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Category: Family Health

  • The Many Health Benefits of Donating Blood

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

    An estimated 40,000 pints of donor blood are needed each day in the U.S. for patients with cancer, those undergoing orthopedic surgeries, marrow transplants and cardio vascular surgeries, people being treated for inherited blood disorders and those with acute injuries resulting in blood loss. There are other reasons why a blood transfusion might be needed but these are some of the “biggies” that occur every day. The need is always there.

    If you donate blood, you will be a hero and may help save someone’s life. But there’s more to it than you being a “good doobie.”
    Blood donors are rewarded with at least 3 personal health benefits. You read that right. Donating blood is healthy for the donor, not just the recipient.

    Here’s the scoop.

    There are at least three benefits of blood donation:

    1.) You get a Mini Health Screen. They check your blood pressure, pulse and temperature every time you donate. Getting a B.P. check every 3-4 months is a good thing and can alert you to any changes.

    2.) You get free lab testing. There are some tests that blood donation centers perform every time you donate. These are things that are good to know about and things that your doctor is unlikely to order unless there is an obvious reason.

    As part of the donation process, your blood will be screened for any or all of the following:

    On your first visit you will be tested for:

    I.) ABO Typing – provides determination of Blood type: A, B, O, or AB.
    II.) Rh factor Determination – indicates positive or negative Blood type.
    III.) Blood Group Antibodies – indicates unexpected antibodies that may be a result of prior transfusion, pregnancy or other factors.
    And at every visit you will be tested for these minimums:
    I.) Hepatitis B Surface Antigen – indicates a present infection (hepatitis) or carrier state of hepatitis B virus.
    II.) Antibody to Hepatitis B Core – additional test that detects a present or past infection with the hepatitis B virus.
    III.) Antibody to Hepatitis C Virus – indicates antibody to a virus that causes hepatitis C (responsible for non-A non-B hepatitis.) The mean incubation time is six to eight weeks.
    IV.) Antibody to HTLV – 1 and 2 – indicates the antibody to a virus that causes adult T-cell leukemia, among other things.
    V.) Antibody to HIV 1 and 2 – indicates an infection with Human Immune deficiency Virus. (virus that causes AIDs)
    VI.) Syphilis – screens for this venereal disease.
    VII) iron levels. (ferritin, or storage iron, is tested only in young adults)
    VIII.) Hemoglobin and hematocrit (this tells if you have enough red blood cells and iron)
    IX.) Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is a molecular technique for screening blood donations to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) in the recipients, thus providing an additional layer of blood safety
    X.) total cholesterol

    Some donation centers also test for:

    I.) Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) – identifies a liver enzyme that, when increased, may indicate undetectable forms of hepatitis.
    II.) West Nile Virus
    III.) Chagas disease
    IV.) Zika virus
    V.) Babesiosis – a tick-born virus

    Hepatitis B, Hep C and HTLV can be transmitted without sexual contact, so don’t believe that these tests are only useful for those who practice unprotected sex with multiple partners. In fact, Hep C is an epidemic among Baby Boomers, in part because of previous blood transfusions before donor blood testing was performed and also because older folks are just as likely to practice unprotected sex as younger folks.

    West Nile and Zika are mosquito-transmitted diseases and Chagas disease is transmitted by “kissing bugs.” These “bug transmitted” diseases can be mild or can cause symptoms and problems up to and including death.

    Discussing each of these diseases is beyond the scope of this article but Google them and you’ll see why they are worth knowing about.

    3.) You get to normalize / optimize your storage iron levels (ferritin). The donation center doesn’t check your serum ferritin levels (storage iron) unless you are a young adult. They do evaluate circulating iron in your blood to make sure you are not anemic on the day you donate. Giving blood decreases storage iron and that’s a good thing. Here’s why.

    Ferritin is an iron storage protein that is a measure of body iron stores. High levels (even “high normal” within the normal range) increases free radical production and is highly associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis and peripheral vascular disease.

    Serum ferritin is one of the strongest risk predictors of overall progression of atherosclerosis.(1-10). This is big and because of the evidence, I consider ferritin one of the four most important anti-aging/longevity tests that can be performed.

    The degree to which ferritin will be lowered varies among individuals, so I recommend periodic testing (say, 6 weeks after donation) to help gauge how often to donate.

    On the other hand, if you are anemic without a known reason (you’re not a female of menstrual age, for example), finding this out might save your life. Unseen (occult) bleeding from the colon, for example, can be a sign of polyps or cancer. Unexplained anemia needs to be followed up, and you’ll have benefit of this information more frequently when you are a 3-4 times per year blood donor.

    Wouldn’t it be great to know that you were helping yourself and also helping someone else?

    Bottom line: “Hero points” aside, most people should be donating blood 2-4 times per year for health reasons. You can help save a life while benefitting your own health. There are very few medical “treatments” that offer such a “win-win”!

    Ask your doctor if you are a candidate for donating blood (most people are), then call one of the local blood drives and get yourself signed up. Your “future self” will thank you.

