Abha Light Foundation
Alternative Medicine in the News
August 2009      edition 34
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in this issue
:: Mind-Body Connection Part I: Our Thoughts can Affect our Health
:: Body Cleansing is the Natural Way to Eliminate Disease
:: Children and Pregnant Women Targeted in U.S. Swine Flu Mass Vaccination Program
:: ADHD Drugs Proven Absolutely Useless for Children - Plus, They Stunt Growth
:: Statins Given to Prevent Pneumonia in Elderly Actually Increase Pneumonia Risk by 61 Percen
:: How Fluorescent Lighting Puts You at Risk for Skin Cancer
:: Accupuncture, Chiropractic, and Homeopathy Becoming Respected Forms of Medical Treatment in the U.S
Mind-Body Connection Part I: Our Thoughts can Affect our Health
by Alexander R. Lees

Have you ever wondered if there is any scientific evidence supporting the notion of spontaneous remission, faith healing and other described miracles? Until recently there hasn`t been much scientific information to support these claims, but this is not to say that they don`t occur, because they do. There also hasn`t been much information about what we can do to assist in our own healing, until now.

The latest information emerging from the science labs is that we now have the opportunity to play a part in our own healing. According to leading scientists our thoughts can affect our health, both physically and emotionally, and there is data to prove it.

All things follow patterns, or at the very least, contain some. One of the consistent commonalities (patterns) is how much the thinking process of an individual contributes to whatever problem s/he may be experiencing

Dr. Deepak Chopra tells us we process some 60,000 thoughts daily. On one level, this is a good thing. By repeating many of the same thoughts daily, the world remains somewhat predictable, and most of the time is reasonably safe, and therefore knowable.

At the same time, some of those thoughts are about problems:

- How much pain we are in.
- That idiot co-worker.
- That spouse that drinks too much, or controls too much.
- There isn`t enough money.
- A long term desire to lose weight but, "I have it on good authority I inherited the dreaded fat gene, so it really isn`t my fault."

What Dr. Chopra and many others propose is that we shift our awareness a bit, and begin to pay attention to our thoughts. If we were to follow a thought on its journey, that journey would take us first through the brain and then into the body, and then all the way down to the genes themselves. Along the way we would begin to realize that yes, thoughts do in fact influence health, and that is only one effect among many. For example:

- It has long been taught that the immune system is autonomous, therefore unaffected by attitude, emotional state, and consciousness. We now know this is incorrect.
- It has also been a common belief that the genes we inherit are written in stone, so if we happen to be born from a defective gene pool, then that`s just too bad. We will just have to accept that we are stuck with them just the way they are. Also not true.

As some of you know, the concept of mind over matter is not new. History is filled with stories of spontaneous healing, or that someone, somehow, overcame some great physical limitation, and did so in spite of some dire prognosis. It is only in the last few years that science has advanced to the point where we can now chart the pathways of a thought all the way down to the genes within each cell. One of the values to be extracted and utilized from this new knowledge is to add credibility to the concept of mind over matter.

Let`s begin with a thought, and to do so, the question can be posed: Are thoughts real?

To answer this question, we need to age regress all the way back to grade seven or eight, for it was here we were taught all things can be classified as abstract or concrete. The litmus test for deciding was - does the subject of our discussion:

- Occupy space?
- Have weight, or mass?
- Does it have molecular movement?

If whatever we are discussing conforms to all three tenets, then the subject is classified as concrete. If, however, one of these tenets is violated, then the subject of discussion is said to be abstract, that is not physical at all.

A thought breaks all three tenets, so it is definitely an abstract or non physical.

Now, how can nothingness have such diverse effects on the brain, the body, attitude and behaviors, and the world at large? This is exactly what this series of reports is designed to do. They will start by introducing us to how nothingness (that is a thought) acts upon somethingness.

For those trained in the sciences, you will be aware of the backlash of putting forth information, such as an opinion or belief that is not backed up by research. The worlds of medicine, biology, neurophysiology, etc., use microscopes and a vast variety of other forms of tests to prove things. A favorite "written in stone" rule is: "If you can`t see it or measure it, `then it doesn`t exist.`" This of course presents a problem. Namely, how can a thought be measured, and how does non physical thought (nothingness) come to be processed by the brain?

