full antidepressant picture.

Both Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) and Wyeth (WYE, Fortune 500) told The Wall Street Journal that they will disclose all study results, but they will not necessarily publish them in medical journals. The FDA does not require pharmaceutical companies to publish the studies that they sponsor, which leaves many studies unpublished.

Separately, 74 studies involving 12 antidepressant drugs were submitted to the FDA between 1987 and 2004, 38 of which the FDA called "positive." Though all but one of the "positive" studies were published, only 14 of the 36 "negative" studies were printed in medical journals.

But even with the large disparity of reports that the pharmaceutical companies published, not all of the negative stories were all that "negative."

According to the NEJM researchers, at least 11 of the 14 "negative" studies presented unfavorable findings as beneficial ones by highlighting positive secondary outcomes and ignoring negative primary results.

The New England Journal of Medicine researchers believe this "publication bias" can complicate doctors' understanding of the effectiveness of medications. For instance, when considering all of the studies' data, the researchers found that Zoloft only has a "small" effect on patients as opposed to the "medium" effect that the mostly-positive results had shown.

CnnMoney.Com

Aspartame Part 2: Don't Even Consider It!

2007-11-11T09:25:00.000-06:00

By Andrea McCreery

Roseville & Rocklin Today

"In the keynote address by the EPA at the World Environmental Conference, it was announced that there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and system lupus and they did not understand what toxin was causing this to become rampant across the United States.

"When the temperature of aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in aspartame converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which, in turn, causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants. The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus, people are being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in error. Multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence; methanol toxicity is.

"Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially in Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. With methanol toxicity, the victims usually drink three to four 12 oz cans per day, some even more. In the cases of systemic lupus, which is triggered by aspartame, the victim usually does not know the aspartame is the culprit. The victim continues its use and aggravates the lupus to such a degree, that it sometimes becomes life threatening. When people quit using aspartame, those with systemic lupus usually become asymptomatic. Unfortunately, this disease cannot be reversed. On the other hand, in the case of those diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, (when in reality, the disease is methanol toxicity), most of the symptoms disappear. In some cases, vision and hearing have returned. This also applies to cases of Tinnitus. If you are using Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision or memory loss, you probably have "Aspartame Disease".

"The Ambassador of Uganda noted that their sugar industry is adding aspartame. He continued by saying that one of the industry leader's sons could no longer walk due in part to product usage. This is a very serious problem. Additionally, during a visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke drinks, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!

"Here is the problem. There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was originally included as a sweetener in 100 different products. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings. Nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now, there are over 5,000 products containing this chemical and the patent has expired. At the time of this first hearing, people were going blind. The methanol in the Aspartame converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye. Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic - deadly poisons. Unfortunately, it just takes longer to quietly kill, but is killing people and causing neurological problems. Aspartame changes the brain's chemistry. It is the reason for severe seizures. This drug change the dopamine level of the brain. Imagine what this drug does to patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. This drug also causes birth defects.

"There is absolutely no reason to use this product. It is "not a diet product"/ The Congressional record said, "It makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you FAT." Dr. H. J. Roberts, a diabetic specialist and expert on Aspartame poisoning, states that when he took patients off of Aspartame, their average weight loss was 19 pounds per person. Aspartame is especially deadly for diabetics. All physicians know what wood alcohol will do to a diabetic. We find that physicians believe that they have patients with retinopathy when, in fact, it's caused by the Aspartame. The Aspartame keeps the blood sugar level out of control, causing many patients to go into a coma. Unfortunately, many have died. It was reported at the Conference of the American College of Physicians that those patients that switched from saccharin to an Aspartame product had eventually gone into a coma. Their physicians could not get their blood sugar levels under control. The patients suffered acute memory loss, and, eventually, coma and death. Memory loss is due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxins without the other amino acids found in protein. Thus is goes past the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the neurons of the brain. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon, said "The ingredients stimulate the neurons of the brain to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees."

