Reader Q&A
Q: That heavy metal detox article in
the last newsletter had me shaking my head trying to figure out what thing I needed to
take and when. Can you put it all in a simpler order?
A: Most sincere apologies
to those folks who don’t see things as I do. My brain is always full of images
instead of words. My thoughts appear to me as a giant flowchart, graph, or picture, then I
wrap words around that in my attempt to communicate those ideas. Try this table:
Q: I have been told
that people who still have amalgam fillings in their teeth should not take chlorella
because it will leech the mercury from their fillings and it is more likely to go straight
to the brain from the mouth.
A: I searched out this
question and found hundreds of websites suggesting you should be taking this algae because
you have fillings, but of course you should buy it from them, so take that for what
it’s worth. I do not doubt that mercury in your mouth has a better chance of directly
affecting the brain, but I do doubt that oral chelators accelerate that. Medicines that
are placed under the tongue do go directly into the bloodstream, and over time, I suppose
even your saliva will leech some small portion of the mercury from your fillings and allow
it to get in the bloodstream. Therefore, the obvious assumption here is that you should
get that mercury out of your mouth, but the questioner wants to know if taking chlorella
is bad for you before you get those fillings removed. Are you taking a liquid version of
chlorella? That could indeed get right on the fillings, but whether it stays
there long enough to do any leeching is questionable.
Those who take chlorella capsules will get the effect after the intestine puts it back
into their blood and the blood circulates back up to the gums. But, one should also note
that your blood never touches the fillings in your teeth (unless some
dumb dentist is packing root canals with amalgam all the way down to the bottom of the
roots). Saliva does bathe your fillings, however, but I seriously doubt there is any
potency left by the time the chlorophyll molecules get to that point (if they ever
do). For those who claim to get headaches from taking chlorella while they still have
fillings, we should note that this is not the only chelating agent; many green
leafy vegetables do this, as do onions and cilantro
(a member of the carrot family). Remember, chlorella gets its name from chlorophyll –
the green in your plants. So I have to ask, do salads and onions also give you a headache?
I think we have to beware how much of what we believe is actual science and how much is
psychologically induced by some “expert” and his/her website or books.
Which makes this a good
place for me to add to the “experts rant” from a couple issues back. The next
few paragraphs have very little to do with this particular question or questioner, but it
is something we should all keep in mind and is stated as a result of similar questions
that are not being answered in this newsletter.
Gurus, whether they be of
religious cults, social structures (which are also often referred to as cults, classes,
sects, or cliques), politics (right wing, left wing, moderate, extreme), science, or in
all too many cases, pseudo-science, tend to further the acceptance of some
not-very-logical belief systems. Beliefs can be dangerous things because they tend to
get people so narrow-focused that they naturally exclude all evidence that does not
reinforce that particular belief. (Psychologists say we do this out of fear that our
cherished belief will be solidly disproved.) As an example, for how many thousands of
years did man claim the earth was flat and that the sun rose and set around us, all the
while ignoring the very obvious curvature of the ocean while watching a ship come into
port (first you see the mast top, then the sails, then the hull, therefore what appears to
be a calm sea must be inferred to be curved.). In psychology, it is a “given”
that we will ignore that which we do not want to try to fit into our belief
systems. To find real truth, we need to stay open to all data, accepting or
rejecting it on the basis of logical conclusions arrived at by rigorous analysis of the
fit of that data to the problem at hand (does it add, subtract, or remain neutral to the
cause-effect?). You can hold an idea about a subject (ideas are easily modified by
new data), but as soon as you let that idea become a belief, you immediately begin to
reject potentially valuable new evidence that might change that belief. This normal human
trait often makes us appear to be stupid (to anyone who stands outside that belief), which
I am sure none of us really wants to be. So let’s all try to remain as open as
possible to new data and try to apply logic to its use. Again, if it doesn’t fit
– if it doesn’t work in the equations – then throw it out (or try a new
equation), but don’t throw it out until you’ve tested the fit.
How that applies to this
health subject is that we have a lot of Health Gurus out there. They write a lot of books
and have pretty websites that have lots of information, where it is often very hard to
tell the truth from the made-up fictions that they slide in there to sell you something.
There are also some very well-meaning folks out there who came up with a good idea on how
to fix your health problems, but they got so narrow-focused and headed down a road that
starts a cult-like following. Some of them simply do not understand the data they dish
out, so they often come to erroneous conclusions; others outright fabricate results to
force fit their solution as the only possible answer to the problem. All the followers
then tend to believe everything their guru tells them, to the exclusion of any logical
analysis of the data, all the while chanting the guru’s mantra, “Kill all
the parasites!” Beware letting yourself get on that delusional bandwagon.
