I have a cold. I don't get colds if I stick to my supplement regimine daily. Hum. Obviously, I didn't do that. I usually go buy some Wild Reishii mushroom to activate my body's own interferon (natural killer cells), but because I am in my pjs, and the store is closed right now, I thought, hum, what do I have in my arsenal of stuff, leftover from working at the health food store? What I found is what I want to introduce you to today. It too, activates your bodies' natural interferon. And I bet you have never heard of it ;-) It is called bis-beta caroxyethyl germanium sesquioxide. All the following information I totally stole from a website call Oxypowder (www.oxypowder.com) You can look up all the many references yourself.
The doctor begins with a remark against misinformation on the product. Here goes:
The complete truth is—the organic form of Germanium-132 (in untainted, pure samples) has never caused any negative health reactions, illness, or death.
In clinical research, organic Germanium-132 has demonstrated efficacy for:
Lowering or stabilizing blood pressure and serum cholesterol (LDL)
Stimulating Interferon production (to block HIV virus replication)
Encouraging suppressor T-Cell and NK-Lymphocyte production
Activating dormant Macrophages to kill cytotoxins
Promoting attraction and efficient absorption of oxygen by various bodily organs
Protecting against radiation damage and free radicals
Inhibiting the growth of harmful flora and invading organisms
Rejuvenating development of blood vessels for improved vision
Helping the body retain bone density while reducing sensitivity
Diminishing parathyroid secretions leading to decreased bone strength
Acting as a potent pain relieving agent
Essentially, organic Germanium-132 boosts the immune system by activating dormant macrophages to phagocytize (digest) cellular debris and viruses and also motivate other immune cells into action. This organic mineral may also provide some benefit as well for improved neural response and resistance to germs. Many alternative health practitioners and experienced researchers assert all disease results directly from the under-oxygenation of cellular tissue; and Germanium-132 greatly enhances both the presence and absorption of oxygen in the body’s various organs.
Although you may not be used to reading empirical data-oriented research, the clinical studies below provide verifiable information regarding both the safety and efficacy of Germanium-132 for supporting the immune system and natural body processes against a variety of negative health conditions. Criteria for these type of studies include the application of unbiased observation methods without adherence to preconceptions, strict protocols of the scientific method for experimental design, and most importantly, results that can be reproduced (and thus measured) over and over again.
In other words, these data cannot be refuted easily, not without presenting conflicting findings for peer review along with detailed explanations of why the earlier experiment failed in some respect. At the very least, the articles below provide a starting point for further study and consideration of this effective and safe health-promoting mineral.
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Immunological control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in an immunodeficient murine model of thermal injuries.
Summary: GE-132 Can Protect Against MRSA Infections.
"Staphylococcus aureus, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), is a major cause of sepsis in patients who are immunosuppressed by their burns. In this study, an immunological regulation of MRSA infection was attempted in a mouse model of thermal injury. SCIDbg mice were resistant to MRSA infection, while SCIDbgMN mice (SCIDbg mice depleted of neutrophils and macrophages (Mphi)) were susceptible to the same infection. Also, thermally injured SCIDbg mice were shown to be susceptible to MRSA infection. On the other hand, the resistance of SCIDbgMN mice to the infection was completely recovered after an inoculation with Mphi from normal mice.
However, anti-MRSA resistance was not shown in SCIDbgMN mice inoculated with Mphi from thermally injured mice. Mphi from MRSA-infected thermally injured mice were identified as alternatively activated Mphi, and Mphi from MRSA-infected unburned mice were characterized as classically activated Mphi.
Mphi from thermally injured SCIDbg mice previously treated with 2-carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) protected SCIDbgMN mice against MRSA infection. Ge-132 has been described as an inhibitor of alternatively activated Mphi generation. These results suggest that MRSA infection in thermally injured patients is controlled immunologically through the induction of anti-MRSA effector cells and elimination of burn-associated alternatively activated Mphi, which are cells that inhibit the generation of classically activated Mphi."[1]
Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston, Texas 77555-0435, USA.
[1]Katakura, T., Yoshida, T., Kobayashi, M., Herndon, D. N. and F. Suzuki. "Immunological control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in an immunodeficient murine model of thermal injuries."
Clinical and experimental immunology. Vol. 142, Issue 3. (419-25). Dec 2005. Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 16297152 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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DNA binding specificity and cytotoxicity of novel antitumor agent Ge132 derivatives.
Summary: GE-132 Shows Enhanced Anti-Tumor Activity.
"A series of Ge132 derivatives have shown enhanced anti-tumor activity. Previous studies suggest that DNA can be their primary target. Here we show direct evidence that two newly synthesized Ge132 derivatives can intercalate into DNA. Unexpected methyl substitution effect of the novel derivatives on DNA sequence selectivity and cytotoxicity was observed."[1]
Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry
Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Chemistry and Physics
Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
[1]Shangguan, G., Xing, F., Qu, X., Mao, J., Zhao, D., Zhao, X. and J. Ren. "DNA binding specificity and cytotoxicity of novel antitumor agent Ge132 derivatives."
Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters. Vol. 15, Issue 12. (2962-5). 2005 Jun 15. Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 15914003 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Prevention of trabecular bone loss in the mandible of ovariectomized rats.
Summary: GE-132 Shows Increased Bone Mineral Density and Bone Mineral Content.
"The effect of therapeutic agents on trabecular bone loss in the mandible was investigated in ovariectomized rats. Eighty-seven Wistar SPF female rats were ovariectomized (OVX) or given a sham operation (Sham), and maintained on a diet containing 0.1% calcium. Four weeks later, groups of OVX rats were treated with estriol (E3), calcitonin (CT), etidronate, or 2-carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132).
The Basal group was maintained on a diet containing 1.0% calcium, and the OVX and sham groups on a diet containing 0.1% calcium. The trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone mineral content (BMC) in 11 mandibular slices from 0.5 mm at the mesial margin of the first molar to 0.5 mm at the distal margin of the third molar, were measured using peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT).
The BMD in the OVX group was lower than that in the Sham group, and decreased BMC was observed only in the molar region. BMD and BMC were increased in the etidronate-treated group, but only BMC was increased in the CT group. E3 treatment increased BMD and BMC; significant increases were also observed beneath the molar. Ge-132 treatment increased both BMD and BMC, especially the latter."[1]
Department of Pharmacology, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo
Chiba, Japan.
[1]Jiang, G., Matsumoto, H., Yamane, J., Kuboyama, N., Akimoto, Y. and A. Fujii. "Prevention of trabecular bone loss in the mandible of ovariectomized rats."
Journal of oral science. Vol. 46, Issue 2. Jun 2004. (75-85). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 15287540 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Germane facts about germanium sesquioxide:
I. Chemistry and anticancer properties.
Summary: GE-132 - Anti-Cancer Properties and why more Studies have not been Performed!
"This paper reviews the history, chemistry, safety, toxicity, and anticancer effects of the organogermanium compound bis (2-carboxyethylgermanium) sesquioxide (CEGS). A companion review follows, discussing the inaccuracies in the scientific record that have prematurely terminated research on clinical uses of CEGS. CEGS is a unique organogermanium compound first made by Mironov and coworkers in Russia and, shortly thereafter, popularized by Asai and his colleagues in Japan.
Low concentrations of germanium occur in nearly all soils, plants and animal life; natural occurrence of the CEGS form is postulated but not yet demonstrated. The literature demonstrating its anticancer effect is particularly strong: CEGS induces interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), enhances natural killer cell activity, and inhibits tumor and metastatic growth--effects often detectable after a single oral dose.
In addition, oral consumption of CEGS is readily assimilated and rapidly cleared from the body without evidence of toxicity. Given these findings, the absence of human clinical trials of CEGS is unexpected. Possible explanations of why the convincing findings from animal research have not been used to support clinical trials are discussed. Clinical trials on CEGS are recommended."[1]
Department of Paediatrics (and)
Department of Community Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary (with)
Alberta Children's Hospital
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
kaplan@ucalgary.ca
[1]Kaplan, B. J., Parish, W. W., Andrus, G. M., Simpson, J. S. and C. J. Field. "Germane facts about germanium sesquioxide: I. Chemistry and anticancer properties."
Journal of alternative and complementary medicine. Vol. 10, Issue 2. Apr 2004. (337-44). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 15165414 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Germane facts about germanium sesquioxide:
II. Scientific error and misrepresentation.
"The preceding paper reviewed the anticancer properties and safety of bis (2-carboxyethylgermanium) sesquioxide (CEGS). An examination of those data leads one to question why this information has not stimulated clinical trials in patients with cancer. The answer is discussed in this paper, which traces the history to an error published in the scientific literature in 1987.
The reliance by subsequent authors on secondary sources, citing only the error and not the correction published in 1988, constitutes part of the explanation of why CEGS has been neglected. A second factor is also considered: careless reporting about any germanium-based compound as if the many thousands of germanium compounds were all the same. This combination of a publication error, careless writing, and the reliance on secondary sources appears to be responsible for the neglect of the potential clinical use of this unique germanium compound."[1]
Department of Paediatrics (and)
Department of Community Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary (with)
Alberta Children's Hospital
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
kaplan@ucalgary.ca
[1]Kaplan, B. J., Andrus, G. M. and W. W. Parish. "Germane facts about germanium sesquioxide: II. Scientific error and misrepresentation."
Journal of alternative and complementary medicine. Vol. 10, Issue 2. Apr 2004 (345-8). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 15165415 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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[Studies on the hydroxyl free radical-scavenging effect of combined selenium and germanium.]
[Article in Chinese]
Summary: GE-132 - Free Radical Scavenging Ability with Selenium!