    References:

    1. Alissa EM, Ahmed WH, Al-Ama N, Ferns GA. Relationship between indices of iron status and coronary risk factors including diabetes and the metabolic syndrome in Saudi subjects without overt coronary disease. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2007;21(4):242-54. Epub 2007 Aug 7

    2. Ahluwalia N, Genoux A, Ferrieres J, Perret B, Carayol M, Drouet L, Ruidavets JB. Iron status is associated with carotid atherosclerotic plaques in middle-aged adults. J Nutr. 2010 Apr;140(4):812-6. Epub 2010 Feb 24.

    3. de Godoy MF, Takakura IT, Machado RD, Grassi LV, Nogueira PR. Serum ferritin and obstructive coronary artery disease: angiographic correlation. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2007 Apr;88(4):430-3.

    4. Depalma RG, Hayes VW, Chow BK, Shamayeva G, May PE, Zacharski LR. Ferritin levels, inflammatory biomarkers, and mortality in peripheral arterial disease: a substudy of the Iron (Fe) and Atherosclerosis Study (FeAST) Trial. J Vasc Surg. 2010 Jun;51(6):1498-503. Epub 2010 Mar 20

    5. Kiechl S, Willeit J, Egger G, Poewe W, Oberhollenzer F.Body iron stores and the risk of carotid atherosclerosis: prospective results from the Bruneck study.Circulation. 1997 Nov 18;96(10):3300-7.

    6. Lee KR, Sweeney G, Kim WY, Kim KK. Serum ferritin is linked with aortic stiffness in apparently healthy Korean women. Crit Pathw Cardiol. 2010 Sep;9(3):160-3

    7. Mainous AG 3rd, Diaz VA. Relation of serum ferritin level to cardiovascular fitness among young men. Am J Cardiol. 2009 Jan 1;103(1):115-8. Epub 2008 Oct 17.

    8. Menke A, Fernández-Real JM, Muntner P, Guallar E. The association of biomarkers of iron status with peripheral arterial disease in US adults. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2009 Aug 3;9:34.

    9. Valenti L, Swinkels DW, Burdick L, Dongiovanni P, Tjalsma H, Motta BM, Bertelli C, Fatta E, Bignamini D, Rametta R, Fargion S, Fracanzani AL. Serum ferritin levels are associated with vascular damage in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2011 Aug;21(8):568-75. Epub 2010 Apr 13.

    10. Zacharski LR, Shamayeva G, Chow BK. Effect of controlled reduction of body iron stores on clinical outcomes in peripheral arterial disease. Am Heart J. 2011 Nov;162(5):949-957.

     

  • How Dirty Sleep Leads To A Dirty Mind

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Like breathing, sleep is an “essential” human requirement. “Essential” means that your body must have it and you would die without it.

    How long can a person go without sleep before death ensues? The jury is still out on this. But death isn’t the biggest problem of sleep deprivation because the body will eventually take “microsleeps.”  Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you’re normally awake.

    You can’t control microsleep, and you might not even be aware of it. For example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip? If so, you may have experienced microsleep.

    Even if you’re not driving, microsleep can affect how you function. If you’re listening to a lecture for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don’t understand the point. In reality though you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it.

    Exactly how long a person can go without sleep isn’t fully known, but we do know that extreme sleep deprivation causes hallucinations, automobile accidents, job injuries and memory impairment.

    Why does the body need sleep?

    Researchers have found that the brain clears out waste material accumulated throughout the day as we sleep at night. But like many things the brain does, it does this “housekeeping” a little differently than the rest of your body.

    Other parts of the body have the lymphatic system to clear out waste products but the brain does not have lymphatic channels. Instead, the brain relies on astrocytes – specialized star-shaped nerve cells that are bathed in cerebrospinal fluid. The astrocytes have many other jobs, but a big responsibility for them is to express a substance called astrocytic aquaporin-4 which lets the cells “gather up the trash” and pass it to the cerebrospinal fluid, allowing it to carry daytime debris away. When we sleep, neurons temporarily shrink and allow for more cerebrospinal fluid to wash over our brains. In other words, sleep is when our brains clean out daytime garbage.

    “This study shows that the brain has different functional states when asleep and when awake,” said U of R researcher Maiken Nedergaard. “In fact, the restorative nature of sleep appears to be the result of the active clearance of the by-products of neural activity that accumulate during wakefulness.”

    “Clean sleep” results in a more complete clearing of waste proteins from the brain, but “dirty sleep” has the opposite effect. Some of the debris cleared from the brain during sleep includes beta amyloid, the junk that accumulates in the brain and may be the cause of Alzheimer’s.

    So, in addition to many other necessities of sleep — physical restoration and healing of muscles, endocrine (hormonal) balancing, R.E.M. or “dream sleep” for mental health — the brain needs sleep in order to take out the garbage.

    Are You Getting Dirty Sleep?

    Dirty sleep happens when we fail to get enough sleep, or fail to get sufficient deep sleep. Fortunately, most of the causes of poor sleep are within an individual’s control.

