We’re going to start this one off by answering a question that a couple of you have asked.

Q: Where do you get all this information and how do you know it is valid?

A: Well, lots of places. For the average home library, ours would be considered very large. I’m sure there are more than 1,000 books in this house (maybe even 2,000). A few hundred are scientific and at least a couple dozen of them are medical in nature, most of those written by MDs or the AMA, but a few are herbal. Any given morning, when I finally stagger up from my dungeon, I will find Lannie poring over one of these. Her search through those AMA books is where we get a lot of the subjects to be discussed here. The PDR (Physician’s Desk Reference) is usually found lying on the dining room table because it gets referenced so often. Then we have a discussion about something that doesn’t make sense or is contradictory (often blatantly self-contradictory from one paragraph to the next). Then we decide the subject needs more research and we both head for the computers (after the chores are done on our little hobby farm). I go to my scholarly research sites and do searches of the latest papers. Lannie often does more general searches. We take lots of notes, then we compare information and toss out what doesn’t seem logical (often after a lot of debate).

But we also get a lot of information from that TV show I already mentioned (Know the Cause!). This often makes us run back to the computers to verify some of the things they have claimed (I have not caught them in an untruth yet). We sometimes ask these folks questions via e-mail, and they actually take time to answer us. When they don’t know, they also spend some time looking for the answer. Let me introduce you to the main cast of this show.

Doug Kaufmann, the host, is a nationally recognized author, lecturer, television and radio show host, has over 30 years of experience in diversified healthcare. Kaufmann developed the first United States medical laboratory that correlated a broad range of medical symptoms and diseases with food and fungus. His medical career began when he was chosen to go through medical corps school while in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from the hospital corps school in 1969, was trained extensively in emergency medicine and in late 1970 was sent to Vietnam where he was attached to The Seventh Marine Division as a Navy hospital corpsman. His tour of Vietnam culminated with orders to The First Medical Battalion in Danang, Vietnam. Kaufmann earned such combat decorations as the Combat Action Ribbon, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze star. Following his honorable discharge, Kaufmann became certified by the American Society of Allergy Technicians (ASAT) and worked in the allergy and immunology field with a Los Angeles allergist. A course in food allergy taken at the Washington University School of Medicine in 1974 would alter his career. While avoiding certain allergic foods, many of their patients had their nasal allergies, for which they were taking weekly allergy shots, completely disappear. Doug realized that food was either a potent allergen that caused serious disease, or conversely, a medicine that could treat autoimmune diseases. Of course, the latter has now been documented within the scientific literature. He co-investigated several research papers with doctors at USC Medical School in L.A. In 1979, Doug opened Physicians Laboratories, Inc. in Los Angeles. This laboratory was involved in food and fungal research and had a staff of four research Immunologists. The first ELISA tests for food allergy were created in this laboratory as well as significant research aimed at better understanding the food-disease link. A physician group in Dallas, Texas recruited Kaufmann in 1987, after they learned of his laboratory technology. While utilizing this technology for determining fungal diseases, an amazing discovery resulted. When being treated for fungal infections many patients with various diseases, thought to be incurable, responded favorably to dietary changes and antifungal drugs. Kaufmann began broadcasting his discoveries on radio in Texas in 1992. This early radio success spawned a national television show within seven years. Kaufmann published The Food Sensitivity Diet in 1984, The Fungus Link in 2000, The Germ That Causes Cancer in 2002 and Infectious Diabetes in 2003. Each book offers an alternative viewpoint to prevailing medical thought on the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Dr, David Holland, M.D., is the Medical Communications Director at MediaTrition, Inc. He works documenting the roles that fungi and fungal toxins play in common human illnesses and communicating his findings to the medical community. He has a BS in microbiology from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, has worked in primary care, urgent care, occupational and nutritional medicine. He is a Diplomat of the American board of Family Practice as well as the American Board of Ambulatory Medicine. He joined with Doug Kaufmann in operating a nutritional medicine clinic in Dallas in 1996. He went on to complete his residency at John Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth and is currently Board Certified in Family Practice. He has Co-authored the Fungazette newsletter, The Fungus Link book, The Fungus Link, Volume 2; The Fungus Link, Volume 3; Infectious Diabetes, a book that documents the cause of diabetes, heart and kidney disease; and the weight loss book, What Makes Bread Rise? He also made various contributions to The Germ That Causes Cancer book. All books have been self-published by Doug Kaufmann’s company, MediaTrition, Inc. Additionally, Dr. Holland works part time in his nutrition counseling practice, and is president of North Texas Nutrition Consultants, Inc.

Jami Clark is a registered nurse, certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Chemotherapy / Biotherapy from M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston, Texas. Her nursing career began at Baylor University Medical Center, where she worked on the Oncology/Hematology unit. After leaving Baylor, Jami did outpatient work at an oncology clinic giving chemotherapy to treat a wide range of cancers, including pancreatic, liver, colorectal, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, bladder, and many other forms of the disease. Her main passion is oncology, and she loves studying new alternatives to cancer treatment. Most recently, Jami has studied extensively with Doug Kaufmann and Dave Holland, M.D., learning about fungi, fungal toxins and their roles in cancer and other diseases. Jami is also very involved in volunteer work. She has volunteered at teen pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, and battered-women shelters in the Dallas area. Her greatest interest has been in working with AIDS services of North Texas, where she received recognition for her volunteer commitment.

