THE GREATEST MEDICINE OF ALL… IS TEACHING PEOPLE HOW NOT TO NEED IT
IF YOU DON’T MAKE TIME FOR YOUR WELLNESS - YOU WILL BE FORCED TO MAKE TIME FOR YOUR ILLNESS!
6 Bodily Tissues That Can Be Regenerated Through Nutrition
This article was written by GreenMedInfo
It may come as a surprise to some, especially those with conventional medical training, but the default state of the body is one of ceaseless regeneration. Without the flame-like process of continual cell turnover within the body - life and death ceaselessly intertwined - the miracle of the human body would not exist
In times of illness, however, regenerative processes are overcome by degenerative ones. This is where medicine may perform its most noble feat, nudging the body back into balance with foods, herbs, nutrients, healing energies, i.e. healing intention. Today, however, drug-based medicine invariably uses chemicals that have not one iota of regenerative potential; to the contrary, they almost always interfere with bodily self-renewal in order to suppress the symptoms against which they are applied.
Despite the outright heretical nature of things which stimulate healing and regeneration vis-à-vis the conventional medical system which frowns upon, or is incredulous towards, spontaneous remission in favor of symptom suppression and disease management, over the course of the past few years of trolling MEDLINE we have collected a series of remarkable studies on the topic...
Nerve cell regeneration
Nerve Regeneration - There are actually a broad range of natural compounds with proven nerve-regenerative effects. A 2010 study published in the journal Rejuvenation Research, for instance, found a combination of blueberry, green tea and carnosine have neuritogenic (i.e. promoting neuronal regeneration) and stem-cell regenerative effects in an animal model of neurodegenerative disease. Other researched neuritogenic substances include:
Curcumin (Turmeric) - This spice is listed in every category and should be the first thing you add to your supplement list. Taken two times a day is a good start.
Lion's Mane MushroomApigenin (compound in vegetables like celery)
Blueberry
Ginseng
Huperzine
Natto
Red Sage
Resveratrol
Royal Jelly
Theanine
Ashwaganda
Coffee (trigonelline)
There is another class of nerve-healing substances, known as remyelinating compounds, which stimulate the repair of the protective sheath around the axon of the neurons known as myelin, and which is often damaged in neurological injury and/or dysfunction, especially autoimmune and vaccine-induced demyelination disorders. It should also be noted that even music and falling in love have been studied for possibly stimulating neurogenesis, regeneration and/or repair of neurons, indicating that regenerative medicine does not necessary require the ingestion of anything; rather, a wide range of therapeutic actions may be employed to improve health and well-being, as well.
Liver Regeneration
Glycyrrhizin, a compound found within licorice, and which we recently featured as a powerful anti-SARS virus agent, has also been found to stimulate the regeneration of liver mass and function in the animal model of hepatectomy. Other liver regenerative substances include:
Carvacrol (a volatile compound in oregano)Curcumin
Korean Ginseng
Rooibos
Vitamin E
Beta-Cell Regeneration
Unfortunately, the medical community has yet to harness the diabetes-reversing potential of natural compounds. Whereas expensive stem cell therapies, islet cell transplants, and an array of synthetic drugs in the developmental pipeline are the focus of billions of dollars of research, annually, our kitchen cupboards and backyards may already contain the long sought-after cure for type 1 diabetes. The following compounds have been demonstrated experimentally to regenerate the insulin-producing beta cells, which are destroyed in insulin dependent diabetes, and which once restored, may (at least in theory) restore the health of the patient to the point where they no longer require insulin replacement.
Gymenna Sylvestre ("the sugar destroyer")Nigella Sativa ("black cumin")
Vitamin D
Curcumin (from the spice Turmeric)
Arginine
Avocado
Berberine (found in bitter herbs such as Goldenseal and Barberry)
Bitter Melon
Chard (yes, the green leafy vegetables)
Corn Silk
Stevia
Sulforaphane (especially concentrated in broccoli sprouts)
Hormone Regeneration
There are secretagogues, which increase the endocrine glands' ability to secrete more hormone, and there are substances that truly regenerate hormones which have degraded (by emitting electrons) into potentially carcinogenic "transient hormone" metabolites. One of these substances is vitamin C. A powerful electron donor, this vitamin has the ability to contribute electrons to resurrect the form and function of estradiol (estrogen; E2), progesterone, testosterone, for instance. In tandem with foods that are able to support the function of glands, such as the ovaries, vitamin C may represent an excellent complement or alternative to hormone replacement therapy.