I am not telling
any of you that you are stupid. Nor am I trying to imply that I am right and all those
others folks are wrong. God knows, I have made a few mistakes in this life. J I also do not want to alienate any of our readers, but sometimes
this kind of thing needs to be said as a wake-up call to join the logical world. I make
every effort to ensure that this newsletter is factual scientific data. Often that data
comes into direct conflict with those who follow the gurus of “parasites are eating
your colon” or “yeastie beasties ? the only problem” (you can, no doubt,
insert a dozen more groups here, including the academians of Allopathy). I do not enjoy
going head-to-head with those believers, because the proverbial fecal matter usually hits
the rotating cooling device and someone gets their feelings hurt. I believe most of our
readers have sufficient intelligence to back off from that insanity before the guru’s
cure makes them become even more ill, or before he empties their wallets entirely without
fixing anything. Know that when I get cranky with any of you, it is because I care about
you.
OK, rant done – back
to our regularly scheduled program J
Q: I read a lot
about yeast problems, but it seems the only one that ever gets any hard press is candida.
I know there is more than one kind of yeast. How many are there?
A: Candida has been
overplayed to the point that when people hear the word “yeast,” they assume
candida must be their problem. I honestly don’t know the exact count. I know there
are at least eight general categories of yeast (Baker’s, Brewer’s, Budding,
Diploid, Fission, Haploid, and Recombinant), but I lost count of the total number (that
family, genus, and species separation) at over 450. Most of them are bad for your body,
but a few are part of your regular digestive processes. Just know that candida is not the
only one hurting you. And from there, I must add, those who avoid bread because it has
yeast in it are on the wrong track. The yeast dies when the bread is cooked,
but in dying, they pour out mycotoxins. That is the part of yeast bread that is
hurting you! So was this question really about yeasts, or how many things can hurt you?
Q: You talk a lot
about antifungal plants we should eat. Which ones are antifungal?
A: Well, unless you have a
hydroponics lab, plants all grow in the dirt, and there is more mold in dirt than just
about anywhere else, so one might say that any plant that survives the sprouting process
is antifungal. However, once out of the ground (exposed to air, wind, humidity, sunshine),
most plants are subject to being attacked by molds later in the growing process,
especially as they mature and start to bear fruit (e.g., ears of corn with obvious black
mold on the silk). If the harvested part grows above the ground, it is subject to mold
infestation. Even if the harvested portion of the plant does not have a visibly active
mold on it at the time it was picked, it is likely to acquire mold during transportation
and storage before you get to eat it. So this tends to restrict the truly antifungal
plants to that class which grows under the ground and is the root or part of the
root of the plant. If it can survive and flourish there, it must be truly antifungal.
These include carrots, onions and garlic, radishes, turnips, parsnips, etc., but not
potatoes or peanuts (those pods/tubers are not part of the root structure). There are also
many plants whose leaves are antifungal even if that is not the part of the plant normally
served as a food. For example, you can get moldy olives, but olive leaf is anti-microbial
(antifungal, antibiotic, and antiviral). It also seems to repel pests - olive trees are remarkably pest-free.
Vioxx
/ Celebrex Stats
The following statistics
are compiled from data acquired from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, NDCHealth, Verispan, National Cancer Institute, Stanford University, and
the University of Toronto.
A study of 2,586 patients
taking the painkiller Vioxx showed that the increase in risk of having a heart attack or
stroke was 100%. An FDA study showed that the total number of cases of serious
coronary heart disease in the United States that were caused by Vioxx since its
release in 1999 was between 88,000 – 140,000 (obvious estimate). At the time
that Vioxx was recalled, there were 1,200,000 Americans taking this drug. A week
after the recall, 100,000 of those patients switched to Celebrex. A study of over
2,000 Celebrex users showed that their rate of increase in heart attacks and stroke was 150%.
Yet, after all that, how much more effective are their two drugs over standard
over-the-counter painkillers, such as aspirin or ibuprofen? 0%! Absolutely no
more effective! Why were those people taking these killer drugs? Because someone on TV
told them to and their doctors gave them a prescription. Remember, over 100,000 people
in this country die every year as the result of an adverse reaction to
prescription drugs that are taken exactly as prescribed, all of which,
by the way, the FDA declared safe to use. Think about that.