"The effect of selenium, carboxyethyl-germanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) and the combination of selenium and Ge-132 on the production of hydroxyl free radical in liver microsomes of rats treated with Fe2SO4-NADPH system was studied with electron spin resonance technique (ESR). The results showed that the production of hydroxyl free radical was decreased significantly by adding selenium, Ge-132 and combined selenium and Ge-132, indicating a direct scavenging effect on hydroxyl free radical. It was also observed a enhanced scavenging effect at the low concentration of combined selenium and Ge-132."[1]
Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Wuhan 430030, China.
[1]Wu, Z., Chen, X., Yang, K. and T. Xia. "[Studies on the hydroxyl free radical-scavenging effect of combined selenium and germanium]." (Article in Chinese).
Wei sheng yan jiu. (Journal of hygiene research.) Vol. 30, Issue 4. Jul 2001 (208-10). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmedPMID: 12561515 [PubMed - in process]
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2-Carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide, a synthetic organogermanium compound, as an inducer of contrasuppressor T cells.
Summary: GE-132 Induces Contrasuppressor T-Cell Activity!
"2-Carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132), a synthesized organogermanium compound with immunomodulating activities, was shown to be an inducer of anti-suppressor T cells in normal mice. The suppressor cell activity of T6S cells, a clone of burn-induced CD8+ IL-4-producing suppressor T cells, was clearly inhibited when a mixed lymphocyte-tumor cell reaction of the clone was conducted with splenic mononuclear cells from mice treated orally with a 100 mg/kg dose of Ge-132. The activity of anit-suppressor cells was demonstrated in spleens of mice 2 days after treatment with Ge-132 and reached its peak on day 3.
The anti-suppressor cells induced by the compound were of a contrasuppressor T cell-linage, because they were characterized as CD4+ CD28+ TCRalpha/beta+ Vicia villosa lectin-adherent T cells. These cells produced IFN-gamma but did not produce IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 or IL-10 in their culture fluids. CD4+ anti-suppressor T cells induced by Ge-132 may be different from other subsets of CD4+ T cells because Th1 and Th2 cells generated in our laboratory did not adhere to Vicia villosa lectin-coated petri dishes, and each produced specific cytokines.
Th1 cells produced IFN-gamma and IL-2 while Th2 cells produce IL-4 and IL-10 in vitro. These results suggest that Ge-132 may be useful as an inducer of contrasuppressor T cells in immunocompromised individuals bearing suppressor T cells. To eliminate suppressor T cells from immunocompromised hosts may result in improved resistance from various opportunistic infections."[1]
Department of Neurology
Yamaguchi University of Medical School
Japan.
[1]Ikemoto, K., Kobayashi, M., Fukumoto, T., Morimatsu, M., Pollard R. B. and F. Suzuki. "2-Carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide, a synthetic organogermanium compound, as an inducer of contrasuppressor T cells."
Experientia. Vol. 52, Issue 2. Feb 1996 (159-66). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmedPMID: 8608818 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Effect of organic germanium compound (Ge-132) on experimental osteoporosis in rats.
Summary: GE-132 - May be Beneficial for Osteoporosis!
"The therapeutic effect of organic germanium compound, 2-carboxyethylgermaniumsesquioxide (Ge-132), for experimental osteoporosis was studied using ovariectomized rats maintained on a low calcium containing diet. 2. Serum calcitonin (sCT) level was decreased and serum parathyroid hormone (sPTH) level was increased by ovariectomy and the decrement and increment rates, respectively, were reduced by administration of Ge-132.
Thus, the sCT/sPTH ratio was greater in the groups given Ge-132, indicating that the resorption [sic] was somehow inhibited by Ge-132. 3. The transverse strength of femur bone was significantly enhanced by Ge-132. 4. A trend was found in the group given Ge-132 for a larger femur cortical bone index. 5. The relative femur bone wet weight was greater in the group given Ge-132. 6. These results indicate that Ge-132 prevents decreased bone strength, and affects the femur cortical bone index, and bone mineral mass caused by osteoporosis."[1]
Department of Pharmacology
Nihon University School of Dentistry
Chiba, Japan.
[1]Fujii, A., Kuboyama, N., Yamane, J., Najao, S. and Y. Furukawa. "Effect of organic germanium compound (Ge-132) on experimental osteoporosis in rats."
General pharmacology. Vol. 24, Issue 6. Nov 1993 (1527-32). Online. Accessed: 9 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 8112531 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Antiviral activity of carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) in mice infected with influenza virus.
Summary: GE-132 - Immunomodulating activities. May have Anti-Viral Properties.
"The protective effect of carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) in mice infected with a mouse-adapted strain of influenza virus (H2N2) was investigated. When mice were exposed to a 10 LD50 dose of influenza virus via aerosol and were treated orally with 20 or 100 mg/kg of Ge-132 daily for 6 consecutive days, a significant protective effect was demonstrated.
The antiviral effect of Ge-132 was indicated by an increase of survivors, a prolongation of mean survival days, an inhibition of the development of lung consolidation, and a decrease of virus titer in lung tissues, as compared to infected control mice treated with phosphate-buffered saline.
Natural killer (NK) cell activity in the spleens and lungs of the infected mice was also significantly augmented after the oral administration of Ge-132. In addition, NK cells stimulated with Ge-132 in vivo showed killing activity against NK-insensitive Meth-A cells infected with influenza virus.
Because no virucidal or virustatic activities of Ge-132 on the virus were found in vitro, this protective effect in mice against influenza virus infection may be displayed through immunomodulating activities of this compound such as the augmentation of NK cell activity."[1]
Department of Bacteriology
Tohoku University School of Medicine
Sendai, Japan.
[1]Aso, H., Suzuki, F., Ebina, T. and N. Ishida. "Antiviral activity of carboxyethylgermanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) in mice infected with influenza virus."
Journal of biological response modifiers. Vol. 8, Issue 2. Apr 1989 (180-9). Online. Accessed: 11 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 2471817 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Induction of interferon production by natural killer cells by organogermanium compound, Ge132.
Summary: GE-132 - Study shows increased Interferon production by Natural Killer Cells.
"Interferon (IFN)-inducing activity of the organogermanium compound Ge132 in human peripheral mononuclear cells was investigated. By using Percoll discontinuous density gradient centrifugation, peripheral blood nonphagocytic and nonadherent mononuclear cells were divided into the low-and high-density fractions. Natural killer (NK)-enriched low-density fractions, but not the T-cell-enriched high-density fractions, showed IFN production by the stimulation of Ge132.
The maximal titer of IFN by NK-enriched fractions (F1 + F2) was observed after a 74-h cultivation in the presence of 200 micrograms/ml Ge132. IFN production by the NK-enriched fractions was abrogated by treatment of the cells with monoclonal antibody against human NK cells in the presence of complement. The treatment with antiserum-neutralizing human IFN-gamma resulted in a marked reduction, indicating that a major part of IFN was IFN-gamma. These results suggested that Ge132 might possess affinity to NK cells, inducing IFN production by NK cells."[1]
[1]Munakata, T., Arai, S., Kuwano, K., Furukawa, M. and Y. Tomita. "Induction of interferon production by natural killer cells by organogermanium compound, Ge132."
Journal of interferon research. Vol. 7, Issue 1. Feb 1987 (69-76). Online. Accessed: 11 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 3108417 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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[Inhibitive effects of spirulina on aberrant crypts in colon induced by dimethylhydrazine]
[Article in Chinese]
Summary: GE-132 - Study shows protective ability on Colon Aberrant Cysts.
"Precancerous pathological changes of colon was induced by single injection in a short-term and multiple injection in a long-term intraperitoneally with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) in NIH mice and Sprague-Dawley rats. And, protective effects of spirulina, germanium-132 and vitamin E on colon aberrant crypts induced by DMH were observed.
Results showed either single injection or multiple injection with DMH could induce aberrant crypts in colon. The number of aberrant crypts scattered by short-term single injection was less than that by multiple one, and less of the aberrant crypts foci were formed by short-term single injection.
Spirulina powder, germanium-132 and vitamin E all could inhibit the function of aberrant crypts of colon. In the ninth week during multiple injection with DMH, a lot of aberrant crypts of colon had been induced, and a certain amount of aberrant crypts foci had been generated. The number of aberrant crypts and aberrant crypts foci in the animals with tumor increased with the length of DMH injection. In the ninth-, 13th- and 16th-week, respectively, the number of aberrant crypts and aberrant crypts foci was significantly less in animals protected by spirulina than in positive controls (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between them during 21st- and 24th-week of injections."[1]
Hengyang Medical College
Hengyang Hunan.
[1]Chen, F. and Q. Zhang. "[Inhibitive effects of spirulina on aberrant crypts in colon induced by dimethylhydrazine]." (Article in Chinese).
Zhonghua yu fang yi xue za zhi. (Chinese journal of preventive medicine). Vol. 29, Issue 1. Jan 1995 (13-7). Online. Accessed: 11 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 7600882 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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[An observation of antiproliferative effect of germanium-132 on cultured pterygium fibroblasts]
[Article in Chinese]
Summary: GE-132 - Study shows effect on Pterygium Fibroblasts.
"OBJECTIVE: To detect the antiproliferation of carboxyethyl germanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) on fibroblasts of pterygium in vitro and try to find a potentially effective agent for treatment of primary pterygium and prevention of its postoperative recurrence.
METHODS: Primary culture and subculture of pterygium fibroblasts were established in vitro. Different concentrations of Ge-132 (39 - 5,000 mg/L) or mitomycin-C (3.13 - 4.00 mg/L, the control) were added to the fibroblast culture of the third or forth passage respectively. The inhibitory effect was determined by MTT (tetrazolium bromide) method. The influence of addition of Ge-132 on the growth curve of fibroblasts was observed, and the changing expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in fibroblasts was studied by immunohistochemical method
RESULTS: The addition of Ge-132 in the culture caused significant inhibition of the fibroblast proliferation in dose dependent manner (625 - 50,000 mg/L) without cytotoxicity (IC(50) = 3,000 mg/L), the marked descent of growth curve and suppression of the expression of PCNA in cultured cells (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Ge-132 can inhibit the proliferation of pterygium fibroblast in vitro significantly."[1]
Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology
Beijing 100005, China.