Dr. Candace Pert, a neurophysicist, along with countless colleagues, has been mapping the brain and pathways of something called neuropeptides through the body. After 15 years of research, she and her colleagues could only form one conclusion. The thoughts themselves, although abstract or non material, instantaneously invoke chemical reactions in the brain, called neuropeptides. The neuropeptides then flow to different parts of the body, influencing it on a physical level. Since the brain is an equal opportunity employer, it does not discriminate as to whether the thought is useful or not. It will process a beneficial thought just as easily as one that is not.

One interviewer asked: "What is the interface or junction, where thoughts somehow affect us physically?" Dr. Pert replied, "The emotions. The emotions are the currency of exchange between mind and body."

The interviewer then asked if she believed this to be a fact. "The facts are in the laboratory research. All we do is report them," was the answer. So finally, we are discovering the concrete proof that Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Bernie Siegel and countless others around the world have been trying to tell us for years: Our state of mind influences our state of health. Therefore, doesn`t it make sense in view of these findings to look after our mental well being, as well as the physical?

Some may ask, "How? Does that mean everyone needs a therapist?" The answer is that therapy can take many different forms. For some, leaving a job they despise is enough. For others, getting out of an abusive relationship will do them good. The list is endless. We decide what will work best for us. And we know better than anyone, if we just give our self a chance and listen to our inner wisdom.

To sum up, we now know the body listens in on the thoughts and is influenced by them. The consensus seems to be that if we feel good, then our thinking is fine. If we feel less than good, or we are still procrastinating instead of realizing our goals, then we may want to consider checking in and listening to our thoughts.

In the next report in the series on the Mind-Body Connection, we will follow a thought from the world of nothingness into the world of somethingness. We will also take a look at how they affect us, and then explore some techniques, or ways, of influencing our thoughts and our emotions themselves.

Remember... everything begins with a thought. And, there are many ways to change your mind, and enjoy the benefits of doing so.

References:

Deepak Chopra, MD - The Chopra Center - http://www.chopra.com
Candace Pert, PhD - Molecules of Emotion - http://candacepert.com
Bernie Siegel, MD - Love, Medicine and Miracles - http://berniesiegelmd.com
Body Cleansing is the Natural Way to Eliminate Disease

Eliminating disease with deep body cleansing is unparalleled, and happens all over the world. In fact, it's common for people who work with others to cleanse their bodies to regularly see disease simply up and disappear with deep cleansing. These diseases can run the gamut from minor problems all the way up to life-threatening "incurable" ones.

Sherry Rogers, M.D. explains, "Environmental toxins cause all human disease... They can cause any symptom or disease from high blood pressure, heart failure, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, arthritis, or Alzheimer's disease to fibromyalgia, degenerating disks, Parkinson's disease, depression, fatigue, irritable bowel, loss of libido, colitis, asthma, eczema, prostatitis, esophagitis, atrial fibrillation, GERD (gastro esophageal disease), hearing loss, headaches, recurrent sinus, ear and throat infections, diabetes, cancer, and more."

This sentiment is echoed by many in the natural health world. So is the fact that when these poisons and a regularly accompanying fungus overgrowth are eliminated, so too is the disease. When you consider that most people, through common diets and lifestyles, are bombarded with pesticides, preservatives, plastics, and all sorts of unnatural chemicals on a daily basis, it pretty quickly becomes clear that those chemicals (also called toxins) trapped in our bodies are the underlying cause of quite a bit of the disease that our culture experiences.

While it's a serious problem, the good news is, it's a problem with a solution. You can remove those chemical toxins from your body by cleansing your body deeply, and along with those poisons, disease regularly disappears too.

However, as we have more and more chemical foods and lifestyles, more and more cleansing is needed to really make a dent at what's stored in there. A week on the Master Cleanse simply won't cut it. Neither will popping some store bought detox pills. Deep cleansing, at a minimum, involves colon cleansing, liver cleansing, and a natural plant-based diet, or juice or water fasting.

