Bone density sharply enhanced by weight training, even in the elderly

As people reach old age, osteoporosis is a major determining factor in quality of life. In Healing Moves, Dr. Mitchell and Carol Krucoff write, “Age-related declines in muscle and bone mass … can lead to frailty and fracture — the primary reason older adults wind up in nursing homes.” If you don’t want to spend your later years resting in a nursing home, losing your independence and draining your or your family’s financial resources, you need to do something to remain independent. According to numerous studies and aging manuals, that “something” is strength training, an activity known to increase bone mass and thus decrease the possibility of osteoporosis.

Postmenopausal women are especially prone to osteoporosis because they lack estrogen. Most women know this and begin to take calcium supplements to ward off the debilitating disease. Calcium supplements are important, but according to Kathy Keeton’s book, Longevity, they are not enough. Not only does your body need magnesium and other nutrients to assimilate calcium into your bones, it also needs strength training to retain calcium. Keeton quotes nutritional biochemist Dr. Neil S. Orenstein: “Without consideration of these effects, no amount of calcium supplementation will prevent osteoporosis.”

Numerous studies demonstrate strength training’s ability to increase bone mass, especially spinal bone mass. According to Keeton, a research study by Ontario’s McMaster University found that a year-long strength training program increased the spinal bone mass of postmenopausal women by nine percent. Furthermore, women who do not participate in strength training actually experience a decrease in bone density.

In Prescription Alternatives, Professor Earl Mindell and Virginia Hopkins detail these findings: “In a recent study on bone density and exercise, older women who did high-intensity weight training two days per week for a year were able to increase their bone density by one percent, while a control group of women who did not exercise had a bone density decrease of 1.8 to 2.5 percent. The women who exercised also had improved muscle strength and better balance, while both decreased in the non-exercising group.”

Increased bone density, improved muscle strength, better balance — these three things will dramatically improve your later years and increase your longevity. Only these health improvements can help prevent a bad fall, which is often a turning point in an elderly person’s life. One bad spill can result in a broken hip, an injury that can lead to an elderly person’s immobility and dependence on others. Only strength training can provide these benefits, but what exactly does “strength training” or “weight training” mean?

A little training goes a long way
Strength training does not mean that you have to train for the Olympics or tediously do the same exercise over and over. According to Healing Moves, a variety of exercises will yield bone-building benefits: “Physical impact and weight-bearing exercise stimulates bone formation. Just as a muscle gets stronger and bigger the more you use it, a bone becomes stronger and denser when you regularly place demands upon it.

The best bone builders are exercises that put force on the bone, such as weight-bearing activities like running and resistance exercises like strength training. In general, the greater the impact involved, the more it strengthens the bones.” However, it is important to distinguish the exercises that will increase bone density from the ones that will not. “Weight lifting, including curls and bench presses, is a beneficial activity … Dancing, stair-climbing and brisk walking are all weight-bearing exercises, which promote (good) mechanical stress in the skeletal system, contributing to the placement of calcium in bones. Aerobic exercises such as biking, rowing and swimming do not strengthen the bones,” writes Gary Null in Power Aging.

Now, aerobic exercise is great for your cardiovascular system, so you still should do it along with strength training. You don’t have to devote a lot of time to strength training to experience the benefits. Null believes that only 15 to 30 minutes of weight training, two to three times per week, can provide you with the bone density you need to prevent osteoporosis. Just make sure that you work all your different muscle groups and allow a 24-hour lapse between sessions.
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For best results, women should start strength training long before menopause; however, women can experience the benefits at any age. “A 1994 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that women as old as 70 who lifted weights twice a week for a year avoided the expected loss of bone and even increased their bone density slightly,” writes Robert Haas in Permanent Remissions. According to Dr. George Kessler’s Bone Density Program, “One study of people in their 80s and 90s living in nursing homes who exercised with weight machines three times a week for just eight weeks showed improvements in strength, balance and walking speed.” It’s never too late to lift just a few light weights and increase your bone density.

Vitamin warning Some nutritional supplements use hydrogenated oils as filler

he next time you buy soft-gel vitamins, you’d better take a look at what’s inside them. Would you be surprised if I told you that vitamin companies are taking one of the most toxic food ingredients known to mankind and putting it in soft gels as a filler? It’s absolutely true. You can find it in vitamins and supplements in health food stores, grocery stores, price discount warehouse clubs, retailers and pharmacies all over the country and around the world right now. What toxic ingredient am I referring to? Partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

Today, anyone who follows nutrition knows that hydrogenated oils are extremely toxic. We know that, long-term, they will lead to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. They can even encourage strokes. We know that they cause harm, sometimes irreparable, to the nervous system. We know that they interfere with the absorption of the essential fatty acids you need to maintain healthy cells, a healthy nervous system, healthy blood sugar regulation and many other functions.

Big Pharma manufactures vitamins, too
And yet, vitamin companies – the cheap ones – are taking this ingredient and putting it in soft gels as filler. And that’s not the only ingredient they’re putting in, either. Some vitamin companies are taking artificial colors – that’s right, chemicals extracted from coal tar – and putting them in not only soft gels but in tablets and capsules, too.

Now, why on earth would a vitamin company do this? The answer is because some of these companies aren’t at all interested in health. In fact, the dirty little secret of the nutritional supplements industry is that many of these companies are wholly or partially owned by pharmaceutical companies, so these vitamin manufacturers think they can standardize, process and manufacture vitamins in the same way they manufacture prescription drugs (which is an entirely unnatural process, by the way).

When companies manufacture prescription drugs, they really don’t care what goes into them as long as the active ingredient is there. Prescription drugs, in addition to containing highly toxic chemicals that are supposed to be medicinal, also contain highly toxic fillers, colors and other additives that sometimes even counteract the intended effect of the drug. When those pharmaceutical companies decide to branch out into nutritional supplements because it’s a hot industry, they, of course, carry over these same manufacturing practices to nutritional supplements. This is why you don’t want to get your supplements from these mega corporations that are actually owned by Big Pharma. It’s better to get something from smaller, more passionate companies.

I don’t necessarily mean “mom-and-pop” shops, but I mean companies that are solely focused on health, even if they do happen to be commercially successful. Companies like New Chapter, Nature’s Way, Now Foods, Garden of Life or Jay Robb Enterprises (which has outstanding whey protein, soy protein and egg protein products). These are a few of the many companies that seem to really care about health and they avoid using toxic ingredients, whereas many other supplement companies don’t care at all what they put in there, as long as they can claim something on the label.

What you see is not always what you get
When you’re buying a soft gel capsule, you would normally think that what goes inside that soft gel is what’s stated on the label. It makes sense, right? So if the label on that vitamin bottle says “salmon oil,” and you take out a soft gel and look at it, you would think it’s filled with salmon oil, right? This is what most people think. This is common sense. But in fact, it is incorrect.

You might be amazed to learn this, but that soft gel may not be filled with salmon oil at all; it may have a miniscule amount of salmon oil in it, but the rest of it is just filler. It could be soybean oil, hydrogenated oils or some other form of filler. It could be something that’s actually dangerous to your health, so you’d better read the ingredients labels on those vitamins, minerals and supplements, in addition to reading the ingredients labels on foods, as I’ve always recommended. Watch out! Just because you buy something that looks good on the label – something that claims to have flax oil, salmon oil or vitamin B in it – it doesn’t mean it’s actually good for you.
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How to put a negative spin on healthy vitamins: Use cheap vitamins to skew results
Now, of course, researchers have also figured all this out. If I’m a researcher in organized medicine and my mission is to discredit vitamins, these are the vitamins I buy and use in my research. If I wanted to ensure that I had a study saying vitamin E causes an increase in heart attacks, you know how I would do it? I would buy vitamin E soft-gel products that have hydrogenated soybean oil as filler, so that I could be absolutely sure that this study would come out showing an increase of heart attacks. Then, I could write a headline that says, “Vitamin E Kills People!”