Cardiac Cell Regeneration
Not too long ago, it was believed that cardiac tissue was uniquely incapable of being regenerated. A new, but rapidly growing body of experimental research now indicates that this is simply not true, and there is a class of heart-tissue regenerating compounds known as neocardiogenic substances. Neocardiogenic substances are able to stimulate the formation of cardiac progenitor cells which can differentiate into healthy heart tissue, and they include the following:
ResveratrolSiberian Ginseng (Eleuthero)
Red Wine Extract
Geum Japonicum
N-acetyl-cysteine
Another remarkable example of cardiac cell regeneration is through what is known as fetomaternal trafficking of stem cells through the placenta. In a recent article we discussed the amazing process known as "fetal microchimerism" by which the fetus contributes stem cells to the mother which are capable of regenerating her damaged heart cells, and possibly a wide range of other cell types.
Cartilage/Joint/Spine Regeneration
Curcumin and resveratrol have been shown to improve recovery from spinal cord injury. Over a dozen other natural compounds hold promise in this area, which can be viewed on our Spinal Cord Injury page. As far as degenerative joint disease, i.e. osteoarthritis, there are a broad range of potentially regenerative substances, with 50 listed on our osteoarthritis research page.
Ultimately, regenerative medicine threatens to undermine the very economic infrastructure that props up the modern, drug-based and quite candidly degenerative medical system. Symptom suppression is profitable because it guarantees both the perpetuation of the original underlying disease, and the generation of an ever-expanding array of additional, treatment-induced symptoms.
This is the non-sustainable, infinite growth model which shares features characteristic of the process of cancer itself - a model, which by its very nature, is doomed to fail and eventually collapse. Cultivating diets, lifestyles and attitudes conducive to bodily regeneration can interrupt this pathological circuit, and help us to attain the bodily freedom that is a precondition for the liberation of the human soul and spirit, as well.
Eating This Fruit Could Prevent Frailty in Old Age, Study Shows
New research shows that flavonoid-rich foods may help to prevent frailty in older adults.
Researchers found this to be especially true in quercetin-rich foods.
Here, nutrition experts explain the findings.
As we age, our body naturally loses a degree of bone strength and frailty, or weakness, becomes a more common issue. Now, a new study shows how eating certain foods, including apples, may help keep frailty at bay and keep you feeling stronger as you get older.
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at how certain foods that contain quercetin, a specific subclass of flavonoids (compounds found naturally in many fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidant activity), affect frailty in older adults.
The study looked at 1,701 individuals who were not considered frail at the start of the program, and had them fill out a self-questionnaire that assessed flavonoid intake. After 12 years, 13.2% of the participants had developed frailty. Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that carries an increased risk for poor health outcomes including falls, incident disability, hospitalization, and mortality.
Quercetin-rich foods are linked to reduced frailty in older adults, a new study shows. Here, nutritionists explain how foods like apples can prevent frailty.
Quercetin-rich foods are linked to reduced frailty in older adults, a new study shows. Here, nutritionists explain how foods like apples can prevent frailty.
Although total flavonoid intake was not associated with frailty development, each 10 mg/day of higher flavonol intake was linked with 20% lower odds of frailty onset. More specifically, every 10 mg/day of higher quercetin intake was associated with 35% lower odds of frailty onset, while other subclasses of flavonoids showed no association.
So, what is quercetin and how does it affect frailty?
Quercetin is a plant compound with antioxidant properties, explains Keri Gans, M.S., R.D., registered dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet. Quercetin is important for our health because they combat inflammation, adds Melissa Prest, D.C.N., R.D.N., national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and member of the Prevention Medical Review Board.
Quercetin is found naturally in many foods, including:
Yellow and green peppersCherries
Apples
Red grapes
Kale
Berries
Tea
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Olive oil
Capers
Parsley
Asparagus
Citrus fruits
Leafy vegetables
Quercetin has been the topic of scientific research in the past. It has been studied and considered a promising agent in improving bone health and another ongoing clinical trial is specifically studying quercetin’s ability to protect against bone loss and stimulating bone formation. And according to this new study, a higher intake of quercetin was associated with a lower risk of frailty in adults, says Gans.
What can older adults do to prevent frailty?
Aside from loading up on quercetin-rich foods, there are other things you can and should do to maintain your strength and lower your risk of frailty later in life. “In order to decrease the risk of frailty in aging adults, one should consume adequate calories daily, especially protein,” says Gans. Protein is very important for older adults and many do not eat enough, adds Prest. “Add some protein-rich foods, low-sugar or plain low-fat yogurt, low-fat milk, beans, eggs, or chicken, to each meal and snack.”
