INSIDE THIS ISSUE . . .
Theme for the summer:
Make one small change and do one less thing per day by leaving something undone!
Aspartame is a man made sweetener combining two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. These are toxins which excite nerve cells to fire too much to eventually call nerve cell death. It is addictive because of its norepinephrine and epinephrine stimulatory effect which makes you feel good immediately but can be followed by depression, and low blood sugar. This response is why diet colas are so addictive. Anyone with neurological symptoms or history should avoid aspartame. These include Multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrigs disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia, Tinnitus, spasms, shooting pains and numbness, ADHD, carpal tunnel syndrome and spinal disc problems.
There are over 6000 foods containing aspartame, such as: sugar-free chewing gum, soft drinks, jams, cookies, coffee drinks, and fruit juices. Retrain your taste buds. If you must have sweetener try Stevia powder. It is a member of the chrysanthemum family and is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. One teaspoon of powder is dissolved in three tablespoons of water and used by the drop! It is safe to use for diabetics and those with low blood sugar as it doesn't affect blood sugar levels.
Glutamic acid found in MSG is also a toxin affecting nerve cells and should be avoided for the same reasons. Some other names for MSG are Monosodium glutamate, monopotassium glutamate, calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed protein, textured protein, yeast extract, autolyzed yeast and yeast nutrient. MSG has been implicated in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Stevia is $5.00 per package making one month's supply of sweetener and is available at our office. Call for an information sheet on Stevia powder.
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Lipoic Acid: New Help for Diabetes!
This is a newly discovered powerful antioxidant and it also impacts on glucose metabolism. While studying diabetic rats it was discovered that after injecting them with lipoic acid that there was a significant lowering of glucose levels as well as lowering lactic acid levels. Other substances that mimic insulin are taurine, vanadium, and chromium.
.....Metabolism 46;763-768,1997
In addition to chromium, the standard antioxidants Vit E, C, selenium, and Carotenes, for the treatment of diaetes Type I and II, I utilize lipoic acid in my treatment programs for diabetes. I also highly recommend Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution for those of you really serious about lowering your blood sugars and keeping them low every hour of every day without those blood sugar swings. In my clinic, I coach patients using his principles.
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Cancer Treatment Centers of America
This organization has hospitals in America (Tulsa, Illinois, and Seattle) which incorporate naturopathic immune programs along with conventional cancer treatments. According to Dr. Paul Reilly N.D. (Tacoma WA) using both works better than using either one alone.
Their web site is http://www.cancercenter.com and their number is 1-847-342-7438. Naturopathic physicians are being called upon more and more to offer immune stimulatory programs for patients with all kinds of cancers which work in conjunction with their conventional treatment. At each of these hospital sites Naturopathic Physicians are on staff!
This idea will take much longer to surface in Canada but we will see the day!
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Reducing Heart Disease by Improving the Health of Your Mouth:
Keep those gums and teeth healthy. Have you heard the recent research where those with bad teeth and gum disease have double the risk of dying from heart disease! Well Citricidal toothpaste which is made out of grapefruit extract will help to keep your mouth germ free. Try it. You will prefer it over the baking soda toothpastes and your dentist will notice you don't need as many teeth cleaning sessions per year! Available at your favorite health food store or your naturopathic physician. To make your flossing easier try those small hand held floss picks. There are great for using in the car while driving!
Citricidal toothpaste is now available at our office. One tube $7.00
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Gallstones and Coffee:
This is to counter the recent research that coffee is good for reducing gallstones. Vit C is important for converting cholesterol to bile salts and may be reduce the risk of clinical gallbladder disease. Vitamin C has so many other added benefits such as antiinflammatory, antibacterial and antihistamine that it far outreached the positive effects of coffee for this ailment.
.....American Journal Of Public Health,
Aug 1998;88(8):1208-1212.
Symptoms of gallbladder disease range from abdominal gass and bloating, intolerance of dietary fats, pain of right shoulder blade, pain of right upper abdomen, and pale-colored stools. As many people don't know they have gallstones and 80% of us at autopsy have them, I feel it is prudcent to take 2000 mgs of Vit C regularly to counteract this common ailment. There are no side effects of Vit C and it does not cause kidney stones, contar;y to popular belief. So if you won't give up your coffee, at least take Vit C.
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Coffee Consumption and Homocysteine
In a study of 7,589 Norwegian men and 8,585 Norwegian women with no history of cardiovascular disease, a postive relation was found between coffee consumption and plasma homocysteine levels.
.....Am J Clin Nutr 1997;65:136-143
I included this in this quarter because we keep getting bombarded with the positive evidence that coffee does not increase heart disease and even prevents gallstones! This is more evidence to the contrary as it is well documented that elevated homocysteine levels in the blood more accurately assesses cardiovascular risk than blood fats assessments. When coffee is combined with smoking the effect is worsened. Taking B6, and folic acid is known to lower homocysteine levels and lower cardiovascular risk. So if you can't shake the habits yet at least take your supplements!
We also do a cardiovascular risk blood profile test which measures your homocysteine and antioxidant levels to provide you with a more accurate cardiovascular risk evaluation.
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Vitamin C Kills Ulcer-causing Bacteria, Helicobactor Pylori
In this study 60 patients were treated with Vit C in four divided doses 2 grams, 1g,1g,1g for four weeks. 30% showed eradication of H.pylori and gastric acid
juices showed double the concentration of Vitamin C than those untreated. In some patients Vit C may eradicate H.pylori.