Following that study, if I were associated with the right school or university or the right medical group, I could send out a press release to all the newspapers around the country or around the world and they would blindly print that headline. People would be all over TV and radio talking about how vitamin E kills you.

How do I accomplish that? I just choose a soft gel container with hydrogenated oils as the toxic filler ingredients because I, as an evil researcher, know that these journalists are not going to ask questions. No one’s going to look at this study and see what the other filler ingredients were. No one’s going to do anything other than reprint whatever I fax them. Why? Because I’m associated with a medical school or a university, that’s why. That’s how it works out there. That’s the real world of nutritional supplements “research.”

Of course, none of that has anything to do with reality because, in the real world, vitamin E is extremely healthy. It’s very good for you, even in higher doses than most people take, and it’s found naturally in nuts and seeds. Salmon oil is also very good for your health in many ways; not just your heart health, but also for your nervous system health, for stabilizing blood sugar and for providing nutrition and lubrication to some of the cells, organs and tissues in your body.

There are so many healthy products out there. It’s just a shame when these companies take healthy oils, vitamins and minerals and package them in unhealthy containers. They package them in tablets, capsules and soft gels that have other ingredients that will actually harm you if you take them with enough frequency and duration.

Take your healthy vitamins correctly to see results
This is why I have consistently recommended that you get your nutrition from eating whole foods, superfoods or nutritional supplements made from whole food concentrates. Of course, there are some nutrients that you can’t get that way, like cod liver oil and salmon oil, but there are companies out there that really care about the quality of their oils and aren’t going to give you garbage. In terms of cod liver oils, one of my top recommendations is Nordic Naturals. They will give you a quality product without a bunch of harmful fillers.

The truth about calcium supplements
In terms of calcium supplements, I know that calcium is one of the most common supplements out there and researchers have managed to finagle a study that even shows calcium supplements aren’t useful for boosting the bone density of elderly patients. People are being told that calcium is absolutely worthless if you don’t digest it and absorb it. So how do you do that?

Well, you certainly don’t take it with an antacid. That’s a ridiculous way to get calcium. Calcium needs to have an acidic environment in order to be broken down and assimilated by your digestive system. If you don’t have acid in your stomach, then you can’t absorb the calcium. And if you don’t have vitamin D in your small intestine, you can’t absorb the calcium, either. There are a lot of senior citizens out there who are spending small fortunes on calcium supplements and antacid tablets, but they’re not getting any sunshine. And that means they’re not getting enough vitamin D. With a vitamin D deficiency, they can’t even absorb the calcium. It’s either going right through their bodies or actually contributing to the buildup of calcification in their kidneys. So guess what? They’ll probably end up with kidney stones.

When I was at a discount warehouse club recently, I was looking at all these supplements – calcium, vitamin D, flax oil, cod liver oil and so on – and reading the ingredient labels, and I could only find one product that I would personally consume. Only one! I saw people buying these vitamins by the basket-load, thinking they were doing themselves some good. The only one I found that didn’t have any artificial ingredients or other garbage in it was organic flax oil. Every other product offered was garbage, in my view. Nutritionally, it was a disaster. I wouldn’t feed those supplements to any person or animal that I cared about.
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So there you go. This is the nutritional supplement industry that a lot of people see. I know that these particular supplements are from the same manufacturers that you find making low-cost vitamins sold at grocery stores and pharmacies. It’s no wonder that some people have such a dim view of the nutritional supplements industry. They take these products and they feel worse.

Well, no wonder; you’ve just consumed toxic ingredients – not what was in the label, but what was listed in the fine print of the ingredients section. No wonder you feel worse; you’re just eating hydrogenated oils. You’re actually taking them as a supplement. What a foolish thing to do, but people do it every single day in this country.

Lawmakers deserve a lot of blame and shame for allowing this to go on, in my view. The fact that food manufacturers and vitamin supplement manufacturers can put highly toxic, death-promoting, disease-causing ingredients into your foods, products and supplements and sell them to you without warning labels is absolutely unconscionable. It’s near criminal that they allow this to happen.

Failing to warn consumers about toxic vitamin fillers should be a crime
Lawmakers have been asleep at the wheel. They’ve allowed food companies to run the system. They’ve allowed drug companies and nutritional supplement manufacturers to steamroll any attempt to protect the public, and that’s why all these dangerous, toxic, disease-promoting ingredients are still perfectly legal.

The FDA seemingly continues to actually support these ingredients. They haven’t done enough to try to outlaw them. It seems that from the FDA’s point of view, getting tough means sending a wimpy warning letter that says, “Oh, by the way, your ads are misleading people.” To them, it means requiring trans fats to be listed on foods. Never mind actually outlawing the ingredient.

In my opinion, the FDA should ban these ingredients. They should be outlawed. It should be a crime to put a toxic substance into a food product and sell it to a consumer. Shouldn’t that be a crime? I mean, if the world made sense, it would be a crime, especially now that we know these ingredients promote disease. It’s not even debatable anymore. Heck, even the FDA finally has admitted it and is requiring labels – warning labels, in a sense – that say, “Here’s how many grams of trans fat you have in this food.” That’s a warning label, folks. There is no nutritionist or doctor in his or her right mind who would argue that these ingredients are safe for long-term human consumption.
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Yet every single day, we have consumers going into these discount club warehouse stores, pharmacies, grocery stores and even health food stores, buying these dangerous products, taking them home, consuming them and thinking that they are doing themselves some good. In fact, they are actually harming themselves. When I see this situation, I genuinely fear for the future of this nation; I really do. I’m not sure if we can ever get above water again, if we can ever overpower the financial interests of big business that have allowed this to happen (and have in fact lobbied for and defended it). It’s possible that we’re going to spiral out of control into a health collapse, where everybody is diseased from the moment they’re born, nutrition is nonexistent and everyone is financially beholden to this system of pharmaceutical companies, doctors, hospitals and diagnostic labs because they’ve been labeled with various diseases that could have been solved or prevented by changing the food supply and outlawing dangerous ingredients.

You want to know the funny part in all of this? Everything I’ve been talking to you about, everything that I’m outraged about in this particular commentary, was found in the “healthy” section of this particular retailer. This was the health section, folks. This was the stuff that’s supposed to be good for you. The rest of that store was just outright garbage – products loaded with sugars and artificial colors, hydrogenated oils, high sodium, tons of preservatives (literally, tons of preservatives), sodium nitrate – just all kinds of unhealthy ingredients from top to bottom, stacked as high and as far as the eye can see in this warehouse retailer.

Spread the word: Your neighbors’ vitamins could be toxic
I believe we each have to do our part and stand up and speak the truth. That’s what I’m trying to do here. I’m telling everyone I meet and everyone I know, “You’ve been conned. You’ve been scammed by the system, by a bunch of manufacturers, a whole lot of big business and a good dose of government corruption thrown in to protect the system and make sure you never find out what is going on. You’ve been scammed.”
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The only way to beat the scam is to get outside the system – get outside of conventional medicine, give up all these processed foods and move over to a healthy lifestyle where you actually have cognitive function and where you have mental awareness because you’re eating well. You’re eating real food, not that processed, manufactured garbage that passes for food in most peoples’ homes in the United States and everywhere around the world.

So if you have a friend or a family member who doesn’t know about this, and you’d like to either help them or annoy them (your pick), tell them what’s really in their vitamins. Show them: Pick up that vitamin bottle out of their cabinet, refrigerator, purse or wherever they happen to have it and point out that artificial color, that FD&C Red No. 2, yellow dye or whatever it happens to be in that particular vitamin. Point it out to them; show them the hydrogenated oils in these vitamins. Point out the sucrose, the corn syrup, propylene glycol or whatever else happens to be in there. Show them what they’re really consuming and then give them a better choice. Introduce them to a health food store in your local community that sells some quality products. Encourage them to go there if they really want to take care of their health.