    1.) Bedtime/wake time. The body manufactures melatonin during sleep unless light interferes with its production. Melatonin functions as an antioxidant in the brain and central nervous system and its production begins as the setting of the sun stimulates the pineal gland. This normally occurs in most people around 9:00 PM, with sleep usually occurring around an hour later by 10:00 PM. Solution? Set a regular bedtime, and stick with it.

    2.) Light after sundown. The pineal gland, a tiny gland deep in our brains that is connected to the eyes, is responsible for producing the sleep and antioxidant hormone melatonin. It begins to churn our this important substance in response to the ”dimming of the lights” as the sun sets. If the light doesn’t dim, the pineal gland doesn’t know to produce melatonin. And, once the light does dim and it begins its work any amount of white light promptly shuts it off – by making it think it is dawn.

    Since humans evolved over millions of years sleeping in the safety of the flickering subdued orange light of a cozy fire, we tolerate low levels of this color of light after dark. But exposure to white light (or, more specifically, light that contains specific frequencies of blue light – like daylight or televisions, or computer monitors, or full-spectrum light bulbs)  during the hours before bedtime will seriously disrupt melatonin production, making natural sleep very difficult.

    Solution? When the sun goes down you need to start lowering the light levels in your environment as well – not an easy task in our modern world, but possible if you remember that it is the harsher blue-white lights that disrupt melatonin production. Try candle light or soft incandescent lights, limit your TV watching  for the hour or so before bed, and limit exposure to bright phone, tablet, and computer screens before bed.

    If you must get up at night try to avoid turning on bright lights – consider using low-wattage incandescent nightlights.

    3.) Related to white light in the evening is the twinkling of myriad electrical and electronic devices that seem to litter our sleep spaces. Little red lights, green lights, blue lights, all glowing and twinkling and blinking… Not only are the lights distracting, many of these devices also emit occasional noises – beeps, chirps, hums, whirs…

    The solution? Do yourself a favor and banish all the electronics from your sleep space. Unless you are a surgeon on call, or have some equally important reason  to receive calls after bedtime, turn the phone off. Shut the tablet and computer down for the night.

    Many people also believe that there may be a sleep-disturbing effect from all the EMF (electromagnetic fields) created by these devices in proximity to your sleep area.

    4.) What you eat and drink in the evening matters: That nice sweet dessert may help you feel satisfied and sleepy when it raises your blood sugar, but when your blood sugar crashes a few hours later and your body responds with a shot of adrenalin you are going to find yourself wide awake with the jitters.

    Try a little snack bite of protein instead, if you really must have a before bed snack.

    5.) What you see before you sleep matters too: Upsetting or stressful imagery  immediately before sleep can be unsettling and make it difficult to get to sleep, and can give your brain plenty of unpleasant material to craft its dreams from. The 10:00 news with horrific images of war-torn countries, detective shows with nasty people doing ugly things to each other, zombie horror shows dripping with gore…  are these really the sights that you want to try to fall asleep to?

    A better bet might be something uplifting or soothing. Pleasant short stories, or poetry, or spiritual reading or meditation. And remember, like I said in point 2, that TV screen, with its bright light, is preventing the normal production of melatonin.

    6.) Oversleeping. Those who insist on sleeping in late in the morning are setting themselves up to seriously disturb their circadian rhythms. Further, late waking combined with daytime napping can leave you feeling wakeful in the evening, and wanting to stay up beyond a healthy bedtime. It can easily become a vicious circle.

    So, you are retired with not much to do and feel like there is no reason to get up in the morning? Make a reason! Get up and get moving – the physical activity throughout the day will also contribute better sleep at night.

    7.) Drugs and medications: Many prescription drugs can cause insomnia and poor sleep here are some of the more common offenders:

    • Alpha-blockers
    • Beta-blockers
    • Corticosteroids
    • SSRI antidepressants
    • ACE inhibitors
    • ARBs (Angiotensin II-receptor blockers)
    • Cholinesterase inhibitors
    • Antihistamines and H1 antagonists
    • Glucosamine/chondroitin (if taken late in the day)
    • Statins (cholesterol drugs)

    Non-prescription drugs can do the same. And recreational drugs can too: even alcohol can cause problems – in smaller amounts alcohol has a stimulating effect and more than a few drinks, while sedating for sure, can cause a rebound insomnia when the effect wears off. A pre-dinner drink? Sounds good. A glass of wine with dinner? Also good. A few drinks “to put you to sleep”? Not so good…

    8.) Sleep medications: You really aren’t taking a sleeping pill are you? If you are then you obviously haven’t read our previous HealthBeat News articles describing the dangers of these drugs. Do yourself a favor and drop the sleeping pills.

    9.) Many people complain that muscle cramps at night disturb their sleep.  Something as simple as some extra magnesium can prevent cramps and can be relaxing overall. Magnesium oil, actually a thick brine of magnesium salts, can provide nearly instant relief for many muscle cramps when rubbed over the affected area.

