Thursday, January 31, 2008

FDA attempts to violate court ruling against it, thirty years ago

If you wish your health freedom to be protected so that you can access proven health care of your choice that helps clear arteriosclerosis more safely and less expensively than the current medical approach you should be speaking with your representatives and senators today!

FDA’s Stealth Attack on Chelation Therapy for Cardio-Vascular Disease
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a Public Health Advisory on Edetate Disodium (EDTA). The advisory reflects FDA’s current analysis of data available concerning this drug. The advisory is meant to alert patients and healthcare professionals about EDTA.

In this relatively innocent looking letter, the FDA is warning hospital pharmacies that there have been 11 deaths associated with di-sodium EDTA since 1971. They indicate that to improve safety and avoid potential medical errors, hospitals may want to consider not carrying di-sodium EDTA. Finally, they hint they may be revisiting di-sodium EDTA’s safety record at some point in time.

They are responding to the death of a child in 2003 year because the physician mixed up di-sodium with Calcium EDTA. Medical errors do take place and the majority of these reported cases. In fact it is known that 450 people die each year from acetaminophen poisoning. With the millions of di-sodium EDTA treatments each year, this product has a better safety record than Tylenol®.

The FDA is, of course, forbidden to regulate the practice of medicine but that doesn’t stop them from pushing the envelope. Every time they have tried, they have lost in court. One of the most important cases was the FDA v. Evers in 1978. Guess what the drug in question was? Yes, di-sodium EDTA. So they never give up even when they have had their hands slapped.

In addition to the public advisory, the FDA is suggesting that they are revisiting the safety of di-sodium EDTA, essential for the treatment of cardiovascular disease to remove calcium from blocked arteries, while encouraging the use of Calcium-EDTA, which cannot remove the calcium plaque because it is already bonded to Calcium.

This is the same agency that refuses to classify the mercury component in dental fillings, which puts between 42 and 57 tons of mercury into people’s bodies every year. The agency that has stated it may be unethical to try to find out whether mercury is “safe” in people’s bodies. Also the same agency that approved Vioxx that killed 50,000 people and approved Viagra that killed well more than 11 people in its first week of use! Yet, they are focused on the safety of di-Sodium EDTA because of potential confusion about treatment.

The American Association for Health Freedom is very concerned about where the FDA may take this. The FDA cannot approve or disapprove of how a legally marketed drug is used by a physician in his practice. The agency approves of what a manufacturer may recommend about uses in its labeling (package insert) and advertising. We are meeting with our team of attorneys to make sure our response to this new threat to this very effective and inexpensive treatment for cardio-vascular disease. We will be working with the physician groups that use di-sodium EDTA to make sure this unnecessary concern the FDA is displaying is not used as an excuse to end this effective and safe treatment.

Don't let flu hit you full force...

One of the very nice things about being a health care professional and having access to the internet is to receive information from others in natural health care who are trying to educate the public in the same manner as we have done for the past twenty years through our various venues.

This is helpful information from another fellow professional with which I agree, although I am for usually more vitamin C and A.

Enjoy!


Flu season is here in force. The next few newsletters will focus on flu prevention and treatment to keep everyone healthy through the winter season.

Preventing the Flu

Adults

Maintain a healthy immune system. Many forms of supplements will fortify immunity so that an attack by viruses will be less successful. If you tend to get acute illnesses easily, then begin a program of immune strengthening. A good herbal and antioxidant immune enhancing supplement will help build the strength of your system. These formulas are usually built around the herb Astragalus, a potent herb for augmenting the body's protective defenses and stabilizing the exterior against invasion by pathogens and physical stresses such as cold and wind. Other supplements have similar immune enhancing properties.

Several species of mushrooms have significant immune stimulating effects. Each contains high percentages of polysaccharides, long chain sugar molecules that regulate immunity. They activate white blood cells and stimulate complements and antibodies. These mushrooms include reishi (ganoderma), maitake (grifola), shiitake (lentinus), polyporus, and tremella. Many preparations of mushroom combinations in tablet, powder, or liquid extract form are available at major health food stores.

Bovine colostrum has the ability to provide antibodies directly and stimulate immune function with its potent combination of lactoferrin that prevents bacteria from reproducing, lysozyme that destroys pathogenic organisms, and cytokines that stimulate immunoglobulin production, as well as the polysaccharides. Colostrum is a superfood that should keep your immune system in peak condition. Take two capsules twice a day through the winter months.

Vitamin C at 2-4 grams per day prevents inflammation and maintains the body's vigilance against infection. Vitamin A is essential to immune function and mucous membrane integrity. Take a supplement of 10,000-25,000 IU of vitamin A derived from fish oil that also includes vitamin D (400 IU). Zinc has potent immune protective effects. Take 25 mg zinc per day, but if you continue zinc for an extended period of time you will also need to take copper to prevent a deficiency (10:1 ratio of copper to zinc). Get a supplement that contains both.

Immune supplements for adults
Mushrooms (reiki, mitake, shiitake)
Colostrum – 4 capsules
Vitamin C – 2-4 grams
Vitamin A – 10,000-25,000 IU with 400 IU vitamin D
Zinc – 25 mg with copper 2 mg
Influenzinum is a specific homeopathic preventive for the flu. You can begin taking Influenzinum (9C, 12C, or 30C) if you are exposed to the flu. Take one dose each week for four weeks at that time, or you can take it once a week for four doses during the flu season.

The flu, like other respiratory viruses is spread through droplet transmission from human to human. You can minimize your exposure by not shaking hands. Frequent hand washing will also prevent you from inadvertently inoculating viruses into your nose and eyes. Simply avoiding touching your nose, mouth, and eyes during flu season will also help reduce your exposure. Of course, as common courtesy everyone should cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze to prevent transmission of viruses.

Get plenty of sleep, eat well. Eat warm foods during the winter. Soups and stews are excellent sources of concentrated nutrients. Exercise regularly despite the cold weather. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables for their vitamin and antioxidant content. Stay warm and avoid getting chilled.

Immune System Supplements for Kids

Children can take a few simple, specific supplements to maintain a strong and vital immune system during the fall and winter months when colds and flus predominate

An omega-3 fat supplement in the form of fish oil capsules, DHA from algae (Neuromins), or cod liver oil will establish healthy cell membranes that prevent inflammation and resist toxins and attack by pathogens. 200 mg of DHA or one teaspoon of cod liver oil for each 50 pounds of body weight is an appropriate dose.

Vitamin E will ensure that fatty acids are maintained at optimum efficiency once they are absorbed into cells. In addition, vitamin E has anti-inflammatory effects and increases resistance to infection. Use only natural vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol), not the synthetic form (dl-alpha-tocopherol). A mixed tocopherol form of vitamin E is best because children need the gamma as well as the alpha forms. An appropriate dose is 100 mg for children under two and 200 mg for children aged 2-12.

Vitamin A is needed for proper mucous membrane function. It is essential for the growth and repair of body tissues, and for efficient digestion of protein. Vitamin A promotes good eyesight, strong bones and teeth, and a vital immune system. White blood cells, T-lymphocytes, and every cell in the important mucosal barriers of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts require vitamin A.

A diet containing significant amounts of fat will help ensure adequate vitamin A intake. Whole milk products, butter, and free range eggs will help maintain necessary levels of this important nutrient. Use organic sources. For those who may not be getting enough vitamin A, a supplement is essential.

The recommended daily amount (RDA) of vitamin A is 1,000-2,000 IU for children, depending on their age (1,000 at one year of age, 2,000 by age nine). Primitive diets probably maintained 10 times that amount. One egg contains 300 IU, one cup of whole milk or whole milk yogurt contains about 225-250 IU of vitamin A. One tablespoon of butter contains 350 IU of A. The amount of vitamin A may vary by the season and the feed of the animals.

Most children would benefit from a vitamin A supplement derived from fish oil. One tablespoon of cod liver oil contains at least 3,000 IU of A. Proper dosage is one teaspoon per 50 pounds of body weight. Several studies have also shown that vitamin A supplements during viral illnesses promote rapid recovery and prevent complications. Children can take 1,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin A derived from fish oil without any problem.