[1]Liu, Y., Sun, X., Li, B. and J. Wang. "[An observation of antiproliferative effect of germanium-132 on cultured pterygium fibroblasts]" (Article in Chinese).
[Zhonghua yan ke za zhi]. (Chinese journal of ophthalmology). Vol. 36, Issue 4. Jul 2000 (263-6), 16. Online. Accessed: 11 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 11853609 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Effect of germanium-132 on low-density lipoprotein oxidation and atherosclerosis in Kurosawa and Kusanagi hypercholesterolemic rabbits.
Summary: GE-132 - Study shows Antioxidant Ability of Germanium-132.
"Germanium-132 (Ge-132) was given at 200 mg/kg of body weight to 8-week-old Kurosawa and Kusanagi hypercholesterolemic (KHC) rabbits. Thirty-six weeks later, the susceptibility of plasma low-density lipoprotein to oxidation and the morphology of atherosclerosis in the aorta and coronary artery were investigated. Treatment with Ge-132 resulted in decreases in the oxidation rate and in the formation rate of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances following copper-induced oxidation of LDL. Ge-132 is suggested to possess antioxidative properties, but this did not lead to any attenuation of atherosclerotic progression in the KHC rabbits."[1]
Department of Medicine, University of Kitasato Medical School
Sagamihara, Japan.
yasiwaka@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp
[1]Wakabayashi Y. "Effect of germanium-132 on low-density lipoprotein oxidation and atherosclerosis in Kurosawa and Kusanagi hypercholesterolemic rabbits."
Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry. Vol. 65, Issue 8. Aug 2001 (1893-6). Online. Accessed: 11 May 2007. (Highlighted text by The Editors).
Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed PMID: 11577738 [PubMed
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Leannes' Eating Tips
I subscribe to Flylady emails www.Flylady.net . And Flylady's nutritionist is Leanne Ely, who wrote all the Saving Dinner series www.savingdinner.com.
Leanne has made what to eat simple with these guidelines and I knew you would want them too.
Dear Friends,
In the world of nutrition, there is a constant stream of information
that (unfortunately) overwhelms most people. Yes, even nutritionists
get overloaded with nutritional TMI! Regardless, it still drills down
to the basics that people often miss in their quest to be healthier.
I've thought about this a lot as I stroll through the grocery store
seeing what people have in their carts! It's absolutely mind boggling
what constitutes food in some people's minds and that they actually
paid hard earned money for some of this stuff.
So let's get serious and came up with ten things you can implement
easily for better health that won't cost you much money and you won't
even have to think about (very much). Here you go—
1) First Thirst. Water is cheap, readily available and will boost your
health, your absorption of nutrients and give you great skin! What's
not to like about that? Before you order a soda, grab the juice or
iced tea, drink your water. Water first, then the other stuff. If you
really wanna save some cash, skip the other stuff entirely.
2) Big on Breakfast. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism started,
your appetite handled and consequently, helps you to stabilize, maybe
even lose weight!
3) Eat in Season. Fresh fruits and veggies can be expensive, but if
you buy in season (take advantage of locally grown stuff), you're
going to get superior quality and less cash outlay! If you do a
garden, you'll eat even better for WAY less!
4) Watch the Iceberg. There are FAR better lettuces out there. Iceberg
is nearly nutritionally void. Just let the color GREEN be your guide;
the greener, the better!
5) Get Blue. Throw some blueberries on your cereal this week.
Blueberries (fresh or frozen) have more antioxidants and
phytonutrients than any other vegetable or fruit on the planet! I like
them in my steel cut oats in the morning.
6) Home Plate. Large salad plates work better for portion control than
conventional dinner plates. Your plate should have a deck of
cards-sized protein source and a fist-sized amount of complex
carbs—the rest, pile high with veggies.
7) Brown Outs. Skip the white rice, white flour and sugar. Instead, go
with whole-wheat flour, brown rice and use evaporated cane juice (also
called Sucanat) instead of regular sugar. And go SPARINGLY on all of them!
8) Go Fish. Eat wild fish instead of farm-raised fish to enjoy the
benefits of omega-3 fatty acids not found in farm-raised. You can find
it on sale and flash frozen to save money. Wild salmon is an
especially nutritious choice!
9) Better Butter. Use half olive oil and butter whipped together.
Spreads easier, better for you and less saturated fat than regular
butter.
10) Shake the Salt. When cooking, use toward the end of cooking and
only to taste. Taste your food BEFORE you salt it and if you wanna go
hardcore, remove the shaker entirely from the table.
There you go. As you can see by the list, they're pretty easy things
to implement. You can take a few and run with them this week; add a
few more next week. Babysteps! You can do this!
Have fun getting your healthy food on!
Love,
Leanne
Leanne has made what to eat simple with these guidelines and I knew you would want them too.
Dear Friends,
In the world of nutrition, there is a constant stream of information
that (unfortunately) overwhelms most people. Yes, even nutritionists
get overloaded with nutritional TMI! Regardless, it still drills down
to the basics that people often miss in their quest to be healthier.
I've thought about this a lot as I stroll through the grocery store
seeing what people have in their carts! It's absolutely mind boggling
what constitutes food in some people's minds and that they actually
paid hard earned money for some of this stuff.
So let's get serious and came up with ten things you can implement
easily for better health that won't cost you much money and you won't
even have to think about (very much). Here you go—
1) First Thirst. Water is cheap, readily available and will boost your
health, your absorption of nutrients and give you great skin! What's
not to like about that? Before you order a soda, grab the juice or
iced tea, drink your water. Water first, then the other stuff. If you
really wanna save some cash, skip the other stuff entirely.
2) Big on Breakfast. Eating breakfast gets your metabolism started,
your appetite handled and consequently, helps you to stabilize, maybe
even lose weight!
3) Eat in Season. Fresh fruits and veggies can be expensive, but if
you buy in season (take advantage of locally grown stuff), you're
going to get superior quality and less cash outlay! If you do a
garden, you'll eat even better for WAY less!
4) Watch the Iceberg. There are FAR better lettuces out there. Iceberg
is nearly nutritionally void. Just let the color GREEN be your guide;
the greener, the better!
5) Get Blue. Throw some blueberries on your cereal this week.
Blueberries (fresh or frozen) have more antioxidants and
phytonutrients than any other vegetable or fruit on the planet! I like
them in my steel cut oats in the morning.
6) Home Plate. Large salad plates work better for portion control than
conventional dinner plates. Your plate should have a deck of
cards-sized protein source and a fist-sized amount of complex
carbs—the rest, pile high with veggies.
7) Brown Outs. Skip the white rice, white flour and sugar. Instead, go
with whole-wheat flour, brown rice and use evaporated cane juice (also
called Sucanat) instead of regular sugar. And go SPARINGLY on all of them!
8) Go Fish. Eat wild fish instead of farm-raised fish to enjoy the
benefits of omega-3 fatty acids not found in farm-raised. You can find
it on sale and flash frozen to save money. Wild salmon is an
especially nutritious choice!
9) Better Butter. Use half olive oil and butter whipped together.
Spreads easier, better for you and less saturated fat than regular
butter.
10) Shake the Salt. When cooking, use toward the end of cooking and
only to taste. Taste your food BEFORE you salt it and if you wanna go
hardcore, remove the shaker entirely from the table.
There you go. As you can see by the list, they're pretty easy things
to implement. You can take a few and run with them this week; add a
few more next week. Babysteps! You can do this!
Have fun getting your healthy food on!
Love,
Leanne
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Change and Natural Medicine
I don't much like change. If things are working, then I don't want them to change. And I like delegating a lot of my worries, like health care to a medical doctor, so that I don't have to be responsible for yet one more thing. I am like that. Are you?
the reason I am thinking this is because I am trying hard to figure out why so many of my close friends' eyes glaze over whenever I mention a natural remedies of any sort for anything. They certianly aren't all like this, but many are. Is it because they don't believe me? Or is it because they don't want to believe me? If what I am saying is true, then it means they have to think that maybe their medical doctor doesn't know everything. And that is scary. It means that they have yet one more problem to tack onto their list of worries, and they simply don't want to. It means change, and who wants change? Life is one big adjustment as it is.
My friends don't see natural medicine making their lives easier, but harder. It means delegating the worry of healthcare for themselves and their families away from their medical doctor (s) and onto themselves. It means venturing out and finding other doctors. All this is change. And it is time consuming, and worriesome.
Now, I just presume this is what is going on. Is it what is going on with you too?
the reason I am thinking this is because I am trying hard to figure out why so many of my close friends' eyes glaze over whenever I mention a natural remedies of any sort for anything. They certianly aren't all like this, but many are. Is it because they don't believe me? Or is it because they don't want to believe me? If what I am saying is true, then it means they have to think that maybe their medical doctor doesn't know everything. And that is scary. It means that they have yet one more problem to tack onto their list of worries, and they simply don't want to. It means change, and who wants change? Life is one big adjustment as it is.
My friends don't see natural medicine making their lives easier, but harder. It means delegating the worry of healthcare for themselves and their families away from their medical doctor (s) and onto themselves. It means venturing out and finding other doctors. All this is change. And it is time consuming, and worriesome.
Now, I just presume this is what is going on. Is it what is going on with you too?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Depression: Pharmaceutical Treatment Kickbacks
Hum.... this whole article was found in the New York Times online. It is titled Psychiatric Group Faces Scrutiny over Drug Industry Ties by Benedict Covey and Gardiner Harris.