    So it turns out that when we sleep our brain takes that time to clean out the build-up of brain junk we accumulate during our waking hours. Sleep is pretty much necessary for our body’s mental street-cleaners to come out and do their work. When cells do their daily cell-type work, they produce waste products. The rest of the body has this waste cleared out by the lymphatic system, but the brain is not connected to that, so it needs another way to clear out the waste.

    The brain has it’s own garbage men, carried on the waves of cerebrospinal fluid, who surf the leftovers straight down to your liver for elimination. As it turns out, the brain’s garbage men move twice as fast when you’re sleeping, because your neurons shrink by half, making the fluid channels wider.

    You’re not going to have a “Dirty Mind” now, are you?

    References and further reading:

    Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
    Lulu Xie et. al.,Science  18 Oct 2013:, Vol. 342, Issue 6156, pp. 373-377, DOI: 10.1126/science.1241224
    http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/373.long

    10 Types of Meds That Can Cause Insomnia, AARP
    http://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-04-2013/medications-that-can-cause-insomnia.html

  • The Lifesaving, Liversaving Herb

    This Herb Saved His Life in 24 Hours

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Chat2Mr. Chat is a valued employee, part of the security and pest control division at The Wellness Club. He mostly works the night shift, ensuring that our facilities are well-patrolled and free of mice or other vermin. It must be a lonely job, and when we see Mr. Chat in the daytime he is quite vocal – which is how he came to be called Mr. Chat. Dr. Myatt named him Chat when she first met him and that tickled my funny bone since “Chat” is also the French word for cat.  Chat is a grey cat with a clipped ear, proving that he is a veteran of the Feral Cat Program. This feral cat appeared on Dr. Myatt’s balcony (yes, he climbed a tree to get there), and promptly adopted her. He has been a much-loved member of our family for the past two years. So imagine our concern when he stopped eating and turned yellow (jaundiced).

    This didn’t happen overnight. At first we noticed him losing weight but we attributed this to seasonal weight change. Working cats who partly hunt for a living and are not overfed often slim down a bit in the heat of summer. Then we noticed that he wasn’t eating and wasn’t hunting. He stopped eating entirely, and more telling, he stopped "chatting" to us. Finally we noticed that he was jaundiced. (Much easier to see in a human than a gray cat with yellow eyes!)  Jaundice indicates liver failure and it is a serious matter for man and beast.

    We aren’t veterinarians (nor have we ever played one on T.V.,) but we diagnosed Chat with feline hepatic lipidosis (feline fatty liver syndrome) which is a common liver disease in cats. Unlike humans who do quite well with intermittent fasting, several days of not eating in cats can cause this condition. Left unchecked it can be fatal.

    The disease has no known cause but it almost always begins when a cat loses appetite and stops eating, forcing the liver to convert body fat into usable energy. Humans do this easily; it is normal human physiology. Unlike human livers though the cat liver is not well-adapted for this task. Under fasting conditions, a cat’s liver soon becomes stressed and can even fail. In cats as in humans, liver failure can lead to what Dr. Myatt and I call a “negative wellness outcome.”

    We don’t know why Chat lost his appetite but we knew he was in serious trouble when we noticed the jaundice. He was going downhill quickly, barely moving from the same spot all day. Something had to be done to support his liver and it needed to be done now. Unfortunately there is nothing in conventional veterinary or human medicine that offers significant liver support. Lucky for him, Big Cat Momma (Dr. Myatt) is a specialist in herbal medicine and mentioned that the herb milk thistle is one of her most trusted herbs, performing miracles on the human liver. This benefit is well-documented and supported in the conventional medical literature. In addition, Dr. Myatt has had nearly thirty years of clinical experience with milk thistle. She knows and trusts what it can do.

    Here’s the "short course" on milk thistle from our website:

    Milk thistle (silybum marianum) has been the subject of hundreds of clinical trials, primarily exploring its role in liver disease but more recently looking at its effects on cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It powerfully protects the liver from the effects of environmental toxins (such as carbon tetrachloride, acetaminophen, iron overload, mushroom poisoning). It is used in Emergency Room medicine in Europe for exposure to liver-toxic agents. Milk thistle is a powerful antioxidant, especially to the liver. It also stimulates liver cell regeneration. It has been proven useful for all types of liver disease, including alcoholic liver sclerosis, hepatitis, protection from environmental toxins, and protection from the liver-toxic effects of many drugs.

    Dr. Myatt said that in human liver failure, she would put a patient on a fairly high dose of milk thistle (1,000-1,500mg, 4 times per day) and expect to see fast and impressive results. In her words, she would tell a patient with a sick liver to "bathe it in milk thistle." Would it work for Chat the cat?

    Humans have different metabolisms than cats and dogs. A cat does not tolerate going without food for very long, yet fasting is OK and even healthy for humans.  We did some research to find out if milk thistle would be safe for a cat.  A quick search of the veterinary literature reassured us that milk thistle would be safe and beneficial. (Please always do such research before giving your pet something that would be good for humans. Some things that humans do well with can be toxic to our fur-babies).

