Browsing Tag Homeopathy

What if a substance was found that normalizes out-of-control cell growth? The result could be a way to treat and prevent cancer. And a new study offers hope that discovery may have already been made. Scientists from the University of Chicago have just published groundbreaking research in the journal Cell which concludes a powerful compound exists that can restore a healthy balance to cell processes. It’s not a new chemotherapy agent or drug but one derived from nature — retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A.

According to the American Cancer Society, estrogen fuels the growth of two out of three breast cancers. The female hormone can spur on cancer by altering the expression of certain genes, resulting in breast cells that become malignant and proliferate. The University of Chicago study found that retinoic acid can also alter these same estrogen-sensitive genes. But instead of causing cells to grow without restraint, a hallmark of cancer, retinoic acid restored normal balance to the cells and inhibited their growth.

“This work reveals important insights on the interplay between vitamin A and estrogen action,” said Myles Brown, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in a statement to the media. “These insights will hopefully lead to new approaches for the prevention and treatment of the most common form of breast cancer.”

Retinoic acid has already demonstrated cancer fighting effects in previous studies and it is currently used to treat a rare form of leukemia. In addition, earlier research has associated retinoic acid with the halting of breast cancer cell proliferation.

For the new study, Kevin White, PhD, professor of human genetics and director of the Institute for Genomics and System Biology at the University of Chicago, and colleagues focused on documenting cell receptors for the vitamin A derivative. They used a process dubbed ChIP-chip analysis that combines chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), which locates where the retinoic acid receptors are bound to the genome, with micro-array gene-chip analysis, which measures the expression levels of specific genes.

This merging of techniques allowed the scientists to map out the complete genetic effects of retinoic acid and its receptors in a cell line provided by patients who had estrogen-fueled breast cancers. The results showed that 39 percent of the genomic regions bound by the estrogen receptor known as alpha overlapped with the estrogen receptors bound by retinoic acid.What’s more, they discovered that estrogen and retinoic acids receptors often competed to activate or repress many of the same genes. For example, estrogen increased expression of the same 139 genes that retinoic repressed and retinoic acid activated 185 genes that estrogen repressed. For approximately140 genes, estrogen and retinoic acid had the same effect.

So what does all this mean? As the scientists explained in their press statement, they now have evidence that estrogen and retinoic acid carry on a kind of “cross talk”. So, although they can have opposite effects, certain estrogen and retinoic acid receptors on cells activate each other and normalize each other. That provides what the researchers call “an additional level of control for achieving a balanced regulation of expression.”

One of the most effective naturally occurring weapons against cancer is, like most healthy things, something many of us are not getting enough of. The mineral selenium has been shown in multiple studies to be an effective tool in warding off various types of cancer, including breast, esophageal, stomach, prostate, liver and bladder cancers. Not many people get the recommended dose of 200 micrograms a day. Most Americans only get between 60 and 100 micrograms of selenium daily from dietary sources, according to the Life Extension Foundation’s Disease Prevention and Treatment. That means daily supplements might be worth considering.

Today, research shows selenium, especially when used in conjunction with vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, works to block chemical reactions that create free radicals in the body (which can damage DNA and cause degenerative change in cells, leading to cancer). Selenium also helps stop damaged DNA molecules from reproducing. In other words, selenium acts to prevent tumors from developing. “It contributes towards the death of cancerous and pre-cancer cells. Their death appears to occur before they replicate, thus helping stop cancer before it gets started,” says Dr. James Howenstine in A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work

Breast cancer rates are four to five times lower in China than in most Western countries, a fact widely attributed to a different lifestyle. Some foods commonly eaten as part of the traditional Chinese diet can reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer by as much as 90 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Western Australia in Perth, and published in the International Journal of Cancer. Researchers compared consumption of mushrooms and green tea between two groups of Chinese women, one with breast cancer and one without. They found that women who ate at least 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of fresh mushrooms per day had a 64 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who did not eat as much. Those who also regularly drank green tea reduced their risk by a total of 90 percent. Dried mushrooms also reduced breast cancer risk, although they were not as effective as fresh ones.

Previous research has supported the cancer-fighting properties of both mushrooms and green tea. Mushrooms are believed to suppress tumor growth and boost the immune system, and may also block production of the hormone estrogen. Green tea contains polyphenols, which have been shown to remove free radicals from the blood and hamper breast tumor development. The protective benefit of mushrooms and green tea remained significant even after researchers adjusted for other breast cancer risk factors, including weight, exercise, smoking and education level.

be well

Dr Sundardas

http://www.naturaltherapies.com/cancer.htm

There are an increasing number of teenagers suffering from eating disorder, especially females. I continue to be increasingly concerned by this obsession with body shape and weight. Quite often I get these slim young women who come in and tell me, “Doctor, I need to lose weight”. More often than not I have stopped being polite and I tell these women to have a life.

However we could wonder about the factors that influence individuals to refuse to maintain a minimally normal body weight, harbor an intense fear of gaining weight, exhibit significant distortion in the perception of the ideal shape or size of their bodies, as well as feel dissatisfaction with their body shape and size

A brief look at the history of attractive/desirable body types reveals that these trends were always influenced by public perception. The lower classes always looked towards the higher classes for their model of the desirable body types.

Various strategies are sometimes employed to temporarily or permanently alter the shape of a body. The most common included dieting and exercise. At times artificial devices were used or surgery was employed. Breast size could be artificially increased or decreased. Falsies, breast prostheses or padded bras may have been used to increase the apparent size of a woman’s breasts, while minimiser bras may have been used to reduce the apparent size. Breasts could be surgically enlarged using breast implants or reduced by the systematic removal of parts of the breasts.

