I receive a newsletter from an organization called The Vitamin D Council. This is a periodic publication, from a non-profit group trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency.
I have reprinted the whole article for you here, but it is very long and scientific in nature, so I will put the most important points in bold so you can read all or part as you have time, but I have been researching vit D for many years and I know that most Americans are low in this inportant nutrient, so please take this information to heart.
cw
HERE IS THE ARTICLE:
As we wait for this year’s influenza epidemic, keep in mind we are also waiting for the big one, the pandemic (pan: all, demic: people). A severe pandemic will kill many more Americans than died in the World Trade Centers, the Iraq war, the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina combined. Perhaps a million or two in the USA alone. Such a disaster would tear the fabric of our society. Our entire country would resemble New Orleans after Katrina.
Also, it’s only a question of when it will come, not if it will come. Pandemics come every 25 years or so, severe ones every hundred years or so. The last pandemic, the Hong Kong flu, occurred in 1968, killing 34,000 Americans. In 1918, the Spanish flu killed more than 500,000 Americans. So many millions died in other countries, they couldn’t bury the bodies.
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
Young healthy adults, in the prime of their lives in the morning, drowning in their own inflammation by noon, grossly discolored by sunset, were dead at midnight. An overwhelming immune response to the influenza virus - macrophages releasing large amounts of inflammatory agents called cytokines and chemokines into the lung of the afflicted - resulted in millions of deaths in 1918.
Nature. 2004 Oct 7;431(7009):703-7.
Keep in mind, that the Germans recently discovered that vitamin D is intimately involved in reining in the macrophages, holding their cytokine production back, so they don’t overshoot, and kill their owner along with the invader.
Blood. 2005 Aug 23; [Epub ahead of print]
Your annual flu shot won’t help when the big one hits, the antigenic shift one. Once the pandemic starts, a new vaccine, specific to the new virus must be manufactured and that takes time. You can and should get some antiviral drugs from your doctor in advance. Once the pandemic starts –this year, or ten years from now - the supply of antivirals may be limited and the lines will be long.
It may surprise you that influenza remains an enigma. Current theory holds that influenza infects like measles, one person gets it, gives it to others, in a chain of infectious events. That theory has some problems. For example, Dr. Carolyn Buxton Bridges, of the CDC, recently published a review paper on the transmission of influenza. She noted, "Our review found no human experimental studies published in the English-language literature delineating person-to-person transmission of influenza."
Clin Infect Dis. 2003 Oct 15;37(8):1094-101
Most experts also think pandemic strains originate in birds or other animals. Dr. Ann Reid and Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology recently wrote, "it is important to recognize that the mechanisms by which pandemic strains originate have not been explained yet." Furthermore, there is a persistent theory that influenza lies dormant in humans, not birds or swine, where it mutates into a killer strain.
J Gen Virol. 2003 Sep;84(Pt 9):2285-92.
Vaccine. 2002 Aug 19;20(25-26):3068-87.
So, get your flu shot for this year’s flu, stock up on some antivirals, and let’s go looking for some ignored facts that might improve your family’s chances when the pandemic comes. Last month we saw that aggressive treatment of vitamin D deficiency prevented children from getting infections. Dr. Rehman didn’t differentiate between viral and bacterial infections but most of the illnesses vitamin D prevented were probably viral.
J Trop Pediatr. 1994 Feb;40(1):58.
When looking for ignored facts, one should always start with epidemiology, the detective branch of medicine. Epidemiologists look for clues, clues that lead to theories, theories that can be tested, and, if true, save your family’s lives. One of the world’s pioneering epidemiologists died recently, R. Edward Hope-Simpson. He used meticulous, and solitary, detective work to discover that the chickenpox virus was reactivated in adults, causing shingles. Dr. Hope-Simpson became famous.
Proc R Soc Med. 1965 Jan;58:9-20.
In 1979, he turned his attention to influenza A. He studied two remote populations, one in Wales and the other in England. He found that most affected households had only one case of influenza. Furthermore, no serial time intervals could be identified in cumulative household outbreaks, that is, different families didn’t get sick one after another, but around the same time. He discovered other facts that just didn’t fit with the theory that influenza A is primarily spread by person-to-person transmission of this year’s virus.
J Hyg (Lond). 1979 Aug;83(1):11-26.
Then he spent the rest of his life trying to alert us to one of the basic facts of influenza. It is distinctly seasonal. All theories about its transmission must take into account its seasonality. Hope-Simpson reminded us what Davenport said, "Epidemiological hypotheses must provide satisfactory explanations for all the known findings – not just for a convenient subset of them."
Going back to 1945, he discovered that influenza epidemics above 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres occurred during the six months of least solar radiation. Outbreaks in the tropics almost always occur during the rainy season. Hope-Simpson concluded, "Latitude alone broadly determines the timing of the epidemics in the annual cycle, a relationship that suggests a rather direct effect of some component of solar radiation acting positively or negatively upon the virus, the humans host or their interaction." That is, something may be regularly reducing our immunity every fall and winter.
J Hyg (Lond). 1981 Feb;86(1):35-47.
In 2003, researchers confirmed that influenza epidemics in the tropics occur, with few exceptions, during the rainy season - when vitamin D levels should be falling.
Paediatr Respir Rev. 2003 Jun;4(2):105-11.
Furthermore, in his 1981 paper, Hope-Simpson wondered how the same virus could cause influenza outbreaks at exactly the same time (middle of winter) over a six-year period (1969 - 1974) in two widely separated areas (Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Cirencester, England). Surely, during the middle of the Cold War, infected people did not arrive at two locations hundreds of miles apart, in the middle of winter, for five years in a row to infect the well people. On thing Prague and Cirencester do have in common, they are both at 50 degrees latitude.
In 1990, researchers confirmed a relative lack of country-to-country transmission, by looking at two countries with heavy tourist traffic between them.