    We started with a vigorous dose of milk thistle, one capsule 4 times per day. We used Dr. Myatt’s Milk Thistle Plus formula of course!

    In only 24 hours, Chat was noticeably better. He was moving more and looking perkier.  We were optimistic. We continued the same dose on day two and his  improvement continued. Today is the fourth day. Chat is eating, going up and down stairs and looks fairly close to normal. Cats typically aren’t happy swallowing capsules and while at first Chat didn’t have the energy to put up much fuss, he is now objecting much more strenuously to the four times per day dosing! That’s a good sign. The surest proof of his improvement is that he is talking — "chatting"— with us again.

    We hope and believe that Chat  will continue to improve and make a full recovery.  Time will tell, but for now it appears that the Milk Thistle snapped him out of liver failure and helped him regain his appetite. He now has a chance to recover from whatever stole his appetite in the first place.

    Are we telling you this so you will know how to treat a cat with liver failure?  Heck no, although if it is lifesaving for your cat one day, that’s great.

    We Want You To Know What Milk Thistle Can Do For You

    Your Liver – A Few Quick Facts

    What is it?
    Supporting almost every other organ in the body, this largest solid organ weighs about 3 pounds and is actually classified as a gland.

    What does it do?
    The liver carries out more than 500 functions! – Here are just a few:

    • One of its most well-known and important functions is the breakdown and removal of toxins from the body
    • Metabolizes many substances, including drugs and proteins
    • Breaks down carbohydrates and stores as glycogen
    • Manufactures glucose via neogenesis and works to regulate our blood sugar and manage our energy needs
    • Manufactures cholesterol, a substance vital to life
      Makes bile, an important digestive component
      Makes important blood clotting substances such as albumen, the most abundant protein in blood serum
    • Stores vitamins and minerals: Vitamins A, D, K, and B12, and iron and copper
    • Plays an important role in immunity
    • Synthesizes the hormone angiotensin, vital to maintaining our blood pressure

    Liver disease affects 30 million  Americans. An estimated three million alone have hepatitis C, just one of the many human liver diseases. Drug companies have responded with fantastically expensive treatments – upwards of $1000 per pill or $168,000 for a full course of treatment. Despite these crazy costs, this is still a cheaper option than liver transplant and subsequent life-long anti-rejection drugs.

    It isn’t just hepatitis C that damages the liver – environmental toxins and many drugs (such as  acetaminophen, aka Tylenol) can be damaging. Alcohol is one of the most common liver insults and though Milk Thistle has been touted as a “hangover cure,” it is really more beneficial for its ability to prevent the alcohol-induced damage in the first place.

    Many of our patients take Milk Thistle every day. Dr. Myatt swears by it and we take it ourselves.  It is one of those incredible herbs that doesn’t have a “too much” dose. Its safety profile is excellent. Recent experimental and clinical studies suggest that milk thistle also has anticancer, antidiabetic, and cardio-protective effects. These benefits have been published in conventional medical journals. (see the reference list at the end of this article). 

    If you want to show your liver some love — and you should love your live if you like being alive — then consider adding a high quality milk thistle formula to your daily supplement protocol. And for SURE take milk thistle if you ever have liver disease of any kind. It just might save your liver — or your life.

     

    References and further reading:

    WebMD, Nearly 3 Million Americans Living With Hepatitis C . http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140303/nearly-3-million-americans-living-with-hepatitis-c?src=RSS_PUBLIC

    Tamayo C, Diamond S (2007). "Review of clinical trials evaluating safety and efficacy of milk thistle (Silybum marianum [L.] Gaertn.)" (PDF). Integrative Cancer Therapies. 6 (2): 146–57. doi:10.1177/1534735407301942. PMID 17548793. http://www.medmelon.gr/files4users/files/Tamayo%20and%20Diamond%20ICT%206%202.pdf  “Milk thistle extracts are known to be safe and well tolerated, and toxic or adverse effects observed in the reviewed clinical trials seem to be minimal.”

    Brandon-Warner E, Sugg JA, Schrum LW, McKillop IH. Silibinin inhibits ethanol metabolism and ethanol-dependent cell proliferation in an in vitro model of hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Lett. 2010 May 1;291(1):120-9. Epub 2009 Nov 8.

    Chen CH, Huang TS, Wong CH, Hong CL, Tsai YH, Liang CC, Lu FJ, Chang WH. Synergistic anti-cancer effect of baicalein and silymarin on human hepatoma HepG2 Cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2009 Mar;47(3):638-44. Epub 2008 Dec 25.

    Cheung CW, Gibbons N, Johnson DW, Nicol DL. Silibinin–a promising new treatment for cancer. Anticancer Agents Med Chem. 2010 Mar;10(3):186-95.