Historically, the greatest efforts have been made to reduce a woman’s waistline. Boned corsets were used for several centuries, but during the twentieth century these were mostly replaced with more flexible foundation garments. Where corsets are used for waist reduction, it may been for temporary reduction by occasional use or permanent reduction by people who were often referred to as tightlacers. Liposuction is the common current surgical method of reducing the waist size.

Each society develops a general perception of what an ideal female body shape would be like. These ideals are generally reflected in the art produced by or for a society. The ideal or preferred female body size and shape has varied over time and continues to vary between cultures; but a preference for a small waist has remained fairly constant throughout history. A low waist-hip ratio has often been seen as a sign of good health and reproductive potential.

A low waist-hip ratio has also often been regarded as an indicator of attractiveness of a woman, but recent research suggests that attractiveness is more correlated to body mass index than waist-hip ratio, contrary to previous belief. Historically, according to Devendra Singh, there was a trend for slightly larger women in the 17th and 18th centuries, as typified by the paintings of Rubens, but that in general there has been a preference for a slimmer waist in Western culture. She notes that “The finding that the writers describe a small waist as beautiful suggests instead that this body part – a known marker of health and fertility – is a core feature of feminine beauty that transcends ethnic differences and cultures.”

New research suggests that apple shape women have the highest risk of developing heart disease while hourglass shape women have the lowest. The waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a person’s waist measurement divided by the hip measurement. Notwithstanding wide cultural differences in preferences for female build, scientists have discovered that the waist-hip ratio of any build is very strongly correlated to attractiveness across all cultures. Women with a 0.7 WHR (waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference) are usually rated as more attractive by men from European cultures. Such diverse beauty icons as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, and the Venus de Milo all have ratios around 0.7.

In other cultures, preferences vary, ranging from 0.6 in China, to 0.8 or 0.9 in parts of South America and Africa, and divergent preferences based on ethnicity, rather than nationality, have also been noted. WHR has been found to be a more efficient predictor of mortality in older people than waist circumference or body mass index (BMI). In the early days (18th Century) it was both class consciousness and the works of great artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo influenced public perception.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the growth of the printed media ( ie newspapers, television and the media), the popular perception of what looked good became what was fashionable. So the media has always influenced public perception. However what is happening now is that the divisions that existed between the different cultures and societies is dissolving (ie East and West, Indian and Chinese etc). We are witnessing the melding of different models of desired shapes.

Advertising in teen magazines and on television typically glamorizes skinny models who do not resemble the average woman. In fact, today’s models generally weight 23% less then the average woman. Considering the average person in the United States sees approximately 3,000 ads in magazines, billboards, and television every day, your teenager is getting the wrong message about body image much too often. Media targeting teenage girls are emphasizing the ideal of thinness as beauty. When you stop and think about the fact that the average height and weight for a model is 5’10” and 110 lbs, and the height and weight for the average woman is 5’4″ and 145 lbs, it’s easy to see why this creates a tremendous health risk for young girls.

This leads to starving young skinny women who have difficulty getting pregnant because their BMI is too low for healthy hormonal balance. If they do become pregnant, they often give birth to children who have subtle deficiencies that impact their physical and emotional health. These young women eventually develop osteoporosis in their later years because of their early dieting (See Blog on “Osteoporosis). “Oh what a tangled web we weave”. The media has a lot to answer for.

Be well
Dr Sundardas

In an effort to censor any online text that might inform consumers of the ability of natural products to protect consumers from H1N1 influenza A, the FDA has been sending out a round of warning letters, threatening to “take enforcement action… such as seizure or injunction for violations of the FFDC Act without further notice.”

“Firms that fail to take correction action,” the FDA warns, “may also be referred to the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations for possible criminal prosecution for violations of the FFDC Act and other federal laws.”

The message is crystal clear: No product may be described as protecting against or preventing H1N1 infections unless it is approved by the FDA. And which products has the FDA approved? Tamiflu (the anti-viral drug that most people will never have access to), and soon the new H1N1 vaccine that’s being manufactured at a cost of one billion dollars (paid to Big Pharma by the taxpayers). This vaccine, of course, will be utterly useless because H1N1 will undoubtedly mutate between now and the time the vaccine is ready, rendering the vaccine useless.

In other words, according to the tyrants at the FDA, the only products that may be marketed alongside the term “H1N1” are those products that either don’t work or aren’t available to most people. Anything that really works to prevent influenza infections — such as natural anti-virals, medicinal herbs, etc. — is banned from even mentioning H1N1 without the threat of being criminally prosecuted.

! As the defender of Big Pharma, the FDA is also the destroyer of knowledge that seeks to remove educational statements from the internet. Truth has nothing to do with it — it is verifiably true that anti-viral herbs, probiotics and other natural products help protect consumers from influenza — but the FDA cannot allow such statements to remain online for the simple fact that people might become informed. And that, it seems, would be a dangerous precedent.

If people were informed about the healing and protective powers of herbs, they would no longer remain enslaved by the medical establishment. Profits would be lost. Power would evaporate. This is why people can never be allowed to attain any real knowledge about herbs, superfoods or nutritional supplements. And the FDA will threaten people with imprisonment just to make sure they don’t dare publish knowledge that the FDA does not want the people to see. The fact that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are clinically obese is worrisome for a whole new reason: Evidence emerging from a hospital in Michigan (and published by the CDC) appears to indicate that obese patients may be very easily killed by swine flu.

In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s report on death and disease, researchers documented the case of ten swine flu patients at a Michigan hospital who became so ill they were put on ventilators. Three of the patients ultimately died from the infection. The kicker? Nine of the ten were obese, and two of the three who died were severely obese.

