June 2008 Health in the News Archive

[ Monthly Index of New Briefs ]

It is interesting to note that the American Dental Association however is still standing firm, saying amalgam is: "a safe, affordable and durable material that has been used in the teeth of more than 100 million Americans." And since the FDA is not restricting the use of amalgam, dentists' offices are not prohibited from using amalgam fillings.

This should have been a no-brainer. We do not need mercury, one of the most lethal metals on earth, in our mouths. Many feel that the federal agency charged with the responsibility of safe guarding the health and welfare of the American public shirked that duty. The FDA's change in policy came after a tremendous amount of advocacy – petitions, Congressional hearings, Scientific Advisory Committee hearings, support letters, and finally, a class action lawsuit.

There has been a lot of PR spin against the benefits of vitamins; it's good to see someone finally producing objective research that shows what we have all known for years. Of course vitamins are good for you, that is why Mother Nature's real food is chock full of them. It is encouraging to see that genetic defects have the potential to be corrected with appropriate supplementation.

We know that what you eat and are exposed to today will affect the DNA you pass down to you children and your grandchildren. To see how the whole science of inheritance is being turned on its head, check out this BBC-produced documentary called The Ghost In Your Genes.

This is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the maneuverings of the pharmaceutical industry to create an ever widening market for drugs in the United States. They are planting the idea that to quit smoking, you need prescription drugs and those should be paid for by health insurance because smoking is a chronic illness like diabetes.

The authors of this article declared conflicts of interest with the drug companies Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Celtic Pharma.

Does "long-term cessation medications" mean that people will essentially transfer their addiction from the tobacco companies to the pharmaceutical industry? Studies have shown that existing medicinal nicotine substitutes are far from harmless. Buproprion, a common nicotine substitute, has been known to cause seizures. And the substitute varenceline has been linked to psychiatric disturbances including suicides.

When the FDA's advisory panels are filled with conflicts of interest, filled with people who have various ties with the industry, the agency cannot expect to operate in the public interest.

We've seen prior problems with tomatoes, we've had the e. coli scare in the spinach field, we've had to recall tons of beef…. The food is recalled, or we are told to cook it longer. But no where is there a call to change industry farming methods which encourage the growth of e. coli and salmonella.

This voices of dissatisfaction with the FDA's mission to protect the public has moved beyond advocacy groups now to the mainstream media. It will be interesting to see how the next presidential administration handles this hot potato.

After WWII ended, the American military was curious to find out why the Japanese field rations tasted so much better. Turned out the secret ingredient was MSG, and that began the large-scale use of it in the United States. MSG makes our brain declare that food tastes really, really good and that we want more of it, regardless of nutritive value.

MSG simulates umami, one of the five basic tastes which the human tongue can recognize and appreciate. Specifically, umami is the taste associated with savoriness, as found in foods such as meat, cheese, tomatoes, and mushrooms. These foods contain naturally formed glutamates, which is what gives them that savory taste. Unfortunately, MSG, like aspartame, is also toxic to the brain.

MSG can be used without disclosure - you won't find it find it listed on the label. Instead, it might be called one of perhaps 50 names including hydrolyzed protein, soy protein, maltodextrin, or natural flavor. It might be in the milk solids in low fat milk. MSG is found in most soups, salad dressings, processed meats, frozen entrees, ice cream, and frozen yogurt, in some crackers, bread, canned tuna, and very often in "low fat" and "no fat" foods to make up for flavor lost when fat is reduced or eliminated. It can be found in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements and infant formula. It is found in vaccines -- including vaccines used on children. It can be used in waxes applied to fresh fruits and vegetables and it sprayed on vegetable crops and nuts in the fields. California wine grapes are sprayed with MSG.

You can read the petition at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=FDA-2007-P-0178. You can also read Neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock's book entitled, "Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills."

The future has arrived. At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine we evaluate brain function as well as body function, through our BrainAdvantage™ program, and prescribe a program which will help improve memory, judgment and metabolism – all in one location. You no longer have to go to a traditional doctor for blood work, a holistic doctor or naturopath to look at functional tests, and a neuropsychologist to work with your brain. Now you can do it all at the same time, in the same place. Please call us for more information.

It is always a good thing to test myths. So now we know, at least from this one study, that we see similar cognitive decline in people with coronary artery disease, both in those who had surgery (bypass grafts) and in those who did not. So, the questions then become: If "the disease itself is the basis for cognitive decline," are the medications at fault? There is much antidotal evidence that statin drugs for example cause cognitive problems and they are often prescribed to those with "high cholesterol" who are said to be at risk for heart disease. What are the side effects of the drugs given for diabetes and high blood pressure? Is memory loss just a normal part of aging? The study does not appear to address any sort of nutritional or lifestyle alternation, which could have a significant effect on the outcome, even after heart disease has become manifest. The most effective treatment of any chronic illness is modification of nutrition and lifestyle. The Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine offers FirstLine Therapy to help you make the nutritional and lifestyle changes, and we can treat the brain function itself with our BrainAdvantage™ program.

Despite the amount of sun that we see in Arizona, about 98% of my patients have vitamin D levels which are far below the levels recommended by the Vitamin D council. About 5% have levels below the reference range in lab tests – which are the levels required to prevent rickets. About 20 minutes of exposure to the sun each day, in a skimpy bathing suit, without sunscreen, will help the body manufacture close to 20,000 IU of Vitamin D. Or you can take a pill… or a drop. Does too much sunshine cause skin cancer? Read up on it in our library article, "Skin Cancer, Sunshine, and Vitamin D." As more information like this breaks into the mainstream media, the day will come when we retire the mantra "stay out of the sun – it will give you cancer" just as we tossed out the advice from "experts" a decade ago that a high carbohydrate diet was the way to go. Vitamin D is good for us; we need more of it.