HealthBeat News

Author: Wellness Club

  • Red Meat – They’re At It Again…

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Is Red Meat Dangerous? Here’s the Facts

     

    Recent research claims that the risk of cardiovascular disease is increased with red meat, dairy and egg consumption and decreased with plant protein consumption. The data comes from the Nurses Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.

    We have discussed these studies before – they rely on interviews and questionnaires that ask participants to remember what they ate in months and years gone by and the data is only as good as the participants’ memories. Nurse Mark wrote about this subject when the anti-red-meat folks were engaged in an earlier campaign to vilify animal source protein, and he also wrote about the problems with how the press misuses and misinterprets research paper abstracts.

    Now we are being assaulted with sensational headlines telling us that eating animal protein increases heart attack risk while eating plant protein reduces heart attack risk. Activists who would have us adopt various forms of vegetarian or vegan diets have seized upon this as further proof of the evils of eating meat. One reviewer concluded: “Heart attacks…God’s revenge for eating His animal friends.”

    Ouch!

    But, as the late Paul Harvey would say, here’s “The Rest Of The Story” that lamestream media is NOT reporting.

    In brief, cardiovascular (heart attack) risk is only increased in folks who already have one or more self-created risk factors: smoking, obesity or lack of exercise. In people who do not have one of these additional risk factors, consumption of red meat, dairy and eggs does NOT increase risk.

    Bottom line?

    If you insist on smoking, being overweight, or avoiding exercise at all costs, then maybe you would do well to avoid red meat and other animal proteins. You have enough risk factors going against you already.

    On the other hand, if you don’t smoke and you maintain a normal weight and partake in some regular exercise, then you have no need to fear meat or eggs at mealtimes.

     

    References and further reading:

    Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality
    Mingyang Song, MD, et.al., JAMA Intern Med. Published online August 01, 2016. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182
    http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2540540

    JAMA internal medicine, Published in Primary Care, Journal Scan / Research · August 10, 2016, Intake of Animal Protein Is Associated With Mortality Risk. http://www.practiceupdate.com/content/intake-of-animal-protein-is-associated-with-mortality-risk/42463/15/6/1#commentarea

    HealthBeat News, Eat Meat And Die? http://healthbeatnews.com/eat-meat-and-die/

    HealthBeat News, The Problem With Research Article Abstracts – Or, How The Rooster Crows To Make The Sun Rise… , http://healthbeatnews.com/the-rooster-crows-to-make-the-sun-rise/

  • This Is Your Brain On…

    By Nurse Mark

     

    We all remember the ads; the egg, the frying pan… the very serious voice saying This is your brain (the egg,) this is drugs (the frying pan,) this is your brain on drugs (the egg sizzling in the frying pan.) No sensible person today doubts the damage that methamphetamine, crack, heroin, or any of the other “recreational drugs” cause to the brain or body – this is serious business.

    Most street drugs alter the way that brain cells communicate or they flood the brain cells with chemicals that artificially create various “feel-good” states. By doing this to excess they also cause habituation and addiction. Bad stuff…

    But there is an even nastier compound out there – and not only does this molecule cause artificial and addictive releases of massive amounts of “feel-good” neurochemicals, it actually alters and damages the DNA of our brains!

    Scientists at the University of California have recently released research showing that this surprisingly common substance  “alters hundreds of genes that may be linked to many diseases” and that “A range of diseases — from diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and from Alzheimer’s disease to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — are linked to changes to genes in the brain.”

    So, are we seeing legislation that would ban this damaging substance?

    Are we seeing action by the US Drug Enforcement Agency or the FDA to protect people from this stuff?

    No.

    You see, this stuff is so pervasive, so common, so addictive, that The Department of Agriculture estimates Americans consumed an average of about 27 pounds of it in 2014.

    27 pounds.

    27 gene-damaging, mind-altering, disease-causing POUNDS of it.

    So, what is “IT”?

    Fructose.

    A form of sugar.

    A form of sugar that is in so many foods and drinks in America (and all around the world) that avoiding it can be almost impossible.

    We know it best in it’s industrial form: High-Fructose Corn Syrup. And it is everywhere.

    Derived from corn starch that is treated to convert some of it’s glucose to fructose, it is a major industry in the US and the Corn Growers Association and their lobbying groups in Washington are very protective of this “goose that lays golden eggs.” Protective tariffs keep the price of  imported sugars artificially high, and financial subsidies to sugar growers make this a lucrative industry indeed.