"Dr. Blaylock and Dr. Roberts will be writing a position paper with some case histories and it will be posted on the Internet. According to the Conference of the American College of Physicians, "We are talking about a plague of neurological diseases caused by this deadly poison." Dr. Roberts realized what was happening when aspartame was first marketed. He reported, "My diabetic patients are suffering memory loss, confusion and severe vision loss." At the Conference, doctors admitted not knowing why. They had wondered by seizures were rampant (the phenylalanine in aspartate breaks down the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin, which causes manic depression, panic attacks, rage and violence). Just before the Conference, Norway asked for a possible antidote for this poison because they are experiencing so many problems in their country. This poison' is now available in 90 plus countries worldwide. Fortunately, speakers and ambassadors at the conference from different nations have pledged their help.

Take anything that contain aspartame back to the store. Monsanto, the creator of aspartame knows how deadly it is. They fund the American Medical Association, American Dietetic Association, Congress and the Conference of the American College of Physicians.

On November 15, l996 the New York Times ran an article on how the American Dietetic Association takes money from the food industry to endorse their products. Therefore, they cannot criticize any additives or tell about their link to Monsanto. How bad is this? A mother who had a child on NutraSweet was told to get off the product. The child was having grand mal seizures daily. The mother called her physician, who called the ADA and was told not to take the child off of NutraSweet. The mother can not be convinced that the Aspartame is causing the seizures. Every time someone gets off Aspartame, seizures stop.

There are 92 documented symptoms of aspartame, from coma to death. The majority of them are neurological because Aspartame destroys the nervous system. Aspartame Disease is partially behind some of the mystery of the Desert Storm health problems. The burning tongue and other problems discussed many cases can be directly related to the consumption of aspartame. Several thousand pallets of diet drinks were shipped to the Desert Storm troops. (Remember: heat can liberate the methanol from the aspartame at 86 degrees F). These diet drinks sat in the 120 degree F Arabian sun for weeks at a time on pallets. The serviceman and women drank them all day long. All of their symptoms are identical to aspartame poisoning.

Additionally, Dr. Roberts says, "Consuming Aspartame at the time of conception can cause birth defects." According to Dr. Louis Elsas, Pediatrician and Professor of Genetics at Emory University, in his testimony before Congress, the phenylalanine concentrates in the placenta, causing mental retardation. In the original lab tests, animals developed brain tumors; phenylalanine breaks down in DKP, a brain tumor agent. When Dr. Esposito was lecturing on Aspartame, one physician in the audience, a neurosurgeon said, "When brain tumors are removed and studies, high levels of Aspartame were found in them."

"Stevia or Xylitol, a sweet food and "not an additive" helps in the metabolism of sugar. It would be ideal for diabetics and has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the FDA. For years, the FDA has outlawed this sweet food, because of their loyalty to Monsanto. If it says "sugar free" on the label - do not even consider it."

Andrea McCreery, Ph.D. is located in Fair Oaks, CA. She may be contacted at <http://www.life-sources.com>www.life-sources.com or 916 536-9930.
______________

Since this time a safe sweetener has become available called "Just Like Sugar" which is sold in Whole Foods and Wild Oats.

With regard to Multiple Sclerosis here are two reports by Doctors H. J. Roberts and Russell Blaylock.

Multiple Sclerosis or Aspartame Disease, by H. J. Roberts, M.D., http://www.mpwhi.com/ms_or_aspartame_disease.htm

The MS and Aspartame Connection by Russell Blaylock, M.D., http://www.wnho.net/ms_and_aspartame.htm

13 new studies showing Aspartame Toxicity in 24 months: http://www.mpwhi.com/13_aspartame_research_studies.htm

Read the proof and my invitation to speak at the World Environmental Conference: www.dorway.com/nomarkle.html

Dr. Russell Blaylock's article: "What To Do If You Have Used Aspartame" www.wnho.net/wtdaspartame.htm

Dr. Ralph Walton's new article on psychiatric disorders and aspartame: http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_and_psychiatric_disorders.htm

The whole timeline on aspartame from the Ecologist:
http://www.mpwhi.com/ecologist_september_2005.pdf

