New Vitamin C Results For Heart Failure
Imagine that, after all of the medications and heart rehab practices commonly used in the US, the best and easiest treatment ends up being Vitamin C.
NaturalNews reports that according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 5.7 million people in the US suffer from heart failure and it takes the lives of about 300,000 Americans each year. Currently, heart failure has no cure although certain medications and lifestyle changes can help many people live longer; in severe cases some heart failure patients undergo heart transplants. But now there's a new treatment that could dramatically help heart failure patients. And it's not a new type of surgery or Big Pharma prescription -- it's plain old vitamin C.
These findings were just announced at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011, underway in Orlando, Florida. "We found that adequate intake of vitamin C was associated with longer survival in patients with heart failure," Eun Kyeung Song, Ph.D., R.N., lead author of the study and assistant professor at the Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, in the University of Ulsan in Korea, said in a media statement.
Heart failure is a common and often deadly condition that results when the heart can't pump an adequate amount of oxygen and nutrient rich blood through the body. The symptoms that result can include fatigue, loss of appetite, fluid build-up and kidney failure. Shortness of breath also occurs when heart failure causes blood to back up behind the heart, leading to increased pressure or fluid in the lungs.
For the new study headed by Dr. Song, the researchers worked with 212 patients with an average age of 61. Approximately 45 percent of the participants had moderate to severe heart failure. When the scientists tested their vitamin C levels, they found that heart failure patients with low levels of the vitamin had the highest levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker for inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease. Those with lower vitamin C levels in the body also had more major cardiac events and higher death rates.
Low vitamin C levels linked to higher death rate
Specifically, heart failure patients in the study who had low vitamin C intake were 2.4 times more likely to have higher levels of hsCRP compared to patients with higher levels of the vitamin. Study participants with low vitamin C intake and hsCRP over 3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) were also about twice as likely to die from heart disease within one year of follow-up.
"Increased levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein means a worsening of heart failure," Dr. Song explained. "An adequate level of vitamin C is associated with lower levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. This results in a longer cardiac event-free survival in patients."
It turns out heart failure patients may be at increased risk of too little vitamin C because they are regularly prescribed diuretic drugs to help the body get rid of excess fluid. In the media statement, Terry Lennie, Ph.D., R.N., a study author and associate dean of Ph.D. studies in the College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, pointed out that vitamin C is water soluble and diuretics, also known as "water pills", increase the amount of water excreted from the kidneys which also takes C out of the body.
So what is it about vitamin C that appears to be extremely advantageous to people with heart failure? Dr. Song and colleagues pointed out that inflammation seems to play an important role in heart failure and a lack of vitamin C could contribute to that problem. On the other hand, taking in adequate vitamin C appears to significantly lessen inflammation.
My Comment:
These findings only confirm how important it is to use high quality supplements to stay as healthy as possible. One important reminder is that when you read about vitamin C being used in a study or sold as a supplement, it is almost always ascorbic acid that is being used and not the “real” or natural form of vitamin C with all of it natural components.
There is a big difference in using just one component of vitamin C such as ascorbic acid compared to using the whole natural form as it is found in nature. That is why I always recommend using a “whole food” supplement, and my favorite is the Standard Process (SP) brand of supplements. You can buy real vitamin C from SP or just use their Catalyn product as a multi-vitamin. If you are also concerned about the health of your heart and circulatory system then you should add Cardio-Plus by Standard Process. These SP products are normally only sold direct to doctors, but most of the SP products can be found at a discount on Amazon.com and shipping is often free. Feel free to contact me for more information and suggested dosages.
Dangerous Mercury Fillings Still Being Used
A great deal of progress has been made this year toward ridding the dental industry of dangerous mercury-containing amalgams.
For example, Consumers for Dental Choice recently reported that: "On October 10, the City Council of Malibu, California passed a resolution supporting "national and worldwide efforts to reduce anthropogenic [man-made] sources of mercury to the environment."
Specifically, the city endorsed "efforts by UNEP [the United Nations Environmental Programme] to adopt an international treaty to phase out each of the above five major mercury pollutants": batteries, electric switches and relays, measuring devices, mercury-containing lamps…and dental amalgam.