J Hyg Epidemiol Microbiol Immunol. 1990;34(3):283-8
Hope-Simpson rejected the theory that this year’s virus is only transmitted from actively infected persons to well persons, concluding instead the facts were more consistent with transmission by symptomless carriers who become contagious when the sun is either in the other hemisphere or obscured by the rainy season. He theorized that annual movement of the sun caused a "seasonal stimulus that reactivates latent virus in the innumerable carriers who are everywhere present, so creating the opportunity for epidemics to occur in the wake of its passage." And thus the celebrated scientist committed heresy.
Everyone knows influenza transmission is direct; the ill people infect the well people. The accepted theory of pandemics is that the virus first spreads in birds, perhaps jumps to a mammal (pigs in 1918), then jumps to humans already infected with a common influenza strain. There it combines and mutates (reassortment) to a hybrid virus in the index case and that single person spreads it to others who spread it to others, etc. No, said Hope-Simpson, the epidemiology just does not fit that theory. Heresy, said the experts.
Hope-Simpson practiced medicine in a small village in southwest England, Cirencester. He went back and looked at 16 years of his medical records and found evidence of 20 influenza outbreaks, spaced over those 16 years. In every outbreak, he found young children were the most frequently affected but in none of the 20 outbreaks did the children appear to be major disseminators of the influenza virus. Furthermore, all ages seemed to get sick around the same time. He concluded, "Such age-patterns are not those caused by a highly infectious immunizing virus surviving by means of direct transmissions from the sick, whose prompt development of the disease continues endless chains of transmissions."
J Hyg (Lond). 1984 Jun;92(3):303-36.
No one listened. Everyone knew, and still knows: influenza only occurs when sick people infect well people, who in turn infect other well people. I don’t think so, said Hope-Simpson. In search of more evidence, he went to all the parishes in Gloucestershire, separated by many miles. He looked at burial records for the last 500 years and found evidence of repeated influenza epidemics. He concluded, "In each century, influenzal excess mortalities in Gloucestershire parishes coincided with the date of the relevant influenza epidemic as recorded from widely different parts of Britain." That is, long before modern rapid transit, everyone in Britain got the flu around the same time! How could one person come down with the flu, infect others, etc, when everyone in Britain got sick at the same time, long before modern rapid transit?
J Hyg (Lond). 1983 Oct;91(2):293-308.
In fact, after studying influenza epidemics in schools, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe also decided that direct spread by infected children could not explain what was happening. They theorized that influenza viral precursors were reaching earth from outer space!
Nature. 1987 Jun 25-Jul 1;327(6124):664.
Content to stay on earth, Hope-Simpson published a detailed theory of influenza’s infectivity in 1987, based on the facts he observed. Right or wrong, Hope-Simpson’s paper is wonderful reading for anyone interested in influenza. Here is a great mind at work. He noted any theory of influenza must explain a number of facts:
"Vast explosions of disease which may attack 15% or more of a large community within six weeks and then cease,"
"Successive outbreaks of type A influenza in small relatively remote communities often coincide closely season after season with those of the country as a whole and, although the virus changes, the identical strains of virus appear contemporaneously in the two situations,"
"Cessation of epidemics despite abundant available non-immune subjects,"
household outbreaks occur all at once, not one after another,
"Low secondary attack rates within households,"
"epidemic patterns of influenza have not changed in four centuries . . . and does not seem to have altered with the increasing speed and complexity of human communications."
Epidemiol Infect. 1987 Aug;99(1):5-54.
Hope Simpson proposed that symptomless carriers became infective in response to a seasonal stimulus and then infect others causing simultaneous explosions of disease in widely different areas. Furthermore, he concluded that those who got sick were not particularly contagious. He proposed that the stimulus for infection "is dependent on variations in solar radiation, an extraterrestrial influence unaffected by the rapidity of human travel. The rapidity of influenza spread was as rapid in previous centuries as it is at present because it does not depend on case-to-case transfer."
He added, "The primary agency mediating seasonal control remains unidentified." That is, something is weakening our immune system, every year, as regularly as changing of the leaves and declining vitamin D levels, but he didn’t know what it was. Hope-Simpson’s 1987 paper was his last. In 1992, he compiled all his work on influenza into a book. He died in 2003, at the age of 95.
The Transmission of Epidemic Influenza (The Language of Science)
I wish Hope-Simpson could have lived a while longer, to read Dr. Colleen Hayes and her colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is one of the brightest vitamin D researchers out there. In 2003, she reviewed the profound effect vitamin D has on the immune system, including the role vitamin D plays in fighting infections.
Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2003 Mar;49(2):277-300.
Yes, as regularly as the flu season, vitamin D levels plummet in the fall and winter. Yes, vitamin D has profound effects on the immune system. Yes vitamin D may be involved in the epidemiology of influenza. But is there any direct evidence?
Two animal studies showed vitamin D prevents the flu and one showed it does not. Nothing after 1956. If you obtain and read the first citation below, you’ll see the very first animal paper indicting vitamin D protected rats from influenza was published in Japan during World War II, apparently part of Japan’s biological weapons research. The CIA confiscated the paper after the war.
Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1949 Dec;72(3):695-7.
Virology. 1956 Jun;2(3):415-29.
One last thing, when you give flu shots to hemodialysis patients, those taking activated vitamin D develop significantly better immunity.
Nephron. 2000 Sep;86(1):56-61.
Will normal vitamin D levels protect your family against the flu? No one knows. It would be nice if we had a report from a big hospital, were some patients were on vitamin D and some who weren’t and see what happened when the flu struck the hospital. Were the patients on vitamin D less likely to get the flu?
In the meantime, it seems to me the smart thing to do is to take enough real vitamin D (cholecalciferol) or get enough UVB light to get and keep your 25-hydroxy-vitamin D level at about 50 ng/ml. Of course, it is a good idea to keep your level around 50 ng/ml year around even if you don’t fear the coming influenza pandemic. 50 ng/ml is the normal human level and protects the owner from a myriad of chronic diseases.
J Nutr. 2005 Feb;135(2):317-22.
Eur J Clin Invest. 2005 May;35(5):290-304.
