Health Gallery Nutrition Center

29820 Ellensburg Avenue
Box 283, Gold Beach, Or 97444
1-541-247-7077

Seeking The Truth Is A Never Ending Task!
By Walt "dr health" Edwards

Due to the great number of spam, we changed the E-mail address. Please contact me using this number: 1-541-247-7077 Past issues available on my web site: getwel-newsletter.
Someone is bound to ask, what is the truth? It's a good question and the answer will not be found in this issue. However, another view will be presented in order that the reader can make up their own mind by considering another aspect of an issue being printed in this newsletter.

Should cancer patients that are being treated with chemotherapy be allowed to take antioxidants and other nutritional supplements? The present medical view is the belief that vitamin and mineral supplements are detrimental to patients undergoing chemotherapy. In his landmark book Cancer and Nutrition, written in the early 1990s, oncologist Charles Simon, MD, blows away this misconception. Citing numerous references, he states, "All studies show that vitamins and minerals do not interfere with the anti-tumor effects of chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In fact, on the contrary, some vitamins and minerals used in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy have been shown to protect normal tissue and cause the destruction of cancer cells."

It all most appears that those conventional physicians that follow this ignorant myth have this entrenched bias against nutritional supplements. It also arises from the common belief that chemotherapeutic drugs kill cancer cells by inflicting oxidative, or free radical, damage. However, according to Jeanne Drisko, MD, a researcher and faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the latest research shows that chemo actually works in a different way.

Cancer cells override the signals that control normal growth. As a result, they reproduce uncontrollably, fail to differentiate or mature into specialized cells, and refuse to self-destruct when they are diseased or damaged. Chemotherapy drugs simply activate the self-signaling systems that promote apoptosis, causing cancer cells to "commit suicide." Dr. Drisko has tested the concurrent use of one of the most popular antioxidants, vitamin C, with virtually every chemotherapeutic agent out there, and it did not reduce the effectiveness of the drugs in a single case.

According to Dr. Drisko there is no downside to taking supplements while undergoing chemotherapy, but there is a tremendous upside. the immune systems of cancer patients are highly compromised, and a majority of them suffer with malnutrition. Antioxidants and other vitamins and minerals restore deficiencies in residential nutrients and stimulate the production and activity of T cells, natural killer cells, and other key players in immunity. Furthermore, they have direct anti-tumor effects and protect against the toxic effects of conventional cancer treatment.

Cardiac Arrhythmia: Having any sort of arrhythmia should compel your physician to question whether you have adequate magnesium levels, as low magnesium levels have been related to abnormal heart rhythms. Low magnesium commonly accompanies low potassium. Leg cramps, especially those that occur at night, can signal a magnesium deficiency.

Are Angioplasties Useless, expensive and Dangerous? A recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (April 12,2007), JAMA reported that despite 1.2 million expensive and dangerous angioplasties done each year, the procedure is useless. It went on to say that angioplasties are useless in saving lives or preventing heart attacks in the average patient and that it only gave slight, temporary relief of chest pain. And 5 years after the procedure, the patient is essentially the same with or without angioplasty. Has any changes occurred since this report has been published in JAMA? Until some other medical treatment is discovered to replace this money making practice of Angioplasties and as long as Medicare will pay for it this useless and dangerous procedure it will continue to be done.

Vitamin D: Can That Many People Be Deficient? A rather remarkable medical study shows that 28.8% of women and 13.6% of men were suffering from a frank deficiency of vitamin D (serious enough to cause disease). And fully 74.9% of women and 51% of men were suffering from an insufficient quantity of vitamin D in their systems. This is not enough vitamin D to keep them healthy.

What Does Centrum and Kirkland Vitamins and Minerals Have In Common? They are both very weak and difficult to absorb supplements that are reported in the Comparative Guide To Nutritional Supplements as at 5.2% absorption. Other weak supplements are Shaklee Vita-Lea at 13.4% and Herbalife at 14.8%. A great number of people who are influenced by national advertisement paid by the pharmaceutical industry, those individuals that are unaware of the product they may be using and/or those folks that are looking for an inexpensive supplement. Source Naturals Life Force is rated at 92.8% and Solaray Spectro at 57%.

Brushing and flossing teeth daily will help prevent gum disease and also helps keep inflammation at bay. However, flossing may spread bacteria if you use the same area of floss for all your teeth. Use a new area of floss and/or use a drop of GSE or Tea Tree oil to your brush when brushing helps control the bacteria. A Tufts University study in which blood tests and dental data on more than 11,000 subjects were examined. Researchers were looking for blood serum concentrations of vitamin D and the incidence of periodontal attachment loss. Results showed a significant association between low levels of vitamin D and an elevated risk of tooth loss due to periodontal disease.

These results are confirmed by two studies cited by John Jacob Cannell, M.D., in an article that appears on Dr. Joseph Mercola's web site. Dr. Cannell featured a study from Belgium in which low doses of vitamin D supplements lowered the levels of two inflammatory markers (including C-reactive protein) in critically ill patients. In the second study, British researchers demonstrated an association between inflammation and vitamin D deficiency in more than 170 healthy adults.

Vitamin E Levels Linked To Mortality Risk! This headline is 100% MISLEADING! It was intended to make you question the wisdom of using supplements, particularly vitamin E. Inside the report, Dr. Margaret E. Wright of National Cancer Institutes Nutritional epidemiology Branch noted three important vitamin E benefits. 1. vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant. 2. Vitamin E boosts immune function. 3. Vitamin E helps prevent tumor blood vessel growth, thus slowing growth.

Dr. Wright's study examined mortality in relation to blood levels of vitamin E. More than 29,000 men participated in Finland's Alpha-Tocopherol/beta-Carotene cancer prevention study. All of the men were smokers between the ages of 50 and 69. One result from the test was smokers die more from cancer than heart disease. When men with the highest levels of vitamin E were compared to men with the lowest levels, those in the high level group "had significantly lower risks of total and cause-specific mortality than did those in the lowest level of vitamin E in the blood." The finding is exactly opposite as to what the headline implies. It appears to be a very poor choice of headline. There is a deliberate campaign to put nutraceuticals--including vitamins, minerals, herbs, etc. in a questionable category.

Thought For The Day: When you are feeling low and things don't seem too bright for you, take action and do something nice for someone else. You will be amazed how much better you will feel.

GETWEL.COM

Discover Your Body Mind Spirit Connection Through Handwriting
By Walter J. Edwards, PH.D., Paperback - 122 pages, ISBN: 0914330306

Walt Edwards