Speaking of the Brain

This comes from Imaginative Worlds which has been kind enough to add the B vitamin and Alzheimer's information to their site.

I of course am drawn to the post because many years ago it was proven in real scientific research that eccentric people tend to avoid dementia because they are able to use so many different parts of their brains and they tend not to fall prey to societal influences to compartmentalize every thing and every one.

The few who know me well would definitely say I am eccentric.

I can tell you that most bureaucrats and agencies are not fond of my eccentricity and they are grossly unwilling and unable to grasp the concepts. The bureaucratic types, are mostly in lock step with the mantra: "You mustn't complain about the system".

I guess its a reason why they don't read Koestler or my favorite book about change based on chaos theory, "Grow or Die" by G.T.L. Land.

The Science of Eccentricity
From: unknowncountry.com
A quirky or socially awkward approach to life might be the key to becoming a great artist, composer or inventor. New research shows that people who behave oddly, but are not psychotic or schizophrenic, are more creative because they use more of the right side of their brains.

Psychologists believe that famous creative people, including Vincent Van Gogh, Albert Einstein, Emily Dickinson and Isaac Newton, had what they call schizotypal personalities.

Psychologists Brad Folley and Sohee Park conducted two experiments to compare the creative thinking processes of schizotypes, schizophrenics and normal control subjects. In the first experiment, the researchers showed research subjects a variety of household objects and asked them to make up new functions for them. The results showed that the schizotypes were better able to creatively suggest new uses for the objects, while the schizophrenics and average subjects performed similarly to one another.

"Thought processes for individuals with schizophrenia are often very disorganized, almost to the point where they...

Hybrid Concerns

Thank you to WEEP for sending this article. It is worth your consideration, and you might wish to read this also.

Fear, but Few Facts, on Hybrid Risk
By JIM MOTAVALLI, April 27, 2008

ALMOST without exception, scientists and policy makers agree that hybrid vehicles are good for the planet. To a small but insistent group of skeptics, however, there is another, more immediate question: Are hybrids healthy for drivers?

There is a legitimate scientific reason for raising the issue. The flow of electrical current to the motor that moves a hybrid vehicle at low speeds (and assists the gasoline engine on the highway) produces magnetic fields, which some studies have associated with serious health matters, including a possible risk of leukemia among children.

With the batteries and power cables in hybrids often placed close to the driver and passengers, some exposure to electromagnetic fields is unavoidable. Moreover, the exposure will be prolonged — unlike, say, using a hair dryer or electric shaver — for drivers who spend hours each day at the wheel.

Some hybrid owners have actually tested their cars for electromagnetic fields using hand-held meters, and a few say they are alarmed by the results.

Their concern is not without merit; agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute acknowledge the potential hazards of long-term exposure to a strong electromagnetic field, or E.M.F., and have done studies on the association of cancer risks with living near high-voltage utility lines.

While Americans live with E.M.F.’s all around — produced by everything from cellphones to electric blankets — there is no broad agreement over what level of exposure constitutes a health hazard, and there is no federal standard that sets allowable exposure levels. Government safety tests do not measure the strength of the fields in vehicles — though Honda and Toyota, the dominant hybrid makers, say their internal checks assure that their cars pose no added risk to occupants.

Researchers with expertise in hybrid-car issues say that while there may not be cause for alarm, neither should the potential health effects be ignored.

“It would be a mistake to jump to conclusions about hybrid E.M.F. dangers, as well as a mistake to outright dismiss the concern,” said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer for the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Additional research would improve our understanding of the issue.”

Charges that automobiles expose occupants to strong electromagnetic fields were made even before hybrids became popular. In 2002, a Swedish magazine claimed its tests found that three gasoline-powered Volvo models produced high E.M.F. levels. Volvo countered that the magazine had compared the measurements with stringent standards advanced by a Swedish labor organization, not the more widely accepted criteria established by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, a group of independent scientific experts based near Munich.

Much of the discussion over high E.M.F. levels has sprung from hybrid drivers making their own readings. Field-strength detectors are widely available; a common model, the TriField meter, costs about $145 online. But experts and automakers contend that it is not simple for a hybrid owner to make reliable, meaningful E.M.F. measurements.

The concern over high E.M.F. levels in hybrids has come not just from worrisome instrument readings, but also from drivers who say that their hybrids make them ill.

Neysa Linzer, 58, of Bulls Head in Staten Island, bought a new Honda Civic Hybrid in 2007 for the 200 miles a week she drove to visit grocery stores in her merchandising job for a supermarket chain. She said that the car reduced her gasoline use, but there were problems — her blood pressure rose and she fell asleep at the wheel three times, narrowly averting accidents.

“I never had a sleepiness problem before,” Ms. Linzer said, adding that it was her own conclusion, not a doctor’s, that the car was causing the symptoms.

Ms. Linzer asked Honda to provide her with shielding material for protection from the low-frequency fields, but the company declined her request last August, saying that its hybrid cars are “thoroughly evaluated” for E.M.F.’s before going into production. Ms. Linzer’s response was to have the car tested by a person she called her wellness consultant, using a TriField meter.

The TriField meter is made by AlphaLab in Salt Lake City. The company’s president, Bill Lee, defends its use for automotive testing even though the meter is set up to test alternating current fields, whereas the power moving to and from a hybrid vehicle’s battery is direct current. “Generally, an A.C. meter is accurate in detecting large electromagnetic fields or microwaves,” he said.

Testing with a TriField meter led Brian Collins of Encinitas, Calif., to sell his 2001 Honda Insight just six months after he bought it — at a loss of $7,000. He said the driver was receiving “dangerously high” E.M.F. levels of up to 135 milligauss at the hip and up to 100 milligauss at the upper torso. These figures contrasted sharply with results from his Volkswagen van, which measured one to two milligauss.

Mr. Collins said he tried to interest Honda in the problem in 2001, but was assured that his car was safe. He purchased shielding made of a nickel-iron alloy, but because of high installation costs decided to sell the car instead.

A spokesman for Honda, Chris Martin, points to the lack of a federally mandated standard for E.M.F.’s in cars. Despite this, he said, Honda takes the matter seriously. “All our tests had results that were well below the commission’s standard,” Mr. Martin said, referring to the European guidelines. And he cautions about the use of hand-held test equipment. “People have a valid concern, but they’re measuring radiation using the wrong devices,” he said.

Kent Shadwick, controller of purchasing services for the York Catholic District School Board in York, Ontario, evaluated the Toyota Prius for fleet use. Mr. Shadwick said it was tested at various speeds, and under hard braking and rapid acceleration, using a professional-quality gauss meter.

“The results that we saw were quite concerning,” he said. “We saw high levels in the vehicle for both the driver and left rear passenger, which has prompted us to explore shielding options and to consider advocating testing of different makes and models of hybrid vehicles.”

In a statement, Toyota said: “The measured electromagnetic fields inside and outside of Toyota hybrid vehicles in the 50 to 60 hertz range are at the same low levels as conventional gasoline vehicles. Therefore there are no additional health risks to drivers, passengers or bystanders.”

The statement adds that the measured E.M.F. in a Prius is 1/300th of the European guideline.

The tests conducted by hybrid owners rarely approach the level of thoroughness of those run by automakers.

Donald B. Karner, president of Electric Transportation Applications in Phoenix, who tested E.M.F. levels in battery-electric cars for the Energy Department in the 1990s, said it was hard to evaluate readings without knowing how the testing was done. He also said it was a problem to determine a danger level for low-frequency radiation, in part because dosage is determined not only by proximity to the source, but by duration of exposure. “We’re exposed to radio waves from the time we’re born, but there’s a general belief that there’s so little energy in them that they’re not dangerous,” he said.

Mr. Karner has developed a procedure for testing hybrids, but he said that the cost — about $5,000 a vehicle — had prevented its use.

Lawrence Gust of Ventura, Calif., a consultant with a specialty in E.M.F.’s and electrical sensitivity, was one of the electrical engineers who tested Mr. Collins’s Insight in 2001. He agreed that the readings were high but did not want to speculate on whether they were harmful. “There are big blocks of high-amp power being moved around in a hybrid, the equivalent of horsepower,” he said. “I get a lot of clients who ask if they should buy hybrid electric cars, and I say the jury is still out.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

A Fun Food

I'm going to our Grange's Annual Christmas Party later today and I was thinking about the dish I'm going to take for the Pot Luck Dinner, while mixing up a morning smoothie in my blender, and listening to a Ritchie Havens interview and songs.

The reason I got thinking about it is because I received a new recipe this morning from World's Healthiest Foods and it was enticing enough to me to try it. The enticement was Tahini.

And while I am slowly sipping this smooth and yummy drink right now I'm thinking of the woman from Estonia who is a regular reader of my blog. She has a wonderful blog that you'll find in my interesting link's section in the right hand column, just look for Riina.

As an aside, Riina is from the lovely country of Estonia and it is wise at this time in US history to learn from the ways Estonia recovered from financial collapse when the Soviet Union fell.

