HealthBeat News

Author: Wellness Club

  • Vitamin-less Vegetables: The New Nutrient Deficiency

    Who Cares about Vegetables?

    The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the FDA and the USDA consider vegetables one of the primary dietary sources of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (non-vitamin, non-mineral nutrients derived from plants). Why? Because optimal levels of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients are necessary to prevent cancer, heart disease, neurological disease, and diabetes to name only a few. In other words, those in science and medicine agree that humans need the nutrients contained in vegetables and some fruits for proper nutrition and good health. In fact, nutrient deficiencies are considered by many physicians and scientists to be one of the primary causes of disease today. Because of this, the current USDA recommendation is to eat 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit per day.

    The Sad News about Vegetables and Vitamins

    YOU DO NOT EAT enough vegetables and high-nutrient fruits. How do I know this even if I don’t know you? Consider these facts:

    I.) Most Americans do not achieve even the minimum 5 per day servings of produce. The current recommendations for veggie/fruit intake are 5-9 per day. A pickle, lettuce leaf, onion ring and ketchup on your burger DO NOT count as 4 servings of vegetables! Commercial fruit juice counts toward little but sugar intake because enzymes, fiber and vitamins are destroyed during processing. A side of french fries or onion rings with your burger don’t constitute a serving of nutrient-dense vegetable due to their high trans fat content and the fact that nutrients are destroyed during high-heat cooking. Further, for reason stated in #2 (below), even if you DO get 5-9 legitimate servings of vegetables per day, this current recommendation is almost surely NOT enough.

    II.) Commercially grown vegetables and fruits today do not contain as many nutrients as before. According to Institute of Nutrition, recent studies of more than a dozen fruits and vegetables demonstrate a decrease in the nutrient value of most, and in some cases the drop is drastic. For instance, the Vitamin A content in apples has dropped from 90 mg to 53mg. Vitamin C in sweet peppers has decreased from 128mg to 89mg. This is why many at the NAS think the 5-9 servings recommendation should be doubled. (Math help: this updated recommendation would equal 10-18 servings per day of vegetables and fruits).

    III.) Storing and/or cooking destroy many nutrients, rendering them “less” than a serving of the recommended daily dose.

    Vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (“plant nutrients” including bioflavonoids, carotenoids, proanthocyanidins, etc.) are crucial to good health, yet even a “good” Standard American Diet (SAD) does not contain enough of these nutrients to meet the proven standards that prevent disease. Further, surveys show that most Americans do not obtain the lower recommendation of 5 servings per day, let alone the upper recommendation of 9 servings per day. Nutritional Supplementation appears both valuable and necessary in achieving the proven health-protective doses of nutrients.

    Dr. Myatt’s Comment: While the USDA, FDA and commercial agri-business assure us that vegetables and fruits are as healthy as ever, the USDA’s own records show a plummeting level of nutrients since the 1960’s. All the while, medical science keeps stacking up new studies that demonstrate the disease-preventing effects of optimal doses of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Still, you’ll read propaganda that assures you that you don’t need supplements because you can obtain everything you need from “a good diet.” (And you probably could get everything you need from diet IF you ate 5-9 servings of produce that was home-grown and eaten fresh, meat that was grass-fed without antibiotics and hormones, and dairy from same). But that’s not the reality of the American diet. Perhaps that is why, in spite spending more money on healthcare than any country in the world, the US ranks only 24th in life expectancy.

    All unsupported claims to the contrary, nutritional supplementation with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients appears to be the safest, surest and least expensive way to stay healthy and reverse disease.

    Here is what I personally take and recommend to others to help achieve optimal daily nutrition:

    Maxi Multi multi vitamin, mineral and trace mineral supplement with optimal does of nutrients (the levels shown in studies to prevent disease), not minimal doses.
    AND
    Maxi Greens high potency multiple green food supplement in capsules
    AND/OR
    GreensFirst or Red Alert, powdered, great-tasting green food supplements that has the equivalent of 10 servings of veggies and fruits in one refreshing drink. (The taste is so good you can even get kids to take it)!