More Miscellaneous BS
1. Biotech
corporations are facing off against developing nations and most of the world this week in
Brazil in a debate over the United Nation's Biosafety Protocol. The precedent-setting
treaty is an international agreement signed in January 2000 by 132 of the world's nations.
But the three main countries that grow genetically modified crops (the United States,
Argentina and Canada) refuse to sign it, because the international law would require that
countries be notified if the grains they are importing are genetically modified. Biotech companies want that language
removed from the treaty, saying that developing nations and anti-GMO consumers in
industrialized nations are not entitled to know whether their food is genetically
engineered or not. http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/goliath060313.cfm
2. The U.S., U.K.
and China have launched investigations into benzene in soft drinks. Results of independent
laboratory tests in New York, show a couple of soft drinks in the U.S. contain as much
as four times above the legal benzene limit for drinking water. Benzene, a known
carcinogen, is formed when two ingredients in the beverage react with each other: sodium
benzoate (a preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The FDA will not released the
names of the beverages with high benzene levels but says the companies are being asked to
change their ingredients. http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/benzene060303.cfm
3. USDA Secretary
Mike Johanns met with Japanese leaders on Friday to convince them the U.S. beef supply is
safe from Mad Cow Disease. Unfortunately, on Saturday, the day after the meeting, the USDA
announced the discovery of another new case of Mad Cow Disease in the U.S. Japan, the top
importer of U.S. beef, has recently banned U.S. beef imports, due to concerns over safety
of the meat. Despite objections from Japanese and American consumers, the USDA still allows the feeding of
blood, slaughterhouse waste, and manure to animals--practices banned in Europe and Japan
in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
4. A string of
scandals have been revealed in the drug industry recently, ranging from covered-up drug
risks to falsified data. In yet another incident, research results were submitted under
the name of a doctor who had neither written it, reviewed it, nor verified its accuracy.
Procter and Gamble may have removed as much as 40% of the data from a recent study of the
osteoporosis drug Actonel, according to Dr. Aubrey Blunsohn (a British researcher and bone
expert), distorting the final results. Then, not only did Procter and Gamble submit
results under his name, they wouldn't allow him to look at the final version until months after
it was submitted to the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Scientific journals are still grappling with how to
ensure that results they print are complete and accurate in light of these problems. It's
a difficult question, especially since drug companies fund roughly 70% of studies of
medications in the United States. The
results they get are increasingly being shown to be biased and inaccurate. After
the bad publicity following attempted cover-ups of the increased suicide risk connected
with antidepressants and heart problems associated with Vioxx, the drug companies vowed to
do better. Medical journals and some politicians are trying to take steps to ensure that
they do. But problems remain. While many leading scientific journals require researchers
to affirm that they analyzed all the raw data, not averages or compilations from someone
else, a recent survey found a 17% rate of reported disputes over access to data. There was
also widespread disagreement over whether companies that pay for research should help
write results for publicationThe real bummer in that one,
besides the falsified data, is that Dr. Blunsohn was fired by Sheffield University for
discussing this issue with the media. Given that Procter & Gamble pays the university
to do such research, guess who really was behind his termination.
5. Insomniacs taking the prescription drug
Ambien (made by Sanofi-Aventis), report doing weird things in their sleep, such as: binge eating, having sex while asleep, driving
their car while asleep, chopping food with sharp knives while asleep, and many other
strange behaviors. This has raised safety questions about anti-insomnia medications. Researchers in Minnesota are studying cases where insomniacs taking
Ambien got up in the middle of the night, binged uncontrollably, then remembered nothing
of their actions. The researchers expect to publish data shortly. More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11835999/
6. Two men were
critically ill in a British hospital on Wednesday and four others serious in intensive
care after suffering violent reactions to a new drug they took as part of a clinical
trial. The American
company running the trial said they had operated within industry guidelines but a
girlfriend of one of the volunteers said they had been told to pray for a miracle.
She said her boyfriend was swollen beyond recognition. The drug, known as TGN 1412,
was being developed for a German company to treat chronic inflammatory conditions and
leukemia More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11839019/
7. CHICAGO - Eleven patients have died while taking
Alzheimer’s disease drug Aricept during a clinical trial, Japan’s Eisai
Co., which makes the medicine, said Thursday. There were no deaths among
patients who were taking a placebo, said Eisai, which markets Aricept with Pfizer Inc.