Zinc stimulates immune function, prevents infections, and acts as a cofactor in many enzyme reactions, including the creation of antioxidants. Normal dosage is 10-20 mg. per day. If zinc supplementation is continued over a prolonged period of time, it should be given in conjunction with copper in a ratio of ten to one to prevent copper deficiency.

Vitamin C has anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidant activity, and antibiotic qualities. A daily supplement of vitamin C during the winter months will round out the immune system prevention program. Use 500 mg for children under 3 years old and 1,000 mg for older children.

The easiest way to give supplements to children is through powdered sources mixed in a blender with fruit, fruit juice, yogurt or milk (rice milk for younger children and children with milk sensitivities), and honey (for children over 12 months old). Capsules can be opened and dumped into the blender. Children can chew oil-based supplements in soft gels or you can stick a pin into them and squirt out the contents onto something they will eat.

Randall Neustaedter OMD

CHG Favorites of the Week: Super Bowl Edition

Blog of the Week
Slashfood
A giant among cooking blogs, Slashfood summarizes nearly every bit of food news from around the web in a smart, funny way. What’s more, there are recipes galore for all kinds of diet. This week’s entries are focusing on Giants/Pats, so if you get the chance…

Comedy of the Week
Bill Swerksi’s Superfans - SNL
In which Mike Myers, Chris Farley, George Wendt, and Robert Smigel answer the eternal question: in a fight, could Mike Ditka beat a hurricane, also named Mike Ditka? Whether you’re a fan of da Bullsss or da Bearsss, this is classic, sausage-soaked SNL. Michael Jordan, at the height of his career, looks on wonder.

Organization of the Week
National Football League Players Association
Gridiron guys receive a lot of recognition for their work on the field. Off the field, it’s different story, and maybe the much greater one. The NFLPA (a.k.a. the players union) asks their members to support, represent, and volunteer for several charities, including the Boys and Girls Club, Feed the Children, and the NEA. The site has more, plus details on a gaggle of year-round fundrasiers. (Bonus extra: Peyton Manning spoofed this on SNL last year. Hilarious.)

Quote of the Week
“When your Super Bowl guests arrive, they should find a mound of potato chips large enough to conceal a pony sitting in front of the television. For nutritional balance, you should also put out a bowl of carrot sticks. If you have no carrot sticks, you can use pinecones, or used electrical fuses, because nobody will eat them anyway. This is no time for nutritional balance: This is the Super Bowl, for God's sake.” – Dave Barry

Tip of the Week
(We interrupt our regularly scheduled cheap, healthy tip for a public service announcement.) If you’re serving alcohol at your Super Bowl party (and really, who isn’t?), think about sticking to beer and/or closing the bar before the fourth quarter. It will give everyone a little bit of time to sober up before the drive home. Needless to say, if anyone’s too drunk to get behind a wheel, handcuff her/him to your couch. (This has been a public service announcement. Have a safe and happy Super Bowl.)

Untried Cheap, Healthy Recipe of the Week
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
This suggestion comes from reader Angie, who digs its easy prep and swell taste. It looks dang good, and will probably entice a lot of anti-hummus sticklers to take the dive. Touchdown, yo.

Video of the Week (Football/Food Division)
“All My Rowdy Friends (Are Coming Over Tonight)” by Hank Williams Jr. “Monday Night Football Theme” by Hank Williams Jr.
The first song is a rollicking country tune about having a barbecue with the buds. The second song, based on the first one, imprinted “ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAAAAAAALL?” on my brain, probably for life.

(Photos courtesy of About.com and Flickr member psd.)

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Cheap Healthy Party Food

With the big Giants/Pats showdown only four days away, it’s time to start thinking about food. What should you bring to a get-together? What will you serve at your own shindig? How can you keep from gaining 14 pounds in a single afternoon?

That’s where Cheap Healthy Party Food comes in. Gathered from five prominent websites, the following 60 recipes are less expensive, healthier alternatives to the chips/dips/wings combo typical of Super Bowl Sunday. Plus, as it’s a football game (THE football game), all the dishes are party-friendly. There is no spa food, and nary a spinach salad or fat-free flaxseed muffin to be found. Instead, the list is chock full of chicken, chili, pizza, and pie, just in lower-calorie incarnations.

To everything, there is a process, and my first step in compiling this list was narrowing down my source websites. (It’s a big internet out there, man.) I decided each one had to have A) lots of health-minded options, B) an easy search function, and C) reliable recipe reviews. After some consideration, I settled on All Recipes, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Epicurious and Food Network. (Oh, and Cheap Healthy Good. Hooray for self-promotion!)

Still, I was left with a ton of possibilities. So next, I had to come up with food criteria. It wasn’t easy, and unlike the Beef/Pork/Fish posts, my methods weren’t exactly scientific. But I eventually settled on the following:
  • Each dish had to contain at least four servings.
  • Recipes could not incorporate more than one semi-pricy ingredient. (A frequent issue with Epicurious.)
  • Fat and calorie content had to be healthy relative to serving size. An 800-calorie stuffed mushroom recipe looks great until you realize is it only makes six mushrooms. (A frequent issue with Cooking Light.)
  • The food couldn’t look repulsive in pictures. (A frequent issue with All Recipe.)
  • Recipes had to have at least an 87% review rating (3.5 forks on Eating Well, 5 stars on Food Network, etc).
  • Dishes had to be appropriate for parties where huge, hairy fathers of three paint their bare chests with Tedy Bruschi’s jersey number.
With all that in mind, I commenced searching. And the results? Are pretty sweet. John Madden would approve.

(As always, read the reviews for cooking and serving suggestions.)

APPETIZERS
All Recipes: Chicken Satay
All Recipes: Pita Chips
All Recipes: Garden Veggie Pizza Squares
All Recipes: Savory Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
CHG: Lightened Seven Layer Taco Dip
Cooking Light: Adobo Chips with Warm Goat Cheese and Cilantro Salsa
Cooking Light: Cheddar with Sauteed Apples and Brown Bread
Cooking Light: Goat Cheese Crostini
Cooking Light: Pinto Bean Nachos
Cooking Light: Starry Snack Mix
Eating Well: Boneless Buffalo Wings
Food Network: Chili Chips
Food Network: Parmesan Pita Toast Strips

DIPS, SALSAS, DRESSINGS and SPREADS
All Recipes: Avocado Mango Salsa (use gloves when working with habaneros)
All Recipes: Black Bean Hummus
All Recipes: Fresh Salsa 1
All Recipes: Spicy Bean Salsa (use low-fat dressing)
All Recipes: Sweet and Sour Sauce
All Recipes: Tequila Cocktail Sauce
CHG: Lemony Light Hummus
Cooking Light: Creamy Artichoke Dip
Cooking Light: Spicy Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip
Eating Well: Hot Artichoke Dip
Epicurious: Habanero Chile Salsa (use gloves when working with habaneros)
Food Network: Ranch Dressing
Food Network: White Bean Dip

MEAT MAINS
All Recipes: Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs
All Recipes: Pineapple Chicken Tenders
All Recipes: Yummy Honey Chicken Kebabs
Cooking Light: Ancho, Beef, and Kidney Bean Chili
Cooking Light: Mexican Black Bean Chili
Cooking Light: Real Texas Chili
Eating Well: Chicken Chili with Hominy
Eating Well: Pulled Pork
Eating Well: Thai Chicken Pizza
Food Network: Buffalo Chicken Salad
Food Network: Chicken Chili
Food Network: Chili on Rice
Food Network: Mambo Chicken with Mango Salsa
Food Network: Middle Eastern Chicken Burgers
Food Network: Oven Fried Chicken
Food Network: Sloppy Joes
Food Network: Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Food Network: Three Bean and Beef Chili

SIDES
Cooking Light: Apple Slaw
Cooking Light: Beer Battered Onion Rings
Cooking Light: Cheese Fries
Cooking Light: Classic Potato Salad
Eating Well: Wholesome Corn Bread
Epicurious: Roasted Sweet Potato Slices
Food Network: Grilled Red Onions
Food Network: Black Bean Salad
Food Network: Baked Smoked Chili Fries

DESSERTS
Cooking Light: Frozen Butterfinger Pie
Cooking Light: Fudgy Sheet Cake
Cooking Light: Oatmeal Spice Cookies
Epicurious: Apple Pie
Epicurious: Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
Food Network: Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Pound Cake
Food Network: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Food Network: Coffee Angel Food Cake

CHG’s Super Bowl Week isn’t over yet, so tune in tomorrow for Favorites of the Week, and then again on Friday for A Tale of Two Salsas. (Mmm … Dickensian.)