As reported by Reuters, CDC virologist Dr. Tim Uyeki said, “What this suggests is that there can be severe complications associated with this virus infection, especially in severely obese patients.”

Notably, five of the patients showed evidence of blood clots in their lungs, indicating severe cellular trauma in the lungs. Nine of the patients suffered from multiple organ failure, and six experienced kidney failure.
These findings are especially worrisome because nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults are now clinically obese. Combined with widespread vitamin D deficiency, nutritional deficiencies and pharmaceutically-induced immune suppression, the U.S. population is more vulnerable to a pandemic right now than any other population in the history of the world.

The people of the first world countries who have adopted a lifestyle similar to the Americans, in other words, are primed for a pandemic. Most of the deaths in Singapore from H1N1 are from people who have a history of health conditions that create free radicals and cytokines from inflammatory conditions ie diabetes, epilepsy, allergies or infections. Shockingly, most Asians may still be thinking that excess body fat is normal and that obese babies are just “chubby.” Should the circulating swine flu combine with seasonal flu this fall, it could devastate the immunologically vulnerable Asian population, potentially killing millions.
The number of patients reviewed in this study is quite small (only ten), but even so, this could be a warning sign of more deaths to come from infected, obese patients. Of course, there’s really no mystery why obesity may cause extreme vulnerability to swine flu infections: The virus kills through an inflammatory process, and obesity is, itself, a highly-inflammatory condition that only exacerbates the deadliness of the H1N1 virus.

Patients who have made themselves obese — for whatever reason — have also unleashed a storm of inflammatory cytokines in their blood, and these cytokines are precisely what get over-excited during the body’s response to a swine flu infection, leading to organ damage and death. This is precisely why people wishing to survive the coming pandemic must make a special effort to attain a high level of physical and nutritional health before such a pandemic arrives.

Being obese compromises your body’s immune system, liver, heart, lungs and kidneys. This puts a serious additional burden on your body, leaving few spare resources for fighting off infections. That’s probably why nine out of ten swine flu victims documented in the Michigan hospital were obese.

The bottom line in this study is quite clear: Don’t be obese during the next pandemic. If you are obese now, let this bit of knowledge provide whatever extra motivation you need to drop some excess body fat and reduce the inflammatory burden on your body’s organs. Obesity is, after all, readily reversed through simple changes in diet and exercise habits.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Listed below are nutrients that will improve your immune system against viral infections.
Protecting Yourself against the Swine Flu. on June 15, 2009

Diabetes management is something that many must deal with on a day to day basis. About 16 million Americans suffer from diabetes mellitus, a chronic disease in which the pancreas produces too little or no insulin, impairing the body’s ability to turn sugar into usable energy.

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a fast-acting form of human insulin and several new oral diabetes drugs, including the most recent, Rezulin (troglitazone), the first of a new class of drugs called insulin sensitizers. This drug is designed to help Type II diabetics make better use of the insulin produced by their bodies and could help as many as 1 million Type II diabetics reduce or eliminate their need for insulin injections.

While it is treatable, diabetes is still a killer. Thus, diabetes management is extremely important. The fourth leading cause of death in America, diabetes claims an estimated 178,000 lives each year. So the treatment is aimed at holding the disease in check, reversing it where possible, and preventing complications.

Philip Cryer, M.D., a professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and president of the American Diabetes Association, believes that most people simply don’t understand the magnitude of the diabetes problem. “Diabetes is an increasingly common, potentially devastating, treatable yet incurable, lifelong disease. It’s the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults, the most common cause of kidney failure leading to dialysis or transplants, and is a leading cause of amputation,” he says. “The most recent estimate we have of diabetes’ cost [in terms of] direct medical care is $90 billion dollars annually–more than heart disease, cancer, or AIDS.”

At the heart of diabetes control are dietary management and drug treatment. The increasing emphasis on the importance of a healthy diet, the availability of glucose monitoring devices that can help diabetics keep a close watch over blood sugar levels, and the wide range of drug treatments enable most diabetics to live a near-normal life.
Managing the diet is easier now because of food labeling regulations that went into effect in 1994 (see “The New Food Label: Coping with Diabetes” in the November 1994 FDA Consumer).According to the Corn Refiners Association, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is no worse for you than any other dietary carbohydrate. Many health experts, however, disagree, warning consumers that HFCS is strongly correlated with diabetes and obesity.

According to NaturalNews, these quotes tell you how bad the problems is:

Roughly $40 billion in federal subsidies are going to pay corn growers, so that corn syrup is able to replace cane sugar. corn syrup has been singled out by many health experts as one of the chief culprits of rising obesity, because corn syrup does not turn off appetite. Since the advent of corn syrup, consumption of all sweeteners has soared, as have people’s weights. According to a 2004 study reported in the American journal of Clinical Nutrition, the rise of Type-2 diabetes since 1980 has closely paralleled the increased use of sweeteners, particularly corn syrup.
There is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program by Gabriel Cousens

Since the fructose in corn syrup does neither stimulate insulin secretion nor reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin, you will continue to feel hungry while the body converts the fructose into fat. The resulting obesity increases the risk of diabetes and other diseases. Since you obviously cannot expect to receive much help from those who only know how to treat the effects of illness and not its causes, you may need to take your health into you own hands.
Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You by Andreas Moritz

More than half of the carbohydrates being consumed are in the form of sugars (sucrose, corn syrup, etc.) being added to foods as sweetening agents. High consumption of refined sugars is linked to many chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Generally, the term “dietary fiber” refers to the components of plant cell wall and non-nutritive residues. Originally, the definition was restricted to substances that are not digestible by the endogenous secretions of the human digestive tract.
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1 by Michael T. Murray, ND

The following are tips to prevent or manage diabetes (Type 2);

1) If you have a history of diabetes in your family, recognize you will have a higher tendency to do so. Very often diabetes is a disease of denial.