.....Eur J Cancer Prev 1998;7:449-454
H. pylori has been implicated as the cause of peptic ulceration, chronic gastritis and the pathogenesis of gastric cancer. In this study Vitamin C may be a viable alternative to antibiotics. It is possible that higher doses may work better. Many people can tolerate 10-20 grams of Vitamin C per day if taken in divided doses with meals. Vitamin C also prevents gastric cancer and as H. pylori reduces the concentration of Vitamin C in the gastric juices the eradication of gastric cancer with Vitamin C has these two mechanisms.
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NADH for CFDS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
35 patients with CFDS were given 10 mg NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) for four weeks. 31% showed a favorable response and no serious side effects were noted.
.....Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 1999;82:185-191
NADH is an important link in the production of ATP (the main source of energy) in the cells. Even though the results were not dramatic, in a subset of patients with this syndrome the results are encouraging for this difficult-to-treat condition. I utilize niacinamide as a component in my treatment programs, along with CoQ10, magesium, and other B vitamins.
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Hypothyroidism as a cause of Headache:
In this study 30 % of 102 adults with newly diagnosed hypothyroidism reported a history of headaches that were mild, nonpulsatile, continuous, bilateral and responsive to aspirin. Within 1-2 months of treatment with thyroid hormone the headaches disappeared.
.....Cephalgia 1998;18:687-689
Hypothyroidism Reviewed:
Dr. Broda Barnes in his book
Hypothyroidism:The Unsuspected Illness
, states that a large proportion of the population suffers from unrecognized hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid function) that can not be identified on a standard blood test. He treated thousands of patients with thyroid hormone to relieve chronic symptoms and along with Dr. Alan Gaby, who has done the same over the last 15 years, has not noticed any untoward effect from doing so, only amelioration of chronic complaints. The typical symptoms are fatigue, depression, difficulty concentrating, cold hands and feet, dry skin, constipation, poor resistance against infections, menstrual abnormalities, and elevated serum cholesterol.
The treatment of choice is thyroid hormone that contains both T3 and T4. It is felt that the body converts T4 to the active form of T3 adequately, however clinical experience shows that patients do better on both. These are supplied in Armour Thyroid (not available in Canada), Cytomel(synthetic T3) and Dessicated Thyroid (Thyroid Hormone). In a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, it was cited that T3 and T4 is more effective than T4 alone (Synthroid). Dessicated thyroid also contains diiodotyrosine which may turn out to be more effective than the combination of T3 and T4. Synthroid, in addition to only containing T4, is also associated with increased bone loss.
Most naturopathic physicians also recommend assessing the basal body temperature. This is taken with a mercury thermometer 10 minutes under the arm before rising in the morning, for 7 consecutive mornings, (for women preferably over the period). The basal metabolic temperature will be below 97.8 or 36.5 and will rise once undergoing therapy.
Dr. Christiane Northrup in her letter June 1999, states that T3 is a neurotransmitter that regulates serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA (important for quelling anxiety) and is therefore very important in the consideration of treatment for depression. In menopause this may be harder to determine as the symptoms of lowered progesterone are the same. Some common drugs block thyroid function such as Dilantin, steroids, barbiturates such as Seconal, beta blockers, and cholesterol lowering drugs.
Tests to ask your doctor for are TSH, free T4, free T3, T4 uptake and T3. If he will only order one, ask for TSH. Dr. Lee in his books states that natural progesterone cream may be all that menopausal women need to boost their thyroid. Recheck your TSH after taking progesterone 20 40mg per day. Call the clinic for an instruction sheet on how to take your temperatures. If your temperatures are low, bring them in along with blood test results you may have had in the past and I will help you determine your thyroid function.
Foods that can interfere with thyroid are the cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, and mustard greens. Other foods to avoid are brussel sprouts, peaches, pears, spinach, and turnips.
References:
The Thyroid Solution
by Ridha Arem;
Thyroid Sourcebook
by Sara Rosenthal.
In the June 7th 1999 issue of Macleans there was an 8- page insert on Naturopathic Medicine, a real success for our profession! It is available at the library or you may contact my office for a photocopy.
In Canada's Best August issue of Flare magazine, there were several Canadian Naturopathic Physicians honored. Check it out!
Esberitox: One interesting thing about this new product is that it tastes great and children will chew them. This is a very effective immune modulator for those flus and colds that go around all year. It is made of Echinacea, Baptisea and Thuya and has been proven to mobilize white blood cells, increase their gerrm killing activity, stimulate T cells and B lymphocytes to produce interleukin 2. It is used widely in Germany. It comes in packs of 100 chewable tablets so the compliance with all ages is great! When used in conjunction with Cold FX the effect is even better! Cold FX is great to use at the onset of a cold, but if it is more than a cold coming on, add the Esberitox.
Esberitox ..........$23.85 for 100 tablets
Cold FX ..........$14.00 for 20 capsules
SPECIAL (to Sept. 30) ..........20% off when you buy both
Get a head start on the cold and flu season!
A new farm offering organic produce in season is Pattison Farms 9019 Clarkson Drive, Black Creek. 337-8738 email gpat@island.net They offer weekly delivery service to Campbell River or you may visit them at the farm. They produce a variety of hot pepper jellies, pickles and olives!
Recipe for Summer
Because it is still cool, try this delicious vegetable soup from Jeanne Marie Martin's book
Hearty Vegetarian Soups And Stews
!
NATUROPATHIC WISDOM NOTES is compiled by Dr. Ingrid Pincott, N.D. for the sole purpose of providing education and reference. It is not intended as a substitute for consultation and treatment by a qualified naturopathic or medical doctor. Products and services mentioned in this letter are provided to patients of Dr. Pincott only. Subscriptions: $5.00 by mail or free on the internet.