    I won’t go deeper into the nasty effects that fructose has on the brain – you can read more in this excellent article by Science Daily here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160422091900.htm

    We have written about the effects of sugar on brain function back in 2012 – this is not news to us: Common Food Ingredient Makes You Stupid?

    There is good news however – there is a substance that can go a long way to reversing the damages.

    DHA, a major component of fish oil, was found by the same researchers to be protective and was actually able to undo some of the damage done by fructose.

    So, what is the “bottom line” for you and me?

    • Avoid fructose – read the ingredient labels on everything when you are shopping. You’ll be amazed at where fructose hides.
    • Don’t be fooled into believing that there are “good” or “healthy” sugars – please re-read our article But I Only Use Organic Natural Sugars!
    • Protect yourself by using a top-quality, high potency Omega 3 fish oil every day. Please read more about our Maxi Marine O-3, an ultra-pure, ultra-high potency fish oil. Beware of cheap brands – their processing methods can damage the fragile oils, and they can be contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants if they have not been molecularly distilled.
    • Summer is here! Yes, you need to hydrate. Yes, it is important for your kids to hydrate. Yes, it is tough to get them to drink “plain water” – kids want sweet “sports drinks” or sodas. But most “sports drinks” and almost all sodas contain either high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, or toxic artificial sweeteners – to say nothing of the slew of other common and toxic preservatives, colorants, artificial flavors and more.  What to do? Try Zip Fizz – a truly healthy (and really tasty) alternative to the “makes ya sweat green” sports drinks or sodas.

     

    References and further reading:

    Systems Nutrigenomics Reveals Brain Gene Networks Linking Metabolic and Brain Disorders
    http://www.ebiomedicine.com/article/S2352-3964(16)30143-8/abstract

    Fructose alters hundreds of brain genes, which can lead to a wide range of diseases: Scientists report that diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids can reverse the damage
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160422091900.htm

    Poor fetal, maternal outcomes linked to high-fructose diet in pregnancy: Consuming too much fructose has previously been linked to diabetes and obesity, but for expectant mothers, it could also lead to placental and fetal defects. This is according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/309976.php

  • Two Foods That Make You Stoopid ("False Dementia")

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    A brief survey of my Ketone Zone book reviewers revealed that cancer is not their most-feared disease. It ranks second. The biggest fear is dementia. No one wants to lose their marbles to Alzheimer’s or some other non-Alzheimer’s brain fog.

    So let’s talk about two foods that can dumb you down just as surely as opium and related compounds. [NOTE: in very specific pain situations, such as post-surgery or advanced cancer pain, opium and related opioid compounds are good drugs. But for those who are not in pain, these drugs just make you stupid.]

    All simple carbohydrate foods can be stupid-making. High blood sugars, whether high enough to be outright diabetes or just high-normal "borderline diabetes,” increases the risk of dementia.

    High blood sugars also increase the risk of many cancers by as much as 200%.

    Eating simple carbohydrates increases blood sugar levels; higher blood sugar levels increase the risk of the two most common health concerns, dementia and cancer. Why risk it? Just decreasing simple carbohydrate intake drops these risks dramatically. I’ve warned about the dangers of carbs for a long time. Here’s a good summary of these dangers: 10 Dangers Of Carbohydrates

    However, the two foods I’m talking about right now are not just simple carbohydrates. These two foods act like opium in the body. Opium is a natural narcotic. Drugs in this class – opioids – are used to treat moderate to severe pain. Medications in the opioid class include hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (Kadian, Avinza) and codeine. Heroin is also in this class.

    One of the side effects of drugs in this class is confusion. That’s why a person using such drugs for pain is advised to exercise extreme caution when driving. I’d say better yet, if you are taking drugs in this class, you should not be driving at all. In children, these effects can manifest as autism. In both children and adults, schizophrenia is also a possible result.

    You may not be using any of these opium drugs, but many people eat foods on a daily basis that acts like opium because it binds to the opium receptor in the body, stimulating similar effects. Are you a drug addict and don’t know it? Could that be the cause of your memory problems?

    The two "offender foods" are wheat (gluten) and dairy (casein). Specifically, an inability to completely digest gluten (found in wheat, rye barley and oats) and/or casein found in milk can result in the production of neuropeptides that are chemically similar to morphine. A neuropeptide is a small protein molecule that acts as a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are "brain hormones." Other neurotransmitters that are more familiar to most include serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline).

    These peptides, called gliadorphin and casomorphin, can have effects similar to opium in the body and brain. Notice the "orphin/morphin" in their names. They are so named because they bind to the same receptor as morphine. They stimulate the morphine receptors, causing morphine effects.