Also, don’t depend on high levels in the summer being stored and used in the winter. Vieth believes that the intracellular kinetics of vitamin D metabolism means that declining vitamin D blood levels may cause rapidly declining intracellular levels. That is, declining levels in the autumn may be as dangerous as low levels in the winter.
Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 1;111(3):468
Professor Robert Heaney believes healthy blood levels may require up to 4,000 units a day for those with no sun exposure. Most people need to take more in the winter than the summer. Big people need more than little people. African Americans need more than whites. Sunphobes need more than those who enjoy God’s invention.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Jul 15
Children over 50 pounds need up to 2,000 units a day. Under 50 pounds, about 1,000 units a day. There is no way to know for sure how much you need without a blood test, called a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D. That test should be conducted in the late winter, when your levels are the lowest, and at the beginning of fall, when your levels are the highest. Then you can figure out how much you need to take to keep stable levels. Or adults can simply take 4,000 units a day, every day, except for those late spring, summer, and early fall days when you go into the sun.
It might be a good idea to keep pharmacological doses (50,000 units) of vitamin D next to your antivirals and take a 50,000 unit capsule at the first sign of the flu, although there is not one study to support such a practice. It might help tame those unchained macrophages and save your life or it might not help at all. You can buy 50,000 unit capsules from Bio-Tech-Pharm . Single administrations of ten times that amount have repeatedly been found to be safe and are routinely used in Europe as stoss therapy.
So, maybe vitamin D will help your family survive the coming influenza pandemic, maybe not. Let’s gamble. Ever heard of the vitamin D variation of Pascal’s wager ?
"If you erroneously believe vitamin D helps influenza, you lose nothing, whereas if you correctly believe vitamin D helps influenza, your family may live. But if you correctly disbelieve in vitamin D, you gain nothing, whereas if you erroneously disbelieve in vitamin D, your family may die."
John Cannell, MD
The Vitamin D Council
9100 San Gregorio Road
Atascadero, CA 93422
Vitamin D3
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Get up, get out, and for goodness sake, walk...
Study: Walking As Good As Jogging
By NATALIE GOTT, Associated Press Writer
There's no need to run. Just going for a brisk walk — in the park, around the block or on a treadmill — may be enough to help keep your heart healthy, a small study suggests.
The study, which indicates roughly two to three hours of mild exercise a week at a moderate intensity can significantly cut the risk of cardiovascular disease, supports earlier research.
The findings may encourage people who are reluctant to exercise, said Brian Duscha, the lead author of the research published in the October issue of the journal Chest.
"The classic question always is: What's the minimum amount I need to do to enjoy the benefits of it," Duscha said. "If you just walk 12 miles a week at a brisk pace, it's scientifically proven now that you will get some benefits."
The conclusions are based on a study at Duke University Medical Center of 133 middle-aged overweight sedentary men and women who were at risk for heart disease.
Broken into four groups, the volunteers either did not exercise, walked briskly for 12 miles a week at a moderate intensity, walked briskly or jogged slowly 12 miles a week at a vigorous intensity, or jogged 20 miles a week at a vigorous intensity.
The researchers studied two measurements of fitness — time to exhaustion and oxygen consumption. The better shape a person is in, the more oxygen can be consumed and used, Duscha said.
All the exercise groups saw fitness improvements. And when the two groups that walked 12 miles at differing intensity levels were compared, there wasn't a significant difference in peak oxygen consumption. There was an improvement for those who jogged vigorously 20 miles a week, an indication that the amount of exercise can be important.
As to the exercising volunteers' minimal weight loss — an average of 3 pounds over the eight-month study period — Duscha said that didn't matter. People who don't exercise and maintain the same diet will gain up to 4 pounds a year, according to an earlier analysis of the same study participants.
Even if you think you aren't gaining any benefits because you aren't losing weight, "don't stop exercising," Duscha said.
Dr. Robert Eckel, president of the American Heart Association, said the study supports what already is known: Moderate activity is certainly better than no activity. But, he noted that "even being more fit may have a better outcome long-term."
A large study based on medical records and questionnaires of more than 40,000 men middle-aged men a few years ago also suggested moderate exercise helps the heart.
Dave Brady, manager of Hyde Park Gym in Austin, Texas, said the findings from the Duke study weren't new but "absolutely right on." Walking 12 miles a week is a good start for people who are overweight and haven't done any exercise, he said.
"If people would just start walking they will get some type of benefit," said Brady.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
By NATALIE GOTT, Associated Press Writer
There's no need to run. Just going for a brisk walk — in the park, around the block or on a treadmill — may be enough to help keep your heart healthy, a small study suggests.
The study, which indicates roughly two to three hours of mild exercise a week at a moderate intensity can significantly cut the risk of cardiovascular disease, supports earlier research.
The findings may encourage people who are reluctant to exercise, said Brian Duscha, the lead author of the research published in the October issue of the journal Chest.
"The classic question always is: What's the minimum amount I need to do to enjoy the benefits of it," Duscha said. "If you just walk 12 miles a week at a brisk pace, it's scientifically proven now that you will get some benefits."
The conclusions are based on a study at Duke University Medical Center of 133 middle-aged overweight sedentary men and women who were at risk for heart disease.
Broken into four groups, the volunteers either did not exercise, walked briskly for 12 miles a week at a moderate intensity, walked briskly or jogged slowly 12 miles a week at a vigorous intensity, or jogged 20 miles a week at a vigorous intensity.
The researchers studied two measurements of fitness — time to exhaustion and oxygen consumption. The better shape a person is in, the more oxygen can be consumed and used, Duscha said.
All the exercise groups saw fitness improvements. And when the two groups that walked 12 miles at differing intensity levels were compared, there wasn't a significant difference in peak oxygen consumption. There was an improvement for those who jogged vigorously 20 miles a week, an indication that the amount of exercise can be important.
As to the exercising volunteers' minimal weight loss — an average of 3 pounds over the eight-month study period — Duscha said that didn't matter. People who don't exercise and maintain the same diet will gain up to 4 pounds a year, according to an earlier analysis of the same study participants.