    Comelli MC, Mengs U, Schneider C, Prosdocimi M. Toward the definition of the mechanism of action of silymarin: activities related to cellular protection from toxic damage induced by chemotherapy. Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Jun;6(2):120-9.

    Momeny M, Khorramizadeh MR, Ghaffari SH, Yousefi M, Yekaninejad MS, Esmaeili R, Jahanshiri Z, Nooridaloii MR. Effects of silibinin on cell growth and invasive properties of a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, HepG-2, through inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation. Eur J Pharmacol. 2008 Sep 4;591(1-3):13-20. Epub 2008 Jun 7.

    Post-White J, Ladas EJ, Kelly KM. Advances in the use of milk thistle (Silybum marianum). Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Jun;6(2):104-9.

    Ramakrishnan G, Lo Muzio L, Elinos-Báez CM, Jagan S, Augustine TA, Kamaraj S, Anandakumar P, Devaki T. Silymarin inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in hepatic cancer cells. Cell Prolif. 2009 Apr;42(2):229-40.

    Ramasamy K, Agarwal R. Multitargeted therapy of cancer by silymarin. Cancer Lett. 2008 Oct 8;269(2):352-62. Epub 2008 May 9. Cancer Lett. 2008 Oct 8;269(2):352-62. Epub 2008 May 9.

  • Toxins In Your Tap Water

    By Nurse Mark

     

    It used to be when you turned on your tap, you assumed the water was safe to drink.

     

    That was then – this is now.

    Flint Water

    Is there anyone who hasn’t heard about the tragedy of the Flint water contamination? Or that Flint is not an isolated case? As new information becomes available it is becoming obvious that dozens and perhaps hundreds of American cities and towns are serving up contaminated tap water.

    Even “treated” water can contain heavy metals and environmental pollutants such as lead, mercury, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and pesticides. We’ve written about these dangers in previous HealthBeat articles:

    For those readers who just want a quick review of the problem, here are the top five toxins we think you should pay attention to in your water.

    1) HEAVY METALS (LEAD / MERCURY)

    Lead is a neurotoxin and there is no safe level of ingestion. It is toxic at any level. Think “Flint, Michigan.”

    Mercury is a neurotoxin (think “Mad Hatter’s Disease”) and is stored in your kidneys, blood, brain and liver.

    2) PHARMACEUTICALS / DRUGS

    It’s not a pleasant thought, but the fact remains that pharmaceuticals are in drinking water.  Whether from old or unwanted drugs flushed down the toilet, or drugs that end up going down the toilet after they have been taken by patients (Ewww… Ick!) or drugs and hormones that end up in our streams, lakes, and groundwater from livestock, (Ewww… Ick, again!) most public water treatment systems are powerless to remove pharmaceuticals from water. Many studies over the last decade have found pharmaceutical compounds in treated wastewater  and a recent government study showed that over 80% of waterways tested in the United States have traces of common drugs such as acetaminophen, hormones, blood pressure medicine, codeine, and antibiotics.

    3) HERBICIDES / PESTICIDES

    Whether it’s the stuff your neighbor used to kill his dandelions, or that you put on the weeds in the cracks in your driveway, or the Roundup that Big Agribusiness sprays over it’s fields, an estimated billion (that’s right – billion with a ‘B’) pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S. and much of it ends up as runoff in streams, rivers, and lakes. A  United States Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment study showed that pesticides are widespread in streams and groundwater sampled across the country. The USGS found more that 90% of water and fish samples from all streams sampled in the U.S. contained at least one pesticide. Fresh-caught trout anyone?

    4) CHLORINE / CHLORAMINES

    Chlorine is used to disinfect water and is part of the sanitation process for sewage and industrial waste. Sure, it may be commonly used, but it is also a very serious contaminant. Chlorine is a chemical that your body doesn’t need or like.

    Chloramines are a combination of chlorine and ammonia.  Water filtration plants usually use the safest form known as monochloramine, but chloramines also exist in two  more dangerous forms, dichloramine, and trichloramine. Monochloramine can inadvertently convert into one of the more dangerous forms, depending on pH, temperature, turbulence, and the chlorine to ammonia ratio.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows water utilities considerable latitude in choosing the most effective approach to disinfecting water as long as it meets EPA standards. Most use chlorine or chloramine as their primary disinfectant or sometimes even a combination of both.

    Chlorines and chloramines are especially problematic since they are toxic (they are used to kill stuff – remember?) and they are absorbed readily through skin and mucous membranes. Think “steamy, hot morning shower”…

    5) INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS

    is it a surprise that industry is a huge source of water pollution? Or that most conventional water treatment systems are poorly able to deal with many of industry’s nasty contaminants?

    Whether it is chemical contamination from small repair shops or local factories or refineries or from fracking efforts or mining, refining and smelting operations, some truly frightening chemicals find their way into our earth’s waters. (remember the Animas River in Colorado that turned orange from toxic spill?)