Aspartame

2007-11-11T09:23:00.000-06:00

Google Drops Aspartame Article Under Industry Pressure

By Dr. Betty Martini,D.Hum.
bettym19@mindspring.com
11-3-7

For a little while yesterday morning, Google carried Andrea McCreery's report, ASPARTAME, DON'T EVEN CONSIDER IT. Immediately, my phone started ringing. Are you Nancy Markle? the caller asked. "No", I replied, "I'm Betty Martini who lectured for the World Environmental Conference. Nancy Markle signed her name to my original report on my lecture at the WEC in 1995. It became a shot heard round the world that has helped millions escape the deadly effects of Aspartame Disease, an Ignored Epidemic, which happens to be the name of a 1,038 page medical text by Dr. H.J. Roberts. www.sunsentpress.com He was named The Best Doctor in the United States by a national medical journal in 1984. The text is dedicated to me and Mission Possible volunteers and documents the symptoms and diseases I discussed at the lecture."

Documentation including my invitation to speak is at www.dorway.com/nomarkle.html Monsanto sold the NutraSweet Company in l999, as they could not put out the fire with people getting well off the toxin the world over. Then victims, physicians and activists expanded more operations of Mission Possible circling the globe. MS victims walked out of wheelchairs, many blind regained their sight, seizures ceased, joint pain/fibromyalgia and psychiatric problems disappeared, and women who thought they would never have children started families. Aspartame is an endocrine disrupting agent, stimulates prolactin and causes infertility. It's also an abortifacient and teratogen triggering birth defects and mental retardation should it be used in pregnancy. It interacts with drugs and vaccines as discussed in the medical text making no drug safe to an aspartame user.

I downloaded Andrea McCreery's article just in time, because Google immediately deleted it, though they left it on the menu. Somebody at aspartame [Diet Coke, Equal, NutraSweet, E951, Ajinomoto, Merisant, or the other suspects] had the clout to kill the release to continue blinding consumers about their addictive
neurotoxic, carcinogenic junk. In this case what you don't know can kill you.

McCreerys article follows below my signature. For 16 years from the creation of aspartame our FDA denied approval of that chemical because it causes brain tumors. The agency even compiled a list of 92 symptoms of aspartame poisoning from over 10,000 volunteered consumer complaints. FDA now denies there ever was such a list but here it is on their stationery: http://www.mpwhi.com/92_aspartame_symptoms.pdf It took Don Rumsfeld to leave his job as head of the company that made aspartame to become Reagan's Secretary of Defense. The day after President Reagan taking office, Arthur Hayes, a pharmacologist became the new FDA Commissioner. He over-ruled the Board of Inquiry that had revoked the petition for approval and then hired on with NutraSweet's public relations firm. So aspartame was approved not by science but political chicanery. From the aspartame documentary, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World, is a clip by Attorney James Turner explaining how Rumsfeld committed this deadly deed and poisoned the world: http://www.sweetremedy.tv/pages/rumsfeld3.html President Reagan even wrote an executive order making the FDA powerless to do anything about aspartame until Hayes could get to the FDA.

Aspartame's record is one of smarmy anti-science and political pressure plays. The FDA and CDC have become branch offices of the profiteers, and these agencies disregard the research and revelations of world famous doctors. A 3 year study on 1,800 rats by Dr. Morando Soffritti at an Italian cancer research institute concluded aspartame is a multipotential carcinogen. It was peer reviewed by seven world experts. For his work Dr. Soffritti was honored with an award at the Mount Sinai Institute in NYC earlier this year as he released a new study showing it only takes a small amount of aspartame to trigger cancer and babies who survive a pregnant women who used it can grow up to cancer.

Here are the summaries of these two important studies that confirmed the carcinogenicity of aspartame that FDA acknowledged in original studies.

The first ERF study (2005) was conducted on 1800 Sprague-Dawley rats (100-150/per sex/per group). In order to simulate daily human intake, aspartame was added to the standard rat diet in quantities of 5000, 2500, 100, 500, 20, 4, and 0 mg/Kg of body weight. Treatment of the animals began at 8 weeks of age and continued until spontaneous death. The results show that APM causes a statistically significant, dose-related increase of lymphomas/leukemias and malignant tumors of the renal pelvis in females and malignant tumors of peripheral nerves in males. These results demonstrate for the first time that APM is a carcinogenic agent, capable of inducing malignancies at various dose levels, including those lower than the current acceptable daily intake (ADI) for humans (50 mg/kg of body weight in the US, 40 mg/kg of body weight in the EU).