Even if you think you aren't gaining any benefits because you aren't losing weight, "don't stop exercising," Duscha said.
Dr. Robert Eckel, president of the American Heart Association, said the study supports what already is known: Moderate activity is certainly better than no activity. But, he noted that "even being more fit may have a better outcome long-term."
A large study based on medical records and questionnaires of more than 40,000 men middle-aged men a few years ago also suggested moderate exercise helps the heart.
Dave Brady, manager of Hyde Park Gym in Austin, Texas, said the findings from the Duke study weren't new but "absolutely right on." Walking 12 miles a week is a good start for people who are overweight and haven't done any exercise, he said.
"If people would just start walking they will get some type of benefit," said Brady.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Saturday, October 22, 2005
What is the Number 1 Cause of Death in America...
Commentary by CW 10-22-05:
This is a very important question. Why, because if we could know in advance what the number 1 killer of people in America was, maybe, just maybe we could stop ourselves from becoming a statistic that would end in our premature demise.
I have long been a follower of medical statistics. They tell me a lot. For example, in 1962, 1 out 16 people were getting Cancer, today it is more like 1 in 2 or 3. It helps me to know this, so when I hear the statement "we are winning the war on Cancer", I can look at the reality and say to myself... Really? Actually I say... Liar, liar, pants on fire, or something like that.
The annual cancer death rate for 2001 was, 553,251.
So is Cancer the number 1 cause of death in America? Nope. It is gaining on us though.
What about Heart Disease? It use to be that Heart disease was the number 1 killer in America. Right now, 1 out of 2 of us will become a statistic of Heart Disease and the 2001 heart disease annual death rate was 699,697.
So, is Heart Disease number 1? Nope. But its getting a lot of us.
What about type 2 Diabetes? Well it's fast becoming number 3 with a 32% increase of this disease in just the last 20 years. But it's not number 1, yet.
So what is the leading cause of death in America, with the total number of deaths for 2001 being 783,936.
Are you ready?
I think you will be surprised.
Doctors, hospitals, drug interactions or what is called Iatrogenic [induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures] killed the most people in 2001.
Here is just a little of the stats:
According to Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, and Dorothy Smith PhD "a definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics in 2001 shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good".
"The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics".
"The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million".
"The total number of iatrogenic deaths is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States".
"The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important in our analysis. Any medical procedure that is invasive and not necessary must be considered as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people ("patients") who are thrust into a dangerous health care system. They are helpless victims. Each one of these 16.4 million lives is being affected in a way that could have a fatal consequence. Simply entering a hospital could result in the following (out of 16. 4 million people):
2.1 percent chance of a serious adverse drug reaction (186,000)
5 percent to 6 percent chance of acquiring a nosocomial [hospital] infection (489,500)
4 percent to 36 percent chance of having an iatrogenic injury in hospital (medical error and adverse drug reactions) (1.78 million)
17 percent chance of a procedure error (1.3 million)
All the statistics above represent a one-year time span. Imagine the numbers over a 10-year period.
Working with the most conservative figures from our statistics we project the following 10-year death rates would be 7,841,360 (7.8 million) "
I could give you a lot more examples, but here is just one that I noticed the other day. This is modern medicine trying to help us with our type 2 Diabetes epidemic.
Study finds higher cardiac risks from new diabetes drug:
By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY, Fri Oct 21, 7:16 AM ET
A powerful new diabetes drug on the brink of being approved appears to double the risk of death, heart attacks or strokes, researchers reported Thursday.
The drug, muraglitazar, is a prototype of a new class of drugs that can reduce blood fats and blood sugar, a valuable combination for the 18 million diabetics who have a high risk of heart disease.
The study was carried out by the same Cleveland Clinic researchers who first reported the heart risks posed by the arthritis drug Vioxx, which has been taken off the market. They used data the diabetes drug's maker, Bristol-Myers Squibb, gave the Food and Drug Administration.
Their analysis involved data from 2,374 patients who took muraglitazar, to be sold as Pargluva, and 1,351 who took either a rival drug called pioglitazone, sold as Actos, or a placebo. Death, heart attacks and strokes occurred in 35 of the muraglitazar patients and nine of the control patients.
"Ten of 1,000 patients would die, have a heart attack or a stroke," says lead author Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic.
When the researchers factored in heart failure and mini-strokes, Nissen says, they found that patients' risk of catastrophic events increased nearly threefold.
Nissen and his co-authors published their results two days after the FDA pronounced muraglitazar "approvable." But the FDA asked Bristol-Myers to address the drug's heart-disease risk profile.
The Journal of the American Medical Association rushed the study onto its website Thursday, citing a compelling need to make the information public.
"It's a very important and interesting finding," says Richard Kahn of the American Diabetes Association. "I'm confident that the FDA will pursue this to the end to make sure the drug is safe."
Tony Plohoros, a spokesman for Bristol-Myers, says: "At this point, we're anxious to begin discussions with FDA to address this issue." Merck, which is marketing the drug with Bristol-Myers, echoed that response in a joint statement.
Laura Alvey, an FDA spokeswoman, issued a statement that said the agency was aware of the latest findings on muraglitazar but that it couldn't comment further on the drug because its application for approval is still pending.
James Brophy of McGill University in Montreal wrote in a JAMA editorial that the analysis "should focus serious attention" on the drug's cardiovascular risks.
On Sept. 9, an FDA advisory committee voted 8-1 to recommend the drug's approval as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. During that meeting, the FDA's analysts reported evidence of cardiac risk. But they didn't flag the risk as significant, except when the drug was used with other treatments. Bristol experts concluded there was no significant rise in heart risk.
Brophy, in his editorial, cited the gulf between the two interpretations of the data. He asked: "The question now is, which safety message will the FDA buy?"
Is it no wonder that I have dedicated myself to learning alternative approaches to dealing with disease. What happened to Medicine. Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicines said, "I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel..." He was also quoted as saying "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
Need I say any more...
