DocAltMed

Fact #1

Remember, it’s not all about calcium.
A new study suggests that neutralizing an acid-producing diet may be an important key to reducing bone breakdown while aging. Fruits and vegetables are metabolized to bicarbonate and thus are alkali-producing. But the typical American diet is rich in protein and cereal grains that are metabolized to acid, and thus are acid-producing. With aging, such diets lead to a mild but slowly increasing metabolic acidosis which can then lead to bone loss.

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake can help reduce metabolic acidosis and thus decrease the rate of related bone breakdown.

Fact #2

“Honey, let me call you back on a land line. That annoying oxidative stress in my brain is acting up again.”

Ginkgo Biloba has been shown to prevent oxidative stress in brain tissue caused by mobile phone use. Also, Ginkgo biloba prevented mobile phone induced cellular injury in brain tissue histopathologically.

Fact #3

If I was stuck on a deserted island and had to take only one vitamin with me, this would be the one.
Women who have insufficient levels of vitamin D during their pregnancy may negatively impact a genetic variant in their offspring that increases the risk of multiple sclerosis.

Researchers found that proteins in the body activated by vitamin D bind to a DNA sequence next to the DRB1*1501 variant on chromosome 6. DRB1*1501 is a variant which increases the risk of MS to 1 in 300 in those who carry a single copy and 1 in 100 in those carrying 2 copies, in contrast to a risk of 1 in 1000 in the rest of the population. The team believes that a mother’s vitamin D deficiency could alter the expression of DRB1*1501 in their children.

Fact #4

A guy walks past a mental hospital and hears a moaning voice ” … 13 … 13 … 13 … “.

The man looks over to the hospital and sees a hole in the wall. He looks through the hole and gets poked in the eye. The moaning voice then groaned ” … 14 … 14 … 14 … “.

Researchers have discovered that a form of vitamin B1 could become a new and effective treatment for one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.

Scientists believe that uveitis, an inflammation of the tissue located just below the outer surface of the eyeball, produces 10 to 15 percent of all cases of blindness in the United States, and causes even higher rates of blindness globally. The inflammation is normally treated with antibiotics or steroid eye drops.

“Benfotiamene strongly suppresses this eye-damaging condition and the biochemical markers we associate with it,” said UTMB associate professor Kota V. Ramana, senior author of the study. “We’re optimistic that this simple supplementation with vitamin B1 has great potential as a new therapy for this widespread eye disease.”

Fact #5

What do you do when a pig has a heart attack?
You call a hambulance!

People who have had heart attacks are likely to have been in traffic right before their symptoms started, according to new research.

“Driving or riding in heavy traffic poses an additional risk of eliciting a heart attack in persons already at elevated risk,” said Annette Peters, Ph.D., lead author of the study and head of the research unit at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen, Germany. “In this study, underlying vulnerable coronary artery disease increased the risk of having a heart attack after driving in traffic.”

If you ask me, that’s just another reason to cycle instead of drive.

When I took my all-to-brief holiday in Scotland last year, I was impressed by the lack of overweight people in that country — and likewise taken aback upon my return to the the Super-Sized U.S.

Now there is some data that helps to explain why, as a nation, we have become so…ample. It seems that we’ve been happily goosing up the calories in what constitutes a serving.

For example…

Two slices of pizza in 1989 was worth about 500 calories. In 2009, those same two slices are worth 850 calories.

And I’m old enough to remember the original 8-ounce bottle of soda, which contained only 97 calories. Today’s standard 20-ounce size bubbles up to a full 242 calories.

Just for good measure (so to speak), let’s tack on a nice “personal” size bag of chips for another 300 calories…

…and there’s your lunch, at 1,400 calories. Just a little less than 1/2 of (what should be) your entire daily intake.

In my next post, I’ll talk about how you can escape the super-size trap.

Holy cow! Is it that time already?

Fact #1

Mastic is fantastic for H. pylori!

A recent study evaluated the antibacterial activity of mastic gum, a resin obtained from the Pistacia lentiscus tree, against clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori. The minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) were obtained by a microdilution assay. Mastic gum killed 50% of the strains tested at a concentration of 125 microg/ml and 90% at a concentration of 500 microg/ml. The influence of sub-MBCs of mastic gum on the morphologies of H. pylori was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. The lentiscus resin induced blebbing, morphological abnormalities and cellular fragmentation in H. pylori cells.

Fact #2

An ajoene -ajoene situation…a myriad of potential health benefits from garlic’s most active compound.

Garlic has been viewed for its health benefits for thousands of years, and recently science has begun to show why.