Infection Control Nightmare Decades Old, No Sign of Remission

The issue of over use of antibiotics leading the charge toward higher infection rates in hospital and community has been heartily debated for decades. While there seems to be no end in sight, especially prescribing antibiotics for almost every ill in a time when many antibiotics fail, this study does suggest some helpful methods.

Handwashing is without a doubt one of the best methods for preventing cross contamination. Gels, however, do contain a high alcohol content which is drying to the skin. Unlubricated dry skin leads to cracks in the skin and an opportunity for bacteria to pierce this protective layer. Many commercial products used for moisturizing skin contain harmful chemicals that ultimately fail to keep the skin well lubricated. This group includes many so called natural products sold in health stores.

Trimmed nails are an issue too. One Spokane hospital established this rule several years ago. When I worked in ICU we had nail brushes provided along with the soap, mostly iodine based products were popular at that time.

Cell phones do attract bacteria because of the ionizing effect of EMF/ELF.

Cleaning methods are also a factor, as are the old standards in chemically based cleaning.

I believe the housekeeping component is an area needing to be addressed.

There are in fact excellent cleaning products available that are not chemically based. These products have shown effectiveness in reducing infection rates and preventing reinfection.

And of course there is the scientifically based utilization of pure therapeutic essential oils which do not become resistant to bacteria.

I am still waiting for the day when I receive more than one or two inquires about my protocols using these protective oils.

Hand gels alone may not curb infections
By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 30, 2008

Doctors and nurses on the go often skip soap and water in favor of an alcohol-based hand gel, thinking the quick-acting goo will kill bacteria on their hands and curb the spread of infection. It turns out that's not enough.

In a Nebraska hospital, medical workers nearly doubled their use of the alcohol-based gel, but their generally cleaner hands had no bearing on the rate of infections among patients.

The doctor who studied the problem pointed to many villains: Rings and fingernails that are too long and hard to clean, poor handling of catheters and treatment areas that aren't sanitized.

"Hand hygiene is still important, but it's not a panacea," said Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He led the study at the adjoining Nebraska Medical Center.

The results of his study appear to contradict hospital guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say better hand hygiene — through frequent washing or use of hand gels — has been shown to cut the spread of hospital infections.

The spread of infection-causing germs in U.S. hospitals is a huge health problem, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths each year, according to the CDC. These include drug-resistant staph, urinary tract infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia, among others.

"There are many factors that influence the development of hospital-acquired infections. It would be naive to think that a single, simple intervention would fix this problem," Rupp said.

His study appears in the January issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

Research has shown alcohol-based hand gels are more effective, faster and easier to use than soap and water. The findings of the new study were based on 300 hours of hand hygiene observations of nurses and doctors in two comparable intensive care units over a two-year period.

More gel dispensers were put in the units, and usage rose from 37 percent to 68 percent in one unit and from 38 percent to 69 percent in the other. Compliance for hand washing of any kind in most hospitals is estimated to be about 40 percent, according to experts, although some hospitals do better.

Every two months, bacteria samples were taken from health workers' hands, which were found to be cleaner when using the alcohol gel.

The infection rates in both ICUs were "relatively low," the study said. And researchers found "no significant relationship" between rates of hand gel use and infections among patients. In fact, in one unit the infection rate rose when the hand gel was widely available and its use promoted.

Rupp found the results surprising. However, he said hospital-borne infections cannot be stopped by better hand hygiene alone because infections aren't limited to person-to-person contact.

He suggested hand gels be combined with other measures, such as better cleaning of hospital units, proper insertion and maintenance of catheters, and doctors prescribing antibiotics only when necessary so more drug-resistant bacteria don't pop up.

He also said hospital workers shouldn't wear rings and should trim their fingernails even more than the CDC recommendation of no longer than a quarter of an inch. Rupp said bacteria showed up when nails extended just beyond the fingertip.

Mike Bell, who deals with infection control at the CDC, said that while he didn't agree that hand gels do little to reduce infection, Rupp was right to say they were just one part of the solution.

"If they don't do everything else right, having clean hands is not enough," he said.

Both Bell and Dr. David Hooper of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston suggested that Rupp's study would have shown a reduction in infections if it was conducted over a longer period.

Hooper said the compliance rate for hand hygiene at Massachusetts General has been about 90 percent for the past several years. The number of drug-resistant staph cases was cut in half and continues to decline, he said.
___

On the Net:

University of Nebraska Medical Center: http://www.unmc.edu/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/

Massachusetts General Hospital: http://www.massgeneral.org/

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

Drug errors or other?

This is not a nursing or pharmacy only problem. The drug companies need to come up with solid accountability for causing confusion when dreaming up names for their dangerous drugs. Thousands of drugs seem to have confusing generic and trade names as the article states.

Just consider that levaquin is a fluoride based antibiotic, similar to CIPRO, with extremely serious side effects and limited effectiveness. Similar issues surround the drugs listed on the Top 10 Rx sellers; all make the name confusing list.
Drug-name mix-ups hurt patients, getting worse
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Tue Jan 29, 2008

Dr. Julius Pham's stomach churned when he saw a critically ill heart patient getting an antibiotic instead of a drug to support his blood pressure -- the kind of mix-up that is increasingly common in the United States, according to a new report.

"If you have ever had that sinking feeling that drops to the bottom of your stomach, I had it," Pham, then a critical care physician at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told reporters. "Unfortunately, the patient did not do well."

A nurse had confused Levophed, which can boost blood pressure, with the antibiotic Levaquin.

The rate of drug name mix-ups has more than doubled since 2004, the U.S. Pharmacopeia said in a report on Tuesday.

The group, which regulates the generic names of drugs and advises pharmaceutical companies, reviewed more than 26,000 records and identified 1,470 unique drugs involved in errors due to similar brand or generic names.

"Together, these drug names contributed to more than 3,170 pairs -- nearly double the 1,750 product pairs appearing on USP's 2004 list," the organization said in a statement.

"According to this report's findings, 1.4 percent of the errors resulted in patient harm, including seven that may have caused or contributed to patient deaths."

The top 10 drugs sold in the United States in 2006 all made the mix-up list, including cholesterol drug Lipitor, heart drugs Toprol and Norvasc, antidepressant Lexapro, stomach acid pill Nexium and asthma drug Singulair.

The USP researchers said 519 facilities reported on 176,409 errors in 2006. "The percentage of harmful errors has remained above 1 percent for more than seven years," they said.

Some errors could be easily remedied if pharmacies separated or otherwise differentiated easily confused drugs, said USP patient safety expert Diane Cousins.

Labels could be applied that use "tall-man" lettering -- for instance the glaucoma drug acetaZOLamide, with the "ZOL" in the middle uppercased, versus acetoHEXamide, a drug used to treat diabetes that has a similar name.

Prescriptions should include simple words such as "for sinus," "for heart," "for high blood pressure," Cousins added.

Some of the mistakes found in the survey:

-- A child got schizophrenia drug Zyprexa instead of allergy drug Zyrtec after a visit to the emergency room. "The patient returned to the ER after fainting, at which time the medication error was discovered," the report reads.

-- A patient incorrectly received bipolar drug Lamictal instead of blood pressure drug Labetalol. A few days later, the patient was hospitalized with elevated blood pressure, nausea and vomiting.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Alan Elsner)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

Are you in the dark about adverse effects of Gardasil?

Perhaps it is really the Big Pharma-FDA-CDC cartel wanting to keep it that way...

Search for our other Gardasil posts for more information...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Back to basics? It's about time!

A number of years ago a group of doctors in the Seattle are decided to try and get off the insurance-con-game-merry-go-round by going to a cash only system.

