To all my readers, have a very Merry Christmas and Holliday Season. May it be filled with joy and peace.
Monthly Archives: December 2007
A Crayhonism – Robert Crayhon Word of Wisdom
Robert Crayhon, a noted clinical nutritionist, author and lecturer, was with me at the latest A4M meeting (anti-aging medicine) in Las Vegas and he, as he is want to do, had a profound statement about health and diet that I want to share with my readers. His comment was as follows:
“Biochemical individuality is the royal flush in the poker game of health. The Paleolithic/No-Grains diet may be the full house of 4-of-a-kind.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
CME’s – The Pharmaceutical Industries Way to Get at your Doctor
CME’s, aka Continuing Medical Education credits, is supposedly the way to make sure your physician is keeping up with the latest in medicine. Instead, it is the way that the pharmaceutical industry is using this tool as a way of “reallocation of marketing money” according to Dr. Jerome Kassierer former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the November 22nd issue of the esteemed science journal Nature, reporter Jim Giles show how drug companies who “sponsor” the CME classes, are getting undue influence over the speakers and topics despite supposed firewalls put in to prevent this. All of the drug companies are up in arms over the research presented by Drs. Jatinder Takhar and Daniel Carlat in separate papers.
The suggestion made in the article that drug companies should pool their CME support money for distribution by an independent body to reduce corporate influence. This would be a good first step.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is the influence these multi-billion dollar companies have in our medical schools. It is my understanding that representitives from these companies continue to infiltrate medical schools influencing the educational process undertaken by the students. This kind of bias building is wrong and needs legislative pressure to come to bear to stop it.
Perchlorates and Iodine – Another Reason to Ban this Substance
Turns out that the molecular pump that drives iodine also does the same to the toxic chemical perchlorate. Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, led by Dr. Nancy Carrasco, found that perchlorate does double damage to lactating mothers and their babies because the chemical depletes the child of much needed iodine.
This finding is proof that perchlorates (found in jet engine fuel) is more dangerous than the industry admits. Isn’t that how it always works?
Since perchlorate is unavoidable, it is yet another reason to make sure you get adequate amounts of iodine in your diet or at least take a supplement (75 mcg should do for healthy people). Better yet, get tested. Doctor’s Data has a great iodine challenge test that everyone should get at least once every five years.
Dr. Emily Senay Continues a Myth on CBS’s Early Show
It just agravates me to no end when television personalities makes statements that perpetrate myths and do it with a straight face. This morning, on a bit about probiotics, Dr. Emily Senay of the CBS Early Show said something that is just boldly untrue. She said that nutritional supplements are not regulated by the FDA. That is a flat out lie. Click here to watch the video.
The DSHEA bill, passed in the ’90s, gave consumers free and fair access to nutritional supplements but it did give regulatory jurisdiction to the FDA. Don’t believe me, go here to the FDA website, look at the left hand column that says “Products FDA Regulates.” Wow, under food it says “Dietary supplements”. So Dr. Senay, either you lied on TV, or the FDA is lying. You have continued this myth over and over and over whenever you talk about supplements. Time for you to come clean.
Don’t give us the “I meant they don’t approve supplements” line either. You said what you said and you have repeated this many times. The FDA does regulate supplements and can pull a product off the market whenever they see fit. Most of the time they do a fine job and will take dangerous supplements off the market.
It is time for reporters and the media as a whole to stop the continuation of a lie. Dr. Senay, it’s time for you to get on the air and tell people the truth.
Another Bad Decision by the FDA
A recent decision to allow pharmaceutical companies to circulate pee-reviewd papers about off-label uses of a company’s products is a bad idea that makes one wonder who’s payroll is the FDA on. Ours or the pharmaceutical industries?
The problem with this idea is that the companies can now go after getting FDA approval for very narrow uses and then promote the drugs for more profitable uses without having to go through stringent testing and scrutiny. My understanding is that the FDA is supposed to protect the public, not the interests of the drug industry. This ruling does the exact opposite and Congress needs to step in which it is now in the process of doing, I hope.
Top Science Stories of 2007 – Part Deux #’s 26-100
Sorry to be a little late on this one. Spent the week at the A4M conference in Las Vegas. To read the complete list from Discover Magazine, go to your nearest newstand and pick up a copy. It’s a great read.
42 – California Bans Phthalates in Plastic Toys – Way to go Governor Schwarzenegger! Phthalates are bad news health wise despite the industries claim to the contrary. Go to the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and look up the research into this plasticizer. It isn’t good news.
43 – Human Genome Reveals Signs of Recent Evolution – Yes, we are evolving although some wonder whether it is for the better or not. Despite many creationists beliefs, evolution is being seen everyday.