Most people are generally unconscious as to the amount of toxicity they have in their bodies. It can be an enormous amount, and some are under the impression that our bodies can handle all of this for us. Others have the belief that while they might have some toxicity in them, a week or two of cleansing makes them squeaky clean inside. Doctors, unfortunately, will tell you that those chemicals in your body won't harm you, and that you actually need more chemicals in your body to manage your symptoms. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A week or two of deep cleansing is a good place to start. It's certainly better than leaving it all in there, but it's exactly that, a start.

To understand why, you need to understand that most people consume pesticides each day of their lives, and have been since day one. In fact, most people have been eating unnatural and chemical-filled foods, most of their lives, while slapping even more chemicals on their skin each day.

Then, people breathe in chemicals from the home, garden and workplace - to say the least of auto fumes (which are known to kill you if you breathe them in a closed garage). And this doesn't take into account the toxicity created from habits like smoking cigarettes, which is a habit for about twenty percent of the population.

While different people, due to different habits, have different amounts of toxicity stored in them, most people have been building toxicity in their bodies for exactly as many years as they've been alive. So it can take some time and effort to really get it all out.

But the benefits of deep cleansing are obvious, and for most who've actually done it obviously worth it. The benefits of deep cleansing can be the elimination and prevention of disease, as well as having more energy, while looking and feeling younger. Easy weight loss and maintenance are also common, as is developing a greater spiritual connection.

Have you ever thought about it? Perhaps the Divine didn't intend for us to be filled with chemicals and poisons? Although thousands of years ago the world and food supply wasn't nearly so chemically contaminated, perhaps the quality of their spiritual connection was why Jesus, Buddha, and St. Francis of Assisi are all known to have cleansed their bodies deeply?

Perhaps enlightenment, which is really just having light in your soul (as opposed to dimness or darkness) is meant for everyone, not just a few who come around every few thousand years? But to get there, perhaps you'll need to follow the path these great spiritual men took. Or, you could just take more drugs and consume more chemicals. Which will you choose?

For more:
Detoxify or Die, Sherry A. Rogers, M.D.
Cleanse & Purify Thyself, Richard Anderson, N.D., N.M.D.

Children and Pregnant Women Targeted in U.S. Swine Flu Mass Vaccination Program -part2
Mike Adams, Natural News

Continued from last week.
Harming people for profit
Think again: Harming people for profit is, in fact, the foundation of modern medicine's business model. How else do you explain drug companies buying off generic drug manufacturers in order to prevent lower-priced drugs from entering the market and destroying their monopoly profits? How do you explain all the false positives from "free" cancer screening programs that are really only designed to recruit patients into unnecessary medical procedures? How do you explain sweeping Medicare and Medicaid fraud perpetrated by clinics and doctors, the price fixing by drug companies who defraud states out of billions of dollars each year, the adulterated clinical trials that are distorted to produce false results, the use of third-world children as human guinea pigs for drug trials, the dumping of antibiotics into rivers by pharmaceutical factories... need I go on?

Big Pharma is an industry steeped in corruption, fraud and criminal behavior. Injecting a hundred million people with a live influenza virus is no big deal to these people, as long as it earns them a profit. In the pharmaceutical industry, ethics never get in the way of making another few billion dollars.

Natural remedies for swine flu
It's already obvious to regular NaturalNews readers that receiving a swine flu vaccine injection is perhaps the single dumbest medical act in which any person could engage. I wish I could bring you interviews from those doctors and nurses in Mexico City who received various vaccine injections during the early days of the swine flu outbreak, but they're already dead, having expired within days of receiving the shots.

The real solution for beating swine flu, of course, is to strengthen your defenses with Mother Nature's medicine. I've published a free online report revealing the five most powerful anti-viral remedies and nutritional supplements available today. It's a really solid report, and we've received an enormous amount of positive feedback on it. Read the full report at no charge right here: http://www.naturalnews.com/RR-FiveB...

Many contagious disease experts are predicting that swine flu could reignite this fall, sweeping through the world's population and killing millions. They may be right: The fall and winter months are precisely those months in which most first-world populations are chronically deficient in vitamin D due to lack of sunlight exposure. This is why influenza historically strikes in the winter -- because that's when people have no vitamin D and are immunologically vulnerable.