    And here’s a handy tip from Wellness Club member JoAnne, who dries out her empty water bottles, adds a serving of GreensFirst and takes the bottles to work. For a quick pick-me-up, she just adds water and shakes!
    ______________________
    References
    5 a day guide
    http://www.5aday.gov/what/index.html
    USDA
    http://www.usda.gov
    Veggies w/out Vitamins
    http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/0601.LEMag/LE%20Magazine,%20March%202001%20-%20Report%20Vegetables%20Without%20Vitamins.htm
    Drop in minerals concerns organic community
    http://www.newstarget.com/016626.html
    Organic consumer association
    http://www.organicconsumers.org/ofgu/vegies121205.cfm

    New Study Shows Decreasing Nutrient Value of Certain Fruits and Vegetables – An Increasing Need for Multivitamin and Mineral Complex Supplements
    http://www.prwebdirect.com/releases/2006/2/prweb340975.htm

    Population Life Expectancy
    http://www.geohive.com/charts/pop_lifespan.php

  • 45 Lessons Of Life

    Sent to me by one of our HealthBeat News readers, these are reminders we should look at every day.

    This was written By Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.

    "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolls over to 70 in August, so here goes:"

    1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
    2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
    3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
    4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
    5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
    6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
    7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
    8. It’s okay to get angry with God. He can take it.
    9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
    10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
    11. Make peace with your past, so it won’t screw up the present.
    12. It’s okay to let your children see you cry.
    13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
    14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
    15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
    16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
    17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful, or joyful.
    18. Whatever doesn’t kill you, really does make you stronger.
    19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and up to no one else.
    20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
    21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
    22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
    23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
    24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
    25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
    26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’
    27. Always choose life.
    28. Forgive everyone everything.
    29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
    30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
    31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
    32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
    33. Believe in miracles.
    34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
    35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
    36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
    37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
    38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
    39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
    40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
    41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
    42. The best is yet to come.
    43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
    44. Yield.
    45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift

  • Lettuce And Spinach To Be Secretly Irradiated! Say It Isn’t So!

    It Isn’t So!

    There has been somewhat of a flurry of outrage recently with the FDA announcement that on August 22, 2008, they published a final rule allowing the use of irradiation on fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach. The FDA claims that this will make them "safer and last longer without spoiling."

    Opponents are claiming all sorts of evil ranging from the destruction of all nutritive value in treated foods (not that there is much these days anyway – see Dr. Myatt’s article "Vitaminless Vegetables") to actually causing the consumers of irradiated food to "glow in the dark"!

    So where is the truth in all of this? Somewhere in the middle, as usual.

    It is true that irradiation of food can kill certain bacteria, this rendering the food safer and less susceptible to spoilage – a boon to consumers who are less likely to become ill from eating contaminated food, and for the food industry who can enjoy a longer shelf-life and thus increased profits.

    It is also true that irradiation affects, alters, and reduces the nutritive values of foods – the FDA says as much in their "Final Rule" printed in the Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 164 / Friday, August 22, 2008 / Rules and Regulations.

     http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E8-19573.pdf (Warning: this is a stupefyingly boring paper to read!)

    According to this paper the FDA also reassures us that it really doesn’t matter that the nutritive values of foods are altered and vitamins are destroyed – after all, the FDA would have us believe that vitamins are not really necessary for health beyond the tiny amounts of the RDA’s…

    It is certainly NOT true that eating irradiated foods will cause someone to "glow in the dark" as one well-known activist wrote!

    In response to an article by that activist, who has a large readership for his very popular newsletter, we received this note from one of our HealthBeat News readers who is also a friend and neighbor:

    This was recently sent to me … just makes me crazy.  Thought you might find it interesting.
    Hope all if well with both of you.
    Jamie O

    Jamie then referred us to a very alarmist article by "Health Ranger" Mike Adams posted on his website naturalnews.com where he reports "beginning today, spinach and lettuce sold across the United States may now be secretly irradiated before it reaches grocery store shelves."

    This is the same article where he warns that those who eat irradiated foods will "glow in the dark."

    Folks, you need to know that I am no friend of the FDA – I think that it is a bureaucracy out-of-control.

    I also think that the jury is still out on the irradiation of food – I’m not yet convinced that it is entirely safe or healthy though I do concede that it is certainly effective for it’s stated purpose.

    I further think that writer Mike Adams, the self-described "Health Ranger", makes some good points about many things – there is much we agree upon.