The second ERF study (2007) was conducted on 400 Sprague-Dawley rats (70-95/per sex/per group). In order to simulate daily human intake, aspartame was added to the standard rat diet in quantities of 100, 20, and 0 mg/Kg of body weight. Treatment of the animals began on the 12th day of fetal life until natural death. The results of the second study show an increased incidence of lymphomas/leukemias in female rats with respect to the first study. Moreover, the study shows that when lifespan exposure to APM begins during fetal life, the age at which lymphomas/leukemias develop in females is anticipated. For the first time, a statistically significant increase in mammary cancers in females was also observed in the second study. The results of this transplacental carcinogenicity bioassay not only confirm, but also reinforce the first experimental demonstration of APMs multipotential carcinogenicity.

The National Soft Drink Association (now American Beverage) originally protested to Congress against aspartame approval. Their objections cover many pages in the Congressional Record of 5-7-85.

Coverup is customary for the criminals who concoct this poison and feed it to half the world. In August the New Zealand Soil & Health and Safe Food Campaign brought me to their beautiful land for a 3-week lecture tour and to present official documents and medical reports to their NZ Food Safety Authority. Abby Cormack's case of poisoning on Wrigley's aspartame gum in NZ had been making world news. The NZFSA Authority is an agency responsible to protect New Zealanders from toxic substances, but they refused to see me or even to accept the federal and medical documents I traveled 10,000 miles to bring them. Chris Wheeler, Mission Possible New Zealand wrote the most indepth report on what was going on. http://www.rense.com/general78/dying.htm It was obvious who was writing the propaganda for the NZFSA since Ajinomoto was using this as an advertisement on the web.

Reminds me of when there were efforts against aspartame in New Mexico and I wrote this paper, "Aspartame Makers In A Tizzy" - http://www.wnho.net/aspartame_makers_in_tizzy.htm

It has been 12 years since I actually lectured for the World Environmental Conference when Dr. Clarice Gaylord of the EPA said: "We have an epidemic of MS and lupus and can't identify the toxin". I answered, "I'm here to lecture on MS and lupus and identify that toxin as NutraSweet (aspartame/E951/Equal/Canderel, etc.). Today it has been fully confirmed. Besides Dr. Roberts medical text, Dr. Russell Blaylock wrote "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills on the subject". www.russellblaylockmd.com His lecture "The Truth About Aspartame" discusses the famed Ramazzini Study.

Dr. Gaylord knew MS and lupus was epidemic from field reports as she discussed with me. Today there is a New report showing MS is escalating at an incredible rate proving Dr. Gaylord and myself were right. http://www.mpwhi.com/new_report_at_neurology_conference.htm MS victim Cori Brackett, co-owner of Sound and Fury Productions, was a heavy diet pop drinker. In a wheelchair hardly able to talk she had a hard time of it, but after abstaining from aspartame eventually walked out of her wheelchair as did many others who read this report. Eight months later her large lesion all but disappeared. She went on to make the documentary, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World", www.soundandfury.tv Other MS victims appear in this film.

The epidemic of lupus is obvious to explain. James Bowen, M.D. says "the ability of methyl alcohol/formaldehyde to create antigenicity, especially as combined in aspartame molecules is so great as to cause severe autoimmune reactions to the tissues deformed by formaldehyde polemerization, adduct formation. The immune system turns against the victim's tissues: Lupus."

It was l996 when 60 Minutes did the story on aspartame and brain tumors because of famed Dr. John Olney's journal article in Neurology. Neuroscientist Dr. John Olney founded the field of neuroscience called Excitotoxicity and tried to prevent approval of aspartame. Dr. Ralph Walton explained even at this time 92 per cent of independent scientific peer reviewed studies showed the problems. http://www.dorway.com/peerrev.html In the last 24 months 13 more studies have shown the toxicity.