Incorporating a fitness routine that includes walking and resistance exercises is also key, Gans adds. Muscle mass decreases as we age, so engaging in activities like walking and/or strength training can help you stay strong, explains Prest.
People who have strong social connections and continue learning also have a lower risk of frailty, says Prest. So it’s important to keep your mind sharp to keep your body strong.
The bottom line
Frailty is not uncommon in older adults, and studies have found that it only becomes more common the older we get. One study found that frailty increased steadily with age, starting with 4% of adults 65-69 years, 7% of adults 70-74 years, 9% of adults 75-79 years, 16% of adults 80-84 years, and 26% of adults aged 85 years and older.
This study is another good reminder that a variety of plant-based foods should be consumed daily for health-promoting benefits, says Gans. So take a good look at what your daily diet looks like, and if you could stand to load up on more quercetin-rich foods, they might just help you maintain your bone strength and keep you from feeling weak in the long run.
While fruits and vegetables are a great way to get quercetin, some people may want to take a quercetin supplement, says Prest. “Make sure to discuss taking a quercetin supplement with your provider since there are some possible interactions between quercetin supplements and antibiotics, anticoagulants, chemotherapy, corticosteroids, cyclosporine, digoxin, fluoroquinolones, and medications changed by the liver,” she notes.
Dietary supplements are products intended to supplement the diet. They are not medicines and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure diseases. Be cautious about taking dietary supplements if you are pregnant or nursing. Also, be careful about giving supplements to a child, unless recommended by their healthcare provider.
How Coconut Oil May Rescue the Brain From Alzheimer's Disease
Anecdotal reports claim coconut oil produces remarkable recoveries from Alzheimer's disease, but is there research to support this? Now, one study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease shows that a mechanism for coconut oil's brain rescuing properties does in fact exist
The internet loves a good "natural cure" recovery story. For instance, when Dr. Mary Newport, MD, dramatically reverses her husband's symptoms of Alzheimer's disease after just two weeks of adding coconut oil to his diet, thousands enthusiastically share the story. But despite their popularity, anecdotes rarely stand the test of time, nor the scrutiny of the medical community, at least not like experimental research published in peer-reviewed biomedical journals.
All the more reason to celebrate a promising study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease titled, "Coconut Oil Attenuates the Effects of Amyloid-β on Cortical Neurons In Vitro." The study lends fresh experimental support to an accumulating body of anecdotal reports that coconut oil may alleviate and/or regress cognitive deficits associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's.
Medical researchers from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada, undertook a pilot study to investigate the effects of coconut oil supplementation directly on cortical neurons treated with amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide in vitro. Aβ peptide is the main component of certain deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease believed to contribute to the disease.
The researchers noted that a clinical trial, which we reported on in our article MCT Fats Found in Coconut Oil Boost Brain Function in Only One Dose, reported significant improvements in Alzheimer's disease patients after 45 and 90 days of treatment with medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil. They pointed out that this trial led to the marketing of the FDA-approved 'medical food' caprylidene (trade name Axona), but that the public has shown greater interest in coconut oil itself as a potential therapy, owing to its far greater affordability and availability.
The researchers sought to test the hypothesis that coconut oil is beneficial for neurodegenerative conditions using a cell model. Live rat neurons were exposed to various combinations of Aβ peptide and coconut oil, with the result that Aβ peptide reduced survival of neurons and coconut protected against this Aβ-induced reduction in survival time. The researchers noted that coconut treated Aβ cultured neurons appeared "healthier," and that coconut oil "rescued" Aβ-treated neurons from mitochondrial damage caused by their toxicity. The researchers observed coconut oil preventing Aβ-induced changes in mitochondrial size and circularity. These findings have great significance, as mitochondria function is often compromised in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.
According to the researchers, "The rationale for using coconut oil as a potential AD [Alzheimer's Disease] therapy is related to the possibility that it could be metabolized to ketone bodies that would provide an alternative energy source for neurons, and thus compensate for mitochondrial dysfunction." The researchers proposed that ketone bodies formed as a byproduct of coconut oil metabolism may offset Aβ-induced impairment of mitochondrial function and thus energy metabolism. Considering that the medium chain triglyceride found in coconut known as caprylic acid does cross the blood-brain barrier, and has been found to have anti-convulsant, in addition to, ketogenic effects, coconut oil likely does have a neuroprotective effect.
The researchers concluded, "The results of this pilot study provide a basis for further investigation of the effects of coconut oil, or its constituents, on neuronal survival focusing on mechanisms that may be involved."