Even then, it seems that the natural spread of H1N1 isn't enough -- the U.S. government appears determined to accelerate the spread by injecting influenza viral fragments (and perhaps even live viruses) into one-third or even one-half of the U.S. population.

I can tell you this with great confidence: If a new wave of swine flu begins killing people, those who die first will almost certainly be those who received the Swine Flu vaccinations. A few months later, it will likely be announced that Baxter (or some other company) "accidentally" inserted live viruses into the vaccines, and fifty million people (or more) were "accidentally" exposed to live H1N1.

Oops.

Just another Big Government / Big Pharma snafu.

Blanket immunity for drug companies and their deadly vaccines
Note, carefully, that federal law already grants drug companies complete immunity from any liability for the damage caused by their vaccines. This blanket immunity is already in place, and it means that drug companies could literally inject people with almost any chemical or virus and then disclaim any responsibility from the inevitable resulting deaths.

The U.S. government has, in this way, set the stage for a massive medical catastrophe whereby drug companies get paid billions of dollars to manufacture vaccines that "accidentally" kill people, and then they get away with the whole thing through existing legal immunity laws.

And since there are no repercussions for harming or killing patients, what's the incentive for drug companies to exercise any quality control over the manufacture of these vaccines in the first place?

There is no incentive. These vaccine manufacturing drug companies get paid the same amount of money whether patients live or die. As long as people are being injected, Big Pharma is making big bucks. If people happen to die in the process, well, that's their own problem.

To conclude this article, let me republish a few words from a March, 2009 article that documents the Baxter snafu that resulted in the contamination of vaccine materials with live avian flu viruses:

From: http://www.naturalnews.com/025760.html

Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Baxter International Inc. has just been caught shipping live avian flu viruses mixed with vaccine material to medical distributors in 18 countries. The "mistake" (if you can call it that, see below...) was discovered by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The World Health Organization was alerted and panic spread throughout the vaccine community as health experts asked the obvious question: How could this have happened?

The shocking answer is that this couldn't have been an accident. Why? Because Baxter International adheres to something called BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) - a set of laboratory safety protocols that prevent the cross-contamination of materials.

As explained on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosaf...):

"Laboratory personnel have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially lethal agents, and are supervised by competent scientists who are experienced in working with these agents. This is considered a neutral or warm zone. All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials are conducted within biological safety cabinets or other physical containment devices, or by personnel wearing appropriate personal protective clothing and equipment. The laboratory has special engineering and design features."

Under the BSL3 code of conduct, it is impossible for live avian flu viruses to contaminate production vaccine materials that are shipped out to vendors around the world.

This leaves only two possibilities that explain these events:

Possibility #1: Baxter isn't following BSL3 safety guidelines or is so sloppy in following them that it can make monumental mistakes that threaten the safety of the entire human race. And if that's the case, then why are we injecting our children with vaccines made from Baxter's materials?

Possibility #2: A rogue employee (or an evil plot from the top management) is present at Baxter, whereby live avian flu viruses were intentionally placed into the vaccine materials in the hope that such materials might be injected into humans and set off a global bird flu pandemic.

U.S. government chooses Baxter to make more vaccines
Now, don't you find it more than a bit curious that the U.S. government selected this particular company to manufacture swine flu vaccines? Of all the companies available to manufacture vaccines, why would the U.S. government choose the one company that accidentally inserted live avian flu viruses into vaccine materials, in direct violation of its own BSL3 safety guidelines?

The likely answer, of course, is because the U.S. government wants this company to insert live viruses into the vaccines. And now they've proven they can do it.

That's the conspiracy theory of it, anyway. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. But only a sucker would agree to be jabbed in the arm with a needle containing an immune-suppressing liquid made by a company that has already been caught inserting live avian flu viruses into its globally-distributed vaccine materials. If the U.S. government had any sense at all, it would exclude Baxter from its list of possible vaccine manufacturers due to the company's frightening lack of quality control standards.
ADHD Drugs Proven Absolutely Useless for Children - Plus, They Stunt Growth

Stimulant drugs such as Ritalin provide no long-term benefit in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to the latest findings of the ongoing Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

According to previous analysis of MTA data, stimulant drugs do improve the social functioning and reduce symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity in children with ADHD for the first year of treatment. In the current analysis, however, researchers followed 485 children for eight years and found that children who remained on medication for that entire time showed no improvement in symptoms over those who had stopped taking the drugs.