It’s funny that people complain about how much money it costs to buy nutritional supplements. Then, they go out and spend a few dollars on vitamins that will actually make them sick. They think they’re getting a bargain. I say that you might as well spend your money on cigarettes, you know? You might as well eat some fried chicken. If you’re going to spend $6 on a bottle of vitamins that are bad for you, then skip the whole thing and just go eat some hamburgers at the local fast food restaurant or some cookies from the grocery store. Of course, I don’t recommend that anyone do any of that. I recommend you spend your money wisely on nutritional supplements, vitamins, minerals, and herbs from passionate, honest companies you can trust.

Of course, they’re going to be slightly more expensive, if not a lot more expensive. But aren’t you worth it? If you’re going through the trouble of taking these supplements, shouldn’t you put the best thing you can find into your body? Don’t you deserve healthy supplements, rather than supplements packaged with hydrogenated oils and other poisons that are legalized by our system of corrupt government and private industry? Shouldn’t you deserve the very best? I think so. Get the best and put that in your body. Be healthy. Thanks for reading. This is Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, for Truth Publishing.

The common cold is no match for natural healing therapies minerals, herbs and foods stave off colds and flus

It happens to everyone, sometimes multiple times a year. That’s why it’s called the common cold, right? But while we’re all familiar with the common cold, we may only know of one or two ways to fight it, which usually involve some sort of over-the-counter medication, or the folk remedy, a bowl of chicken soup. But there are much better ways to prevent and treat the common cold, using traditional non-drug remedies and good solid nutrition.

The first step in fighting the common cold is to make sure you have a cold. For some, it can be pretty easy to confuse the common cold with the flu (until symptoms get a lot worse), or to not know when a cold has progressed into bronchitis. “The common cold is a viral infection of the upper-respiratory tract that attacks the nose and nasal passages, and can spread to the chest,” writes Earl Mindell in Secret Remedies. “We all know and dread those first symptoms: the scratchy throat, sneezing, headache, aching muscles, and congestion.” But when should we know that the cold has gone too far? The authors of Smart Medicine for Healthier Living say that if a cold gives you a persistent fever, a hacking cough or a rash, you might have a more serious viral infection. The common cold itself is a viral infection, so things like antibiotics, which are often mistakenly prescribed for colds, won’t help.

The first thing that comes to mind when treating a cold is that taking vitamin C will help, and this instinct is correct. Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling first found the connection between vitamin C and colds. Though doctors still debate the clinical studies that have since repeated Dr. Pauling’s original findings, most naturopaths would say this is a good first step in fighting off a cold. Dr. Michael T. Murray, in Natural Alternatives to Drugs, writes, “While the vitamin C studies have consistently demonstrated results superior to over-the-counter cold medications, manufacturers of vitamin C products are prevented from making any claims for their product, while the makers of OTC common-cold medications spend hundreds of millions of dollars brainwashing the American public into believing these products are the answer to the common cold.” Zinc is also recommended for those just beginning to come down with a cold. “Zinc is not only seen to be an important regulator of immunity, but has also been found clinically to be an excellent mineral to take in the event of viral illness, such as the common cold,” writes the Life Extension Foundation.

Homeopathic medicine also offers a range of treatments to try. A homeopath can recommend treatments like eyebright, monkshood, wild hops and belladonna, among others. Echinacea, cinnamon, elder flower, ginger and licorice are all on the list of what a naturopath might recommend to those fighting off a cold. The great thing about these items is that they help improve your immune system, not just cover up symptoms, so you can decrease the actual duration of your cold. Echinacea in particular has been popularized as a cold treatment, so much so that you can even find it in many regular drug stores. “I have found that echinacea can help prevent the common cold as well as reduce the symptoms and shorten the duration – but results differ. Some people respond almost miraculously, while others get no benefits at all,” writes Mark Stengler in Natural Physicians Healing Therapies. “Overall, though, echinacea is more effective than over-the-counter medicines, which only help to reduce some of the symptoms of a cold and do nothing to assist the immune system or battle the infection.”

Blaming dietary sodium for high blood pressure is too simplistic the real problem may be mineral deficiencies

In popular thought, disputing sodium’s link to high blood pressure is equivalent to questioning whether the earth is round. However, some experts now believe that salt will not raise blood pressure in everyone, just in people who are “salt sensitive.” Only 10 percent of the population is salt sensitive, according to BioMarkers by Professor William Evans and Dr. Irwin H. Rosenberg.

Of course, far more than 10 percent of us suffer from hypertension, meaning that if these experts are correct, salt intake cannot be the only factor contributing to America’s high blood pressure epidemic. In fact, according to Gayle Reichler’s book, Active Wellness, only half the people with hypertension have high blood pressure because of their salt intake, making cutting down on the amount of salt you eat a good step toward lower blood pressure, but not a cure-all.

Scientists are still unsure why some people’s bodies respond to salt more drastically than others; however, most theories focus on sodium’s in vivo interaction with potassium, magnesium and calcium. In fact, some experts believe that these nutrients play more of a role in these individuals’ salt sensitivity than sodium itself. Deficiencies in these complementary minerals may actually be the larger culprit in hypertension.

“The problem is just as likely to be too little potassium, calcium and magnesium,” emphasizes Alice Feinstein in Healing with Vitamins. Most experts agree that you would do well to consume sodium in balance with potassium in order to maintain healthy blood pressure, but they are still unsure about how this potassium mechanism works. Some experts believe that potassium lowers blood pressure by relaxing small blood vessels, while others think that it works by helping the body expel excess sodium and water.

Another interesting theory asserts that these people actually have hypertension because of calcium deficiency, rather than an excess of sodium. However, as Jean Carper explains in Food: Your Miracle Medicine, proponents of this theory have multiple theories about how it might operate: “One theory is that such individuals retain water when they eat too much sodium, and that calcium acts like a natural diuretic to help kidneys release sodium and water, thus reducing blood pressure. Another, more complex explanation is that calcium works by preventing release of the parathyroid hormone that can raise blood pressure.”

As is often the case with uncharted health territory, when it comes to the salt sensitivity explanation for hypertension, theories often pile upon theories. This isn’t a bad thing; rather, it makes the intellectual environment ripe for new discoveries. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that not all experts agree with the salt-sensitivity theory. “There’s no question about it: A great number of comparative studies of people who use no salt and those who use great quantities have proved that high salt equals high blood pressure,” writes Gary Null in his Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition.

Dr. William Castelli, director of the famous Framingham Heart Study, also cites demographic studies as support for the mainstream medical viewpoint that consuming excess sodium leads to hypertension, a perspective that some naturopaths also share. Furthermore, in Food Politics, Marion Nestle questions the ethical roots of some of the salt-sensitivity theory’s proponents, pointing out some objectionable financial backing: “‘There is reason to be concerned that lowering NaCl [salt] intake may have long-term metabolic risks that have not been fully identified . . . we do not have solid evidence that lower NaCl intake prospectively will prevent or control high blood pressure.”

However, the review in which this appears was funded in part by The Salt Institute, a trade association for the salt industry. This isn’t to say that all experts who believe in salt sensitivity are funded by the salt industry. Like any theory, the salt sensitivity explanation for why some people have high blood pressure and others don’t has both its proponents and opponents.
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A simple test to determine if you are low in the enzyme renin will show you whether you are salt sensitive, according to Reichler. Of course, an even simpler way is to cut down on your sodium intake for a few months – under the care of a doctor, or preferably a naturopath – and see if your blood pressure goes down. If your numbers go down, then you are salt sensitive; if not, you and your naturopath must then take extra steps to learn the cause of your hypertension.

The point is, as Dr. Bernard Lamport emphasizes in Food: Your Miracle Medicine, “Everyone cannot count on sodium restriction to be a panacea for high blood pressure.” In other words, as we all know, obtaining good health requires taking a holistic approach to your body, not just making one change and hoping that it will be a cure-all.