I also have to say that I am always adding to recipes with my old fashioned approach to building up the nutrient quotient based on my 1970s college days and living on Adelle Davis Pep-Up. So what I have in the end is different than the basic recipe.

I left out the raw honey, added hemp protein powder, lecithin, adrenal support vitamin powder and Goji Juice Crystals (order from the Rich Nature link in the right hand column of Natural Health News). And I am just lucky enough to have some fresh squeezed organic Valencia orange juice that makes it much more delightful, as are the strawberries, lecithin and hemp, et al.

I hope you enjoy yours!

And now if you'd like to try this Strawberry Smoothie
Prep and Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:

* 4 large strawberries
* ¼ cup low fat plain yogurt
* 1 cup fresh orange juice
* 1 TBS tahini
* 1 medium size banana
* ½ tsp vanilla
* 1 TBS honey

Directions:

1. Remove stems from strawberries and wash.
2. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.

Serve 2 8oz glasses

Nutritonal Data

Additional Resources: Health, Vitamins and Alzheimer's

While I am sure that the mainstream medical industry looks askance at vitamins, it seems sad to me that they fail to look at the cost of human suffering caused by their ignorance, and closed-mindedness about the health benefits of supplements.

I would like everyone to consider the view of my esteemed colleague, Steve Shackel of Australia.

He is a person living with ALS and has an amazingly in depth web site with a great amount of science backed data.

My early research was into B3. I met my first bona fide mad professor, who was convinced B3 deficiency was responsible for all neurodegenerative illnesses. He made many good points but as my research progressed I concluded that it was not a B3 deficiency so much as the ability to metabolise B3 in therapeutic quantities that was the problem. I could go on...

I'll update my info and provide a link to this (more recent) research. Thanks for forwarding it to me. All these things help to fill out the big picture!

And to further this position I am adding some additional data for your benefit -

REF: Vitamin B12: Vital Nutrient for Good Health

REF: High-dose vitamin B12 for at-home prevention and reversal of Alzheimer's disease and other diseases

REF: Vitamin C, E, Selenium

Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., writes about the JAMA study denouncing the benefit from Vitamins C and E. Fabricant comments concerning flaws in the study which have altered the results and reliability of the study in question:

“On the second page of the study, it references nine pooled studies that when using 700 milligrams per day of vitamin C showed a 25-percent reduction in the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD); yet this study only used 500 milligrams per day. Why wasn't the 700 milligrams per day amount used when that has been correlated with a reduction in occurrence in prior studies?

“Additionally, while the study did control for multivitamin intake to prevent overlap, intake of vitamin C and E from food was not controlled. With a population of health care professionals at an increased risk for CVD, these subjects most likely know the benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and thus rich in vitamins C and E, and may adjust their intake accordingly. This would most certainly confound the study.

“It is essentially a drug study but one without a positive control, which is necessary to ensure the experimental design can produce a positive result even if the intervention was unable to.”

FDA defies DSHEA in latest threat to dietary supplements

The Alliance for Natural Health reports today on the latest FDA attempts to block access to supplements.

http://www.anhcampaign.org/node/2558?utm_source=The+Alliance+for+Natural+Health&utm_campaign=93ef8f47fc-081126_ANH_eBlast_No_1011_26_2008&utm_medium=email

I Must Be In B Vitamin Heaven

I recall vividly the many times I accompanied my father to AMA Conventions while growing up. I am sure now it was a part of his plan to make sure I was brainwashed enough to go to med school and follow along his path.

At one convention, in Atlantic City, when I was about eleven years old, I brought home a treasured back scratcher (an advertising tool from Dome Chemicals, Inc. - ala Merck, Sharp and Dome in the old days) and a shot glass from Phospho-Soda (a shot glass was pretty important in this circle because of all the cocktail parties, especially good for a child with a proctologist father).

I still have these treasures and the memories.

Medicine in those days was less frenzied and treatments were more straight forward and simpler.

And certainly vitamins were not looked upon as voodoo.

Even B12 shots were a regular occurrence and no one needed a blood test to decide if you could get them. Of course now the blood test used - really to get a billable charge and avoid acting outside standards of care - is not the correct test. Remember you can't get hurt by B12 shots but if your provider demands a test it is the INTRACELLULAR B12 that is required.

And - for women only - the correct form and correct dose of injectable B12 can lower your blood pressure.

Pretty much, natural thyroid and B12 were very good at keeping aging folks from dementia, and no one flapped an eyelash over it.

I use B Complex daily and in a food form. I give the same to my animals and we all use organic nutritional yeast which is a fermented product. I think the aroma is to die for, it is such a heavenly aroma that wafts from the container when I open it in the morning at at dinner time.

I certainly am sure I get doses well beyond the fallacy of the RDA, but them I'm more of a follower of nutrition and orthomolecular health models so I'm not frightened that water soluble vitamins will harm me in any way.

I sort of look at the Big Pharma approach to make you think they are on top of things when B3 is added to a dangerous cholesterol drug as odd. Why don't they just admit that the whole cholesterol lowering thing is a scam. B3 does just fine to lower cholesterol on its own, and much less expensively.

I made the mistake of turning on to orthomolecular medicine when I began working in psychiatry as an RN in the early 1970s. With people like Carl C. Pfeiffer, Abrahm Hoffer and Melvin Werbach (all MDs) educating me along the way, added to to great integrated nutrition I had while studying nursing in college, I was way ahead of the pack.

Now after all these years we see maybe the first wave of a turning tide. The AMA reports that B vitamins are good to help older women prevent breast cancer.

Will wonders never cease.....

B vitamins may protect elderly women from cancerDecember 2008

Daily supplementation with B vitamins may reduce the risk of breast cancer and other invasive cancers in women over the age of 65. That’s what a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has to say.

Over 5,000 women at a high risk of cardiovascular disease took part in the study, which investigated the effects of a daily supplement of folic acid, vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12 on cancer risk.

“If the finding [that cancer risk in women over 65 is decreased] is real and substantiated, the results may have public health significance because the incidence rates of cancer are high in elderly persons. The finding is biologically plausible because elderly individuals have increased requirements for these B vitamins,” wrote lead author Shumin Zhang from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Folate, vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12 are thought to play an important role in cancer prevention. This is because the vitamins play an important role in maintaining the integrity of DNA and regulating gene expression, both critical processes in healthy cell function.

Another positive to take from the results is that they appear to support the safety of B vitamins, and particularly folic acid. Since 1998 the U.S. has required mandatory fortification of all grain products with folic acid—the synthetic, bioavailable form of folate—in order to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects—most commonly spina bifida and anencephaly.

Zhang and co-workers looked at the risk of cancer and B-vitamin consumption among the 5,442 participants (average age 62.8) of the Women’s Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study. The women either had cardiovascular disease or three or more coronary risk factors.

Over the course of 7.3 years, half of the women received a daily supplement of folic acid (2.5 mg), vitamin B-6 (50 mg) and vitamin B-12 (1 mg), while the other half of the women received a placebo. The study began in 1998—the same year as mandatory folic acid fortification was introduced in the U.S.

During the study, 379 cases of invasive cancer were diagnosed—187 in the B-vitamin group and 192 in the placebo group. No differences were seen in the risk of developing total invasive cancer or breast cancer, when the participants were viewed in their entirety. However, in women over the age of 65 the supplementation was associated with significant 25% and 38% reductions in the risk of invasive and breast cancer, respectively.

Journal of the American Medical Association 300(17):2012-2021, 2008

Avandia Increases Bone Risk for Women

I was in the supermarket the other day and ended up talking with a woman about arthritis.

She continued to tell me all the drugs she was taking and I happened to ask if she knew what Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is. She answered "No", and I referred her back to the provider to ask that question because it was a serious side effect of one of several of her prescribed drugs.

This isn't uncommon for people to be taking drugs because their provider told them they needed them for life of some other specious reason.

It isn't unlike the query in the Alzheimer's and Vitamin B3 article, "Why isn't your doctor telling you to take them?"

There are some serious vitamin and mineral deficiencies caused by the diabetes drugs. Perhaps this study is reporting on a side effect of those losses.

Bone loss added to the cardiovascular concerns with Avandia might make you sit up, take notice, and get some answers from your prescriber.

And you might also want to look at the natural things you can do to promote healing from this disease and the drugs that "manage" it.

And as for the finding that this harm does not effect men, perhaps Avandia has a major negative hormonal interference paradigm with female hormones, only aggravating the situation.

Diabetes drugs 'double bone risk' Long-term use of a class of drugs for type 2 diabetes doubles a woman's risk of breaking a bone, research suggests.

Thiazolidinediones, including rosiglitazone and pioglitzone, had already been linked to a raised risk of fractures, as well as heart problems.

UK and US researchers have quantified the risk, and showed that using the drugs for more than a year thins the bones significantly.

The study appears in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

It found no increased fracture risk among men.