2) Watch your weight. DO not let it exceed more than 5% of your optimum body weight when you wer at your healthiest. Studies have shown that every 5% increase to correlate to a 200% risk of mature onset diabetes. (Weight gain and the Risk of Developong Insulin Resistance Syndrome . Everson SA, et al. Diabetes Care 1998;21(10):1637-43)

3) Exercise regularly and lifelong. Studies have shown, it helps to protect against diabetes.(The Protective Effect of Good Physical Fitness when young on the Risk of Impaired Glucose Tolerance when Old)Takemura Y, et al. Prev Med 1999;28(1):14-9 )

4) Watch your carbohydrates really carefully if you are at high risk. Use complex carbohydrates.
(Heterogeneity in associations between macronutrient intake and lipoprotein profile in individuals with type 2 diabetes) Mayer-Davis EJ;Levin S;Marshall JA, Diabetes care Oct 1999 22(10) p1632-9)

5) Follow the blood type diet. The lectins in food which are antagonistic to your blood cells can lead to pancreatic damage.

Be well
Dr Sundardas

For more than 15 years, I’ve been warning patients about the downside of mammograms, PSA testing, and the overall concept of cancer screening. It hasn’t been a popular position. Today, however, there’s a small but growing band of researchers, clinicians, and expert panels who are speaking out against the unbridled use of these tests. One of them, H. Gilbert Welch, MD, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School, has laid out very persuasive arguments in an aptly titled book, Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here’s Why. In this straightforward and well-referenced book, Dr. Welch raises several concerns about cancer screening.

1. Few People Benefit From Screening
For starters, the majority of folks who are screened receive no benefit. That’s because, despite scary statistics, most people will not get cancer. Let’s look at breast cancer as an example.

According to government statistics, the absolute risk of a 60-year-old woman dying from breast cancer in the next 10 years is 9 in 1,000. If regular mammograms reduce this risk by one-third-a widely cited but by no means universally accepted claim-her odds fall to 6 in 1,000. Therefore, for every 1,000 women screened, three of them avoid death from breast cancer, six die regardless, and the rest? They can’t possibly benefit because they weren’t going to die from the disease in the first place.

If mammograms worked as touted, death from breast cancer would be rare, since three-quarters of American women 40 and older get regular screenings (a total of 33.5 million per year). The modest decline in the death rate from the mid-1970s, when mammography was introduced, through the present can be attributed to factors other than screening, such as changes in treatment and the dramatic decrease in the use of Premarin and other cancer-promoting hormone replacement drugs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that mammograms do not substantially reduce risk of death from breast cancer.

2. The Most Deadly Cancers Are Missed
The flip side is that some people who are screened get cancer and die anyway. Test results aren’t always accurate. Sometimes cancer is there, but it’s missed (false negatives). In the case of mammograms, it could be a question of a poor-quality test or a radiologist who overlooked something. Even experienced radiologists don’t always interpret test results the same, and sometimes they just plain get it wrong.

The most likely reason that cancer is overlooked, however, is due to the nature of cancer itself. The deadliest cancers grow very rapidly. Screening can detect slow-growing cancers in their early stages, but you can see how aggressive cancers could be missed if you’re only looking for them once a year. Depending on the cancer’s growth cycle, it could crop up just months after screening and be far advanced by the time the next test rolls around.

3. The Pitfalls of False Positives
Far more common than false negatives are false positives-those cancer scares that occur when you’re told that your test is suspicious but, after further evaluation, turns out to be nothing. False positives lead to confirmatory testing such as ultrasound of the breast and prostate, CT scan of the lung, colonoscopy, and colposcopy of the cervix. These tests are at best inconvenient and at worst extremely unpleasant, as anyone who’s had a colonoscopy knows. They also often lead to biopsies, which are far more invasive and could possibly promote the spread of cancer.

Unfortunately, false positive rates are incredibly high. For mammography, it’s close to 10 percent. For every 100 women screened, 10 will require further workup. If you repeat this screening test every year for 10 years, your cumulative risk of having at least one false positive rises to 65 percent. This means that more than half of all women will get the terrifying news that their mammogram is abnormal-the first step on the slippery slope of intervention.

False positive rates are high for PSA as well, especially among older men. Some estimate that three-quarters of men who have a prostate biopsy based on an elevated PSA level do not have cancer. And lifetime false-positive risk for Pap smears is 75 percent.
Another consideration is the psychological trauma of cancer screening. Being told you might have cancer is a harrowing experience, and the lag time between retesting and getting a clean bill of health can be months.

4. Unnecessary Treatment
Even worse than the sound and fury created by false positives is unnecessary treatment. Yes, some lives are saved due to early detection and treatment. But not all cancers are the same. Some are deadly, treated or not; others are not fatal regardless of treatment. Dr. Welch calls the latter pseudodisease-small, slow-growing or nonprogressive cancers that you’d never know existed were it not for screening tests. Yet all too often, these innocuous tumors are attacked with a vengeance, often to the detriment of patients.

A prime example is prostate cancer. Since 1975, its incidence has more than doubled. But rather than having an epidemic of prostate cancer, what we have is an epidemic of detection. Although many more men are being diagnosed and treated, the death rate from prostate cancer has held steady at 3 percent.