They also have a guy named Kyle Drew who is a frequent guest (now probably a new employee) who holds a degree in chemistry and was one of those drug reps who goes from doctor to doctor trying to convince them to use his pharmaceutical company’s products. He says he hated his job because of all the lies and political maneuvering and … well, that’s worth a newsletter all by itself.

The philosophy regarding the people who sponsor this show is simple: the folks listed above look at what they would use or do use themselves, look at the research and the manufacturing processes, and ask certain companies if they’d like to be a part of the show. You can’t believe how much BS they get from people. Some of it’s good, but a lot of it isn’t. And some of those who make not-so-good stuff have plenty of money to buy their way in. I’ve never seen a guy so unwilling to fall for that as Doug is. He’s absolutely unmoved by people with bad products offering lots of money. His integrity can’t be bought!

What’s more, Lannie just got a letter from them (I’m keeping it in a folder with all these newsletters) giving us permission to use what they put out on their show or in their books for inclusion in these newsletters. That means I can start giving you direct quotes from all their stuff, which is very likely in future newsletters. Doug said that his mission statement is to have his publishings such that we can do just that - no problem at all… straight from the man, himself. J

So here’s a question for you: Would you believe these people? We do.

Now, because I took so much space to answer that first question, let’s get straight to Lannie’s PDR rant. I’ll go off on my “AMA bought the FDA” rant tomorrow.

High Cholesterol

What Would I Do?

by Le Anne Amber

It seems everybody is worried about their cholesterol these days. You can’t watch TV for an hour without seeing several ads for cholesterol-lowering drugs, and you should get to the doctor right now and find out if this drug is right for you!!! The AMA promotes a low-fat, high fiber diet to reduce “bad cholesterol” in your bloodstream. I don’t happen to agree with this, but that’s just my opinion. They also say you should exercise. I do agree with that. And as long as you feel good, are active and healthy, why should you go looking for problems? It used to be that an LDL (low-density lipoprotein) level of over 300 was considered high. Then it was dropped to 250. Now it’s 200. So what should it really be?

First let’s talk about what cholesterol is and what it does.

Your liver produces cholesterol to help digest fats in your diet. This is one reason someone might have high cholesterol. They eat too much fat, so the liver has to produce more cholesterol to break down those fats into useable molecules. The reasonable assumption in this type of a situation would be to lower (not eliminate) your fat intake. I’m talking about the person who eats fried or excessively fatty foods day in and day out. You bet their cholesterol is going to be high. But they love their food, so they’ll take a pill to lower their cholesterol (more on this below) and keep right on eating the fatty foods, which now won’t be able to be broken down because there won’t be enough cholesterol to do the job. Doesn’t this seem like a dangerous situation to you? Where will the excess, undigested fat go?

Another way you can end up with too much cholesterol in your blood is if you have a fungal infection. That’s right, I said a fungal infection. Most fungi produce something called “sterols” (cholesterol), and all fungi produce triglycerides, which are closely linked with high levels of LDL cholesterol. So could your high cholesterol be due to a fungus? Even though you’re not overweight and not eating a high-fat diet, you can still have high cholesterol. Because your doctor can’t tell you to lose weight or change your diet (he might suggest it, but you have to be referred to a dietician to be told to do it), he will surely put you on a pill. The most common are Lipitor and Zocor for high cholesterol, and Lopid for high triglycerides. Let’s look at the side effects for these three, which is taken from the Physicians’ Desk Reference:

Lipitor             Abdominal pain, abnormal heartbeat [isn’t this drug supposed to help your heart?], accidental injury, acne, allergic reaction, amnesia, back pain, black stools, bleeding, breast enlargement, changes in eyesight, changes in taste sensation, chest pain [chest pain?], constipation, decreased sex drive, depression, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing, distorted facial muscles, dizziness, dry eyes, fatigue, fever, flu symptoms, fluid retention, gas, hair loss, headache, hearing difficulties, heartburn, increased muscle movement, increased sensations, indigestion, inflammation of sinus and nasal passages, insomnia, itching, joint pain, lack of coordination, leg cramps, muscle aching or weakness, purple or red spots on the skin, rash, respiratory problems, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light, skin irritations, sore throat, strange dreams, sweating, tingling of extremities, unstable emotions, urinary problems, vomiting, weakness, weight gain, weight loss. [they don’t have these broken down into “common” or “less common”, so I would assume these are all common side effects.]

Let’s go on.

Zocor               Common side effects: Abdominal pain, headache.

                        Less common side effects: Constipation, diarrhea, gas, muscle weakness with rash, nausea, upper respiratory infection, upset stomach, weakness.

