August 2009 Health in the News Archive

[ Monthly Index of New Briefs ]

The brain may not be fooled by sugar substitutes

This goes a long way toward explaining an experience I had many years ago. I had been drinking lots of diet sodas (before I knew better). Then I ate 6 donuts at one sitting and said to myself: "Something is drastically wrong here." I realized that my body was not happy with the diet sodas, and was telling me so. Now I know what the problem was. My brain was not happy with the lack of actual sweetness, even though it had the perception of sweetness. It's kind of like counterfeit money – looks like money, but doesn't cut the muster when you actually go to buy something. Of course, counterfeit money doesn't actually poison you, the way many of the artificial sweeteners do. You'd be safer eating the counterfeit money and spending the chemicals. So if we eat artificial sweeteners, it's no wonder that we weigh more. Our brains are doing their best to get real nourishment (glucose, not aspartame) by telling us we need to eat more real food.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are more of a threat than Swine Flu

Great perspective – until you get to this sentence: "The pharmaceutical industry should also be encouraged to develop new antibiotics to fight resistant bacteria."

What's that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. One of the great mistakes of medicine was the assumption that bugs are not intelligent. No matter what we throw at them, the bugs adapt and too often become superbugs in the process. Public education campaigns are valuable, but we must also change our mindset that we are at war with our bodies, and that an antibiotic or vaccine is the fix.

The New York Times reported in January that "Last winter, about 11 percent of the throat swabs from patients with the most common type of flu that were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for genetic typing showed a Tamiflu-resistant strain. This season, 99 percent do."

And let's not forget that more than half the antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to industrial farm animals to promote weight gain and compensate for unsanitary conditions. As Dr. Frederick J. Angulo of the CDC said, "There is scientific consensus that antibiotic use in food animals contributes to resistance in humans." We are awash in antibiotics.

A report to the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1921 documented the dramatic success of homeopathy in the worst flu pandemic in history. The death rate of 24,000 flu cases under conventional medical care in that study was 28.2 percent, while the death rate of 26,000 cases treated with homeopathy was a nearly miraculous 1.05 percent. Similarly, many homeopathic physicians each reported treating thousands of patients with very few deaths. Homeopathy recognizes the body's innate wisdom and respects its ability to heal itself.

At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, we use homeopathy. We also make use of high quality silver – a time-honored antibiotic. Influenza is a virus and immensely susceptible to vitamin C – we administer therapeutic doses intravenously to which we can add glutathione, the body's own antioxidant, immune system booster, and detoxifier. We can also clean the blood of viruses, fungi and more with UV light. We can add ozone to oxidize (kill) the molecules in the shell of the virus. You have many effective options available to you that come without side effects.

Soda Pop declines, specialty waters more popular, and obesity soars

In this past year, the obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states, according to a new report from the Trust for American's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In January 2009, the Coca-Cola Company was served notice of a class-action lawsuit filed by the Center for Science in Public Interest (CSPI) for alleged deceptive and unsubstantiated claims on its Vitaminwater line of beverages. CSPI Litigation Director Steve Gardner said, "Coke fears, probably correctly, that they'll sell less soda as Americans become increasingly concerned with obesity, diabetes and other conditions linked to diets too high in sugar. Vitaminwater is Coke's attempt to dress up soda in a physician's white coat. Underneath, its still sugar water, albeit sugar water that costs about 10 bucks a gallon."

So don't be fooled. These alternatives to soda, marketed as healthy looking drinks, are anything but. Have a club soda – no sugar, no caffeine in that one – and squeeze in some fruit.

FDA warns TNF blockers may increase cancer risk in children, teens

This would be a perfect example of medicine which is not "green" or sustainable. We have all good intentions when we try to suppress inflammation, since inflammation causes pain and deformity – particularly when associated with what we diagnose as "juvenile rheumatoid arthritis" or "ulcerative colitis". What parent would not like to see their child out of pain?