    There may not be much we can do about the quality of water provided to us by our municipalities and their water treatment contractors, except to continue to be vigilant and hold them to the highest possible standards. We can do everything in our power as citizens and taxpayers to hold government and industry accountable and to fight pollution and polluters in every way available to us but in the end, we still must deal with what comes to us as tap water, contaminants and all.

    One solution is to use a high quality water filter for drinking and bathing water. This can be as comprehensive as a whole-house filtration system, or as simple as a high-tech filtering pitcher and a showerhead water filter for the bath. Even the most comprehensive whole-house systems are surprisingly affordable when you consider the health benefits of truly pure water, versus the dangers of blindly consuming the contaminants discussed in this article – especially if there are children involved!

    Dr. Myatt maintains an apartment in Phoenix – a city that has some especially heavily chlorinated and unpalatable water. Because it is an apartment she does not have the option of installing a whole-house filtration system which would be her first choice. Instead, I installed a countertop filter at her kitchen sink and a showerhead filter in her bathroom. Total cost? Less than $200 and an easy do-it-yourself installation job. She saves even more by being on a program that automatically supplies her with replacement filters.

    She obtained these filters from a company called Aquasana. Their service is great, their prices are reasonable, and they regularly run sales and specials that will save even more on their products.

    For example, here is a link that will save you 30% on the shower filter system that Dr. Myatt uses in her apartment:

    Save 30% on all shower filter systems, or 50% if you buy them with Water for Life

    And if you want a counter-top filter like Dr. Myatt uses, this link will give you a good discount:

    Save 30% on all drinking water filter systems, or 50% if you buy them with Water for Life

    If you own your home and want the security for your family of knowing that all your water has been filtered of impurities – drinking water, bathing water, cooking and washing water, then this link will help you to get 30% off on whole-home systems:

    Save 30% on 3-year whole house systems and tank replacements

    Aquasana has been very good to deal with for us – and please do take advantage of their “Water for Life” discount: to get this extra (big) discount, you just sign up for regular delivery of replacement filter cartridges for your water filter. They really do need to be replaced regularly (every 6 months), this program means you won’t forget like you forget your smoke alarm batteries every year (well, I almost always forget our smoke alarm batteries, at least until the alarm begins to ‘chirp’…) and, you can cancel at any time. However, I’m betting that once you taste the difference between your old water and your filtered water you are going to never want to go back to the old stuff – so you’ll want to replace those filters every 6 months. I can say from experience that they really do get clogged up with gunk that you would be drinking otherwise!

    If you use a counter-top or showerhead filter system in an apartment or rental, these can move with you. If you install a whole home system, you have substantially increased the value of your home. Either way, you are also providing yourself and your family with the security of healthy, toxin-free water.

     

    Further reading:

    Animas River pollution incident:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/us/durango-colorado-mine-spill-environmental-protection-agency.html

    National Resources Defense Council article on safety of city water supplies:

    http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities.asp

    National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) on lead in drinking water:

    http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/117-a542/

    EPA water contaminants list:

    https://www.epa.gov/ccl/draft-contaminant-candidate-list-4-ccl-4

    New York Times article: Lead Contamination Not Limited To Flint Michigan:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/us/regulatory-gaps-leave-unsafe-lead-levels-in-water-nationwide.html

  • Seven Not-Surprising Health Updates From 2015

    As many of you know, Nurse Mark and I read the medical news every single day. There isn’t much in the way of a “breakthrough” that we’d ever miss. We even
    know about the “pseudo-breakthroughs” — those lab rat studies that are over-hyped in importance. Because of this, some of these hot-off-the-press findings you have already read about in previous HealthBeat articles. However, now that the research is being solidly reported in the conventional medical journals, some of it bears repeating.

    Here are the most recent “now it’s true because conventional medicine finally recognizes it” topics that you should be aware of. Don’t be surprised if many of these items fall into the “we told you so” category. That just means we’re doing our best to keep you on the leading edge of medical news!

    We Told You So About…

    1.)    Statin drug dangers. First, these drugs were so important that just about everyone – including children – should be taking them. Next they reported a “small increase” in diabetes with use. Oh, and that annoying problem of myalgia (muscle pain) and myopathy (rhabdomyelosis), and “brain fog” and other cognitive impairments. But not to worry, that doesn’t happen very often, so they say.

    The latest news is that the risk of diabetes increases by about 50%. Since diabetes is a serious risk factor for heart disease (the reason people take statins) AND since diabetes also increases the risk of cancer,Alzheimer’s, eye disease, atherosclerosis (narrowing and hardening of the arteries), kidney disease, and more, this is a big finding. “But don’t stop taking the drug until more is known” is the cry of Big Pharma.

    2.)    Acid-Blocking drug Dangers. We’ve talked a lot about this before in HealthBeat articles. Now add another risk of long-term use to the list of dangerous side effects: kidney disease. Sometimes severe enough to ruin the kidneys and require permanent appointments at the dialysis clinic and a spot on the transplant list. Ouch!

    These drugs, called PPI’s (proton pump inhibitors) were designed to be used short-term to treat ulcers. They work well for that. But “short term” means 6 weeks. If you have ongoing digestive distress and GERD, you need MORE stomach acid, not less. We’ve written about that, too.

