Lack of sunlight exposure causes mothers to give birth to babies with multiple sclerosis
A recent study out of Australia has found that natural sunlight plays a very important role in the development of unborn children. According to the research, mothers who get little sunlight during the first 90 days of their pregnancies bear children with an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis later on in their lives.
Once again, the connection between vitamin D and good health is clearly evident in a scientific study. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study revealed that when a pregnant woman fails to get enough sunlight during her pregnancy, the development of her child's central nervous system and immune system becomes compromised. Consequently, her child will be more susceptible to developing MS as an adult.
Researchers were able to verify the connection between low vitamin D levels and MS by evaluating a series of birth records from between 1920 and 1950. The records revealed that many MS patients born during this time period were born in the months of November and December in the Southern Hemisphere, which would have placed the early days of their development during the winter months when their mothers' sunlight exposure was likely at a minimum.
On the flip side, experts observed that very few of the MS patients were born between May and June, when their first trimesters would have landed during the warm summer months when sunlight exposure is maximized.
"The risk of multiple sclerosis was around 30 percent higher for those born in the early summer months of November and December compared to the months of May and June," explained researches in a statement about the study.
Experts derived similar conclusions in studies conducted in the Northern Hemisphere as well. Most MS patients seem to have been in their first trimesters of development during the winter. In fact, cases of MS become increasingly more prevalent the further you travel away from the equator, indicating that sunlight exposure is directly linked to MS susceptibility.
If natural sunlight is unavailable, mothers can always supplement with natural vitamin D3 in order to maintain their own health and to help ensure that their babies experience healthy development. Vitamin D3 supplementation is inexpensive and it is a great, simple way to maximize health and well-being.
Ulcerative Colitis Help
Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that brings untold pain and misery to about 120,000 people of all ages in the UK and over a million in the US. It produces inflammation and sores in the lining of the rectum and colon that bleed, produce pus and cause frequent diarrhea. This is a serious disease that often causes hospitalization. In fact, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), 25 to 40 percent of people suffering from ulcerative colitis eventually have their colons removed because of massive bleeding, severe illness, rupture of the colon, or risk of cancer.
Powerful side effect-laden drugs like steroids are used to dampen down symptoms but there's no cure. However, scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have discovered there could be a way to stop ulcerative colitis from developing in the first place.
The preventative treatment is simple, healthy, inexpensive and easy to find... olive oil.
UEA researchers announced this news recently at the Digestive Disease Week conference held in New Orleans. Their findings revealed that people with a diet rich in oleic acid are far less likely to develop ulcerative colitis. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid found in abundance in olive oil. It is also a component of peanut oil, grapeseed oil and butter.
The research team, led by Dr. Andrew Hart of UEA's School of Medicine, studied over 25,000 people between the ages of 40 and 65 who lived in Norfolk, in the UK. The research participants were part of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Diet and Cancer) study between 1993 and 1997. None of these EPIC participants were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at the beginning of the study. They all kept detailed food diaries which were later studied by nutritionists who analyzed exactly what nutrients and fatty acids the study participants were consuming.
By 2004, 22 of the research subjects had developed ulcerative colitis. When the researchers compared the diets of these people to those who did not develop the disease, they found the study participants with the highest intake of oleic acid had a 90 per cent lower risk of developing ulcerative colitis.
"Oleic acid seems to help prevent the development of ulcerative colitis by blocking chemicals in the bowel that aggravate the inflammation found in this illness," Dr. Hart said in a statement to the media.
"We estimate that around half of the cases of ulcerative colitis could be prevented if larger amounts of oleic acid were consumed. Two-to-three tablespoons of olive oil per day would have a protective effect."
Breast cancer breakthrough: broccoli component zaps cells that fuel tumor growth
University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists say they've found a compound that could help prevent and potentially treat breast cancer. It's not a drug or a new radiation treatment but a natural component of broccoli and broccoli sprouts. And it has the remarkable ability to target cancer stem cells -- the specific cells responsible for fueling the growth of cancerous breast tumors.
The researchers tested the broccoli compound, known as sulforaphane, in animal studies as well as in breast cancer cell cultures in the lab. Their findings, which were recently published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, showed sulforaphane not only targeted and killed cancer stem cells, but it also prevented any new malignancies from growing.