If you are really having problems with depression, pharmaceuticals and psychiatrists, you are going to read all of this article. If not, you will skim. I will highlight the main sentences in each paragraph for the skimmers and redden the take home thoughts that really popped out at me. And in lavender, are my own personal comments because gee whiz, it is so obvious, and I have so much fun doing it. And while you wait to find a psychiatrist who doesn't take kickbacks in order to prescribe you a depression pharmaceutical that may or may not work, find a psychiatrist like Dr. Mahesh Dave that also practices acupuncture for depression and has great success with it. Try everything else that has worked for others which I have written about in other articles, including arctic cod liver oil, twice daily, one tablespoon adults, one teaspoon kids. ...including balancing your blood sugar with increased protein and far less simple sugars... including exercise.... including ...well, just check 'em. Here is the article:
It seemed an ideal marriage, a scientific partnership that would attack mental illness from all sides. Psychiatrists would bring to the union their expertise and clinical experience, drug makers would provide their products and the money to run rigorous studies, and patients would get better medications, faster.
But now the profession itself is under attack in Congress, accused of allowing this relationship to become too cozy. After a series of stinging investigations of individual doctors’ arrangements with drug makers, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, is demanding that the American Psychiatric Association, the field’s premier professional organization, give an accounting of its financing.
The association is the voice of establishment psychiatry, publishing the field’s major journals and its standard diagnostic manual.
“I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions,” Mr. Grassley said Thursday in a letter to the association.
In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing. About half of that money went to drug advertisements in psychiatric journals and exhibits at the annual meeting, and the other half to sponsor fellowships, conferences and industry symposiums at the annual meeting.
This weekend in Chicago, the psychiatry association’s board will meet behind closed doors, in part to discuss how to respond to the increasingly intense scrutiny and questions about conflicts of interest.
“With every new revelation, our credibility with patients has been damaged, and we have to protect that first and foremost,” said Dr. Steven S. Sharfstein, a former president of the association and now president of the Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore. “I think we need to review all arrangements between doctors and industry and be very clear about what constitutes a conflict of interest and what does not.”
One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is the association’s president-elect, Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg of Stanford, whose $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern. In a telephone interview, Dr. Schatzberg said he had fully complied with Stanford’s rigorous disclosure policies and federal guidelines that pertained to his research.
Blocking or constraining researchers from trying to bring medications to market “will mean less opportunities to help patients with severe illnesses,” Dr. Schatzberg said, adding, “Drugs that are helpful may not be developed by big pharmaceutical companies, for a variety of reasons, and we need some degree of communication between academia and industry” to expand options for patients.
HUM, WITH 4.5 MILLION IN A COMPANY'S STOCK I WOULD TRY TO COVER UP OW MANURE WITH PERFUME AND TRY TO MAKE IT SMELL GOOD TOO.
Commercial arrangements are rampant throughout medicine. In the past two decades, drug and device makers have paid tens of thousands of doctors and researchers of all specialties. Worried that this money could taint doctors’ research plans or clinical judgment, government agencies, medical journals and universities have been forced to look more closely at deal details.
In psychiatry, Mr. Grassley has found an orchard of low-hanging fruit. As a group, psychiatrists earn less in base salary than any other specialists, according to a nationwide survey by the Medical Group Management Association. In 2007, median compensation for psychiatrists was $198,653, less than half of the $464,420 earned by diagnostic radiologists and barely more than the $190,547 earned by doctors practicing internal medicine.
But many psychiatrists supplement this income with consulting arrangements with drug makers, traveling the country to give dinner talks about drugs to other doctors for fees generally ranging from $750 to $3,500 per event, for instance.
While data on industry consulting arrangements are sparse, state officials in Vermont reported that in the 2007 fiscal year, drug makers gave more money to psychiatrists than to doctors in any other specialty. Eleven psychiatrists in the state received an average of $56,944 each. Data from Minnesota, among the few other states to collect such information, show a similar trend.
In both states, individual psychiatrists are not top earners, but consulting arrangements are so common that their total tops all others. The worry is that this money may subtly alter psychiatrists’ choices of which drugs to prescribe.
DUH.
An analysis of Minnesota data by The New York Times last year found that on average, psychiatrists who received at least $5,000 from makers of newer-generation antipsychotic drugs appear to have written three times as many prescriptions to children for the drugs as psychiatrists who received less money or none. The drugs are not approved for most uses in children, who appear to be especially susceptible to the side effects, including rapid weight gain.
HUM WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FIRST DO NO HARM??? PROMISED UPON GRADUATION, FORGOTTEN UPON THE CLEARING OF THE FIRST CHECK FROM THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY INTO THE BANK ACCOUNT, HUH?
Senator Grassley’s investigations have not only detailed how lucrative those arrangements can be but have also shown that some top psychiatrists failed to report all their earnings as required.
After The Times reported on such an arrangement involving Dr. Melissa P. DelBello of the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Grassley asked the university to provide her income disclosure forms and asked AstraZeneca, the maker of the antipsychotic Seroquel, to reveal how much it paid her.
In scientific publications, Dr. DelBello has reported working for eight drug makers and told university officials that from 2005 to 2007 she earned about $100,000 in outside income, according to Mr. Grassley.
But AstraZeneca told Mr. Grassley it paid her more than $238,000 in that period. AstraZeneca sent some of its payments through MSZ Associates, an Ohio corporation Dr. DelBello established for “personal financial purposes.”
OH MY, CAN WE SAY LIAR AND COVERUP? AND REMEMBER, WE GO TO PSYCHIATRISTS TO HELP STEER US THROUGH LIFE INCLUDING OH SO MANY MORAL CHALLENGES, HUH?
The University of Cincinnati agreed to monitor those payments more closely.
POOR BABIES, DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE, DID THEY?
In early June, the senator reported to Congress that Dr. Joseph Biederman, a renowned child psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, and a colleague, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens, had reported to university officials earning several hundred thousand dollars apiece in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 when in fact they had earned at least $1.6 million each.
Another member of the Harvard group, Dr. Thomas Spencer, reported earning at least $1 million after being pressed by Mr. Grassley’s investigators. The Harvard psychiatrists said they took conflict-of-interest policies seriously and had abided by disclosure rules.
WELL, OF COURSE THEY DID. WHAT ELSE WERE THEY GOING TO SAY, OH MY WE GOT CAUGHT?
In late June, after Mr. Grassley singled out Dr. Schatzberg, Stanford disputed some of the numbers in the report and has denied that Dr. Schatzberg violated any research rules devised to police such conflicts.
In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Nada L. Stotland, president of the psychiatric association, said the group had studied Mr. Grassley’s letter and Stanford’s response and agreed with Stanford. Dr. Schatzberg will take over as president of the association as planned, she said.
“The larger issue here is that there’s a revolution going on” in how medicine handles industry money, said Dr. Stotland, a psychiatrist at Rush Medical College in Chicago. “That’s good, that’s what we need, and I believe we’ve been on the cutting edge of that revolution in many ways.”
Dr. Stotland said that the association began reviewing the income it received from pharmaceutical companies last March, to identify potential conflicts. Doctors and academic researchers generally worked at arm’s length from industry until the early 1980s, when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act. This legislation encouraged closer collaboration between researchers and industry to bring products to market more quickly. The act helped foster the growth of the biotech industry, and soon professors and universities were busy obtaining patents and building relationships with industry.
Some psychiatrists have long argued that consulting with a company — to help design a rigorous drug trial, for instance — benefits patients, as long as the researcher has no financial stake in the product and is not paid to speak about the drug to other doctors, like a traveling pitchman.
Others say industry and academic researchers are now so deeply intertwined that exposing doctors’ private arrangements only stokes suspicion without correcting the real problem: bias.
“Having everyone stand up like a Boy Scout and make a pledge isn’t going to quell suspicion,” said Dr. Donald Klein, an emeritus professor at Columbia, who has consulted with drug makers himself. “The only hope to rule out bias is to have open access to all data that’s produced in studies and know that there are people checking it” who are not on that company’s payroll.
Studies have shown that researchers who are paid by a company are more likely to report positive findings when evaluating that company’s drugs. The private deals can directly affect patient care, said Dr. William Niederhut, a psychiatrist in private practice in Denver who receives no industry money.
Dr. Niederhut said company-sponsored doctors had spread the word that new and expensive drugs were better in treating bipolar disorder than lithium, the cheaper old standby treatment.
“It’s a sales pitch, and now it’s looking like a whole lot of people would have done better if they’d started on lithium in the first place,” Dr. Niederhut said in a telephone interview. “The profession absolutely has to come clean on these industry deals, and soon.”
Tighter rules, stronger statements and more debate may not make much difference, if Mr. Grassley’s findings are any guide. Universities have rules requiring that faculty members disclose their outside income so that conflicts of interest in research or patient care can be managed. But some of the psychiatrists named in the investigations apparently ignored the rules.
“I think we may be coming to a point where hospitals and medical schools have to get serious about sanctioning,” said Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, director of the division of psychiatry, medicine and the law at Columbia. “You can suspend doctors’ privileges, or suspend their right to treat patients; both have a huge impact on income and career. But if you’re serious about these disclosure policies, you have to be willing to back them up.”
If you are really having problems with depression, pharmaceuticals and psychiatrists, you are going to read all of this article. If not, you will skim. I will highlight the main sentences in each paragraph for the skimmers and redden the take home thoughts that really popped out at me. And in lavender, are my own personal comments because gee whiz, it is so obvious, and I have so much fun doing it. And while you wait to find a psychiatrist who doesn't take kickbacks in order to prescribe you a depression pharmaceutical that may or may not work, find a psychiatrist like Dr. Mahesh Dave that also practices acupuncture for depression and has great success with it. Try everything else that has worked for others which I have written about in other articles, including arctic cod liver oil, twice daily, one tablespoon adults, one teaspoon kids. ...including balancing your blood sugar with increased protein and far less simple sugars... including exercise.... including ...well, just check 'em. Here is the article:
It seemed an ideal marriage, a scientific partnership that would attack mental illness from all sides. Psychiatrists would bring to the union their expertise and clinical experience, drug makers would provide their products and the money to run rigorous studies, and patients would get better medications, faster.