It’s human nature, when given a diagnosis of cancer, to want to get rid of it. But prostate cancer treatment is not benign. Surgical complications include difficulty urinating (17 percent), urinary incontinence (28 percent), and inability to have an erection (more than 50 percent). Radiation damages the rectum and can cause diarrhea and bowel urgency. Side effects of androgen suppression range from sexual dysfunction to risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Be well
Dr Sundardas

http://www.naturaltherapies.com/cancer.htm

Pthalates used in food packaging could be linked to childhood obesity, according to two recent studies conducted by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine that included research conducted on more than 900 children in East Harlem and surrounding communities. The studies have added to a growing body of evidence that link phthalates to health problems.

One of the studies, according to the Mount Sinai researchers, focused on 400 girls in the East Harlem community. The results showed that the heaviest girls had the highest levels of  HYPERLINK “http://www.naturalnews.com/phthalates.html” phthalates metabolites in their urine.

Another significant research project called Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem examined the diet and other factors for 520 East Harlem children aged 6-8 with the results indicating that the level of phthalates in the children tested was higher than the national average.

About 40 percent of children in East Harlem are considered to be overweight or obese. “When we say children, I’m talking about kindergarten children, we are talking about little kids,” said Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai, one of the lead researchers on one of the East Harlem studies. “This is a problem that begins early in life.”

Health concerns over phthalates have been debated for more than 10 years, as shown by a New York Times article from 1999 that describes opposing views on their use and mentions an FDA investigation into the matter. At that time, a major concern was the use of  HYPERLINK “http://www.naturalnews.com/chemicals.html” chemicals in children’s toys.

Previous reports linking phthalates to  HYPERLINK “http://www.naturalnews.com/health.html” health disruptions have shown that they are connected to abdominal  HYPERLINK “http://www.naturalnews.com/obesity.html” obesity, insulin resistance, poor semen quality in men, and changes in reproductive organs in infant boys.

Phthalates can be found in personal care products like cosmetics, shampoos, soaps, lotions, paint and pesticides. They are also used to make  HYPERLINK “http://www.naturalnews.com/plastics.html” plastics more pliable. Phthalates are absorbed into the body and are a type of endocrine disruptor – a category of chemical that affects glands and hormones that regulate various bodily functions.

Increasingly when I am doing hair mineral testing on young children because of health issues, I am noticing higher amounts of toxic substances like lead, arsenic, mercury and tin. Substances like boron, copper and iron which are supposed to be nutritional become toxic at higher levels. The parents then ask me, “Where does it come from? How could all these heavy toxic substances and heavy metals be impacting them?” That’s when I tell them about the 100, 000 or more toxic substances that re now present in the environment that were not present before. The various authorities have not even established safety levels for multiple chemicals in the human body.

The FDA continues conducting ongoing investigations into potential risks, but notes that while there have been studies on laboratory animals demonstrating carcinogenic effects of certain chemicals, “there are no studies in humans that are adequate to serve as the basis for regulatory decision-making.”

Other packaging chemicals that have recently caused consumer concern include Biosphenol A (BPA) and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). PFCs, which are found in grease-resistant packaging such as that used in microwaveable popcorn bags and pizza boxes, have been linked to infertility in women.

My wife’s colleague passed on this information to me. One of her friends whose father works for the government health inspection passed on his information. Their job is to inspect all hawkers, their cooked food, their store hygiene, etc. They found sugar cane juice has the highest content of bacteria among all food. In fact, it has exceeded the set limit.

Hence, these guys had to find out why. They went round all sugar cane stores and watched the way the hawkers handled their sugar cane, wash their glasses, their entire
procedure. But they couldn’t find the problem.

One day, they stayed till closing time and discovered some shocking facts! Whenever, the hawkers closed their stores, they would wash the floor with detergent.. As we know, the
remaining sugar canes will be placed at the back of the store, vertically standing and as sugar canes are very porous, they tend to absorb whatever liquid around them. Besides the soapy water, the dirt on hawkers’ boots, cats’ urine, etc, will all be absorbed?? Now, whenever I eat at a hawker centre, I would warn all my friends about this and of course I stopped drinking my favorite sugar cane juice.

A friend, who loved sugar cane juice, was pregnant. She was always drinking sugar cane juice. Anyway, one day she miscarried and the fetus was already like 6 or 7 months old,
I think. When the doctors did an autopsy to find out why all of a sudden the fetus had died inside her, they found traces of some chemical substance, which was found in cat urine… Large traces of it.

While it would not be able to harm adults, it was extremely toxic to babies, what more a fetus? So they tried to determine how this cat urine thing could have ended up in
the fetus. This meant that it had to be digested by the mother, right? And the only logical conclusion they could come up with was that since these sugar cane juice stall holders just leave the canes lying around on the wet and dirty floor, it would not be impossible to think that stray cats could have peed on those sugar canes or near those sugar canes. So think carefully the next time you order that favorite sugar cane juice!

Be well

Dr Sundardas

One important reason is the big delay — and advantage — women have over men in terms of cardiovascular disease, like heart attack and stroke. Women develop these problems usually in their 70s and 80s, about 10 years later than men, who develop them in their 50s and 60s. For a long time, doctors thought the difference was due to estrogen. But studies have shown that this may not be the case, and now we know that giving estrogen to women post-menopause can actually be bad for them. “http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1635370,00.html” \t “_blank”

One reason for that delay in onset of cardiovascular disease could be that women are relatively iron-deficient compared to men — especially younger women, those in their late teens and early 20s — because of menstruation. Iron plays a very important part in the reactions in our cells that produce damaging free radicals, which glom onto cell membranes and DNA, and may translate into aging the cell. In fact, in our diets, red meat is the main source of iron, and lack of iron is probably one major reason that being vegetarian is healthy for you. There was a very good study looking at the intake of red meat and heart disease in Leiden in the Netherlands: in regions where people didn’t eat red meat, those populations had half the rate of heart attack and stroke compared to the populations that did eat red meat.