I contacted Andrea McCreery and let her know her story had been deleted. She wrote and said, "Yes, I am aware of the feathers ruffled." Since I had printed out the article it appears below to prevent the sabotage. Let's forward it so it will get many times more publicity than it would have, and show the aspartame industry their attempts are foolish. Keep it going folks and save a life today. We simply won't allow industry's shenanigans to continue. The public deserves the facts. Enough is enough of the front groups as well:
http://www.wnho.net/aspartame_no_hoax.htm

B. Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible International
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.mpwhi.com, www.dorway.com
www.wnho.net
Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame Information List,
www.mpwhi.com

Major Study Finds Good News About Vitamins E and C

2007-08-13T19:05:00.001-06:00

A new study has found that natural vitamin E and vitamin C can significantly reduce the risk of several cardiovascular diseases. The study was published in the August 13, 2007, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, a journal published by the American Medical Association.

Nancy R. Cook, ScD, of the Harvard School of Public Health, and her colleagues asked 8,171 women to take 600 IU of natural-source vitamin E, 500 mg of vitamin C, and 50 mg of beta-carotene, or various combinations of these antioxidant nutrients every other day for an average of nine and one-half years.

When Cook and her colleagues analyzed data from people who consistently took their supplements, they found these specific benefits:

• Vitamin E led to a 22 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack.

• Vitamin E led to a 27 percent less risk of stroke.

• Vitamin E led to a 9 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

• Vitamin E led to a 23 percent lower combined risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular-related death.

• Vitamin E and vitamin C together lowered the risk of stroke by 31 percent.

Despite these positive findings, initial newspaper and television reports on the study tended to be negative, stating that the benefits were marginal or that there were no benefits at all. The negative media spin originated with a news release from Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston, where the research was conducted, as well as from a news release from the American Medical Association.

The researchers reported that, overall, vitamin E supplements led to a "marginally significant" 11 percent lower risk of combined cardiovascular disease events, including heart disease and stroke.

But when the researchers analyzed results from people who consistently took their supplements, the found the "stronger" benefits.

Including people who infrequently took supplements with those who consistently took them diluted the overall findings. However, focusing only on people who regularly took supplements strengthened the findings and benefits of vitamin E and antioxidants.

Beta-carotene did not have any clear cardiovascular benefits, and the researchers also pointed out there were no signs of harm from any of the supplements. Other studies have pointed out that beta-carotene may have benefits in preventing cancer among people who do not eat many fruits and vegetables.

From News Target

Our New Billboard

2007-06-09T18:32:00.001-06:00

Here's our new billboard located at the insection of 35N and Hwy 33.

No Organic Honey Bees Losses

2007-05-25T08:30:00.001-06:00

There has been much attention focused this year on the number of honey bee losses in colonies here and aboard. Honey bees are very important for the pollination of our food. There are multiple explanations for what has happened to the bees, and this article adds another idea that seems highly plausible to me. Another highly plausible idea that has been discussed is the ingestion of pollen from genetically modified plants. In a German study the offspring from bees who got pollen from GMO crops were found to have bacteria in their guts that mirrored the same genetic traits as the ones in the GMO plants. Other reasons suggested for the bee losses include cell phone towers, pesticides, land destruction, and global warming.

http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=974
No ORGANIC Bee losses
2007 05 06

"Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic beekeeper from Prince Edward Island. She has twice run for a seat in Ottawa's House of Commons, making strong showings around 5% for Canada's fledgling Green Party. She is also leader of the provincial wing of her party. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:

I'm on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies.

Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at Here <http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm> , Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:

Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.

This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.

Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?

These are important questions to ask. It is not an uncommonly held opinion that, although this new pattern of bee colony collapse seems to have struck from out of the blue (which suggests a triggering agent), it is likely that some biological limit in the bees has been crossed. There is no shortage of evidence that we have been fast approaching this limit for some time.