                        [These don’t seem so bad after reading the Lipitor side effects, but then it goes on to list the following “special warnings”]

Because Zocor may damage the liver [why isn’t “liver damage” listed in the side effects?], your doctor may order a blood test to check your liver enzyme levels before you start taking the drug. Blood tests will probably be done before your treatment is started and at periodic intervals for a year after your final dosage increase. If your liver enzyme levels rise too high, your doctor may tell you to stop taking Zocor.

Because Zocor may cause damage to muscle tissue, be sure to tell your doctor of any unexplained muscle tenderness, weakness, or pain right away, especially if you also have a fever or feel sick. Your doctor may want to do a blood test to check for signs of muscle damage.

And finally...

Lopid               Common side effects: Abdominal pain, acute appendicitis [hellllooo? acute appendicitis?], constipation, diarrhea, eczema, fatigue, headache, indigestion, nausea/vomiting, rash, vertigo.

Less common side effects: Anemia, blood disorders, blurred vision, confusion, convulsions, decreased male fertility, decreased sex drive, depression, dizziness, fainting, hives, impotence, inflammation of the colon, irregular heartbeat [heart problems again...], itching, joint pain, laryngeal swelling, muscle disease [what kind of “muscle disease”?], muscle pain, muscle weakness, painful extremities, sleepiness, tingling sensation, weight loss, yellow eyes and skin [now here at least they allude to liver damage: jaundice].

Being the basically healthy person that I am, I’m not too worried about cholesterol. I do know that I did indeed have a systemic fungal infection (more on that later), which probably meant my cholesterol was too high, cholesterol and triglycerides being a by-product of fungus. (Good thing I didn’t go have it checked or I might have been bamboozled into taking some of the afore-mentioned drugs. Or not!) J

The scare tactics that are commonly used regarding high cholesterol are that you are at higher risk for stroke and heart attack, and also angina pectoris (painful narrowing of the arteries) and atherosclerosis. All these things basically mean that your blood platelets (the sticky bits that allow your blood to clot when you cut yourself) will gather in one spot and produce a narrowing of the blood vessel. This can cause angina (pain), stroke (clot breaking loose and traveling to the brain) or heart attack (clot breaking loose and lodging in the heart, stopping blood flow). What the doctors don’t tell you is why the platelets are sticking there. It’s not just platelets, either, it’s also the white blood cells (your antibodies). The reason is that there is fungus growing there, which the antibodies are trying to bind to in order to render it harmless. This is what causes the initial narrowing in an artery. The platelets bind up there as well, because they’re sticky. Taking a blood thinner might help the symptom, but it doesn’t get rid of the fungus that is more than likely causing the problem in the first place.

I think the first step in lowering high cholesterol would be to get rid of the fungus. In this case, I would eat lots of raw garlic to kill the fungus in the bloodstream. Garlic (and onions) are very beneficial to the heart and circulatory system. I don’t know this for sure, but my guess is that they have a blood-thinning effect as well, which is why they’re considered a “heart healthy” food. If you want to try raw garlic but can’t stand the thought of chewing up raw cloves, just cut them into small pieces and swallow them whole with a glass of water. If that upsets your stomach, take them at mealtime. One large clove three or four times a day should be sufficient. It’s important to swallow that garlic within 30 seconds of cutting it, though. The allicin in the garlic is activated when the cell walls of the garlic are damaged (by cutting, chewing or cooking) and becomes inert approximately 30 seconds later. This is why you can only get medicinal effects from raw garlic. Cooked or dried garlic has no allicin and therefore is useless, other than as a flavoring.

In addition to the garlic, get off the mycotoxin-laden foods such as corn, peanuts, potatoes, fast foods, etc. And let’s not forget those all-time favorites: mushrooms and bleu cheese. Those are fungi in their most raw and powerful form. Cutting out the mycotoxins is half the battle. The other half is to not feed the ones that are already there. They’re very tenacious little critters. When the garlic starts wiping them out, they’ll multiply faster to compensate, so don’t feed them. Fungi love sugar, so for a couple of weeks, try as hard as you can to cut sugar and carbohydrates completely out of your diet. To compensate for the lack of carbs, eat protein-rich foods such as seafood, chicken, turkey, eggs, etc., as well as a good supply of vegetables. I’ll bring up carrots again, since they’re relatively inexpensive and they’re extremely anti-fungal.

This brings up another point: Don’t “they” say that eating eggs and shrimp and butter will raise your cholesterol? Well, the funny thing is, if you had your cholesterol checked today and then ate three eggs fried in butter for breakfast every day for two weeks instead of that bowl of cornflakes, then went in and had your cholesterol checked again, it would most likely be lower. That’s assuming you changed nothing else but what you ate for breakfast. Dietary cholesterol has little or no effect on your blood cholesterol. It’s a function of fat digestion and fungus, not eggs and butter.

The last thing I’ll talk about in relation to cholesterol is exercise. You knew that was coming, didn’t you? Physical exercise has a wonderful side effect: it relaxes your arteries and veins. It actually makes them expand in volume and become more pliable. This not only helps prevent coronary problems while you’re ridding your body of fungus, but it will also lower your blood pressure if you have simple hypertension.