Thanks to Pat Sullivan, I saw this video and was appalled by the information I saw on the toxic effects of fluoride on babies. In my opinion, we get way too much fluoride, especially for children who get it at their dentist, in their toothpaste and water supply. Enough is enough. Too much fluoride is toxic.
[youtube 2DTQlflYHnY]
Welcome to my second attempt at podcasting and hopefully the start of a regular series of shows devoted to disseminating the science of health. Today’s podcast is on autism and the latest research that has just burst on the scene. Enjoy,
At the AutismOne conference back in 2005, I was in room #2 talking about the link of multiple toxins and autism. In room #1 was Dr. Rasheed Buttar who was all about mercury. I told my audience that one day, the multiple toxin theory was going to be in room #1 eventually, maybe not with me in it, but eventually the day would come. One more study, published by the journal Environmental Health Persepectives, has led credence to my theory.
In the October 2007 issue, researchers led by Eric Roberts et al, published a paper called Maternal Residence Near Agricultural Pesticide Applications and Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the California Central Valley (click on the link and you get to read the entire paper free of charge). In this paper the authors find that there was an increase in the incidence of autism the closer the pregnant mothers were to certain organophosphate pesticide applications. For years I have said that toxic exposures to the mother can cause fetal developmental disorders depending on the time of the exposure. This is just more data to back up my claims.
My theory has always been than somehow my daughter Tasya was exposed, while in fetal development, to some form of toxin to cause the brain dysfunction that caused her unusual epileptic disorder. I feel that many people with children have had the same issue whether it be autism, epilepsy or even other neurological or health related disorders. Fetuses are very suceptible to the dangers of toxins, more so than anyone else.
One other issue I want to bring up is the preposterous article that gave a clean bill of health to thimerasol by authors publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine. You would be hard pressed find a more poorly done study, misreported by the media, than this. Instead of listing my thoughts on all of the poor study parameters, follow this link to the Adventures in Autism blogsite, run by Ginger Taylor. The one really striking part of her eight part rebutal to this paper is that no autistic children were included in the study. Now that is a convenient way of avoiding finding a link between autism and thimerasol.
Two other very disturbing issues come up as well. First, that around 70% of the participants in the study dropped out. When I worked in the pharmaceutical clinical trial business, it was pretty well known that when you have a drop out rate any where near that level, the study is pretty much worthless. The data cannot be used to make any kind of a judgement. Second real major issue is the huge conflicts of interest among the authors of the study as each one has significant ties to the vaccine manufacturers! Poor judgement on the part of the NEJM to publish this paper, worse than that, for the media to so misrepresent the data.
As you can see from the first part of my post, I do not believe that mercury is the sole cause of autism. It isn’t. Having said that, I believe it is one of the factors in the epidemic of autism.
Here is an interesting little video about nutrition from youtube called Punk da Junk: A Journey of Epic Nutrition.
Professor Brian Wansink, at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, found that the closer food was to a person, the more likely they were to eat it. Basically we are creatures of laziness, if it’s there, we eat it. If it’s convenient, we eat the food. Dr. Wansink said “When it comes down to it, we’re efficient people, We want something that’s convenient. And if it’s fruit or vegetables that’s a whole lot more convenient than that cake that’s wrapped up in the freezer, guess what’s for snack today? Fruits and vegetables.”
The lesson here is, don’t have food on your desk at work. Make it harder to have easy to access junk food at home. Eat your dinners on smaller plates, pre-portioned food, not “family style” (you tend to eat a lot more that way). Don’t eat food directly from a bag or container, grab a portion of the food and make it a thought out process. Also, when buying soda, if you absolutely have to (please don’t), buy cans and not the big 2-liter sized bottles. Skip the mega sized drinks and stay away from the candy.
The candy eating was interesting, as Wansink said that if you ate 5 candies a day at 125 calories total, that adds up to 12 pounds a year! Now add to that toxicities affect on resting metabolism and you gain weight real fast. As I have lectured about around the world, if you inhibit your metabolism by a mere 5-7 percent, you could put on an amazing 20-50 pounds without eating any more food.
Last night I watched the movie “Thank You for Smoking” and it was hilarious. It may be fiction but it so illustrates how companies that sell dangerous products like cigarettes can spin the truth and keep in business. Toxins in your environment like bisphenol A and phthalates have industry spokespeople and paid “scientists” try to make you believe that their chemical poisons are safe despite evidence to the contrary.
Aaron Eckhart does a great job as the lead character Nick Naylor who is a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. The moral dilemma’s he avoids and the way he deals with his enemies is both funny and quite scary. Worth the 1 1/2 hours, but make sure the kids aren’t around as there is some rather racy language.
Doctor at Appalachian State University did a study on endurance athletes and found remarkable benefits to the nutritional supplement quercetin. Giving 40male cyclists either a placebo or 1 gram of quercetin daily, they found that the ones given the placebo had nine chest infections after two weeks of rigorous training and the quercitin group only had 1. This is a major improvement and should be studied in bigger groups.