These doctors would as well help the patient with needed statements to apply on their own for reimbursement.

The doctors believed they would be able to offer better care and provide more individualized care, and I am sure they were correct.

Now into the 21st Century, we stumble upon a doctor who believes in the real thing, practicing medicine as if the patient should be the focus of care.

This isn't much different than the service I have been providing to people around the world since 1995, as an on-line health detective. Having been a nurse practitioner for more than enough years in a system that promoted "the sick state" made it an easy switch.

I'd like to see more doctors do this and if so, I'd wager on lower costs and better care.

Internet helps doctor get back to basics By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Mon Jan 28, 7:14 PM ET

Dr. Howard Stark's office is quiet. Very quiet. No patients sit in his waiting room. No receptionist answers the telephone. Stark does not have a receptionist.

Instead, he and his assistant Michele Norris-Bell check e-mail alerts on handheld devices and -- between seeing patients in person -- on a desktop computer.

Stark has moved most of his practice, based in Washington, onto the Internet and he couldn't be happier. Since he started his Web-based service two years ago, he has received 14,000 e-mails.

And yet, he feels more like an old-fashioned family doctor in a small town than a modern, harried physician.

"That's 14,000 phone calls that we did not have to answer and that patients did not have to make," Stark said.

He does not charge for answering an e-mail. "You have to come in one time a year for an annual exam," Stark said.

The rest is free -- prescription refills, quick questions about medication, even questions about unusual stings.

"What do I get? A picture of the scorpion that bit the patient in Belize," Stark laughed. "I said, 'it would have been better to send me a picture of your leg."'

He also gets updates on patients' personal lives.

"People say how impersonal e-mail is. No way. It is so personal because I can hear what is going on with the kids," Stark said in an interview at his otherwise ordinary office.

"It keeps me a lot closer to what is going on with my patients," he added. "I feel like I have taken 21st century medicine back to being more like the old-fashioned physician who knows how your family is doing."

Health experts, the U.S. government, labor unions, employers and average citizens all agree the U.S. health care system badly needs improvement.

SOARING COSTS, LONG WAITS

Costs are soaring and yet the average physician, according to many estimates, spends only about 10 minutes with each patient.

Harried desk staff often double- and even triple-book each appointment slot to make optimal use of the doctor's time and to make sure the overheads are covered.

"They are seeing patients every 10 minutes and from 7 a.m. to 7 at night. They don't even have time to learn how to save time," Stark said.

"The medical profession is being pushed to the edge."

Not in Stark's office, where each patient is allocated at least half an hour per visit.

Stark rents two offices, a waiting room and two examination rooms from his two former partners. He employs only Norris-Bell -- his rent includes the use of technicians to draw blood and do other specialized tasks.

He figures he saves at least $50,000 a year on staff costs alone.

Stark has some other advantages that other doctors lack -- he does not accept any insurance, public or private, although he will help fill out the paperwork that allows patients to claim reimbursement from their insurers. That freed him up to go solo in his practice, and a few well-placed real estate investments allowed him to go part-time.

Using the Internet lets his patients proceed as if he were in the office full-time, however, Stark said.

AIRLINE INSPIRATION

The idea came to him while booking a flight.

"I was sitting here and making a seat assignment to go to Miami. And I said, 'why is it I can make a seat assignment four months in advance and my patients can't book a half-hour appointment?"' he said.

"I started thinking of other things that could be done online."

For instance, written instructions on how to prepare for a colonoscopy, general health tips, or information on Lyme disease.

Stark contacted a couple of friends with Internet experience and they designed DoctorsOnTheWeb (http://doctorsontheweb.net/), a site that lets any doctor do what he is doing. So far, three other doctors have signed up to use the site, he said.

The system works like a bank's Web site. To avoid putting confidential information in e-mails, patients work on a secure server. If Stark wants to contact them, they get an e-mail merely directing them to pick up a message at the password-protected site.

"A lot of my patients, their secretaries see their e-mails," Stark explained.

It allows patients to ask about their health as issues arise, instead of waiting for the annual exam. "If you have any questions, it's so nice to shoot an e-mail," Stark said.

He can direct patients to the emergency room, if appropriate, to see a specialist or set up an appointment for an examination. Stark stresses that he does not make medical decisions based on an e-mail.

But no one has to wait until business hours. "I'll refill your prescription from Barcelona," he said.

How about his lone assistant? Is she overworked?

"I love it. I love it. I love it," Norris-Bell said.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eddie Evans)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

Tuesday Megalinks: Super Bowl XLII Edition

In honor of the impending game, today's list is a two-parter. Up first, a gaggle of Super Bowl links.

About.com: Healthy Tailgating
While the title looks like an oxymoron (a la jumbo shrimp), author Shereen Jegtvig has some out-of-the-box ideas on pre-game parking lot cookouts. Good suggestions for the angina prone, Ditka-lovin’ Superfan in your life.

About.com: Planning a Low Fat Super Bowl Party
What: Giants/Pats shindig with all the fatty-looking fixings.
Where: Your living room.
How: Substitutions. Fiona Haynes makes up a pretty straightforward menu, but subs in secret healthy ingredients. Guests may never know the difference.

Chowhound: ISO Atkins and low fat friendly Super Bowl munchies...
More healthed-up offerings, only this time from the Chowhound crowd. Scroll past the O'Doul's commentary for solid snack ideas.

eDiets: Super Bowl Survival Guide
While the recipes in this post look okay, it’s way more valuable for the all-important booze rules. (Sneak Preview: Those Bud calories add up by the third quarter. Go with a vodka club instead.)

iVillage: 15 Suggestions for a Healthy Super Bowl Party
Quickie list of waist-watching strategies, with extra exercise tips thrown in for good measure. #6 suggests taking a walk at halftime. Tom Petty and Heartbreakers are playing this time around, so I’m undecided on that one. (Especially after Prince’s command performance last year. Way better than the actual game.)

Serious Eats: Cook the Book
If you’re going a little more gourmet with your hootenanny, Serious Eats is where you want to be. SE’s dedicating their regular Cook the Book series to the Super Bowl, so expect high-class eats along with the very best versions of old school favorites.

And now, on to the regular links.

Frugal Hacks: Wholesome Eating on a Budget
Crystal’s corralled a bunch of links on … well, see the title. While everything’s worth a gander, her own post is aces. This lady is a genius shopper.

Festival of Frugality #110: Mrs. Micah
Nicely organized roundup of this week’s articles, with highlights coming from Mommy Gets Paid (on a hunting hobby that pays off), Paid Twice (on experimenting with new cuts of meat) and Money and Values (on frugality and fine dining).

Make it from Scratch Festival: GreenStyleMom
Lots of sweet DIY projects (food and otherwise) this time around. Stop the Ride’s Make Your Own Irish Cream post looks particularly tempting. (Mom, are you out there?)

Serious Eats: Best TV Chef? Worst TV Chef?
Monster comment thread evaluating the gamut of onscreen kitchen gurus.
Worst: Sandra Lee by an overwhelming majority
Best: Alton Brown scores several mentions along with Ming Tsai and Jacques Pepin. (Word.)

UK Mirror: Kids to learn 8 healthy meals for life
British children are being forced to take basic cooking classes in an effort to raise national nutrition awareness. Shepherd’s Pie, represent! Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.

(Photos courtesy of AllPosters.com and Flickr member NiinaC.)

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lightened Seven-Layer Taco Dip: A Super Bowl OF FLAVOR

As a nutritionally minded blogger, I normally advocate fresh, whole, prepared-from-scratch meals in modest proportions.

But, dude. The Super Bowl’s coming.

With the possible exception of Thanksgiving, no other event requires Americans to consume their body weight in onion dip. Nor can I think of another quasi-holiday where quesadillas are designated as health food. Sure, your party of choice might have a token crudite platter buried behind the wings, but essentially, Super Bowl Sunday is to diets what Lawrence Taylor was to Joe Theismann’s leg. (Caution: this video might kill you.)