Folic acid deficiencies are widespread here’s why nearly everyone needs more folate

Pregnant women plagued by cravings for pickles and ice cream must remember to include plenty of folic acid in their diets. Shown to reduce the risk of miscarriage and birth defects, folic acid – found primarily in leafy green vegetables – is an absolute necessity for any woman who is pregnant or is considering becoming pregnant. In fact, “health officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommend that all women of childbearing age take folic acid (0.4 mg daily) to protect their future newborns from developing a neural tube defect, an anomaly of the spinal cord,” writes Burton Goldberg in Alternative Medicine.

However, it’s not just expectant moms who could stand to add more leafy greens to their plates. Because it is useful in combating everything from acne and canker sores to osteoporosis and cancer, we could all benefit from adding more folic acid to our diets. Along with pregnant women, elderly individuals and people suffering from depression or nervous system disorders especially stand to gain from the addition of this B vitamin.

Folic acid, the synthetic form of the B vitamin folate, works primarily in the brain and nervous system and is necessary for the synthesis of DNA, the production of red and white blood cells and of norepinephrine and serotonin in the nervous system. Folic acid also aids in the elimination of the amino acid homocysteine from the blood, a breakdown product of animal protein (methionine, actually) that contributes to heart attacks. A lack of folic acid can lead to anemia, insomnia, irritability and far more serious health problems.

Despite its range of health benefits, many Americans are deficient in the vitamin, coming nowhere near the government’s recommended daily allowance of 200 micrograms daily. “The average American gets only 61 percent of the old Recommended Dietary Allowance, which is too low anyway,” says James Duke, PhD in Anti-Aging Prescriptions. Part of the reason for the shortfall is that more Americans are choosing to eat more animal foods – which are a poor source of folic acid – rather than folic-acid rich plant foods, like dark green vegetables, legumes, root vegetables and whole grains.

Dr. Andrew Weil, in Ask Dr. Weil, recommends the use of supplements to make up for the deficiency. “As many as 90 percent of Americans don’t get that protective 400 micrograms in their diet – for example, you’d have to eat two cups of steamed spinach, a cup of boiled lentils, or eight oranges every day. So it’s important to take a supplement, especially if you’re a woman and considering having children someday.” As Dr. Weil suggests, for women who are deficient in this essential vitamin, the health costs can be especially high.

Folic acid is essential for pregnant women. Not only does it protect against cervical cancer, it also aids in healthy prenatal development and can significantly reduce the risk of serious neural tube birth defects and abnormalities that occur in very early fetal development, such as spina bifida. However, experts say most women aren’t getting adequate levels of folic acid early enough to offer the best protection against birth defects.

“Very few women of child bearing years are taking folic acid… If a person waits until pregnant, the fetal abnormality is already established. All women of child-bearing age who might become pregnant should be taking 400 mg of folic acid,” advises Dr. James Howenstine in A Physicians Guide To Natural Health Products That Work. To make matters even more difficult, women who take birth control pills are especially prone to deficiency in the B vitamin since birth control pills actually produce folic acid deficiency.
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Men planning to become fathers need to monitor their folic acid intake as well, as low folic acid levels in males has been linked to low sperm count, and some studies suggest deficiency can also damage DNA carried by the sperm. Such damaged DNA could lead to chromosomal damage in a fetus, according to Bottom Line Yearbook 2004. In other words, both men and women who plan to have children should increase their folic acid intake for the sake of their baby-to-be.

Folic acid promotes good health for the mind and body, from the earliest stages of life to the latest. Men and women over 60 who feel fatigued and depressed may simply be suffering from a folic acid deficiency. In fact, folic acid deficiency has been linked to depression in patients of all ages, and according to Gary Null’sComplete Guide of Natural Healing, “the lower the level of folic acid in the blood, the higher the degree of depression.”

Folic acid can also help ward off dementia, according to Patrick Quillin in Beating Cancer With Nutrition, who wrote that experts estimate up to 20 percent of senility in older adults is simply the result of a long-term deficiency of folic acid and vitamin B-12, which can be aided by taking supplements. However, when taking folic acid supplements, it is important to remember that folic acid and vitamin B-12 work most effectively together, so you should make sure you are getting enough vitamin B-12, as well. Vegans often struggle with this balance since their diets are very rich in folic acid but not in B-12.

The meager representation of folic acid in the American diet can be increased if we all just take a little more care in planning our meals. One way to up folic acid consumption is to make sure your diet includes raw foods, since heat from cooking easily destroys folic acid. And remember, sources of folic acid are plentiful – soybeans, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, peanuts, asparagus, citrus fruits, brussels sprouts, avocado, sunflower seeds, orange juice and don’t forget those leafy greens – we just have to be willing to integrate these foods into our diets.

Cod Liver Oil The Number One Superfood

Doctor Price was right, as usual. Cod liver oil is very good for you, more than you ever knew. Research studies ranging from 1918-2001 give cod liver oil an A+ rating. This marvelous golden oil contains large amounts of elongated omega-3 fatty acids, preformed vitamin A and the sunlight vitamin D, essential nutrients that are hard to obtain in sufficient amounts in the modern diet. Samples may also naturally contain small amounts of the important bone- and blood-maintainer vitamin K.

There is hardly a disease in the books that does not respond well to treatment that includes cod liver oil, and not just infectious diseases but also chronic modern diseases like heart disease and cancer. Cod liver oil provides vitamin D that helps build strong bones in children and helps prevent osteoporosis in adults. The fatty acids in cod liver oil are also very important for the development of the brain and nervous system. “If you want to prevent learning disabilities in your children,” said David Horrobin, distinguished medical and biochemical researcher, “feed them cod liver oil.”

Cod liver oil contains more vitamin A and more vitamin D per unit weight than any other common food. One hundred grams of regular cod liver oil provides 100,000 IU of vitamin A, almost three times more than beef liver, the next richest source; and 10,000 IU vitamin D, almost four times more than lard, the next richest source. Of course, cod liver oil is only consumed in small amounts, but even a tablespoon (about 15 grams) provides well over the recommended daily allowance for both nutrients.

In addition, cod liver oil contains 7 percent each of the elongated omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. EPA is the precursor of important prostaglandins, localized tissue hormones that help the body deal with inflammation; and DHA is extremely important for the development and function of the brain and nervous system. So it’s no surprise that in numerous studies cod liver oil has proven to be a powerhouse in fighting disease.

GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOU

Cod liver oil greatly improves heart function to prevent heart disease and to treat it even in advanced stages, after a heart attack and after heart surgery. Cod liver oil alters the linings of the arteries in such a way as to improve healing after damage. This is attributed to the omega-3 fatty acids but vitamin A, D and K all have important roles to play in facilitating mineral absorption, improving muscle function and supporting elasticity of the blood vessels. The inflammation-reducing prostaglandins made from EPA help mediate the inflammatory response in the arteries. In other studies the heart-protective effect was associated with changes in the muscle response to serotonin, increasing the heart’s ability to “relax.”1-15 In a study with rats, treatment with cod liver oil actually caused artery-blocking atheromas to become smaller and blood vessel diameter to enlarge.55 Weston Price noted that heart attack deaths increased during periods when the vitamin A content of the diet was low. Cod liver oil can provide vitamin A on a continuous basis throughout the year.

Many of the conditions addressed by cod liver oil are considered related under the title Syndrome X. These include obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance, adult onset diabetes and stroke. Evidence is accumulating that these diseases of civilization are the result of high levels of omega-6 fatty acids and low levels of omega-3 fatty acids along with deficiencies of fat-soluble vitamins. We may be paying a very high price for our rejection of parental wisdom to take our cod liver oil.