Two million prescriptions were written for rosigliatzone and pioglitazone in the UK alone last year.

The European Medicines Agency carried out a safety review of rosiglitazone and pioglitzone last year, and concluded their benefits outweighed their risks.

But the researchers argued the drugs had relatively modest therapeutic effects, and the regulators should think again.

Lead researcher Dr Yoon Loke, of the University of East Anglia, said: "Women with type 2 diabetes are already at an increased risk of fractures - with a near doubling in the risk of hip fractures - so any additional risk from thiazolidinedione therapy could have a considerable impact on public health."

Dr Loke said the underlying cause of the effect of thiazolidinediones was unclear, and required further research.

One suggestion is that the drugs may cause fractures by replacing bone marrow with fat cells.

However, he stressed women should not stop taking the drugs without first taking medical advice.

Extra fractures

The latest study, also conducted by researchers at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, examined data from 10 previous trials, involving a total of 13,715 patients.

It found that year-long thiazolidinedione use among elderly, postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes resulted in one extra fracture per 21 women.

Among younger women, aged around 56, the figure was one extra fracture per 55 women.

There is no clear evidence that other drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, such as metformin and sulfonylurea, cause an increased risk of fractures.

Recent research into thiazolidinediones has focused on the drugs' adverse effects on the heart and cardiovascular system.

One study found that they doubled the risk of congestive heart failure, while another found rosiglitazone was associated both with increased heart attacks and a doubling of heart failure.

Dr Victoria King, of the charity Diabetes UK, said: "We really do need further evidence through properly controlled trials before we can conclusively link thiazolidinediones to increased risk of various bone conditions in humans and determine which groups of people may be at greater risk."

In a statement, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) said fears that thiazolidinediones raised the risk of fractures in women had been raised before, and healthcare professionals notified.

The information leaflet providing with the drug to patients already contains a warning about fracture risk.

GlaxoSmithKline, which markets rosiglitazone as Avandia, said the safety and effectiveness of the drug was backed by one of the largest clinical trial programmes ever undertaken for any medicine, with 52,000 patients studied.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7771944.stm
Published: 2008/12/10 © BBC MMVIII

Antibiotics and Liver Failure

DILI is an acronym for "Drug Induced Liver Injury". Most people associate liver injury with acetaminophen or ibuprofen and a few other drugs (such as cholesterol lowering ones for example). Disclosing that antibiotics are known to induce liver injury is welcome. It would be better if Big Pharma and mainstream medicine would disclose the risk of liver injury from any drug but that's not a likely thing.

After all it might mean that the FDA would have to recall all drugs, because if you read the drug data you find most have a negative effect on the liver.

And for those who want to jump on the reference to nutritional supplements and herbals mentioned in the article, remember that their statistics show the connection to body building and weight loss products.

Antibiotics: Single Largest Class Of Drugs Causing Liver Injury

ScienceDaily (2008-12-08) -- Antibiotics are the single largest class of agents that cause idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury, reports a new study in Gastroenterology. DILI is the most common cause of death from acute liver failure and accounts for approximately 13 percent of cases of acute liver failure in the US. It is caused by a wide variety of prescription and nonprescription medications, nutritional supplements and herbals. ... > read full article

The Anti-Vitamin Train Keeps Rolling Along

UPDATE: Feb 09 -
AP writer LINDSEY TANNER has the inevitable position of meeting with my disdain over here story "Huge study boosts disappointment on multivitamins".
Her writing in my estimation is about the same low caliber as Carla Johnson another AP health writer who had worked at Spokane's Spokesman-Review.
Of course I don't look at these stories from the job oriented perspective of Johnson and Tanner; I look at them in a critical manner relevant to the factors that are known about the need for and effectiveness of using vitamin supplements.
It is unfortunate that AP fosters mainstream propaganda, rather than actually engaging in discovering whether or not the studies were good examples of junk science.
In this situation the studies were poorly designed, the schedule and dose of vitamins was not close to making a dent in the side of a Studebaker or Packard.

It will be a far sight better when we can get back to media stories with less or no bias, and until then we have ProPublica.org to help us keep on track, along with our own investigative efforts to substantiate fact.

You'll find many other posts here at Natural Health News discussing the benefits of vitamins for health and bogus studies via the search window.
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Personally I would like to see one of the investigators that do studies to show that vitamins are not helpful for health be required to do in-depth research on the vitamins prior to being funded. Maybe when the money train slows down they will approach their "research" from a different state of mind.

Double blind studies are a joke, and most serious researchers know this, but few will really say this is fact. All studies are affected by what is called the Rosenthal factor which has proven that all studies are altered in outcome by the mind-set of the lead investigator. A sharp skewer of data if I ever heard of one.

Vitamin E is an extremely effective anti-inflammatory vitamin and it helps oxygen (cancer doesn't like oxygen)cross the alveolar membrane in the lungs. Vitamin E also helps protect you from hair loss when undergoing standard medical cancer dictates. It also happens to have the effect of protecting you from colon cancer. And there are many more benefits, but it depends on the daily dose and the proper type of vitamin E supplement. (Not the synthetic or cheap stuff, but this seems to be what is relied on in most studies of late.)

Again, vitamin C reigns as one of the most beneficial vitamins for cancer prevention and treatment if you read the science that is found in nutrition journals or other journals that are "less aligned with maintaining the status quo".

Yet, while we see more and more anti-vitamin reports like this one -

Taking vitamin C or E does not reduce the risk of prostate cancers - or other forms of the disease, two large US studies suggest.

We also see some that seem to have a better insight on vitamin efficacy.

Vitamin E Shows Possible Promise In Easing Chronic Inflammation

ScienceDaily (2008-12-08) -- With up to half of a person's body mass consisting of skeletal muscle, chronic inflammation of those muscles -- which include those found in the limbs -- can result in significant physical impairment. Researchers have found that vitamin E shows promise in easing inflammation. ... > read full article

Just maybe the improved anti-inflammatory response is from the oxygen. And don't we already know that oxygen being a free radical scavenger, might just scavenge those cancer cells out from where they don't belong?

And as for selenium, this has been an effective anti-prostate cancer supplement, used in the correct form (selenomethionine) and in the correct dose for decades.

Without selenium, especially if you live in an area that is known geologically to have low selenium soil like the states bordering Canada, your thyroid won't function properly and low thyroid is clearly involved in immune issues, and may be a factor in cancer or other immune related dis-eases.

And then there is the need for zinc, but that's not a part of the study.

And, to counter the fallacious argument that all you have to do to get good nutrition is to eat a healthy diet, remember that food grown in low selenium soil is not healthy. Nor is that grown under stressful conditions with herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and fluoridated water.

Now you be the judge and I'd suggest you delve a bit deeper before accepting this story.

My observations are that these white coats are just asking the wrong questions.

Ever Consider Herbal Help for IBS, Crohn's or Celiac Concerns?

The root contains starch (37%), mucilage (11%), pectin (11%), flavonoids, phenolic acids, sucrose, and asparagine.

Do not overlook the benefit of Simply4Health Probiotics.

I was reading two articles this morning about bowel disease and was particularly moved by the frustration of this mother and her son. Then I read this article and started to wonder if any one of the researchers ever considered the use of Althea or Okra.

I know most people do not like okra, however it is my favorite vegetable and it has tremendous healing effects for the gut, because of the mucilaginous quality of the food. Althea, or Marshmallow root is very similar.

In fact Marshmallow root is one herb I use along with Astragalus to help people with Diabetes Type 1.

Homeopathy and IBS

The use of these herbs and foods can do quite a lot to help inflammed tissues. Astragalus helps by being a deep immune tonic that helps support immune function and healing. I also think it is a far sight better than Prednisone. But then I think Bioprin is pretty good also. And there is a place for Okra-Pepsin compounds as well as organic flax oil.

From King's American Dispensatory: Althaea (U. S. P.)—Althaea.
(officinalis)
Preparation: Syrup of Althaea
Related entry: Hibiscus Esculentus.—Okra


"The root of Althaea officinalis, Linné"—(U. S. P.).
Nat. Ord.—Malvaceae.
COMMON NAME: Marshmallow.


Botanical Source.—Althaea officinalis is a peculiarly soft and downy, hoary, green herb, having a tap-shaped, rather woody root. It has several erect, simple stems, from 2 to 5 feet in height, round, leafy, tough, and pliant; the leaves are ovate or heart-shaped at the base, of various breadths, plaited, 5-ribbed, unequally serrated, petioled, soft and pliable, and more or less deeply divided into 5 acute lobes, The flowers are large, in very short, dense, axillary panicles, rarely solitary, of a delicate, uniform, blush color. The involucre has 8, 9, 10, or 12 divisions. The 1-seeded fruit is formed of numerous capsular carpels, closely and circularly arranged around the axis.