Also I would like to say that America is number 1 in the world for Emergency Medical and Surgical care. If I were in a car accident, broke my leg or needed surgery, I would have the best care in the world here, but when it comes to the treatment of Chronic Degenerative Diseases, I personally find Alternative Medicine a smarter choice, when chosen properly.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
This is a very important question. Why, because if we could know in advance what the number 1 killer of people in America was, maybe, just maybe we could stop ourselves from becoming a statistic that would end in our premature demise.
I have long been a follower of medical statistics. They tell me a lot. For example, in 1962, 1 out 16 people were getting Cancer, today it is more like 1 in 2 or 3. It helps me to know this, so when I hear the statement "we are winning the war on Cancer", I can look at the reality and say to myself... Really? Actually I say... Liar, liar, pants on fire, or something like that.
The annual cancer death rate for 2001 was, 553,251.
So is Cancer the number 1 cause of death in America? Nope. It is gaining on us though.
What about Heart Disease? It use to be that Heart disease was the number 1 killer in America. Right now, 1 out of 2 of us will become a statistic of Heart Disease and the 2001 heart disease annual death rate was 699,697.
So, is Heart Disease number 1? Nope. But its getting a lot of us.
What about type 2 Diabetes? Well it's fast becoming number 3 with a 32% increase of this disease in just the last 20 years. But it's not number 1, yet.
So what is the leading cause of death in America, with the total number of deaths for 2001 being 783,936.
Are you ready?
I think you will be surprised.
Doctors, hospitals, drug interactions or what is called Iatrogenic [induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures] killed the most people in 2001.
Here is just a little of the stats:
According to Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, and Dorothy Smith PhD "a definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics in 2001 shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good".
"The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics".
"The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million".
"The total number of iatrogenic deaths is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States".
"The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important in our analysis. Any medical procedure that is invasive and not necessary must be considered as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people ("patients") who are thrust into a dangerous health care system. They are helpless victims. Each one of these 16.4 million lives is being affected in a way that could have a fatal consequence. Simply entering a hospital could result in the following (out of 16. 4 million people):
2.1 percent chance of a serious adverse drug reaction (186,000)
5 percent to 6 percent chance of acquiring a nosocomial [hospital] infection (489,500)
4 percent to 36 percent chance of having an iatrogenic injury in hospital (medical error and adverse drug reactions) (1.78 million)
17 percent chance of a procedure error (1.3 million)
All the statistics above represent a one-year time span. Imagine the numbers over a 10-year period.
Working with the most conservative figures from our statistics we project the following 10-year death rates would be 7,841,360 (7.8 million) "
I could give you a lot more examples, but here is just one that I noticed the other day. This is modern medicine trying to help us with our type 2 Diabetes epidemic.
Study finds higher cardiac risks from new diabetes drug:
By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY, Fri Oct 21, 7:16 AM ET
A powerful new diabetes drug on the brink of being approved appears to double the risk of death, heart attacks or strokes, researchers reported Thursday.
The drug, muraglitazar, is a prototype of a new class of drugs that can reduce blood fats and blood sugar, a valuable combination for the 18 million diabetics who have a high risk of heart disease.
The study was carried out by the same Cleveland Clinic researchers who first reported the heart risks posed by the arthritis drug Vioxx, which has been taken off the market. They used data the diabetes drug's maker, Bristol-Myers Squibb, gave the Food and Drug Administration.
Their analysis involved data from 2,374 patients who took muraglitazar, to be sold as Pargluva, and 1,351 who took either a rival drug called pioglitazone, sold as Actos, or a placebo. Death, heart attacks and strokes occurred in 35 of the muraglitazar patients and nine of the control patients.
"Ten of 1,000 patients would die, have a heart attack or a stroke," says lead author Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic.
When the researchers factored in heart failure and mini-strokes, Nissen says, they found that patients' risk of catastrophic events increased nearly threefold.
Nissen and his co-authors published their results two days after the FDA pronounced muraglitazar "approvable." But the FDA asked Bristol-Myers to address the drug's heart-disease risk profile.
The Journal of the American Medical Association rushed the study onto its website Thursday, citing a compelling need to make the information public.
"It's a very important and interesting finding," says Richard Kahn of the American Diabetes Association. "I'm confident that the FDA will pursue this to the end to make sure the drug is safe."
Tony Plohoros, a spokesman for Bristol-Myers, says: "At this point, we're anxious to begin discussions with FDA to address this issue." Merck, which is marketing the drug with Bristol-Myers, echoed that response in a joint statement.
Laura Alvey, an FDA spokeswoman, issued a statement that said the agency was aware of the latest findings on muraglitazar but that it couldn't comment further on the drug because its application for approval is still pending.
James Brophy of McGill University in Montreal wrote in a JAMA editorial that the analysis "should focus serious attention" on the drug's cardiovascular risks.
On Sept. 9, an FDA advisory committee voted 8-1 to recommend the drug's approval as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. During that meeting, the FDA's analysts reported evidence of cardiac risk. But they didn't flag the risk as significant, except when the drug was used with other treatments. Bristol experts concluded there was no significant rise in heart risk.
Brophy, in his editorial, cited the gulf between the two interpretations of the data. He asked: "The question now is, which safety message will the FDA buy?"
Is it no wonder that I have dedicated myself to learning alternative approaches to dealing with disease. What happened to Medicine. Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicines said, "I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel..." He was also quoted as saying "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
Need I say any more...
Also I would like to say that America is number 1 in the world for Emergency Medical and Surgical care. If I were in a car accident, broke my leg or needed surgery, I would have the best care in the world here, but when it comes to the treatment of Chronic Degenerative Diseases, I personally find Alternative Medicine a smarter choice, when chosen properly.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Monday, October 17, 2005
High fat diet eases Alzheimer’s?
17/10/2005-
Exploring how dietary components can interact to influence the metabolic state of the body, scientists show that a high fat, low carbohydrate diet eases Alzheimer's disease in mice.