61 – Unsustainable Soil Use Can Cause Civilizations to Collapse – Exactly what we are doing to our soil, especially with the insane amount of corn being grown. Read the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan to understand how bad it is getting.
64 – Cloned Hamburger, Anyone? – We need to protect our food supply from biotech companies all out for profit. Hopefully the FDA will protect us from this threat but I have my doubts.
70 – How the Body Protects the Gut – Dendritic cells seems to be important in teaching T-cells to be tolerant to beneficial bacteria and to intestinal cells.
83 – Why Loneliness is Bad for You – Turns out that being lonely can actually affect your DNA. Time to find a friend.
89 – Food Additives’ Effect on Children – Something we in the alterantive health industry have known for decades is finally being accepted by the general public and the main-stream health community. Cut out the additives and try real fruit juices and water.
96 – Function of Appendix Explained – Turns out the appendix is where the body stores beneficial bacteria. If you had yours removed, I would suggest taking probiotics every day (probably a good idea if you didn’t either).
Top Science Stories of 2007
Every year Discover Magazine puts out a list of the top 100 science stories of the year. As I did last year, I want to relate those which relate to issues I deal with on my blog. Please pick up a copy of the January 2008 issue to read the full article.
#1 – China’s Syndrome – From tainted products to their terrible pollution problem, this story ranked first is one that will be with us for many years.
#4 – Artic Thaw – Climatologists are deeply concerned about the melting ice caps in the Arctic and its effects on global warming.
#5 – Rx for the FDA – If there was a governmental agency that needed fixing, it is this one. It needs to be overhauled with no industry say or influence.
#6 – Conservation Gets A Green Light – Switching from incandescent bulbs to the newer generation fluorescents would be a big boost in protecting our environment. Yes, they have a little bit of mercury in them but the reduction of pollution, and the release of mercury from coal-burning power plants makes up for that in buckets.
#8 – Can Vitamin D Save Your Life – You know how I feel about this nutrient, now the world is finding out how much we need it. Get your 2,000 IUs a day and your body will be happier and healthier.
#11 – Hormone Replacement Therapy Linked to Breast Cancer – We’ve known this for years but the drug companies were reticent to let this one out. HRT’s are bad for you, period.
#17 – Is Pollution Weeding Out Male Babies? – Worldwide we are seeing a serious threat to human survival from our insistence on polluting without regard. If we don’t do something soon, this topic will unfortunately become #1.
#21 – Quantifying Global Warming – Denialists need not go any further, we don’t want to hear the nonsense. Global warming is a reality and humans are a major part of the problem.
#22 – Pesticide Effects on Sex Last Generations in Rats – Yes, the epigenetic effect is upon us. Toxins don’t just cause health disruptions now, they seem to follow us for generations to follow. This is one of the scariest stories of the year.
Tomorrow I will go through #s 26-50
According to Time Magazine – The Top 10 Green Ideas
Time Magazine had a recent article about the top 10 Green Ideas. The health of our environment is critical as our own health is closely tied to it. Here is Time’s top 10:
#1. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – This group of scientists were the ones to come out and show, global warming is real and we need as interconnected humans, to do something and to do it now. We have to stop the denial and move ahead before we are so overwhelmed, we would be unable to make a difference.
#2. The
#3. The Green Supply Chain – Companies like Wal-Mart, Procter and Gamble as well as Unilever are pressuring their suppliers to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and try to combat climate change.
#4. Avoided Deforestation – This is a no-brainer. We need our forests to save us from ourselves. We need to stop cutting down trees with no thought of tomorrow.
#5. Green-Collar Jobs – Instead of thinking that we cannot become more efficient because we will lose jobs, which is what our present Administration in the White House thinks, we can build jobs by creating new jobs that are green and friendly to the environment like organic biodynamic farming.
#6. Plug-in Hybrids – There is a company that can convert a car into a plug-in hybrid. CalCar is the company and while it is expensive, the technology is moving forward.
#7. E-Flex – Cars that can be made to run on newer technologies as soon as they came out.
#8. Congestion Pricing – Make people pay to use their cars in cities like
#9. Carbon Capping – This idea puts a limit to how much carbon burning companies can do. The government would charge a fee for each unit of burning and then refund it to the people most needing help.
#10. Geo-engineering – This idea is to create large projects to help cool the planet. No one know if any idea on the table will work, but there is a sense of urgency to start thinking about ways before it is too late.
What I would add to the discussion is the need for everybody to do something, anything, each and every day to help combat global warming and also to reduce our polluting ways. Stop using pesticides, buy only organic when possible, vote with your dollars and buy ecologically superior products. We can do something, the important thing is to do it and do it now.