Another more complicated possibility [for women’s longevity] is that women have two X chromosomes, while men have one. (Men have an X and a Y.) When cells go through aging and damage, they have a choice in terms of genes — either on one X chromosome or the other.

Consider it this way: you have a population of cells, all aging together. In some cells, the genes on one X chromosome are active; in other cells, by chance, the same set of genes, with different variations, are active on the other X chromosome. Don’t forget, we all have the same genes — the reason we differ is because we express different variations of those genes, like different colors of a car. Now, if one set of variations provides a survival advantage for the cells versus another, then the cells with the advantage will persist while the other ones will die off, leaving behind more cells with the genes on the more advantageous X chromosome. So, in women, cells can perhaps be protected by a slightly better variation of a gene on the second X chromosome. Men don’t have this luxury and don’t get this choice.

It’s very unclear [how big an effect that could have]. I’ve seen men who have done horrendous damage to themselves over time with smoking and drinking and who still get to 100 and older — though that’s very, very rare. They might have the right combination of some really special genetic variations that we call “longevity enabling genes” — which we’re on the mad hunt for.

Meanwhile other individuals may do everything right and only make it into their 80s. That may be because they have what we call “disease genes,” some genetic variations that are relatively bad for them. Now some of these [disease genes] may be on the X chromosome, [meaning that women who have the second X chromosome with which to compensate, would have an advantage]. But it’s really still a very complicated puzzle to tease out.

There are a few other reasons that men die earlier in life more often than women. Men in their late teens and 20s go through something called “testosterone storm.” The levels of the hormone can be quite high and changeable, and that can induce some pretty dangerous behavior among young men. They don’t wear their seatbelts; they drink too much alcohol; they can be aggressive with weapons and so on and so forth. These behaviors lead to a higher death rate.

Another area where we see higher death rates among men is among the depressed — especially older men. If they attempt suicide, they are more likely to succeed than women.

Overall, about 70% of the variation around average life expectancy — [just over 80 for women and just over 75 for men in the U.S.] — is probably attributable to environmental factors — your behaviors and your exposures. Probably only 30% is due to genetics. And that’s very, very good news. There’s so much we can do. Most of us should be able to get into our late 80s. What’s more, to get to older ages, like the centenarians, you are necessarily compressing the time you’re sick to the end of your life. It’s not a case where the older you get, the sicker you get. It’s very much the case that the older you get, the healthier you’ve been.

But, in general, there are maybe three things men do worse than women. They smoke a lot more. (That gender gap is fortunately shrinking, since men are smoking less and less.) They eat more food that leads to high cholesterol. And, perhaps related to that, men tend not to deal with their stress as well as women. They may be more prone to internalizing that stress rather than letting go — though that’s a fairly controversial point. Nonetheless, stress plays a very important role in cardiovascular disease.

Generally men unless they cannot work, are disabled by pain and cannot move or they are so sick and have a nervous breakdown, they maintain this veneer of stolidity and the attitude that says “I am fine”. Whereas women prefer to be proactive and prefer to preempt trouble generally.

My personal opinion is that women are more proactive, more sensitive to pain and seek earlier intervention. They are more interested in intervention before the quality of life is compromised. So serious issues are discovered earlier. Men wait until what happens to them creates an impasses in their ability to work or be effective. This may be one factor that accounts for increased life span.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

According to the Washington, D.C. based Environmental Working Group
(EWG), manufacturers dumped more than one billion pounds of toxic chemicals into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water between 1990 and 1994. EWG also estimates that
manufacturers contributed about 450 million additional pounds via sewage.

In the 1940’s, a billion pounds of synthetic chemicals were produced each year. By the 1980’s, production was up to 500 billion pounds. And 1000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Yet the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act only addresses 100 contaminants.

Of the thousands of chemicals found in the water, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) sets safety levels for only 60. Even with only these 60 standards, the EPA reports almost 1/2 of all municipal water supplies in the U.S. annually violate Federal health standards. In recent years, serious violations have affected over 120 million people. Wells are not much better, with 2/3 of them in violation of at least one of the Safe Drinking Water Act standards. The sorry condition of water in the U.S. is reflected in the remark by President Clinton that 40% of American waterways are unfit to swim
in and in fact will not support life.

We live in a world surrounded by toxins. Every year, 2000 new chemicals will be released on the market, some not fully tested for their effect on the human body. Some are so called PBT’s or Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins, meaning they exist in the environment and our food chain for a long time. These are substances such as DDT, PCB’s, Dioxins and plasticizers. Their effects range from immuntoxicity to endocrine disruption and some may even be carcinogenic. This is compounded by the grasshopper effect, where toxins move from temperate to cold climates. Endogenous toxins are also created in the form of the end products of our metabolism, such as histamine and adrenaline. If these are not detoxified and excreted, they can be as harmful as external toxins.

With the process of industrialisation and urbanization, many time-saving and labour saving devices and innovations have been introduced. We have become a society of mass consumers. We have also developed the habit of instant gratification. Whomsoever could satisfy this need for instant results be it in the arena of food, beverages, entertainment or even medical needs stood to make a fortune. This often resulted in the indiscriminate usage of chemicals, food additives, automation, chemical fertilizers and drugs. We are experiencing the side-effects now.