History and Description.—This perennial herb is found commonly on the banks of rivers, and in salt marshes. It is indigenous to Europe, and portions of Asia, in some parts of which it is cultivated in great quantities for medical use; and moist, sandy soils are preferred. It flowers from July to September. The whole plant, but especially the root, abounds with mucilage. Although the plant grows to some extent in the United States, the root is principally obtained from Europe for medical purposes, that which comes from Germany being much whiter but not so thick as that from the south of France. As found in commerce, the root is in pieces 3 or 4 inches long, or more, roundish, about 1/2 inch in diameter, with a feeble odor and very mucilaginous taste. It should be chosen plump, and little fibrous; with a very white surface, well cleared of its yellowish epidermis, downy from the mode of dressing it with files; and possessing no moldy, acid, nor musty odor, and no acid taste. Sometimes it is met with divided lengthwise. The plant contains nearly 20 percent of mucilage—(Ed., Duncan). Both the flowers and leaves are occasionally employed by the Europeans. The root should be gathered in the early spring or autumn of the second (not later than the third) year's growth, and only the fleshy portions retained, the older, woody roots being valueless.


The Pharmacopoeia of the United States directs that Althaea shall conform to the following description: "In cylindrical or somewhat conical pieces, from 10 to 15 Cm. (4 to 6 inches) long, 10 to 15 Mm. (.039 to .059 inch) in diameter, deeply wrinkled; deprived of the brown, corky layer and small roots; externally white, marked with a number of circular spots, and of a somewhat hairy appearance from the loosened bast fibres; internally whitish and fleshy. It breaks with a short, granular, and mealy fracture, has a faint, aromatic odor, and a sweetish, mucilaginous taste"—(U. S. P.).


Chemical Composition.—Althaea-root contains starch, pectin, mucilage, sugar, lignin, calcium phosphate, fixed oil, a viscid material, and asparagin (A. Buchner). Asparagin (C4H8N2O3.H2O), is a colorless, crystallizable body, without taste or odor. Ether and alcohol do not dissolve it, but it is extracted from the root with water, from which it may be crystallized by concentrating the solution. Its reactions prove it to be amido-succinamic acid, having the formula: CO2N.CH2.CHNH2.CONH2. When boiled with acids or alkalies, it splits into ammonia and amido-succinic acid or aspartic acid (C4H7NO4). Asparagin is distinguished by its optical activity, being laevo-rotatory in aqueous solution, which changes to dextro-rotatory by the action of acetic acid. Asparagin, when pure, is stable in solution, but is susceptible to fermentation in the presence of albuminoid substances, whereby it is converted into ammonium succinate.


Asparagin was discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet, in 1805, in the juice of the asparagus plant, and in the marshmallow root, as althein, by M. Bacon, in 1826. It is identical with agedoite, found by Caventou in liquorice root (Jour. de Pharm., xiv., 177), and is found in many other plants, e. g., comfrey, dahlia, potatoes, the roots of Robinia Pseudacacia, etc. The mucilage (free from starch) of the root is extracted with cold water; the starch by boiling water.


Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—The root of this plant, as well as of each of the below mentioned plants described as substitutes, is demulcent and diuretic, and may be used indiscriminately, the one for the other. They will be found valuable, in the form of decoction, in diseases of the mucous tissues, as hoarseness, catarrh, pneumonia, gonorrhoea, vesical catarrh, renal irritation, acute dysentery, and diarrhoea. In strangury, inflammation of the bladder, hematuria, retention of urine, some forms of gravel, and indeed in nearly every affection of the kidney and bladder, their use will be found advantageous. Much use is made of them combined with equal parts of spearmint, in urinary derangements. They are likewise efficacious in gastro-intestinal irritation and inflammation. As the decoction soon decomposes, or becomes moldy or acid, it should always be made in small quantities, not more than 1 or 2 pints at a time, according to the temperature of the weather.


Externally, marshmallow root is very useful in the form of poultice, to discuss painful, inflammatory tumors, and swellings of every kind, whether the consequence of wounds, bruises, burns, scalds, or poisons; and has, when thus applied, had a happy effect in preventing the occurrence of gangrene. The infusion or decoction may be freely administered.

just a quote for today

…”just because “they” say there is no cure; it does not mean that you can’t get better.

It only means that “they” haven’t figured it out yet.

That’s all it means.

It does NOT mean that you can’t get better.”

- Along the Healing Path: Recovering from Interstitial Cystitis
By: Catherine M. Simone © 2000

and from from Jim LaValle

"In 400 B.C., Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said, "Let food be your medicine, and your medicine be food." Twenty-five hundred years later, we have lost all understanding of this wisdom. Instead, our "medicines" are refined foods and pharmaceutical drugs. The impact of this shift is evident in the diseases and mortality associated with poor diet and nutritional deficiencies. Back in 1988, the U.S. Surgeon General stated, "Approximately two-thirds of all deaths are associated with imbalances in diet and nutrition. Former U.S. Surgeon General, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., issued a call to action against epidemic obesity rates in the United States, warning that the health consequences from this one condition alone may overwhelm the healthcare system. How is it that we're unable to control our lifestyles for our own good health?

Until the twentieth century, humans existed almost 100 percent on food from plants and animals. Today, it is estimated that two-thirds of the caloric intake of most Americans comes from processed grains, sugar, fat and oil, and alcohol. The shift from the healthier nutrition intakes of our ancestors to what has become known as the standard American diet (SAD) took place gradually as America transitioned from a society based on agriculture to one based on industry. Today, we are generations removed from the concepts of a truly healthy diet. Yes, it's true that we have longer life expectancies, but does this mean we are actually healthier or just that we are living longer with our chronic diseases."

FDA Teams With WebMD For New Online Consumer Health Information

I am not a fan of WebMD because it - to me - is too locked in to mainstream medicine and the standard of care mentality.

However if consumers can get information sooner on the "Red Alerts" it is a good thing.

A new online consumer health information resource on WebMD.com (www.webmd.com/fda): Consumers can access information on the safety of FDA-regulated products, including food, medicine and cosmetics, as well as learn how to report problems involving the safety of these products directly to the FDA. In addition, WebMD will bring the FDA public health alerts to all WebMD registered users and site visitors that request them. The cross-linked joint resource will also feature FDA's Consumer Updates—timely and easy-to-read articles that are also posted on the FDA's main consumer Web page (www.fda.gov/consumer).

The FDA contributions to WebMD The Magazine: FDA Consumer Updates will also be featured at least three times a year in WebMD's bimonthly magazine, which reaches nearly nine million consumers. The magazine is distributed to physician office waiting rooms across the country.

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01918.html

The Importance of Vitamin B1 for People with Diabetes

UPDATE: 29 December - The BBC today reported on vitamin B 1 and their article pointed out that between 70% - 70% of all people with diabetes ( 1 and 2) and thiamine deficient. This may be related to the disease process and/or poor diet, but may also be a side effect of medications.
-------------------------------------------
The Oake Centre for natural health education offers a service to people with diabetes in the form of an educational newsletter send periodically. The focus is to send notice of research findings and natural health options related to diabetes. This is an opt in subscription requiring a one time $5 fee.

You might want to subscribe for your own health or send as a gift to some one whose health you care about. (Use the Make a Donation button and send $5 with a note for the Diabetes List subscription)

A report published online on December 5, 2008 in the journal Diabetologia revealed the finding of researchers at the University of Warwick in England that high doses of the B vitamin thiamine can reverse one of the signs of early kidney disease in diabetic patients. Diabetes greatly increases the risk of kidney disease, which is detected in its early stage by testing for albumin in the urine. A high excretion rate of albumin (microalbuminuria) is indicative of diabetic nephropathy, which progressively worsens over the years.

In earlier research conducted at the University of Warwick, it was shown that individuals with type 2 diabetes are often deficient in vitamin B1. The vitamin may be needed to prevent a range of vascular problems that occur in the disease.

Naila Rabbani and Professor Paul J Thornalley of Warwick Medical School, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Punjab in Pakistan randomized 40 type 2 diabetics with microalbuminuria to receive three 100 milligram capsules of thiamine per day or a placebo for three months, followed by a two month washout period during which no treatment was administered. Urinary albumin excretion and other markers of kidney and vascular dysfunction were evaluated at the beginning and end of the treatment period. Plasma thiamin levels were also measured.

Thiamin levels were found to be abnormally low among the participants at the beginning of the trial. Levels rose dramatically following treatment with the vitamin, and returned to baseline levels during the washout period. By the end of the three month treatment period, the researchers observed a 41 percent average decrease in albumin excretion among patients who received vitamin B1. Thirty-five percent of participants experienced a return to normal albumin excretion with thiamin treatment.

“This study once again highlights the importance of Vitamin B1 and we need to increase awareness,” Dr Rabbani stated. “Professor Thornalley and I are planning a foundation at the University of Warwick to further education and research in thiamine deficiency.”

and in a related report regarding kidney disease and the need for supportive vitamin supplementation -

Dietary supplements are often recommended by physicians and renal dietitians (National Kidney Foundation 2001e). Their recommendations are guided by the results of blood tests that you will be required to take regularly as part of monitoring your condition and treatment results. Always speak with your physician or renal dietitian before using or adding any supplements or herbal products.