According to Dr. Eric Block, leading expert in garlic sulfur compounds, ajoene (pronounced ah-hoe-ene) and dithiins are the most active compounds formed from fresh garlic. Broad research speaks to the potential medical benefits of ajoenes. Since the discovery and identification of ajoene in 1984, there have been many studies that have demonstrated its activity on bacteria, lipids, fungus, cholesterol,viruses, inflammation, parasites, tumors, and blood clots and platelets.

Fact #3

Vitamins K1 and K2 are neck and neck.

Japanese scientists, led by Jun Iwamoto from Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, reviewed seven randomized clinical trials for vitamin K1 and K2 in relation to bone health in post-menopausal women.

“Despite the lack of a significant change or the occurrence of only a modest increase in bone mineral density, high-dose vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 supplementation improved indices of bone strength in the femoral neck and reduced the incidence of clinical fractures,” wrote the researchers in Nutrition Research.

Fact #4

For immunity boosting…think zinc!

Zinc plays an important role in immune function. Researchers at Tufts University set out to determine whether serum zinc concentrations in nursing home elderly are associated with the incidence and duration of pneumonia, total and duration of antibiotic use, and both pneumonia-associated and all-cause mortality.Outcome measures included the incidence and number of days with pneumonia, number of new antibiotic prescriptions, days of antibiotic use, death due to pneumonia, and all-cause mortality.

Compared with subjects with low zinc concentrations, subjects with normal final serum zinc concentrations had a lower incidence of pneumonia, fewer (by almost 50%) new antibiotic prescriptions, a shorter duration of pneumonia, and fewer days of antibiotic use. Zinc supplementation to maintain normal serum zinc concentrations in the elderly may help reduce the incidence of pneumonia and associated morbidity.

Fact #5

Test, test, test — calling you.

Insufficient and deficient levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome by 52 percent, according to a joint Anglo-Chinese study.

According to findings published in Diabetes Care, a study with 3,262 Chinese people aged between 50 and 70 showed that 94 percent were vitamin D deficient or insufficient, and 42 percent of these people also had metabolic syndrome. Vitamin D deficiency is becoming a major concern among the elderly.

For information about how to check your Vitamin D levels, click here.

Welcome to a Brand Spankin’ New Feature of DocAltMed.

Every Friday, I will be publishing the Friday Fun Facts, which summarizes research in the field of alternative medicine.

I’m doing this to remind you that you *don’t* need drugs to be healthy. All you need is the desire to be healthy and a doctor who knows how to help you.

I know this isn’t nearly as much fun as David Letterman’s top 10, but he’s pretty much jumped the shark anyway. Without further ado…

Fact #1

This root may get to the root of the problem.

Curcumin, the major polyphenol found in turmeric, appears to reduce weight gain and suppress the growth of fat tissue in mice and cell models.

“Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis.” said senior author Mohsen Meydani, DVM, PhD, director of the Vascular Biology Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA. “Based on our data, curcumin appears to suppress angiogenic activity in the fat tissue of mice fed high fat diets.”

Fact #2

Magnesium is magnificent for high blood pressure.

Supplemental magnesium may reduce blood pressure in people with high blood pressure, but with seemingly normal magnesium levels, says a new study. On the other hand, the supplements had no effect on the blood pressure measurements of normo-tensive individuals, according to findings. “These findings suggest that magnesium supplementation may help prevent the progression of hypertension in normo-magnesemic non-diabetic overweight people with higher BP, although mechanisms of counter-regulation preventing further BP increase remain to be elucidated,” wrote the researchers.

Fact #3

This may make pork chops out of the swine flu.

There is compelling epidemiological evidence that indicates that because of vitamin D’s seasonal and population effects on innate immunity, vitamin D deficiency may explain influenza’s seasonality.

In 1992, Hope-Simpson predicted that, “understanding the mechanism (of the seasonal stimulus) may be of critical value in designing prophylaxis against the disease.” Twenty-five years later, Aloia and Li-Ng found 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day abolished the seasonality of influenza and dramatically reduced its self-reported incidence.

Fact #4

Again, exercise to the rescue.

A home-based diet and exercise program reduced the rate of functional decline among older, overweight long-term survivors of colorectal, breast and prostate cancer, according to a new study.

“In conclusion, this study provides data on a long overlooked, yet important faction in older long-term cancer survivors. Long-term survivors of colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer participating in a diet and exercise intervention reduced the rate of self-reported physical function decline in comparison with a group receiving no intervention,” the researchers write.

Dilbert is often funny in it’s truthfulness:

But it’s true. All too often, people seek the natural remedies far too late. While there is wisdom in the adage “better late than never,”  there is a point at which a pathology overcomes the body’s self-correcting mechanisms. And then, indeed, it is too late for broccoli.