The problem is that the body's inflammation is really a cry for help. The pain and inflammation are a response, and a natural consequence, of some transgression – usually dietary, but sometimes chemical – which could be avoided, if we just figured out what was causing the inflammation in the first place. The literature is full of papers associating various treatable inflammatory conditions associated with rheumatoid arthritis: gut inflammation[1], food intolerance[2], chronic infections like klebsiella or mycoplasma[3], insufficient or imbalanced essential fatty acids[4].

Allopathic medicine looks at the "diagnosis" and the symptoms of inflammation and tissue destruction, using pharmaceutical medication which indeed suppresses inflammation, but ultimately leading to chronic infections and tumors because of excessive suppression of inflammation. Green medicine looks at the cause of the inflammation and removes the cause, so that we do not have to deal with the "side effects" of suppression.

Study says Thimerosal Induces Autism-Like Neurotoxicity

The mountain of evidence against injecting mercury is growing. This study confirms that damage does occur in human nerve cells and cells of the embryo – the baby in the womb. Thimerosal is 49.6 percent ethylmercury. It is well established that mercury exposure causes immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions - all similar to traits defining, or associated with, autism. The debate ranges whether vaccines containing mercury are a direct cause of autism, or, more likely, just the straw that breaks the camel's back in some cases.

Your genetic makeup determines how well you can excrete mercury. Some people are able to excrete newly ingested mercury in 40 days whereas others require 160 days. The longer it hangs around, the more damage it can do. And of course we are exposed to mercury regularly from coal-burning power plants, cement plants, mining fish, fluorescent light bulbs, pesticides, and dental mercury amalgams – that's the short list. Mercury, when it combines with lead, creates a synergistic effect that is much worse than either one alone. Some homeopathic physicians feel that mercury holds a special place in the world of toxins because it is especially able to fuel the growth of pathogens.

Unfortunately, the vaccine in the works for Swine Flu will contain thimerosal.

Parents wary of swine flu vaccine

The last mass vaccination against swine flu, in 1976, was marred by reports of a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome. Many people find it disquieting to read that the swine flu shot is being "fast-tracked" through the normal safety testing. Others are concerned about yet another dose of the neurotoxin, mercury.

Ginger Taylor, creator of the Adventures in Autism blog, puts it this way:
"Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury or death and those risks are greater for some than others. 1 in 6 children in America is learning disabled, 1 in 9 has asthma, 1 in 150 develops autism, 1 in 450 has diabetes, and millions more suffer with allergies and autoimmune disorders. Will the swine flu vaccine be safe for them? Although it is a good idea for health officials to prepare for a worst case scenario and stockpile vaccines, it is a bad idea to turn schools into medical clinics and basically test experimental swine flu vaccines on children first. Especially when nobody has any liability."

Taylor, among others, makes the point that, so far, swine flu in the US has been surprisingly mild. In fact, it's milder than many other strains of flu.

Seasonal flu shots are vigorously promoted each year, but the science suggests they simply don't work very well. Many people come down with the flu shortly after receiving the shot. How does that happen? Because it weakens the immune system, making you more predisposed to the illness.

Get ready for a confusing fall: The regular winter flu is expected to make its usual rounds at the same time swine flu spreads. Those in favor of flu shots will need take two separate vaccinations.

At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, we make use of ultraviolet light to clean the blood of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. We can add ozone to oxidize (kill) the molecules in the shell of the virus. We also make use of vitamin C drips – therapeutic doses flush out viruses. Another option is high-grade colloidal silver – it's renowned germicidal abilities come without the downsides of prescription antibiotics. ACS 200® demonstrates a much broader pathogen kill spectrum than traditional prescription antibiotics, antifungal, or antiviral preparations without damaging human tissue or wiping out good intestinal flora. ACS 200 is proven to kill MRSA in less than 3 minutes.