Yet, us weight-conscious folks need options come February 3rd. And that’s where Lightened Seven-Layer Taco Dip comes in. I got the original dish straight off AllRecipes last year, but subbed in reduced-fat and fat-free ingredients, which saved 30 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving. Fortunately, there were so many loud, proudly competing flavors nobody could tell the difference. I’m making it again this year. And while the initial expenditure might look daunting (see Calculations below), just know three things:

1) With 56 servings, this is a hulking behemoth of food. It is the Mount Kilimanjaro of taco dips. If it was people, it’d be William “The Refrigerator” Perry bear-hugging John Goodman. Last year, my friends N and I barely put a dent in it, and they once downed a Ben & Jerry’s Vermonster by themselves.

2) There are ways (WAYS!) to save a little extra dough. This year, I’m going to buy ingredients on sale, make my own taco seasoning (total cost: about a quarter) and shred a block of Kraft Cheddar with my grater. Depending on how much I buy the block for, it will probably run $0.50 to $1.00 less than a bag. Good times.

3) I live in Brooklyn. Even when bargain priced, everything is more expensive here. Except maybe Chinese food.

If you’re interested in keeping it extra-healthy, the dip can be paired with self-baked tortilla chips or possibly celery. (Which, eat quickly, because people will inevitably bogart the veggies for their hot wings.)

On a final note, the rest of this week is being dedicated to Sunday’s game. Tune in tomorrow for some pigskin-appropriate links, and then again on Wednesday for a monster list of cheap, healthy Super Bowl fare. After that, it’s Thursday’s Football Favorites of the Week. Friday is anyone’s guess, but there are seven lonely leftover jalapenos sitting in my fridge. Suggestions are most definitely welcome.

Lightened Seven Layer Taco Dip
56 servings (seriously)
Adapted from All Recipes.

1-oz. package taco seasoning mix (or make your own )
16-oz. can fat-free refried beans
8-oz. package fat-free cream cheese, softened
16-oz. container fat-free sour cream
16-oz. jar salsa
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch chopped green onions
1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
6-oz. can sliced black olives, drained
2 cups reduced-fat shredded Cheddar cheese (or shred your own 8-oz bar)

1) In a medium bowl, mix taco seasoning thoroughly with refried beans. Transfer it to a large platter or bowl, spreading it out on the bottom

2) In a separate medium bowl, mix sour cream and cream cheese. Pour it over refried beans and spread.

3) Pour salsa over sour cream/cream cheese mixture. Spread out. Then, layer with: tomato, bell pepper, onions and lettuce. Finish with cheese and sprinkle olives over everything.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price per Serving
36 calories, 1 g fat, $0.25

Calculations
1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix: 45 calories, 0 g fat, $0.25
1 (16 ounce) can fat-free refried beans: 385 calories, 0 g fat, $0.89
1 (8 ounce) package fat-free cream cheese, softened: 218 calories, 3.1 g fat, $2.69
1 (16 ounce) container fat-free sour cream: 336 calories, 0 g fat, $1.20
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa: 123 calories, 0.7 g fat, $1.50
1 large tomato: 22 calories, 0.2 g fat, $1.00
1 green bell pepper: 24 calories, 0.2 g fat, $0.50
1 bunch chopped green onions: 32 calories, 0.2 g fat, $0.79
1 small head iceberg lettuce: 45 calories, 0.5 g fat, $0.99
1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives: 80 calories, 6 g fat, $1.49
2 cups reduced-fat shredded Cheddar cheese: 720 calories, 48 g fat, $2.50
TOTAL: 2030 calories, 58.8 g fat, $13.80
PER SERVING (TOTAL/56): 36 calories, 1 g fat, $0.25

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Himalayan Salt FAD May Be a Health Risk

UPDATE: 4/2010 -  As volcanic ash spews from Iceland's erupting volcano a new news report from the UK looks at fluoride poisoning and its effect on livestock.  Farmer's are indeed worried because they know that the natural minerals holding fluoride in the rocks and ash spewing from the volcano contain fluoride, and they know fluoride is a cumulative poison.
The Himalayan salt hucksters offer up the fact that the fluoride in this salt, regardless of the amount won't hurt you because it is a "natural" form.
On this very point they are incorrect, and this salt, with its fluoride and other toxic heavy metals, even though they argue this issue of ocean toxicity, is much more harmful than naturally farmed sea salt.
The fluoride in volcanic ash is the type defended as safe by the hawkers of Himalayan salt.

D. Telegraph 21.4.10 "FALLING ASH MAY BE GOOD FOR GARDENS" 
Volcano ash is full of elements & nutrients but it depends on the chemical make-up of the ash when it falls on the ground.
If it has high levels of fluorine it can be poisonous to humans & plants. Fluorine (fluoride) from volcanoes has killed livestock in the past.
UPDATE: 3/2010 -
I believe in salt therapies for health, using natural salt caves (found in Europe), the Hungarian salt pipes, salt cleansing and balneotherapy treatments, and generally, natural salt for health.

Salt is also something that is necessary for maintaining good blood pressure and adrenal health. This is NOT the kind of salt in convenience and processed food or salt in grocery store boxed containers.

A decade or so ago I was selling a traditional salt collected by many of the Plains tribes during salt and trading journeys away from their usual and accustomed areas. I am in the process of bringing this salt back for my clients and others because of the mineral content and safety.

I recently reviewed the mineral content of Pink Himalayan salt sold by several natural products companies and wholesale suppliers. I became alarmed when I saw the fluoride content at whopping 192 mg.

Relying on my long-standing relationship with PFPC as a medical advisory board member, I have information that supports my belief that that the recent push for Himalayan salt by Mercola and Swanson's and other should be avoided.

Contact us to order our traditional salt for health.

FROM PFPC, the premiere fluoride information site.
Over the last few years a new scam has emerged in Europe which is rapidly spreading across the world.

It involves ordinary rock salt from the “salt range” in Pakistan being marketed as luxurious and healing “Himalaya Salt”.

It is also sold as “Himalayan Crystal Salt”, “Hunza-Kristallsalz” or natural “Kristallsalz”, “VitaSal”, “AromaLife”, etc..

The scam is currently being introduced in India and the United States.

It will result in very high overall fluoride intake in anyone who follows the various “therapy recommendations”.

What happened?

During the late 1990s recordings started to appear in Germany, featuring a monologue by a self-proclaimed “biophysicist” named Peter Ferreira.

The monologue centered around the “marvelous healing energies” of “Himalaya Salt” (Himalaya Salz) and “living waters” (Lebendiges Wasser) -> mineral or springwaters (“Quellwasser”).

This special salt was allegedly coming from the high mountain regions of the Himalayas, “untouched by human contamination”, containing “84 elements essential to human health”. The tape was copied and passed on by thousands.

The salt was sold at a price much higher than ordinary salt, up to 200 times as much. It was common to see it being sold for 24 Euros per kilogram.

Lectures were organized and a video called “Water & Salt” (“Wasser & Salz”) was shown to packed houses (Zeit & Geist, 2002). A book with the title “Water & Salt - Essence of Life” by Peter Ferreira and Dr. med. Barbara Hendel became a runaway bestseller in 2002 - simply by word of mouth, even spawning a glossy magazine with the same title. [The book is currently being translated into English and slated for release in the US.]

Within months “Himalaya Salt” became all the rage in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, quickly spreading to Denmark, Holland and other European countries.

The European alternative health industry was quick to jump on the bandwagon and an article on “Himalaya Salt” praising its superior qualities to conventional salt became the most-read article on the German site of “Alternative Health” (“Alternative Gesundheit).

“Himalaya Salt” sales are consistently in the Top 10 of “alternative health products”.

Originally marketed on the Internet, there are now countless varieties of products containing “Himalaya Salt” available, including herbal salts, bath salts, facial masks, cosmetic lines, as well as salt lamps and tealights.

Many international websites can now be found praising and selling this “Elixir of Live”, “Fountain of Youth”, or “salt of life”.

The salt comes as fine salt to be used for cooking, or as salt crystals or blocks of salt, to be used for daily “sole” drinks and baths, oral rinses, eye baths, and inhalation therapy.

In addition, the salt is marketed extensively for other uses, and there are now tealights or “salt lamps” (used as natural “ionizers”), a complete cosmetic line including soaps, facial sprays, body lotions, “peeling” lotions, hand creams, steam bath aids, sauna aids, bath salts with rose petals, and shower gels.