In numerous studies, the elongated omega-3 fats found in cod liver oil have been shown to improve brain function, memory, stress response, immune response, allergies, asthma, learning and behavioral disorders, including bipolar syndrome and manic-depression.
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Cod liver oil is most famous for contributing to bone health, preventing and reversing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.16, 17 Before the discovery of cod liver oil as a source of vitamin D, many children suffered greatly with deformed bones. Osteoporosis responds to vitamin D and to cod liver oil. Sufficient elongated omega-3 oils found in cod liver oil are one of the keys to keeping and rebuilding bone.18, 19 In women, higher levels of vitamin D from cod liver oil improve bone mineral density.20

Two of the symptoms of low levels of vitamin D are bone pain and muscle pain. This may manifest as pain in the legs, muscle weakness and difficulty climbing stairs. Numerous studies have shown improvement in muscle pain, muscle strength and bone pain scores with cod liver oil.40, 41

Cod liver oil is effective in treating arthritis as well. Researchers funded by Great Britain’s Arthritis Research Campaign found that the elongated omega-3 fatty acids in cod liver oil reduce both pain and damage in inflamed joints.56

Pregnant women using cod liver oil have infants with a lower risk for juvenile type 1 diabetes.21 This effect was found only in mothers taking cod liver oil, not in mothers taking multivitamin supplements. Cod liver oil taken by nursing mothers improves the fatty acid profile in breast milk to promote optimal brain development and also increases levels of vitamin A to prevent infections. Interestingly, cod liver oil does not provide increased vitamin D in breast milk.23,24

Cod liver oil given to infants after birth and during the first year had no protective effect against type 1 diabetes but it nevertheless is an important source of nutrients for optimal infant health.22 In more than forty trials, vitamin A has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality of children.25 Cod liver oil was the supplement of choice in many of these trials. Books on feeding infants published in the 1930s and 1940s routinely recommended cod liver oil, starting with 1 teaspoon at the age of three weeks. It was Dr. Spock who threw this wisdom out the window by recommending vaccinations instead of the powerful nutritional support of cod liver oil. Few modern books on infant care mention the importance of the fat-soluble nutrients in this wonderful superfood.

PRACTICAL ASPECTS
Eating fish will not provide the levels of nutrients that are found in cod liver oil. Even in heavy fish-eating populations, the addition of cod liver oil improves health.42-43 And taking fish oils is not the same as taking cod liver liver oil. One tablespoon of regular cod liver oil and one-half tablespoon of high-vitamin cod liver oil provide the amount of elongated omega-3 fatty acids found in twelve 1,000 mg fish oil capsules.         Related book:
The Real Safety Guide to Disease Prevention
More than 80% of all chronic disease is preventable, but only if you know how. Learn the proven, yet simple prevention strategies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, Alzheimer’s and many other degenerative health conditions.
As for vitamin D, body oils of fish can be good sources as long as you are willing to eat a lot of them. One-half pound of fatty herring or sardines gives a dose of vitamin D equal to that of about one tablespoon of cod liver oil. But salmon oil has one-fifth the potency of cod liver oil.

One concern about taking cod liver oil is the presence of contaminants—heavy metals (such as mercury, cadmium and lead), PCBs and so forth. Fortunately, consumers need not worry when it comes to cod liver oil. All cod liver oils in the US must be tested according to protocols of the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) and approved free of detectable levels of 32 contaminants before they can be imported into this country. Furthermore, mercury is water soluble. It may be present in the flesh of fish, but it is not present in the oil.

Another concern is rancidity. Cod liver oil can become rancid if improperly handled. In a 1988 study, peroxide values (indicating rancidity) ranged from a low of 2 to a high of 44.7. Nevertheless, properly handled cod liver oil is relatively stable. It contains 21 percent saturated fatty acids and 57 percent monounsaturated fatty acids, which provide stability. The fishy smell of cod liver oil is due to the presence of small amounts of fish protein and is not a sign of rancidity. To ensure that your cod liver oil is fresh, avoid buying the large economy size or the end-of-season sale item. Buy cod liver oil in small dark bottles and keep them in a cool dark place. Cod liver oil need not be refrigerated after opening if it is used up quickly—within two months.

Virtually all cod liver oil imported into the US comes from Norway, and while all of it is safe, there are different grades, depending on vitamin levels. The lighter oil from the “top of the barrel” has a lower molecular weight, goes rancid more quickly and has lower levels of vitamins, while the heavier oil, which sinks, is richer in vitamins. The heavier oil is what Dr. Price referred to as high-vitamin cod liver oil. It contains double the amounts of vitamin A and D as regular cod liver oil. Virtually all cod liver oil imported into the US is the lighter, “top of the barrel” variety. The Norwegians keep the best for themselves!
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Whenever taking cod liver oil, remember the findings of Dr. Price. He noted that he did not get good results from cod liver oil unless he gave it concurrently with high-vitamin butter. Just why this is so is a matter of speculation, but we do know that the very unsaturated fatty acids found in cod liver oil cannot be effectively assimilated and stored in the tissues without the presence of adequate saturated fatty acids, the kind that would be provided by butter. This means that even regular butter would help support cod liver oil therapy; but Price found that the combination of cod liver oil with high-vitamin butter, from cows eating rapidly growing green grass, was nothing short of miraculous, reversing tooth decay and bringing patients back from the brink of death.

I do not find it hard to take Carlson’s cod liver oil on a spoon, but for many, the big challenge is how to get this oily substance down. One technique is to add cod liver oil to a small amount of water or fresh juice, stir and then quickly send it down the hatch. If you can’t bring yourself to take cod liver oil on a spoon or in water, then use the capsules. For babies and small children, use an eye dropper.

OLD RESEARCH BROUGHT TO LIGHT
In researching this article, I had the great fortune to stumble upon a book published in the 1930s—it is truly exciting to come upon material found and lost and found again. Ultraviolet Light and Vitamin D in Nutrition, by Katharine Blunt and Ruth Cowan, published by the University of Chicago, contains fascinating material, including a chapter on the research of Mrs. May Mellanby published in 1918 in The Lancet II, page 767.

The book describes the work of scientists E. M. Honeywell, A. F. Hess and C. E. Bills (after which the Bills’s Scale for determining antirachitic value for vitamin D is named) who studied all aspects of fish oil potency, production and seasonal distribution. Early in their research they discovered that oil extracted from cod when the fish were fat in the summer contained much lower amounts of vitamin D. Summer oil scored 100 on the Bills scale but winter oil scored above 1,000 and some oils scored 20,000. Their conclusion: “For a fish of a given size, antirachitic potency varies inversely with the amount of fat or oil in the liver.” In other words, the less oil in the fish, the more concentrated it was.
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In one fascinating study, they found that fish kept in darkened aquariums and fed on trimmed raw veal muscle had the same amount of vitamin D as free-swimming fish exposed to sunlight. So how the fish obtain vitamin D remains a mystery. Perhaps they are able to extract it from microscopic plankton and algae.

It is important to note that the amount of vitamin A in cod liver oil does not have any consistent relation with the amount of vitamin D. In numerous samples, oils rich in vitamin A were poor in vitamin D, and oils rich in vitamin D were poor in vitamin A. According to the book, in 1922 the US imported about 1.8 million gallons of cod oil and cod liver oil. By 1927 this amount grew to almost 5 million gallons based on data from the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the United States Department of Commerce. Cod oil is rancid oil used in the tanning industry, not for human consumption. The figures don’t distinguish the difference, but most of the increase was in the edible cod liver oil due to research showing its benefit in preventing rickets. According to the Commerce Yearbook of 1928, “Medicinal oil production has increased greatly, and the advance in its price has lessened the supply of common cod oil for tanning.”

In 2000, America imported only about one tenth that amount (less than half a million gallons), indicating a huge decline in use.

In 1930, when the book was compiled, the technology was just being developed to determine vitamin D potency. The accepted value as of August 31, 1929 was ” one rat unit of vitamin D,” defined as “that amount of vitamin D which, when uniformly distributed into the standard vitamin D deficient diet-ration, will produce a narrow and continuous line of calcium deposits on the metaphyses of the distal end of the radii and ulnae of standard rachitic rats.” “Potent cod liver oil” is defined as that containing one of these rat units per 0.75 mg. The International Units started out as rat units!

