April 2007 Archives

Earlier this month, the FDA came down on Redux Beverages, the company behind Cocaine Soda, claiming they were marketing it as a drug.

Let me begin by saying that the whole premise and ad campaign for Cocaine Soda is tasteless and appeals to people’s baser instincts. It’s worthy of being mocked and spoofed. But bad taste is not illegal. Offensive, yes. Illegal, no. Certainly every reasonable person would like to see Cocaine Soda disappear from the market – but by market forces, not by extra FDA censorship. It’s a very dangerous precedent.

The Foundation receives continual emails concerning gout. If this is you, you are not alone. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, 1988-1994, an estimated 5.1 million people in the United States suffer from gout, and it is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis in men. Gout affects approximately 3 times as many men as women, and men are more likely than women to have gout at all ages. It’s also worth noting that there is also some evidence that the prevalence and incidence of gout appear to be rising.

Is it necessary to always remove tonsils or adenoids when problems arise? Perhaps not. Tonsils, adenoids and Peyer's patches are small masses of lymphatic tissue in the body (some sources consider them specialized lymph nodes). These tissues serve to prevent infection in the body in areas where bacteria is abundant. There are five tonsils that form a "ring" around the throat that helps trap and remove any bacteria or other foreign pathogens entering the throat through breathing, eating, or drinking. Peyer's patches, which resemble tonsils, are located in the small intestine. The macrophages of Peyer's patches prevent infection of the intestinal wall by destroying the bacteria always present in the moist environment of the intestine.

After 15 years of analyzing the DNA and health of more than 40,000 adults and children, researchers in the UK have identified a gene that contributes to obesity. The media has jumped on the story, and headlines all over the world are now pronouncing things like:

• Having Trouble Squeezing into Your Jeans? Blame it on Your Genes
  
• Proof: There IS a gene that makes you fat

Oh puhleasse!
Is there a gene that contributes to obesity? Sure! But proclaiming that there’s a “gene that makes you fat” is totally irresponsible. How does a gene explain things such as?

Usually, I’m asked how to lose weight--or gain control of our weight--but occasionally I really do get asked how to gain good, strong, healthy weight. Whether you are recovering from an illness and need to add back a few pounds, or are trying to build body mass for athletic purposes, the following guidelines should be useful.

On April 30, 2007 the FDA will close the public comment period on a "Guidance" which will effectively classify many alternative health practices and supplements as drugs. www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/06d-0480-gld0001.pdf

These proposed guidelines are, of course, total nonsense. The key point in the guidelines is that any herb or supplement that actually has any beneficial effect should be regulated by the FDA as if it were a drug if it actually helps with any medical condition unless it is "generally recognized, among experts qualified by scientific training and experience to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of drugs, as safe and effective for use under the conditions prescribed, recommended, or suggested in the labeling."

This is nonsense for two different reasons.

Every day, doctors keep beating alternative health advocates with the same question, “Where are the peer reviewed studies that back you up? Without those studies to back you up, alternative health treatments are just a waste of money.”

I keep trying to remind these authorities that 85% of the treatments the medical community uses are not backed by studies. This includes the huge amount of off-label use of prescription drugs and a number of very expensive procedures that are near and dear to the heart of the medical community. Well, now there’s a new study on one of the nearest and dearest: angioplasty to relieve chest pain caused by clogged arteries – and the results of the study are not kind.

In a recently released study, researchers found that, in general, the more beef a woman ate, the lower her son's sperm count was throughout his entire life. For women who ate beef at least seven times a week, the son's sperm averaged 24 percent below normal. And even though those sons were successful in producing a pregnancy, they were three times as likely to have consulted a fertility doctor before doing so.

Over the last few weeks there have been back-to-back announcements that President Bush's spokesman and the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards are battling recurrences of cancer. It is not my wish to talk about their personal struggles or their personal choices on how they deal with the disease other than to wish the two of them and their families the best of possible outcomes.

The actual cause of acne is unknown. Hormones, diet, genetics, vitamin deficiency, and stress play a role. In simple terms, though, acne happens when a skin pore gets plugged. That said, let's look at the process in a little more detail.

There are two primary mechanisms for the onset of acne.

Back in November 2005, I published an article by my good friend, Michael Pedersen, President of Aquaspace Water Systems (subsequently posted on www.decluster.com). Michaels’s article talks about the bio-availability of water and how it can be altered by the application of magnetic fields. Since then, Michael’s article has been attacked as pseudo science on several sites, including: http://www.chem1.com:80/CQ/clusqk.html.

Sleep apnea, a condition that affects over 18 million people in just the US alone, is defined as a temporary suspension of breathing that occurs repeatedly during sleep. It is usually accompanied by heavy snoring. Essentially, it occurs when the throat briefly collapses or becomes restricted, thus causing pauses in your breathing. With pauses in breathing, the oxygen level in your blood may drop.

Primary causes include: