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Alternative Medicine in the News
April 2009 edition 21
published weekly
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Idiopathic Epilepsy-
The Dietary Solution By J. S. Baker, D.V.M.
By J. S. Baker, D.V.M.
This is not the complete article. There's more. Click the
link and read all. AltNews abridged this very long article. Read the whole thing at www.dogtorj.tripod.com/id21.html
Introduction
I have been practicing veterinary medicine for twenty-three
years. I graduated with honors from Auburn
University in 1979, received the
Upjohn Award as outstanding senior student in small animal medicine, and
followed that with an internship at the prestigious Angell
Memorial Animal
Hospital in Boston . I mention these things not to boast
but as a matter of fact to illustrate the point that I was more than
conventionally schooled in basic medicine and clearly had an ample mind for
that medical training. And yet, I fell into the same pattern that most doctors
do, that of taking a history and examining that patient just long enough to
determine which drug was appropriate to facilitate their recovery. In many
cases, this is an appropriate approach...or at least it used to be.
Three years ago, I was personally handed a diagnosis that
would change my life forever. At the age of forty-five, I found out that I had
celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance. Once I began researching this
condition, a medical revelation of astounding proportion struck me right
between the eyes.
The list of conditions that celiacs like myself suffered
from was a who's who of what is wrong with humans, dogs, and cats. This list
included every symptom and condition that I had experienced over the years,
including the allergies, heartburn, irritable bowel, headaches, insomnia,
chronic fatigue/depression, joint and spinal problems, memory and balance loss,
and even my fibromyalgia.
However, the list went on to include strong tendencies
toward so many of the "diseases" that are taking our friends,
acquaintances, and loved ones from us. These were the more devastating
conditions such as immune- mediated diseases and cancer. Celiacs truly were the
glaring example of what was wrong with human beings.
The Epilepsy Connection
One of the most interesting findings involved epilepsy in
the celiac child. In one short article that I came across, it was stated that
children with celiac disease who also had epilepsy had their seizure frequency
improve, dramatically in some cases, once a gluten-free diet was instituted....
...The first clues came in the analysis of the components of
wheat. Gluten was clearly a major culprit and understanding the pathophysiology
of its role in celiac disease was of paramount importance.
The first hint was that gluten was used in industry as an adhesive.
This just made sense when I read about celiac disease for the first time as the
text explained how gluten adhered to the villi of the duodenum. Suddenly, the
role of the "glue-ten" in industry and the development of celiac
disease became clearly related.
Gluten leaves the stomach as an adhesive and subsequently
sticks to those delicate villi of the duodenum, those structures vital to the
absorption of essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, iodine, all
water-soluble vitamins such as B and C vitamins, and most trace minerals such
as boron, zinc and magnesium. The implications of this became immense.
Without certain vitamins, proper bodily development and
function would be slowed or halted and most enzyme systems would be affected.
The immune system would certainly suffer from the relative lack of vitamin C
and other essential nutrients. It seemed as though the Pandora's box of
medicine had been opened and the celiac was the innocent recipient of the
plagues it unleashed.
But this was only the beginning. This did not explain
epilepsy...yet. However, the second clue put me on the right track. I quickly
found that the foods that caused problems did so in a myriad of ways. Gluten
had its damaging effects, causing malabsorption, maldigestion, and what we
refer to as the "leaky gut. But, there were other components of wheat that
had serious ties to the subject at hand. The second clue was the fact that
monosodium glutamate was often made from wheat (and soy)....
...The fact is that glutamate and its "fraternal
twin" amino acid, aspartate, are normal neurotransmitters in the mammalian
brain. ...
...The third clue came in the study of the devastating
condition of Lou Gehrig's Disease, otherwise known as amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS). In brief, the condition is caused by the build-up of glutamate
at the neuronal synapse. The concentration of glutamate ultimately reaches a
neurotoxic level resulting in the death of the adjacent neuron. In summary,
glutamate is neurotoxic at high levels, actually being lethal to the nerve if
high enough. This is obviously true of its relative, aspartate, which accounts
for the reports of memory loss, pain syndromes, and seizures tied to its use. I
was getting closer to the truth....
...It didn't take long to find that one of the main proteins
in cow milk was casein, which is also used in industry as an adhesive. ...
...But, we must still deal with the number four allergen, soy.
...
Once again, it did not take long to find the truth about
soy. As I mentioned, soy is used as the other "natural" source of
MSG. In fact, it has nearly six times the concentration of glutamate and
aspartate of any of the other sources already mentioned...
...The "glue" and the concentration of
neurostimulants had been well established in the top food allergens. I turned
my attention to the other allergens, the grains, and found the same.
Yes, the next most troublesome food was corn. The analysis of corn
showed high levels of glutamate and aspartate, as did all of the remaining
grains rice, barley, and oats. It was a universal trait among the grains and it
became clear why we eat them for energy and become carbohydrate addicted. Our
brains love all of these dietary stimulants...
The Key
...I have been able to find only three food components that
induce this serious change in the villi. They are gluten, casein, and soy
protein. I believe that corn and
even rice may do this to some extent but the well-known causes are the previous
three. ...
...The allergies were just the warning sign of what was to
come. And, as I tell my clients, "If you don't like these warning signs,
you're not going to like the next set of warning signs either. And, if you
don't like them, you're really not going to like what they are warning you
of."
The Results
I immediately began applying what I had learned to myself
and the patients in my practice. All of my chronic symptoms listed earlier
disappeared over a short period of time. Gone were the intestinal and
neurological symptoms in short order. The pets were also making miraculous
recoveries from chronic allergies, intestinal disorders, and pain syndromes as
well as the subject of this dissertation, epilepsy.
Yes, the idiopathic epileptics were improving one after the other,
mostly over night. It did not matter whether they were having five
seizures a day or one every three months. They all stopped having as many
seizures and most were able to be taken off of their medication or never
required anticonvulsants to control their seizures. I now have close to twenty
epileptic patients under control by applying this principle. ...
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Corn- The Toxic Grain
by DrJ.com
I
understand why wheat and dairy cause food allergies but how can corn be
a problem? Didn't the American Indian eat a lot of corn and do well on
it?
That's a great question with good answers...and a very
timely topic. In fact, Diane Sawyer just had a segment this morning on
how pervasive corn is in our diet and she mentions how she tries to
avoid corn. They did not really expound on why they felt it was so
harmful (they needed me on there, LOL) but were instead focusing on the
role it may play in obesity...which it does in a BIG way. Here is the
link to the ABC broadcast- http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com:80/ver/256.0/popup/index.php?cl=6960848
The main reason that corn causes obesity is the lectins
(antibody-sized proteins/glycoproteins) it contains directly stimulate
fat production. Here is a great primer on lectins for you-
http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html . As the article describes, these
lectins can do a number of things when they attach to a tissue cell in
our body. One of the reactions is for the cell to duplicate or
hypertrophy, which is what fat cells do in response to corn lectins.
The glaring example of this is how corn feeding cattle not only fattens
them up but causes them to deposit fat directly into their muscle. Do
you want fat in your muscle? Absolutely not. But we do this in order to
tenderize the meat, don't we? And how do we accomplish this again? We
do this by feeding them (and us) unnatural grains that contain these
potentially proteins (lectins).
And corn itself is unnatural. In
fact, it cannot even reproduce on its own anymore. If we don't plant
corn, it disappears...forever (which is not a bad thing except that it
may make a good fuel source). Another fun fact can be found by doing a
search for "corn gluten meal". You will find that it is used as a
natural herbicide. Hmmm... It kills other plants. Does anything that we
eat that is known to be healthy do this? If we ground up meat, eggs,
broccoli, and bananas we would call it "fertilizer", wouldn't we?
Corn
is what they now call a "cultigen"- it no longer resembles its
ancestors. The origins of corn lie in Middle America. It was later
cultivated by the American Indian but something interesting happened
whenever corn was introduced into a new population...pellagra broke
out. Pellagra is a niacin deficiency and sources like Wikipedia
(incorrectly) state that it was because niacin was locked deeply in the
early forms of the corn's kernel and unavailable for absorption. This
latter fact is true but would only account for pellagra if corn was
their only source of niacin, an important B complex. Here is the link
to Wikipedia that discusses the origins of maize (corn)-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize.
Some mistaken people think
that people in Biblical days ate corn because the word "corn" is in the
Bible. The fact is that "corn" means grain and that is why they called
corn "corn". In Bible usage, corn referred to wheat and barley. And
those two grains were safe and nutritious back then because man had not
put his hand to them...yet. That was not done until the mid-400's AD,
when the Northern Germanics blended "God's wheat" with two other plants
(weeds) and created common wheat, the ancestor of what we now eat. This
ushered in celiac disease which wiped many of them out with severe
dysentery (IBS). This is historical fact. Why? Wheat was no longer pure
in its generations and remains changed to this day. There are now
"tares" among the wheat. And like corn, it has now been hybridized and
genetically modified to death...our death.
The fact is that
corn is the fourth food- along with gluten (wheat, barley, rye), dairy
(casein) and soy- to induce villous atrophy of the duodenum, that
stretch of the small bowel that is responsible for absorbing our B
complex. It also absorbs our calcium, iron, iodine, C, and trace
minerals like boron, magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, and many
others. So, pellagra broke out in these corn-eating populations because
it caused celiac-like lesions in those groups just like gluten was
doing in Western Europe...and soy was doing in Asia.
These
were the major dietary mistakes made by groups on each of the main
continents, with Africa being one of the only areas where they did just
about everything right- non-gluten grains and drinking the right kind
of milk from the what they refer to now as A2 cattle. Here is a link
that discusses the second bad choice we made about dairy. The first
mistake was jumping ship from goats to cows as the source of milk in
the first place. The second blunder was choosing the wrong cow (A1
versus A2)-
http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/news?article=1d81b30f-8bf3-4db3-b838-e5210fead0d9
.
Finally, corn is now being closely studied for its damaging
neurological effects, especially in the autistic individual. Once
again, certain lectins are capable of killing neurons. We know that
gluten can do this in sensitized individuals so we really should not be
surprised that corn lectins can do the same thing. Soy also does this,
aided by the neurotoxic amounts of the amino acid glutamate (the parent
protein in MSG/monosodium glutamate) and staggering levels of estrogen
it contains. Here is a link to some recent studies on the effects of
corn on brain function-
http://wurtmanlab.mit.edu/publications/pdf/171.pdf
I would
suggest an Internet search for things like "dangers of corn", "corn
allergies", "high fructose corn syrup", and "corn gluten meal". I think
you'' agree: We should have left it alone in Middle America, just like
we should have left soy in the ground in Asia. |
Bottled water in your car is very dangerous!
contributed by Susan Terry, UK
On the Ellen Show, Sheryl Crow said this is what caused her
breast cancer. It has been identified as the most common cause of the high
levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.
Sheryl Crow's oncologist told her: women should not drink
bottled water that has been left in a car. [Didi adds: and men too!] The heat
reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin
into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue.
So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been l eft in a
car. Pass this on to all the women in your life.
This information is the kind we need to know that just might
save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!
Let everyone know!
This is information being circulated at Walter Reed
Army Medical
Center:
No plastic containers in microwave.
No water bottles in freezer
No plastic wrap in microwave.
A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your
plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.
Recently, Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital
, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins
and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in
the microwave using plastic containers.
This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said
that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastic releases dioxin into the
food and ultimately into the cells of the body.. Instead, he recommends using
glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food.. You
get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners,
instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated
in something else.
Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper.
It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a
while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers
to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons...