Testing of 18 oils in use at that time showed great variations in potency. Luckily today we have methods of standardization and much better methods of transportation and storage to improve the amount of vitamin D and freshness of our cod liver oil.
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EAT YOUR EGGS
In 1929, researchers tested a variety of foods for vitamin D content and found the second most potent source of vitamin D was egg yolk. The book describes studies in which Hess both cured and prevented rickets in rats by giving them egg yolks. He also gave prophylactic treatment to 12 infants to forestall development of rickets in the winter months, which his experience had taught him to expect in the great majority of bottle-fed infants. He gave them one egg yolk added to their regular formula starting in December. None of the 12 developed rickets in March as expected and, unlike prior years, blood phosphates remained stable at summer values.

About this same time, Johns Hopkins University investigators cured seven African-American children of rickets, in most cases severe, by adding one or two eggs daily to their diet of milk and cereal.

Like the vitamin D in cod liver oil, the amount of vitamin D in egg yolks also varies. Researchers in Kansas looked at four groups of hens: one group got sunlight in the yard plus 30 minutes under a quartz mercury vapor lamp producing UV-B light; another got sunlight through glass plus 30 minutes under the lamp; the third group got sunlight alone; and the fourth group got sunlight under glass alone. Eggs from hens under glass produced rickets in rats. Those with considerable UV-B prevented rickets completely and those with less (no lamp) caused the development of slight rickets. Only the sunlight plus lamp completely prevented rickets, showing that the natural UV-B in Kansas did not provide sufficient light for optimal vitamin D. Giving cod liver oil to the chickens had the same effect as exposure to UV-B light. Cod liver oil as two percent of the ration increased levels of vitamin D in the egg yolks fivefold.

The surprising conclusion is that chickens should either be given sunlamp treatment or cod liver oil. Poultrymen and consumers alike need to recognize that the axiom “an egg is an egg” is a mistaken one. Rather, “an inadequate ration may yield impoverished eggs as well as animals.” The authors suggest that eggs be graded by vitamin content. What a concept! Too bad no one listened. What would they think of our so-called “organic” eggs from hens raised in barns, never exposed to light and given “all-vegetarian” feed?
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MEET MRS. MELLANBY
The most fascinating part of this little book is the chapter describing the experiments done in England by a Mrs. May Mellanby. Her husband, Dr. E. Mellanby, was the author of over 400 studies and the first to control rickets with diet. Cod liver oil had been used for centuries as a remedy but the specific application to rickets was first demonstrated by Dr. Mellanby. (Control of rickets using UV-B light was demonstrated almost simultaneously by investigators at Columbia and Johns Hopkins University in 1921.) In his research into rickets in dogs, he discovered the mineral-blocking effect of phytic acid in grains and legumes. Dr. Mellanby demonstrated that diets containing high levels of cereals, especially oatmeal, and lacking vitamin D, are the most effective producers of rickets. If vitamin D is inadequate there is poor tooth development, but Mrs. Mellanby then went on to prove that no matter how much cereal is fed, if vitamin D is adequate tooth formation is normal. Mrs. Mellanby believed that as cereals increase in the diet, vitamin D must also be increased to offset their anticalcifying effects—think of the implications of this research on today’s baby-feeding habits, where infants are given cereals as their first food but denied egg yolks until they are one year old!

Mrs. Mellanby also determined that vitamin D must be present from conception in order for proper tooth formation to occur. If vitamin D is absent during the early gestational period, the enamel cannot form properly, and it cannot be repaired by giving vitamin D later.

In her initial studies Mrs. Mellanby used dogs as the source of data but she later examined more than one thousand “baby” teeth from children. She divided these teeth into four categories—normal, hypoplastic (slightly underdeveloped), moderately underdeveloped and grossly underdeveloped. Only 149, or about 14 percent, of the total 1,036 were sound. About one-quarter were slightly underdeveloped, but nearly two-thirds were moderately or grossly underdeveloped.

It is more difficult to examine teeth in place, but of 266 adult teeth examined by Mrs. Mellanby, not one was sound. The teeth were extracted only for purposes of straightening the teeth, which means that they were erupting in a jaw that was underdeveloped. Thus, children with narrow faces most likely have underdeveloped teeth. Tooth structure and later decay are directly related. Prevention of cavities must start in the womb.
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CURING CAVITIES
A final plum from this most fruitful book regards secondary dentine. Secondary dentine, a less well-organized form of tubular dentine, is produced throughout life as a patching material where cavities have begun, where the overlying enamel has been worn away, and within the pulp chamber as part of the aging process. Sometimes when cavities occur, production of secondary dentine can “heal” the decayed spot or rebuild portions of the tooth that have worn away. If vitamin D is adequate, secondary dentine will be well calcified. If vitamin D is lacking, dentine will be of poor quality or not present at all.

There is some evidence that the mineralization of dentine may depend on calcium derived from saliva rather than blood; in other words, it is deposited from the exterior rather than the interior of the tooth. The book describes studies by Dr. C. L. Pattison who, working with Mrs. Mellanby, determined that the calcium content of saliva doubled or even tripled when the diet contained adequate vitamin D from cod liver oil.

DOWNSIDE
Now that I have told you all this good news about cod liver oil, I need to comment on the research surrounding its possible toxicity. Over-elevated serum levels of vitamin D are a possibility if you combine summer or southern sun and cod liver oil. So if you are spending a lot of time out in the sun during the summer months, it’s probably best to cut back on the dose. If you are unsure, you should test your blood levels of vitamin D.

Cod liver oil is no longer recommended in Great Britain and in the US pregnant women are advised to avoid most vitamin A and vitamin A-containing foods, including cod liver oil. Both countries have adopted this policy because of the recognized teratogenicity (may cause birth defects) of retinoic acid, a synthetic form of vitamin A. But low vitamin A also causes birth defects. In the developing countries, such as Brazil, Pakistan and India, vitamin A deficiency is widespread, afflicting millions. A 1992 survey of the US population determined that 50 percent of Americans consume 19 percent or less of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) or 400 IU.
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The original study showing birth defects associated with intake of mostly synthetic vitamin A exceeding 5,000 IU daily was published November 23, 1995 in the New England Journal of Medicine.46 Other studies showing an association of birth defects with vitamin A concerned topical creams containing vitamin A derivatives such as Accutane, or extremely high doses of A used in animal studies.47-52

A later study, less well publicized, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), found no association with birth defects in women who took up to 10,000 IU of vitamin A during pregnancy. Because few women took more than 10,000 IU, researchers could not determine whether higher doses were a problem. Later Mills and others continued their research and determined that after serum testing and determining safe serum levels, women taking 30,000 IU of preformed vitamin A from animal foods (not beta-carotene) daily had the same blood levels of A as healthy pregnant women in the first trimester who had healthy babies. The conclusion is that a dosage over 30,000 IU vitamin A daily may be teratogenic for a certain few, but anything up to that amount is safe.53-54

Thus if you are or may become pregnant, limit cod liver oil intake to not more than a total vitamin A value of 30,000 IU. If using my favorite brand, Carlson Labs cod liver oil, that would equal the amount of vitamin A found in 12 teaspoons or 4 tablespoons, more than anyone would ever take. If using high-vitamin cod liver oil, the limit would be 2 tablespoons. Two tablespoons of regular cod liver oil provide 15,000 IU vitamin A, 2600 IU vitamin D and 6 grams of mixed omega-3 fatty acids, safe for pregnancy and good for mom and baby.

There is one situation in which high levels of vitamin A are not recommended and that is the condition of certain types of liver disease in which there is altered vitamin A metabolism. This is frequently the case with alcoholism. Alcoholics should not take high doses (not more than 1-1.5 tablespoons of regular cod liver oil) and what they do take should be accompanied by zinc supplements. The enzymes needed for vitamin A metabolism in the liver are zinc dependent.
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The most likely culprits for production of birth defects in humans are topical and oral vitamin A analogs, not cod liver oil. Researchers have criticized the original 1995 study, from which governmental policy has been derived, for overstating the negative effect. Only 1.4 percent took supplements exceeding 10,000 IU a day, not a large enough sample from which to draw conclusions. However, it is important to never combine cod liver oil or vitamin A from supplements with oral or topical medications for acne or other skin disorders treated with retinoic acid derivatives.