The authors of the study believe that insulin and the related hormone, insulin related growth factor-1 (IGF-1), are the key players in reducing the brain protein amyloid-beta, an indicator of Alzheimer's disease.
"You might say that fat is the bomb, and insulin (from carbohydrate) is the fuse, says Richard Feinman, editor of Nutrition and Metabolism, that published the study this week.
The research, by Samuel Henderson at US pharma firm Accera, runs counter to previous studies suggesting a negative effect of fat on Alzheimer's disease.
Feinman explains why this latest research has thrown up a new angle.
" Most studies of the deleterious effects of fat have been done in the presence of high carbohydrate. If carbs are high, dietary fat is not oxidised (Burned as fuel)and is instead stored as body fat."
When carbohydrates are very low and fat is high, compounds called ketone bodies are generated (ketosis, and these compounds may play a role in the observed reduction in amyloid-beta.
In association with a group from the University of Washington led by Dr. Suzanne Craft, Henderson has previously shown cognitive improvement in patients with mild AD who were given a diet that raised ketone bodies.
"Although it is too early to tell how the results will fit into the treatment of AD, the implication for diet in general is also important," underlines Feinman.
The primacy of insulin as a control element is the basis of popular weight-loss diets based on carbohydrate restriction, he adds.
Such diets, he adds, allow dieters to regulate fat and calorie intake by appetite alone as long as carbohydrate intake remains minimal.
"Henderson's effort is one of several recent studies that point the way to understanding metabolism beyond the issues surrounding simple fat reduction, " says Feinman.
There are nearly 18 million people with dementia in the world and the most common cause of this dementia is Alzheimer's disease. By 2025 this figure is expected to rise to 34 million, with 71 per cent of these likely to live in developing countries.
Today research continues to investigate how the diet may slow down, or prevent, the development of dementia.
Several studies have found an association between intake of omega-3s, the fatty acid found in high quantities in oily fish and reduced risk of dementia, although a recent trial failed to link the presence of these fats in the diet with slower cognitive decline.
This trial, on elderly men and women living in Chicago, did find however that those who reported eating fish at least once a week had a slower decline in mental function than peers who did not eat fish as often, about 10 per cent less per year.
Comment: This study is consistent with what my research has been telling me for many years. The only time fats are not burned as energy, is when your Insulin levels are too high and your body is being told to store fat for a rainy day. Ketosis is when the body burns fats that are consumed or stored as body fat, and apparently may help remove Amyloid Plague associated with Dementia. Everyone should read and study these portions of my website if you want to remain free from chronic disease and weight gain...
Hyperinsulinemia... and Weightloss that works - long term...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Exploring how dietary components can interact to influence the metabolic state of the body, scientists show that a high fat, low carbohydrate diet eases Alzheimer's disease in mice.
The authors of the study believe that insulin and the related hormone, insulin related growth factor-1 (IGF-1), are the key players in reducing the brain protein amyloid-beta, an indicator of Alzheimer's disease.
"You might say that fat is the bomb, and insulin (from carbohydrate) is the fuse, says Richard Feinman, editor of Nutrition and Metabolism, that published the study this week.
The research, by Samuel Henderson at US pharma firm Accera, runs counter to previous studies suggesting a negative effect of fat on Alzheimer's disease.
Feinman explains why this latest research has thrown up a new angle.
" Most studies of the deleterious effects of fat have been done in the presence of high carbohydrate. If carbs are high, dietary fat is not oxidised (Burned as fuel)and is instead stored as body fat."
When carbohydrates are very low and fat is high, compounds called ketone bodies are generated (ketosis, and these compounds may play a role in the observed reduction in amyloid-beta.
In association with a group from the University of Washington led by Dr. Suzanne Craft, Henderson has previously shown cognitive improvement in patients with mild AD who were given a diet that raised ketone bodies.
"Although it is too early to tell how the results will fit into the treatment of AD, the implication for diet in general is also important," underlines Feinman.
The primacy of insulin as a control element is the basis of popular weight-loss diets based on carbohydrate restriction, he adds.
Such diets, he adds, allow dieters to regulate fat and calorie intake by appetite alone as long as carbohydrate intake remains minimal.
"Henderson's effort is one of several recent studies that point the way to understanding metabolism beyond the issues surrounding simple fat reduction, " says Feinman.
There are nearly 18 million people with dementia in the world and the most common cause of this dementia is Alzheimer's disease. By 2025 this figure is expected to rise to 34 million, with 71 per cent of these likely to live in developing countries.
Today research continues to investigate how the diet may slow down, or prevent, the development of dementia.
Several studies have found an association between intake of omega-3s, the fatty acid found in high quantities in oily fish and reduced risk of dementia, although a recent trial failed to link the presence of these fats in the diet with slower cognitive decline.
This trial, on elderly men and women living in Chicago, did find however that those who reported eating fish at least once a week had a slower decline in mental function than peers who did not eat fish as often, about 10 per cent less per year.
Comment: This study is consistent with what my research has been telling me for many years. The only time fats are not burned as energy, is when your Insulin levels are too high and your body is being told to store fat for a rainy day. Ketosis is when the body burns fats that are consumed or stored as body fat, and apparently may help remove Amyloid Plague associated with Dementia. Everyone should read and study these portions of my website if you want to remain free from chronic disease and weight gain...
Hyperinsulinemia... and Weightloss that works - long term...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Saturated fats are better for you than you have been led to believe...
11/10/2005-
Cheeseburgers are good for the gut, say scientists this week, in sharp contrast to widespread belief that high fat foods can clog up the arteries.
A new study, published in the 17 October issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, claims that high fat foods can actually soothe inflammation.
This action may stop immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader, report the researchers from Maastricht University in Holland.
Eating - particularly eating fat-rich foods - causes cells in the small intestine to produce a helpful hormone called cholecystokinin , or CCK, according to research by Drs Misha Luyer and Wim Buurman.
CCK stimulates digestion and gut peristalsis (the motion that propels food along the digestive tract), and also triggers satiation - the full feeling that prompts consumers to stop eating.