We've been pushing them too hard, Dr. Peter Kevan, an associate professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, told the CBC. And we're starving them out by feeding them artificially and moving them great distances. Given the stress commercial bees are under, Kevan suggests CCD might be caused by parasitic mites, or long cold winters, or long wet springs, or pesticides, or genetically modified crops. Maybe it's all of the above...

Researchers Conclude Diets Don't Work

2007-04-10T08:47:00.000-06:00

In a review of 31 weight loss studies ranging from 2-5 years researchers at UCLA concluded that dieting does not work. The study will be published in the April issue of the American Psychologist. Initially dieters may lose 5-10% of body weight in the first 6 months but most regain that weight and the majority of dieters add more over the next 4-5 years. In fact, most of the dieters would have been better off not undergoing the wear and tear on the body from losing weight. In one study of healthy live styles of 19,000 men one of the best predictors of weight gain over the 4 years of the study was whether one had lost weight by dieting. More research is needed on the effects of weight loss but preliminary results show that losing and regaining weight may contribute to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function. If you want to lose weight you need to change your lifestyle, eat healthy foods in moderation, and exercise.

Herbal Remedy for Urinary Tract Infections

2007-04-08T18:23:00.000-06:00

A study conducted at Duke University and reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Nature Medicine shows that the herb Forskolin can greatly reduce urinary tract infections. These infections are 4 times more likely to occur in women than men and are predominantly caused by the E coli bacteria. These bacteria are difficult to eradicate completely with antibiotics because bacteria hide in the lining of the bladder. Forskolin forces the bacteria out of their niches and into the urine where it can be killed by the antibiotic. Forskolin, , an extract from the Indian Coleus plant, has also been shown to be effective an vasodilator, weight loss aid, and a supplement to fight gluacoma.

Food For Thought

2007-03-31T18:45:00.000-06:00

Dr. Gary Kohls will be in our store on April 12, 6-7 p.m. to present “Natural Foods, Nutrients for the Malnourished Brain, and Mental Health. Dr. Kohls is a family physician, a father and grandfather. He has special interests in 1) posttraumatic stress disorder, 2) the psychology and science of the mind-body-spirit connections, 3) neurotransmitter-related brain/mental disorders 4) the dangers of and solutions for America's current prescription drug use epidemic. He has also developed a comprehensive program for teen violence and suicide prevention for communities. He send this article along to us.

Top 10 Things The Giant Food Corporations Don’t Want You To Know
Originally published August 14 2006

The giant food corporations have one mission: selling more food and beverage products to consumers. Succeeding with that mission depends on keeping consumers in the dark on certain issues such as the presence cancer-causing chemicals found in popular food products.
Here are ten things the food corporations, whose products dominate grocery store shelves across the United States and other countries, absolutely do not want you to know.

1. The ingredients listed on the label aren't the only things in the food. Cancer-causing chemicals such as acrylamides may be formed in the food during high-heat processing, yet there's no requirement to list them on the label. Residues of solvents, pesticides and other chemicals may also be present, but also do not have to be listed. The National Uniformity for Food Act, currently being debated in the U.S. Congress, would make it illegal (yes, illegal) for states to require cancer warnings on foods that contain cancer-causing chemicals (such as California's Proposition 65.)

2. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is added to thousands of food and grocery products through a dozen different innocent-sounding ingredients, imbalances endocrine system function, disabling normal appetite regulation and causing consumers to keep eating more food. This chemical not only contributes to nationwide obesity, it also helps food companies boost repeat business.

3. MSG is routinely hidden in foods in these ingredients: yeast extract, torula yeast, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and autolyzed yeast. Thousands of common grocery products contain one or more of these chemical taste enhancers, including nearly all "vegetarian" foods such as veggie burgers (read labels to check).

4. ADHD in children is caused almost entirely by the consumption of processed food ingredients such as artificial colors and refined carbohydrates. Eighty percent of so-called ADHD children who are taken off processed foods are cured of ADHD in two weeks.

5. The chemical sweetener aspartame, when exposed to warm temperatures for only a few hours, begins to break down into chemicals like formaldehyde and formic acid. Formaldehyde is a potent nerve toxin and causes damage to the eyes, brain and entire nervous system. Aspartame has been strongly linked to migraines, seizures, blurred vision and many other nervous system problems.