What makes this such an extraordinary breakthrough?
Current chemotherapies don't do anything to stop cancer stem cells. That's why cancer can recur and spread after chemotherapy. So many researchers have long believed that to control cancer, you have to find a way to eliminate cancer stem cells -- and now it appears sulforaphane does exactly that.
"Sulforaphane has been studied previously for its effects on cancer, but this study shows that its benefit is in inhibiting the breast cancer stem cells. This new insight suggests the potential of sulforaphane or broccoli extract to prevent or treat cancer by targeting the critical cancer stem cells," study author Duxin Sun, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the U-M College of Pharmacy and a researcher with the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a statement to the media.
For their study, the U-M researchers first worked with mice with breast cancer. They used several well-documented methods to assess the number of cancer stem cells in the animals' breast tumors. Then the research team injected varying concentrations of sulforaphane extracted from broccoli into the mice.
The results? There was a dramatic decrease in the number of cancer stem cells after treatment with sulforaphane, but there was little effect on the normal cells. What's more, the cancer cells from mice treated with sulforaphane were unable to generate new tumors.
Next, the scientists tested sulforaphane on human breast cancer cell cultures in the lab. Once again, they found the numbers of cancer stem cells plummeted after exposure to the broccoli compound. "This research suggests a potential new treatment that could be combined with other compounds to target breast cancer stem cells. Developing treatments that effectively target the cancer stem cell population is essential for improving outcomes," study co-author Max S. Wicha, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Oncology and director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in the press statement.
The scientists pointed out that concentrations of sulforaphane used in the study were higher than what can be normally achieved by eating broccoli or broccoli sprouts. However, previous research suggests the body can absorb high enough concentrations of sulforaphane from broccoli extract to impact cancer. Currently, the U-M research team is working to develop a method to extract and preserve sulforaphane. They are also planning a future clinical trial to test sulforaphane both as a prevention and treatment for breast cancer.
And there are additional health benefits of broccoli. For example, broccoli sprouts have been found to potentially play a protective role in the prevention of gastric cancer by reducing colonization of the cancer and ulcer-linked bacteria Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in the body.
Research by University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) scientists also found that sulforaphane in broccoli appears to protect against respiratory inflammation that causes asthma, allergic rhinitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other conditions that make it hard to breathe.
B vitamins Linked to Heart Health
If you've been listening to the fat police and cutting back on meat, you may be harming yourself -- and a new study proves it.
Researchers have found that the essential B vitamins in meat, eggs and raw milk can help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. That means if you're NOT eating these foods, you may not be able to get enough essential B vitamins.
Japanese researchers say men with high levels of folate and B6 have a significantly lower risk of death by heart failure, while women with the highest levels of those same nutrients had the lowest risk of death by stroke, heart disease, and other cardiovascular conditions, according to the study in Stroke.
And yet every day I hear someone telling people that a "heart healthy" diet means avoiding the best sources of the very nutrients that offer the most protection.
The B vitamins work to lower homocysteine levels. Now, even the mainstream doctors can see how homocysteine damages the arteries, allowing cholesterol to stick and leading to blood clots.
When it comes to saving your life, forget the experts. Their bad low-fat advice caused our widespread health crisis in the first place, so they're the last people you should trust to undo the damage.
The authors of the latest study have seen the light -- they're urging people to eat more B-friendly foods. Just don't overcook them, since burned meats also have been linked to high homocysteine levels.
Note: whole food B vitamins are included in Cardio-Plus and Catalyn, two of the supplements from Standard Process that I highly recommend that everyone take on a daily basis.
MD True Confessions: Doctors Admit Their Diagnostic Errors
This was an amazing research project... more than 300 doctors were encouraged to anonymously confess diagnostic errors that they had made or witnessed. The goal was to identify the most common types of diagnostic mistakes doctors make so as to develop safeguards to minimize or prevent them from happening in the future. This is a terrific opportunity for us to learn where our doctors are most likely to go wrong so that we consumers can do our best to keep our medical care on the right track and avoid dangerous misdiagnoses.
