Category Archives: Health

Followup – Your Cat May Make Your Schizophrenic

A recent posting of mine talks about the link between behavior, particularly schizophrenia and infection by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Modern psychiatry has long thought the schizophrenia was either an imbalance of chemicals in the brain or something your mother did to you as a child. In a special edition of Forbes Magazine out now, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey associate director for laboratory research at the Stanley Medical Research in Chevy Chase, Maryland, talks about how this nasty parasite may be the cause of schizophrenia in a large number of cases.

What truly amazes me is that the idea of a microbe causing this devastating brain disorder is not recent. A matter of fact the journal Scientific American published an article entitled “Is Insanity Due to a Microbe?” in 1896. Yes, 1896, over 111 years ago! Very few medical journals are publishing this kind of information which is a shame.

For people suffering with this disease, you need to demand that your physician look into the possibility of Toxoplasma gondii as being the cause of your disorder. Make them look at an antibody test for the parasite. This could be the breakthrough many people have been looking for.

Monthly Nutrition Update

Starting today, I will be reviewing the most important papers each month (in my opinion) from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . The first issue, Volume 85, Number 1, has a number of excellent studies.

Risk Assessment for vitamin D by Hathcock, Shao, Vieth, and Heaney – In this review article, the authors believe that vitamin D is much safer than previously thought. While high doses are dangerous, 800 I.U.’s daily for adults and 400 for children seem to be safe (higher levels were deemed safe but I like to keep things a little saner).

Normal-weight obese syndrome: early inflammation? by De Lorenzo, et al – The authors of this study propose that people with normal weight but high fat content (>30%) are at a higher risk of becoming obese than those with lower fat levels. They further report that adipose tissue (fat tissue) harbors more pro-inflammatory cytokeines which leads to a greater risk of being obese later in life. This seemingly makes the case that an increase in exercise and a lowering of body fat is protective against obesity especially among younger people.

Supplementation with calcium + vitamin D enhances the beneficial effect of weight loss on plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations by Major, et al – When going on a weight loss program, the addition of calcium and vitamin D helps to improve your lipid profile (cholesterol, HDL and LDL).

Folate and vitamin B-12 status in relation to anemia, macrocytosis, and cognitive impairment in older Americans in the age of folic acid fortification by Morris, Jacques, Rosenberg and Selhub – This excellent study shows that when vitamin B-12 is deficient, high folic acid was associated with anemia and cognitive impairment. When B-12 was normal, folic acid was associated with protection against cognitive impairment. This means that a balance between the two nutrients is as important as having enough of either one. Two assess your levels of these two nutrients, I suggest a urine Organix test from MetaMetrix . The two markers are FIGLU (folic acid marker) and Methylmalonate (B-12).

Carbohydrate intake and HDL in a multiethnic population by Merchant, et al – Basically, the bottom line of this study was the suggestion that decreasing the intake of sugar-containing soft drinks and juices as well as snacks would be highly beneficial to improving you blood fat profile.

Are Multivitamins Really Dangerous?

Last week, MSNBC.com, headlined a study published on the website ConsumersLab that had found that a few popular multivitamins were not up to snuff. Instead of publishing a fair and honest headline that reported what had really been found, the writers decided to make up a sensational headline questioning whether vitamins were safe.

What really was found was that one multivitamin actually contained 15 milligrams of lead!!! That is way more than should ever be found in any supplement but only the women’s multi from Vitamin Shoppe contained lead. Also, a couple of children’s vitamins contained twice the levels of vitamin A claimed on the label. These findings are why the industry needs to better police itself against poor quality supplements.

Shame on the manufacturers of these poor quality supplements. Those of us in the industry don’t need this type of garbage. To the general public, demand that the supplements you buy are being tested for purity and quality and ask for the reports.

Antidepressants and Bone Health

In a recent study published in this past Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine , researchers report that people taking antidepressant drugs like Zoloft have more than double the risk of bone fracture than people not taking the drug. This is just one of many studies showing the potential problems with this class of drugs.

What interests me is why many physicians refuse to look at alternatives that are well researched such as amino acids. There is ample science behind the use of these basic building blocks of life. One book I highly recommend to anyone interested in using amino acids to improve their health is “The Healing Nutrients Within ” b Dr. Eric Braverman. This is the third edition of an important work first authored by the legendary Dr. Carl C. Pfeiffer which I recommended earlier today.

Other nutrients like zinc, magnesium, potassium and many B-complex vitamins are also helpful in restoring brain health. With all of the risks surrounding antidepression drugs, why not try other, cheaper and safer alternatives?

The Healing Nutrients Within – A Must Have Book

This highly informative book in its third edition, is a veritable treasure trove of information about amino acids, the basic building blocks of life. I believe that everyone interested in their personal health and well being must have this book on their shelves. It is well-written, easy to understand yet based in science. Orignally authored by the legendary Carl C. Pfeiffer, this book was recently updated by Dr. Eric Braverman, M.D.