Also, he pointed out that plastic cellophane wrap,
such as Saran Wrap, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in
the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to
actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a
paper towel instead.
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Monsanto's Roundup Residues in GM Food Cause Cell Damage
GM crops, Roundup ReadyResidues of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide found in GM food and feed can cause cell damage and even death, even at very low levels. The authors of a study on the subject say their research "... points to undesirable effects which are currently masked or hidden from scientific scrutiny."
Roundup herbicides are among the most commonly used in the world, especially on GM crops that are engineered to be Roundup resistant. Their residues are among the major pollutants, and they are authorized as residues contaminating GM foods and feed at the tested levels.
The researchers studied toxicity mechanisms of four different Roundup formulations in human cells. The formulations were diluted at minimal doses (up to 100,000 times or more), but they still caused cell death within a few hours. The researchers also noted membrane and DNA damages, and found the formulations inhibit cell respiration.
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Ray Collin's The Good Life Letter 5th April 2009
Eye Health
If you are of a nervous disposition, I suggest you turn away now... Or at least scroll down to the next article. Because what I'm about to tell you almost made me faint when I heard it.
Okay, maybe I'm NOT the world's toughest man. Even someone cracking their knuckles can make
me feel a little queasy. But this is 1000 times worse than that. And it involves my all-time
'not-for-the-squeamish-favourite'... the eye. Here's a REALLY good reason why you should do everything to strengthen your eyes
I'm someone who's never worn contact lenses because the thought of sticking a finger in my
eye to put them in leaves me cold. But that's nothing compared to what's just happened to my mother-in-law... We've just picked her up from the Eye Hospital
in Bristol,
where she had to undergo an operation to repair a tear at the back of her eye. This tear had filled with fluid, so first off the doctor had to...
[WARNING: this is where it gets gruesome]
Okay, the doctor had to stick a needle in her eye - WHILE SHE WAS STILL AWAKE - and drain the fluid out. Then her eye was operated on to mend the tear.
Now she has to lay face down for the next 10 days. When we went to see her last night I quipped
that we could just pre-record a
conversation, press the play button,
then tip-toe off to the pub for an hour.
But of course that would be wrong. Wouldn't it?
Yes, yes. Of COURSE it would. I'll stop recording right now. Anyway, this latest episode in a long and proud line of terrible eye stories (did I ever tell you
about my friend Sid who lost a contact
lens down the back of his eye?) proved
to me, yet again, that doing everything you
can to look after and strengthen your eyes is one of the most important things you can do.
Which is why I've come up with some brilliant natural remedies to keep your eyes healthy:
- Rooibos: this herb can only be found naturally on the
slopes of the Cedarberg mountains in the Western Cape
of South Africa.
Rooibos has powerful anti-oxidant properties, mainly due to
an ingredient called superoxide dismutase. Or SOD for short. (Okay, it's not really a swear word by
today's standards, but I was brought up in an age where a loose 'blimey' would
get you a clip round the ear). SOD is an enzyme in the body that has one sole purpose - to
locate and snuff out unstable oxygen molecules (free radicals). And free radicals are determined to damage every part of
your body - including your eyes. It's like having The Terminator on your side, helping you
track down and exterminate the enemy!
- Bilberry: ah yes, one of my old favourites gets another
mention, but it's well deserved.
Bilberry contains a certain flavonoid compound called
anthocyanosides, which run around repairing cell damage caused by free
radicals. But it doesn't just patch things up after the event.
Bilberry has the power to build up the tiny blood vessels
that run through the eye, which in turn helps get essential oxygen and nutrients
into the area. This helps prevent diseases of the retina, eye haemorrhaging,
cataracts and glaucoma - two very common eye disorders in older people.
- Cancer Bush*: this was originally used by the Khoi San and
Nama peoples of South Africa
as a treatment for cancers.