The researchers found that fat-induced CCK can dampen inflammation in the gut.
Rats fed a high-fat diet were protected against lethal bacteria-induced shock whereas those fed a low-fat diet were not.
CCK sent signals to the brain through the vagus nerve, the nerve that provides the electrical regulation for internal organs, including the gut and the heart.
In response to CCK, vagus nerve endings in the gut released a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine then bound to proteins on immune cells and turned the cells off.
The study authors believe this pathway might explain why the immune system does not react to food proteins and normal gut bacteria as if they were foreign invaders.
They also say that a body with a "food-deprived intestine" may be more vulnerable to a lethal inflammatory response, called septic shock, after a serious injury or infection, in other words, reducing inflammatory complications after surgery.
Comment: You owe it to your self to understand the real truth about fats. Fat Facts...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional.
If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Cheeseburgers are good for the gut, say scientists this week, in sharp contrast to widespread belief that high fat foods can clog up the arteries.
A new study, published in the 17 October issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, claims that high fat foods can actually soothe inflammation.
This action may stop immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader, report the researchers from Maastricht University in Holland.
Eating - particularly eating fat-rich foods - causes cells in the small intestine to produce a helpful hormone called cholecystokinin , or CCK, according to research by Drs Misha Luyer and Wim Buurman.
CCK stimulates digestion and gut peristalsis (the motion that propels food along the digestive tract), and also triggers satiation - the full feeling that prompts consumers to stop eating.
The researchers found that fat-induced CCK can dampen inflammation in the gut.
Rats fed a high-fat diet were protected against lethal bacteria-induced shock whereas those fed a low-fat diet were not.
CCK sent signals to the brain through the vagus nerve, the nerve that provides the electrical regulation for internal organs, including the gut and the heart.
In response to CCK, vagus nerve endings in the gut released a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine then bound to proteins on immune cells and turned the cells off.
The study authors believe this pathway might explain why the immune system does not react to food proteins and normal gut bacteria as if they were foreign invaders.
They also say that a body with a "food-deprived intestine" may be more vulnerable to a lethal inflammatory response, called septic shock, after a serious injury or infection, in other words, reducing inflammatory complications after surgery.
Comment: You owe it to your self to understand the real truth about fats. Fat Facts...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional.
If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Are you getting your immune system ready for this - YOU BETTER
WHO: Impossible to Predict Bird Flu Deaths ...
The U.N. health agency on Friday said it was impossible to estimate how many people would die from a new influenza pandemic, adding that it has warned countries to prepare for a death toll of up to 7.4 million. "We think that this is the most reasoned position," said World Health Organization spokesman Dick Thompson, warning that "you could pick almost any number. "On Thursday, Dr. David Nabarro, the new U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, warned that the "range of deaths could be anything between 5 and 150 million" from a new pandemic."One of those numbers will turn out to be right," Thompson told reporters. "We're not going to know how lethal the next pandemic is going to be until the pandemic begins. "The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swathes of Asia since 2003, jumping to humans and killing at least 65 people, more than 40 of them in Vietnam, and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds. Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds. But WHO has warned that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, possibly triggering a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Comment: I have been warning you about this for a year and a half. It is not a matter of if but when this comes, and it could kill millions in this country. I personally will not be taking any vaccinations for this, but rather I will be continually making sure my immune system is working at 100%. Be sure to talk to your doctor as to how you should proceed.
The immune system is a fascinating and complex group of cells and biochemical processes. It's many components work to protect you from environmental threats - but your immune system requires nutritional support to function optimally. Scientific research is proving that some of the most powerful immune-supportive nutrients are found in mushrooms as well as in vitamins and minerals that function as antioxidants. People who realize the critical importance of optimizing immune function should seriously consider adding an advanced mushroom complex to their daily regimen. In addition I always take a multi-vitamin with additional amounts of A, B-Complex, D3, C, E, Zinc, Selenium, Omega 3's and when the flu comes, I will be taking the herb Echinacea as a booster. If you are concerned about whether your diet and supplemental program is enough to help protect you, consider a Optimal Health Evaluation and or a Q&AMAIL inquiry.
Stay Healthy...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
The U.N. health agency on Friday said it was impossible to estimate how many people would die from a new influenza pandemic, adding that it has warned countries to prepare for a death toll of up to 7.4 million. "We think that this is the most reasoned position," said World Health Organization spokesman Dick Thompson, warning that "you could pick almost any number. "On Thursday, Dr. David Nabarro, the new U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, warned that the "range of deaths could be anything between 5 and 150 million" from a new pandemic."One of those numbers will turn out to be right," Thompson told reporters. "We're not going to know how lethal the next pandemic is going to be until the pandemic begins. "The H5N1 strain of bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swathes of Asia since 2003, jumping to humans and killing at least 65 people, more than 40 of them in Vietnam, and resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds. Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds. But WHO has warned that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, possibly triggering a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Comment: I have been warning you about this for a year and a half. It is not a matter of if but when this comes, and it could kill millions in this country. I personally will not be taking any vaccinations for this, but rather I will be continually making sure my immune system is working at 100%. Be sure to talk to your doctor as to how you should proceed.
The immune system is a fascinating and complex group of cells and biochemical processes. It's many components work to protect you from environmental threats - but your immune system requires nutritional support to function optimally. Scientific research is proving that some of the most powerful immune-supportive nutrients are found in mushrooms as well as in vitamins and minerals that function as antioxidants. People who realize the critical importance of optimizing immune function should seriously consider adding an advanced mushroom complex to their daily regimen. In addition I always take a multi-vitamin with additional amounts of A, B-Complex, D3, C, E, Zinc, Selenium, Omega 3's and when the flu comes, I will be taking the herb Echinacea as a booster. If you are concerned about whether your diet and supplemental program is enough to help protect you, consider a Optimal Health Evaluation and or a Q&AMAIL inquiry.
Stay Healthy...
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Lacking B vitamins makes for cognitive decline
06/10/2005- Low B vitamin levels and high homocysteine concentrations predict cognitive decline, say US researchers, producing new data to support the role of B vitamins in the mental health of the elderly.