The Healing Nutrients Within: Facts, Findings, and New Research on Amino Acids

This Weeks Nutrition Update

Inverse Association between Serum Methylmalonic Acid Levels and Cognitive Function in the Elderly – Elevated methylmalonate in urine is a strong marker for vitamin B12 deficiency. In this study, there was a strong relationship between vitamin B12 deficiency and poor cognitive function in elderly subjects. Due to poor gut performance as we get older, it is not surprising to see this outcome. Supplementation with a good multivitamin/mineral is recommended.

Higher Total Folate Intake May Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in Older Persons – This study looked at the relationship between dietary intake of vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid and found that only folate intake was related to an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. While there may be no causative relationship, I would certainly hedge my bet by supplementing with a high-quality B-complex.

Long-Term Folic Acid Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function in Older Subjects – Another well done study that seems to suggest the real value of folic acid and brain function in the elderly.

Higher Dietary Intake of Heme Iron and Red Meat May Increase Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women with Type 2 Diabetes – Women with Type 2 Diabetes should think twice before having that steak or hamburger. Lowering your dietary intake or red meat to once or twice a week seems highly prudent. Also, make sure any supplements you take contain less than 15 mg of iron in a daily dose. In addition, the next time you go to your physician for a checkup, make sure he looks at your iron level when he orders a blood test for you.

High Dose Zinc Supplementation May Negatively Affect Certain Aspects of Urinary Physiology – While zinc is an important trace mineral, this study suggests, and I concur, that over supplementation may not be beneficial. 40 milligrams a day is adequate but testing your levels would be the smartest thing to do. an RBC mineral test from Doctor’s Data or MetaMetrix is the best way to assess your mineral levels.

Serum Uric Acid Levels Associated with Risk of Incidence of Hypertension – Uric acid is one of your body’s top antioxidant compounds. When it becomes elevated, I believe that your body is telling you it needs help in protecting itself from oxidative stress which can lead to hypertension. Adding a broad spectrum of antioxidants like vitamin C, E, selenium or Acai (OptiAcai only) is the best way to go.

Supplementation with the Probiotic Lactobacillus Reuteri May Improve Colicky Symptoms in Breastfed Infants – Adding probiotics are an excellent way of helping colicky babies get relief. You can get it in a powder form from your local health food store (make sure it is refrigerated).

For more information about these studies and others like it, go to the Clinical Pearls Database .

Blog and Podcast

In the next few weeks, I will be producing a Podcast you will be able to download from iTunes on the subject of laboratory testing and interpreting data. I will be interviewing people in the industry and will try to give you an insight on the subject.

As soon as it is available, I will post the link here on my blog site.

Stop Worrying So Much about What You Eat and Start Enjoying Your Meals More

In research done around the world we are finding out that when you eat a meal you enjoy you absorb more nutrients than meals you don’t like. My old mentor John Kitkoski told me that eating foods more indiginous to our heritage is more important than listening to doctors telling you what to eat. In a book put out by Barry Glassner from the University of Southern California called The Gospel of Food:Everything You Know about Food Is Wrong he tested that theory on Thai and Swedish women.

The women were fed a spicy meal which the Swedes objected to but the Thai women loved it. Surprisingly, the Thai women absorbed more of iron than the Swedish women did. When the meals were switched to meat and potatoes, the Swedish women absorbed more iron this time. When a meal was given that neither side liked much, neither the Thai women nor the Swedish women absorbed much iron.

Harvard University epidemiologist Dr. Karin Michels had a great comment – “It appears more important to increase the number of healthy foods than to reduce the number of less healthy foods regularly consumed.”

In other important correlations, it seems that disease prevalence is worse in communities where participation in civic life is low. Being involved in charitable, community based work isn’t just good for the world around you, but it’s good for your health.

Another quote, this time from Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine – ” Although we would all like to believe that changes in diet or lifestyle can greatly improve our health, the likelihood is that, with a few exceptions such as smoking cessation, many if not most such changes will only produce small effects. And the effects may not be consistent. A diet that is harmful to one person may be consumed with impunity by another.” Holy cow Batman, the concept of biochemical individuality may be at work here!!! People are different. What a concept.

Statin Drugs, Dr. Jarvik and a Reality Check

A colleague of mine, Dr. Jeffrey Dach, wrote an eye opening article in his latest TrueMedMD newsletter about the use of Dr. Robert Jarvik as a spokesman for Lipitor. I got permission from him to reproduce his article in its entirety. If you would like to learn more about this excellent physician, go to his website at www.drdach.com

Lipitor, Jarvik and Cholesterol

Perhaps you have seen the Direct-to- Consumer TV and print advertisements with Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the Jarvik Heart, speaking on behalf of the Pfizer’s anti-cholesterol drug, Lipitor, the best selling statin drug, the best selling drug in the world, and most prescribed drug in the U.S. with 13 billion dollars in sales last year.

Jarvik is best known from the media circus surrounding the 1982 implantation of his Jarvik-7 into the Seattle dentist, Barney Clark. Although the artificial heart continued to beat in his chest, Barney died of multi-organ failure 112 days after the heart implantation operation, tethered to a dishwasher sized air compressor. The heart device acted as a blender which chewed up the blood cells. Recipients of the Jarvik-7 suffered horribly for months, finally succumbing to infections, strokes, convulsions and immune system failure.