If you sunbathe regularly and have found that your vitamin D levels are within the normal range, do not use cod liver oil unless you are willing to test and retest to determine that your blood levels of vitamin D have not gone too high. We do not know enough to say whether or not sunbathing and cod liver oil work synergistically or antagonistically. If you decide to get lots of sun and also use cod liver oil, please send me your vitamin D tests for my continued research. Cod liver oil use is safe in most of the US and all of Canada in winter but it should not be combined with other sources of vitamin D without careful testing and monitoring.

Medicine’s assault on calcium Quack science fuels calcium bashing frenzy

In the world of health news, I’m not sure who’s worse: Dishonest researchers or illiterate science reporters. But in this case lucky us we get both. The issue surrounds the reporting of a recent study on calcium supplements in post-menopausal women conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a U.S. government program. According to practically everybody in the mainstream press, the study shows little or no benefit of taking calcium supplements. Here’s a sampling of the headlines you may have seen in the popular press:

No broad benefit from calcium found for women
- San Jose Mercury News

Back to milk: Few benefits found from calcium pills
- International Herald Tribune

Study Shows Limited Benefits From Calcium
- Houston Chronicle

Studies Question Benefits Of Calcium, Vitamin D
- CBS (affiliate, California)

Anyone who actually reads the study, however, learns that calcium was shown to produce a whopping 29% reduction in bone fractures for those actually taking the pills. That’s a huge reduction in risk that would be called a “breakthrough” if it were attributed to a drug.

So how did the mainstream media miss the boat on this one? Simple: They just parroted the conclusions of conventional medicine, which conveniently average in all the results of people who did NOT take the calcium supplements during the study. Huh? Yes, they counted the results of all the people who didn’t take the calcium supplements, and then declared that calcium itself is useless.

It’s sort of like running a study to see whether crack is addictive, but then basing your results on all the people who never smoked crack and wouldn’t even if you paid them to. “Gee,” you might conclude, “I guess crack isn’t addictive after all.” Similarly in this calcium study, when you count all the people who didn’t take the calcium, then of course the results indicate that calcium does nothing. It’s just another clever way to lie with statistics (well, actually, not that clever, but certainly clever enough to fool the mainstream media).

Of course, if you only consider the people who actually took the calcium pills (the compliant test subjects), the results are inarguably impressive. Those who took the calcium supplements, for example, experienced significant improvements in their overall bone density. Over nine years, their BMD (Bone Mineral Density) increased by a substantial 1.06 per cent (that’s a huge increase in the world of BMD). And remember, this is for elderly women, too, who have a very difficult time boosting bone density because, for some reason, they simply refuse to engage in gymnastics and rugby training.

Furthermore, as almost no reporters have yet pointed out, the so-called control group (the people with whom the pro-calcium group’s results were to be compared) was allowed to freely take their own calcium supplements, too. In other words, there was really no control group at all! This makes the entire study scientifically useless. It’s sort of like testing aspirin against placebo by giving one group aspirin, giving the other group a placebo, and telling both groups they can take all the aspirin they want on their own. It doesn’t take a medical genius to figure out that the study design is seriously flawed (what idiot comes up with these studies, anyway?).

So the positive results of the calcium group were actually suppressed by the fact that the control group was taking calcium, too. In reality, the reduction in bone fractures might have been something closer to 50% — a true “medical miracle” by any standard.

The science illiteracy of the mainstream media
Of course, the facts of this study certainly did not get in the way of the mainstream media, which published all sorts of denigrating stories about calcium, even questioning, “Should people stop taking calcium?” Apparently, science illiteracy is so widespread in the mainstream media that reporters can’t even decipher the basics of a scientific study. The very concept of a control group is completely foreign to many reporters in the U.S. press.

If they had bothered to read the results of the study, and if they had understood those results, they would have been asking the obvious question: How does this possibly support the conclusion that calcium is useless? It doesn’t. In fact, I dare say, no honest researcher or scientist from any field could possibly agree with the absurd conclusions reached about calcium in the mainstream media.

All of which makes you wonder why. Why were the study results so inaccurately characterized in the press? And why was the study designed without a control group in the first place?

The real reason why this calcium study was fraudulently designed
Like many studies on nutritional supplements, this study was designed from the start to discredit calcium and function as a propaganda tool in support of osteoporosis drugs. The entire effort is more about promoting a political agenda (boosting drug sales) than genuine health. The study was dishonestly constructed, unscrupulously reported, and ignorantly parroted by health and science reporters (who apparently understand neither health nor science) across the globe. Almost nobody bothered to point out the remarkable reduction in bone fractures demonstrated by the test subjects who actually consumed their calcium.         Related article
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It’s no surprise, of course. There are days when I wonder whether there’s a single iota of honesty or intelligence left in the popular press. Nearly all newspapers, magazines and TV news programs have sold their souls to Big Pharma, it seems, and so they report whatever they’re told to report, even if it makes absolutely no sense. Many science writers can’t even decipher the basics of critical thinking. They can only copy and paste. Basic math escapes them.

Here’s an interesting thought on all this. Suppose this experiment was conducted on a prescription drug, not calcium. Let’s call this drug “OsteoMax” (any resemblance to an actual product named “OsteoMax” is pure coincidence, I assure you). Given the exact same data, if this were a prescription drug, national headlines would have screamed, “Bone health breakthrough discovered!” The reports would have been touting the astonishing 29% reduction in bone fractures due to OsteoMax, and television ads would have started featuring happy elderly women power walking and yapping about how smart their doctors are for prescribing OsteoMax.

Non-profit osteoporosis organizations would issue national press releases, calling for the FDA to fast-track the drug so that women everywhere could have healthier bones. Doctors would urge their patients to start taking it by the millions. The FDA would approve the drug in a skipped heartbeat. Or, perhaps, a stroke of enthusiasm.

Women’s pain and discomfort from premenstrual syndrome may be lessened by diet changes and natural health remedies

Headaches, bloating, irritability, depression and fatigue are just a few of the unpleasant symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, which affects millions of women every month. But fortunately, PMS — though widely believed to be a result of changes in hormone levels during a woman’s menstrual cycle — is not entirely beyond a woman’s control. Research shows that diet and nutrition play a significant role in the severity of PMS symptoms, and many women could ease their monthly bouts with discomfort simply by changing their diets or taking nutritional supplements.

Western society has made light of premenstrual syndrome on many occasions, with popular entertainers cracking jokes about women’s wild mood swings at “that time of the month.” But the truth is, PMS can be a difficult, sometimes serious, problem for women. Dr. Mary D. Eades, in her book, “Doctor’s Complete Guide to Vitamins,” estimates that as many as one-third of women suffer from PMS-related symptoms as their hormones fluctuate in the last week or two of their monthly cycle. While some women may experience these symptoms intermittently, about one in 10 experience them every month, according to Eades. For about one in 20 women, PMS can become so severe that it causes general depression in daily life, according to New Choices In Natural Healing by Prevention Magazine. So why do some women suffer more than others, and what can these women do to stop PMS from interrupting their lives? The answer may be found in nutrition and natural health remedies.

Research suggests PMS symptoms arise more often in women with high levels of blood estrogen compared to progesterone. In “Foods That Fight Disease,” Laurie Deutsch writes, “PMS could possibly be referred to as estrogen intoxication.” However, there are a number of natural ways to deal with such an imbalance and prevent and overcome PMS symptoms. For example, licorice is believed to reduce estrogen levels while simultaneously increasing progesterone levels, creating a better balance. Soy can also help balance hormone levels, which is why far fewer Japanese women suffer from PMS than American women, according to Robert Haas in “Permanent Remissions.”