But now the profession itself is under attack in Congress, accused of allowing this relationship to become too cozy. After a series of stinging investigations of individual doctors’ arrangements with drug makers, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, is demanding that the American Psychiatric Association, the field’s premier professional organization, give an accounting of its financing.
The association is the voice of establishment psychiatry, publishing the field’s major journals and its standard diagnostic manual.
“I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions,” Mr. Grassley said Thursday in a letter to the association.
In 2006, the latest year for which numbers are available, the drug industry accounted for about 30 percent of the association’s $62.5 million in financing. About half of that money went to drug advertisements in psychiatric journals and exhibits at the annual meeting, and the other half to sponsor fellowships, conferences and industry symposiums at the annual meeting.
This weekend in Chicago, the psychiatry association’s board will meet behind closed doors, in part to discuss how to respond to the increasingly intense scrutiny and questions about conflicts of interest.
“With every new revelation, our credibility with patients has been damaged, and we have to protect that first and foremost,” said Dr. Steven S. Sharfstein, a former president of the association and now president of the Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore. “I think we need to review all arrangements between doctors and industry and be very clear about what constitutes a conflict of interest and what does not.”
One of the doctors named by Mr. Grassley is the association’s president-elect, Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg of Stanford, whose $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern. In a telephone interview, Dr. Schatzberg said he had fully complied with Stanford’s rigorous disclosure policies and federal guidelines that pertained to his research.
Blocking or constraining researchers from trying to bring medications to market “will mean less opportunities to help patients with severe illnesses,” Dr. Schatzberg said, adding, “Drugs that are helpful may not be developed by big pharmaceutical companies, for a variety of reasons, and we need some degree of communication between academia and industry” to expand options for patients.
HUM, WITH 4.5 MILLION IN A COMPANY'S STOCK I WOULD TRY TO COVER UP OW MANURE WITH PERFUME AND TRY TO MAKE IT SMELL GOOD TOO.
Commercial arrangements are rampant throughout medicine. In the past two decades, drug and device makers have paid tens of thousands of doctors and researchers of all specialties. Worried that this money could taint doctors’ research plans or clinical judgment, government agencies, medical journals and universities have been forced to look more closely at deal details.
In psychiatry, Mr. Grassley has found an orchard of low-hanging fruit. As a group, psychiatrists earn less in base salary than any other specialists, according to a nationwide survey by the Medical Group Management Association. In 2007, median compensation for psychiatrists was $198,653, less than half of the $464,420 earned by diagnostic radiologists and barely more than the $190,547 earned by doctors practicing internal medicine.
But many psychiatrists supplement this income with consulting arrangements with drug makers, traveling the country to give dinner talks about drugs to other doctors for fees generally ranging from $750 to $3,500 per event, for instance.
While data on industry consulting arrangements are sparse, state officials in Vermont reported that in the 2007 fiscal year, drug makers gave more money to psychiatrists than to doctors in any other specialty. Eleven psychiatrists in the state received an average of $56,944 each. Data from Minnesota, among the few other states to collect such information, show a similar trend.
In both states, individual psychiatrists are not top earners, but consulting arrangements are so common that their total tops all others. The worry is that this money may subtly alter psychiatrists’ choices of which drugs to prescribe.
DUH.
An analysis of Minnesota data by The New York Times last year found that on average, psychiatrists who received at least $5,000 from makers of newer-generation antipsychotic drugs appear to have written three times as many prescriptions to children for the drugs as psychiatrists who received less money or none. The drugs are not approved for most uses in children, who appear to be especially susceptible to the side effects, including rapid weight gain.
HUM WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FIRST DO NO HARM??? PROMISED UPON GRADUATION, FORGOTTEN UPON THE CLEARING OF THE FIRST CHECK FROM THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY INTO THE BANK ACCOUNT, HUH?
Senator Grassley’s investigations have not only detailed how lucrative those arrangements can be but have also shown that some top psychiatrists failed to report all their earnings as required.
After The Times reported on such an arrangement involving Dr. Melissa P. DelBello of the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Grassley asked the university to provide her income disclosure forms and asked AstraZeneca, the maker of the antipsychotic Seroquel, to reveal how much it paid her.
In scientific publications, Dr. DelBello has reported working for eight drug makers and told university officials that from 2005 to 2007 she earned about $100,000 in outside income, according to Mr. Grassley.
But AstraZeneca told Mr. Grassley it paid her more than $238,000 in that period. AstraZeneca sent some of its payments through MSZ Associates, an Ohio corporation Dr. DelBello established for “personal financial purposes.”
OH MY, CAN WE SAY LIAR AND COVERUP? AND REMEMBER, WE GO TO PSYCHIATRISTS TO HELP STEER US THROUGH LIFE INCLUDING OH SO MANY MORAL CHALLENGES, HUH?
The University of Cincinnati agreed to monitor those payments more closely.
POOR BABIES, DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE, DID THEY?
In early June, the senator reported to Congress that Dr. Joseph Biederman, a renowned child psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, and a colleague, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens, had reported to university officials earning several hundred thousand dollars apiece in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 when in fact they had earned at least $1.6 million each.
Another member of the Harvard group, Dr. Thomas Spencer, reported earning at least $1 million after being pressed by Mr. Grassley’s investigators. The Harvard psychiatrists said they took conflict-of-interest policies seriously and had abided by disclosure rules.
WELL, OF COURSE THEY DID. WHAT ELSE WERE THEY GOING TO SAY, OH MY WE GOT CAUGHT?
In late June, after Mr. Grassley singled out Dr. Schatzberg, Stanford disputed some of the numbers in the report and has denied that Dr. Schatzberg violated any research rules devised to police such conflicts.
In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Nada L. Stotland, president of the psychiatric association, said the group had studied Mr. Grassley’s letter and Stanford’s response and agreed with Stanford. Dr. Schatzberg will take over as president of the association as planned, she said.
“The larger issue here is that there’s a revolution going on” in how medicine handles industry money, said Dr. Stotland, a psychiatrist at Rush Medical College in Chicago. “That’s good, that’s what we need, and I believe we’ve been on the cutting edge of that revolution in many ways.”
Dr. Stotland said that the association began reviewing the income it received from pharmaceutical companies last March, to identify potential conflicts. Doctors and academic researchers generally worked at arm’s length from industry until the early 1980s, when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act. This legislation encouraged closer collaboration between researchers and industry to bring products to market more quickly. The act helped foster the growth of the biotech industry, and soon professors and universities were busy obtaining patents and building relationships with industry.
Some psychiatrists have long argued that consulting with a company — to help design a rigorous drug trial, for instance — benefits patients, as long as the researcher has no financial stake in the product and is not paid to speak about the drug to other doctors, like a traveling pitchman.
Others say industry and academic researchers are now so deeply intertwined that exposing doctors’ private arrangements only stokes suspicion without correcting the real problem: bias.
“Having everyone stand up like a Boy Scout and make a pledge isn’t going to quell suspicion,” said Dr. Donald Klein, an emeritus professor at Columbia, who has consulted with drug makers himself. “The only hope to rule out bias is to have open access to all data that’s produced in studies and know that there are people checking it” who are not on that company’s payroll.
Studies have shown that researchers who are paid by a company are more likely to report positive findings when evaluating that company’s drugs. The private deals can directly affect patient care, said Dr. William Niederhut, a psychiatrist in private practice in Denver who receives no industry money.
Dr. Niederhut said company-sponsored doctors had spread the word that new and expensive drugs were better in treating bipolar disorder than lithium, the cheaper old standby treatment.
“It’s a sales pitch, and now it’s looking like a whole lot of people would have done better if they’d started on lithium in the first place,” Dr. Niederhut said in a telephone interview. “The profession absolutely has to come clean on these industry deals, and soon.”
Tighter rules, stronger statements and more debate may not make much difference, if Mr. Grassley’s findings are any guide. Universities have rules requiring that faculty members disclose their outside income so that conflicts of interest in research or patient care can be managed. But some of the psychiatrists named in the investigations apparently ignored the rules.
“I think we may be coming to a point where hospitals and medical schools have to get serious about sanctioning,” said Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, director of the division of psychiatry, medicine and the law at Columbia. “You can suspend doctors’ privileges, or suspend their right to treat patients; both have a huge impact on income and career. But if you’re serious about these disclosure policies, you have to be willing to back them up.”
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Inspiration
Worry kills. It kills creativity. And creativity is what you need to solve the problems confronting you.
Depression: Rhodiola
I adore Rhodiola. I take it three times a day to control my blood sugar. Without it, I have hypoglycemia. With it, I do not. It is that simple.
I first started taking Rhodiola seven years ago. At the time I took it for problems I had sleeping. At that time I was told Rhodiola had been used in Russia for centuries before the fall of the Soviet Union. It had been used for mild depression, sleeplessness and panic attacks. And we were just finding out about it.
Since that time, we have found out that it helps so much more, including hormone regulation of all sorts. This includes our sex hormones. I myself use a combination of Rhodiola and ambrotose to regulate my female hormones. A the right amounts of each, I don't even need my compounded hormone cream any longer..... and I don't even have ovaries!
It makes sense that Rhodiola is working to help your pituitary and your hypothalamus doesn't it? I am sure there is literature out there, and I will find if for you.