During the ensuing media coverage, the New York Times dubbed the Jarvik Heart the “Dracula of Medical Technology”. Jarvik-7 patients had the Kevorkian option of assisted suicide, a small on-off button which allowed the mechanical heart to be stopped when too unbearable. About 90 people received the Jarvik-7 heart before it was banned.

Why would Pfizer select an MD like Jarvik as spokesman for their Direct to Consumer (DTC) campaign? Jarvik himself doesn’t have the strongest of professional credentials, he enrolled for the first two years of medical school at the University of Bologna in Italy, later returning for the MD degree at the University of Utah. Jarvik never did an internship or residency, and never actually practiced medicine. And the heart device had been invented by somebody else, Paul Winchell, the ventriloquist, who assigned his patent to the University of Utah.

Why does Jarvik’s “Dracula of Medical Technology” make him an expert on statin drugs? It really doesnt.

Eight controlled clinical trials have shown that statin drugs like Lipitor cause depletion of Coenzyme Q10, an important vitamin for cellular energy production. Heart muscle requires high levels of Co-Q10. Side effects of Co-Q10 deficiency include muscle wasting, muscle pain, heart failure, neuropathy, amnesia, and cognitive dysfunction. Muscle pain and statin-drug induced heart failure can be prevented by supplementing with Co-Enzyme Q10, found at your local health food store, an intervention considerably less expensive and less traumatic than an artificial heart operation followed by cardiac transplantation.

Perhaps Jarvik is not really the best choice for the Lipitor Ad campaign which has had mixed reviews. Instead of Jarvik, a more convincing yet unlikely spokesman would be the popular Duane Graveline MD MPH, a former NASA astronaut, and author who was started on Lipitor during an annual astronaut physical at the Johnson Space Center, and 6 weeks later had an episode of transient global amnesia, a form of sudden memory loss described in his book. Dr. Graveline points out that 50 percent of the dry weight of the cerebral cortex is made of cholesterol, an important substance for memory and cerebral function.

Graveline also points out that statins are useful for prevention of heart disease in patients who already have clogged arteries and pre-existing coronary artery disease, however this benefit is independent of how low the serum cholesterol goes in response to the statin drug.

Contrary to the findings in patients with known heart disease, no statin primary prevention study has ever shown a benefit in terms of all cause mortality in healthy men and women with only an elevated serum cholesterol, and no known coronary artery disease.

Patients with known heart disease are customarily placed on statin drugs by the medical system with no need for direct to consumer (DTC) advertising to this group. DTC ads for Lipitor are clearly directed at the larger group of untreated primary prevention patients, for which there has been no benefit in terms of all cause mortality in multiple statin drug studies.

The Japanese, J-Lit study actually showed higher mortality at the lowest serum cholesterol (both total and LDL-C), a paradox called the J-Shaped Curve. The highest mortality was found at the lowest total cholesterol of 160 mg/dl, and lowest mortality at serum cholesterol around 240 mg /ml, exactly the opposite one would expect if cholesterol lowering was beneficial for health. The authors state that the increased mortality at the lower cholesterol levels was due to increased cancer.

Another statin trial, CARE (Cholesterol And Recurrent Events), showed 1500 % increase in breast cancer among women in the statin treated group, explained as merely a statistical aberration. This is disputed by Uffe Ravnskov who feels that the difference is significant, and points to rodent studies showing statin drugs cause cancer in animals.

The Honolulu Heart Study of elderly patients showed the lowest serum cholesterol predicted the highest mortality in this patient group.

A study by Krumholz found lack of association between cholesterol and coronary heart disease mortality and morbidity in persons older than 70 years. Jenkins (BMJ) states that no statin drug study has ever shown an all cause mortality benefit for women.

The Jarvik-Lipitor Ad campaign is a perfect example of why prescription drug ads are dishonest, do not promote public health, increase unnecessary prescriptions, and can be harmful or deadly to patients. New Zealand and the US are the only two industrialized nations to allow direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs. Here in the USA, thirty nine public interest groups have proposed congressional legislation to ban DTC prescription drug ads.

Two more unlikely spokesmen for the Lipitor ad campaign include Mary Enig and Uffe Ravnskov. Should either one be selected as Lipitor spokesman, I myself would run down to the corner drug store to buy up the drug. It seems unlikey that even Pfizer’s deep pockets could ever induce them to recant their opposing position on the cholesterol theory of heart disease. Mary G. Enig writes, ”hypercholesterolemia is the health issue of the 21st century. It is actually an invented disease, a problem that emerged when health professionals learned how to measure cholesterol levels in the blood.

Uffe Ravnskov MD PhD, who opposes the Lipid Hypothesis, is spokesman for Thincs, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics, and author of “The Cholesterol Myths, Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease”. His controversial ideas have angered loyal cholesterol theory supporters in Finland who demonstrated by burning his book on live television.

How many people suffer from the adverse side effects of statin drugs? Will we ever know? People experiencing adverse side effects from statin drugs may share their experiences in discussion groups . One such group has 3800 messages.

For More Information Click Here: drdach.com or click here: TrueMed.com