Multivitamins. In addition to eating a diet that contains appropriate nutrients and levels of protein, a comprehensive multivitamin is often required to replace vitamins that are lost during dialysis treatments (National Kidney Foundation 2001e).

Vitamin B. Vitamins B6, B12, and folate (folic acid) are members of the B vitamin group. The B vitamins are known for having many beneficial qualities, including promoting growth; improving heart function; lowering homocysteine; protecting against atherosclerosis caused by excess homocysteine; helping with the formation and regeneration of red blood cells and preventing anemia; and increasing energy and endurance (McGregor et al. 2000).

Vitamin C. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps keep many different types of tissues healthy. Vitamin C helps wounds and bruises heal faster and may aid in preventing infection (2001e).

Vitamin E. Supplementation with vitamin E may protect the kidneys from free-radical damage, a major factor in renal health. In experiments in rats, Sadava et al. (1996) found that a dietary deficiency of vitamin E caused progressive and pronounced renal damage. Vitamin E has been shown to restore tubular flow to rats with severe kidney disease by suppressing the free radicals that cause tubulointerstitial damage (Hahn 1998).

The Dangers of HFCS

and why reading labels on food is very important -

see also 1 and 2

What You Need to Know: Health-Damaging Effects of Excess Dietary Fructose

* Dietary intake of fructose, particularly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), has dramatically increased in the US in recent decades. Increased HFCS consumption has paralleled increasing rates of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and other conditions associated with poor lifestyle habits.

* High-fructose corn syrup is found in sweetened carbonated soft drinks as well as in many packaged foods such as cakes, cookies, jams, jellies, and crackers.

* Excess fructose intake has been associated with adverse health effects such as metabolic syndrome, elevated triglyceride levels, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, excess uric acid levels (associated with gout), and elevated levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs; linked with aging and complications of diabetes).

* Minimizing intake of dietary fructose is essential to mitigating its potentially dangerous effects. Sources of dietary fructose include HFCS, fruit juices, honey, and table sugar (sucrose; comprising fructose and glucose).

* Targeted nutritional strategies can help avert some of the damaging effects of excess fructose intake. Beneficial nutrients include benfotiamine (vitamin B1), alpha-lipoic acid, carnosine, pyridoxamine, acetyl-L-carnitine, vitamin C, and fish oil.

A downside to using "plant sterols"

UPDATE: 12.08: A leading expert in the science of fats and oils, along with some researchers at Harvard, report that cholesterol-cutting spreads cause heart disease.

Ads for these so-called butter substitutes proclaim they promote heart health. But they are made from the world's deadliest fats! According to the Harvard study, consuming just 2 to 3 grams daily—the amount found in 3 to 6 cookies—increases the risk of heart disease by a whopping 21%!

Plant Sterols reduce concentrations of carotenoids
The Netherlands—An observed reduction in serum carotenoid concentrations during 18 months of consumption, according to a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Natural Health News has several posts regarding the push on products containing "plant sterols", including aspirin, vitamins, and a variety of drinks for cholesterol lowering.

Our argument against these products is that they generally contain genetically modified (GMO) corn and soy oils.

The GMO ingredients alone is certainly risky enough, but soy and corn oils pose many other problems, such as the amount of herbicides and other chemicals used in the Big Ag approach to growing food.

Now it is found that the use of these products have a deleterious effect on the amount of the important anti-oxidant carotenoids (think yellow-orange-red foods and the vitamin A family) available (physiologically) for your health.

So my guess is that Promise and the rest of those brands hawking "plant sterol functional foods" better go back to the drawing table.

Functional foods enriched with plant sterol or stanol esters may lower serum concentrations of fat-soluble carotenoids.

The double blind, placebo-controlled human intervention trial lasted 18 months, and cross referenced to concentrations of lutein and zeaxanthin (carotenoids).

Forty-seven subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups: margarine without added plant sterols or stanols, plant sterol-enriched margarine, or plant stanol-enriched margarine.

Changes in lipid-adjusted serum lutein/zeaxanthine concentrations between baseline and study end differed significantly between the three groups (P=0.001). No differences were found in the MPOD between the three treatment groups, despite the differences in both absolute and cholesterol-standardized serum lutein/zeaxanthine concentrations.

Is there a sinister plot afoot at CDC?

One former President seems to be very annoyed by the very many people who followed the tenet some years ago that they loved their country but could not at all trust the government.

I suppose I fall into that group because too often the government acts against the people and the roles their agencies are too play, while using ingenuous propaganda to convince us otherwise.

It is a daunting task to stay on top of the spin.

I liken the "spin" to be similar to some great photographs of weather abounding at Mt. Rainier this week.

One of my teachers, a woman from the Nootka Tribe on Vancouver Island BC, first taught me about the clouds over Mt. Rainier. She always said that when the clouds (lenticular) form, there is a need to pay attention, as there is something to be learned.

I think the timing of the following comment that tells me the government is not looking out for you during this flu season is a very good example of attending to the signs.

If you aren't oriented scientifially, this - in general - means that the CDC is pulling the wool over your eyes.

Mismatched Flu Antiviral Recommendations in the United StatesRecombinomics Commentary, December 8, 2008
Limited data on antiviral resistance, as well as the uncertainty regarding which influenza virus types or subtypes will circulate during the season, make it impossible to provide an indication of the prevalence of influenza viruses resistance to oseltamivir or the adamantanes (amantadine and rimantadine) nationally or regionally at this time. CDC has solicited a representative sample of viruses from WHO collaborating laboratories in the United States, and more specimens are expected as influenza activity increases.

Based on the level of oseltamivir resistance observed in only one influenza subtype, H1N1, and the persisting high levels of resistance to the adamantanes in H3N2 viruses, CDC continues to recommend the use of oseltamivir and zanamivir for the treatment or prevention of influenza in the United States.

The above comments are from recent CDC weekly reports on influenza. The statement on uncertainty is from the latest (week 48) update, while the statement on antiviral recommendations was in the week 46 report.

However, the antiviral situation in the United States is quite straight forward, and unlikely to change with additional near term data. Resistance to the adamantines is at or near 100% for H3N2, while resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is at or near 100% for H1N1. Since the vast majority of influenza A in the United States is H1N1 at this time, the current recommendations discourage use of adamantines, when most influenza A is sensitive, and encourage oseltamivir, when most influenza A is resistant, creating a significant mismatch in antiviral recommendations for the United States.

The basis for a prediction of near term stasis is base on results for this season for North America and Europe, where oseltamivir resistance is approximately 100% for H1N1 and adamantine resistance is approximately 100% for H3N2. Although resistance levels in H3N2 has been largely unchanged in recent seasons, the level of oseltamivir resistance (H274Y) has evolved significantly over the past few seasons, but the levels of 100% began to appear in the 2008 season in the southern hemisphere, and now is confirmed in the northern hemisphere for this season.

Initially, H274Y appeared on a number of H1N1 genetic backgrounds in patients not receiving oseltamivir. H274Y was reported in clade 2C (Hong Kong) in the 2005/2006 season in China. It then appeared in clade 1 (New Caledonia) in the United States and England in 2006/2007. Last season it was in clade 2B in the United States and England, but did not initially dominate. A second change, D3548G, which had been in clade 2C and clade 2A (Solomon Island) previously, was acquired by clade 2B via recombination, and this sub-clade, which both H274Y and D354G began to dominate.

In south countries in Europe (Norway, France, Russia) and North America (Canada) levels increased to more than 40% of H1N1 isolates. In the United States the level was closer to 10% because clade 2B and 2C were co-circulating and there was no reported H274Y in clade 2C in the United States. Moreover, most of clade 2B also did not have H274Y.

However, the following flu season in the summer hemisphere, the sub-clade with H274Y and D354G seed the season, and resistance levels rose to 100%, raising concerns that the new 2008/2009 season in the northern hemisphere would also be seeded by the same sub-clade and resistance would also increase to 100%. H1N1 resistance testing Europe and North America have confirmed the increase to 100%.

In the United States this season H274Y levels rose to close to 100% in clade 2B, and initial testing failed to identify clade 2C (which was at 100% adamantine resistance in the US last season). Thus, the levels of antiviral resistance in influenza A are related to the relative levels of H1N1 and H3N2, and at this time H1N1 levels are widespread and account for 80% or more of influenza A isolates in multiple regions.

As a result, the current antiviral recommendations in the United States are mismatched with the levels in co-circulation. The vast majority of influenza A is H1N1 which is oseltamivir resistance and adamantine sensitive, yet use of adamantines are discouraged and oseltamivir is encouraged in current CDC recommendations.

While we don't suggest getting the flu shot, or any shot for that matter, we do encourage good nutrition and the use of some specific herbs or supplements to stay healthy or help you reduce your reaction to flu or colds.