Fluoride & Iodine

Ironically, “Water & Salt” proclaimed that iodine and fluoride are “highly toxic” and should never be added to cooking salt (August 4, 2002). This statement immediately seemed odd to a sceptic, as both “toxins”, fluoride and iodine, were also listed among the salt’s “84 natural elements essential for the body”. LINK

The fluoride/iodine issue nevertheless became a cornerstone in the promotional campaign. Valuable books on the un-wanted effects of fluoride (Ziegelbecker) and iodine supplementation (Braunschweig-Pauli) were found in the on-line bookstore of “Wasser & Salz”.

However, W&S failed to inform the public that this very same “Himalaya Salt” may easily possess more fluoride than conventional, artificially fluoridated salt.

Numerous analyses which had been posted on the web by AromaLife AG itself (Switzerland’s biggest distributor of “Himalaya Salt”) - to show that it complied with CODEX regulations - showed this clearly. Click here.

Fluoride in Mineral Water

In addition, the “Water & Salt” people also started to recommend mineral waters which qualified as “living waters”, and handed out “Seals of Quality”.

One such water, Artesia received this recommendation, although containing 1.02 ppm of fluoride - a fact which is aggressively marketed by the company which firmly believes in the proclaimed “fluoride benefits”.

Origin of “Himalaya Salt”

It is claimed that the “magic salt” is coming from the Karakorum (Ferreira, 2002). However, as pointed out by the group TourismWatch (No.28 and No.30) there is no salt mine to be found anywhere in this Himalayan region. Most of the salt was coming from the second largest salt mine in the world, in Pakistan.

After the boom began, it was found that even ordinary road salt was being sold as “Himalaya Salt” by ruthless opportunists.

Public Health Response

The responses by the Public Health Departments in Switzerland and Germany have been on the verge of the comical.

The Swiss “Fluor-und Jodkommission” warned the public against the scam and issued statements of concern about the influx of imported specialty salts such as “Himalaya Salt”.

In 2001, the SEV warned that under no circumstances could this salt “without fluoride and iodine” ever substitute for the Swiss salt.

At no point did it apparently occur to the health agencies to conduct their own analyses on the product!

Applications:

Cooking/Baking

Not only is “Himalaya Salt” marketed as the best alternative to conventional cooking salt - and to be used in all cooking and baking as well as table use - it is also to be sprinkled onto already prepared foods.

New varieties of herbal salts are also now available.

Every morning a teaspoon - sometimes more - of a 26% “sole” solution is added to a glass of mineral water and routinely drunk by millions.

Topical Applications

Salt - Baths

As one of the “best applications” people are advised to bath with this salt once a week, or with “moon baths” during new and full moons. 1 to 1.5 kg is added to 80 - 100 liters of water. Temperature is to be between 35 and 37 degrees celsius for a length of a minumum of 15 to 20 minutes (up to 2 - 3 hours!). At 1 kg in 100 liters, and at a fluoride content of 300 ppm, this is the same as bathing in water fluoridated at 3 ppm.

Not much different than the fluoridated baths which were used with great success by Gorlitzer von Mundy in the treatment of iodine-induced hyperthyroidism (Jod Basedow) for over 30 years!

In addition, people are advised to bath their feet in a 10% salt/water solution, which results bathing the feet in water with a fluoride content of 30 ppm.

Personal Care Products

Daily topical fluoride intake is assured by use of the cosmetic line which includes soaps, facial sprays, body lotions, hand creams, shampoos, steam bath aids, sauna aids, bath salts with rose petals, and shower gels. Complete cosmetic lines are now offered by Aromalife, as well as “Wasser und Salz”.

Inhalation

People with asthma and like-conditions are advised by “health trainers” to add a little “Himalaya Salt” (10%!) to hot water and to inhale this concoction for 10 to 15 minutes with a covered head, three times a day.

Oral Health

People are advised to use this salt for toothbrushing.

One will get “white teeth” and the “dental enamel gets dissolved”, it is claimed...!

Of course it is also advised to rinse the mouth with the same sole which is drunk in the morning.

One is reminded of the incredible feat by Mr. “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” Dr. Wallach and associated independent distributors who have managed to con people into believing that the “All Natural Tooth Gel” is a “safe natural alternative to fluoride toothpaste”, although the actual label on the toothpaste specifies sodium fluoride as ingredient!

Rainer Neuhaus
PFPC Germany

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Consider Vaccination Risks Above All Else!

Folks down at the CDC say they are 'disappointed' because many elderly folks aren't lining up for their shots. Maybe next we'll see SWAT Teams at al assisted living or other facilities forcing these risky solutions into the bodies of another run of test subjects.

A healthier person or companions animal is one who has sound nutrition and avoids a plethora of jabs.

CDC: Too few adults get their vaccines
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
Thu Jan 24, 2008

Vaccines aren't just for kids, but far too few grown-ups are rolling up their sleeves, disappointed federal health officials reported Wednesday.

The numbers of newly vaccinated are surprisingly low, considering how much public attention a trio of new shots — which protect against shingles, whooping cough and cervical cancer — received in recent years.

Yet many seem to have missed, or forgotten, the news: A survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases found that aside from the flu, most adults have trouble even naming diseases that they could prevent with a simple inoculation.

"We really need to get beyond the mentality that vaccines are for kids. Vaccines are for everybody," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who called the new data sobering. "We obviously have a lot more work to do."

The new CDC report found:

_Only about 2 percent of Americans ages 60 and older received a vaccine against shingles in its first year of sales.

There are more than 1 million new cases a year of shingles, an excruciating rite of aging that causes a blistering skin rash. Up to 200,000 of them develop a complication, severe nerve pain that can last for months or even years. Anyone who ever had chickenpox is at risk, especially once they hit their 60s, because the chickenpox virus hibernates for decades in nerve cells until erupting again.

"Many people describe the shingles pain as the worst pain they've ever endured," said Dr. Michael Oxman of the University of California, San Diego.

The shingles vaccine, Merck & Co.'s Zostavax, isn't perfect, but it cuts in half the risk of shingles — and those who still get it have a much milder case.

_About 2 percent of adults ages 18 to 64 got a booster shot against whooping cough in the two years since it hit the market.

The cough so strong it can break a rib is making a big comeback, because the vaccine given to babies and toddlers starts wearing off by adolescence. Older patients usually recover, but whooping cough can cause weeks of misery. Worse, those people can easily spread the illness to not-yet-vaccinated infants, who can die from the bacterial infection, also called pertussis.

The pertussis booster was added to another long-recommended shot, a booster against tetanus and diphtheria that adults should get every 10 years. The new triple combo is called "Tdap." Sanofi-Aventis's Adacel brand is for ages 11 to 64. There also is a version for 10- to 18-year-olds, GlaxoSmithKline's Boostrix.

_About 10 percent of women ages 18 to 26 have received at least one dose of a three-shot series that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that causes cervical cancer.

There are more than 100 different types of HPV, the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection. Usually, the body gets rid of HPV without symptoms. But certain high-risk strains can persist and cause genital warts or cervical cancer.

The vaccine, Merck's Gardasil, protects against four of those high-risk types. That's not complete protection — so even the vaccinated still need regular Pap smears — but those strains are responsible for about 72 percent of cervical cancer and 90 percent of genital warts, said Dr. Stanley Gall of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Stay tuned: The government is considering whether even more women should get the vaccine — those up to age 45 who aren't yet infected, Gall said. And studies are under way to see if it works in men.

Price may play a role in these low vaccination rates. The shingles shot costs around $150, and the three-shot HPV vaccine about $300, and insurance coverage varies. There's no national program to guarantee access for adults who can't afford vaccines as there is for child vaccines.

But adults aren't taking full advantage of some cheap old standby vaccines, either. Among people 65 or older, a high-risk age, CDC found only 69 percent get an annual flu shot; just 66 percent have had a one-time pneumonia vaccine; and 44 percent had received a tetanus shot in the past 10 years.

It's not too late for a flu shot this year — and Oxman urged getting some of the other adult shots in the same doctor visit.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.


