March 2007 Archives

For several years, grape seed extract (sold as OPCs) was all the rage. As it turns out, grape SKIN, which was being thrown out, contained its own powerful phytoalexin antioxidant called resveratrol.

In controlled studies, resveratrol has been shown to reduce skin-cancer tumors by up to 98% and to stop production of leukemia cells. In addition, it works as a Cox inhibitor, thus halting the spread of cancer throughout the body. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring antioxidant that decreases the "stickiness" of blood platelets and helps blood vessels to remain open. In addition, resveratrol appears to have estrogen-like properties, and may be helpful in the treatment of breast diseases. Also, studies indicate that resveratrol can profoundly inhibit glucose uptake in HL-60 and U937 cells. Thus, resveratrol may prevent or abate metabolic disorders such as obesity and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus type 2.

It's now official. The New York State Food Laboratory has identified the presence of aminopterin in all of the samples of cat and dog food that appear to be causing kidney failure and death in what will likely end as several thousand cats and dogs.

What is aminopterin?

As the media and government debate the benefits of Vitamin E, most Americans still are not getting enough Vitamin E per day. Why is this important? Even though it got little press, a November 10, 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed a significant reduction in overall mortality by supplementing with vitamin E.

It is very common for people to automatically assume that a food allergy is directly triggered by food. However, this is not always the case. As discussed in my newsletter on allergies, they are the result of a cumulative build up of allergens in the body. To explain, there are over 100,000 new chemical additives and xenoestrogens that have been added to the environment in the last 50 years alone that could have made their way into your food and water supply--all taxing the body and contributing to any allergy problems. Also, any number of vitamin and mineral deficiencies can contribute to the problem.

A study just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine states that the offspring of longer-lived parents have a lower prevalence of cardiac risk factors in middle age. In addition, they are less likely to develop high blood pressure and coronary heart disease over time. The study then concludes that there are well-established genetic contributions to each of the risk factors that we have examined that may partially explain the reduced risk factors for those with long-lived parents.

After my recent newsletter about the common myths of Stomach Acid, we have had a few people ask about how to test for low stomach acid. There are actually several options. The Heidelberg Gastric Analysis test is considered one of the most accurate tests. However, it's fairly expensive (approximately $700).

A new study getting wide media coverage this week concludes that growing rates of obesity among young girls is leading to an earlier onset of puberty. The lead author of the study, Dr. Joyce Lee said, "Beyond identifying how obesity causes early puberty, it's also important to determine whether weight control interventions at an early age have the potential to slow the progression of puberty."

• Obviously, the researchers (and the media for that matter) are unfamiliar with numerous earlier studies, such as the August 2003 study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showing that the average concentration of estrogens in obese women is between 50% and 219% higher than in thin women -- and is associated with a higher incidence of breast cancer.

The scientific world loves peer reviewed studies, and there is indeed much to recommend them. But there is also a major flaw that rots away at their core.

Once a study is peer reviewed and published -- no matter how flawed that study is -- it now exists in the scientific literature and is available to be cited over and over again in future studies. It doesn't matter if the original study was funded by a pharmaceutical company with an agenda, if the researchers falsified data for personal renown, or if the basic methodology was just plain incorrect -- in fact, it doesn't even matter if the study was later refuted by other researchers -- once it has been published, it now exists as scientific fact, available for citation. And what makes the problem even worse is that when it is cited in a new study, all of the details that allow you to see its flaws are gone. Only the conclusions are cited so that they now appear irrefutable.