Now, back to our topic of today, depression. If you go back and read my blog on Dr. Barry Sears Zone diet, then you know that a regulated sugar level in your blood can help control a variety of things including mild depression, just like my friends' story told us. So perhaps this is why Rhodiola cures mild depression so often in people?
We are finding out more and more that low blood sugar can also cause not just mild depression but sleeplessness and panic attacks. If you suffer from any of these, in particular if you have mild hypoglycemia also, try Rhodiola. What can it hurt you? About $25 for ten day supply (three capsules a day--New Chapter brand) and you may get the answers you need in that amount of time. If it works, what a small price for such a HUGE blessing!
Good Luck! Hang in there! I believe in you!!!
I first started taking Rhodiola seven years ago. At the time I took it for problems I had sleeping. At that time I was told Rhodiola had been used in Russia for centuries before the fall of the Soviet Union. It had been used for mild depression, sleeplessness and panic attacks. And we were just finding out about it.
Since that time, we have found out that it helps so much more, including hormone regulation of all sorts. This includes our sex hormones. I myself use a combination of Rhodiola and ambrotose to regulate my female hormones. A the right amounts of each, I don't even need my compounded hormone cream any longer..... and I don't even have ovaries!
It makes sense that Rhodiola is working to help your pituitary and your hypothalamus doesn't it? I am sure there is literature out there, and I will find if for you.
Now, back to our topic of today, depression. If you go back and read my blog on Dr. Barry Sears Zone diet, then you know that a regulated sugar level in your blood can help control a variety of things including mild depression, just like my friends' story told us. So perhaps this is why Rhodiola cures mild depression so often in people?
We are finding out more and more that low blood sugar can also cause not just mild depression but sleeplessness and panic attacks. If you suffer from any of these, in particular if you have mild hypoglycemia also, try Rhodiola. What can it hurt you? About $25 for ten day supply (three capsules a day--New Chapter brand) and you may get the answers you need in that amount of time. If it works, what a small price for such a HUGE blessing!
Good Luck! Hang in there! I believe in you!!!
Cancer: German Clinics Raise Body Temperature above 105 degrees
I usually don't blog or talk anything about cancer because most people reading my blog are totally western medical on this aspect: believing, basically, if it doesn't cut and poison the cells, it won't work. But there are a few of you, I know this from working in the health food store, who want something else, and are going to get it, one way or another. You come from all walks of life, male and female, rich and poor, black, white, Hispanic, Chinese, etc.... You are simply so terrified of cut and poison--irregardless of statistics-- that you will find another way, no matter what. This is for you. No, I have not investigated this claim at all. I just got it in my email and it made sense to me, a total neophyte who is not a doctor.
What I include here is a part of the email. To know more go to http://www.germancancerbreakthrough.com
The claim is that six German cancer clinics have a treatment that raises your body cells to above 105 degrees as you sleep. This high temperature, working just like when you have a virus or bacteria, keeps your healthy cells fine, but kills off cancer cells that can't take the heat. Who knew??? Makes sense tome, but then again, I'm not a doctor am I? Take this information to a holistic doctor you trust.
Of course, the man is selling a book for $20, to tell you more about the treatment and which clinics to use. And the treatment is, as claimed about the price of a Honda. Which, if you have no insurance, is cheaper than surgery and chemo.
If you are totally western medical, forget this, it will be a waste of your time. But for those few who are totally against cut and poison, and want to raise their immune systems to kill the cancer itself, check it out. Why not? What do you have to lose? $20 Take the information to a holistic doctor you trust. I cannot emphasize that enough. Try to ignore the authors' long winded, inflammatory writing style, and just buy the book and investigate the german clinics and their treatment for yourself. And, let me repeat this, take all the information to a holistic doctor you trust. Ask them if it makes sense.
And, if you are serious about this, make sure that when you call the clinics you get the names and phone numbers of people who have used their clinic and had success. Even if they won't release the information to you, they may release it to your doctor. Then, either you or your doctor, can call these patients and see if they sound authentic.
Here is part of the email:
"While still in office, President Reagan got rid of his cancer the German way
When President Ronald Reagan got cancer during his presidency, the great German doctor Hans Nieper, M.D, treated him. It would have been front page news if it hadn’t been hushed up at the time.
Just imagine if the American public knew a sitting president preferred German cancer treatments!
I learned about it from my confidential source in Germany. In addition, Reagan’s German doctor acknowledged it in an interview.
I called the Reagan Library to see if the Library would confirm or deny that Dr. Nieper treated President Reagan in May of 1985.
A Reagan Library employee named Jenny responded to my request. She admitted that Reagan was in Germany in May of 1985, but she would neither confirm nor deny that Dr. Nieper treated him. She told me, “President Reagan’s private medical records before, during, and after his presidency are unavailable.” In July of 1985, Dr. Nieper flew to America to attend to Reagan in his hospital recovery room, according to my source.
Many American cancer patients lose their hair and their vitality. But Reagan kept his famous pompadour hairstyle. He also kept his warm smile and vigorous stride.
And after whipping his cancer the German way...
Reagan lived for another 19 years
He died at age 93, and not from cancer."
What I include here is a part of the email. To know more go to http://www.germancancerbreakthrough.com
The claim is that six German cancer clinics have a treatment that raises your body cells to above 105 degrees as you sleep. This high temperature, working just like when you have a virus or bacteria, keeps your healthy cells fine, but kills off cancer cells that can't take the heat. Who knew??? Makes sense tome, but then again, I'm not a doctor am I? Take this information to a holistic doctor you trust.
Of course, the man is selling a book for $20, to tell you more about the treatment and which clinics to use. And the treatment is, as claimed about the price of a Honda. Which, if you have no insurance, is cheaper than surgery and chemo.
If you are totally western medical, forget this, it will be a waste of your time. But for those few who are totally against cut and poison, and want to raise their immune systems to kill the cancer itself, check it out. Why not? What do you have to lose? $20 Take the information to a holistic doctor you trust. I cannot emphasize that enough. Try to ignore the authors' long winded, inflammatory writing style, and just buy the book and investigate the german clinics and their treatment for yourself. And, let me repeat this, take all the information to a holistic doctor you trust. Ask them if it makes sense.
And, if you are serious about this, make sure that when you call the clinics you get the names and phone numbers of people who have used their clinic and had success. Even if they won't release the information to you, they may release it to your doctor. Then, either you or your doctor, can call these patients and see if they sound authentic.
Here is part of the email:
"While still in office, President Reagan got rid of his cancer the German way
When President Ronald Reagan got cancer during his presidency, the great German doctor Hans Nieper, M.D, treated him. It would have been front page news if it hadn’t been hushed up at the time.
Just imagine if the American public knew a sitting president preferred German cancer treatments!
I learned about it from my confidential source in Germany. In addition, Reagan’s German doctor acknowledged it in an interview.
I called the Reagan Library to see if the Library would confirm or deny that Dr. Nieper treated President Reagan in May of 1985.
A Reagan Library employee named Jenny responded to my request. She admitted that Reagan was in Germany in May of 1985, but she would neither confirm nor deny that Dr. Nieper treated him. She told me, “President Reagan’s private medical records before, during, and after his presidency are unavailable.” In July of 1985, Dr. Nieper flew to America to attend to Reagan in his hospital recovery room, according to my source.
Many American cancer patients lose their hair and their vitality. But Reagan kept his famous pompadour hairstyle. He also kept his warm smile and vigorous stride.
And after whipping his cancer the German way...
Reagan lived for another 19 years
He died at age 93, and not from cancer."
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Depressed?: Grocery Stores
No, this isn't me. I found this picture on flickr. But it is a picture of a girl, depressed.Back the year Curtis and I were separated and then divorced, a work colleague confided something to me during the Christmas season, something I would have never guessed. He said that during the holidays he can get depressed. Attractive, successful, young, I would have never have guessed. Just goes to show, we can all get depressed, huh? Then he added that when he does get depressed, he goes to the grocery store. He said that there, everyone will look at you and smile. As well, you are surrounded by all these different colors and sounds. He told me to do this if I too got depressed during the holidays. And he recommended Central Market or Whole Foods as the best, and most colorful to pop you out of sadness.
I gotta tell ya. It worked.
Depression: Routines and Flylady
If you have never checked out Flylady, do so. http://www.flylady.net This miraculous, wonderful woman helps all of us with routines. It helps you if you are depressed, have ADD or ADHD, or just can't seem to keep your home and personal life as organized as you would like.
When you and your home function, you feel better. It is that simple. You feel in control of you destiny. Remember that last blog. The 4th tip to happy people was to control your destiny. This is especially important if you have been laid off, are newly retired, chronically sick and/or bedridden.
I have read testimonials from people using her site, that involve all levels of depression from mild, overwhelmed to the serious, schizophrenic. Controlling your destiny through daily routines helps all levels of depression. If you are depressed, try it!
I believe in you! Don't give up!
Depression: 4 keys to Happiness
I totally just got this from Yahoo Health, and they totally got it from a book by David G. Myers, PhD. called THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: WHO IS HAPPY AND WHY.
If you like what you are reading here, either buy Dr. Myers book, or read more about it on Yahoo Health. This is the brief summation that I got out of it.
HAPPY PEOPLE
If you like what you are reading here, either buy Dr. Myers book, or read more about it on Yahoo Health. This is the brief summation that I got out of it.
HAPPY PEOPLE
- Self Esteem: Happy People like themselves. They are both positive and realistic.
- Are hope filled.
- Are outgoing.
- Control their destinies. Happy people's time is filled and planned. They are punctual and efficient. Unhappy people's time is open, uncommitted, they postpone things and are inefficient.
The last one would explain why people who are laid off, or new retirees with no new goal, or chronically sick and/or bedridden, are all depressed more than those who are busy. If you fit into any of these categories, seriously consider some way to organize your day and your time to where you feel vital.