VACCINATION TOXICITY CAN CAUSE INJURY
by Mary Tocco, January 16, 2008

Vaccinations can cause toxic injury in children and adults in several ways. Live or attenuated virus vaccines can actually produce the infection that the vaccine is supposed to prevent. Because vaccines are usually injected into muscle tissue, the major organs of the body may be exposed to the additives and preservatives in vaccines that are toxic as well as the viruses. When we change the method of exposure to the illness, we also change the way the immune system responds to that illness. Normal infectious illnesses do not get into the blood system. Hugh Fudenberg is one of the world's leading immunologists and 13th most quoted biologist of our time who studied the Flu vaccine given to adults. He found that the aluminum and mercury in the flu shot can accumulate in the brain and lead to Alzheimer disease.

Boyd Haley from the University of Kentucky has done extensive research on the brain and mercury exposure. He believes that the childhood vaccines given up to 2004 with mercury are directly related to the autism epidemic in this country. The live polio vaccine has been known to cause polio in recipients and care givers of children recently vaccinated. That is why since 1999, the live polio vaccine is no longer recommended. The chickenpox vaccine, Virecella Zoster, has shown to cause family members to break out in shingles or herpes simplex. The new rotavirus vaccine for infant diarrhea, RotaTeq has been associated with intussusception of the colon which is a swelling, inflammation of the colon causing restriction and many times results in immediate surgery to correct. Fifty-two babies died in the trials before the vaccine was released and they say the cause was SIDS. Many vaccines can cause shock, seizures, type 1 diabetes, asthma and death. There are also possible, but unproven links between the MMR vaccine and juvenile diabetes and autism. Vaccines are linked to Gulf War syndrome and much, much more.

The second, and probably the most important theory of vaccine injury relates to allergic reactions and the development of an auto-immune response, stimulated by the vaccine and its adjuvants, which assist in stimulating the immune response. Vaccines always contain adjuvants, which are substances known to amplify the body's response to the vaccine. These adjuvants are known to sometimes cause allergic and auto-immune responses on their own. How would a parent know if their two month old infant is allergic to any of the products in a vaccine? Unfortunately, most vaccine reactions are overlooked and dismissed by the doctors. As the child gets more shots the problems get worse and often the injury is in process and takes many months to discover. I personally know medical doctors whose own children were injured by vaccines and they did not see it coming.

Consider this extensive list of vaccine ingredients listed on this very informative web site called WAVE, World Association for Vaccine Education by far the most complete list of vaccine ingredients available to the public. Click here to see this extensive list of vaccine ingredients, not all are listed.

Questions you need to ask yourself before considering vaccinations: Have I thoroughly researched all the ingredients in the shot and do I understand the toxic risks? Is there a history of auto immune problems in the family because many researchers believe children may be genetically hyper sensitive to the adjuvants in the vaccines? Do I understand the difference between natural immunity and vaccine immune response? Is my child at risk for the illness I am vaccinating for? Is that illness really a health threat?

Congress passed the Immunizations Assistance Act in 1965, assisting the drug companies in mass vaccine programs. At that time they recommended that all 5-6 year olds be vaccinated before going into school. They start vaccinating infants day 1 immediately after birth and continue until adolescents. Now, if you or your child suffers any injury from the vaccines, the vaccine manufacturer is protected from any litigation. As you know, we have an epidemic of autism, learning problems, and chronically sick children in the country and the government refuses to fund the necessary research that could prove the vaccine connection. The CDC and the FDA admits that mercury is one of the most toxic elements known on Earth and yet they claim that the mercury in vaccines is not related to the catastrophic increase off neurological problems plaguing the children of this country. (The amount of mercury "thimerosal" in childhood vaccines until 2004 was 40 to 60 times the EPA safety level. By 6 months, the average child received 187.5mcg of thimerosal from their vaccines. FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research)

Every new vaccine recommended and mandated by the CDC exposes your child to more toxic ingredients increasing the risk for toxic injury. According to Barbara Fisher, President of The National Vaccine Information Center and Vaccine Advisory Committee Member, between 1964 and 2002, the U.S added eight new vaccines totaling 23 doses of 13 diseases. Now almost every year, new vaccines are added including the Flu shot which still contains 25 mcg of mercury, RotaTeq the rotavirus vaccine and the HPV Cervical cancer vaccine for young girls, totaling 18 different diseases given in multiple vaccines. Ted Koren, chiropractor and vaccine researcher, analyzed the vaccine cocktails and states that our children get 74 injected bacterial/viral components by age of 6. This does not even consider all of the un-natural, carcinogenetic ingredients found in vaccines.

We live in a very toxic environment and it is our responsibility as parents to protect our children and to try to reduce our toxic load. There is much that we do not have personal control over, but vaccinations are one area where we can take control and make informed decisions. If we do not get actively involved in making these decisions, we will eventually lose our rights. How will you feel when you no longer have the right to say "NO" and the government forces vaccines or you go to jail like a common criminal? The vaccination program in this country is not about health, it is about profit. Greed and power have been fueling this industry for many years. We must wake up and realize that as long as we passively allow the government to make our healthcare decisions; we do not own our bodies.

Parents must understand that they have the last say as to what gets injected into their children. All states allow exemptions to vaccines but most parents are not informed of their rights. In fact, we are told that our children cannot attend school unless they are fully vaccinated. That is only part of the story. Each state has its own vaccine requirements and most have religious exemptions, medical exemptions and some have philosophical exemptions available. Your local health department will have a copy of the written law which is available for you by request. If you do not know your rights, you are no different than a slave! Education is the key to making sound decisions and our children are counting on us to make health decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Please, do not make vaccine decisions out of fear!

Parents note: If any mandatory vaccine will cause injury or serious side effect, you will be responsible for the medical bills. Laws have been passed and signed making the vaccine manufactures, doctors, federal, state and county health departments immune from prosecution. In other words, you will be stuck paying the bills.

Aspirin is a risky pill to swallow

The issue surrounding the use of aspirin for any so-called health protection is outweighed by the risks of silent bleeding and further for the risk of failure of the clotting mechanism in general, similar to long term warfarin therapy, and disruption of the cell wall membrane.

Herbs with "blood thinning" capacity without untoward effects are available, as is vitamin E. Both nutrient classes of natural supplements will aid in this effort.

Caution that high-dose aspirin is not recommended for routine long-term use in cancer prevention in a healthy population and carries the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and other adverse effects.

Aspirin Prevents Colorectal Cancer but Risks Too High
By Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: January 24, 2008

BOSTON -- Long-term, higher-dose aspirin may protect men against colorectal cancer, but gastrointestinal and other associated risks outweigh the benefit, researchers said.

Men who took six to 14 aspirin tablets a week were 28% less likely than nonusers to develop colorectal cancer, and those who took more than 14 a week were at 70% lower risk, reported Andrew T. Chan, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, and colleagues, in the January issue of Gastroenterology.

However, the benefit was seen only for men who took aspirin consistently for at least six years, they found in their analysis of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

Randomized controlled trials have shown reduced adenoma recurrence with short-term aspirin use, but the Physicians' Health Study and the Women's Health Study showed low-dose aspirin did not protect against colorectal cancer.

"Our study provides additional support that aspirin chemoprevention requires use of higher doses over a long period, which raises the risk of adverse events such as gastrointestinal bleeding," they said.

Thus, aspirin cannot be recommended for general chemoprevention for a healthy population, they said. That conclusion is consistent with those of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

In an accompanying editorial, Peter Lance, M.D., of the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson, agreed that the toxicity to achieve these benefits would be prohibitive.

"Despite much effort over two decades," he noted, "no chemopreventive intervention for colorectal cancer has yet entered routine clinical practice as part of usual care for healthy members of the general population."

The Health Professionals Follow-up Study followed 51,529 male dentists, optometrists, osteopaths, podiatrists, pharmacists, and veterinarians for 18 years with biennial questionnaires.

During this period, there were 975 documented cases of colorectal cancer.

Men who used at least two aspirin a week, classified as regular users, had lower risk of colorectal cancer overall than men who did not regularly take aspirin in multivariate analysis controlling for other colorectal cancer risk factors (relative risk 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.69 to 0.90).