Clearly, one of the ways that coconut oil can 'rescue' the brains of Alzheimer's patients is by addressing the metabolic derangement in the brain associated with the condition, or what is known as "type 3 diabetes." As the brain ages, it becomes increasingly resistant to insulin, and therefore incapable of using glucose efficiently to meet its significant energy needs -- hence the metaphor "type 3 diabetes." Thankfully, nature has devised an alternative fuel source for the brain that is independent of glucose utilization and the insulin signaling system, namely, the use of ketone bodies. Coconut oil provides the substrate for the immediate production of these ketone bodies, enabling significant quantities to be produced within a matter of only minutes following ingestion. This metabolic restoration of function may explain why remarkable recoveries in cognitive function and memory have been observed, anecdotally.
Putting the science aside for a moment, coconut, like walnuts, both obey the so-called 'doctrine of signatures.' Both foods are encased by a skull-like shell, and contain within a fatty acid-rich 'meat,' that feed the organ - the brain - they resemble. Could the poetry of our direct experience tell us something about the value this food has to our brain, or should we continue to play agnostic and exercise great caution incorporating a 'food as medicine' approach until the men in white coats, and powerful economic forces behind them willing to shell out millions, if not billions of dollars, to "prove" in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled fashion something we probably already know is true?
ALERT: Mammograms Leading to Widespread Overdiagnosis - Unnecessary Treatment -- In Older Women, NCI Study Reveals
This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2023
An alarming new study reveals that mammograms in older women are doing more harm than good. Not only did mammgraphy not increase survival, but the older the woman, the more likely she will suffer overdiagnosis and unnecessary surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Among women aged 85 and older, an estimated 54% of breast cancer was potentially overdiagnosed as a result of breast 'preventive' breast screenings.
The new study titled, “Estimating Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis After Screening Mammography Among Older Women in the United States,” published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, indicates that the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer in older women is far more widespread than commonly believed.
Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the retrospective cohort of 54,635 women 70 years and older compared the cumulative incidence of breast cancer in those who had been recently screened, with those who did not.
The study looked at both breast cancer diagnoses and breast cancer related mortality for up to 15 years of follow-up. What makes this study exceptional is that the researchers included breast cancer death as an end point, and not just diagnoses, which makes it possible to determine whether mammography is actually having a net benefit on extending the lives of those who consent to undergoing them.
Sadly, the overdiagnosis of breast cancer is exceedingly common. Breast cancer overdiagnosis is defined as screen-detected breast cancer that would not have caused symptoms or signs in the remaining lifetime. In many cases, those diagnosed with “breast cancer” actually have benign abnormalities, such as ductal carcinoma in situ (also known oxymoronically as "stage zero" breast cancer), which in the vast majority of cases will not cause morbidity or mortality if left undiagnosed and untreated.
By treating DCIS as equivalent to active cancer, and implementing surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, many of these overdiagnosed and overtreated women will have their lives cut short, despite being told that their treatments “saved their lives.” The psychosocial impacts of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, alone, have the potential to cause grave health impacts themselves.
Therefore, adding in the end point of mortality, is a far more accurate way of assessing the benefits or harms of a preventive screening such a mammography, because the ultimate judge of mammography’s net benefit should be whether it reduces mortality or not, which is how it has been advertised to women since its inception and mass adoption in 1985 despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary.
The study found the following results, stratified by age:
Among women aged 70 to 74 years, an estimated 31% of breast cancer among screened women were potentially overdiagnosed.
Among women aged 75 to 84 years, an estimated 47% of breast cancer among screened women were potentially overdiagnosed.
Among women aged 85 and older, an estimated 54% of breast cancer among screened women were potentially overdiagnosed.
There were no significant reductions in breast cancer–specific death associated with screening.
As can be seen above, overdiagnosis of breast cancer in older women is happening at an alarming rate, and constitutes a significant public health threat which should be taken as seriously as the harms of polypharmacy in elderly populations.
This latest finding speaks to how important it is for women of all ages to understand the problem of overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and having access to information not colored by the medical and pharmaceutical industries who often have agendas that bias information towards interventions that carry more risks than benefits.
In May, for instance, we reported on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)’s new draft recommendations urging all women to undergo x-ray mammography breast screenings every other year, starting at 40 instead of 50, as previous guidelines from 2016 recommended.
Our opinion is that the USPSTF's latest draft guidelines are coming from a very weak and highly contested evidence-base, and are biased against the fundamental medical ethical principle of "do no harm” because USPSTF did not sufficiently account for the well-known yet underreported harms associated with the diagnostic process itself (all mammography uses carcinogenic gamma radiation), overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
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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