One of our favorites is garlic. And we are happy to note that we have a source for Wild Bears' garlic if you want to grow some in your garden.

In the interim you might get some nice organic garlic cloves, trim off their paper like outer covering and add them to a small jar after cracking them, and fail that jar with your choice of extra virgin olive oil (the kind sold in glass) or raw honey. Chewing up one of these cloves along with the EVOO or honey once or twice a day will do you more good than those shots, until the clouds pass.

P.S. - I am also known to add a shot of hot sauce (for the cayenne) and a bit of apple cider vinegar (ACV) to the mix, for good measure.

Interferon Treatment for Hepatitis C depletes B Vitamin and Iron

I for one am very pleased to see this report.

I have worked over many years with people who have Hepatitis C. During this course of time I found it very clear that people with Hep C (PWHC) have an extraordinarily high need for B vitamins. This large amount is not supported by typically available B vitamin products sold today.

Successfully used to provide B complex in a form that is usable by PWHC is our BioSupplemente Naturalle.

One of our key projects for 2009 is to re-manufacture BioSupplemente in the powder form. It will be sold as a bulk powder for human and companion animal use, as it had been in the past. At this time I do not forsee that we will be manufacuring a capsule form.

Currently only the homeopathic liquid form of this product is available as RK BioDrops.

Drug Treatment for Hepatitis C depletes B Vitamin and Iron Stores

Reference: "Vitamins B depletion, lower iron status and decreased antioxidative defense in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated by pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin," Lin CC, Yin MC, et al, Clin Nutr, 2008 Nov 28; [Epub ahead of print]. (Address: Department of Internal Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China).

Summary: In a study involving 152 healthy subjects and 109 patients infected with hepatitis C (HCV), treatment with pegylated interferon combined with ribavirin was found to decrease levels of vitamin B6, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and iron. Infection with HCV was associated with reduced levels of vitamin B6 and folate, and the drug treatment further diminished B vitamin status, and was associated with a higher percentage of patients with insufficient iron status. Furthermore, HCV infection was associated with higher plasma levels of malondialdehyde and 8-isoprostane; drug treatment for HCV further exacerbated lipid oxidation. HCV infection was also associated with significantly lower vitamin C and glutathione levels; drug treatment was found to reduce alpha-tocopherol level and activity of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. These results suggest that supplementation with B vitamins, iron, and vitamin C may be beneficial to patients with HCV, particularly those treated with pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin. Additional research is warranted.

Generally people are not provided with the information about Interferon that supports the damaging end result of its use such as liver and kidney failure.

There are also other nutritional needs we have found that are critical for PWHC. Again this information is not provided by mainstream medical providers.

While Interferon is a genetically modified product, properly prepared herbal extracts of St. John's Wort offers its use as an anti-viral and natural form of interferon.

Yes, Aspartame is TOXIC and don't think otherwise

UPDATE: Dec 18
Please read this important article by Bill Deagle, MD if you need more facts about the toxicity of aspartame, yet another substance originally approved as an insecticide -
ASPARTAME IS NEUROTOXIC

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This morning I received an anonymous post in response to the many articles I have posted both on my original website and Natural Health News. The post came with a signature of John E. Garst.

I was not willing to post the comment because it is submitted anonymously, which is the antithesis of our policy. We will post comments if they are submitted with your name and request it be posted without your name, and it is salient to the topic.

Whoever the Garst fellow is I found his attack on my background offensive as he states the following:

John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
(FYI, I have absolutely no financial or biasing connection with the aspartame, the soft drink or related industries. However, I am just tired of people who have no understanding of the the sciences of pharmacology and toxicology trying to pass judgment by hearsay on something that they know nothing about.)

I have an extensive understanding of pharmacology, toxicology, and nutrition, as well as human physiology, biochemistry and medicine.
Obviously the sender failed to read ABOUT....

Aspartame is toxic, it is an insecticide. If you want to ingest insecticide, just like Splenda as well, then do so at your own risk.

And if you don't want insecticides in the food you purchase or ingest I'd encourage you to write you Member of Congress and demand it be taken off the market.

However if you want the science, please read on.

ASPARTAME FLACK TRIES TO MISLEAD NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE

John Garst brags that he played a major role in obliterating efforts to ban aspartame in 06. Hes trying to do it again by bombarding legislators with complicated lingo only a biochemist can comprehend. Its a vacuous bluff with hot air said James Bowen MD. who is a physician, surgeon, biochemist, and an aspartame victim with Lou Gehrigs.

New Mexico lawmakers are expected to take Garth's word for it and do what he wants. This last-minute blast is an ambush in bad faith, like yelling fire in a crowded theater so the legislature will run for the exits. Garst wants a stampede!

Good faith requires him to come forward in time for his assertions to be examined. But then he would be exposed. With no time for deliberation the legislators are expected to just accept his say-so.

At the say-so level: R G Walton M.D. Chairman, Center for Behavioral Medicine at NE Ohio College of Medicine analyzed 92 peer-reviewed studies not funded by aspartame industry. 92% found PROBLEMS!

There were also 74, sponsored by NutraSweet, which said its safe as rain. Dr. Walton concluded Serious questions have been raised about the reliability of industry-sponsored studies of the safety of synthetic chemicals. Aspartame, in particular, has been the focus of significant ongoing controversy Walton named numerous adverse clinical events including seizures, mood disorders, headaches and brain tumors.

In 95 the FDA listed 92 reactions from 10,000 volunteered complaints, including death.

H. J. Roberts, M.D., FACP a diabetic specialist has produced 20 books and his first text on medical diagnosis was used by 60,000 doctors to prepare for their Board examinations. In his response to Garst's allegation that aspartame sensitivity reflects folate deficiency, he wrote to the members of the New Mexico Legislature:

You have received correspondence concerning folate deficiency as the purported cause of aspartame disease. While folate plays a role in the metabolism of methanol (methyl alcohol), the severity and widespread nature of reactions to aspartame products suggest that this assertion must be tempered by the following:

*The methyl alcohol in aspartame is FREE (rarely found as such in nature.)

*The assertion that methanol concentrations never are very high after aspartame ingestion is erroneous. I devoted an entire chapter to methanol toxicity in my text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic (pp 668-685), and show in Figure XXI-1 the dose-related blood levels of methanollasting 8 or more hours.

*The assertion that many New Mexicans suffer from a folate deficiency is challenged. While I discussed such a theoretical deficiency in my text, there is no evidence that folate deficiency is widespread among Americans. For example, a Mayo Clinic study involving thousands of blood assays concluded that it was rare. Garst ignores the major roles of phenylalanine and aspartic acid in aspartame disease.

Enormous effort has gone into this constructive attempt to ban aspartame products. I believe that it constitutes an imminent health hazard for New Mexicans. You are to be congratulated for coming this far in the face of severe corporate resistance.

H. J. Roberts, M.D., FACP, FCCP

Dr. Maria Alemany, Departament du Nutricio I Bromatologia, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, who was the researcher for the damning Trocho Study wrote that he was deeply insulted by Garsts propaganda. Remember that Dr. Alemanys study proved the formaldehyde converted from the free methyl alcohol embalms living tissue and damages DNA. As we know when you damage DNA you can destroy humanity. So concerned for the public was Dr. Alemany that after his study he reported it to the authorities. He told me personally that he was concerned aspartame could kill millions and I said has killed millions. After all aspartame can trigger all sorts of neurodegenerative diseases and tumors and can precipitate diabetes. Even the FDA found many types of tumors and brain cancer on original studies and the Ramazzini Study in 2005 confirmed FDA findings reporting the study showed aspartame to be a multipotential carcinogen. Dr. Alemany is a hero to the world and proved beyond a shadow of doubt what aspartame experts believed for years.

Dr. Alemany said: First, Garst suggests that perhaps aspartame just affects people with a metabolic deficit. If that were the case (I doubt it, deficits may just enhance the effect of aspartame), why then has it not been studied? In the case of cyclamate, the ban on its use is based on the deleterious effects on only a fraction of the population

Second. Dr. Garst accepts that aspartame yields formaldehyde... then, why not give formaldehyde to the people to help them synthesize methyl groups? Did I understood well (after speaking of the double helix which has very little to do here unless for the binding of formaldehyde to its strands to induce mutation) that Dr. Garst suggests that aspartame may be beneficial because its derived formaldehyde may supply one-carbon units for methylations through the folate pathway? If that were the case, why not get the FDA approval for aspartame as a drug/vitamin substitute? This is an outright fallacy (or better said bull-manure).