    But for heaven’s sakes, let’s ease up on the rhetoric! I feel that there is nothing to be gained, and everything to be lost, by the sort of alarmist writing and outright fabrications that his article present. This kind of writing just gets us all branded as "nut-balls" and "conspiracy theorists" and diminishes our credibility.

    Let’s look at this "Health Ranger" article: http://www.naturalnews.com/023945.html

    Adams’ first claim is that "spinach and lettuce sold across the United States may now be secretly irradiated before it reaches grocery store shelves" further claiming that "irradiated foods will not be labeled as such, and consumers are going to be left in the dark about all this".

    Unfortunately, Adams’ article contains no references to tell me where he found this information – I had to look for it myself and after much research I must conclude that this just isn’t true.

    According to several FDA documents, "Irradiation of iceberg lettuce and spinach is voluntary on the part of food processors. FDA requires that foods that have been irradiated bear the "radura" logo along with the statement "Treated with radiation" or "Treated by irradiation.""

    This regulation is found in a number of sources, including the FDA press release regarding irradiation of lettuce and spinach: http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/irradiation082208.html – there are also statements regarding mandatory labeling here: http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title21/21-3.0.1.1.10.html#21:3.0.1.1.10.2.1.3 and here: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/irradbro.html – They seem pretty clear to me…

    Next Adams gives us his "glow in the dark" statement. This is pure alarmist hyperbole, and is so silly that it is not really worth commenting on. Just shake your head in amazement that he (or his editors) would allow this to be published and move on…

    Then Adams claims that "The FDA, of course, insists that the levels of irradiation used to kill e.coli will have no effect whatsoever on the nutritional value of the food."

    This again is not quite true: As I read through the Federal Register referred to in this article it is quite clear that the FDA is aware that a number of nutrients are adversely affected by irradiation – they just don’t think it matters very much.

    Adams further claims that irradiation removes all the nutritive value from food by destroying all phytonutrients: "lowering the value to zero by destroying all the phytonutrients does not, in the opinion of the FDA, alter its nutritional value at all."

    I have a little bit of a problem with the absolute nature of this statement – my review of available research indicates that irradiation does indeed alter and reduce some nutrient, phytonutrient, and vitamin levels – but it does not somehow mysteriously suck all the nutritive value from food – that is just silly.

    Adams does lighten up a bit with the next statement: "irradiating food destroys much of its nutritional content, including vitamins, carotenoids, anthocyanins and other delicate protective nutrients that are right now providing the last, desperate nutritional defense against the American diet of meat, milk, fried foods and processed junk."

    Fair enough – so perhaps irradiation only destroys some of the nutritive value – but if Americans are relying on that silly little bit of wilted lettuce and soggy slice of tomato to transform their deluxe cheeseburger and fries into something even remotely healthy they are sadly, tragically misinformed.

    What really upsets me with the "Health Ranger" and this article is that it is clearly misleading and very alarming – obviously written to "stir up" and agitate his audience who he feels will accept these statements at face value as some sort of "gospel truth." He gets away with this by failing to provide any references for his statements. If the FDA has stated that labeling is not necessary for example, where is the reference to the FDA document where this can be found?

    Like many HealthBeat rea
    ders, I will continue to read Adams’ articles – but I’m afraid he has lost forever some of the confidence and trust that I had in his work.

    The moral of this story? Be sure, when you read any health article that is making any sort of claim that there are verifiable references for what is being said.

    Opinion is one thing – but if something is being presented as a statement of fact, well, if it ain’t referenced, it ain’t so!

  • L-5HTP, SSRI Drugs and Do-It-Yourself Medicine – Again…

    Time and time again we have folks write (or call) us to describe their do-it-yourself attempts at treating serious medical conditions and to ask for medical advice – I’ve written on the wisdom of this before… there are plenty of articles about this in our archives!

    Tracy recently wrote us to describe her years of suffering at the hands of conventional medicine in therattempts to treat her eating problems, abdominal pain, and headaches with SSRI’s and other drugs – her email concluded with this few sentences:

    I am going through the worst withdrawal imaginable. Will L-5HTP help? I have started a 102mg cap. quantity of 2, 3 times a day, how long will this take to kick in, will it help me? – and PLEASE, any other advise to detox or rebuild my brain will be so appreciated!
    Thank you,
    Tracey

    Hi Tracy,

    What an adventure you have had at the hands of conventional medicine!