Depression: SAMe
If you have problems accessing emotions, try SAMe. If you have no problems accessing emotions, in particular is you have bi-polar tendencies, don't touch the stuff.
A dear friend was taking SAMe to raise her immune function. She became very sad, and had suicidal thoughts. For all the years I had known her, about 15, I knew her to go through extreme difficulties, but never, never did she say life just didn't seem worth living. When I immediately checked her supplements, and realized she was taking SAMe, I said, 'girlfriend, you gotta stop this stuff. This is great for people who can't access emotions, but that has never been a problem for you." She immediately quit taking the SAMe and within 48 hours, she was back to her happy go lucky self, same problems, entirely different attitude.
On the flip side of the coin, if you can't access emotions, as my husband Curtis has trouble doing, SAMe can be a savior for personal happiness and marriages. SAMe is a part of the equation that got Curtis and me back together after a year of separation and divorce. In addition, he now laughs, jokes, and has compassion. As well, since a lot of memory is attached to emotion, he now can remember a lot more stuff.
In other words, SAMe is great for some people, those who can't access emotions, and horrible for others, those who have no trouble laughing, joking, or crying and having compassion. It's important that you as a consumer know that. I don't want anyone winding up like my friend did, sad, with suicidal tendencies, and not even knowing the reason.
If you ever have any question about any herbal or supplement, please contact the folks at Peoples Pharmacy in Austin. Call any location. They are all wonderful. 
http://www.peoplesrx.com/
http://www.peoplesrx.com/ These are the folks at Peoples, South Lamar location. look at those smiling faces. Seriously, don't you want to give them a call?
Depressed? Arctic cod Liver oil !!!
Let me emphasize here the main sentence that popped out at me in Dr. Sears email. He said 60% of your brain is FAT!!!
But we aren't getting the right kind of fat, like margarine, and those in highly processed foods. We need good fat. and the best form of the best fat is arctic cod liver oil.
DHA: essential fatty acids
Since we were just talking about arctic cod liver oil yesterday, I thought it appropriate to include this email I got from http://www.askdrsears.com/ Dr. Sears is America's pediatrician. You have probably seen him on numerous talk shows. Artic cod liver oil is high in DHA, the right kind of esstial fatty acid that your body needs. You can hit this website and subscribe to his emails.
The average American brain is getting enough fat, but it's not getting the right kind of fat. Your brain is 60% fat. What growing brains need are ‘smart fats’ such as Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA, found abundantly in seafood, which may help with everything from good vision to better performance in school. DHA is the primary structural component of brain tissue, so it stands to reason that a deficiency of DHA in the diet could translate into a deficiency in brain function.
The DHA levels in the breast milk of American women is significantly lower than it was 50 years ago. So it’s important for pregnant women and nursing moms to get an adequate supply of DHA. Plus it isn’t always easy to get your children to eat enough seafood to get adequate levels of DHA. In these cases you can try a supplement that will help children get their daily recommended amount of Omega-3 DHA.
The DHA levels in the breast milk of American women is significantly lower than it was 50 years ago. So it’s important for pregnant women and nursing moms to get an adequate supply of DHA. Plus it isn’t always easy to get your children to eat enough seafood to get adequate levels of DHA. In these cases you can try a supplement that will help children get their daily recommended amount of Omega-3 DHA.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Depressed? Arctic Cod Liver Oil
So far the blogs on depression have included getting a dog, simply spelled God, in reverse and it can save your sanity; how maintaining a correct sugar level throughout the day through eating in the Zone and cure mild depression and how arctic cod liver oil can help ADD and bipolar symptoms. Today, I am here to tell you to, once again, use Arctic cod liver oil, and for depression.
This does not mean that you don't try other things, including acupuncture or phramaceuticals, or talk therapy, whatever. Arctic cod liver oil may work alone to alleviate your depression or it may not. But for sure, it will work synergistically with everything else. Your neurons need the right kind of fatty acids (arctic cod liver oil) to fire right. This is a direct quote from Dr. Daniel Amen, page 262, third paragraph, second sentence, HEALING ADD, "Without high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, the nerve cell membranes are less fluid, possibly causing nerve cells to react sluggishly or misfire."
Can we say brain fog (sluggishly)? And not get yourself to do what you want to do when you want to do it, from controlling anger to controlling unhappiness (misfire)?
He continues, in the same paragraph, sentences three and four, and this is very important so pay attention, because for years I didn't: "Population based studies in various countries (including the US) have indicated that decreased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids correlates with increased rates of depression. Well-intentioned advice to lower cholesterol levels tends to harm the balance of fatty acids (especially the essential omega-3, DHA) in the body."
In short: as we eat less fish and other good fats, we have become more depressed.
For years I went with virtually NO fat thinking it was the best thing for myself. I fed my children virtually no fat as well, both in utero and as children. I know countless women who have done exactly this. And then we wonder why we have such a high rate of ADD and depression amongst our youth now. We can't do the guilt trip for something we didn't know. We can simply correct our lives now, and let the rest of the world know how important fatty acids are and that the best form to get them in quickly, to build up the amount you need to have, is in arctic cod liver oil.
Dr. Amen continues, on page 263, "Recent studies have suggested that lowering levels of plasma cholesterol too much increases the risk of suicide, homicide and depression."
Folks, I know depression. I was raised by a alcoholic, probably bi-polar, perhaps multi personality mother who every morning, as she stood in front of the mirror putting on her make up to go to work, letting me sit on the bed and listen and talk to her, tell me that "life isn't worth living, and the only thing that makes it worth living is you." (meaning me).
Yes, of course this did a serious number on my own depression in life. And yes, it made me waaay to responsible for not only my mother, but others' depression as well.
But it also made me incredibly alert, throughout all of my life to what works well, across the board for depression. And the answer again, is arctic cod liver oil.
I know Dr. Amen recommends flax seed oil (linseed oil), probably because kids will like the taste better. But I have to tell you, after years of watching the results in my friends, and acquaintances, use arctic cod liver oil FIRST. People, young and old, get the best results from arctic cod liver oil.
Again, the load dose that seems to get the best results the fastest is one teaspoon, morning and evening, for children, and one tablespoon, morning and evening for adults.
As well, start cutting out all margarine, shortening and most processed foods. These contain bad fatty acids, that are going to clog up no only your heart but your brain as well. That is not the technical answer on how it happens, but it is the pragmatic answer on what the results are.
Remember, butter is better than margarine. And olive oil is better than shortening.
Start keeping around carrot sticks, nuts, fresh fruit and dried fruit to munch on, for yourself, and for your children. Keep cheese sticks around. Keep Zone bars around. My grandchildren love them.
If you dare start telling me about the high cost of these items versus processed foods, I am going to come right out of this computer Internet and bop you one. Which do you want for your life and the life of your children, husband, family, loved ones--a life of depression and obesity--or the exact opposite? What you eat does too matter and is an important part of an overall integral package of health, including body weight and brain function.
Now, I am going to give you some links. If you are depressed, I sure don't want you doing this by your self. This is why I keep on telling you to make sure you have a holistic chiropractor, holistic medical doctor, holistic pharmacist and holistic acupuncturist, ALL in your health care lineup. If you are using pharmaceuticals as well as supplements or herbals for depression, this is where you absolutely have to have a holistic pharmacist and medical doctor because only they know and understand the way each interacts with the others both for good as well as bad.
And if you are within a fifty mile radius of the Bryan/College Station area, contact Dr. Mahesh Dave, a psychiatrist who gets great results with acupuncture for depression and will completely understand the value of arctic cod liver oil as well as be able to any prescribe necessary pharmaceuticals. http://www.brazosdoctors.com/ Remember, what we want is a happy you, in any way we can get it. And quite often, natural and synthetic pharmacueticals work synergistically to create an incredibly happy you. Find the right doctor to help you find the best mix.
Good Luck! I believe in you!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Joke of the Day
This is for all my friends in school.
Robert Frost
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
I have told you that I want you to find (and use) four different holistic health care practitioners: chiropractor, acupuncturist, pharmacist, medical doctor. If you are sick and if you want to get really well, each one of these guys has something special to get you there. If you want to stay well, and not get sick, use all four as well. Traditional medicine has absolutely nothing to improve your immune system, and each of these does.
To get you to remember it, 4 health practitioners for great health, I told you I would everyday have four things in my blog: a joke, an inspiration, a recipe, and news you can use. Well, I am changing that to health news you can use each day...and the other three every now and then.
Robert Frost
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
I have told you that I want you to find (and use) four different holistic health care practitioners: chiropractor, acupuncturist, pharmacist, medical doctor. If you are sick and if you want to get really well, each one of these guys has something special to get you there. If you want to stay well, and not get sick, use all four as well. Traditional medicine has absolutely nothing to improve your immune system, and each of these does.
To get you to remember it, 4 health practitioners for great health, I told you I would everyday have four things in my blog: a joke, an inspiration, a recipe, and news you can use. Well, I am changing that to health news you can use each day...and the other three every now and then.
Depression: Cured by Zone Diet
This story is told by a busy woman in her early thirties.
The Zone diet, by Dr. Barry Sears, cured my depression. http://www.drsears.com/ I think I was mildly depressed for all of my life. Not that I thought much of it. I was just sad a lot, and thought everyone was this way. Then I tried the Zone diet to lose a little bit of weight. I needed to fit into a dress for a big occasion. I am such a woman, dieting for a occasion and a dress.
Within a few weeks of being totally on the zone diet, I realized my depression had disappeared! It simply went away! It was then I realized I didn't have to be sad a lot and that everyone wasn't just like me. I realized there was a better way of life. And somehow I made the obvious connection to the zone diet, and have been eating Zone ever since.