Why So Many Mistakes?
Just over 10 years ago, a landmark study by the Institute of Medicine indicated that up to 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. Since that time, medical professionals have taken steps to streamline and improve patient safety, yet this new study shows that doctors are still dropping too many balls, observes study coauthor Gordon D. Schiff, MD, an expert in patient safety at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Schiff and his team distributed a written survey to 310 doctors at 22 institutions across the US asking them to share three cases of diagnostic error -- defined as any mistake or failure in the diagnostic process that led to a misdiagnosis, missed diagnosis or delayed diagnosis. They learned lots about particular types of errors... Major, minor and somewhere in the middle: Doctors reported 583 errors. Of these, 180 (31%) were self-rated as minor, 241 (41%) as moderate and 162 (28%) as major.
Most likely to be misdiagnosed: Pulmonary embolism (26 cases, 4.5%) was the condition most likely to be misdiagnosed, followed by adverse drug reactions or overdose (26 cases, 4.5%)... lung cancer (23 cases, 3.9%).. colorectal cancer (19 cases, 3.3%)... acute coronary syndrome and/or heart attack (18 cases, 3.1%)... breast cancer (18 cases, 3.1%)... and stroke (15 cases, 2.6%).
Not asking... and not telling either: Doctors most often made errors related to ordering or following up on lab or radiology tests (44%). Other common errors included over- or under-consideration of competing diagnoses (32%), problems with history taking (10%) or physical examination (10%), and referral or consultation errors or delays (3%). These results were published in the November 9, 2009, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
What Can You Do?
The results highlight the need for ultra-reliable mechanisms to catch those "dropped balls" in order to be sure that patients promptly and accurately receive test results and other important information, says Dr. Schiff. He offered an example of one such fail-proof strategy: At his hospital, Brigham and Women’s in Boston, a new system ensures that physicians receive and acknowledge lab and radiology results, which are also automatically communicated (by letter or confidential e-mail) to the patient. He suggests that yet another layer of improvement might be to have automated follow-up calls to see whether patients are improving as expected -- and if not, start a process to evaluate whether the initial diagnosis may have been incorrect.
But it’s not smart to wait for the medical community to solve this problem -- we patients, too, need to take action to protect ourselves from these types of errors. It’s the only way to ensure that we’re getting optimal medical care.
Dr. Schiff shared some suggestions...
- Be aware that certain types of diagnoses are harder to make than others. The top error categories (pulmonary embolism, stroke and heart disease, along with colorectal, lung and breast cancer) are often challenging -- not all patients have the same symptoms, and the typical symptoms don’t always indicate the presence of a serious medical condition. If you don’t improve or if you develop unexpected new symptoms, absolutely question your doctor about your diagnosis -- perhaps it is incorrect.
- If you are worried or in pain, bring someone with you to your medical appointment or the emergency room. It’s hard to think clearly under these circumstances. It’s helpful to have another listener -- and an advocate to speak on your behalf if a health-care provider seems dismissive, distracted or is otherwise not providing the care and feedback you need.
Be proactive in communicating with your primary care physician. You know your doctor has lots of patients and relatively little time, so arrive at each appointment with a written list of your key questions -- it’s a good idea to jot down the answers, too. - Promptly report any new symptoms, and keep written records of all medications, treatments and tests. Especially if you are referred to a specialist, this can help prevent inconvenient, costly and potentially dangerous drug interactions or procedure duplications.
- Don’t agree to have tests you don’t need, which could lead to more opportunities for wrong diagnoses. Research increasingly suggests that computerized tomography (CT) scans and other tests are overused, exposing patients to unnecessary risks and sometimes leading to false positives (or false negatives if the CT isn’t the best test for a particular condition)... further unnecessary testing... and even unnecessary treatment. Before you have any imaging test, make sure you understand why it is necessary Discuss other possible options, and -- as above -- keep records to avoid duplicate testing.
- Always follow up with your doctor. Never assume that no news is good news, Dr. Schiff emphasizes. If you have a test and the office doesn’t inform you about results within the expected time frame, call.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy
JD Roma
The information on this blog is provided for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you have, a health problem you should consult your physician (preferably a Naturopath).
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