The benefit rose with increasing dose (P=0.004 for trend). Compared with men who did not report taking aspirin, the relative risk of colorectal cancer was:

Not reduced for those who took the equivalent of 0.5 to 1.5 standard tablets (325 mg) of aspirin a week (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.18)
Reduced, but not significantly so, for men taking two to five tablets a week (RR 0.80, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.01)
Significantly reduced for men taking six to 14 standard aspirin tablets a week (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.92)
Dramatically reduced for men who took more than 14 tablets a week (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.81)
However, use conferred a benefit only for men who reported consistent use for more than five years (P=0.008 for trend).

Greater benefits for longer duration of use were seen for advanced-stage cancers (P=0.03 for stage 2 and P=0.005 for stage 3 and 4 for trend), but not for early-stage cancers (P=0.31 for trend).

When men discontinued regular aspirin use, the benefit fizzled out after four to five years and their relative risk of colorectal cancer was as if they had never taken it (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.39).

The study may have underestimated duration of aspirin use, the researchers noted.

A previous subset study in the same Health Professionals Follow-up cohort found most aspirin users had used it for at least five years before baseline.

"Thus, it is likely that the minimum duration of use necessary to observe a risk reduction may be comparable to the 10 years we observed in a parallel cohort of women," Dr. Chan and colleagues said.

Nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) similarly improved colorectal cancer risk when used regularly for more than five years (RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.94, P=0.008 for trend with increasing duration).

However, no nonspecific analgesic effect appeared when the researchers looked at regular acetaminophen use for five or fewer years (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.22) or longer than five years (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.22).

The investigators noted that the study was observational and aspirin use was self-selected, but they countered that the results have "strong biologic plausibility" with causality demonstrated in prior studies.

Further study is needed to determine whether the benefits would outweigh the risks for a subset of patients, they concluded.

Other strategies may include finding new chemopreventive agents or combining lower doses of agents with separate pathways to improve safety, Dr. Lance added.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute and by the Entertainment Industry Foundation National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

Dr. Chan reported receiving support from awards from the American Gastroenterological Association/Foundation and the National Cancer Institute, as well as an award from the Glaxo Institute for Digestive Health for an unrelated study.

Dr. Lance provided no information on conflicts of interest.

Additional source: Gastroenterology
Source reference:
Chan AT, et al "Aspirin dose and duration of use and risk of colorectal cancer in men"Gastroenterology 2008; 134: 21-28.

Additional source: Gastroenterology
Source reference:
Lance P, "Chemoprevention for colorectal cancer: some progress but a long way to go" Gastroenterology 2008; 134: 341-353.

Add Your Knowledge™

doug keller - Jan 25, 2008
I would like to see risk/benefit/cost analysis comparing chronic aspirin use to colonoscopy.

navarro jose, md - Jan 26, 2008
I know a patient that because arthritis took aspirin in a compulsive neurotic way and in spite of gastric pain and bleeding,continued to do it, until ultimately developed renal insufficiency.

Friday, January 25, 2008

UPDATE - Herbal extract extends heart patients' lives: study

Posted originally March 2007
It is unfortunate that Bill Berkot failed to do his research when he wrote this story report.

Hawthorne has been the preemminent herb for the heart for hundreds of years and is used in the states (US) daily for CHF and related cardiovascular conditions.

It has additional uses as well for health especially in people over 40. When using hawthorne make sure that you inform your physician as it can and will lower your blood pressure.

Send us your questions about its use and effectiveness. You can order organic hawthorne extract made in the proper way from us too.

Hawthorn contains oligomeric procyanidins, flavonoids (including vitexin-2-rhamnoside) and other compounds. This product is standardized to contain 6.01 mg per tablet of vitexin-2-rhamnoside and 15 mg per tablet catechin polymers to ensure optimal strength and quality.
The substances in Hawthorn, particularly the oligomeric procyanidins and flavonoids, work together to:
support the healthy functioning of the heart muscle
help maintain normal blood pressure within a normal range
supports normal coronary blood flow
promote cardiovascular system health
provide antioxidant protection

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By Bill Berkrot 34 minutes ago

An extract from the leaves of the crataegus, or hawthorn tree, already available in Europe, extended the lives of patients with congestive heart failure who were already receiving medicinal treatment by an average of four months, a study found.

Results of the 2,681-patient clinical trial that tested the extract known as WS 1442 against a placebo, were presented on Tuesday at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting here.

The extract from the crataegus tree, which has its origins in Europe and Ireland and grows throughout North America, is a natural antioxidant that has been used in parts of Europe to treat heart failure, a condition in which the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood to the body's other organs.

Patients in the trial had severely impaired left ventricular function, indicating advanced congestive heart failure.

The primary goal of the study was time to first cardiac event, defined as sudden cardiac death, death due to progressive heart failure, fatal and nonfatal heart attacks or hospitalization due to heart failure.

Researchers found that patients who received the extract had a 20 percent reduction in cardiac-related deaths, which translated into four months of added survival time during the first 18 months of the study.

They said the lower number of deaths in the WS 1442 group compared with those who received placebo on top of their regular medicines was an indication of the safety of the crataegus extract.

"It postpones death of cardiac cause after 18 months and sudden cardiac death in an important subgroup of patients," said Dr. Christian Holubarsh, lead investigator of the study that was sponsored by the Germany-based Dr. Willmar Schwabe Group.

Study shows connection: asthma, early vaccinations

From the Canadian Press, important but probably something you won't see written up in the US media venues.

U of M researcher links asthma, early vaccinations
By Jen Skerritt Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Children who have their routine vaccinations delayed by two months or more cut their risk of asthma by half, a University of Manitoba researcher has found.

Anita Kozyrskyj, an asthma researcher in the U of M faculty of pharmacy, studied the immunization and health records of 14,000 children born in Manitoba in 1995.

Kozyrskyj found nearly 14 per cent of the children who received their first shot of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus vaccine at two months of age developed asthma — compared with only 5.9 per cent of children who were vaccinated more than four months after the scheduled date.

Manitoba recommends vaccinating children at two months, four months, six months and 18 months of age for diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus (DPT).

The DPT causes an allergic reaction and Kozyrskyj said researchers are speculating whether children's immune systems are better able to handle the vaccine's side effects when they're older. The pertussis vaccine used in Manitoba before 1997 caused fever in some children, and some studies have linked fever in early childhood to a greater risk of developing asthma.

The study's findings are going to be published in the U.S. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology within the next few weeks.

"We're thinking that maybe if you delay this allergic response until a bit later, the child's immune system is more developed and maybe you're not seeing this effect," Kozyrskyj said.

The findings come as little surprise to parents who have spoken out against the risks of vaccinating infants at an early age.

The prevalence of childhood disorders like asthma and auto-immune disorders like autism has increased over the last few decades, leaving many parents wondering whether childhood vaccinations may be contributing to the rise.

"They're barely out of the protection of the womb before we're sticking vaccines in them," said Irene Gergus, a Winnipeg mom whose son Andrew lost his ability to speak shortly after receiving his fourth DPT shot at 18 months in 1993.

"I'm not against vaccination I just think they're too young to be receiving (them)."

Kozyrskyj is the first researcher to study the effect between asthma and vaccines, but said she doesn't believe the findings will spur a change the province's vaccination schedule. She said Japan recommended children under 10 months not be vaccinated between 1975 and 1988, and the country saw a spike in the number of childhood cases of whooping cough.

Kozyrskyj said she is "pro-vaccination" and noted the safety and efficacy of vaccines has been studied for years.

"It's not an alarm bell," she said. "We have many years of research on these vaccines and I would say the benefits, by far, outweigh the risks."

Of the 14,000 immunization records Kozyrskyj studied, 11,531 children received at least four doses of DPT.

Overall, nearly 12 per cent of the children who received at least four doses of DPT had asthma. The majority of children who had asthma lived in urban areas and were predominantly male.

Kozyrskyj said researchers did not compare the risk of asthma among children who did not receive any vaccinations, saying only about 100 children in the province did not receive DPT — a number that would not be statistically significant.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca
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