More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11857980/
8. Despite the
confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease (recently), the government intends to scale back
testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150
people in Europe. The
Agriculture Department boosted its surveillance after finding the first case of mad cow
disease in the United States in 2003. About 1,000 tests are run daily, up from about 55
daily in 2003. Pardon me, but this is ridiculous! Testing
cattle for BSE is easy and doesn’t take much time. Japan tests 100% of their cattle,
guaranteeing that no mad cow enters the food chain, yet we seem to have decided the tiny
percentage that we do test is too much work. More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11830545/
9. E-85 is now available!
Not that I can use it in my 32-year old ¾-ton Chevy pickup (350ci V-8 requires a more
potent juice), but Detroit is starting to put out cars that can run on this 85%
ethanol/15% gasoline mixture. And, given that the corn this stuff is made from is not safe
to eat (no corn is, actually), then perhaps Iowa farmers can stay in business by selling
it to the fuel producers. E-85 is currently for sale here in South Dakota at about
50-cents per gallon cheaper than regular unleaded. I was amazed at seeing this at a gas
station in Sturgis. I only own this one vehicle, and unless I find the winning lottery
ticket in a parking lot somewhere, I doubt I will ever own a car that can use it, but it
is encouraging that someone is using up that nasty corn in a productive manner.
10. GENEVA
(Reuters) - Criminals are using
the Internet to sell increasing quantities of counterfeit medicines, including fake
versions of bird flu drug Tamiflu, a senior U.N. health expert said on Tuesday.
Vitamin and health supplements, so-called "lifestyle medications" like erectile
dysfunction drugs, and steroids bought over the Internet were especially likely to be
false. Antibiotics,
anti-malarials and pain killers were also susceptible to fraud because of the huge demand,
while Tamiflu, made by Swiss firm Roche, had also entered the market amid rising avian flu
fears. More at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060221/hl_nm/un_conterfeit_dc_2
11. Legislation has been introduced in
Congress to eliminate illegal Internet drug sales. The Prescription Drug Abuse
Elimination Act would require all online pharmacies to obtain and verify a prescription
from the patient’s treating physician before shipping or to be certified by the
National Boards of Pharmacy Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program.
This legislation ventures into the highly sensitive territory of addressing the need to
curb the diversion and abuse of prescription medicines while at the same time promoting
access to those medicines by people who need them. No one could argue that there is not
rampant illegal distribution of Schedule II drugs using the Internet. Also, no one could
argue that pain patients have tremendous problems getting and filling prescriptions
for strong pain medicines. This bill does not propose to close the door on Internet sales
and distribution. It proposes to close the door on illegal and, in most cases, unsafe sale
and distribution. Source: American Pain Foundation.
Body Mass Index Table
This might seem like it
doesn’t belong in this newsletter, which supposedly has a primary focus on fungi and
mycotoxin issues (oh, and FDA/AMA bashing, of course J), but obesity is a major drawback to being healthy, obesity
(or the tendency towards obesity) might well be fungally caused, and this is about
your health, so…
During the past 20 years, obesity among adults has
risen significantly in the United States. The latest data from the National Center for
Health Statistics show that 30% of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older (over 60 million
people) are obese (add another 30% that are in the
overweight category, and if you count children only, the number is closer to 66%).
These increasing rates raise concern because of their implications for Americans’
health. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many diseases and health
conditions, including the following:
Hypertension (absolutely no doubt)
Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
Type 2 diabetes (we just heard a doctor say diet and diabetes “might” be linked – HA!)
Coronary heart disease
Stroke
Gallbladder disease
Osteoarthritis (an admission this comes with weight then must tie it to eating…)
Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon) (fat people are full of mycotoxins, so…)
Although one of the national health objectives for
the year 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of obesity among adults to less than 15%,
current data indicate that the situation is worsening rather than improving. (Hey, to meet that reduction, let’s tear down all the junk food
vendors.)
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body weight
relative to height. (There is no accounting here for whether
your weight is muscle or fat, so additional data might be needed for real accuracy here.)
You can use the BMI chart below to see whether you are underweight (off the scale to the left), normal weight (green), overweight (yellow),
obese (orange), or extremely obese (red). To find your BMI:
Find your height in the left-hand column.
Move across in the same row to the number closest to your weight.
The number at the top of that column is your BMI. Check the word above your BMI to see whether you are normal weight, overweight, obese, or extremely obese.
(In general, unless you are a weight lifter, you should be in the green zone of this chart)