According to the Washington, D.C. based Environmental Working Group
(EWG), manufacturers dumped more than one billion pounds of toxic chemicals into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water between 1990 and 1994. EWG also estimates that
manufacturers contributed about 450 million additional pounds via sewage.

In the 1940’s, a billion pounds of synthetic chemicals were produced each year. By the 1980’s, production was up to 500 billion pounds. And 1000 new chemicals are introduced each year. Yet the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act only addresses 100 contaminants.

Pesticides are another problem. Two billion pounds of pesticides are used every year. That’s eight pounds for every American. These pesticides enter water systems via disposal sites, animal waste, runoff, sewage, etc. After reviewing published (but not publicized) State data and conducting its own tests, EWG found that a single glass of
Midwestern tap water has three or more pesticides in it. In China, Taiwan and other Asian countries, the presence of chemicals and pesticides in water is reducing the fertility rates of males and females. Even though the incidence of infectious disease is down, the incidence of illness due to environmental toxicity due to water borne pollution is up.

Pesticides are another problem. Two billion pounds of pesticides are used every year. That’s eight pounds for every American. These pesticides enter water systems via disposal sites, animal waste, runoff, sewage, etc. After reviewing published (but not publicized) State data and conducting its own tests, EWG found that a single glass of
Midwestern tap water has three or more pesticides in it.

The following excerpt from Tap Water Blues, produced by the EWG and Physicians for Social Responsibility, states: “Every spring, farmers across the Corn Belt apply 150 million pounds of five herbicides–atrazine, cyanazine, simazine, alacholor and metolachlor to their corn and soybean fields. Every spring, rains wash a substantial
portion of those chemicals into the drinking water of 11.7 million people in the Midwest and Louisiana. According to this article, none of these herbicides are removed by the conventional city municipalities drinking water treatment technologies that are used by more than 90% of all water utilities in the United States.”

A deficiency of specific nutrients may allow some toxins to produce severe damage to our cells by a process of free radical oxidation as we have already discussed above. Oxidation also occurs dramatically when fats inadequately protected by anti-oxidants like Vitamins C and E become rancid. Too much cholesterol/fat in your arteries causes oxidation, damage to their lining and eventually arteriosclerosis. On the obvious level, free radical damage can take the form of poor quality skin and lack lustre hair. It can aggravate whatever skin problems you may have. It can rob you of your energy and leave you feeling lethargic, tired and yes, even depressed. Oxidising heavy metals such as lead, excessive iron or copper and cadmium produces similar damage; as do free radicals in smoke and alcohol. Cells so affected can become cancerous or part of an arthritic or any other inflammatory process. In general free-radical activity can be held responsible for any if not all forms of degenerative disorders from cancer to diabetes.
What are you doing to drink clean water, detoxify and eat clean, healthy food?

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Candida albicans is a yeast that is present in the intestines normally in very low concentrations. As an opportunistic microorganism, candida is able to proliferate only if improper intestinal (and, possibly, systemic conditions) allow its growth. The incidence of candida overgrowth seems to be rising in our society in parallel with the widespread use of antibiotics for treatment of even minor conditions, their hidden ingestion through food sources (especially beef and chicken), and the excessive intake of high-sugar foods.

The “yeast” problem with Candida albicans is one of the new medical concerns of the 1980s that will continue into the next century. It has been described by many prominent physicians, including C. Orian Truss in The Missing Diagnosis, William Crook in The Yeast Connection, and Keith Sehnert in The Candidiasis Syndrome. It is a very common problem, one of the most frequent I see, and is to me a medical adventure, because I learn a great deal while working with people with this problem. Often the therapy for yeast, or candidiasis as it is commonly known, will positively and dramatically change lives. The somewhat complex, multilevel treatment program has been effective in a high percentage of the people I have treated, and I have worked with more than 6000 clients with this problem to date.

Factors common to patients with the yeast syndrome:

• History of antibiotic use: particularly with a history of repeated administration, but can follow a single broad-spectrum course; antibiotics kill not only the disease-causing bacteria, but also the beneficial bacteria in the intestines; candida is no longer limited by high concentrations of normal bacteria flora and is able to proliferate. Use of antibiotics, such as tetracycline for acne or broad-spectrum antibiotics for recurrent infections, such as in the ears, bladder, vagina or throat

• Birth control pill and other steroid use in women

• History of high sugar intake: sugar directly feeds the candida organisms and promotes their growth

• History of high ingestion of foods from yeast (breads), fermented foods, and food upon which yeasts/molds can grow (e.g. mushrooms); it is suggested that these foods may help the growth of yeast cells

• Lowered immune system or poorly nourished patient; these patients will not be as effective in blocking the growth of candida if the conditions develop for its increase; the same factors that can cause candida to proliferate (e.g. high simple sugar intake) are the same factors that will decrease the patient’s immune system

• Exposure to mercury either as amalgam in the teeth or from fish

• Premenstrual symptoms

• Recurrent vaginal yeast infections in women or prostate problems in men

• Sensitivity to molds, dampness, and smells

• Mental symptoms such as depression, mood swings, or confusion

• Chronic fatigue, indigestion, or food reactions

• Recurrent skin fungus infections, such as ringworm, athlete’s foot, “jock itch,” or nail problems

The yeast syndrome is a controversial topic. Most traditional doctors do not want to hear about this condition and call it a “fad” disease, but those who will explore the possibility and look for it in their patients will be hard-pressed not to accept this problem as “real.” One of the reasons, I believe, for medicine not really accepting the “yeast syndrome” is because the problem arises predominantly as a side effect from the use of commonly prescribed drugs—antibiotics, birth control pills, and corticosteroids.