[* sutherlandia, or cancer bush, is available from Abha Light pharmacy]
But recently it's been found to help in the fight against
other ailments including diabetes, thanks to three active ingredients -
canavanine, pinitol, and the amino acid GABA. Farm workers in South Africa still use cancer bush
(also known as Sutherlandia) to treat eye problems, by creating an eye wash
using the plant.
And finally -
Laughter really is the best medicine
You know the best thing about visiting someone in hospital? It's the laughter.
That may sound strange (and maybe it's down to nerves), but
whenever I visit hospital, I seem to make more bad jokes and find more things
funny than normal. And to me, that's the whole purpose of visiting someone.
Because if you make them laugh, you're helping them in for more ways than
simply passing time.
Research shows that a good laugh can ease pain, boost your
immune system, and even help treat serious illness such as cancer, by
increasing a powerful immune cell called NK, which directly attack tumours. Best of all, you don't have to do much to enjoy this natural
medicine. Just put on a favourite comedy DVD and enjoy it.
That's it for today. I'll be back next week with more tips
and ideas.
Until then, look after yourself, get out in the sunshine (we've
had five or so hours down this way in the past couple of days - that's half our
yearly allowance already), and enjoy the good life!
Yours as ever,
Ray Collins The Good Life Letter |
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Sugar is Back on Food Labels -- This Time as a Selling Point
Sugar,
long reviled by dentists and dietitians, is now being dressed up as a
natural, healthful ingredient. Some of the biggest players in the
American food business have started replacing high-fructose corn syrup
(HFCS) with old-fashioned sugar, and using this as a selling point.
ConAgra
uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen
entrees, and Kraft Foods recently removed HFCS from its salad dressings.
The
change comes after three decades during which HFCS had been gaining on
sugar in the American diet. Consumption of the two finally drew even in
2003, according to the Department of Agriculture. However, per capita,
American adults ate about 44 pounds of sugar in 2007, compared with
about 40 pounds of HFCS.
With sugar sales up, the Sugar
Association last year ended its Sweet by Nature campaign, which pointed
out that sugar is found in fruits and vegetables.
Though
research is still under way, many nutrition and obesity experts say
sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are equally bad in excess.
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Obesity During Pregnancy Linked to Birth Defects
Pregnant women who are obese are significantly more likely to give birth to children with birth defects than women of a healthier weight, according to a study conducted by researchers from Newcastle University and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Prior research has shown that obesity significantly decreases a woman's chance of conception and increases her child's risk of a wide range of health problems. In the current study, researchers compiled the results of 39 prior studies to gain a better idea of exactly how obesity affects the risk of birth defects.
They found that obese women had more than twice the risk of bearing a child with a neural tube defect, such as spinal bifida, than women with a body mass index of 25 or less. They also had a significantly higher risk of bearing children with cleft lips or heart defects.
Body mass index is a measure of obesity calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters. Obesity is defined as a body mass index higher than 30, while overweight is defined as a body mass index above 25.
The researchers are planning further studies to determine precisely how a mother's obesity affects the development of her infant. One possibility is that obesity may be linked to deficiency of key nutrients such as folic acid, which is strongly linked to neural tube defects.
"Folic acid does seem to be involved," said Andrew Russell of the Association for Spinal Bifida and Hydrocephalus. "It is very important for women planning a pregnancy or likely to fall pregnant to take a folic acid supplement."
Another possible cause might be undiagnosed diabetes, another known risk factor for such defects.
The implications of the study for infant health are serious, said lead researcher Judith Rankin.
"Given that we are seeing an increase in the number of people who are overweight or obese, then we may see an increase in the number of babies born with abnormalities," Rankin said. "Women who are thinking about trying for a baby need to check their own weight first and then think about seeking help if they are overweight. While you are pregnant it's not the time to start a weight loss diet but it is more important to eat sensibly and healthily."
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Medical Disclaimer:
The information contained within does not take the place of medical diagnosis or
prescription. See your health care provider in case of sickness.
Editorial Disclaimer: Publication of these articles are to promote food for thought. The opinions expressed in these articles may not be the opinion of editors.
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