    How does this happen?

    Gliadin and casein are proteins that are often not completely broken down by the human digestive tract. Instead, they are only partly broken down into peptides, or protein fragments. That might not be such a bad thing, except that the peptides from these particular proteins are opioids. Opioids are morphine-like substances with effects on the brain and other organs.

    Gliadorphin (also known as gluteomorphin) and casomorphin are known to have opiate effects and are ingested when one eats grain or dairy products.

    It’s not just the obvious foods like bread or pasta or that healthy breakfast cereal or milk or yoghurt or cheese – but foods that you might never suspect to contain wheat or dairy products.

    French fries or potato chips should be OK for someone with a gluten / gliadin sensitivity, right? Wrong – many commercial fries are dusted with wheat flour during manufacture to prevent them from sticking together. And casein is a common food additive that is often found in imitation sausages, infant formula, processed meats, soups, energy bars, drinks, and many other packaged foods – even toothpaste!

    Not Everyone Is Sensitive

    Some people digest these foods past the "opioid peptide" stage and do not suffer opioid effects. This is similar to "lactose intolerance" where some people can digest the sugar in milk and some cannot, based on what enzymes we naturally produce.

    At this point, however, it appears that a surprising number of people are gluten and/or casein sensitive, meaning they cannot fully digest these substances and will therefore suffer the opioid effects of these foods.

    How Can You Know If These Foods Are Affecting Your Memory?

    If you have ANY symptoms that are similar to opium/morphine/heroine, including memory problems, there are several ways to find out if gluten or casein (wheat or dairy) is a contributing factor:

    1. avoid these foods entirely and see if it helps (this can be difficult because there are many "hidden" sources)
    2. get tested for the enzymes and find out if you are lacking in either. The Gluten/Casein Peptides Test  requires a small amount of first morning urine to evaluate for both gluten and casein peptides.
    3. At the very least, take digestive enzymes as a replacement for what you might be missing.

    Since both wheat and dairy (especially milk) are high in carbohydrates which causes a host of other health problems, there is good reason to avoid these foods. That is the least expensive and overall healthiest option.

    Avoid gluten-containing foods and dairy, save your health, save your brain. Isn’t it great when those two get "saved" together?!

    References

    Crane P.K., Walker R., Hubbard R.A, et al. Glucose Levels and Risk of Dementia. N Engl J Med. 2013 Aug 8;369(6):540-8.

    Crawley DJ, Holmberg L, Melvin JC, Loda M, Chowdhury S, Rudman SM, Van Hemelrijck M. Serum glucose and risk of cancer: a meta-analysis. BMC Cancer. 2014 Dec 19;14:985.

    B.Windham (Ed), Autism and Schizophrenia subgroup related to blockage by toxic exposures of enzymes processing gluten and casein. 2008. http://www.flcv.com/autismgc.html

    Review of the potential health impact of β-casomorphins and related peptides. Report of the DATEX Working Group on β-casomorphins. Issued on 29 January 2009
    [Nurse Mark Comment: This European government paper is working very, very hard to find that these casomorphins are not worth following up on – "don’t worry, be happy…" But there is a vast amount of information within the paper that contradicts that position – and all well referenced.] http://www.bezpecnostpotravin.cz

  • From Toxic Herb To Anti-Aging Wonder Drug – A Cinderella Story

    By Nurse Mark

     

    How a toxic plant may have become the anti-aging, anti-cancer wonder-drug of the near future.

    Ancient middle-eastern sheep and goat-herders couldn’t help but notice that when their animals ate a certain plant they produced more milk. The pretty, summer-flowering Galega officinalis was known variously as galega, goat’s-rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, or professor-weed and while initially native to the Middle East it also spread to Europe and some parts of Asia and Pakistan and can now be found throughout the Americas where it was introduced as a forage plant. It now grows wild in only one part of Utah and is considered to be an agricultural pest by the federal government.

    During the middle ages, healers found that teas and extracts of the plant could stimulate milk production in new mothers, but that it had to be used carefully as it could also be toxic – not only to the mother, but also to the baby. More importantly, ancient physicians also found that it had value in treating the thirst and frequent passing of sugary urine that were the symptoms of the disease we now know as diabetes.