This yeast syndrome is much more common in women than in men and seems to affect the hormonal balance, initially causing mild premenstrual symptoms of irritability, depression, fatigue, and swelling, and leading to actually abnormal and/or painful menstrual periods. I would estimate that a significant number of women with PMS have a problem with Candida albicans, and probably more than half the women with candidiasis have some uncomfortable premenstrual symptoms.

The problem originates when a common yeast, Candida albicans, begins to overgrow in the intestinal or genito-urinary tract. It may be contracted initially through sexual contact. When other normal body microflora are killed off by antibiotics, the yeasts will then proliferate and coexist with the useful germs. What is frightening to me is that nearly all major illness from cancer to diabetes seem to be preceeded by an yeast overgrowth.

DO YOU HAVE AN YEAST OVERGROWTH?
Diabetes Skin Conditions Addictions Autism
Heart Disease PMS Obesity Allergies
Cancer Infertility Infections Mood Swings

All of the above seem to be related to yeast overgrowth

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Many foods contain proteins called lectins that can bind to sugars (including blood type antigens) and thus agglutinate the cells of certain blood types but not others, meaning that a food may be harmful to the cells of one blood type, but beneficial to the cells of another.

When you eat a food containing protein lectins that are incompatible with your blood type antigen, the lectins target an organ and cause the cells in that area to stick together and agglutinate. In effect, lectins interfere with digestion, insulin production, food metabolism, and hormonal balance .The key is to avoid the lectins that target your blood type. For example, chicken, which is fine for Type O and Type A, contains a lectin in its muscle tissue that agglutinates the cells of Type B and Type AB.

Why eating right is important
About 60% of our immune system is expressed in our digestive system. It serves as a protective agent, recognizing and targeting foreign antigens that could damage the body. When you eat a food containing lectins incompatible with your blood type, the incompatible lectins target an organ/s and cause cellular agglutination.

Detrimental effects of lectins include ;

· Interfering with the immune system and creating reactions often mistaken for allergies
· Blocking digestive enzymes, interfering with protein digestion and impairing absorption of crucial nutrients.
· Activating auto-antibodies in inflammatory and autoimmune disease
· Damaging the intestinal lining and influencing gut permeability.

Food Groups and Weight Gain
For each of the blood groups there are certain foods that are “no nos”. If a particular blood type were to indulge in that food group, they are highly likely to put on weight or fall sick.

Group O
For Blood Group O, they thrive on chemical free meats, poultry and fish. They function best when their system is slightly more acidic. They also produce more stomach acid to digest protein. This is generally not true for other blood types. They also tend to have a slightly low thyroid function. Wheat has the effect of clogging the function of their system (corn to a lesser extent). Certain legumes like kidney beans, navy bean, lentils, cabbage contain lectins that deposit in the muscle tissue making them more alkaline and less primed for the explosive activity that is suitable for Type O. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard greens are items that tend to lower Type O’s thyroid function further. On the other hand kelp, iodised salt and seafood contain iodine that would increase thyroid hormone production. Liver is an efficient source of B vitamins that would boost metabolism. Red meat, kale, spinach and broccoli all aid efficient metabolism.

Group A
For blood group As they were descendants of farmers. As such they would flourish on vegetarian diets. On an incorrect diet they would be inclined to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Some type A’s experience fluid retention as their digestive system process the unwieldy food. While Type Os burn their meat as fuel, Type As store them primarily as fat. This is because while Type Os have high stomach acid which promotes easy digestion of meat, Type As have low stomach acid content, ideal for an agrarian diet. Dairy products inhibit nutrient metabolism. Both kidney bean and lima beans interfere with digestive enzymes and slow metabolic rate. Wheat in abundance inhibits insulin efficiency and impairs calorie restriction. Vegetable oils on the other hand aid efficient digestion and prevent fluid retention. Soy foods aid efficient digestion and are metabolised quickly. Vegetables aid in efficient metabolism and increase intestinal mobility. Pineapple increases calories utilization and increases intestinal mobility

Group B
Group Bs generally have strong systems. More likely to develop exotic immune system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, lupus and chronic fatigue syndrome.For Blood Group B their diet is balanced and wholesome and includes a wide variety of foods.Corn inhibits insulin efficiency, hampers metabolic rate and cause hypoglycemia. Lentils inhibit proper nutrient intake, hampers metabolic rate and cause hypoglycemia. Peanuts hampers metabolic efficiency and cause hypoglycemia and inhibit liver function. Sesame seeds hamper metabolic efficiency and cause hypoglycemia. Buckwheat inhibits digestion, hampers metabolic efficiency and causes hypoglycemia. Wheat slows the digestive and metabolic process, causes food to be stored as fat, not burned as energy and inhibits insulin efficiency.Green vegetables, meat (except chicken), eggs, low fat dairy products and liver all aid efficient metabolism. Licorice tea counters hypoglycemia (doctor’s supervision only)

Group AB
For Blood Group AB reflect the missed inheritance of both As and Bs. So although they are genetically programmed for red meat, they often lack enough stomach acid to fully digest it. Red meat is poorly digested ,stored as fat and makes the intestines toxic. Kidney beans, lima beans, inhibit insulin efficiency, cause hypoglycemia and slow the metabolic rate down. Seeds and buckwheat cause hypoglycemia. Corn inhibits insulin efficiency.
Wheat slows metabolic process, inefficient use of calories and inhibits insulin efficiency.

Green vegetables, tofu seafood all aid efficient metabolism. Dairy improves insulin production. Kelp improves insulin production. Pineapple aids digestion and stimulates intestinal mobility.

Be well

Dr Sundardas