Third. Please, not again the tale of the methyl-esters of pectins! It has been proved to nausea that most of the methyl-alcohol esters of uronic acids remain esterified through intestinal passage, and that freed in the large intestine by the action of the flora is majoritarily and keenly used by these microbes for their profit. The remaining methyl alcohol leaving the intestine is largely detoxified by the liver (this is a physiological mechanism well known and proved effective for millennia). Aspartame, however, is not fully hydrolyzed in the intestine, being absorbed in part intact. After the intestine-portal vein-liver trap is surpassed, the body protection against methanol wanes, and the tiny liberation of methanol in tissues yields little amounts of formaldehyde that cause serious damage, precisely because it behaves very differently from the natural products methanol. Even in cases of wood-alcohol (methanol) intoxication, the liver helps to stem the overflow of toxic. Methanol inhalation or injection is much more dangerous, because it goes directly into the bloodstream and tissues jumping the liver barrier. This is explained in elementary physiology and biochemistry courses, it is unbelievable that this is maintained as a "serious" scientific position by somebody that got a PhD, unless this is not a discourse of science but of economy.

Theories are nice, but have to be proved true. The one Dr. Garst exposes here is that maintained by pro-aspartame fellows for decades. This is how they explained the incorporation of aspartame label into protein and DNA in the earliest experiments on aspartame using tracers that were published (none was published by this group thereafter). This theory fits very well with the story of a harmless aspartame, but it has been proven untrue. We did it, and this is why our study was so damaging. If the theory recycled by Dr. Garst were true, then, the carbon of the methyl alcohol of aspartame would enter the one-carbon path mediated by tetrahydrofolate, this can be done via formaldehyde or via formate. These one-carbon units may be processed (depending on demand) to methyl groups, such as those found in carnitine, thymine and methionine (the only amino acid that can get back methyl groups in mammals), thus explaining the presence of label in protein (methionine) or DNA (thymine). We gave labeled aspartame to rats, and got their DNA and protein from a number of tissues, and found large proportions of label. So far no differences with the Aspartame-lovers theory. However, we hydrolyzed the protein and DNA and looked for label in thymine in DNA and methionine in protein. We found none. Instead, the label was in unknown spots in the chromatograms, which plainly indicates that the incorporation of label into DNA and protein was NOT through the incorporation of methyl groups, i.e. the one-carbon folate pathway. Other ways of label incorporation should explain the attachment of the label. The most logical explanation (justified by innumerable studies that show that formaldehyde attaches to protein and other molecules) was that aspartame-derived formaldehyde was chemically bound to protein and DNA, inactivating (embalming, in fact) proteins and altering DNA structure causing mutations.

The experimental studies show that the theory is faulty. No counter-experiments were published showing our possible "errors", nor the theory of folate pathway incorporation has been proved experimentally (it is fairly easy to demonstrate, it only needs to be true, however). This is why I felt insulted. It is an insult to the intelligence of anybody with even a thin varnish of scientific knowledge to discard proven facts and stick to self-fulfilling harebrained theories. If what the aspartame lovers say about the fate of aspartame carbon is true, why nobody has proved it experimentally? It is easy to carry out and much less expensive than hiring lawyers to defend bad science with top dollar legal expertise

I used as heading the famous initial words of the second Catilinary by Cicero, which I remember from my early high-school Latin. Since probably most Americans were lucky enough not to study Latin when 10-11 years old, I provide an approximate translation: "Up to when do you, Catilina, will abuse our patience?", substitute Catilina for the present aspartame producers and probably it fits very well the picture.
Good luck on the banning of this menace to our collective health.
Best regards,
--------------------------
Dr. Maria Alemany
Departament de Nutrici i Bromatologia
Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona
Av. Diagonal, 645
08028 Barcelona. Espanya / Espaa / Spain

Today in Dr. Roberts medical text there is a page on pre-embalming thanks to the work of the courageous Dr. Maria Alemany
--------------------------

Dr. James Bowen was extremely upset that John Garst tried to deceive the legislature, especially the day before the discussion and said, This is a brazen attempt to violate every due process procedure with respect to all scientific and legal hearings.. Dr. Garth's ambush is only an attempt to win against the health and welfare of the people of New Mexico, by unlawful and unscientific ambush and by utilizing brazen pseudo science lying.

He hopes to impress by using impressive Big Words from science! This is merely science trash I will mention one case of his falsity: abuse of science and scientific process. Dr. Garst says that the folate issue is one reason not to disturb the present commerce of aspartame. This causes a highly synergized form in human metabolism, obligatory: methanol to formaldehyde to formic acid to carbon monoxide toxic axis! Molecule for molecule, the deadly formic acid congener (formate) from aspartame metabolism consumes (molecule per molecule) one molecule of folic acid (folate) to eliminate the formate without creating subsequent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Aspartame has caused many years of folate iatrogenic deficiency, already causing many human illness epidemics, fetal deformities. When in l984 I called the FDA about this, because they had concurrent with their licensure of aspartame, abandoned their 50 year standard of folic acid ingestion by pregnant women (1 mg), leading to grievous fetal defects, they like Dr. Garst lied their way out saying: We have already checked all that out. There just aren't any problems at all. But neural tube, bladder defects and cardiac deformities escalated within our newborn population victimized by aspartame. Birth defects are a major epidemic caused by aspartame, with full protection and avid cooperation from the US FDA. James Bowen, M.D.

Mark Gold of the Aspartame Toxicity Center says this short document answers all of the aspartame industrys claims about aspartame and formaldehyde poisoning: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html

Dr. John Garst is a Ph.D and its obvious he knows he is publishing false information. His modus operandi is to use his credentials to deceive others because he cant debate true experts who can easily take apart his nonsense.

The New Mexico legislature has better sense to even consider Garst's claptrap. Aspartame manufacturers must sit up at night thinking of ways to deceive. Families all over the world have been destroyed by this poison causing male sexual dysfunction, cancer and diabetes and sudden death. Enough is enough. Aspartame must be banned from the planet to save the human race.

Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible International
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.wnho.net and http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center, http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame Information List, http://www.mpwhi.com
Aspartame Documentary: Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

WI-FI: Consumer Health and Safety Advice

The EMF Consultancy started compiling information on the health issues related to wireless exposure about 1994. I was very close behind, starting with direct health effects as observed in people who started asking me about "mystery symptoms" that doctors could not diagnose.

We suggest that the health effects have worsened as the expansion of wireless applications, and soon digital TV, have expanded.

We also have some grave concerns about another of Intel's proposals for wireless observations of your health, and more.

Intel Looks To Blanket The World With Self-Powered Sensors
The wireless identification and sensing platform, or WISP, could be used for measuring the environment or inserted into the human body to detect medical problems.

And we also appreciate this report from Sweden, where the use of mobile devices is perhaps one of the highest, identifying that mobile device radiation alters memory. Perhaps seniors might want to limit cell phone use or other wireless use as the concern about Alzheimer's increases.
Your best defense is certainly to get educated about how WI-FI and wireless applications are altering your life, your health, and perhaps your mind (as in control).

Important News Report on Aspartame Dangers

If you are not familiar with the extreme dangers of aspartame, this may help increase your awareness.

The focus of this article is of interest to me because I am in an area where the Cancer Care NW facility provides candy and chips to people taking chemo at their facility.

Aspartame and/or acesulfame K are in OTC products, the general pharmaceutical market place and many foods that are not considered sugar free at your market, even breads. Children's medications often contain aspartame, such as amoxicillin for example. Sucralose is used, even in combination with aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. Sucralose (Splenda) has its own range of problematic adverse reactions.

Safer alternatives are stevia, Just Like Sugar or agave.

How aspartame, sugar enhance onset of cancers
They are extremely sweet. They are used in making almost all processed foods and drinks, even children's medicines. But they may be doing more harm than good. Besides diabetes and obesity, several new studies have linked aspartame and sugar to various cancers. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Vitamin E Reduces Inflammation

but if you want to believe the recent junque science report reiterated from mainstream media in the AARP Bulletin, you are taking your life in your hands.

AARP is doing a grave dis-service to its members by allowing this biased reporting and yet failing to allow for opposing viewpoints that, like one comment on the report on the AARP Bulletin web site. This commenter begins by stating that all participants in the study had a 28.3 BMI and would be considered obese.

And if you read just the last part of this post you'll see AARP has it wrong. All they would have to do is to read the reports on E, C, Selenium and the Jupiter Study on Natural Health News. It's a simple thing to use our search function, and real data. You can even link to our reading site with more about vitamin E.

Or you can read what some other MDs have to say about these faulty studies here: Another push to get cholesterol levels ever lower, but let’s make sure it isn’t killing people first and here.

I'll still side against the cholesterol study and I'll side for vitamin E, C and selenium effectiveness.

Health Discoveries: Selenium, Vitamin E Don't Help After All
By Katharine Greider - December 1, 2008 - From the AARP Bulletin Today

Do vitamin E and selenium help prevent prostate cancer? The answer is no, according to findings from a major trial with 35,000 men. The SELECT study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and begun in 2001, was stopped early, in September, after finding no evidence of any benefit from either supplement.