6. Most food dips (like guacamole dip) are made with hydrogenated oils, artificial colors and monosodium glutamate. Many guacamole dips don't even contain avocados.

7. Plastic food packaging is a potent health hazard. Scientists now know that plastics routinely seep the chemical bisphenol A into the food, where it is eaten by consumers. Cooking in plastic containers multiplies the level of exposure. Bisphenol is a hormone disruptor and can cause breast formation in men and severe hormonal imbalances in women. It may also encourage hormone-related cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer.

8. Milk produced in the United States comes from cows injected with synthetic hormones that have been banned in every other advanced nation in the world. These hormones help explain why unusually young teenage girls develop breasts at such a young age, or why hormone-related cancers like prostate cancer are being discovered in unprecedented numbers. In order to protect Monsanto, the manufacturer of hormones used in the industry, the USDA currently bans organic milk producers from claiming their milk comes from cows that were not treated with synthetic hormones. Even organic milk is now under fire as the Organic Consumers Association says Horizon milk products are falsely labeled as organic. (The solution to all this? Drink raw almond milk instead.)

9. Most grocery products that make loud health claims on their packaging are, in reality, nutritionally worthless (like meal replacement shakes, instant chocolate milk, etc.). The most nutritious foods are actually those the FDA does not allow to make any health claims whatsoever: fresh produce.

10. Food manufacturers actually "buy" shelf space and position at grocery stores. That's why the most profitable foods (and hence, the ones with the lowest quality ingredients) are the most visible on aisle end caps, checkout lanes and eye-level shelves throughout the store. The effect of all this is to provide in-store marketing and visibility to the very foods and beverages that promote obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other degenerative conditions now ravaging consumers around the world.

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American's Eating Habits Declining

2007-03-20T08:37:00.001-06:00

A new report by researchers at John Hopkins University shows that Americans are eating fewer vegtables than they did a decade ago. Fruit consumption has stayed about the same. The goals established as benchmarks for whether criteria were met or not were:

Two or more servings of fruit, including fresh fruit, dried fruit, and 100% fruit juice
Three or more servings of vegetables (fried potatoes count).

Even with the dubious inclusion of french fries the report showed that only 32% versus 35% from the earlier study were meeting these very modest goals. The report also showed that people tend to eat the same vegetables repeatedly with little diveristy in their diet. The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. A summary of the article can he found here.

If you'd like to improve your diet by adding fruits and vegetables to it consider eating by colors. At each meal your goal should be to have three different colors on your plate. For more colorful guidelines visit here. Here are some other practical suggestions for increasing your intake of fruit and vegatables, and some quick cooking ideas.

Without exception improving your well-being and reducing the risk of chronic diseases begins with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Here are some other healthy reasons to change your eating habits.

New Diet Study

2007-03-07T20:57:00.000-06:00

A new study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the Atkins Diet, high protein and low carbs, produced more weight loss among a sample of obese women than did the Ornish, LEARN, and Zone diet plans. However, while the women on the Atkins diet lost a few more pounds over the year their weight loss was statistically insignificant from the other plans. While heart health factors did improve in the Atkins diet, one researcher commented, "lower-carbohydrate diets look like a good option, but if you consider them, eat olive oil and fish rather than butter and sausage."
One danger of the low carb high protein diets is kidney stress and bone loss. Protein is very acid forming in the body and acid ash or residue is very hard on the kidneys. The South Beach diet, not included in the study, may be the most balanced diet. The diet works in phased timeframes. The two are are more restrictive promoting weight loss to your desired level while the third phase is designed to maintain your desired weight. Research has shown that in the short term dieting can work, but many people who diet eventually regain their lost weight. The best approach to weight loss seems to be lifestyle changes that result in a healthy diet and exercise program. Dr. Deb's class on March 29 looks at the relationship between Proteins, Fats and Carbs in the healthy diet.