    It is possible that L-5HTP may help your distressing symptoms. Without a great deal more information about you, your medical history, your symptoms, your current labwork, your neurotransmitter levels and balance, and a great deal more, it is impossible to give a more definitive answer than that – I’m sorry.

    Neither migraine headaches nor IBS are caused by a drug deficiency – as you have discovered. Rather than attempting to cover up the symptoms (headache, abdominal pain) with drugs, you will be much further ahead in terms of time, health, and money to seek the assistance of an holistic, naturopathic doctor to find and treat the causes of these problems.

    You have certainly been to our website – I invite you to return there and review the pages on Irritable Bowel Syndrome,  Migraine Headaches, Mood Disorder and Neurotransmitter testing.

    I cannot stress strongly enough that your best, most efficient, and most cost-effective approach to this will be through a telephone consultation with Dr. Myatt – please see her consultation information.

    Without some solid, experienced direction to help you formulate your strategy for wellness you will continue to get the results that you have gotten so far. If you don’t know what to aim at, or even how to aim, and don’t know what ammunition to use, you will simply continue to blaze away in the dark, blindfolded, not knowing if your shots are even coming close to your target!

    Do yourself and your family a favor and get some help to deal with this – mental health is not a do-it-yourself project!

    Hope this helps,

    Cheers,
    Nurse Mark

    Now often our answers to these sorts of questions are not what these folks are looking for and we never hear from them again – Tracy took the time to write back:

    Thank you so much for the detailed and personalized response, I will definitely look into a phone consult with Dr. Myatt – but again, your timely and compassionate response gives me hope – so nice of you!!!!!!!!!

    What a nice reply – and Dr. Myatt and I am looking forward to hearing from her so that we can get busy correcting her distressing symptoms!

  • Xylitol and Dogs – A Toxic Combination

    There has been an e-mail circulating recently regarding xylitol and dogs – we have had a number of these emails forwarded to us by people who either know that we have dogs or who want us to warn others of this danger.

    There is no doubt that this is a real danger – we reported on this in a HealthBeat article over a year ago: For Your Pet: Is That A Treat Or A Poison?

    Here is the information that the ASPCA gave out in a press release regarding xylitol:

    Urbana, Ill., August 21, 2006—The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center cautions animal owners that xylitol, a sweetener found in certain sugar-free chewing gums, candies, baked goods and other products can potentially cause serious and even life-threatening problems for pets.

    “Last year, we managed more than 170 cases involving xylitol-containing products,” says Dana Farbman, CVT and spokesperson for the Center.  “This is a significant increase from 2004, when we managed about 70.”  Barely halfway into 2006, the Center has already managed about 114 cases.  Why the increase?  “It’s difficult to say,” Farbman states.  “Xylitol products are relatively new to the United States marketplace, so one possibility may be an increase in availability.”

    According to Dr. Eric Dunayer, veterinarian and toxicologist for the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, dogs ingesting significant amounts of items sweetened with xylitol could develop a fairly sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in depression, loss of coordination and seizures.  “These signs can develop quite rapidly, at times less than 30 minutes after ingestion of the product. Therefore, it is crucial that pet owners seek veterinary treatment immediately.”  Dr. Dunayer also stated that there appears to be a strong link between xylitol ingestions and the development of liver failure in dogs.

    While it was previously thought that only large concentrations of xylitol could result in problems, this appears to no longer be the case.  “We seem to be learning new information with each subsequent case we manage,” says Dr. Dunayer.  “Our concern used to be mainly with products that contain xylitol as one of the first ingredients.  However, we have begun to see problems developing from ingestions of products with lesser amounts of this sweetener.”  He also says that with smaller concentrations of xylitol, the onset of clinical signs could be delayed as much as 12 hours after ingestion.  “Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that even if your pet does not develop signs right away, it does not mean that problems won’t develop later on.”

    The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center strongly urges pet owners to be especially diligent in keeping candy, gum or other foods containing xylitol out of the reach of pets. As with any potentially toxic substance, should accidental exposures occur, it is important to contact your local veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center for immediate assistance.