The news disappointed many cancer experts, says Elise Cook, M.D., a study researcher and a cancer prevention specialist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But it provides important information about what doesn’t work. Cook says many men had been reluctant to join the study because they were already taking vitamin E for heart as well as prostate health. “Since then, other studies have shown that it really didn’t help their hearts, either,” she says.

and they also ran an instant replay of the much touted Jupiter study, falling for the drug company propaganda.

Health Discoveries: By Jupiter! Statins Cut Heart Disease
By Barbara Basler - December 1, 2008 - AARP Bulletin Today

Men and women in their 50s and 60s—with normal cholesterol levels—dramatically cut their risk of heart disease and stroke by taking a statin drug normally used only to lower cholesterol, a new study shows. Published in the Nov. 20 New England Journal of Medicine, the study, dubbed “Jupiter,” could change the basic guidelines for preventing heart disease.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston looked at nearly 18,000 people with no history of heart disease but who did have elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hs-CRP, as measured in blood tests. Compared with the group taking a placebo, those on the statin reduced their chances of a heart attack by 54 percent, stroke by 48 percent and the need for bypass surgery or angioplasty by 46 percent. Learn more about the study on bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth

The December, 2008 issue of the journal Experimental Physiology published the discovery of researchers at the University of Illinois of an anti-inflammatory effect for vitamin E in an animal model of inflammation.

Scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the role of inflammation in a number of diseases and conditions. Chronic inflammation of the skeletal muscles in humans is a cause of significant physical impairment. Antioxidants such as vitamin E have been shown to reduce proinflammatory cytokine expression in cell culture studies, but the vitamin's effects had not been tested in the heart and skeletal muscle of mice with induced systemic inflammation.

University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Kimberly Huey and colleagues administered vitamin E or a placebo to mice for three days before injecting the animals with a low dose of E. coli lipopolysaccharide to induce inflammation. A control group received saline injections.

The team found increased levels of the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) in the skeletal and cardiac muscle of mice that received lipopolysaccharide, yet among those that received vitamin E, levels of these cytokines were significantly lower than those of the placebo group. The cytokines function as intercellular communicators which assist in immune response, yet can lead to excessive inflammation. Additionally, the researchers observed decreased activation of nuclear factor kappa-beta (another agent involved in inflammation) in mice that received vitamin E.

“The mice were administered vitamin E for three days prior to giving them what amounts to a minor systemic bacterial infection,” Dr Huey explained. “One thing we did – in addition to (looking at) the cytokines – was to look, in the muscle, at the amount of oxidized proteins. Oxidation can be detrimental, and in muscle has been associated with reduced muscle strength.”

Dr Huey revealed that “there was a significant reduction in the amount of lipopolysaccharide-induced oxidized proteins with vitamin E compared to placebo.”

“So that’s a good thing,” she noted. “Potentially, if you reduce the oxidized proteins, that may correlate to increased muscle strength.”

In previous research conducted by team member Rodney Johnson, an association in mice between vitamin E supplementation and reduced brain inflammation was observed. Inflammation in the brain is associated with Alzheimer’s disease in humans.

Dr Huey concluded that vitamin E “may be beneficial in individuals with chronic inflammation, such as the elderly or patients with type II diabetes or chronic heart failure.”

“This is clearly an animal model so whether it would translate to humans still requires a lot more research,” she remarked. “Vitamin E is a supplement that is already approved, and these results may suggest an additional benefit of taking Vitamin E beyond what’s already been shown.”

And consider that Chronic Inflammation will respond well to vitamin E and some other natural substances as mentioned in this report -

In aged people with multiple degenerative diseases, the inflammatory marker, C-reactive protein, is often sharply elevated, indicating the presence of an underlying inflammatory disorder (Invitti 2002; Lee et al. 2002; Santoro et al. 2002; Sitzer et al. 2002). When a cytokine blood profile is conducted on people in a weakened condition, an excess level of one or more of the inflammatory cytokines, e.g., TNF-a, IL-6, IL-1(b), or IL-8, is usually found (Santoro et al. 2002).

Scientists have identified dietary supplements and prescription drugs that can reduce levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines. The docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) fraction of fish oil is the best documented supplement to suppress TNF-a, IL-6, IL-1(b), and IL-8 (Jeyarajah et al. 1999; James et al. 2000; Watanabe et al. 2000; Yano et al. 2000). A study on healthy humans and those with rheumatoid disease shows that fish oil suppresses these dangerous cytokines by up to 90% (James et al. 2000).

Other cytokine-lowering supplements are DHEA (Casson et al. 1993), vitamin K (Reddi et al. 1995; Weber 1997), GLA (gamma linolenic acid) (Purasiri et al. 1994), and nettle leaf extract (Teucher et al. 1996). Antioxidants, such as vitamin E (Devaraj et al. 2000) and N-acetyl-cysteine (Gosset et al. 1999), may also lower proinflammatory cytokines and protect against their toxic effects.

Blackberry Thumb

Don't despair, help is available, surgery may be avoided.

This was originally posted back in May 2008. We overlooked what the "help" is.

It happens to be our ADVENTURX product, originally developed for xtreme sports.

All skiers and snowboarders - now that its winter in the north, don't forget your bottle, now 2-4-1 through 12/31.

Young doctors still too tired for safety

It is unfortunate that this same evaluation process is not undertaken in the group of professional nurses, because in many specialties this pressure of long hours and inadequate sleep plagues them as well.

It is also worth considering that the constitution of young people is lessening when compared to those completing residency in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

It is also a concern when you consider that some patients may require extensive surgeries taking eight or more hours.

Maybe the next time you are in hospital you'd best remember to ask the doctor what hour it is in his work schedule. If it is hour 29, then perhaps you need a replacement.

And if you are a young doctor dealing with fatigue, ADVENTURX just might help you along with a healthier approach to nutrition and some supplement support.

WASHINGTON – Doctors-in-training are still too exhausted, says a new report that calls on hospitals to let them have a nap. Regulations that capped the working hours of bleary-eyed young doctors came just five years ago, limiting them to about 80 hours a week.

Tuesday, the prestigious Institute of Medicine recommended easing the workload a bit more: Anyone working the maximum 30-hour shift should get an uninterrupted five-hour break for sleep after 16 hours.

At issue is how to balance patient safety with the education of roughly 100,000 medical residents, doctors fresh out of medical school who spend the next three to seven years in on-the-job training for their specialty. The long hours are in some ways a badge of the profession; doctors can't simply clock out if a patient is in danger.

But sleep deprivation fogs the brain, a problem that can lead to serious medical mistakes. So in 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education issued the first caps. Before then, residents in some specialties could average 110 hours a week.

The government asked the IOM to study the current caps. Violations of current limits are common and residents seldom complain, the committee found. While quality of life has improved, there's still a lot of burnout.

And despite one study that found residents made more errors while working longer shifts, patient safety depends on so many factors that it's impossible to tell yet if the caps helped that problem, the report said.

So it also recommends:

_Experienced physicians should more closely supervise residents.

_Better overlap of schedules during shift changes to reduce chances for error as one doctor hands patients' care over to the next.

_Increase mandatory days off each month, and extend hours off between shifts depending on how long the resident worked, during day or night.

The accreditation council didn't immediately say if it would follow the recommendations.

- from the Associated Press

Acupuncture is healing

The key sentence in this study is the benefit that derives from the "increased care the treatment entails" and that patients could converse with the practitioners, that they were touched, and they had extra time for rest and relaxation.

It would seem to me that someone would pick up on the fact that these positive benefits ease the too often overlooked mental, emotional and spiritual components of health.

So, like I said when a graduate student, people in recovery should focus on Step 12 because if they did all of the other steps would be resolved, perhaps if our health care focus was beyond the physical plane, healing would be speedy and effective.

Acupuncture Just As Effective Without Needle Puncture, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (2008-12-01) -- Acupuncture works - but it works equally well with or without needle penetration. This conclusion can be drawn from a treatment study involving cancer patients suffering from nausea during radiotherapy. ... > read full article

Talking and Driving Proven to be Distracting, Again

Washington state happens to one of the most regulated states in the US. I know because I have live in Washington for thirty years, with a short traverse to Idaho in 2002.

In addition to being highly regulated, and oppressive, with a bureaucracy not serving the citizens, it believes that it is progressive in its efforts to curb the danger of talking and driving by requiring hands free contraptions.

This isn't even an established public safety matter as older studies have definitely shown that cell phone use while driving - hands free of other wise - is the cause of a high rate of vehicular accidents.

Maybe if Mrs. Gregoire wasn't so intent on protecting the bureaucracy she would demand better outcome from the state agencies with the emphasis on truly serving the public.

Drivers Distracted More By Cell Phones Than By Passengers

ScienceDaily (2008-12-01) -- Drivers are far more distracted by talking on a cellular phone than by conversing with a passenger in an automobile, according to a new study. The study, which used a sophisticated driving simulator, found that when drivers talk on a cell phone, they drift out of their lanes and missed exits more frequently than drivers conversing with a passenger. Passengers react to traffic, unlike a person at the other end of a cell phone conversation. ... > read full article