    So, if you have been using acid blockers for anything other than ulcers, especially if you use them ongoing, I recommend that you stop before you have long-term consequences and take the time to figure out the real cause and correction for your GERD, heartburn and other digestive problems. If your stomach or esophagus hurt when you eat, consider that biofeedback from your body that something needs to be fixed, not masked.

    3.)    Sugar increases risk of breast cancer metastasis. I’ve mentioned this a gazillion times. In fact, ALL carbohydrates increase growth of ALL types of cancer. Conventional medicine just caught on.

    Meanwhile, watch for my upcoming book “The Ketone Diet for Cancer.”

    4.)    Testosterone therapy for men really is safe after all. We’ve heard for years all about the supposed dangers of testosterone therapy – mostly from politicians who have no medical training but plenty of skill in leaping to conclusions based on faulty research and fears of “anabolic steroid” use by sports figures and teenage body builders.

    As a result, testosterone, a natural substance present in everyone has been treated like some scary, evil drug by the FDA and prescribing it is a nightmare for physicians. That could change, as the bogus charges against testosterone therapy are refuted by study after study.

    It turns out that not only does Testosterone use NOT increase the risk of prostate cancer, and does NOT increase the risk of heart attacks as we have been told over and over in the past, Testosterone use actually reduces the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, and all-cause mortality, according to a large new retrospective study of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients.

    Sounds like more good reasons for men to consider hormone testing and replacement if needed. BHRT (BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy) is not just for women! I’ve been prescribing testosterone for some 30 years now, despite all the FDA / DEA hassles – it’s that important to men’s health.

    And Here’s one that we have been following – look for a HealthBeat News article on this very soon:

    •    Cell phone use increases brain cancer risk. First we were told that it didn’t. Then we were told “maybe” but the evidence is weak. Now in the medical news the evidence is no longer weak. There is a 3-fold increase in brain cancer (aggressive gliomas) that correlates with cell phone and mobile phone use when the device is held next to the head.

    Personally, I try to minimize cell phone use and have increased “old school” (corded phone) use and speaker phone use whenever I can. There is some thought (and many marketing claims) that the bluetooth earpieces for cellphones may be safe due to their very low power output – we are examining the research.

    And now for good news breakthroughs:

    •    Coffee is healthy. For years we’ve been told it wasn’t. Now, coffee up to 5 cups per day is not only safe but is actually the biggest source of antioxidants in the US diet. The study found that people who drank three to five cups of coffee per day had about a 15 percent lower risk of premature death compared to people who didn’t drink coffee. Do-dah!

    •    Eggs, (and other fats) are good for you! Every 5 years the government gives us their latest dietary advice – and, lo and behold, this year the old warnings about cholesterol (including eggs), fats, and meats being evil have been softened considerably. Not only that, they are no longer making such dire warnings about processed meats like bacon and hot dogs.

    Read all about it on the government website: http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/

    Woo-Hoo! Bacon and eggs for breakfast – with coffee!

     

    References:

    Statins:

    Reference: Henna Cederberg, Alena Stančáková, Nagendra Yaluri, Shalem Modi, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso.
    Increased risk of diabetes with statin treatment is associated with impaired insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion: a 6 year follow-up study of the METSIM cohort. Diabetologia. May 2015, Volume 58, Issue 5, pp 1109-1117

    Acid Blockers:

    Lazarus B, Chen Y, Wilson FP, et al. Proton Pump Inhibitor Use and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease. JAMA Intern Med. Published online January 11, 2016.

    Sugar / cancer connection:

    Jiang Y, Pan Y, Rhea PR, Tan L, Gagea M, Cohen L, Fischer SM, Yang P. A Sucrose-Enriched Diet Promotes Tumorigenesis in Mammary Gland in Part through the 12-Lipoxygenase Pathway. Cancer Res. 2016 Jan 1;76(1):24-9.

    Testosterone:

    Rishi Sharma et al., Normalization of testosterone level is associated with reduced incidence of myocardial infarction and mortality in men. European Heart Journal, 6 August 2015. http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/07/27/eurheartj.ehv346

    Jacques Baillargeon et al., Long-term Exposure to Testosterone Therapy and the Risk of High Grade Prostate Cancer. The Journal of urology, December 2015Volume 194, Issue 6, Pages 1612–1616. http://www.jurology.com/article/S0022-5347(15)04148-8/abstract

    Cell Phones:

    Hardell, Lennart et al. Mobile phone and cordless phone use and the risk for glioma – Analysis of pooled case-control studies in Sweden, 1997–2003 and 2007–2009.
    Pathophysiology , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , 1 – 13

    Coffee:

    Ming Ding, Ambika Satija, Shilpa N. Bhupathiraju,  Yang Hu, et al. Association of Coffee Consumption With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in 3 Large Prospective Cohorts.  Circulation. 2015;132:2305-2315.