November 2006 Archives

There are two fairly common causes of hypothyroidism. The first is a result of inflammation of the thyroid gland which leaves a large percentage of the cells of the thyroid damaged (or dead) and incapable of producing sufficient hormone. The most common cause of thyroid gland failure is called autoimmune thyroiditis (aka Hashimoto's thyroiditis), a form of thyroid inflammation caused by the patient's own immune system.

In a stunning announcement this month, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that hunger has been totally eliminated in the United States -- or at least redefined. Announcing that "hunger" is a non-scientific term, the USDA has redefined this condition as a condition of "very low food security," which should be great news for the 35 million Americans who previously thought they were going hungry during the year.

But it gets even better. For those of you who might think "very low food security" isn't abstract enough, the USDA has further defined "very low food security" as "reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake." My goodness, if the United Nations adopted the same definitions, we could eliminate hunger worldwide with the stroke of a pen! Whatever would Bob Geldorf and Bono do?

Just a few days ago, I published a blog discussing the connection of diet to cancer, including reference to a study showing that eating char broiled meat increased the risk of breast cancer by some 74%. Now a new study published in the Harvard University Gazette has found that women who had more than one and half servings of red meat a day (however it was cooked) literally doubled their risk of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

It seems that almost every week now a new study appears, yet again, to confirm that when we refer to a "family history" as a cancer risk factor, we're really talking about a shared family lifestyle of diet and environment -- things that are changeable, even reversible.

A news release earlier this week from the American Association for Cancer Research reports that new studies show that diet can provide protection against development of certain cancers. Conclusions include:

* Soy intake between the ages of 5-11 reduced breast cancer rates by 58%

* HRT was once again affirmed as a breast cancer risk

* Fish consumption (Omega-3 fatty acids) reduced the risk of colon cancer

For some reason, I have seen a sudden burst of questions concerning Hepatitis C. Can anything be done about it outside the traditional medical model?

First, you need to understand that the medical response for Hep C is not necessarily that effective; and second, you should know that it's particularly rough on the body. On the other hand, the Baseline of Health approach, with a particular emphasis on immune support, antipathogen formulas, and liver detoxing offers a different, more body supportive, approach. For those of you interested, the following testimonial should prove useful.

www.jonbarron.org/images/jerrymapes.htm

A study relased today in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in protein and fat are not associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, and when vegetable sources of fat and protein are chosen, these diets may even moderately reduce the risk.

All in all, this is a pretty useless study from the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. Anyone with any understanding of diet and nutrition knows (and has known for years) that the problem with high protein diets is not heart disease. It's things like:

Question:

What is your opinion of the drug Procrit for anemia? What else do you recommend?

Answer:

Procrit, as is true of most medications, is not without side effects.

* http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/epoetin_ad.htm

* http://www.drugs.com/procrit.html

For obvious legal reasons I cannot diagnose or prescribe for specific conditions -- merely provide information. With that in mind...

Gray hair is one of those things that tends to be different for each person. What helps for one, may not help with another. And with some people, nothing seems to help at all. Certainly, over the years I've seen many people benefit from many things.

* Numbers of people have claimed that my antioxidant formulas such as Ultimate Antioxidant have helped with their gray hair.

* Some have benefited from supplementing with Omega-3 oils.

* Others have claimed benefit from megadoses of B vitamins, particular choline, inositol, and PABA (pretty much the Melancor formula).