"If you put a child on medication, he or she is far better right at that time. The question for parents is: Is this going to make a benefit for my child long term?" said researcher William Pelham, of the University of Buffalo. "The answer is no. Behavioral treatments are going to have much better benefit in the long term."

Another analysis of MTA data, published in the same journal, found that use of ADHD drugs appeared to stunt children's growth. Children who had never taken stimulant drugs were an average of six pounds heavier and 0.75 inches taller than children of the same age who had taken the drugs for three years. This height and weight difference was permanent.

According to Pelham, behavioral treatments for ADHD can be harder to find than drugs, and often insurers will not cover them. Nevertheless, such treatments are available and have been proven to work without the side effect risk of pharmaceuticals.

"It's wrong for a doctor to say to a parent, this treatment is harder to find, so instead we're going to put your child on a drug that will have no long-term benefit," he said.

Sources for this story include: health.usnews.com.
Statins Given to Prevent Pneumonia in Elderly Actually Increase Pneumonia Risk by 61 Percent

Published reports say that between 11 million to 30 million Americans are taking the supposedly wonder drugs called statins. These cholesterol lowering medications brought in over $34 billion in sales last year and have raked in a quarter of a trillion dollars since they were introduced two decades ago, according to a report published by Forbes last fall. But this market is apparently not big enough to satisfy Big Pharma. The drugs, which are sold under familiar names like Lipitor, Vitorin, Zocor, Zetia, Crestor and others, are beginning to be pushed for reasons other than lowering cholesterol -- including the alleged prevention of pneumonia.

If this use of the drug doesn't seem to make sense to you, you aren't alone. In fact, giving statins to elderly people to prevent pneumonia increases the risk they will get the disease.

That's the new finding from a study of more than 3,000 Group Health patients recently published in the British Medical Journal. "Prior research based on automated claims data had raised some hope -- and maybe some hype -- for statins as a way to prevent and treat infections including pneumonia," Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, a physician at Group Health and assistant investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies, said in a statement to the media. "But when we used medical records to get more detailed information about patients, our findings didn't support that approach."

What they found was disturbing: pneumonia risk was 26 percent higher in people using a statin than in those not on the drug. What's more, the extra risk soared up to 61 percent for severe pneumonia that landed people in the hospital.

Dr. Dublin claims she's a fan of statins. However, she admitted in the press statement that some of the claims concerning their benefits could be bogus. "But now we and some others have found that statins may have gotten some unearned credit for health benefits that they don't actually have, including preventing pneumonia," Dublin said.

She also spoke out against suggestions from researchers that expensive randomized controlled trials should be conducted to see if statins can prevent or treat infection. "Our study indicates that such trials would be an ill-advised use of limited research funds at this time," she added.

Unlike previous research on statins and pneumonia, the new study went to great lengths to review medical records in detail for every research subject. The scientists thoroughly investigated diagnoses to make sure every reported case of pneumonia was a true case of that disease. Remarkably, Dr. Dublin noted, prior studies rarely bothered to do this.

The new study focused on relatively healthy people between the ages of 65 and 94 who had healthy immune systems and did not reside in a nursing home. Dr. Dublin used the same group of patients, with their records coded to protect their privacy, in earlier Group Health research that was published in The Lancet last year. That research demonstrated another widely accepted medical "fact" was also wrong: the flu vaccine provided the elderly with little to no protection from pneumonia.

For more information:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abst...
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/29/ch...
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How Fluorescent Lighting Puts You at Risk for Skin Cancer
http://www.associatedcontent.com

Fluorescent lighting may save money in your electric bill, but it takes a bigger toll on your health. There are several reasons why Fluorescent lighting is actually dangerous for your well-being.