Primrose oil, flaxseed oil, lavender, parsley, bee pollen and chaste berries, used widely in Europe, are other proven natural remedies that can ease common symptoms. Also effective is the Chinese herb dong quai, which has been called “nature’s gift to women,” according to Earl Mindell in “Secret Remedies.” “It is a tonic for the female reproductive system, and helps regulate the menstrual cycle, especially the imbalances which are responsible for some of the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome,” Mindell writes.

Increasing evidence shows premenstrual syndrome might also be triggered by dietary deficiencies in certain vitamins or minerals, especially magnesium. “Magnesium deficiency is strongly implicated as a causative factor in premenstrual syndrome. Red blood cell magnesium levels in PMS patients have been shown to be significantly lower than in normal subjects,” write Michael T. Murray and Joseph L. Pizzorno in the “Encyclopedia Of Natural Medicine.” In “A Physician’s Guide To Natural Health Products That Work,” Dr. James Howenstine writes, “Many women with (premenstrual syndrome) have high sugar and high dairy fat intakes, both of which lower magnesium values in the blood. Supplemental magnesium appears to be a necessity, particularly in persons who are getting little magnesium from their water.” PMS-sufferers are also frequently deficient in calcium, zinc and B-vitamins, particularly vitamin B6, and can often benefit greatly from supplementation.

Besides nutritional supplementation, women can help prevent PMS by making changes to their diets. Eating more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like fatty fish and green leafy vegetables, is important since omega-3 deficiencies have also been linked to PMS. Dr. Stephanie Beling, in “Power Foods,” recommends women who suffer from PMS try eliminating meat and dairy products from their diets while increasing intake of fruits and vegetables. Overall, the healthier a woman’s diet and lifestyle, the less likely she is to suffer from discomfort from PMS.
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Besides eating right, many women also benefit from relaxation and meditation techniques. Denise Foley, author of “Woman’s Encyclopedia,” suggests that women looking to alleviate PMS and increase overall health follow a regime that includes “meditation, drinking eight to ten glasses of water a day and switching to a low-fat, low-sugar diet, with very little alcohol and no caffeine.”

Many women accept premenstrual syndrome as a fact of life and merely suffer through it, but there are many natural remedies available to help prevent and treat the aches and pains of PMS. Like all health issues, it just takes the recognition that you can help control the way you feel by giving your body what it needs.

The experts speak on pre-menstrual syndrome.

Definition
What is the premenstrual syndrome? The syndrome occurs in several distinct forms: emotional upheaval, including anxiety, irritability, insomnia, depression, forgetfulness, confusion, and lethargy; cravings for sweets, increased appetite, and intolerance to sugar (headache, heart palpitations, fatigue, and fainting); and fluid retention symptoms with weight gain, puffiness of hands and feet, breast swelling and tenderness, and abdominal bloating and tenderness. Some women suffer with symptoms of all these forms, others only a few.

Good news for menopausal women You can avoid hot flashes by changing your diet

Millions of American women suffer from hot flashes during menopause, but not many realize that diet can have a lot to do with it. Fortunately, hot flashes do not have to be an inevitable part of menopause. In fact, women in some cultures — namely in Asia — rarely experience discomfort from hot flashes at all. What’s their secret? It could very likely be what’s on their dinner plate.

Research indicates that soy, a significant element in the traditional Japanese diet, may be useful in preventing hot flashes in women. Edible beans, especially soybeans, contain the compounds genistein and daidzein, which are estrogenic and help control hot flashes. That may explain why only 7 percent of menopausal Japanese women suffer from hot flashes, as compared to 55 percent of women living in the United States, according to Dr. Lindsey Berkson’s estimates in “Hormone Deception.”

In fact, there is no Japanese word for “hot flashes.” “Healing With Vitamins” author Alice Feinstein writes, “If you’re fed up with menopause, move to Japan. In the Land of the Rising Sun, hot flashes and night sweats are virtually unheard of. Researchers believe that it has more to do with their traditional diet. Besides providing more vegetable protein and less animal protein than a Western diet, it’s also low in fat and high in soy products such as tofu. These foods are rich in plant compounds known as phytoestrogens, which seem to mimic some of the biological activities of female hormones.”

In addition to soy and tofu products, women can help combat hot flashes by eating more calcium-rich foods, magnesium-rich foods and foods rich in vitamin E — like cold-pressed oils, green leafy vegetables, nuts and almonds, as well as plenty of mineral- and fiber-rich foods, like whole grains and fresh vegetables. Janet Zand, Allan N. Spreen and James B. LaValle — authors of “Smart Medicine for Healthier Living” — suggest women who suffer from hot flashes add sea vegetables to their diets. “The minerals in these foods replenish necessary electrolytes lost through perspiration,” they write.
During menopause, it is also important for women to get plenty of water. “One of the best things you can do during this time is to be sure to drink plenty of quality water — at least 2 quarts daily,” writes Phyllis A. Balch, author of “Prescription for Dietary Wellness.” “Drinking water replaces fluids lost to perspiration during hot flashes and can even prevent or minimize the hot flashes themselves.”

Foods to avoid to prevent hot flashes
Perhaps as important as which foods women should eat to prevent hot flashes are those foods they should avoid. Many foods are thought to contribute to or worsen discomfort from hot flashes. Alcohol, caffeine, excess sugar, dairy products, meat products and spicy foods rank among the top aggravators of severe hot flashes as well as mood swings.

In Prevention Magazine’s “New Choices in Natural Healing,” Eve Campanelli, a holistic family practitioner in Beverly Hills, Calif., says, “Hot flashes often flare up when women drink wine or coffee, which acidifies the blood and strains the liver. One way to avoid this acidification is to cut down on these beverages and to drink more fresh vegetable juices, which counteract the effect by alkalinizing the system.”

Certain lifestyle changes can also help ease hot flashes. For example, regular exercise can help alleviate some women’s discomfort. Also, it pays to quit smoking. According to “Natural Cures and Gentle Medicines” by the editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, “A recent study at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center found that women who smoke have significantly more hot flashes than nonsmokers.”

The good news here is that if you are a woman going through menopause, hot flashes are within your control. It may take some diet and lifestyle changes on your part, but you don’t have to suffer through hot flashes and accept them as a “normal” part of that time in your life. You can fight back with food, and, best of all, the foods you eat to help curb hot flashes will benefit your overall health as well.

Calcium Supplements Effective or Not?

Should women still take calcium supplements to help prevent osteoporosis? Yes, according to the June issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

Mayo Clinic doctors continue to recommend that women consume adequate daily amounts of calcium and vitamin D through diet, supplements, or both, even though recent findings from a large research trial question whether calcium and vitamin D alone can adequately protect women’s bones. The Women’s Health Initiative study found that women taking calcium may still be at risk of fracture if they have other factors that compromise bone health.

Bone thinning due to osteoporosis affects 8 million women and 2 million men in America. People often don’t know they have the disease until a bone breaks.

Osteoporosis risk factors include:

Family history — Your risk increases if your parents or siblings have had factures due to bone thinning.

Body type — Thin or small-framed people — those who weigh under 129 pounds much of their adult life — are at higher risk.

Taking certain medications — Long-term use of corticosteroid drugs, some antiseizure medications and blood thinners can adversely affect bone health.

Lifestyle factors — Tobacco use, alcohol use, an inactive lifestyle, and low calcium and vitamin D intake can increase risk of osteoporosis.

Other medical conditions — A dysfunctional thyroid or parathyroid glands, inflammatory types of arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis, or Type 1 diabetes may contribute to bone loss.

Although supplements alone may not adequately protect against osteoporosis, calcium is still an important part of a healthy diet.

As a general rule, daily intake should be 1,500 milligrams of elemental calcium and at least 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D up to age 75, then increasing vitamin D to 600 IU after that. In addition, regular weight-bearing exercises are important to bone health.

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