After 23 people reported side-effects, the FDA has forced a recall, and is recommending that people stop taking, some Hydroxycut products because of reported liver damage.

Far be it from me to question the wisdom of the FDA (ahem)…but has anyone considered the fact that most people who use Hydroxycut are body builders, and that a great number of bodybuilders also take illegal steroids, and steroids also cause liver damage?

I think it is far more likely that Hydroxycut is being blamed for liver damage being caused by simultaneous illicit steroid use that nobody wants to fess up to.

Intelligent analysis suggests that we regard this as just more nutritional fear-mongering being served up by a government agency far more invested in the health of the pharmaceutical companies than it is in yours or mine.

While the following information doesn’t fall into the overall theme of this blog, I hope that my faithful readers (all four of you) will forgive me for the following post:

LITCHFIELD, CT – Youth archer Shayna Jenkins opened up the indoor archery season with a decisive win in her division at the Connecticut Fall Classic archery tournament, held at the UConn campus in Stoors, CT this weekend.

Jenkins scored 507 points out of a possible 600 in the 60-arrow tournament, besting her closest rival by 17 points.

Her score was also the highest for any female competitor using standard Olympic bows, regardless of age or division. In addition to individual entrants from throughout the region, the tournament included teams from UConn, Wellesley, and Brandeis universities.

This win brings Jenkins’ winning streak into the indoor season. This summer, Jenkins scored a hat trick, capturing the state championships in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

MONDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) — The popular bone-building medications known as bisphosphonates may have a rare, but serious, cardiac side effect.

A review of available research concludes that these medications may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation — an erratic heart rhythm that can lead to blood clots that may cause heart attacks or strokes.

“In addition to possible gastrointestinal side effects, bisphosphonates can have possible cardiac side effects. For serious cases of atrial fibrillation, there was a significant increase in risk — about 68 percent,” said review lead author Dr. Jennifer Miranda, an internal medicine resident at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

———————————–
I’ve been saying this for several years now, but Fosamax and its ilk are not the answer to osteoporosis. This is just one of several health problems caused by bisphosphates (not the least of which is that this drug causes bone erosion while it supposedly helps your body “create healthy bone.”

If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia, do yourself a favor and call me to find out how you can preserve bone health without giving yourself a heart attack.

And don’t forget to stop by for my lecture on Wednesday night. No free food, but I promise to have loads of great information and some new jokes. Honest. I’ve been practicing in front of the mirror, I’m really funny.

While doing some research for my upcoming seminar, “Your Prescription May Be Your Problem,” I came across this interesting tidbit…

“During the period from 1989 to 1997 the vaccination rate for elderly persons 65 years of age in the US increased from 30 to 67%. Despite this increase in coverage, mortality and hospitalization rates continued to increase rather than decline as would be expected if the vaccine were optimally efficacious.”– from the International Journal of Epidemiology

In other words, an analysis of nearly 10 years’ of data reveals that what the public health experts have been telling us is simply not true. The fact of the matter is that the influenza virus does little to prevent the flu.

You’ll get more about this — and some other revealing research — by attending my seminar.

This is an open invitation to attend my fall seminar.

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
Litchfield Community Center
Reservations and directions: call (860) 567-5727

Drugs for this problem, drugs for that problem…if you would believe the advertising, there really is “a pill for every ill.”

Unfortunately, drug advertising, like all other advertising, is a fantasy. In fact, there is a gathering body of research evidence which shows that prescription drugs cause as many problems as they solve. Certainly, for some disorders, especially acute problems, drugs are necessary. But chronic disorders are another matter entirely. From painkillers to hormone replacements to the drugs that were supposed to “cure” osteoporosis, and which have now been shown to cause bone erosion (!), the drug-based approach to chronic health problems has been proven to be both dangerous and largely ineffective.

There is a different way. A different approach to chronic disease which replaces drug dependence with self-reliance and instead of side effects offers positive effects.

At this upcoming seminar, I will show you the research that tells us:

• What are the most dangerous common prescription drugs.
• Which class of over-the-counter drugs is the leading cause of emergency room admissions.
• How you can evaluate your drug-related risk.
• What are the most common disorders, including leading causes of mortality, that can be better managed without drugs.

 But most importantly, I will show you that there are cost-effective, safe alternatives to a drug-based approach to health. These alternatives are science-based, proven by research, and have been clinically validated.

This seminar is absolutely free! Please set aside the time to attend. Space is limited, so make sure to call (860)567-5727 and tell Teresa that you are coming.  Or send me an email and let me know how many seats you need to reserve. And don’t hesitate to recommend this lecture to your friends. It will be a fun, interesting, educational time.

I am looking forward to seeing you!