A number of studies have shown that raised homocysteine concentrations may contribute to cognitive impairment. It is also know that elevations in homocysteine, an amino acid, result from inadequate folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 intake.
But it is not clear whether these associations between homocysteine and cognitive measures are causal or whether they are due to homocysteine, to independent actions of the B vitamins, or to both.
The new study, published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol 82, no 3, pp627-635), found that folate was independently protective against a decline in spatial copying score after adjustment for other vitamins and for plasma homocysteine. It also protected against a decline in verbal fluency.
But a high homocysteine concentration was associated with a decline in recall memory.
The team from the Tufts University and the Boston University School of Public Health concluded that both low B vitamin and high homocysteine concentrations predict cognitive decline.
In another study out this month, the link with homocysteine concentration and decline in cognition was also demonstrated.
Writing in the 1 October issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology (vol 162, no 7, pp644-653), Dr Merrill Elias of Boston University and colleagues found that in people over age 60, increasing levels of total homocysteine in the blood were associated with decreasing levels of cognitive performance in several areas.
But they also found that high vitamin B12 levels correlated with better cognitive performance.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
A number of studies have shown that raised homocysteine concentrations may contribute to cognitive impairment. It is also know that elevations in homocysteine, an amino acid, result from inadequate folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 intake.
But it is not clear whether these associations between homocysteine and cognitive measures are causal or whether they are due to homocysteine, to independent actions of the B vitamins, or to both.
The new study, published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol 82, no 3, pp627-635), found that folate was independently protective against a decline in spatial copying score after adjustment for other vitamins and for plasma homocysteine. It also protected against a decline in verbal fluency.
But a high homocysteine concentration was associated with a decline in recall memory.
The team from the Tufts University and the Boston University School of Public Health concluded that both low B vitamin and high homocysteine concentrations predict cognitive decline.
In another study out this month, the link with homocysteine concentration and decline in cognition was also demonstrated.
Writing in the 1 October issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology (vol 162, no 7, pp644-653), Dr Merrill Elias of Boston University and colleagues found that in people over age 60, increasing levels of total homocysteine in the blood were associated with decreasing levels of cognitive performance in several areas.
But they also found that high vitamin B12 levels correlated with better cognitive performance.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Think you get all the vitamins and minerals you need from your diet - think again...
From Life Extension Foundation:
A report entitled “What We Eat in America, NHANES 2001-2002,” released this month by the Agricultural Research Service's Food Surveys Research Group in Beltsville, Maryland, reveals that Americans are deficient in a number of required nutrients, particularly vitamin E. The report is the latest compilation of data obtained from the dietary interview component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2001-2002. Dietary (not including supplemental) intake of 24 nutrients was calculated for 8,940 participants age one and older via 24 hour dietary recall surveys in 2001 and 2002. The average values were compared with the Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intakes for children, men and women in established age categories.
When the estimated usual intakes of the subjects were compared to the Institute of Medicine’s Estimated Average Requirements, which are the average daily nutrient intakes estimated to meet the needs of half of the healthy individuals in a given population group, the participants were found to be deficient in a number of nutrients. A deficiency of vitamin E was the most striking finding, with 93 percent of Americans estimated to consume inadequate amounts of the vitamin (if the dietary habits of the participants in this study can be agreed upon as accurately reflecting those of the general population). Not surprisingly, magnesium came in second, with 56 percent of the population estimated to be deficient. Deficiencies of vitamin A were estimated to affect 44 percent of Americans, of vitamin C, 31 percent; of vitamin B6, 14 percent; and zinc deficiencies were estimated to exist in 12 percent. Folate, copper, phosphorus, thiamin (vitamin B1) iron and protein were found to be lacking in females aged 9 and older.
The findings of the survey are disturbing given that many consider the Dietary Reference Intakes as already too low to ensure good health. Interesting amid the current media-bashing of vitamin E was the finding that intake of the vitamin is insufficient among most Americans. The report’s findings stand in sharp contrast with the too-often-heard statement that one can obtain all of one’s vitamin needs from one’s diet.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
A report entitled “What We Eat in America, NHANES 2001-2002,” released this month by the Agricultural Research Service's Food Surveys Research Group in Beltsville, Maryland, reveals that Americans are deficient in a number of required nutrients, particularly vitamin E. The report is the latest compilation of data obtained from the dietary interview component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2001-2002. Dietary (not including supplemental) intake of 24 nutrients was calculated for 8,940 participants age one and older via 24 hour dietary recall surveys in 2001 and 2002. The average values were compared with the Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intakes for children, men and women in established age categories.
When the estimated usual intakes of the subjects were compared to the Institute of Medicine’s Estimated Average Requirements, which are the average daily nutrient intakes estimated to meet the needs of half of the healthy individuals in a given population group, the participants were found to be deficient in a number of nutrients. A deficiency of vitamin E was the most striking finding, with 93 percent of Americans estimated to consume inadequate amounts of the vitamin (if the dietary habits of the participants in this study can be agreed upon as accurately reflecting those of the general population). Not surprisingly, magnesium came in second, with 56 percent of the population estimated to be deficient. Deficiencies of vitamin A were estimated to affect 44 percent of Americans, of vitamin C, 31 percent; of vitamin B6, 14 percent; and zinc deficiencies were estimated to exist in 12 percent. Folate, copper, phosphorus, thiamin (vitamin B1) iron and protein were found to be lacking in females aged 9 and older.
The findings of the survey are disturbing given that many consider the Dietary Reference Intakes as already too low to ensure good health. Interesting amid the current media-bashing of vitamin E was the finding that intake of the vitamin is insufficient among most Americans. The report’s findings stand in sharp contrast with the too-often-heard statement that one can obtain all of one’s vitamin needs from one’s diet.
CW
Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a healthcare professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility.
Visit our website at: www.cwiechert.com
Have your nutritional questions answered by e-mail: www.cwiechert.com/QAMAIL.html
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