"Lyme Rage" and a hearing in Washington draw attention to Lyme disease

The July 30th hearings were the first time in U.S. history that a state attorney general took on a medical society. This was simply unprecedented. After the hearing, Blumenthal said, ""This hearing accomplished a key goal - compelling a fair and full discussion, free of conflicts of interest by panelists, so that all scientific facts and perspectives are considered before medical guidelines are established. Whatever the outcome of today's hearing, the bar has been raised for the IDSA and other medical associations in their development of clinical practice guidelines. Medical practice guidelines are too integral and important to be developed without a rigorous conflicts-free process."

The panel will now assess all information to determine whether the existing guidelines should be maintained, modified or entirely rewritten. The panel expects to complete their review by the end of the year.

This is a move in the right direction, because the debate about chronic Lyme disease has been too fraught with politics. Medical guidelines have profoundly powerful consequences for countless lives, driving doctors' treatment decisions and insurance company coverage determinations. Lyme is now the fastest growing infectious disease, faster than AIDS.

Chronic stress may rewire our brains to act out of habit and ignore changes

No wonder we find that we just "can't get out of the rut". No wonder those who are abused and ill-treated keep going back to their abuser. Habit is the only thing they have going for them. The ability to see and make other choices, other decisions, has been altered structurally in the brain. Only by creating new habits – or by structurally altering that neural circuitry – is it possible to get out of the "same old same old" and into new pathways. Neurotherapy can help. Check out the information in the BrainAdvantage article and on the BrainAdvantage website.

Americans spend about $34 billion annually on CAM

One of the many concerns about the coming federal health care "reform" is the concept of testing various modalities as to what works, and thus, what should be covered by insurance. A valid concern is that the process will be intensely political because of fierce competition and influence from the pharmaceutical industry to maintain the profitable disease management paradigm.

Conventional medicine's approach to determining what works is often the use of double-blind, placebo studies. That's good for comparing one prescription pill against another, yet it is impossible to design a double blind trial with acupuncture and manual therapies, for example. It is hard to identify 'placebo' points in acupuncture and 'placebo' treatment in manual therapies. It also raises ethical questions. A double-blind, placebo approach to the use of chelation for heart disease found few CAM practitioners willing to submit heart disease patients for the placebo portion of the study.

Clinical trials are much better suited for a number of CAM modalities. Each trial follows a written protocol, a detailed plan that explains why the study is needed, what it is intended to do, and how it will be conducted. Clinical trials include Prevention Trials which study ways to reduce the chance that people who are healthy now, but at risk for a disease, will actually develop the disease. Clinical trials also include Early Detection or Screening Trials which study new ways of finding diseases or conditions before they produce signs or symptoms. Although the word "prevention" is bandied about, we aren't hearing about clinical trials in the health care reform discussion.

CAM – some call it Integrated Medicine – offers a much bigger and less destructive toolbox than conventional medicine's reliance on drugs and surgery. That is why the public is voting with its feet and using more CAM. The public consciousness is changing; people are beginning to see that the paradigm of disease management is very different from the more integrative approach with a focus on prevention and health creation.

Study of genetically modified foods causing allergies

This study represents a milestone. It is the first time the FDA is acknowledging that there may be a connection to GM foods and the rapidly rising rates of allergies.

Many GM foods are designed to produce pesticides. We, in turn, eat those genetically added pesticides and take them into our bodies. Official U.S. government policy claims that the foods are no different and, most importantly, do not require safety testing.

In May this year, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. The AAEM, of which I am a member, called upon "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks." The AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.

When you put foods with pesticides in the human gut, what happens? Many homeopathic physicians are seeing what we think is evidence that GM foods are damaging the walls of the intestines, breaking apart the integrity of the gut, modifying the intestinal flora, and that is why we see so many cases of leaky gut and allergies.

The gut, or the intestines, is where the bulk of the immune system resides. If GM foods are causing having in the gut, the subsequent damage to the immune system would likely open the door to long term chronic illnesses – the number one burden on the health care system in America.