Malibu is the third California city to call for the phase-out of dental amalgam, following the resolution of the city council of Costa Mesa and the proclamation by the Mayor of Santa Ana."
According to Consumers for Dental Choice, the World Health Organization ("WHO") also just released its long-awaited updated and finalized report on dental amalgam. In Future Use of Materials for Dental Restoration, WHO urges "a switch in use of dental materials" away from amalgam, stating that: "For many reasons, restorative materials alternative to dental amalgam are desirable."
But that's not all!
As a result of enormous public pressure from dentists, health professionals and consumers, the FDA has also promised to make an announcement by year's end of its decision about whether or not to warn the public of the dangers of dental amalgam, and possibly even restrict its use.
A series of town meetings in three states this year, hosted by the FDA's Center for Devices, has resulted in the FDA's reconsideration of its appalling 2009 amalgam rule.
Thanks to Consumers for Dental Choice, town meetings previously attended mostly by industry representatives pleading with the FDA to "go easier on them" are now instead being dominated by consumer advocates demanding government accountability. Their greatest hope is to see mercury amalgams banned altogether, but short of that, the Consumers for Dental Choice hopes the FDA will at least make all consumers aware that amalgams are more than 50 percent mercury. The American Dental Association (ADA) has historically covered up that fact, while taking money from Coca-Cola and other companies whose products promote the formation of cavities.
Fifty percent of dentists are now mercury-free; you can help abolish the use of mercury fillings by supporting one of them. We are on the brink of prompting real change in the fight for mercury-free dentistry, but your voice is needed in order to bring about permanent change.
FLAXSEED MAY PROTECT AGAINST RADIATION
Reprinted article by Jenny Thompson at Health Science Institute
It’s too bad that our risk for radiation poisoning didn’t end along with the Cold War. Today, we have nuclear terrorist attacks and power plant leaks to worry about. And if you aren’t concerned about those, there’s always the possibility of needing radiation therapy for cancer. So it was on multiple levels that I was intrigued recently by a new study showing that a common food may protect us against radiation -- and that food is flaxseed.
The study, done on mice at the Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, revealed that a fairly small daily serving of flaxseed (the human equivalent of four tablespoons) is protective against radiation. To find out more, I called researchers Keith Cengel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the university, and Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, PhD, research associate and professor of medicine at the university. Their findings were published in the June 24, 2011 issue of BMC Cancer.
DIETS STOP DAMAGE
The researchers told me that groups of mice were fed two very similar but not identical diets -- the sole difference was that some mice ate no flaxseed and others ate 10% flaxseed. The mice were exposed to a large dose of radiation. Certain groups were given these diets three weeks before the radiation exposure, while others were fed these diets immediately after or two, four or six weeks after the radiation exposure.
Four months after the mice received radiation, the researchers examined their survival rates. They found that 70% to 88% of the mice who ate the flaxseed diet (either before or after radiation exposure) were alive, versus just 40% of the mice who didn’t eat any flaxseed. Not only did the mice who ate the flaxseed live longer, but they also had fewer side effects from the radiation -- they lost less weight, had less indication of inflammation and had fewer lung problems, such as fibrosis.
SEEDS OF HOPE
The researchers think that it’s reasonable to theorize that this protective effect of flaxseed might benefit radiation-treated cancer patients and possibly even victims of a nuclear power plant leak or a "dirty bomb." Even astronauts -- who are exposed to radiation during space flight -- and frequent fliers might benefit from flaxseed, they told me. It might also be useful for the "worried well" -- those who fear that they’ve been exposed to radiation but show no symptoms or those who fear that they might be exposed in the future.
How does flaxseed work to stem radiation damage? The mice in the study received a single radiation dose that is equivalent to getting about 135,000 chest X-rays (the same amount that a cancer patient might get over an entire course of radiation treatment lasting perhaps many months). The researchers aren’t completely certain of the mechanism of protection, but they think that the flaxseed may have somehow prevented the DNA damage that typically occurs among normal, noncancerous cells immediately after radiation exposure. If this holds true among humans, then it might mean that eating flaxseed would help the radiation destroy malignant cancer cells without harming so many normal cells -- that’s an important benefit, since damage to normal cells is one of the major drawbacks of radiation therapy.