The reason the Zone diet works is that it maintains a consistent sugar level in your body. By eating fats, complex carbohydrates and protein in regular intervals, you can stabilize your blood sugar. And stabilized blood sugar allows your entire body to function better, including your brain.
To measure out Zone meals, you can use your hand. I do. The palm of your hand represents the protein you should have at one meal. Your fist represents the complex carbohydrates you should have. And the tip of your thumb is the amount of fat. And you should eat about every three hours.
I am always on the go. I travel a lot, eat out at fancy restaurants several times a week, and I work 60-80 hours a week. As well, I am a vegetarian. Yet, I always find a way to incorporate the Zone diet into my life. I keep zone bars with me at all times, and occasionally cheese sticks. These tide me over when waiting for planes, etc. At restaurants I order off menu, appetizers or salads. Think about it like this: you can still meet friends for drinks, have a piece of cheese with your glass of wine and you are still in the Zone!
And of course, there are perks to the Zone diet. Besides no longer having that mild depression drain my life, my energy level is always consistent, and I never have to diet. NEVER! All my girlfriends are always dieting, and me, I never am. I am simply eating right, all the time.
I highly recommend the Zone diet for everyone. If you are like me and you try it for just a couple of months, you will never want to go back to your old way of eating, ever!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
ADD/ADHD Arctic Cod Liver Oil
You get the most omega threes in arctic cod liver oil. As well, the best results I have observed in parents and individuals with ADD/ADHD has been using arctic cod liver oil, versus say, flax seed oil. So far, every doctor I have talked to has recommended a load dose of one teaspoon twice a day for children and one tablespoon, twice a day for 12 and above. Observe the difference in about six weeks time. As one mother of an ADD child said (herself ADD) "I began to feel so much calmer." If there are any bi-polar tendencies you definitely want arctic cod liver oil in the line up. You can cut back to once a day after that.
Yes, you can do pills. Dr. Janice Poole recommends keeping them in the freezer for less burping. Generally, six of those large capsules equals one tablespoon, two equal one teaspoon. And children generally do better with the liquid, because it is easier to swallow.
Note: the easiest way I know if I have been accidentally forgetting to take my arctic cod liver oil, is if I am cutting onions and my eyes start to water. If my dosage is correct, that flat doesn't happen!!! Try it and see. Same thing with my husband.
GOOD LUCK!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Chiropractic, Protien Producing Genes
The following article came from Live Science on Yahoo News. Scientists are studying mice brains and spines to better understand how serious nerve illnesses arise. If you think your spine is just bones and tissue to support your body, think again. You have genes in your brain and spine, in a constant state of flux, that produce proteins. Read this article.
"Scientists exploring the blasted terrain of nerves that give rise to crippling ailments like Lou Gehrig's disease now have an atlas to guide them.
The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle unveiled the first phase of the world's first genetic atlas of the mouse spine today on the Internet, posting it alongside an atlas of genes in the mouse brain completed two years ago.
ON THE WEB: See it in 2-D and 3-D from the Allen Institute
Displaying about 20,000 active genes in the brain and spine, the two databases offer researchers their first look at normal gene activity in the spine and brain, displaying genes that are "turned on" — meaning they're actively producing proteins that are the workhorses of healthy brain and spinal tissues.
"This is an undiscovered world," says Allan Jones, the institutes's chief science officer. "To see where every one of the genes is turned on is enlightening." "
Doesn't it make sense that you want to keep your spine in alignment to keep those genes, that are in a constant state of flux, producing all necessary proteins? I do. The very fact that we have genes in our spine and brain producing proteins in a constant state of flux might also explain why chiropractic, keeping your spine straight and healthy, can often be so effective when maintained on a lifetime basis.
"Scientists exploring the blasted terrain of nerves that give rise to crippling ailments like Lou Gehrig's disease now have an atlas to guide them.
The Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle unveiled the first phase of the world's first genetic atlas of the mouse spine today on the Internet, posting it alongside an atlas of genes in the mouse brain completed two years ago.
ON THE WEB: See it in 2-D and 3-D from the Allen Institute
Displaying about 20,000 active genes in the brain and spine, the two databases offer researchers their first look at normal gene activity in the spine and brain, displaying genes that are "turned on" — meaning they're actively producing proteins that are the workhorses of healthy brain and spinal tissues.
"This is an undiscovered world," says Allan Jones, the institutes's chief science officer. "To see where every one of the genes is turned on is enlightening." "
Doesn't it make sense that you want to keep your spine in alignment to keep those genes, that are in a constant state of flux, producing all necessary proteins? I do. The very fact that we have genes in our spine and brain producing proteins in a constant state of flux might also explain why chiropractic, keeping your spine straight and healthy, can often be so effective when maintained on a lifetime basis.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Gallbladder: Leanne's story
Recently a dear friend, Carolyn, had her gallbladder removed. Even she, a nurse, did not recognize the symptoms before hand. She thought she just had really bad indigestion for years! The following story I just read in my email from Flylady http://www.flylady.net/. It made me think of Carolyn and how I wanted to share this information with you. Our goal here is to save our gallbladders. This story, with her advice (she is a dietian), is from Leanne. Leanne is the author of all the Saving Dinner books, (great for all of us but especially those with ADD) and the website http://www.savingdinner.com/ After this blog, I will blog on the gallbladder/liver cleanse Leanne is undoubtedly doing with Dr. Neal. I used to work for a very non holistic, older, family doctor who swore by these liver/gallbladder cleanses for his patients.
Dear Friends,
It's interesting how a trip to the ER will wake you up and make youtake some important notes.Three years ago, I had a gallbladder attack, went to the hospital andended up with a referral to a surgeon. No information on how to getrid of the gallstones, though they told me my gallbladder "lookedgood", however an ultrasound revealed 5 tiny stones (the size of agrain of sand) had taken up residence in there. My poor gallbladderwas merely trying to evict the residents and ended up putting me in alot of pain! Statistically speaking, those with gallbladder attacks end up havingmore attacks until they get progressively worse and end up withsurgery anyway. I didn't take the referral and went about my business.Also important to note that I didn't change anything; still ate well,still exercised so I thought my risk factors were eliminated. And forthree years all was well until I ended up again in the ER with nowonly 4 stones--one had passed and on the way out, giving me more painthan childbirth! Again, they referred me to a surgeon although myblood work and my gallbladder were "perfect" (that's what the doctorsaid). Four little stones the size of a grain of sand and therecommendation was to remove a perfectly healthy gallbladder—notfigure out how to get rid of the stones, but eliminate an organ thatGod saw fit to give me.But as I thought about it, I understand why they recommendsurgery—probably because we don't do what we're supposed to do andwe're gonna end up getting the surgery anyway! The reason is ourreluctance to change—somehow we think that driving thru and gettinggreasy chicken is a divine right! And who hates change more than aSHE? It's our perfectionism that keeps us from making importantchanges, even the ones that are good for us! Isn't that always the case? So the second time around with this gallbladder thing has got me beinga lot more proactive than before. I accessed the known risks againstthe factors that were true for me. The risk factors for gallbladderissues are hypothyroidism (bet you didn't know that—I just found outmyself!), overweight, fair, female, forty, fertile, poor diet, lack ofexercise, large weight loss and stress. So check that list…are you at risk? I am definitely female, fair,forty-ish (at the first attack), lost a lot of weight three years ago,hypothyroid and under a great deal of stress. I cannot change my age,gender, ethnicity or thyroid condition. However, I can change thestress part! I am also convinced that I can eat even healthier (I amlosing my old 90/10 rule—eating well 90% of the time and the rest ofthe time, enjoying whatever) by beefing up the fiber, eating only fishand lean poultry and making sure that I have as many fruits andvegetables as I can cram down my throat each day. The thing is if youfill up on the nutrients you need, you'll have less room for the junkyou don't need. And when you're working on saving your gallbladder,there is no other choice as far as I'm concerned. Maybe you are in the same boat as I am or you have another healthissue that a modification in lifestyle and eating may be able tochange. Whether it's quitting smoking, losing your body clutter orreducing stress in your life, why are you not doing what you know youneed to do? This isn't about guilt, but about empowerment—if you takecontrol of your life and health, the end result is better health, ahappier life and you stop being a victim and start being a victor!
Here are the things I'm doing to be proactive:1—Stress Reduction—this is huge for me. I'm signing up for yoga thisweek! I can't wait, I really need this!2—Fiber. There is a list of fibrous foods that are especially good forgallbladders— artichokes, dandelion greens and flaxseeds. Guess what'son the menu this week (and the next, and the next, and the next…)?3—Supplements. Dr. Neal has me on phosphatidyl choline (a form oflecithin) to help emulsify fat, bile salts for digestion and I amtaking a supplement called Stone Free by Planetary Herbals. This is asupplement that was recommended by a reader who swears it saved hergallbladder…I' m trying it!4—Exercise. I work out at least 4 days a week, sometimes 5. I'mbumping that up to 6. According to the AMA, we should all be getting30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise "most days" (translation: 5-6days) a week. That's my plan and hopefully, this will help save my gallbladder.Nothing is in stone of course (except those gallstones!) but I'm goingto do MY part and maybe the surgeon won't have to do his part! I'malso working with Dr. Neal on an alternative therapy to help break upthose stones and help me keep my gallbladder friend. Your health is worth saving! I promise you, this is the onlygallbladder, heart, pancreas, lungs and other important body parts youwill ever have. Take care of yourself before you are facing a healthcrisis. For the most part, you cannot trade in your internal organsfor new ones down at the used organ store! You may be able to trade inyour poorly maintained car for a new one, but this is the only bodyyou will EVER have, regardless of how you choose to maintain it!This week, let's love ourselves by loving our bodies with good,nutrient-rich food, movement, plenty of water and stress reduction! Love,Leanne
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