Linda Doing Well After Knee Surgery

2007-03-04T09:02:00.000-06:00

Thursday, March 1, Linda underwent knee replacement therapy. Surgery was successful and she will be leaving St. Mary's Hospital for a rehabilitation center on London road for a couple of weeks. Upon completion of her rehabilitation she will return to her apartment in Cloquet.

Yet, Another Antibotic for Cattle!

2007-03-04T08:33:00.000-06:00

It appears that the FDA is set to approve yet another antibotic for cattle that combats respiratory disease. Although there are already a number of effective antibotics on the market for respiratory disease it appears this drug is being pushed by the largest beef producers who produce their cattle in close quarters on what are called "intensive farms." "The FDA's own advisors, the Veterinary Medical Advisory Committee, voiced such concerns when they voted in September to reject approval of cefquinome by InterVet Inc." The over prescription of antibotics in both humans and animals has lead to more virulent strains of bacteria that are becoming more resistant to treatment. Congresswoman Lois Slaughter, who is also a microbiologist has questioned the integrity of the FDA's drug review process "amid allegations that the agency has put the interests of industry and politics above science." Read the entire article here. It is more important than ever to know where and how your meat and milk are produced.

Acid/Alkaline Class

2007-02-18T16:02:00.000-06:00

Our in-store classes began this week. Each month two classes will be offered by Dr. Deb and other professsionals in the region focusing on healthy living, to include nutrition, mental health, lifestyle changes, and functional medicine. Class size is limited so early sign-up is important. This past week Dr. Deb talked about acid/alkaline balance. Then each of the 15 class members did a salivary pH test for their acid/alkaline balance and discussion followed about nutritional choices that create imbalances in the body. By popular request this class will be offered again in the next two months. A complete list of spring classes will be available shortly.

Obesity Research: MSG and Aspartame

2007-02-12T20:32:00.000-06:00

In this month's issue of Well Being Journal (March/April 2007) there is an interesting article, "The Obesity Epidemic." Jack Samuels examines research initiated by John W. Olney, M. D. in 1968 at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. Olney found lesions in the hypothalamus of obese mice who had been given the food ingredient monosodium glutamate (MSG) a chemical additive used in foods to enhance taste. Subsequently, many scientists have confirmed Olney's finding suggesting that the food additive MSG does damage the hypothalamus which may result in obesity. Furthermore, it appears that aspartic acid found in the artificial sweetner aspartame also causes similar lesions to the hypothalamus. Aspartame is widely used in diet sodas. Dr. Janet Hall in her book Sweet Poisons list the many neurologic and psychological adverse reactions and side effects to ingesting this chemical. Samuels concludes his article by unequivocally asserting that the epidemic of obesity has been caused by the increasing use of MSG and aspartame in our food supply. Read the entire article. Samuels website has extensive information on the adverse effects of MSG. Likewise Dr. Hall's website details the effects aspartame.

Cloquet Natural Foods celebrates 30 years, new owners

2007-01-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

Wendy Johnson's excellent article on the store appeared in the January 24th issue of the Pine Journal. Her article follows:

There’s a certain sense of relaxation and well being that envelops you when you walk into Cloquet Natural Foods and Wellness Center at 502 Carlton Avenue. Perhaps it’s the subtle aroma of fresh-ground spices that permeates the air. Perhaps it’s the welcoming smile from the clerk at the front counter. Or just maybe it’s that less tangible sense that you’ve been there before – and you’re glad to be back.

Whatever it is that makes Cloquet Natural Foods so appealing, it has served the specialty shop in good stead in the community for the past 30 years – and growing. Read More

Dahl's Sunrise Dairy

2007-01-20T21:14:00.001-06:00

We now carry Wayne Dahl's Sunrise Dairy milk and butter. His milk comes in returnable half-gallon glass bottles and has the flavor and creamy richness of real milk. More importantly it is homone (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone or rBGH) free! The growth hormone is banned in Canada and Europe. A recent article in the Duluth News Tribune provides a wonderful overview of Wayne's dairy. The dairy is in Babbitt, MN just behind John F. Kennedy High School. I drove to Babbitt to meet Wayne two weeks ago and can tell you he takes great pride in the milk he produces. This spring he will begin making his own ice cream which we will carry in the store.