    However, all was not so well with the use of this plant, and the ancient healers found that if too much was given the patient could experience some very dangerous side effects such as spasms or even seizures, pulmonary edema (a buildup of fluid in the lungs) and tracheal and pharyngeal frothing and coughing, hypotension (low blood pressure), and even paralysis, coma, and death if high enough doses were taken! This was not a remedy to be used lightly…

    Unbeknownst to the ancient healers, goat’s rue contains large concentrations of a substance related to guanidine which certainly decreases blood sugar but is far too toxic to be used safely in humans.

    Still, the historical use of goat’s rue for treating diabetes did not escape the notice of early 20th century physicians and researchers, and around the time of the First World War a less toxic alkaloid, galegine, was identified in goat’s rue by French researchers. Galegine was found to have a positive action on blood sugar in diabetics and was indeed less toxic than the other guanidines in goat’s rue. Unfortunately the duration of action was very short and although there were a few human studies in the 1920’s, it was not a practical answer.

    Researchers persevered however, and their efforts led to the synthesis of biguanides which were related to the guanides but were far less toxic. The biguanides were seen as compounds with greater potential and three of them, phenformin, buformin, and metformin, would go on to be offered as drugs for the treatment of diabetes. Phenformin and buformin were eventually withdrawn because of undesirable side effects, but Metformin has proven to be safe and effective and is now considered a first-line drug for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

    Though Metformin was developed and approved for use in England in 1957 our own FDA took another over 3 decades more to approve the drug for use in the US. Well over a half century of use has not only proven Metformin to be effective and safe in the treatment of diabetes, it has given doctors and researchers ample opportunity to discover some of the drugs other, non-diabetes related benefits.

    Unfortunately for Metformin some patients using the related but dissimilar drug Phenformin went on to develop a dangerous condition called lactic acidosis which in a few cases led to death. Phenformin was promptly withdrawn from use and Metformin, even though very different in its metabolism and having never been associated with lactic acidosis, was banned along with Phenformin by several countries. This cast a chill over the use of Metformin that would take it years to recover from.

    It took until 1995 for Metformin to once again find favor in the US, and since then doctors have found that besides blood glucose control, metformin use reduced the risks of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and all-cause mortality. Additionally, nephrologists (kidney specialists) believe that metformin is helpful in kidney disease. Metformin is now also being used to treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), gestational diabetes and is showing significant promise in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

    With all these benefits coming to light you might think Metformin could comfortably rest on its laurels, but no, there’s more – there is growing evidence of its potential to extend lifespan and wellness in humans. This evidence has become so strong that the mighty FDA has bowed to pressure and has now approved not one, but 2 long-term clinical trials intended to validate in humans the results of earlier studies that prove longevity extension in lab animals.

    There you have it – a “rags to riches” story – from helpful but toxic herb to a drug that may extend our human lifespan.

    Is it any wonder that progressive doctors like Dr. Myatt feel that this is such an important drug? Dr. Myatt has been recommending Metformin to her patients, especially her longevity patients and cancer patients, for many years.

  • The Use Of A Pragmatic Approach To Treatment Challenges – A Practical Example.

    An old geezer became very bored in retirement and decided to have a little fun by opening a medical clinic.

    He put a sign up outside that said: "Dr. Geezer’s clinic. Get your treatment for $500, if not cured, get back $1,000." To today’s youth this might be known as “trolling.”

    Doctor "Young," who was positive that this old geezer was a quack who didn’t know beans about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get the $1,000 and to embarrass the old man. So he went to Dr. Geezer’s clinic.

    The visit went like this:

    Dr. Young: "Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me ?”
    Dr. Geezer: "Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in Dr. Young’s mouth."
    Dr. Young: “Aaagh !! — "This is Gasoline!"
    Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You’ve got your taste back. That will be $500.”

    Dr. Young left the clinic very annoyed and went back after a couple of days figuring to recover his money. Here’s how the next visit went:

    Dr. Young: "I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything."
    Dr. Geezer: "Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth."
    Dr. Young: "Oh, no you don’t, — that is Gasoline!"
    Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back . That will be $500."

    Dr. Young (after having now lost $1000) left angrily and then returned after several more days with a new plan – and that visit went like this:

    Dr. Young: "My eyesight has become weak — I can hardly see anything!!!! "
    Dr. Geezer: "Well, I don’t have any medicine for that so,  " Here’s your $1000 back." (giving him a $10 bill).
    Dr. Young: "But this is only $10!"
    Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You got your vision back! That will be $500."

    Moral of story — Just because you’re "Young" and confident doesn’t mean that you can outsmart a pragmatic "old Geezer"

    And remember: Don’t annoy old people. They don’t much like being old in the first place, so it often doesn’t take much to tick them off.