In lab studies, quercetin, a flavonoid found in fruits, berries and tea, bound itself to bacteria and viruses, stopping them from duplicating. This may be why quercetin supplementation may be beneficial this winter when you’re trying to avoid catching a cold. I would suggest combining it with about 1,200 IUs of vitamin D and 1,000 mgs of vitamin C each day. I know I will.
In 1998, 5519 people died from side effects due to prescription and non-prescription drugs. In 2005 the number sky rocketed to 15,107. And these numbers may be underestimating the effect. So why the rise? Here are a few reasons.
First off, the number of prescriptions given by doctors has gone up quite a bit but not by as much as the number of adverse reactions have. There have been a number of drugs pulled from the market recently because of adverse effects but they only account for less than 1 percent of total reports of side effects. The real reason is that so many people are on an unconscionable number of drugs and the interaction possibilities have not been throughly looked into.
In my consults with physicians, I have heard list of drugs people are taking that just makes me shudder. One person was on two antidepressants, thyroid medication, NexiumTM, blood pressure meds, a statin drug and Depakote (an antiepileptic drug). Their complaint to their doctor? They felt like hell. Well no kidding. How can any physician stand by and put their patient on this array of meds without wincing and feeling guilty about turning their back on the Hippocratic oath they took when they graduated from medical school.
More work needs to be done to educate physicians how not to prescribe drugs instead of being sent on trips and being bribed by the pharmaceutical industry to prescribe more drugs. This is a cover-up mentality that does nothing to address causes of disease. More research dollars should be spent on prevention of disease not on covering it up.
A recent study showed that people with type 2 diabetes had improved blood sugar control just by simply exercising three times a week. How many other such suggestions should find their way into a physicians discussion with their patients? A whole lot of them but instead of doing that, it’s easier to throw a pill or two at the patient even if it eventually may harm them.
You’ve all heard the comment “you can get too much of a good thing” well it does come up with antioxidant use. Scientists from the University of Utah found that mice who had the gene mutation known as alpha-B crystalline produced too much glutathione in response to abnormal clumps of protein in the heart which led to heart failure. The over use of antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids are also known to be a problem with people with congestive heart failure as they need more oxidation around the heart and not less.
What this study suggests is that some people can overdose themselves with antioxidants under the impression that all oxidation is bad, it isn’t. To live we need a good amount of oxidation. It is part of how our immune system works, how we create new cells, hormones, neurotransmitters and a whole array of biochemical actions.
The key here is the way and the types of antioxidants you take. Because of the stressful and toxic world we live in, we need to be taking a variety of antioxidants daily. Things like freeze-dried Acai, Coenzyme Q10, and Vitamin C should be in everyone’s daily routine. A whey protein drink is another good idea. What is a bad idea is the overuse of IV glutathione, something that should only be used rarely in my opinion and not for every disease and syndrome like some people who claim to be scientists do.
Doing IVs is a pharmacologic intervention that should only be used when a person is in clear and present danger from excessive oxidative stress. Oral co factors like the ones I mention above is a way to get your own body to produce the needed antioxidants like glutathione in a natural and safe manner. Train your body to be more efficient, don’t intervene and cover up a problem. It’s the smart thing to do.
In an article published in the British journal, New Scientist, author Bijal Trivedi reports on how combinations of the toxic effects of the toxins within our bodies can be far greater than the sum of the toxins. Say if the lethality of each of 8 chemical toxicant by themselves was .01 on a scale of 0-5, with 0 being non-toxic and 5 being deadly. Put them together in your blood stream and the toxicity goes to 4, you can see that each alone add up to just .08, but combine them and they become much more toxic, you see why scientists in the field of toxicology are getting nervous seeing that there are an estimated 75,000 artificial chemicals that you and I are exposed to every day.
As Mr. Trivedi point out, “Most toxicity testing has been done on a chemical-by-chemical basis, often by exposing rats to a range of concentrations to find the maximum dose that causes no harm.” Dr. Andreas Kortenkamp from the University of London found that when he added 8 chemicals ranging from plasticisers, sunscreen ingredients and others found in cooling and insulating fluids in quantities that were considered very low or the level toxicologist call “no-observed-effect concentration, something strange happened. The chemical combination created an endocrine disruption which should not have logically happened. The effect is called “the new math – zero plus zero equals something.”
As noted phthalate researcher Shanna Swan said “People can’t keep phthalates [or other chemicals] out of their air, water or food.” So what to do? Make your body an efficient detoxifier. Make sure you eat organic when possible and test yourself for toxins to see if you have high levels in your body. One real good test is the Environmental Pollutants Biomarker from US Biotek, From that test you can find out what detoxification protocol you need to do to the best protect yourself from the inevitable exposures you face each and every day.