A long term health consequence from being exposed to Fluorescent lighting is from short wave ultraviolet light that it emits. UV emissions from ceiling fixtures have been linked to a higher risks of melanoma skin cancer by the American Journal of Epidemiology. Also, In August 1982 an article was published in the well read British Medical Journal, "The Lancet," entitled "Malignant Melanoma and Exposure to Fluorescent Lighting at Work." The authors of this study examined and determined the possible connection between indoor fluorescent lights and the ever rising rate of melanoma. Taking into account such factors as hair color, skin type and the history of sun exposure it was found that working under fluorescent lights had doubled the risk of melanoma in the subjects of the research.

I always thought it was the sun that caused cancer? The sun actually helps to prevent skin cancer because it provides the body with natural Vitamin D. Without enough sunlight your body becomes deficient in this vitamin and is actually placed at a higher risk for skin cancer. A lack of sunlight coupled with daily exposure to fluorescent lighting is a double whammy towards your odds of developing this serious condition.

I always thought it was strange that after living under the sun for thousands of years, we suddenly develop a skin cancer epidemic after so many people were taken from the outdoors and put in offices where they work under artificial lights. It is only when we try to mess with nature that we start to develop these health epidemics.

Fluorescent lighting has also been known to cause headaches, eye problems such as night blindness, fatigue, concentration difficulties and irritability. It has also been observed that an increase in the brightness of fluorescent light leads to higher stress levels by raising cortisol hormone levels.
Accupuncture, Chiropractic, and Homeopathy Becoming Respected Forms of Medical Treatment in the U.S
http://www.associatedcontent.com/

Many alternative medical treatments have been around for thousands of years, much longer than the more accepted modern medicine that is commonplace today. Many people however have become fed up with the increasingly unpersonable nature of the chemical and technological treatments of modern times. Often times these modern treatments treat the body and symptoms alone, preventing the mind and body from working together to treat sicknesses. Because of this alternative treatments are making a comeback, and a few methods have become accepted forms of treatment in the U.S. evenn being paid for by so9me insurance companies. Here are the three most commonly accepted forms of alternative medicine that are practiced today.

Chiropractic-Chiropractic care, an alternative therapy involving manual manipulation of the spine, is an American invention that has been around since the turn of the century. In 1980, around one million people visited a chiropractor. By 1990, the number was up to around 8 figures in North America. Dr. Anthony Rosner, of the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research in Arlington, Virginia, claims chiropractic treatment for lower back pain has been demonstrated to be superior to other approaches, such as bed rest, medication, physiotherapy and massage. Chiropractic medicine "has the most documented evidence of patient outcome of any available therapy," he says. However, a recent three-part article on alternative therapies in Consumer Reports magazine suggests chiropractic treatment is still "alien to the medical profession."

Homeopathy-Homeopathy is an alternative medicine that uses extremely diluted preparations of natural substances, which, if given in strong doses, would produce symptoms of the disease being treated. The theory is that like cures like. Homeopaths claim that traditional medicine has adapted this basic homeopathic principle in some of its treatments. For example, digitalis is used to treat heart disorders, but it can create heart problems as well; Ritalin, which is given to hyperactive children to calm them down, is an amphetamine like drug; and radiation used to shrink tumors is a known cause of cancer.

Use of homeopathy is far more prevalent in parts of Europe than it is in North America, where not much legitimate research has been done. But mainstream medicine has extreme difficulty believing this type of treatment can work because homeopathic remedies are often diluted to a level where the active agent is no longer present. Some homeopathic dilutions can be so extreme as to be comparable to mixing one molecule of active substance with all the water in the world's oceans. The homeopathic belief is that the solution somehow retains the "memory" of the original substance and stimulates the body to cure itself. Public prodding has convinced the Office of Alternative Medicine to approve two studies of homeopathic treatments.

Acupuncture-There are now more than 5,000 physicians in Canada and the United States who use acupuncture in their practices to treat nausea, pain and even depression, according to Dr. Joseph Helms, chairman of the Physician Acupuncture Training Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. This form of treatment, which involves placing needles in strategic points on the body, has many establishment doctors scratching their heads. The Chinese explanation of how it works has no connection to Western science as we know it. But of all alternative therapies under study, it has probably been used by more people over a longer period of time than any other alternative treatment.
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.