But it’s important to realize that the results of the mice studies are preliminary, and Drs. Cengel and Christofidou-Solomidou hope that they can be replicated (without the unneeded radiation, of course) in studies of humans. If flaxseed pans out to be a good source of radiation protection among humans, imagine how cheap and easy it would be to hand out small packets of flaxseed to cancer patients or even to everyday healthy citizens if there is concern about a potential nuclear event or a radiation accident, such as the one that happened this past spring in Japan. The daily dose of flaxseed might be just a few tablespoons -- for such a huge return.
My Comment:
Flaxseed is a great way to add fiber and Omega 3 oils to your diet. You can buy a large bag of cold-ground flaxseed at Costco for a very low price and sprinkle it on salads, in yogurt or smoothies or anything else you like. Even though the flaxseed is already ground it will still keep for weeks in the refrigerator. Do your whole family a favor and add some flaxseed or Chia seed to your diet. Chia seed is the best source of protein, fiber and omega 3's you can find.
Acupuncture Study has Interesting Results
As reported by Jenny Thompson at HSI
If you want to start a conversation that makes people hot under, over and all around the collar, just start talking about natural medicine.
And to ratchet up the drama, bring in two articulate, intelligent doctors who cover the opposite ends of the spectrum, from integrative medicine practitioner on one side to a complete natural medicine skeptic on the
other.
That's how the stage was set during a recent radio program on our local NPR affiliate here in Baltimore.
Usually, this mid-day show covers local events, sports, politics, that sort of thing. But following the ridiculous announcement on the danger of multivitamins a couple weeks ago, the booming widespread use of natural medicine has become such a hot topic that the entire 2-hour program was devoted to a discussion of herbal healing, supplements, and other treatments considered outside the mainstream.
During this show(down), the subject of acupuncture came up with such frequency that it sort of became the battleground issue. The skeptic (Steven Salzberg, a professor of medicine and biostatistics at Johns Hopkins) claimed that no studies have produced solid evidence that acupuncture works. At best, he said, acupuncture produces a placebo effect.
But the integrative medicine practitioner (Delia Chiaramonte, who heads up the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland) was having none of that.
She calmly cited research -- some conducted at UMD -- that showed very clearly that acupuncture is an effective treatment for pain relief and other conditions. You may even remember that a few years ago, UMD conducted a study funded by NIH that used real acupuncture points vs. placebo points that proved acupuncture was significantly effective in relieving the pain of osteoarthritis.
There was no "winner" in this informal debate. I expect that some listeners came away with more respect for acupuncture, while others remained skeptical.
To those skeptics I would just say this: I don't blame you. Your skepticism is completely reasonable. After all, we're talking about a treatment that uses needles to stimulate the movement of energy through invisible channels in the body.
Why WOULDN'T you be skeptical?
Unless, of course, you tried it...
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A tale of two skeptics
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Shortly after I listened to the radio debate, I came across an article by Beth Capriotti on the Philadelphia Magazine website. Beth introduces herself as a lifelong skeptic, especially concerning natural medicine. But then, as she says, along came a couple of herniated disks.
Physical therapy didn't relieve the pain. Spinal steroid injections didn't help. Chiropractic sessions did nothing. So she finally agreed to try "that voodoo stuff" -- acupuncture.
Beth: "My relief was immediate, overwhelming and lasting."
And another skeptic bites the dust.
I enjoyed Beth's account because it closely parallels my own experience with acupuncture -- or rather my beagle's experience.
Having been attacked by a Lab (I know...Labs never attack but this one did) when she was a puppy, she had terrible neck and back pain her whole life.
When steroids made her incontinent, we were desperate to try something else and I decided to give acupuncture a try.
I didn't think she'd sit still for it (she did) and wasn't sure it would help, but for $65 and a half an hour, what did I have to lose?
Now realizing there is no placebo effect with dogs -- and that beagles are particularly dramatic when they are garnering sympathy -- I was SHOCKED to see that after one treatment she sprang right up and jumped off the sofa and ran around like a puppy.
And from that day on, she actually got excited when our acupuncturist came over for her treatment.
And another skeptic bites the dust.
I highly recommend that anyone (or any pup) with back pain, neck pain, or other nagging health problems investigate acupuncture. Pain relief without side effects might turn you into a very happy skeptic.
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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